Lemon Chicken in the Crockpot

I have been having a hankering for chinese food for the past couple of weeks. I remembered seeing this recipe on one of my favorite cooking blogs, a great site FULL of slowcooker recipes (https://crockpot365.blogspot.com/) and decided to give it a go. I made a few modifications, because the recipe didn't include any veggies and I had some peppers to use up. I cut up an onion and green, red and yellow peppers and put them in the bottom of the crock and put the chicken on top of it. I also used 5 chicken breasts, instead of four. Finally, because of the veggies, extra chicken and our general love of sauce, I doubled the sauce recipe, to use up the whole can of lemonade.

This is cooking in the crock right now and it smells DELICIOUS! I just went out to taste the sauce and I know already this is going to be a hit served over brown rice. You could make it without frying the chicken first, to save on calories and time, but you wouldn't get the same take-out effect of crispy chunks of chicken. It will be more shreddy. The blog also said to try this with orange juice concentrate, which I will definitely do in the future!

LEMON CHICKEN
Source: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/01/chinese-lemon-chicken-crockpot-recipe.html

Ingredients:

• 5 chicken breasts, thawed and cut into strips or pieces
• 1/2 c. flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
• Oil (enough to brown the chicken, about 1/4 c., but probably not all at once)
• 1 can lemonade concentrate
• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 6 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• red pepper flakes (to taste)
• Chopped onion, peppers, carrots, etc...

Directions:

1. Coat chicken pieces in flour, salt and pepper mixture. Fry until browned and flour is stuck to the chicken. DO NOT cook all the way through, you want it to actually cook in the crockpot.
2. Put chopped veggies in the bottom of the crock. Put chicken on top.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl to make sauce. Pour over veggies and chicken.
4. Cook in the crock on high for 4 hrs or on low for around 6 hrs. Serve over rice.

**I read on the blog that if you cook this for 8hrs on low, it will likely be overcooked and the sauce will get to dark and tart, especially if you don't double the recipe or add the veggies because you won't have a lot in your crockpot. You can totally cook it on low for 6hrs and then let it switch to "warm" for the rest of the time if you will be away from home during the cooking time.

Photo to come!!