Juretta's Oregano Chicken

Juretta's Oregano Chicken

Olive Oil spray 

2 cups of water

1 whole chicken

1 pack of sweet italian sausage

EVOO

Lawry's Garlic Salt 

Oregano

8-10 red potatoes (quartered)

1 large vidalia onion (cut into half moons)

1 stick of butter

This is my version of Juretta's Oregano Chicken: 

Spray your insert of your crockpot with olive oil and dump in two cups of cold water. Place in your whole chicken and rub it down with olive oil and sprinkle it with garlic salt, oregano, and salt & pepper.  Cut your red potatoes into large chunks (all relatively the same size). Take onions and potatoes and toss them in EVOO & garlic and oregano and salt and pepper.  I did mine in a gallon size bag to make sure they were all coated evenly.  Dump bag of vegetables on top of the chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hrs.  (I added in my italian sausage with the chicken on the bottom but when we went to eat, the sausage was over-done.  So i'd either add it later on top of the vegetables or precook it and lay it in at the very end - i know thats an extra step, but I would rather do that than to have over-cooked sausage in my dish)  

Juretta's original recipe was done in a cast-iron skillet in a fire pit.  Since we dont have one of those at my house, we just used the crock pot.  I also changed russet potatoes to red potatoes because they are more waxy and would hold up through the cooking process and not turn into mush since it'd be cooking for at least 8 hrs on low in crock pot. 

Original recipe: 

1 whole chicken

1 pack of sweet italian sausage

EVOO

Lawry's Garlic Salt 

Oregano

8-10 russet potatoes (quartered)

1 large vidalia onion (cut into half moons)

Cook in cast iron dutch oven in fire pit or in oven until chicken is done and vegetables are tender.

Pot Roast

• 4-5 lb roast (Options are shoulder, rump, chuck, or bottom round)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Steak seasoning (the dry spice; Just shake on to taste ~ optional)
• 6 cloves of garlic or 3/4 tsp of garlic powder
• 1 onion (chopped to your preference) OR a half a bag of pearl onions
• 1 cup frozen peas (optional) (They do sell a small bag of peas and pearl onions combined that is perfect for this)
• 2 carrots (peeled and chopped to bite-sized pieces)
• 2 stalks of celery (washed and chopped to bite-sized pieces ~ optional)
• 6 red new potatoes (cut into quarters) OR 4 russet potatoes (peeled and chopped to bite-sized pieces) OR 2 large baking potatoes (peeled and chopped to bite-sized pieces)
• 1-2 cup of water or beef broth

1. Add in the water and spices and mix it together BEFORE you add in the meat and veggies. (You want to season the liquid that will steam everything else and infuse the flavor throughout the whole dish as you cook it).
2. Dump everything else into the crockpot.
3. Cook on HIGH setting and let it cook at least 6 hours OR on LOW setting overnight (at least 8-10 hours).

Crockpot Chili

• 1-2 pounds of ground hamburger (May be substituted for chicken or turkey or completely omitted or even a meat substitute for vegetarian version)


• 1 lb of cooked pinto beans (Leftovers are PERFECT for this recipe)


• 1 can of tomato paste


• 1 onion (chopped to your preference)


• 1 bell pepper (chopped to your preference) *optional*


• 1 (15 oz) can of tomato sauce


• 1 tbsp of Chili Powder


• 1 tbsp of Cumen


• 1 (15 oz) can of stewed tomatos (celery, onion, and pepper flavored is preferred)


• 2 packets of chili seasoning

1. Brown the ground meat and drain. Sit aside.


2. Add into cold crockpot, all canned ingredients.


3. Stir in the seasoning and spices.


4. Fold in browned hamburger meat and add to crock pot.


5. Cook on LOW setting overnight stirring before you go to bed and when you wake up in the morning. Keep warm until ready to serve.


6. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and green onions if you want.
   

Always remember - you can more spice in but cannot take it out if you put in too much. You can cut the acidity from the acid in the tomatos with a spoonful of sugar or two and can cut the heat in the chili and spices with a dollop of sour cream stirred in and/or some shredded cheese.

BBQ Chicken

• 1 package of boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 bottle of "Honey" flavored BBQ sauce
• 1/2 of a sweet onion (chopped to your preference)

1. Salt and pepper raw chicken to taste.
2. Place into crockpot with onions and BBQ sauce.
3. Put on the lid and cook on HIGH setting 1-2 hours and then turn down on LOW setting until ready to eat.

**PLEASE NOTE**

White meat cooks quicker than dark meat.

Boneless meat cooks quicker than bone-in meat.

The same with pork ~ Bone-in takes takes longer to cook than boneless.

White meat: Wings & Breasts

Dark meat: Legs & Thighs

For example: A bone-in thigh would take longer to cook than a bone-in breast even though its smaller.

If you choose to use dark meat instead of white meat, or bone-in instead of boneless, you'll need to cook your chicken on HIGH setting longer than 1-2 hours. Instead, your cooking time will need to be 2-3 hours on HIGH or 5-6 hours on LOW setting.

Here is the general rule for crockpots as far as the age-old question:

To preheat or NOT to preheat?

You put COLD food into a COLD crockpot.
You put HOT food into a HOT crockpot.

BBQ Pork Chops

• 1 package of boneless pork chops
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bottle of "Original" flavor BBQ sauce
• 1/2 of a sweet onion (chopped to your preference)

1. Salt and pepper raw porkchops to taste.
2. Place into crockpot with onions and BBQ sauce.
3. Put on the lid and cook on HIGH setting 1-2 hours and then turn down on LOW setting until ready to eat.

Here is the general rule for crockpots as far as the age-old question:

To preheat or NOT to preheat?

You put COLD food into a COLD crockpot.

You put HOT food into a HOT crockpot.

BBQ Pulled Pork

• 1 Pork Roast
• 1 bottle of "Hickory" flavored BBQ sauce.
• Crockpot

1. Simmer on Low 3-4 hours.
2. Shred with a fork and serve either on a bun as a pulled pork sandwich. Also great on a baked potato with butter, sour cream, cheese, and chives.

Here is the general rule for crockpots as far as the age-old question:

To preheat or NOT to preheat?

You put COLD food into a COLD crockpot.

You put HOT food into a HOT crockpot.