Oh crockpot, how I love thee!

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll! It's recipe time again. I try to find foods to make that my entire family enjoys. Alhamdulillah A isn't picky but like everyone else, he has his likes and dislikes. So I devised a yummy chicken-taco type dish that cooks in the slowcooker and tastes fantabulous. Here goes:

4-5 large chicken breasts (can use thighs if you prefer)
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp chili powder (Amreekan kind :-) not pure ground chilis!)
1 tsp salt (to taste) and black pepper
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Tabasco brand Chipotle pepper hot sauce (my fave condiment)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (this lowers the sodium content)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
7 slices turkey bacon, finely chopped

Okey dokey, here goes. Slice the chicken breasts into uniform strips so they cook evenly. Pour the vinegar over it, there should be enough to coat them. Liberally sprinkle with the cumin, chili powder, salt and black pepper. Toss well with the oil and Tabasco sauce; add the choppd onion at this point also. To be honest, I didn't measure these ingredients but these are close approximations. Set chicken aside.

Place diced bacon on bottom of preheated slowcooker. Layer chicken on top of it and place your lid snugly on the crock. Cook on high for at least 5 hours and do NOT lift the lid. The chicken makes it's own juice, it won't burn insha'allah. You can also spray your crock with non-stick cooking spray first but I didn't.

After 5 hours of cooking, add your drained and rinsed beans and the tomatoes. Mix thoroughly and cook 1-2 hours more. Really cooking is not a science, it'a about using your senses. So just do what feels right. If you forget it for 3-4 hours, no harm no foul. If you need to be gone all day long, put it on low setting and add the last two ingredients just long enough to warm up.

I served this with sauteed green peppers, vidalia onion, and thinly sliced cubano peppers. We prefer it with syrian bread, pulled in half, instead of tortillas. Chop some fresh tomato and put out the sour cream. Really this was too yummy!

The smokiness from the bacon and the chipotle hot sauce was incredibly delicious and this is so easy it's almost a no brainer.

This yields enough for a family of 6 to eat twice. Let's see, 4 of us ate the first night then tonight all 6 and still enough leftovers for 3 more people to dine. So masha'allah this was a success on all fronts! I love to cook once, eat 3 times. :-)

Alright I am waaay past my beauty sleepin' time (nod to the "Mulan" script!)so I'll go on to bed. I wanted to paste a photo but didn't take one tonight. Sorry, my laziness knows no bounds!

Take care ya'll and happy eating! Ma salaama...