Crockpot Mexican Chicken, Homemade Applesauce, Bobs Red Mill Organic Brown & Wild Rice and Lemon Coconut bars, OH MY!

So, Mondays are a bit problematic regarding dinner. Number 6 has dance from 5:45 until 6:30 which means our usual dinnertime is interrupted. We are not home until 6:50 or later which means dinner really needs to be ready when we get there.

Yesterday I looked up Slowcooker Mexican Chicken, found a recipe that looked decent and made my own thing. I have an over abundance of jalapeno peppers from my garden. Seriously. Those little buggers are like RABBITS they are multiplying so fast. Oh and a word to the wise: Don't even think of scratching that itch at the corner of your eye near your nose while slicing jalapenos. Dude - I burned my eyelid! hahaha

Along with the crocked meal I made some applesauce from the abundance of apples we have and decided to cook the rest of the Bob's Red Mill rice that I bought for Number 2's birthday dinner. It all went super awesome together. The applesauce was the perfect foil to the Mexican's spice. The Bob's Red Mill brown & wild rice is freakin' awesome. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! It takes a bit longer to cook than regular rice, but I cook it the same - Adding in dried onion, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Oh and a splash of EVOO, if I remember.

The lemon bars are one of my favorites. They are super easy and super yummy. I just have to stop myself from eating them. That's the difficult part.

Slowcooker Mexican Chicken

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips or chunks
1 recipe homemade taco mix. (You can find that HERE. The ingredients are listed within the taco recipe)
3-4 fresh jalapenos, sliced (I take the membrane & seeds out to cut down on the spice)
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained (I would have preferred fresh, but I only had two ripe from the garden)
green pepper, sliced
onion, diced

Cook on low 5-6 hours or high 3-4 hours. I did a combo of both since my chicken was still partially frozen.


Applesauce

6-8 fresh cooking apples (my blend included Golden Delicious, Empire & Cortland), cored, peeled & sliced
a pinch or two of salt
1/2 c. water

Cook over med. to med. high heat until apples are tender. Fork mash or use food processor if you don't like chunks.

No need to add sugar, but sometimes I do add cinnamon.

Lemon Coconut Bars

BASE:
2 c. flour
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c. brown sugar

Mix above ingredients in a small bowl. Press into a slightly greased 13x9 and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

FILLING:
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. brown sugar (I've reduced this to 1 c. before and it's fine)
1/2 c. chopped pecans (or walnuts)
1 c. coconut
The zest & juice from two medium sized lemons

Mix all ingredients in same small bowl (less mess) and pour into base, making sure filling is evenly spread. Bake another 25-30 minutes on 350.

Cool completely before cutting.