Crockpot Tuesday: Zucchini Chicken Parmesan

Hi!

   Fall's here (well kinda, just need these temps to stay below 75) and with Fall comes my many nights of crockpot cooking. I'm designating Tuesdays to be Crockpot Tuesday here on my Timeout. I'm going to share with you what I'm making for dinner Tuesday nights on Tuesdays. I hope thats not too confusing. I have a few crockpot meals that are on constant rotation during the fall and winter every year. So some meals I'll be able to tell you exactly how much my family and I like it. And others (like today's meal) will get a follow up the next day if its a brand new meal to us. I just want to put this out there,  I'm not a natural born cooker so all of my meals are Pinterest finds. I will ALWAYS link up to the original recipe and give credit were credit is due. After all, I wouldn't be making any of these if it wasn't for these awesome cooking bloggers. You can also check out my Pinterest boards Recipe Keepers and Recipes to Try.

   Tuesdays are going to become extremely busy in my house. Well extremely busy around dinner time, so it will always be a crockpot day.  The Hubby will cook upon occasion (he's an amazing cook so no complaints here), but for the most part there shouldn't be any reason for me not to get the crockpot started in the morning or early afternoon.

   So to start of my Crockpot Tuesday the meal is Zucchini Chicken Parmesan. I found this recipe on Pinterest and its from Smile Sandwich. The recipe is simple and looks pretty darn tasty.

Picture from Smile Sandwich

   Our garden produced an absurd amount of zucchini this year. Although I have frozen a lot, we still have some fresh. So I'm looking up all sorts of different meals to use up our zucchini in. We also grew jalapenos so I'm going to add a few of those even though the recipe doesn't call for it. Hubby likes spice and since I've had to endure yeas of him adding spice to just about everything I've come to enjoy it myself. I'm not adding too much though because I want to see if I can get the girls to eat this. I'm on a mission to get them to eat the same meal's we are. They eat a lot of what we do, but not as much as I would like. 

Here is a list of what I used in my recipe (again the original recipe can be found here):

• 2 large chicken breast, cut into cubes
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 large zucchini, chopped (I used only half of mine because it's about 4 large ones put together. No lie, check out the picture below) 
• 1 green pepper, diced (I used 1/2 a one)
• 1 jalapano, diced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (from a jar or fresh- I used jar)
• 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (I used two pinches-to taste as they say)
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1.5 cups of pasta sauce
• 1 cup low fat shredded cheese.
• 1 cup rice (quinoa or pasta or nothing, its totally up to you)  
• Parmesan to taste (fresh, shredded, or grated)

How to prepare:

1.  Spray your crockpot with nonstick cooking spray (or use one of those bags- best invention EVER!) and add all ingredients but the shredded cheese. 
2.  Cook on low for 6-8 or high for 3-4. *I don't know about you, but every crockpot I've ever owned (only 2) has always cooked fast. So I always cook on low and do it for about an hour or two less than recommended for that setting. This has also helped to not over cook my meat. So for me I'm cooking this for a max of 6 hours.* 30 minutes before serving add cheese and let it melt. 
3. Serve over rice (or whatever you choose to use). Add Parmesan if desired. 

I told you it was huge! Our garden went nuts with the zucchini

Green pepper, onion, jalapeno, and zucchini all cut up

All the ingredients and spices

add 1.5 cups of tomato sauce

Mix it all up

   I currently have this cooking and I'm going with low for about 5 hours. I'm planning on making rice to go with it. Hubby will be home so he can start the rice while I'm out and hopefully it will all be done and ready by the time I get back home with the girls. I'll update you tomorrow on how it was and if I'll be keeping this in our dinner rotation. :)

   Let me know if you try this out or if you have your own version of this meal. I love dinner ideas so please share away! Thanks for taking a timeout with me! I'll talk you tomorrow!!

Xo, 
Nikki