Set it and forget it: Crockpot Jerk Chicken

Posted by Dana Oshiro

My apologies. I went from being a stay-at-home writer to an up at 6:30am marketing director within the span of a week. Cooking, while a great love of my life, is unfortunately not as loved as a good sleep (my nagging addiction). Nevertheless, as I move from my home into a dot com extravaganza, I can't help but notice some of the great cookbook-related sites springing up across the web. Here are a few really cool tools I've seen in the last couple of days:

TASTEBOOK
Tastebook is a great little site that allows users to input recipes, pull recipes from Epicurious and Recipes.com and share recipes with friends and family. From here, the company has managed to procure some pretty amazing stock photography and when you pay to print the recipe book, it's broken down into neat little tabs.

LULU
While not specifically recipe tools, Blurb and Lulu allow users to create their own cookbooks. Blurb is probably the more popular single destination marketplace; however, Lulu provides distribution to third party online stores. While they do not provide the frills of tabs and free stock photography, they do have pretty great marketplaces. This means that if you're creating a recipe book for a charity organization, you can sell it through an online store and the books are printed on an as-needed basis.

BAKESPACE
Riffing on MySpace's name as a social networking site, bakespace allows users to trade recipes, discuss cooking techniques and post blogs. The site has just gone through a redesign and it's a great place to connect with other foodies.

THE FAST FIX DINNER: SLOW COOKER JERK CHICKEN
You thought you didn't like slow cooker meals. The truth is that Campbell's soup really isn't a sauce. Like any great tool, it's what you put in that counts. Nothing is better than shlepping up the stairs and realizing that the delicious smell is coming from my home. This recipe has been adapted from About.com.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, cut into large chunks
3 teaspoons chopped ginger
1 habanero pepper, seeded, deveined, and finely minced
1.5 teaspoons ground allspice
2 tablespoons dry mustard
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons red wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
3 pounds chicken breast or thigh

Directions:
1.BLEND SAUCE:Combine onion and ginger in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients, except chicken, and pulse until well blended.

2. SET IT AND FORGET IT: Place chicken in a 3 1/2- to 5-quart slow cooker and cover with sauce. Cover, set on low, and cook for 6 to 8 hours. or until chicken is tender (3 to 4 hours on high).

TAGS: Black Pepper, Crockpot, Garlic, Ginger, Jerk Chicken, Onion, Peppers, Red Wine, Slow Cooker, Soy Sauce
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