The Bakersfield Voice

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What you need
• Six to eight chicken breasts
• A bunch of aluminum foil, torn in pieces about three times the size of the chicken breast.
• A Crock-Pot
• Some great flavoring salt (garlic, Santa Maria Seasoning salt, onion slices, whatever is your favorite)

Directions
Wrap breast tightly in aluminum foil with your favorite seasoning — very tightly wrapped and sealed (pinched shut) then double wrapped. Put 2 inches of water in the bottom of the Crock-Pot. Carefully stack the wrapped chicken breasts in the Crock-Pot. Turn the temperature to high and let the chicken cook for six to eight hours. You have to put it on high because the heat has to penetrate the foil and steam the chicken. When you are ready to eat, steam some vegetables, throw a salad together and call it late lunch or early dinner.

This recipe came from my friend, Anita. She frequently goes to a family mountain home and they toss this in the Crock-Pot as soon as they can and live on it for the weekend. It makes a delicious chicken dinner, chicken salad or, when mixed with barbecue sauce, an absolutely mouth-watering barbecued chicken sandwich, a favorite of my grandson and son-in-law.

Don’t be scared. Cooking it on high for six to eight hours is not going to ruin it. Six is better, but eight is OK. Don’t keep pestering it by opening the lid. You can take one package out with tongs or something and open it carefully (steam will pop out!) and poke it with a fork to make sure it is nice and tender. If it’s done and you’re not ready to eat, put it on low and keep it hot. Store the uneaten pieces in a suitable refrigerator container. Don’t leave it in foil or it might taste like a tin can after it cools.

One of these days I will to try pork chops cooked this way, but it would probably be best to trim most of the fat off. Depending on how thick they are, you might not want to cook them as long. I plan to try it as soon as I can find thick chops at the grocery store. Anita has tried ribs and turkey breast, but she said it wasn’t as good as the individually wrapped chicken breasts.

Bon appetite!