Midweek Entertaining on a Budget

So if you work full time and have 10 people coming for dinner on a tues night at 7:30, what in the heck do you do?   Bust out your CROCKPOT!! 

We received this amazing crockpot as an engagment gift almost 8 years ago (yes, we have been together for along time).  We rarely used it until we were married for 2 years and I went on the nest and got some amazing recipes from the What's Cooking Forum.  One of my favorites was the crockpot salsa chicken.

As I mentioned in my last post, I hate recipes with tons of ingredients and steps.  I'm more of a what do you have and then add a dash of this and that type "chef".  This recipe is just like that.  A few simple ingredients: Chicken, Salsa, liquid (beer and chicken stock are my choices).

In case anyone was wondering we were entertaining 10 people on a tues night because we joined a church small group for the first time!  Everyone in our small group is are young married couples like us.  Paul and I are so excited to grow together in faith and life with our new friends.

Here is the "real" recipe as well as a recipe for a black bean and corn salsa and fresh Guacamole  The whole meal for the 12 of us was less then $20 and was put together in less then 10 minutes before I left for work in the morning.

Crockpot Fajitas
Chicken Breast according to how many people are coming over.  I used 6 last night
1-2 cups of good salsa based on number of breasts.  I used appx 2 cups of Jack's Salsa from Wegmans
A little bit of beer (1/2 cup maybe)
A little bit of chicken stock (1/2 cup maybe)
Salt, Pepper, Cumin and Montreal Chicken Seasoning to taste.
Cook on low for 6-10 hours (I did 10 because that is how long I was gone for at work) once the breasts are done shred them with a fork and let them sit in the liquid until served so that chicken is moist and juicy.

Serve with sides of fresh tortillas, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, cilantro, grilled onions and peppers:
Here is what it looks like

Some people add a can of black beans and corn to the crock pot.  It will look like this:

I prefer making a:

Black bean and corn salad
1/2 a red onion diced
1/2 diced jalapeno
Chopped Cilantro to taste
Cumin, S&P to taste
Juice of 1 lime

Guacamole1-4 avocados depending on how many people are eating and how much you like it :)
juice of one lime
Salt to taste
Cumin to taste
1-3 tbsp of fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 finely sliced jalapeno

I make it by hand but our neighbors like to use the food processor for everything but the avocados.  They also add 1/4 of a small red onion but I'm not a fan of onion breath that last for days so I leave that out.