Anyone can cook.

I'm not a chef. Not even close. I'm more like Linguini. Minus Remy. (At least I think I'm minus Remy.)

The ingredients for today's crocked looked safe enough, but the prep work for it turned out to be a pain in the butt. This cookbook is making me miss the shove random things in my crock pot and hit go recipes. (Don't worry...they'll be back soon.) The author of this book says that she adapted this recipe from a French chef friend of hers. Why does that not surprise me?

"Chicken Pipérade" (6 quart pot)

~3/4 c flour
~1 t salt
~3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces (The original recipe called for a whole chicken, skinned. Like this recipe needed to take even more time to put together or something.)
~4 strips bacon
~1 yellow onion, sliced
~3 red bell peppers, cut into strips
~6 cloves garlic, crushed
~1 (14 1/2 oz) can crushed tomatoes
~2 T tomato paste
~1 c dry white wine (I used Anakena's Sauvignon Blanc.)
~black pepper
~1 sprig thyme
~2 bay leaves

Combine flour and salt in resealable plastic bag.
Add chicken to bag and shake to coat completely.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat.
Add bacon and cook until crisp. (I actually tried this instead of my usual microwave method. I STILL hate it.)
Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain and wipe most of the bacon fat out of the pan.
Add chicken to the pan and cook over medium-high heat, turning once, until browned on both sides.
Transfer chicken to paper towels to drain.
Place chicken in crock pot.
Place onion in sauté pan and cook over medium-high heat until browned.
Add bell pepper and garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until softened.
Add tomatoes, paste, wine, and pepper to taste and cook, stirring frequently for 10 minutes, until the mixture thickens.
Crumble bacon over chicken.
Pour sauce into crock pot.
Add thyme and bay leaves.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Remoce thyme and bay leaves before serving.

I served this over brown rice because I felt like I should serve it over SOMETHING.

(4 servings.)

This was good, but not enough to be worth the time it took to be able to finally hit start on the crock. If you feel like putting on your French chef hat, have fun with that. I'll be the one in the corner pretending to have a rat under her hat telling her what ingredients to put in the pot.