And amazingly, among the various unused spice bottles, there was no curry in sight either.

This very simple Slow Cooker Chicken Curry recipe that will follow was the whole reason I have now added curry to the collection…of unused spice bottles.

Only five simple and mostly on hand ingredients are required.

I had A LOT of chicken. I used two packages of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (16), Ortega Thick and Chunky Salsa and a brown onion.

Slow Cooker Curry Chicken recipe was adapted from kraftfoods.com

• Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
  • 16 skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 Jar (16 oz.) Thick and Chunky Salsa
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. curry powder
  • 1 C. fat free sour cream
  • Place chicken in slow cooker.
  • In a bowl combine salsa, onions and curry powder; pour over chicken.
  • Cover with lid.
  • Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 5 hours.
  • Remove chicken to a serving platter; cover to keep warm, if needed.
  • Add sour cream to slow cooker; stir until well blended.
  • Serve over the chicken.

In the end, the chicken is so moist and ready to be eaten, but the sour cream sauce is an interesting addition.

The plan was to have a bunch of artfully placed chicken thighs on a platter. So with a master plan in mind and with tongs in hand, I went for the chicken. The more I tried to become one with the chicken, the more it hesitated, hence the splatters and fallen apart, moist chicken.

Here’s the huge pile of Slow Cooker Curry Chicken without sauce.

I served this with white rice which left plenty of room for imagination with sauce usage.

My husband put his chicken on his pile of rice and poured the sauce over both. I poured sauce over my chicken and enjoyed my rice mostly plain. My son wanted no part in the sauce.

Here’s an embarrassing little picture of my plate…

Okay, so now I’m going to break it down.

If you love the taste of curry powder, you’ll love this Slow Cooker Curry Chicken. I am undecided on the matter.

I now know 2 Tablespoons of curry powder was too large of an amount to introduce curry in.

I am a curry newbie. I’m discovering there are so many more kinds of curry than just curry powder. It’s quite amazing.

Some time I will be up for trying some real curry, but not for awhile though. I need a curry break.

Can you butter toast? Then you can make these very Easy French Dip Sandwiches!

Let’s have a look at what you’ll need…

That’s right…this is it! One 3-4 lb. roast of your choice, (bottom round roast, pictured) one can of got-to-be-mm-mm-good-stuff Campbell’s beef broth, and some French sub rolls. Looking possible already?! Yesss! You, the toast buttering champion can do this!

• Easy French Dip Sandwiches
  • 3-4 lb Roast
  • 1 can Campbell’s beef broth
  • 6 French sub rolls
  • Pam butter flavored Cooking Spray (optional)
  • Place roast in a crock-pot or slow cooker.
  • Pour can of beef broth over roast.
  • Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 7-9 hours.
  • Do not remove lid until it’s done!
  • Preheat oven to 400°F, split French sub rolls in half and spray each half with cooking spray (optional).
  • Toast buns face down in oven for 3 minutes.
  • Spoon broth into glass dishes.
  • Shred or pull meat to fill the sub rolls. Enjoy!

We sure did…

I cannot stress the importance of Campbell’s beef broth enough. Perhaps an accomplished cook may want to add additional flavors, but the wannabe chef (me) can only be truly gratified with the truest beefiest flavor that Campbell’s beef broth will add to this simple recipe. It’s “double rich”, “double strength” and you’ll taste the difference. No one will know you did almost nothing to accomplish this awesome meal.

I haven’t had any luck with frozen Crock-Pot meals in the past. This particular bag looked worth a shot though, having the Marie Callender’s name and consisting of ingredients that everyone in my family will eat.

As a bonus, this meal is fairly nutritious with only 150 calories per serving. There are 4.5 grams of fat, 13 grams of protein, 4 grams of dietary fiber, and 50% of your Vitamin A for the day! It’s 550 mg of sodium (23% of daily value) was not so bad either.

The contents of the bag were 1 sauce pouch, 1 potato pouch, and the meat & vegetables.

My initial reaction when I opened the sauce pouch and smelled it was, “Gerber Mixed Vegetables…?” That threw me off a little, but I continued with the package directions placing the potato pouch in the refrigerator, stirring the sauce pouch into hot water and the beef & vegetables into the sauce. Then I turned on the Crock-Pot to low for 8-10 hours. Easy!

In the last 35 minutes of cooking time, I turned the heat to high and stirred in the potato pouch. The potatoes were cut into well-sized chunks. Some larger than others, but all very fresh looking.

The Vegetables – Most of the carrots were in large chunks and some were cut thin. I’m guessing the non uniformity was to make the Beef and Vegetables seem homemade. (but I cut my carrots uniformly for the Crock-Pot, Marie!!) The peas were visible although I couldn’t really taste them. The potatoes were just right.

The Beef – The beef chunks were fairly large. They had a good taste and were equivalent to any beef stew meat I’ve had in a Crock-Pot…sort of fatty, sort of tender, and sort of chewy. My only complaint was the amount of beef chunks in the bag. (I forgot to count) To evenly disperse the chunks to a family of 8 like the package suggests would be difficult.

The Outcome:

The Sauce - The sauce was thick and gravy-like and ended up having a tasty beefy flavor like it should, so I dropped my Gerber thoughts and enjoyed dinner. (with a fork)

It was a hit! A mild hit, but a hit nonetheless. Everyone dished out seconds and no one left the table hungry.