Husband Hacker 2: Crockpot Day

Who doesn't like a good sequel?  In fact, sometimes they can even be better than the original.  I find Terminator 2, which I alluded to in the title, to be way better than the first movie.  Some others you can agree or disagree with me on: The Dark Knight, Back to the Future Part II, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and pretty much all of the Harry Potter movies after the first one.  I think all of those continue to get better as the series progresses, and I'm going to try to do the same as a guest on my wife's blog.  With not much to write about right now in the realm of fantasy football, I'll shoot to be the J.K. Rowling of crockpot blogging...or at least Steve Guttenberg.

I don't know how often she'll let me post on here, but I'll try to keep us up-to-date if she needs any help.  Since we're a little behind, I got the green light to do a quick write-up on this recipe we used (and modified slightly) on Monday.  The honey garlic chicken was really simple and ended up very flavorful, but it also didn't have any veggies in it.  I think if I were to do this one again, I'd throw in some broccoli, carrots, snow peas, or something along those lines at the end.  But if you're in the mood for a delicious chicken and rice dish, I'd definitely recommend this...

Ingredients:

2.5-3lb chicken breasts (the recipe called for bone-in, but we used boneless and it was just fine)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup blackberry jam
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced onion (we used about 1/4 of a small, yellow onion...so however much that is)
a few dashes of red pepper flakes (as much or as little as you like)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
sliced scallions, for garnish (we didn't have these, and thus didn't use these)
sesame seeds, for garnish (we did have these, but forgot about them because we were hungry)

Directions:

1. Place the chicken in the bottom of your crockpot.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the following:
    honey, soy sauce, jam, hoisin, olive oil, garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes.
3. Pour the sauce over the chicken and cook on low for 4-5 hours (we cooked for 5 hours).

4. Remove the chicken from the crockpot, and place in a large bowl.  Use two forks to shred it.
5. Meanwhile, you might want to get started on cooking some rice around now.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the tablespoon of cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of water.
7. Transfer the remaining liquids from the crockpot into a small saucepan set over medium-high heat.
8. Whisk the cornstarch/water slurry into the saucepan and bring to a boil.  The original recipe suggested reducing for about 3 minutes, but we let it thicken for about 10 minutes (stirring often).
9. Pour the sauce over the chicken and stir/toss to combine.
10. Serve chicken over rice (we used jasmine), and top with scallions and/or sesame seeds if you can remember things like that better than we can!