Acorn Squash Slow Cooker Chicken

Slow Cooker Greek Chicken Tacos

If you've been enjoying some early summer salads and are looking for a change of pace, try this dish. It's a great as salad, and as an appetizer, and works year round as an easy supper. Since this is a year round dish, it's been in the queue for a while waiting to be published.
Last week I was participating in a G+ Food Bloggers Community Education event with +Chef Dennis Littley and +Larry Deane, and Larry said "give your readers what they want". That struck home with me, so since I've gotten requests for this recipe, it's bumped some fresh-from-the-CSA recipes to come out today. How did folks know to request this? They saw the photo on my FB page, that's how.

I intended to title this post Greek Artichoke Lemon Olive Chicken in a Slow Cooker, in the interests of being as descriptive as possible. Then I thought about how we actually ate the resulting chicken, asked folks on FB for suggestions, and decided that Slow Cooker Greek Chicken "Taco" Meat is really a more apt title. This dish is cooked in my crock pot, and does contain the artichoke, lemon, and olives I originally mentioned, but we use it like we use taco meat: stretched on tortillas, over grains, or in a salad. And the leftovers? They make the best Greek Five Layer Dip I've ever had. Possibly the only Greek Five Layer Dip I've ever had, too. Try this in the summer when it's too hot to cook, or during football season for a delicious dinner/appetizer that's just familiar enough not to be weird and a delicious twist on a classic.

I may have alluded to my cold kitchen over the winter months. Either the reference to the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve in the cold (down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit!) corner of my breakfast nook, or the photos of the frost on the inside of my kitchen window, seen in my Gardening Photos album on my FB page, would get the point across.
As cold as my kitchen is in the winter, it is correspondingly hot in the summer. I do what I can, covering the East-facing windows with heat-blocking drapes in the morning and using the oven less. I intend to get my grill on this summer, but there is another way to cook your food without heating the kitchen--a slow cooker.
This dish started with my desire to use my slow cooker to do the cooking while I was at work, and turned into a game to see how many complimentary layers of flavor I could add to the dish. I was inspired by these other Greek Chicken Slow Cooker dishes, seen here and here, but since I had tortillas but no pitas, I went in a taco direction. Then I read about Avocado Feta dip, and it was a great accompaniment to the chicken.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/06/slow-cooker-greek-chicken-tacos.html

Ignore the olive oil and garlic--photo crashers.

Go here to see how to make this dip!

Slow Cooker Greek Chicken "Taco" Meat with Avocado Feta Dip (serves 4-6 with leftovers)

1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts (2 giant breasts, a bit over a pound of meat)
1 onion, about 3/4 cup diced
1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped small
3/4 cup marinade from jar of artichokes
1 teaspoon Pampered Chef dill mix (or any dill seasoning blend)
1/2 teaspoon rosemary/garlic bread dipping spice blend (or dried rosemary and minced garlic)
2 bullion cubes
zest and juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup (6 ounces) plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup chopped olives (I used green)
1 Tablespoon olive juice from the jar

2 avocados
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 Tablespoon finely chopped jalapeño
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 Tablespoons chopped oregano
juice from 1 lemon
a generous pinch of kosher salt

cooked rice or tortillas, chopped red onion, chopped olives, salad mix to serve

Place the chicken, onion, artichoke hearts + marinade, dill and rosemary seasonings, garlic and bullion
cubes in the slow cooker. Zest the lemon over all, then cut in half and squeeze the juice from both halves into the slow cooker. Cover, remember to turn the darn thing ON to Low and PLUG IT IN (seriously, set your car keys next to it when you set it up so you can check that it's in fact working before you fly out the door).
After 6 hours on Low, remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred it with 2 forks. Strain the liquid that remains--return the solids and the chicken to the slow cooker, and set aside the liquid. Stir in the yogurt, olives, and olive juice with the chicken, adding 2 to 4 ounces (1/4 to 1/2 cup) of the set aside liquid until the meat is moistened to your liking. [Save the rest of that juice--I used it to tenderize a pound of beef stew meat which became Greek Stew Meat Tacos, perhaps a future blog post. That's a threefer, then. Can you tell my mom was visiting? She doesn't even waste pickle juice!] The meat is ready now, but can hang out in the slow cooker for 30 minutes or so still on Low.

Serve the chicken over rice, or on a tortilla spread with Avocado Feta dip, or on a bed of salad greens. Top with chopped red onion and green olives. And save the rest of the chicken meat for my next post!

For instructions on how to make the Avocado Feta Dip, please head over to Two Peas for Maria's recipe. This dip was still bright green the following day--must be all the lemon juice!

This post is shared on the Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, What's In The Box, Food on Friday