I grew up with frequent Sunday dinners. You know the ones with roasted vegetables, fresh bread and roast beef or chicken.
Who in this day in age has time to cook like that?All of us.
Yes all of us with a little help from a few kitchen appliances can bring back Sunday dinner.
For several months now our family has enjoyed a home cooked meal of chicken, veggies and fresh baked bread and honestly it is one of the simplest hands off dinners I make.
It starts with our 2 crock pots and our 2 bread machines. If you don’t have two of each don’t worry the plan can be altered to make due with just one of each.
A Simple Sunday Dinner That Practically Makes Itself
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It starts with the meat
The first thing I do is get our largest crock pot out and then grab the chicken out of the fridge. After unwrapping and rinsing off the chicken I place it in the crock pot breast up and pour 1 generous cup of water with a teaspoon of better than bullion chicken stalk mixed in.
I then generously sprinkle to top of the chicken with black pepper, garlic and poultry seasoning. With the chicken seasoned I turn the crock pot on high for about 4 hours.
Next Comes The Bread Machine
Once the chicken has been cooking for about 1 hour I drag my nose out of whatever book I am reading (reading is a favorite Sunday activity of mine) and put the ingredients for Jack’s White Bread in both our bread machines and put them on .
I then go back to cuddling up with a blanket and a good book.
Finally It Is Time To Put On The Veggies
At the time the chicken has been in the crock pot for 2 1/2 hours I get my nose out of my book again and wander in the kitchen to fill our small crock pot up with veggies. Usually red potatoes cut into bite sized pieces and carrots cut into 1 inch long pieces.
If you don’t have another crock pot I suppose you could just throw them down the sides and end of the chicken and allow them all to cook together…..but we do so this is what I do.
I get out the smaller crock pot we use for hot cheese dip and other sauces and fill it with the freshly cut veggies I then put a teaspoon of better than bullion chicken mix in a cup of water and stir it in with some minced garlic and pepper. I then pour that mixture over the vegetables and place it on high for 2 hours.
At this point I can walk away and let it all cook for another 2 hours. Which is time enough to enjoy a good portion of whatever book I have on the go, or take one of those Sunday afternoon naps I cherish.
2 hours later, I grab the finished loaves of bread out of our bread machines and slice it while my husband takes the meat of the chicken. The children set the table and we place the yummy dinner out for everyone to enjoy.
My total time spent in the kitchen is well under an hour and the food is amazing. Best part we normally have enough leftover chicken for another family meal such as chicken & stuffing bake or chicken pot pie. We also have bread left, although it tends to go missing by bed time.
Check out my couponing tips page for ideas of how to save money on the ingredients for Sunday dinner.
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I like Better Than Bullion. It tastes so rich. It has been a while since I’ve taken out the crockpot. Although, it’s my favorite way to make a roast chicken. The meat falls off the bone. So easy!
I agree chicken in the crock pot is the best! The meat is so tender.
Thank you so much! I can not tell you how often I mean to cook on Sundays (for family time and to save on eating out) only to find I can’t decide what to cook or I haven’t prepared to make anything. We end up going out after all and spending a fortune. This all looks delicious and like something I can do.
It is pretty inexpensive to make too. Whole chickens in my town run about .95 cents a pound.
Wow! I can definitely use this! Thank you so much for sharing.
I make crock pot chicken all the time, but I never thought of making veggies separate in a smaller one like this. What a great idea! I often stuff two whole chicken in my crock pot, so there is no room for vegetables added in. This is a great solution.
You must have a bigger crock pot them me there is no way I could get 2 chickens in mine, and yes the smaller crock pot comes in handy. I bought it originally because I make these bread machine pretzel balls everyone likes at parties with a cheese dip I make but to keep the cheese dip hot was hard at gatherings until I bought the small crock pot. Does mean one more thing to store though.
Love Better than Boullion! It takes up so little space in comparision to the cartoons of chicken stock too. Your bread looks amazing, I never thought I needed a bread machine, but now…
Love my bread machines. I purchase my last one at Goodwill and it has been going strong several years now. The other one I own I bought at a yard sale at least 10 years ago. So my suggestion is if you are going to take the bread machine leap see if you can find a second hand one. Both mine I thing were right around $10 used.