crock-pot lemon garlic chicken.

I really thought this was an original recipe! My sister made it for us one time when I was little.. and then my parents got the recipe from her, and then it was in our menu rotation! I thought nobody else made this chicken. Sure, maybe something like it, but certainly this specific recipe was original.

A quick google search put a kibosh on that line of thinking. Evidently, everyone has this recipe. As in the exact.same.ingredients. Sad :(

But guess what? I'm going to show you anyways. Why? Because it fills the whole house with this delicious chickeny-lemony-garlicy aroma and then when it's done, the chicken falls apart. Literally.

And do you know what makes ours different? We aren't shy with the juice. Most recipes (and even the original one that my sister used) call for only 1/4 cup of water and one measly chicken bouillon cube. But you know what? The juice ROCKS. The more juice, the better.

My mom noticed that my brother and I would take (heaping) spoonfuls of the juice from the crockpot and pour it over the rice that it has to be served with/over. So she slowly upped the amount of juice that the chicken is cooked in. And upped it. And upped it. And now.... well lets just say that the original amount of water is multiplied by 8. Yupper. 4 whole cups of love. Get into it.

Oh and if you want to break the chicken breasts into little shreds and put it onto your rice with the delicious juice and eat it like one big rice casserole from heaven? You go right ahead. (I'm right there with you)

Lemon Garlic Chicken (with extra juice!) in the Crock-pot

(From my sister... but apparently also every other recipe website known to man)

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 tsp oregano (1 for each breast)

1 1/2 tsp salt (1/2 tsp for each breast)

3/4 tsp pepper (1/4 tsp for each breast)

3 cups water

3 tbs lemon juice

1/8 tsp garlic

3 chicken bouillons

2-3 tbs butter + a little olive oil

1 tbs parsley

Rinse/dry chicken. Place 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper into a pile on either a cutting board or a paper plate and mix together. Repeat this 3 times so that you have 3 piles. (Or divide each pile by 2 to make six piles, like I did- because I wanted to cut each chicken breast in half to have 6 pieces of chicken- but this isn't necessary) 

Pat each piece of chicken in a pile to coat completely with the mixture.

In a pan, melt butter and a little olive oil. Brown the chicken breasts on the outside (Do not cook long! Just get the outside to have some color. They will finish cooking in the crock pot) Place chicken in crock pot. 

In the frying pan used to brown the chicken, add 1 cup water. Once pan is deglazed, add other 2 cups of water. Add in the chicken bouillon cubes, lemon juice, and garlic. Bring to a boil. Pour mixture over chicken in the crock-pot.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours of high for 3-4 hours. 1/2 an hour before cooking is complete, add parsley.

Serve over/with white rice! (I also always always have it with green beans (maybe because that juice tastes so good poured over them?)) And yes, that was parentheses inside of parentheses.

D's plate- no green beans for him :(

I am so glad there are leftovers.