Set it & Forget it: Pulled Chicken

I've been making pulled chicken in my crock pot for a few years - but typically I make it with some McCormick BBQ seasoning in it so it's a complete BBQ pulled chicken meal by the time I get home. I decided to give another recipe a try where this time there is no barbecue sauce in the dish - just seasonings and onion. I made it 2 different ways (skinless chicken breast with and without the bone) and both have been fantastic.

It's simple to put together - put into a croc pot, season, turn it on and let it do its thing. The "hard work" (I use that term very loosely) is only involved in shredding the chicken and discarding of any bones (if you decide to use bone-in chicken breast).

The end result is moist, flavorful, delicious shredded chicken breast that is available for a variety of meals. Sandwiches, enchiladas, salads, wraps, casseroles, etc. Anything you could use cooked chicken in, you can use this chicken in and it makes meal prepping 10-times easier.

All to do is quite simple:

* Add 1 large or 2 small onions to the bottom of the crock pot

* Add in my skinless chicken breast

* Season with the seasonings of choice (I recommend chicken poultry seasoning & even a little steak seasoning, etc.)

* Cover it

* Turn Crock pot on low and let it cook for 6-8 hours

* When done shred chicken with 2 forks

Trader Joe’s Pulled Chicken Breast

Over the course of the past year, I have been trying out different packaged pulled chicken meals. I like a slightly sweet yet smoky barbecue sauce with my pulled chicken.  I had high hopes for this Trader Joe’s Pulled Chicken Breast with Rib Meat in Smoky BBQ Sauce.

A serving size is 1/3 of the package – 151grams.  Its 140 calories for the serving and only 3 points plus values which I felt was impressive.  What really sold me was the “smoky BBQ sauce” so I decided to take a gamble and pick up a package.  I heated it through for lunch one afternoon, piled my serving onto a Trader Joe’s multigrain slim and paired it with a cut up microwave cooked potato for “fries.”

At first it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t delicious.  It was smoky but also somewhat sweet. It was a simple meal – rather mediocre and not rave worthy.  I finished my serving, put the rest away and the next day I heated the remainder through to make a sandwich for my boyfriend and I.  Well, I bit into a piece of what I call grizzle.  You know that hard, “plastic” type cartilage that you can sometimes find in chicken?  Well … let me just say, I have texture issues and the moment I bit into that, I was done. I was no longer hungry, I was repulsed and my sandwich went into the garbage.

I’m starting to believe my quest to find A++ style pulled chicken, that’s not bad points plus wise, is not going to happen unless I just make it myself.

QUESTION:

Have you tried the Trader Joe’s pulled chicken?

Trader Joe’s Chicken-Less Pulled Chicken in Barbecue Sauce

As an avid Trader Joe’s fan, I tend to pick up a few new things to try each time I go to the store - this time it was the Chicken-Less Pulled Chicken in Barbecue Sauce.  As a foodie, I don’t mind venturing into new foods that seem as though they’d be appealing.  I am not a vegetarian, but I do eat vegetarian dishes from time to time.  Typically Morning Star is my “go-to” and since I do enjoy their BBQ riblets, I had high hopes for this pulled chicken.

I originally purchased this because the nutritional facts were pretty stellar.  For 1/2 the package it was 3 points plus or the whole thing was 6 points plus.

Sadly, this was a complete and utter fail for me.  I heated it up in the microwave per the directions, figuring I’d eat it over some salad, maybe with a little pita bread on the side.  2 minutes went by and I decided to give the chicken a try before building my salad ....and I am glad I did.  After two bites I could NOT handle it. The barbecue sauce is very tasty but the texture of the "meat" really turned me off.  It was like a mushy, chewy, weird tasting meat substitute and I just couldn’t handle it.  I’m a texture person when it comes to food and it completely gave me the willies.  Unfortunately this ended up in the garbage since I’m the only one whose “adventurous” enough to eat vegetarian dishes.

QUESTION:

Have you tried any of the vegetarian dishes/prepared foods at Trader Joe’s?

BBQ Pulled Chicken Pizzas!

I made my boyfriend and I BBQ Pulled Chicken Pizzas for dinner the other day because I was feeling inspired and I really wanted something different to eat that was new and somewhat exciting.  I had picked the items up, unrelated to one another and decided to whip them together.  I was quite pleased with how it turned out because I have purchased the Jack Daniels Pulled Chicken in the past to pair with salads – but my boyfriend wasn’t too keen on it because it’s a sweeter BBQ sauce and not a tangy one.  If you’re wondering why there is a pizza with cheese on it and one without – my boyfriend isn’t necessarily a self proclaimed fan of cheese (as I am) so his pizza was made simply sans cheese.

To create these I used the original multi-grain flavored Flat Out bread, 5.3 ounces of Jack Daniels Pulled Chicken and on mine 1/3 cup shredded fat free mozzarella.  I baked them off in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes (really until the cheese was melted and the chicken was heated through).  I enjoyed mine with a side salad … yummers!

Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value wise – this was 8 PointsPlus for the whole pizza (including cheese), 7 PointsPlus without it.

QUESTION:

Have you ever made a healthier pizza alternative at home?