Continuing my previous post… this is the chicken I served with my lemon garlic pasta:

A lot of people cook with alcohol, whether it be beer or wine. I thought I’d give it a try since I had some beers in my fridge leftover from having friends over and I don’t drink. My initial impression was that regardless of the kind of alcohol I used, it would burn off and not leave any distinct taste. Boy, was I wrong… Even a crockpot cooking for 6 hours didn’t do the trick!

Now, since I don’t drink beer, I’m the last person to know anything about beers. I posted a status on the Facebook fan page about my experience cooking with Pale Ale and luckily, Jennifer came to the rescue. According to her, Lagers and Belgian style beers cook up well, while German weisse beers are great for braising. Mentally noted, thanks Jennifer!

Overall, it wasn’t bad. If you love beer, you’d love this chicken. It was juicy, fell apart at the touch of a fork, and had a very strong flavor. The taste was just a bit strong for me. When the chicken’s cooking throughout the day, your house smells like beer. Straight up beer. I don’t know if that’s a pleasant smell or not, but I’d much prefer the smell of pumpkin or baked apples.

Here’s to experimenting in the kitchen!

I went home to LA this past weekend and realized how much I’ve adapted to the Bay area weather. The heat in the valley was just about unbearable for me. 98 degrees? I don’t do anything but eat watermelon and lay on the floor in that weather. That’s one thing that I’ve come to love about NorCal vs SoCal. The weather surely wins.

Here’s another great recipe from my favorite crockpot source, Crockpot 365. The chicken came out moist and flavorful. I chose to serve it over linguine (my favorite kind of pasta), but anything works. The jar of marinara sauce that I used was from Trader Joe’s. The topping was easily enough for four chicken breasts, but I only used two. I would recommending cutting the recipe in half for two chicken breasts– You don’t need that much topping!