Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken with Coconut Cilantro Rice

Sorry I fell of the face of the earth interweb for a minute there; I was on vacation. Usually I plan ahead when I'm going out of town and have posts ready for all of you dear readers, but I was a total slacker this time. My bad. I'd like to say it won't happen again, but let's be real. It might.

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken is the perfect meal for adjusting to life after vacation. Since your trip is over, it's no longer acceptable to eat frozen yogurt for dinner every night. You need to cook at some point. But since I wasn't ready to let go of vacation wholly, I decided to let my crockpot cook for me.

The simplicity of this meal is one of the reasons I had to give it a whirl. It features pantry staples, and you can even use the chicken straight from the freezer. (Just cook it a bit longer if you're using frozen chicken. Maybe an extra hour or so.) The slightly sweet sauce is perfect over Coconut Cilantro Rice. A sprinkle of fresh cilantro on top makes it look fancy so you can trick your family into thinking you slaved over the stove for hours.

If anyone asks, tell them you worked so hard on this dinner that you need another vacation.

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken
Adapted from a million places online
Serves: 6-8

6 chicken breasts*
20 ounce can crushed pineapple
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Place all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on low for four hours. Once chicken is cooked through, remove and shred with two forks. Stir back into the sauce in the slow cooker. Serve over Coconut Cilantro Rice. Sprinkle with extra fresh cilantro for garnish.

*If you want to use frozen chicken breasts, cook for an extra hour or so.

Coconut Cilantro Rice
Adapted from Bev Cooks
Serve: 4

1 cup coconut milk** (I used light coconut milk.)
1 cup water**
1 cup rice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or more or less to taste)

Bring coconut milk and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in rice. Bring the mixture back to a simmer, then reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes, until rice is firm but tender. (If you have one, you can certainly use a rice cooker in place of cooking rice on the stove.)

Once rice is cooked, fluff it with a fork. Stir in cilantro. Serve with Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken...or anything, for that matter!

**The amount of liquid you use depends on what type of rice you use. Most white rice calls for a 2:1 ratio of liquid to rice. Check the package and adjust the amount of liquid accordingly, using half coconut milk and half water.