Crock Pot Wednesday- Autumn Cranberry Apple Chicken

Autumn Cranberry Apple Chicken is a great recipe for this time of year. Chicken breasts cook in a slow cooker, with sliced apples, cranberries, spices and orange juice. Warm and cozy comfort food that tastes and feels like Fall!

Fresh cranberries can be hard to find except in November or December.  Buy extra bags in the fall and freeze them for use through out the year. I take 2 bags of fresh cranberries, slip them into a freezer bag and toss them into the freezer. I float frozen cranberries in lemonade in the summer and use them for recipes like this whenever we're in the mood no matter what time of year it is.

• 4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 8 to 10 boneless chicken thighs
  
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 large apple peeled and sliced thinly
  
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• Salt and pepper
  

Preparation:

Slice onions and place in the bottom of a greased crock pot.
Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and place on top of the onions.
Scatter the apple slices and the cranberries over the chicken evenly.
Sprinkle the cinnamon, ginger and brown sugar over the top and pour the orange juice in.

Cover and cook on low 5 to 6 hours for the breasts or 7 to 9 hours for thighs, until chicken is tender.
Taste before serving and add more salt if needed.

If you want, you can pour the cooking juices off into a small sauce pan. Mix 3 Tbs water and 1 1/2 TBS flour together and add to the juices. Bring to a boil over medium  high heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. Serve over the meat. 
Serves 4 to 6.

For lots more great crock pot recipes head on over to Dining with Debbie for Crockpot Wednesday. She's also having a give-a-way for the recipe with the most votes this week. If you have a great crock pot recipe, post it and link up.