Chicken Cacciatore Catastrophe

Ever have one of those mornings? You know where you have unexpected company at 5:30 a.m., find out the freezer door has been open all night, your kid lied about having her homework done and you suddenly realize you have two children that need to be in two places at 9 a.m.? No? Just me?

Oh well.

IF you ever find yourself with a plethora of suddenly defrosted chicken breasts though, feel free to use my Catastrophe Cacciatore, it will make the best of a bad situation.

Into the crock pot throw your chicken breasts (let's say you have 4-5 of these) season them with salt and pepper, cover them with a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, some spaghetti sauce or a mixture of both adding up to about 28 ounces (give or take). If you have some rapidly aging raw tomatoes in the fridge, chop them up and add those too, I mean, what the heck right? Also chop some onion, garlic and whatever variety of bell pepper you have on hand and toss that stuff in there. Put it all on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

If you are preparing this recipe on a NON catastrophic day you can take your time and cook your veggies a bit in olive oil to get some color on them, then put the cooked veggies in the crock pot, add some more oil if necessary and brown your chicken as well, not cooking through but getting some color on the breasts so that the resulting cacciatore has a deeper flavor.

You can serve this cacciatore over cooked pasta, polenta or on top of fresh spinach leaves. Top with a bit of the sauce the breasts have cooked in and also a dash of parmesan and a basil leaf or two if you have it.