Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken

There are a lot of food disagreements in this couple.

I love cheese.  Ryan only likes melted cheese and he's lactose intolerant so I avoid using it when I feel like it can.

I would be happy to eat vegetarian for the rest of my life.  Ryan would not.

I have suffered from IBS for going on 3 years and have to monitor what I eat and how much of it to avoid a painful crisis.  Ryan has a stomach of steel and can eat anything in any quantity and feel fine.  Except that one time he went into a pancake coma.  Oh and that dairy problem again.

Most of the time we work around all of these different factors.  Sometimes I sneak goat cheese into cajun fettucini alfredo and it's so good he doesn't notice.  Sometimes I make "ricotta" out of tofu and spices to make veggie lasagna and he still doesn't notice.

But we both agreed on this one and I didn't even have to sneak:

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken [sandwiches]
you'll need:

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 bottle of Frank's Red Hot- Buffalo 
• Homemade ranch spice blend (see below)
• 2 T butter
• Whole wheat hamburger buns

Homemade Ranch Spice Blend

• 1 T dried parsley
• 1 t dried dill
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1/2 t onion powder
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1/4 t dried chives
• pinch of salt

A moment on my ranch spice blend.  I love ranch dressing on salads, wings, veggies, I've even dunked my pizza in it thanks to spending four years learning ridiculous eating habits from the native penn staters.  This recipe called for a packet of ranch seasoning.  I picked it up at the store and the first ingredient was "malodextrin."  I don't even know what that is, so I put it back and decided to spend a few extra dollars on buying the spices to make my own.  (FYI, malodextrin is some weird derivative of corn or cornstarch-- oh hey corn subsidy, just another way to make mass quantities of cheap crap).

So anyway, I made my own ranch.  It's totally worth it and I won't buy the bottle of dressing again either, I'll just mix this with greek yogurt or mayo.

Place chicken, bottle of hot sauce, and spice blend into the crock pot.  Cook on low for 4 hours (if chicken defrosted) or 6 hours (if chicken frozen).

After above specified amount of time, take 2 forks and shred the chicken.  Add 2 T of butter to crock pot, stir, and cook on low for another hour.

Serve on whole wheat buns!

I added some caramelized onions on top and made a size of zucchini ribbon salad.

We inhaled this.  I will absolutely make it again.  It would be perfect as a buffalo chicken wrap as well with some lettuce and tomato and extra ranch dressing.

Again, I highly recommend making that ranch blend!

Veg out!
~Mere