Homemade Crock-Pot Chicken Chow Mein [RECIPE]

I love Chinese food, but I don't love spending a bunch of money on take out, so decided to see if I could recreate chicken chow mein at home and make it a little more healthy and I'm really pleased with what I came up with.

My grandpa makes a super secret recipe for something we call "Pop's Chop Suey" and while I can't share that recipe with you because I'd be disowned, I can tell you that I did draw some inspiration from that recipe for this one.

Ingredients:
1. 4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks
2. 1/2 cup of water
3. 1 onion, roughly chopped
4. 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
5. 4 celery stalks, chopped
6. 4 tablespoons of flour
7. 1 cup of snow peas, trimmed
8. 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
9. 6 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce
10. 2 cloves of garlic, minced
11. 1 can of bamboo shoots (make sure to drain)
12. 1 can of sliced water chestnuts (make sure to drain)
13. 2 cups of fresh bean sprouts

Directions: pull out your slow cooker and put in it: the chicken, water, onion and celery. Cover and cook on high of 3 hours. In a bowl, mix together the flour, soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar and sesame oil. Set aside. After the three hours is up, add the flour, soy sauce etc. mixture to the crock-pot and mix well. Then add the bamboo, water chestnuts, bean sprouts and snow peas and mix well. Cover and cook on high for an extra hour.  Serve with rice or chow mein noodles.

Fall is just around the corner and this weekend I'll be making a big crock of parsnip and carrot soup and can't wait to share it with you- it's the perfect cool weather pick me up.

If you're looking for more recipes and cooking tips, you might be interested in the Taste of Home Cooking School that'll be coming to Binghamton October 29th.  Learn more about how you can join me there here!