Paleo done in the crock pot

I'll be honest before going paleo I didn't use my crock pot all that much.  Due to it's sheer size it spent most of it's time tucked away in one of my cabinets-out of sight, out of mind.  Confession: I didn't actually remember I had one until I was packing to move (shocking I'm sure to dedicated crock pot users everywhere!) When I came across the crock pot I vowed that I cook more often in it.  It took finding just the right recipe to motivate me but I'm proud to report I did finally started using my crock pot(And of course it was one of Nom Nom Paleo's recipes!)

The recipe that ended my avoidance of the crock pot-

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN CACCIATORE

 Ms. Nom Nom offers some wonderful advice on cooking chicken in the slow cooker as it can too often be overcooked resulting in a crock pot fail.

Cook chicken ONLY 4-6 hours on LOW.

Choose meaty thighs for flavor.

Trim the fat and remove skin so your braising liquid doesn't become an oil slick.

Position a whole chicken breast side down (and cook a whole chicken on LOW for ONLY 4-6 hours).

Brown only when necessary for flavor.

What you'll need:2 onions, minced in my food processor
1/4 cup tomato paste (*I use Muir Glen)
2 tablespoons of butter (*Kerry Gold)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons of dried oregano
1/2 ounce of dried mixed wild mushrooms, rinsed and minced (use all dried porcini mushrooms if you have it) (*I omitted the dried mushrooms and opted to use all fresh due to price and availability.  I subbed sliced white, baby bellas and the below mentioned cremini)  
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1.5 pounds cremini mushrooms, trimmed and halved if small or quartered if large (*I eyeballed it, probably used closer to 1/2 lb vs 1.5)
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained (*Muir Glen)
1/2 cup organic chicken broth
1/2 cup dry red wine (*rule still applies here-good enough to drink)
3 pounds of boneless and skinless chicken thighs (the original recipe called for 12 skinless, bone-on thighs) (*I did breasts.)
1/4 chopped fresh basil

Here's how Nom Nom made it: 

Take onions, tomato paste, butter, garlic, oregano, wild mushrooms, and red pepper flakes in a microwave safe bowl and nuke for about 5 minutes or so until the onions are soft (*super easy, right? I wondered why I hadn't thought of cooking aromatics like that.)


Put the cooked aromatics in the slow cooker and stir in your assortment of mushrooms, tomatoes, broth, and wine.


Season the chicken with salt and pepper and nestle them into the slow cooker, mixing everything well.


Put the lid and cooked the dish for 4-6 hours on low.

*This dish is super yummy! Leftovers heat up well too (always a plus.) Enjoy and let me know how you like it!