Out Of This World Southwest Crockpot Dish

I just threw this together with ingredients I had in my fridge. How I haven't made this yet is beyond me! It's so ridiculously simple, yet the flavor is bold and unbeatable! There is a zing to it, there's a fragrance that comes from it while cooking, and the result is more than you could dream of. 

I started with a young chicken. I removed the gizzards and most of the skin. Personally, I don't like an overly greasy meal, I feel it takes from the dish. The skin comes off pretty easily with a little paring knife and your fingers. I thought of it as trying to get a squirming infant, fresh from the bath, into one of those tight one-piece body suit/pajama outfits. LOL!

Lay the naked bird into the crockpot.

Now let's get the ingredients going!

The chicken is from Fry's Food grocery store, whole.

I used 3 nopales (cactus "leaves" from my mother in law's garden...also available at any Mexican/Latin market for pretty cheap) and just sliced the them horizontally (from the picture's view).

1 15 oz can tomato sauce (free with coupon and sale!)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 large yellow onion, quartered

1 head of garlic (or a little less, to your taste)

3 jalapenos

about 3Tbsp each of tomato and chicken boullion

and just over a cup of water.

Oh yeah, and some salt and pepper. You really won't need much, the salt just brings out the flavors a little more.

Throw all of the prepped ingredients on top of the chicken and add water.

Cook on low for 8 hours or more. I started on high for 5 hours and then low for another 4. It doesn't make too much difference as long as you cook it for a good 8 hours. The longer, the better for flavor, tenderness, and moistness.

After it has cooked a while (I did this step at 4 hours), you want to remove the bones. They generally fall right off, but you want to be careful. I put the chicken in spine-up so I can just put my wooden spoon inside the carcass and just lift gently. That separates the body from the spine and allows you to get some of the ribs with it as well. If you do it after it's cooked longer, the ribs will just fall off and you'll have to fish them out. Make sure you get all of the bones out so you don't worry about someone cracking a tooth later. *ouch*

This is after I removed the bones, you can see how shredded the chicken is just from a little movement! It will get even better as the next few hours pass. Enjoy in enchiladas, tacos, burritos, over rice, or any other way that sounds delicious to you. I keep picking at it, so I'm just hoping there will be enough for dinner tonight. ENJOY!