Orange Chicken Leg Quarters

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love my crock pot and we were particularly lucky to get a really nice one from my sister-in-law and her husband. My favorite thing about the crockpot is that people think you spent all this time putting a recipe together when really you put the ingredient in that morning, and 8 hours later walah! an awesome meal that took you hardly any effort at all! I got this recipe from a book called Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly by Phyllis Pellman Good. I bought this book from Amazon for $5 after shipping and handling and I highly recommend it! My friend Missy was the first to try this recipe and we all LOVE it! It has an extensive list of ingredients, but most of it is stuff you have laying around your kitchen.

Orange Chicken Leg Quarters

4 chicken drumsticks, skin removed*
4 chicken thighs, skin removed
1 c. strips of green and red bell peppers
1/2 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. prepared orange juice
1/2 c. ketchup
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. molasses
1 T. prepared mustard
1/2 t. garlic salt
11-oz can mandarin oranges
2 t. cornstarch
1 c. frozen peas
2 green onions, sliced

1. Place chicken in slow cooker. Top with pepper strips.
2. Combine broth, juice, ketchup, soy sauce, molasses, mustard, and garlic salt. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on low 5-6 hours.
4. Remove chicken and vegetables from slow cooker. Keep warm.
5. Measure out 1 cup of cooking sauce. Put in saucepan and bring to boil.
6. Drain oranges, reserving 1 Tbsp. juice. Stir cornstarch into reserved juice. Add to boiling sauce in pan.
7. Add peas to sauce and cook, stirring 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens and peas are warm. Stir in oranges.
8. Arrange chicken pieces on platter of cooked white rice, fried cellophane noodles, or lo mein noodles. Pour orange sauce over chicken and rice or noodles. Top with sliced green onions.

* I usually just use 8-10 drumsticks because I generally don't have drumsticks and thighs lying around. They also recommend that you remove the skin, but I recommend that you DON'T remove the skin until after cooking if you want to remove it at all.