Crock Pot Chicken & Artichoke in a Creamy Tomato Sauce with Penne for Two

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID: Tastes great, needs a little more zest.
SHE SAID: Yum, yes, lacks zest.

Over the past few weeks we've been putting a lot of thought into cleaning out our homes...purging.  One of the areas we've gone through...the kitchen.  We keep telling ourselves - we really need to use what we have in the cupboards.  The one can that's been haunting us - artichoke hearts.  Seems like it's been there forever!

We found an Artichoke Pasta recipe and made it our own.  It's very tasty, but we both love zesty Italian and although we did add rosemary and Italian seasoning, this dish really tasted like an Americanized pasta dish.  Well, it's probably because the chef forgot to add the seasoning in and threw some in about an hour into cooking and guesstimated on the amounts.  We're planning on fixing the leftovers up by "zesting" it up a bit.  However, the male half of this couple (he LOVES pasta) - he really enjoyed the dish (minus the artichokes).

RECIPE

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 6-8 hours on low (if you cook this without the chicken - 4-5 hours on low)
4 qt crock pot (we think we could've squeezed this into the 2 qt)

3/4 lb boneless, skinless thighs, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 - 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (you can use diced Italian tomatoes - we use crushed since the male half of this couple doesn't care for chunks of tomatoes and we didn't have time to run the diced tomatoes in the food processor)
1 - 14.5 oz can of artichoke hearts in water, drained and lightly chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. pimiento stuffed olives, chopped in half (or whole)
1/2 c. dry white wine
1/4 - 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream (add in the last 30 minutes)
1/2 lb. cooked pasta (add later, we used penne)
1/4 c. shredded parmesan cheese (add in the last 30 minutes)
shredded parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top (optional)

NOTE: If you're using crushed tomatoes, you'll want to add Italian seasoning (2 T.), some dried rosemary (1 t.), maybe some pesto, etc...whatever you'd like to add.  It's really a matter of taste.

Pour crushed tomatoes into pot.  Add chicken, artichokes, garlic and olives.  Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low.  During the last 30 minutes, mix in the heavy whipping cream and 1/4 c. shredded parmesan cheese...you'll want to do this quickly since your pot will lose a lot of heat without the cover on.  Sever over cooked pasta, sprinkle parmesan cheese on the finished product.

Enjoy...we sure did!