Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Happy Labor Day weekend!  Labor Day is bittersweet for me.  Not only is it the symbolic "end of summer" (sniffle, sniffle), but it's also the time of year when my allergies go crazy on me (sniffle, sniffle).  I can't seem to go 10 minutes without sneezing (quite violently, I may add!), despite taking TWO Claritin everyday.  I think it's the ragweed.  But the weather is supposed to be nice this weekend and we have family coming into town, and we will probably be barbecuing and eating outside, so I will just make sure to bring my Kleenex box out with me!

The recipe I am sharing with you today is the main dish from the baptism lunch I was telling you about on Wednesday.  My husband baptized my niece a few weeks ago and we had some out-of-town family and friends over for an outdoors lunch afterwards.  I already shared with you my Summer Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, and today I've got the main event: Chicken Caesar Sandwiches made in the slow cooker.  I got the recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything.


Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ to 1 cup creamy Caesar dressing 
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 head Romaine or green leaf lettuce
8 mini hoagie rolls or steak rolls 

Instructions:
Place chicken in a  slow cooker, cover, and cook on low heat for 4-6 hours or until chicken is cooked through and tender enough to shred.  Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred.  Pour liquid out of slow cooker and return chicken to it.

Pour desired amount of dressing on chicken and toss to evenly coat.  Add Parmesan cheese and stir again.  If you’re doing this right after the chicken has cooked, and the slow cooker is still warm, turn it down to “warm” for serving.  If you cooked the chicken the day before, turn slow cooker to “low” until the chicken is warmed up, then turn to “warm”.

Line rolls with a bit of lettuce, and spoon chicken on top.  Serve warm.

Makes approximately 8 sandwiches.

These sandwiches would make a great contribution to your Labor Day feast.  The most wonderful thing about them (aside from their awesome taste), is that they are a great make-ahead recipe.  I slow cooked the chicken the day before until it was fall-apart tender and juicy (the slow cooker is hands-down THE BEST WAY to cook chicken breast meat), shredded it, then stashed it in the fridge.  The next morning before church, I got it out, put it in the slow cooker, poured on the sauce, and set it to low.  By the time we got home from church, the chicken was thoroughly warm, so I set the slow cooker to warm and it was ready to go.  Easy peasy!

Again, I had to guess on the number of servings this makes.  I actually doubled the recipe.  We had seven adults and three kids, so I wasn't sure 2 lbs. of chicken would be enough.  We did have some leftover, but I'm glad I doubled it, because I don't think it would have been enough.

I think these sandwiches would be especially good if you buttered and toasted the rolls before filling them.  I think it would give it a kind of "crouton" effect that would go with the Caesar salad theme.  I didn't feel like doing that when I made them, but I think it would be really good.  I had some bacon leftover from the other recipe I need to share with you, BLT Dip, and when we ate the leftovers, we threw a slice or two of bacon on the chicken caesar sandwiches and that was really good too.  By the way, we ate the leftovers cold and it was good that way too.

I hope you all have a great holiday weekend.  I'll be back on Monday to share with you my Secret Recipe Club pick for the month.  Here's a little teaser: It's a great thing to eat right after it rains. :)