White Chicken Chili (Crock Pot)

My friend, Brandi, posted this recipe on her cooking blog, and I made it yesterday. YUM!! So easy, simple ingredients, and you can just stick frozen chicken breasts in the Crock Pot. Awesome...
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White Chicken Chili
1 1/4 lbs boneless frozen or thawed skinless chicken (I just threw 3 breasts in the crockpot)
2 (15 oz) cans great northern beans or navy beans
1 (15 oz) can of hominy or white corn (I would suggest white corn. Hominy was not my fave)
1 (1 1/4 oz) envelope taco seasoning
1 (4 1/2 oz) can of chopped green chilies
1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1/2 C. sour cream
chopped green onion (optional, but I suggest!)
monterey jack cheese (optional, but I suggest!)

Directions:

1. Place chicken in a 4 qt slow cooker.
2. Top with beans and corn.
3. In a medium bowl, combine taco seasoning, chilies, condensed soup, and broth. 4. Pour over top of ingredients in crock pot.
5. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
6. Before serving, stir gently to break up chicken, then stir in the sour cream. Serve topped with green onions and jack cheese, if desired.

*We also topped ours with crushed up tortilla chips, AND I had avocados that I intended to use but totally forgot about. HA! That would have been good with it, too,though, had I remembered!

Gotta love it...

My mother-in-law bought me probably the best cookbook I have ever been gifted for my birthday back in August. It is a cookbook for college students...you know, those on-a-tight-budget, without-any-cooking-skills, crunched-for-time people! Perfect book for my kitchen if I do say so myself!! :) I will definitely be trying and posting recipes from this book, and I'm using many of the recipes to create Month 3 of meals. This one hasn't been tested yet by my fam, but I'm assuming it's simple enough...(famous last words, right?!) Oh well, here's the recipe. I'll be sure to delete it if it's just awful after I make it.

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Chicken Parmesan

*Crock pot!! Woohoo!!*

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 (10 3/4 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup

3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 - 1/2 c water

Salt and pepper, to taste

(Vermicelli) noodles, cooked (I'll use whatever I have on hand)

Instructions:

1. In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients except noodles.

2. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.

3. Serve over noodles.

Southwestern Chicken in the Crock Pot

Ingredients:
2 cans (15 1/4 oz.) whole kernel sweet corn, drained
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained
1 jar (16 oz.) chunky salsa, divided
6 chicken breasts*
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:
1. Combine corn, beans, and 1/2 c salsa in crock pot.
2. Top with chicken.
3. Pour remaining salsa over chicken.
4. Cook on low 7-8 hours.
5. Sprinkle with cheese and replace lid until cheese melts.

*This is REALLY good with Pilgrim's Pride "Eat Well, Stay Healthy" Frozen chicken fillets!!

I name recipes after the people who share them with me

Kind of like "Dawn's Chicken Casserole"...I'm sure she didn't invent the recipe for that dish, but she made it for me, I loved it, and therefore I dubbed it HERS!! Our friend, Mario, made us this once, and I think we have requested it every single dinner get-together since. (He even came to our house to make it once! ha!) Anyway, even with the instructions he gives me, the lessons I have been through while watching him make it, and every tip I have written down on my recipe card, mine still doesn't turn out as wonderful as his. Nevertheless, I continue attempting this recipe, and it's going on my month of meals this month...so here goes!
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Mario's Chicken and Noodles

Ingredients:
Olive oil
spaghetti noodles
chicken
bread crumbs
paprika
Chicken breasts
eggs

Instructions:
1. Begin boiling a pot of water.
2. Scramble the eggs and set aside.
3. Saute onions and set aside.
4. Pound the chicken breasts between two sheets of wax paper until they are thin.
5. Coat the chicken in bread crumbs. (Paprika is to your liking, I suppose.)
6. Pound the chicken a little more to get the crumbs "set." Set chicken aside, close by and ready to roll if you get stressed out easily while cooking like I do.
7. Once the water is boiling on the stove, heat a little olive oil on the stove, and throw in the spaghetti noodles to give them a light brown color. (Note: This is where I usually make my first mistake...and I think the toasted noodles are the best part.)
8. When the noodles look light brown in color, put them immediately into the pot of boiling water.
9. Fry chicken in olive oil (add more oil as needed.)
10. While chicken is frying, drain noodles and mix scrambled eggs and sauteed onions in with noodles in the hot pot to heat all throughout.
11. Serve fried chicken on top of noodles
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YES!! It is complicated, at least for me it was and still is!! It stresses me out a little bit just typing all of that out. Here's the thing, though (since the point of this blog is supposed to be EASY cooking!): the only reason I think it's stressful is because I never do the steps in the right order. Things get burnt or cold because I am always a step (or 2!) behind. Hopefully with it all written out this way, I will do better this month. It really shouldn't be that hard...I mean, seriously!!!!!!

I love casseroles!

Casseroles are wonderful. You can easily add/subtract ingredients on a whim without ruining the whole dish, and best of all, you can make it during a quiet, less eventful time of your day and have it ready to throw in the oven during the crazy afternoon hours. THIS is one of my favorite casseroles. I only make part of it early on in the day, and add the rest right before cooking. Still...a lot of time and stress is saved.

A friend brought this to us after one of the babies was born, and I don't know what it is officially called. I have named it "Dawn's Chicken Casserole," because that's who made it for us. And so, without further ado, ...

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Dawn's Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
4 large chicken breasts, boiled
16 oz. sour cream (yes, you read that correctly...probably why this is so yummy :) )
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package Chicken-flavored Stuffing Mix (I like Kraft's Stove Top)

Instructions:
1. Cut up chicken and place in greased casserole dish.
2. Mix sour cream and soup in a bowl and fold into chicken.
3. Prepare stuffing according to package directions.
4. Press stuffing lightly onto chicken mixture.
5. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until stuffing looks a little brown and crispy.

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Dawn brought us a bag of steamed corn and some simple pre-made rolls from the grocery store bakery, and it ended up being one of those meals I felt like I could mix up together in a bowl and eat just like that.

A Soup that makes the cut for hot Texas weather

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

2 pounds chicken, boiled and cubed or shredded
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (15 ounce) can beef broth (or 2 cups)
2 (15 ounce) cans chicken broth (or 4 cups)
1 tablespoon Worchestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 tablespoon chili powder (adjust to taste)
1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Green Chilis
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
I (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
Mexican blend cheese, shredded
Tortilla chips
sour cream, optional

Instructions:

1. In large pot, saute onions in olive oil for 10 minutes or until soft.

2.Pour remaining ingredients in the pot. Mix and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Serve with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, and sour cream, if desired.

Cheesy Chicken Casserole

This is one meal friends have brought us after I have had babies. It is yummy and freezes well! Depending on your family's taste for spicy foods, you can adjust the amount of chili powder/cayenne pepper to your liking.

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Cheesy Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
Cooked chicken (boiled is great)
1 pkg. spaghetti
3 c shredded cheddar cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c chicken broth
1 T seasoned salt
can of diced tomatoes
chili powder or cayenne pepper

Instructions:
1. Boil spaghetti
2. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces
3. Drain tomatoes
4. Put all in a bowl. Pour in 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup.
5. Pour in 2 c cheese
6. Add chicken broth
7. Add spices
8. Pour spaghetti mixture into casserole dish. Sprinkle rest of cheese on top.
9. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

Italian Chicken Breasts

Italian Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:
3/4 c shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 c shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 sleeve Ritz crackers
Chicken breasts, boiled
2 eggs, beaten
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Instructions:
1. Beat eggs in a bowl, set aside
2. Crush Ritz crackers in ziploc bag.
3. Add cheeses to crackers in ziploc and shake to mix.
4. Spray pan and pour spaghetti sauce in to cover bottom.
5. Dip chicken in egg then coat with cheese and cracker mixture.
6. Set into dish, on top of sauce
7. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes
8. If desired, scoop sauce onto chicken prior to serving.

*This meal is great with buttered spaghetti noodles and a vegetable on the side!

Chipotle Chicken Burritos

As I was planning meals and making my grocery list recently, I was trying to think of meals I make that don't require pulling out a recipe card. I'm not talking about recipes I have memorized, I'm talking straight from my head, thrown together meals I have made that turned out well. For example, chicken burritos. We LOVE Chipotle, and while we have recently made the switch from burritos to the burrito bowl, I still like to make burritos at home and pretend we're eating at this beloved restaurant :)

I experimented a little bit with different chicken and toppings, and this eventually came to my rescue. Yep, pre-packaged, pre-seasoned, fully cooked chicken. STOP! Don't look at the ingredient list or nutrition content...I haven't either, and I'm still sitting here typing this, so at least you know you won't die.

The best part (in my opinion) about burritos for dinner? No need for a side dish!!
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Chipotle Chicken Burritos

Ingredients:
flour tortillas, burrito-sized
John Soules Foods' Chicken Fajitas chicken strips (whatever size bag you need)
sour cream
canned black beans
shredded cheese, I like the "Mexican" bag or Monterrey Jack and Colby cheeses
rice (again, I go for easy, so I do 90 second rice in a bag...chicken flavored seems to taste the best on these burritos, the Garden vegetable has worked well, too)
canned sweet corn
Anything else you want: diced tomatoes, guacamole, etc...

Instructions:
(I like mine layered differently than Chipotle, but all of this is obviously your own preference)
1. Heat tortillas in microwave or however you prefer
2. Spread sour cream over tortilla
3. Throw chicken, black beans, corn, and cheese on top.
4. Roll it up ever so carefully and EAT! :)

Poppyseed Chicken

Even my five year old said this dinner was "delicious!!" So easy to make, ingredients you probably have in your fridge and pantry, only cooks 30 minutes. Yummy!!

Unfortunately for me, I was nursing sore gums and teeth from a visit to the dentist today, so my dinner was tomato soup with goldfish. Oh well, hopefully I can enjoy the leftovers tomorrow! :)
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Poppyseed Chicken (aka Creamy Chicken Casserole)

Ingredients:
3 c chopped cooked chicken (I boiled 3 breasts for each dish...I froze an extra dish of this)
10 3/4 oz. cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
1 T poppy seeds
Crushed crackers (I used 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers)
1/4 c melted butter (I skipped this since Ritz are buttery enough for me!)

Instructions:
1. Combine and mix chicken, soup, sour cream, and poppy seeds in a bowl.
2. Spread into greased baking dish.
3. Combine crushed crackers and butter and sprinkle over top of chicken mixture.
4. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes!

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

So many recipes have "Easy" in the title...and then they're hard for me.

And then there are "30 minute meals" that take me an hour by the time it's all said and done.

I named this blog "Not a cook at heart" for a reason. When I come across meals and recipes that I can do myself without having to look up the meaning of words, I want to share with my friends who might be in the same predicament I am in.

I thought this recipe was one that I would be able to make with my eyes closed. I had made it numerous times, although it had been awhile. Well, I messed it up. And do you know what's worse than messing up a meal? Making an extra dish of something so you can freeze it for a later date...and then messing that one up, too. Frustration, stress...I am not a cook.

Hopefully, the steps I switched around and the spraying of the pan ("in an ungreased 9" pie pan...") won't mess up our dinner too much (and that of the pie in the freezer.) At least my family knows I'm trying :)

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Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:
bag of frozen mixed vegetables THAWED (use as much as you would like)
1 cup cut-up cooked (boiled is best) chicken
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix vegetables, chicken, and soup in ungreased 9" pie pan.
3. Stir remaining ingredients with a fork until blended.
4. Pour into pie plate (on top of other ingredients.) Don't stir.
5. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.

EASY...as long as you follow directions ;)