Crockpots+ Chicken= Awesome Easy Dinners

A very sweet Friend sent me some chicken crock pot recipes, they are simple, easy, and quick three of my favorite things :)
I have a picture of the Chicken Stroganoff, we had it over some Spaetzle noodles and I added some Mushrooms to the recipe. I can't seem to make stroganoff without mushrooms, it just doesn't seem right :)

Then we tried the Honey Chicken recipe, and it was yummy.
I added in 1/2c. shredded carrots to it when I added the sauce in.

Quick and Easy Crock Pot
Chicken Recipes

From Jenn B.

Basic Recipe: Start with 2 lbs frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts (4 breasts). Cook in the crock pot on high for at least 4 hours (no pink in the middle). I like to cook 1 diced onion and 1/8 c of minced garlic along with the chicken breasts. Adjust the amount of chicken and other ingredients according to the size and taste of your family. Four chicken breasts serves 6-8, depending! After cooking and preparing the chicken, stir in any of the following combinations of ingredients and change the crock pot setting to low for a few hours until serving.

Taco Chicken: Shred chicken breast. Stir in ½c taco seasoning and 1c water. If you prefer, you can add the taco seasoning with the frozen breasts. You can also add into prepared beans 1-2 cans (15 oz) (pinto, refried, kidney, black) and/or salsa, chopped green chile peppers. Serve as you would taco meat.


Honey Chicken: Shred chicken breast. Stir in 1c honey, ½c butter, ½c French’s mustard, 2tsp curry powder. Serve over rice.

Teriyaki Chicken: Chop chicken. Mix in a bowl: ¾c soy sauce, ¾c sugar, 2Tbs. red wine vinegar, 3tsp vegetable oil, ½-1tsp ground ginger; stir in with chicken in crock pot. Serve over rice.

Spaghetti Chicken: Leave chicken breast whole or chop to desired size. Add premade spaghetti sauce (approx 9c) or your family’s favorite spaghetti sauce ingredients. Serve over noodles. You can also put the sauce in with the frozen breasts.


Chicken Taco Soup: Reserve 2 breasts. Chop or shred chicken. Stir in ¼c taco seasoning, ¼c salsa, 2-3 cans of beans (15oz) (black, pinto, kidney), 1 can (15oz) chopped tomatoes, 1 can chopped green chile peppers, cilantro and 4-6c liquid as desired (water, tomato sauce, or chicken broth). Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, and fresh diced avocados if you like!

White Chicken Chili: Reserve 2 breasts. Chop or shred chicken. Stir in 1 can diced green chile peppers, 2tsp ground cumin, 1tsp dried oregano, ½-1tsp cayenne pepper, 3 (14oz) cans chicken broth, 3 cans white beans. Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese and sour cream, if desired.


BBQ Chicken Sandwiches: Shred chicken. Stir in one bottle of BBQ sauce (approx. 3c) of your choice or use your favorite recipe. Serve on buns.

Chicken Stroganoff: Add ¼c butter and 2 (.7 oz) packages dry Italian style salad dressing mix, with the frozen chicken breasts. After chicken is cooked, cube chicken, add 16oz cubed cream cheese and 2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of chicken soup, stir. Cook on LOW for 2 hours or HIGH for 1 hour. Serve over noodles.

Pierogi Madness

I seem to be afflicted with Pierogi madness.

First we had the Homemade Pierogi's, from Donna at My Tasty Treasures.

Then we had Pierogi Lasagna, also from Donna, (maybe she has the madness too.)

Then I found a recipe for Pierogi Chowder on a blog called- A Thousand Soups, yummy.

I did a Google search of soup blogs and I found this great blog- A Thousand Soups.

I had to make this, it was WONDERFUL. And it got 4 kid thumb ups from the critics. I am posting the recipe, then at the end I will tell you what I did because I tweaked it just a wee bit.

Pierogi Chowder
Ingred;
2T. vegetable oil
2c. chopped onion
8c. water
3c. diced potatoes
2c. instant potato flakes
2c. milk
1/2lb American cheese, shredded or cubed
6oz wide egg noodles, cooked until tender
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat and add oil. Toss in onion and cook until translucent.
2. Add water and diced potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. When potatoes are tender, mash until broken up.
4. Add potato flakes and stir well.
5. Pour in milk and stir until smooth.
6. Stir in American cheese and mix until cheese is melted.
7. Blend in drained noodles and add salt and pepper to taste.

I used 2T. butter and 1T. olive oil instead of the vegetable oil. I used 4c. water 4c. chicken stock. For my instant potato flakes I used Betty Crockers Four Cheese Instant Potatoes. I had some cream that needed used up so I used that instead of milk and I never have American cheese so I used shredded Cheddar cheese. I also used white pepper instead of regular, because Miss M always complains if there is pepper speaks in her soup.

The soup was very very good and will be made many more times in my house. If you are a soup person you definitely need to go check out that soup blog she has many many great looking recipes, there are several there that I can't wait to try.

I am going to enter this in the Souper Sunday Soups, that is another great place to go look if you are wanting some new soup recipes to try out.

Bloggity Blogged Down

Hi all I am back. I have been back for a little over a week actually, I have just been bogged down with all the catching up I needed to do and with the things coming up and with the emotions I have been dealing with.

My trip was wonderful, I got to see all my SISTERS, and catch up with some great FRIENDS, but most of all I got to spend time and visit with my Gram :)
She hasn't been doing very well and I had been feeling for weeks that I needed to go and see her. I have SO many great and wonderful memories of my WONDERFUL Gram, she is one of those people who knows how to make you feel like you are the most special person in the whole world. Several of my Thanks giving recipes are from her so I will post more about that later.

I have 2 recipes for you, the first one my Cousin and I came up with while I was visiting. She is another special Lady that I couldn't do without :)

Hot and Mel's Artichoke Olive Dip

Ingred;
1 pkg Knorr spring vegetable recipe mix
1c. chopped, marinated artichokes hearts
1/2c. chopped garlic stuffed green olives
1/2c. mayo
1c. sour cream
1c. shredded mozzarella cheese
Bread or crackers for dipping

Oven 350
Stir together all the ingred except the bread ( of course :) and spread into a small baking dish. Cook for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

We had this with bread, chips and crackers it was delicious on all three. It's a new favorite for us :)




The other recipe I have is an old favorite of mine. A friend introduced me to pesto about 7 years ago, fresh, homemade pesto. I have never been able to bring myself to buy pesto since then, have you seen what passes off as pesto in the grocery stores???? ewwww.

Perfect Pesto

Ingred;
1c. basil leaves
1/4c. pine nuts
1/4c. parmesan cheese
1/2t. salt
1/4c. olive oil

Place all but the olive oil into a food processor, pulse until all is finely ground, drizzle in the olive oil while pulsing until all is combined.
Store in the fridge or you can freeze in ice cube trays for adding to soups and sauces later.

I am having mine over some chicken and pasta tonight, of course I had to try it right? :)

Perfect :) :) :)

I have received some very special awards from some very special Blog Friends that I will be posting sometime later this week.
Thank You All for the wonderful comments you left me.

Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater

OK, OK! I admit it I am a cheater.
But I couldn't help myself, Donna's Pierogi Lasagna looked SOOOO good, and I had to have some. Even if it meant cheating, I only cheated a little- by using instant potatoes...... and not cooking onions in the butter......... OK!!! I cheated on the whole thing!
Am I sorry? NO, it was DELICIOUS! It probably would have been even better had I made the potatoes from scratch and sauteed the onions in butter, but I only had instant potatoes and no onions and I was desperate I tell you!
So here is a link to the real version, (be warned her blog is a little risque, but full of yummy recipes) Thank You Thank You Thank You Donna for sharing this recipe, it is amazing :)
As for my total cheater short-cut version, here it is-

Pierogi Lasagna

Ingred;
1 box- (2pkg) Betty Crocker 4 cheese instant potatoes- prepared as instructed
1c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 box lasagna noodles
1c. butter- real butter- melted

Cook the noodles and drain, heat oven to 350.
Stir the cheese into the prepared mashed potatoes.
Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam, lay 3 noodles across the bottom of the pan,
spread on a layer of the potatoes, repeat 2 or 3 more times.
Finish with 3 noodles, carefully pour the melted butter over top of it all.
Cover with tin foil and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
ENJOY, and you will because it's AWESOME :)

Spaghetti & Eyeballs

Come on now, who wouldn't want a big plate of Spaghetti topped with eyeballs-
See they're even looking at you!

Another one of our Halloween favorites :) :) :)

Eyeballs
Ingred;
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1/2c. bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2t. sage
1/2t. oregano
1/2t. salt
1t. onion powder

Mix all ingred. together and form into 1 inch balls,
Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.
Add to your pasta and enjoy!