Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili and Thank You Baby Jesus… The Prednisone is WORKING!

Hey Y’all!

I am back today with one of the yummy crockpot recipes that I cooked up yesterday during my two crockpot Sunday! This Chicken Chili is one of the best things I have made this year… Hee, hee… well. It is ONLY January 13! No but really… this is so yummy. I plan on making it a staple in my freezer!

When I checked in yesterday with the ol’ blog I was still having some major issues with swallowing and ulcers in my esophagus. I am happy to report after being on prednisone since Saturday, I am feeling LOADS better. I am still having some pain, but I am able to eat most soft mushy things right now. I am hoping by tomorrow I will be be back to myself. I still can’t have carbonated beverages right now, so I am sticking to tea and water. But I am feeling so much better than I have been. Now if I can just get this sleep thing going… I was up at 3:45 a.m. this morning. Oh well. I will take eating over sleeping right now!

Now on to the recipe! I found this on Pinterest.. so you can go there and look too. I didn’t take my usual photos of me cooking.. sorry y’all. I just wasn’t up to it!

To make Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili you will need:

1 can black beans
1 can corn, undrained *You can use yellow corn or a mixture of sweet and yellow. I did the mixture!
1 can Rotel, undrained … if you don’t like Rotel you can substitute diced tomatoes without the green chiles. I had to do that this time. Rotel and esophagus ulcers REALLY don’t mix.
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 tsp cumin *I did not add this…. cumin and I DO NOT GET ALONG
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 8 oz package light cream cheese
2 chicken breasts *I added 3 this time. I was trying to get some more protein in since I haven’t been eating.

Drain and rinse black beans. Place your chicken at bottom of your crockpot, then pour out whole can of corn (undrained), Rotel, and black beans. Top with the seasonings and ranch mix. Stir all ingredients together. Place the cream cheese on top of the chicken. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. As it cooks, after about 3 hours, you may want to go ahead and blend your cream cheese into your mixture. After about 6 or so hours use tongs to remove the chicken breasts. Then  use 2 forks to shred chicken. At this point your chicken is really falling apart, so it won’t require a lot of effort to shred. Add the shredded chicken back into the crockpot and cook for 20 or so more minutes. Then serve!

It is really yummy! On piece of advice I would give is to double the recipe if you are cooking for more than 3. For me I got 6 Julia servings, which was about a cup and a half each. If you want to cook this and have leftovers, then I would absolutely double the recipe. When I added the third chicken breast it made it less liquidy, which is what I was wanting. If you want it more soup like and you are only cooking for a small group, then just add the two chicken breasts. But go ahead and print this one out y’all… It’s a GOODIE!

Here’s a my plate with a taste…. tomorrow I will be back with the Crockpot Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo… which is now tied with this recipe for recipe of the year!

 

Tootles!

JKP

Sopa del Taco (Taco Soup) - Crockpot Style

Hey Y'all!

For Christmas I bought myself a fantastic new cookbook. It is part of the "Fix It and Forget It" cookbook line. This was more of a magazine than a book, but it is jam packed with yummy recipes. This is one of them. Talk about easy. Talk about yummy.

To make Taco Soup you will need:

1 packet of Ranch Dressing mix
1 packet of Taco Seasoning mix
1 15 oz. can of  red kidney beans, undrained
1 15oz. can of black beans, undrained
1 15 oz can of corn, undrained  (I had white in my pantry, but you can use regular too!)
1 28 oz cans of CRUSHED tomatoes, undrained
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound of ground beef

Now. Stay tuned. This is hard.

Brown the beef. Drain fat and add to slow cooker. Combine all other ingredients. Do NOT drain any of the cans. Mix well. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

 Garnish with cilantro and sour cream if you would like to. I added some shredded cheddar cheese to mine. Enjoy. Yummy in your tummy!!!! This also freezes very well. I took it for lunch all last week!
This makes about 8 servings.

Happy Crockpotin'!
:0) JKP

Snowman Enchilada Soup

Hey Y'all!

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy during this busy holiday season! Many of my students have been sick with one virus or another and I keep saying.. HAND SANITIZER!!! We still have this entire week of school plus Monday AND Tuesday next week. Lord help me! I am so ready for some time off to spend with friends and family! Everyday I come home and Pitty Pat and I turn on our Christmas trees. We love to look at the lights, turn on the fire place and watch a good Christmas movie!

It has finally turned cold here, well for a few days anyway, so I thought I would share a recipe I tried about a month ago. This soup is creamy and has a bit of a kick to it! But it is very quick to make and feels great in a tummy on a cold day!

I got this recipe off of the Kraft website.. it's original name is Santa Fe Enchilada Soup.. but I am really wishing for some snow (see miraculous events) so I wanted to use snowman in my version!

Here's what you will need for Snowman Enchilada Soup

1 lb.boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (not pictured, still in the fridge)

1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme (this stuff is AWESOME!)

1 cup milk

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed

1 can (11 oz.) corn with red and green bell peppers, drained (This is Mexicorn in the corn aisle)

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional right now... especially with the recall.)

 

Start by cooking chicken in a skillet for 8 to 10 minutes or until done. Make sure to spray your skillet with nonstick cooking spray first!

 

After chicken has finished cooking stir in the cooking creme, milk, corn, beans and tomatoes. Stir and simmer on medium/low heat for 6 to 8 minutes.

 

 

Make sure the soup is heated thoroughly. Serve the soup with a side of tortilla chips and cilantro.

Enjoy!!!!! :)

 

 

Also, you may have noticed I have a new widget on the ol' blog! I am back to trying to walk my 10,000 steps a day and I thought y'all might like to see my progress! I have found that the weekends are hard, but the school days seem to be easy! My steps include 3 Pitty Pat walks, trips around school, errands and usually some sort of exercise walk. Let's hope I can keep this up!

 

I have also updated my Reads From the Beach Chair.. I love to read stories that take place during Christmas during this time of year!

 

Tootles!

:) JKP

Zesty Is My Bestie Beef Stew

Hey Y'all!

Sorry, long time no blog! But, as many of my readers know, October is a HIDEOUS month for teachers in my school district. I just wrapped up parent teacher conferences, report cards, benchmark tests and about 100 other things going on at school! The good thing is.. October is almost over. And NOVEMBER is almost here!

These past few weeks have been rough. I have been fighting the Dizzy Lizzies and I am still incredibly tired. In fact, it is a miracle that I am still up right now and it is 7:22! I am hoping that the time change next weekend, along with that extra hour will help. But. I am going to miss the sun! Anyhoo... let's get a move on with our recipe! Of course I am going to reward you with a recipe... I mean I have been gone for weeks it seems! Here we go!

This is the perfect dish to throw together, and I mean THROW together if you are having a football party or even if you are going to a game. Besides going out and buying the ingredients, it will take you all of 6 minutes to put this together. In my book that is a "WINNER, WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" kind of meal!

You will need the following to make this Zesty Is My Bestie Beef Stew

1 pound of beef stew meat cut into 1 inch or 1/2 inch cubes. I have a fear of choking on meat, so I cut my pieces tiny. Also. If you have EVER had an intestinal blockage... you cut everything INTO SMALL PIECES. I know. TMI!

1 package (16 ounces) of frozen mixed veggies- thawed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 and 1/2 cups of water
1 can (8 ounces) of pizza sauce
1 tablespoon of dried minced onion
2 teaspoons of beef bouillon granules (you can find this on the soup aisle)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (this puts the zesty in the stew. I added 1 teaspoon, but I don't have children. Well, human ones. You may just want to add a pinch if you have kiddies.)
**This is not called for in the recipe, but a dash or two of salt is good too!

Don't forget to cut your meat into 1 to 1/2 inch cubes. It makes the stew better and BONUS if you are a teacher and take the stew for lunch, you won't have to find a way to cut up the meat pieces. Ahem.

Now. This is the HARDEST part of the entire recipe.

COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS INTO THE CROCKPOT. Cover and cook on low for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours. Bake up some cornbread. Or not. ENJOY!!! :)

This makes about 6 servings, but I put mine in smaller containers to freeze and I got about 8. I am still eating on this and it is YUMMY. Perfect for a chilly night.

ALSO, I was lucky enough to score a copy of Debbie Macomber's Christmas Cookbook from my library this week. Y'all. I have enough inspiration recipes to keep us rocking 'til the new year! This weekend I am cooking up (well, crockpoting up) a white bean chicken chili. Oh yeah. I will post when it has been Julia approved.

It's almost time for the Bing Bang Theory... here's hoping I stay awake!

Tootles!
:) JKP

Soup's On!!!!!!

Hey Y'all!

Well, this semi fall weather we are having has my tummy craving some yummy Butternut Squash Soup. Last year, I fell in LOVE with the Butternut Squash Soup at Atlanta Bread Company, but they haven't started serving it yet this year. So using the magic of the Internets... I, of course, found a Paula Deen recipe to adapt! So far I have made this soup twice, and it has been yummy both times! Also, it is cheaper to make than to run to the Atlanta Bread Company every night!

For this recipe you will need the following:



1 Butternut Squash that is at least 2 pounds. The second time I made this soup, I got smart and got the pre-cut version at Costco! If you don't have the pre-cut option, skin the squash and cut it into 1 inch cubes
3 cans of Chicken Broth
2 full size carrots cut up.. all I had at the time were the mini ones
Dash of salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg
2 teaspoons of butter
1/2 cup of whipping cream, you can use light or even milk if you prefer

Bring the squash, carrots and chicken broth to a boil on the stove. Let it simmer uncovered for about 40 minutes, stirring it occasionally.

After simmering, add 2 teaspoons of butter. I used margarine. Also add your dash of nutmeg, cinnamon and salt and pepper. I also added a pinch of sugar too! Then ladle spoonfuls into your blender and select the puree option.

After you blend your first half, add a couple of tablespoons of the soup mixture to your waiting cream. That way, when you whip in the cream at the end, it won't curdle.



When you are completely done with the blending, whip in your cream.

Add a dollop of sour cream and some warm french bead... and yumo!!!!!!

I freeze the remaining soup. Believe it or not, the soup is actually BETTER the day after you make it! I promise, you will get addicted to this soup!

Enjoy!
:) JKP