Slow-Cooker Chicken in a Creamy Italian Sauce

Whipped this up for dinner last night and both the husband and kiddo loved it. Plus, it's a slow cooker meal so you know it's easy to boot!

Ingredients

• 3- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 package (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• Rice or noodles, cooked according to package directions.

Directions

1. Place the chicken breast halves in a slow cooker.

2. Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over chicken.

3. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours.

4. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together cream cheese and soup until blended.

5. Pour cream cheese mixture over chicken.

6. Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours more, until chicken juices run clear.

7. When chicken has 30 minutes of cook time left, stir in sour cream. Allow chicken to finish cooking.

7. Serve Italian chicken over hot rice or noodles.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Wow! It's flu season and the flu hit our little family... hard! Coughing, fevers, nausea, chills; you name it, we had it. Thankfully, we are all on the mend now, but I can't tell you how wonderful a bowl full of this simple, tasty soup felt while being so sick.

It's doesn't require all manner of fancy ingredients; I bet you have most, if not all, of this stuff in your kitchen now. Plus, it's low in fat. You just can't go wrong with this simple staple!

So, go enjoy a couple bowls of this savory soup and call me in the morning!

• 1 medium onion
• Tbsp vegetable oil
  
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1 cup carrots
• 1 cup celery
• 2 cups egg noodles
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop onion and then saute in the oil in a large soup pot until translucent.

2. Add broth, chicken breasts, and bay leaf to the onions in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked all the way through and tender (about 45 minutes).

3. Remove chicken from broth and cut into bite-sized pieces.

4. Add celery and carrots to broth and simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Add egg noodles and parsley to broth and simmer an additional 5-7 minutes or just until egg noodles are tender. Don't overcook the egg noodles or they will fall apart.

6. Add chicken to soup and stir to combine and warm through.

7. Salt and pepper to taste.

Creamy Chicken, Corn, and Spinach Enchiladas

With a creamy green sauce, this is a new and tasty twist on enchiladas. I found the original recipe for these on foodnetwork.com and made a few changes to suit our tastes. This is one of my husband's favorite meals and he hates spinach! Note that you can also substitute 2 cups cooked brown or wild rice or 1 can of black beans (rinsed and dried) for the chicken to make this dish vegetarian friendly. If you use rice, do not cook it all the way as it will spend some more time in the oven.

Filling:

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken, pulled apart by hand (substitute rice or beans, if wanted)
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced mild green chiles
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 (14 ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1 (10 ounce) box frozen creamed spinach, thawed
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1 cup already shredded Monterey jack or Mild Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 12 super size corn tortillas (each about 6 1/2-inches across)

Sauce:

• 3/4 cup green taco sauce or salsa verde (not chunky)
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• Shredded Monterey jack or Mild Cheddar cheese, to taste
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves (optional)

1. Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Lightly coat a 13 by 9-inch pan and a piece of foil large enough to cover the pan with nonstick cooking spray.

To make the filling:

3. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it is clear, but not caramelized (about 4 minutes).

4. Add shredded chicken (or rice or beans - whatever you are using), chiles and chili powder to the skillet, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

5. Remove from the heat and stir in the spinach, corn, cheese, sour cream, and salt.

6. Place a stack of 6 tortillas between damp paper towels and microwave on high power until the tortillas are hot and soft enough to roll, about 1 minute. Cover with a cloth towel to keep warm.

7. Remove 1 tortilla at a time, keeping the other tortillas covered, and place a rounded 1/3 cup of the filling down to the center. Roll into a cylinder and place in the prepared pan, seam side down and close enough to touch.

8. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

9. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake about 30 minutes.

To make the sauce:

10. While enchiladas bake, stir the taco sauce and sour cream together in a small bowl.

11. Once enchiladas have baked for 30 minutes, uncover the pan and spread the sauce over the hot enchiladas. Sprinkle cheese and cilantro over the top.

12. Return to the oven, uncovered, and bake until the cheese melts and the sauce is bubbly, about 10 minutes.

13. Serve warm and enjoy!

Slow-Cooker BBQ Chicken

Ok, so some may argue that making a slow-cooker meal doesn't really count as "cooking." I say just because you aren't slaving in the kitchen for hours, doesn't mean that you can't take credit for a delicious, homemade meal! This chicken is perfect in a sandwich and can be thrown together in no time. Also, if you use a crock pot liner, clean up is a breeze! *

• 4-5 large chicken breasts (I use flash frozen)
• 1 1/2 bottles of BBQ sauce (I like a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce, but any BBQ variety will work)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tsp onion powder

1. Coat bottom of pan with 1 cup of BBQ sauce.

2. Place chicken in slow-cooker (if using frozen, no need to defrost).

3. Sprinkle onion powder over the top of chicken.

4. Pour in water and remaining BBQ sauce.

5. Cook for 8 hours on low.

6. Shred chicken with a fork and coat in sauce mixture.

7. Pile on a toasted bun and enjoy!