Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

This is such an easy recipe! My friend posted it on her blog and I made it yesterday. It's very good, makes great leftovers, and bonus- I almost always have all the ingredients on hand.

Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

4-5 boneless chicken breasts
1 (15 1/2 oz) can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 (15 oz) jar salsa
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste. I add a lot of salt once it's on the plate.

Take 4-5 frozen boneless chicken breasts and place in crock pot.
Add black beans, salsa and corn.
Cook on high for 4-5 hours or until chicken is fully cooked.
Add cream cheese (just set on top) and let sit for 1/2 hr.
Mix melted cream cheese and serve.

P.S. This would be amazing over cilantro rice if you were so inclined. I want to try that next time.

My Go-To Recipe: Chicken Enchiladas

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Sauce:
1 pint sour cream
3/4 soup can of water
2 cans cream of chicken soup

Mix all together

Filling:
2-4 chicken breasts, (depending on the size of your family, we use two) cubed & sauteed.
1 small can green chilies, diced.
3/4 green onion (we often use white or whatever is on hand)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese. (Optional in the filling.)

12 corn tortillas
1&1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Soften tortillas by lightly wetting them with water, then warming in the microwave. This keeps them from splitting.

Fill tortillas, placing the fold side down in a cake pan. (or casserole, or whatever pan)
Pour the sauce over the tortillas.
Sprinkle cheese over the top.
Bake at 325 F. for 30-40 minutes

Easy, One-skillet Chicken Pasta- DELISH!

Ok ladies, this one is a total keeper. I've made it twice now and we LOVE it, plus it can all be made in one skillet on the stove. I made it just this week and Dan had 4 helpings!

I got the recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs, and the blogger had gotten it from some skillet cookbook. Anyway, I changed a lot of things in the recipe (partly to make it healthier and partly to use what vegetables we had available) so I will post the recipe as I made it. If you want the original go here.

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into squares/chunks

salt/pepper

garlic powder

olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

Mushrooms, chopped

1/2 tsp dried oregano

8-12 oz. whole wheat penne (if you don't love whole wheat pasta like we do, you can use white, of course)

3 cups water

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

Frozen Sugar Snap peas (last time I used broccoli, and that is good too)

1/2 jar of roasted red peppers, chopped

1 to 1 1/2 c. milk

1 cup grated parmesean cheese (more if you like it extra cheesy)

1 lemon (optional)

Use your biggest non-stick skillet. Add a couple of drizzles of olive oil, add your chicken and diced onions, and season with salt/pepper, garlic powder and oregano; cook your chicken until almost all of the pink is gone. Add mushrooms and sautee until cooked. Add your pasta, 3 cups of water, and chicken broth. Bring to boil over high heat, and cook until much of the liquid is absorbed (12-15 minutes?), stirring occasionally. Stir in the snap peas and roasted red peppers. Turn heat to medium-high. Add the milk and the parmesean cheese. Simmer, uncovered for a few minutes until the cheese is melted through and the sauce is thickened. If your sauce is too thin, thicken with cornstarch (add 1-2 TB cornstarch in a small bowl of 1/4 c. milk. Mix until its totally dissolved BEFORE adding to the hot skillet, or else it will clump. Pour into the skillet mixture and stir until sauce is thickened). Once it's done, you can remove from heat and squeeze in a little lemon juice if you like. Season with more salt/pepper if it needs it, and top with a sprinkle of parmesean if you want. (PS, I didn't have any on hand, but I think this would be so pretty garnished with fresh parsley!)

Street Tacos

This isn't so much a recipe, as an assemblage. So, easy, easy, easy. I fell in love with "street tacos" in Tijuana and crave them about once a month. Here is our version.

Corn tortillas- Corn tortillas instead of flour. Much more flavor! I sprinkle them with water and then heat them in the microwave for about 25 seconds to make them pliable.

Chicken- Cut up into small pieces and sauteed with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. But you can season them however you like. The simpler the better.

OR/ But Not Both!

Hamburger- Browned with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. You could also use actual cuts of meat cut into small pieces and browned.

White Onions- Cut very small. Do not cook these!

Cilantro- Taken off the stems and roughly chopped.

Limes- Cut into wedges to squeeze onto the tacos.

And that is it. Five ingredients. Assemble. You can add avocado or salsa, or get creative, but I find I don't like them as much when we add too many ingredients. A super fast and relatively healthy dinner. Like I said, not exactly a secret recipe handed down from my grandmother, but I get requests every time I've made them for people. I tell them it's just what they see, but they swear there is some trick. No trick. You can double the tortillas for a heftier taco... but ya, no real science to this.

Easy Peasy Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is one of my most favorite chicken recipes....my mother-in-law has made this for years and I would always request it for my birthday dinner. Her original recipe was called Swiss Cheese Chicken and didn't call for the ham slices - but it's good both ways!

Ingredients:

8 chicken breasts (boneless/skinless & thawed)

8 slices Swiss Cheese (I've used mozzarella and think it tastes great, too)

8 slices ham

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup water (or milk)

2 cups dry stuffing mix (I use chicken flavored - but any would work)

1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

Arrange chicken in shallow baking dish with a slice of cheese and ham over each breast. Stir soup and water together and spoon over chicken. Put dry stuffing mix over chicken and drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes, or until chicken is done.

Note: I usually only cook 4 chicken breasts but I still use the whole can of soup with 1 cup stuffing and 1/4 cup butter.