Tomato Chicken Noodle Soup

This was a pretty fun and simple recipe to come up with. I had some boiled chicken breasts in my fridge and no idea what to do with them. I've been feeling the need for some tomato soup. That is where it started. I didn't want to sit over a pot for forever so I pulled out my crock pot. It's a pretty big batch. Not sure on the servings yet, but it's definitely more than 8.

Ingredients
6 cups of Water
2 cups of Creamy Tomato Soup Dry Blend (My Personal Pantry)
3-4 Chicken Breasts, cooked and diced
4 stalks of Celery, washed and diced
1 bottle of Stewed Tomatoes (a large can of tomatoes would work too)
1 lb Pasta
1-2 tsp Salt
Other Seasonings

1. Pour your water and soup blend into your crock pot. Whisk until soup is incorporated.

2. Add your chicken, celery, and stewed tomatoes. Set your crock pot on High for 2-3 hours.

3. About 20 minutes before you are ready to eat boil some water for your pasta. Then cook your pasta and add it to your crock pot.

4. Add your salt and any other seasoning you'd like. I added 1 Tbsp of Italian Seasoning and a tsp of Garlic Powder.

Eat up and Enjoy!

Taco Soup - TexMex Style

I'm back to trying out some delicious products done by My Personal Pantry. This recipe was a spur of the moment "Ah-Ha" type of thing. I wanted to mix together some Taco Soup (don't you love Soup Weather?). My one dilema here is that I'm never prepared with a list of spices to throw in. I was about to go look something up when I remembered the small little can waiting for me.

It was all very easy from there.

Ingredients

3 cans of beans (I used Black, Kidney, and Pinto)
1 lb of cooked ground beef (I used canned because I was really feeling lazy)
1 bag of freezer corn
4 cups of water
1 cup of TexMex Tomato Soup Mix
Anything else Taco Soupy

1. Rinse your beans really well

2. Pour all of your ingredients in a decent sized pot. Heat over medium to medium-high heat until your soup is boiling. Lower heat to a simmer until you are ready to eat.

3. Top with things like sour cream, cheese, olives, etc.

So Easy! Very delicious!!!

Santa Fe Chicken

This was inspired by some Pinterest Recipes I’ve seen floating around. I didn’t have everything on hand that I wish I had, but it was still really good.

Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken Breasts
1 can Black Beans
1 can Kidney Beans
1 bottle Salsa
1 bag Freezer Corn (Canned corn would work too)
Southwestern Seasoning

Wish I had had:
1 bunch of Green Onions, diced
1/2 bunch of Cilantro (or more depending on if you like it a lot)

1. Cook your chicken up (170 degrees internal temperature) with some of your favorite Mexican-like seasoning. Mine is Pampered Chef’s Southwestern Seasoning. Once it’s cooked, dice it up and throw it in your crockpot.

2. Drain and rinse your beans.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients into your crockpot. Where everything is already cooked or safe to eat you are mainly letting things simmer and heat up. The mixture of flavors…. yum! Cook it on HIGH for 1-2 hours or LOW 3-4. Make sure to put it on high for the first little bit either way so that your food can all get to the safe food temperature fast, then turn it down if you are using your low setting.

If I had had Green Onions and Cilantro I probably wouldn’t have put them in, but left them for a topping afterward.

This was really good over rice. It would also be good on salad.

Orange-Spiced Sweet Potatoes

I am a HUGE fan of candied yams and the like. Especially around Thanksgiving. In fact that’s generally the only time of the year that I eat them. It’s kind of sad now that I think about it. If there is something that you enjoy so much, why don’t you eat it more often? Maybe it’s just part of the tradition that makes it so good.

Anyway, this year I volunteered myself to bring them to Thanksgiving dinner. We had made a plan to do as much in Crockpots as possible though. That is where my journey started. I was just trying to look for some basic instructions for cooking yams in a crockpot when I fell about this one. I couldn’t resist trying it. It turned out perfectly! I loved it, the family loved it, and even people who generally don’t eat the candied yams tried it and liked it. So anyway, thank you CDKitchen. If you’d like to check out more of their recipes you can go to their website www.cdkitchen.com

Ingredients:
2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (It was about 5 potatoes for me)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 medium orange, juiced
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
toasted chopped pecans

1. Place your sweet potatoes in the bottom of your slow cooker. Mix your spices together in your orange juice. Pour over the top of your sweet potatoes and stir to coat.

2. Sprinkle your brown sugar over the top of your sweet potatoes and stir it in.

3. Cook on HIGH for 2 hours or on LOW for 4 hours.

4. Before serving stir in your toasted pecans (or set on the side for those that want them and those that don’t).

*Tip: To juice and orange (or any other citrus fruit) I have found that if you roll it around with a little pressure before you cut it it is easier to get more juice out.

Delicious Crockpot Ribs

I bought some Boneless Pork Ribs the other night on a whim. It was the first time I have ever bought them and planned on doing something with them myself. I wanted to try something new and a little out of the ordinary. I did a bunch of searching online and finally came across a recipe that I felt would turn out good, but had interesting flavors that I was interested in experiencing.

I found the recipe on AllRecipes.com. I believe it was called “Garlic Honey Ribs” or something like that. I did a little tweaking when it came to the cooking style, but I used all of the same ingredients for my sauce. I think it turned out pretty good. Those that tried it told me it was a keeper.

Ingredients:
Boneless Pork Ribs (I think I had about 4lbs)
1 c honey
1 c brown sugar
1/3 c soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground mustard

1. Mix together all of your sauce ingredients well. Use as a marinade for your pork overnight. Make sure that your ribs are coated well and turn a couple of times (or when you think of it).

2. Pour your ribs and your sauce into a crockpot and let it do all of the work. Heat your crockpot for 1 hour on HIGH (so that everything can get to the correct temp. quickly), then turn to LOW for 4-6 hours. You may need to adjust your cooking time depending on your crockpot.

This pork tastes great on it’s own with a couple of sides, or would work great over rice. It is easily shredded and tastes great as a sandwich, or could work over a salad.

Café Rio Chicken

I hate to say that I’ve never actually had Café Rio chicken, but I haven’t. Because of that I can’t tell you how true the name of the chicken is to the original. Someone with that knowledge will have to let me know.

This really was a great recipe though. I am always up for an easy recipe (especially crockpot). Thanks to my friend Katelyn for passing this one on to me!

Ingredients:
1 cup Italian dressing
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili pepper
3 cloves minced garlic
4 chicken breasts, thawed

1. Pour your Italian dressing into your crockpot. Stir in your spices and garlic. Make sure everything is mixed well. Add your chicken and turn over a couple of times to ensure that everything is coated well.
2. Cook 6-7 hours on low. Make sure to check the temperature of your meat!

I’ve been looking into some different food safety and cooking tips when it comes to using a Crockpot. I found a couple of good articles that are very worth checking out. I learned a few important tips and was reminded of things that I had forgotten.

Enjoy!

Taco Soup!

I had a hankering for some Taco soup the other day. It was probably the big thunderstorm and the buckets of rain. Or it could be that I'm just super excited for Fall to be here! I love cold weather and I especially love all of the foods that are directly related and linked to the season!

I did something a little different with my soup today that turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself, and I do). I tried it on my husband. He approved. So I took it to my parents' house and made them and my siblings try it. They also liked it. I have a brother that is a pretty picky eater. He didn't even want to try it, but I twisted his arm (not literally). He had one spoonful and admitted that it was good. His excuse for not eating was that he already had the bread out for the PB&J that he was going to make. Weirdo. It was good. So... statistics say 7 out of 7 like it (but only 6 will eat a bowl).

Ingredients:
2 quart bottles of tomatoes (you could also do canned stewed tomatoes)
4 cans of assorted beans (I used red, kidney, black, and pinto)
1 bag of freezer corn (canned would work also), thawed
1 red bell pepper, diced.
1 lb of cooked hamburger
2 cups of water
1 envelope of Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch

1. I started by putting my tomatoes in the crock pot, undrained. Next went the beans. Make sure to drain them into a colander and then rinse them really really well. Then comes the corn, pepper, and your cooked hamburger. When you add your water judge according to your crock pot. I just added the water until I was happy with the height. You don't want it too full. After you get the height you want then add the ranch envelope. Stir everything well to mix it around.

2. Start your crock pot out on high until it gets up to temperature. Once I saw it was bubbling, I went ahead and dropped it down to low. Where everything cooked (or didn't need to be) you are really just needing to warm it and let the flavors simmer around. I did 3 hours on high and then it probably was on low for 2. We did eat a little after the 3 though.

3. Serve with your favorite toppings. We had tortilla chips, sour cream, cheese, and olives.

*If you didn't notice I've used this Ranch packet before. It is one of my new favorites. I love the extra kick that it gives to stuff, but in this case I love having that kick with a touch of ranch. It worked out great!

Shredded Chicken Taco (optional salad)

This was super easy and turned out delicious!

1. Cook your chicken in your favorite salsa. You can either cook it in your crockpot  or fry it up in your pan. I’m not sure on the cooking time. You’ll have to play with it depending on the method. I ended up doing half and half….  Anyway, cook your chicken in a covered method so it will stay moist.

2. Since we aren’t sure on the cooking time make sure that you measure the temperature and that it reaches the appropriate heat inside.

3. Shred your chicken!

4. Put it all together and enjoy.

We had chips and tortillas available so we ate it a little differently. I turned mine into a Taco Salad with chips on the bottom, greens, peppers, tomatoes, the shredded chicken, cheese, and ranch dressing. Phil ate his taco style (pretty much the same toppings except the chips and inside a tortilla). They were both excellent.

Creamy Crock-Pot Chicken

Ingredients

1 can cream of Chicken Soup

1 large container of Sour Cream (16 oz)

1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix

3 lb bag of chicken breasts (or the amount that fits in your Crock-pot)

1. Mix soup, sour cream, and Italian dressing well

2. Pour in Chicken and flip to coat

3. Cook 5-6 hours on high

Really good served over noodles!

Crock-Pot Cooking Safety

When cooking with a crock-pot there are some rules you need to follow.

1. Leave the lid on!!! Sometimes you’ll find people like to lift the lid to peek at what is cooking or to get a good whiff of it. Every time you open the lid you need to add an additional 15 minutes of cooking time. When the lid is opened on a crock-pot you lose too much of your heat.

2. When you are going to cook on LOW heat you need to turn the crock-pot on HIGH for the first while so that it can quickly get up to the correct temperature. I’m not sure on the exact time, but I would say at least 15 minutes. Then you can turn it back to LOW as planned. Otherwise your food temperature won’t get in the safe zone quick enough.

I’m sure I will add more rules as I remember them.

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice

Ingredients

2 cans Condensed Cream of Chicken soup

1 1/2 cups water

4 large carrots, thickly sliced

1 package (6 oz) seasoned long-grain/wild rice

8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1. Mix soup, water, carrots, rice, and seasoning packet in 3 1/2 qt. slow cooker.

2. Add Chicken and turn to coat

3. Cook on LOW 7-8 hours or on HIGH 4-5 Hours. Make sure to measure the temperature of the meat! (170 Degrees)