Chicken Tortilla Soup- Crockpot Style

Yesterday was a snowy, stay in the house kind of day and I had chicken. I looked at cookbooks several cookbooks, and finally found inspiration on the Tastefully Simple website. Did you know you can enter in a product you have and an ingredient and it will list all of the recipes using those ingredients? It's pretty helpful- you should check it out.

Anyway, I found a recipe there that was an inspiration for this creation. I loved the fact that I threw everything in the pot and let it go all day. If you don't have the Tastefully Simple ingredients, you can improvise, of course. OR- you can always call me or visit my website to order ;-) www.tastefullysimple.com/cferguson1


3 Chicken Breasts
1 Jar of Corn & Black Bean Salsa
1 Can of Black Beans
1 Can of Corn
1 Can of diced Jalapenos (mine were hot, and well...quite frankly this soup was even spicy to me!! I would suggest medium or mild)
1 Can of diced tomatoes
4 Cups of Water
4 Chicken Bullion Cubes
2 TBS of Fiesta Party Dip (TS)
Salt, Pepper, hot sauce to taste
Some crushed tortilla chips if desired

Combine all ingredients in your crock pot. Cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high, stirring occasionally. Before serving, remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with forks and place back in pot.

Serve with shredded cheddar and sour cream, if desired.

Crock Pot Potatoes Au Gratin

I'm not really sure why, but I think you need to eat beef on Christmas Eve. When I woke up the morning of the 24th, I found my fridge at a whopping 87 degrees. It was a disgusting mess with the melted butter running down the back and all the containers fogging up from their decomposition. Needless to say, the pot roast I was planning to cook was lost, so I had to completely recreate my Christmas Eve Menu.

I decided on steaks (which were OK- I have to remember that making the extra trip to Fresh Market or Whole Foods is worth it for good steaks- Publix...mediocre at best.) Since the idea of pot roast potatoes I had planned had perished in the fridge fiasco, I had to come up with a plan B.

I sliced my potatoes thinly with the mandolin and threw them in the crock pot on high. I added a little olive oil, cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese and yes- Velveeta because nothing that contains melted cheese can be denied this white trash delicacy in my opinion. I spiced it up with Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic, salt and pepper. I set the sucker on high and went to church. About two and a half hours later, I had this amazing Potato Au Gratin waiting for the steaks. I threw a bit of bread crumbs on top to finish it off and there you have it. Super easy and a happy, yummy creation courtesy of someone not getting the fridge closed all the way the night before. I'm not pointing fingers, however....it wasn't me for the record. ;-)

Crock Pot Chicken and Noodles

I'm not sure about you, but sometimes fixing dinner is the last thing I want to do after a busy day. I love good crock pot recipes because you come home to a wondrous smell and dinner is done. Kind of like that Ronco thingie: set it and forget it (ha!)

So I threw this together the other night, cooked up some egg noodles and served it with a salad and I was done. I have to admit, it was pretty tasty!

Boneless, skinless Chicken breasts
1 can of Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 Chicken bullion cubes
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc. seasons to your taste
Egg noodles

Ok, this is pretty simple: put the chicken in the crock pot, cover with soup, add seasonings and bullion cubes and cook on low all day (at least 6 hrs). Prepare egg noodles when you come home and serve chicken and gravy over noodles. Add a side salad to get your "green" points for the day.