What's up Wednesday--crock pot BBQ chicken

If you have been following my blog for any amount of time, you know how much I love crock pot recipes.  They are my favorite!  I love, love, love just throwing stuff in the morning and then having a wonderful dinner ready in the evening.  Makes my life so much easier.  This recipe is my amazing mother-in-law's, and she normally cooks it on the stove top, but I have adjusted it and always make it in the crock pot now.  So easy, and so delicious!  It is one of our family's favorites!  We always serve it over rice, but you can have it however you like.  Hope you like it!

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

Put 4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts in your crock pot, if they are frozen, that is fine :)

In another bowl mix together

3/4 cup ketchup

2 Tab brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup chopped onion, or 1 Tab dehydrated onion

2 Tab vinegar

2-3 tsp chili powder, depending upon how hot your family likes things, I use 2 tsp

1 Tab Worcestershire sauce

After mixture is combined, pour over chicken in crock pot.  Cook on low about 6-7 hours, take out chicken and shred, then put it back into the sauce and serve over rice.  Yum!

What's up Wednesday--Crock pot Italian Chicken

This is one of our family's all-time favorite meals.  We make it about once a month, and I make it often when we have company.  I love it because it is a crock pot meal.  We serve it over rice, but you can do noodles also.  Enjoy!

Crock Pot Italian Chicken

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and I always put mine in frozen

1/4 cup butter, but into 1" cubes

1 pkg dry Italian salad dressing

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz cream cheese, cut into 1" cubes

1 Tab minced onion, I use the dehydrated chopped onion

Place chicken in crock pot.  Place butter and cream cheese cubes on top of chicken.  Mix together soup, onions, and dressing.  Spread over chicken.  Cook on low 6-8 hours. 

When ready to serve, take out chicken and shred, while chicken is out whisk together sauce so cream cheese chunks are mixed in.  Once sauce is smooth and mixed, add shredded chicken back in. Mix to combine and serve over rice or noddles. 

Enjoy!

What's up Wednesday--crock pot beef stroganoff

In 2011 my mom and her two sisters decided to collect my DeeDee's (their mom's) recipes and put them into a family cookbook.  They also included some of their personal favorite recipes in the book.  It is a treasure, and I am so very grateful for my aunts and my mom who took all the time and put it together.  My DeeDee makes some amazing things, and I am so thankful we have her recipes in one place!  The picture on the cover is my DeeDee with her 3 girls--my two aunts, and my mom on the far right.  

Inside this cookbook my family found a new favorite from one of my aunts--her crock pot beef stroganoff.  It is so much a favorite that when I asked Mr J what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he requested this.  It is soooooooooo easy!  and so delicious!  I was very happy with his request, and we all enjoyed his birthday dinner.  I hope you enjoy this family favorite.

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

In your crock pot mix

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can French onion soup

then add 2 lbs beef stew meat. Stir to get the meat covered by the soup.

Cover and cook on low about 6-8 hours or until meet is tender and cooked through.  Serve over egg noodles, pasta, or rice topped with sour cream.

Yes, it is that easy, and so yum!  Enjoy!!

What's up Wednesday--crock pot potato soup

I made this soup for the first time last week, and it was soooo good!  For lunch the next day I was lamenting there were no leftovers because I wanted some more!!!  I found it on the web here a few months ago and finally got around to making it.  I wish I had made it sooner!  Easy crock pot recipes are my favorite, and this is definitely joining our family's lists of favorites!  We had company over for dinner when I made it, and one of our guests said it tasted like Panera Bread's baked potato soup.  Yum!

Crock Pot Potato Soup

10 red potatoes, washed and cubed

1 large onion, diced and sauted in butter

5 cups water

3 Tbsp chicken bouillon

1 tsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp dry ranch dressing mix

2 tsp dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

1 package or real bacon bits

1 cup half and half

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup lights sour cream

1/4 cup chives or green onions, chopped fine

Place the first 9 ingredients in the crock pot.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.  The potatoes should be tender.  Stir in half and half, cheese, sour cream, and green onions.  Heat through and serve.

Yum!  Perfect for a cold winter evening meal!

Mouth-watering Wednesdays--walking tacos

Do you know what a walking taco is?  I think it is a Mid-West thing.  It is a staple at the fall craft and county fairs around here, and it is really good.   It is basically just a taco salad, but at the fairs they open up a small bag of Frito's chips, dump a cup of meat sauce in the bag and then have cheese, olives, sour cream, salsa, etc for you to top off your bag with and then you get a fork and eat your taco from the bag as you walk along thus the name--walking tacos.

This recipe is my friend Cathy's, and it is loved at my house.  We don't serve ours in bags, but we put the chips on our plates and then pile everything on.  It is also a great crock pot recipe.  Enjoy!

Walking Tacos Meat Sauce

2 lbs hamburger, browned and drained

1/4 cup taco seasoning or 1/2 to 1 package taco seasoning, depending upon how spicy you want it

1 can diced tomatoes, don't drain, puree

2 cups salsa

2 cans kidney beans, drained

Cook meat, then combine all ingredients in a crock pot on low for a couple hours (you can simmer it on the stove also).  When ready to eat layer chips, sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, salsa, cheese or whatever you like on a taco.  Enjoy!

**Also, if you have lots leftover (which we rarely do :), this freezes well for another meal a different day

Mouth-watering Wednesday--crock pot beef stroganoff

Welcome to another edition of Mouth-watering Wednesday where I share a very simple, good, quick recipe.  This one I got from my aunt.  Super easy and so yummy!

Crock-Pot Beef Stroganoff

In your crock pot mix together

2 lbs beef stew meat

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can French Onion soup

Cook on low 6-8 hours, serve on top of rice, pasta, or egg noodles and garnish with sour cream.

It doesn't get any easier or more yum that that.  Enjoy!

Mouth-watering Wednesday

Okay, I don't know if that blog post is quite accurate, but I wanted to start sharing some more recipes and can't figure out a way to do it or when, so maybe "mouth-watering Wednesdays" will be my recipe sharing day.  What do you think? 

So, like I have mentioned before, I am so "not a gourmet" cook--so much a "simple and easy" cook.  I love crock pot recipes that I can just throw everything in during the morning and then take it out ready to eat in the evening.  That is a lot of my cooking style and recipes.  So, if you are looking for gourmet and complex, this is not the place to be :)  Simple and easy is my motto, and I don't make up my own recipes.  I usually get them from somewhere else, so if  I know where I got them, then I will share that too, but I will only share what my family of 6 likes a lot and what we make often.  Enjoy!

Creamy Black Bean Chicken

In your crock pot place 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (it is fine if they are frozen, how easy is that?)

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, drained

2 cups salsa

Cook on low for 6-7 hours or however long you need (high for 4 hours), about 30 minutes before you serve take out the chicken and shred it, add it back in, stir it around and then drain the excess liquid off, then you have either one of 2 choices. . .

1.  Add in one 8 oz package of cream cheese (1/3 reduced fat works great too), cubed, stir until starts to melt, put lid back on for 30 minutes then serve over rice or in tortillas with cheese on top

OR

2.  Add in 1 cup sour cream (low fat or fat free works good) and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and let warm, then serve over rice or in a tortilla with more cheese on top :)

Option #1 I got from my sister-in-law

Option #2 I got from 365 Days of Slow Cooking a great crock pot website to check out if you like simple, quick, and easy crock pot recipes.  It is a favorite of mine.

This also freezes really well.  It makes a lot, so freeze whatever you don't use and have it for dinner another day.

Happy Eating!