Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

A nice casserole that can be cooked right away or placed in the freezer for later....and since it makes enough to fill up one 9 by 13 dish AND one 9 by 9 dish, you can do both!

• 4.5 pound whole chicken
• 1/4 C butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 16 oz. Velveeta
• 15 oz. tomato sauce
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 16 oz. package spaghetti, cooked & drained

Cook chicken (I cook in the slow cooker for a few hours with a few cups of water - super easy.)
Reserve broth, cool chicken, then cut chicken into bite size pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Lightly grease 13x9 dish and 9x9 dish
In large skillet, melt butter over medium heat
Add onions & bell pepper, cook for 5 minutes or until tender
Add 2 C chicken broth, cheese, sauce, soups, salt, & chicken, stirring until cheese is melted
Place spaghetti into prepared baking dishes
Spoon chicken mixture over pasta & toss gently to combine
Bake 30 minutes or until hot & bubbly

This is one of Jeremy's absolute favorites!

Creamy Chicken Pot Pie

This Kraft recipe utilizes their flavored "cooking creams" (divine cream cheese with extra flavors added in); I've used a few recipes with the cooking creams, and they deliver flavor in a snap with easy-peasy prep!

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 2 C frozen mixed veggies
• 10 oz. Philadelphia Savory Garlic Cooking Cream
• 1 refrigerated pie crust

Heat oven to 400 degrees
Cook & stir chicken in large nonstick skillet 5-6 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned
Add vegetables & cook 1-2 minutes
Stir in cooking cream
Spoon in 9" pie plate
Cover with crust, seal & flute edge
Cut several slits in crust
Place pie on baking sheet
Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown

White Calzones

Another Paula Deen magazine keeper.  This is a special meal that Jeremy and typically like to make together, after the kids have gone to bed.  It makes up 2 calzones, and we usually only eat half at night and save the other half for tomorrow's lunch.  We have a nice little dance going where I chop everything up while he mans the skillet, making for a nice "date night in".

• refrigerated pizza dough
• 4 tsp basil pesto 
• 1/2 lb. whole milk mozzarella, thinly sliced (we get the whole pound because we can't help but snacking on it while cooking -- that is some good stuff!)
• 1 T butter
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 C chopped onion
• 1 clove minced garlic (we use several -- I love garlic!)
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 3 c baby spinach, stems removed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 C ricotta cheese
• 1/2 C parmesan cheese
• marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line baking sheet with parchment paper, unroll pizza dough & cut in half horizontally
Spread pesto evenly over half of each dough piece, leaving 1 inch border around sides
Place 3 slices of mozzarella on each dough piece
In large skillet, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat
Add onion and garlic and cook 2 minutes
Add chicken, salt, & pepper and cook 6 minutes, stirring frequently
Add spinach and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently
Remove from heat
Stir in ricotta & parmesan cheeses
Spoon mixture into dough
Top with remaining slices of mozzarella
Fold dough over filling & crimp edges to seal
Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned
Cool 5 minutes
Serve with marinara

Turkey Sausage Twice Baked Potatoes

I can't quite remember where I stumbled across this recipe, but I do remember that when Emma Grace helped me make it for the first time, I got seriously worried that she was eating SO much of the filling that we wouldn't have enough to fill the potatoes back up!  It is some GOOD stuff!!  We don't eat many white potatoes around these parts (they're the hubby's first choice, but the rest of us eat sweet potatoes), so this is a definite "splurge" meal.

• 5 lb. bag Idaho Potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Turkey sausage crumbles - 12 oz.
• 1 1/4 c milk
• 1/4 c unsalted butter
• 1/2 c diced onion
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Pierce 8 potatoes with a fork several times and rub with olive oil (Em loves this step!)
Bake on middle rack in oven 50-60 minutes or until slightly soft.
While baking, cook turkey sausage; drain and set aside.
While potatoes are still hot, cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the interior in a medium sized bowl, leaving a shell about 1/4" thick.
Mash!  (also a favorite EG step)
In small saucepan over medium heat, heat milk (don't boil); add to potatoes a little at a time.
Mix in butter & mash.
Add pepper and onion & mix.
Add cheese and sausage & stir.
Don't let your child eat all of the mixture.
Turn oven to 400 degrees & fill the shells with mixture.
Bake 18-20 minutes or until hot.

Skinny Taco Dip

A while back, I found a fabulous new (to me) website called skinnytaste.com.  I was looking for more slow cooker recipes, but found tons of tons of other tasty looking things here as well.

One of the first recipes I tried was their Skinny Taco Dip -- YUM.

Here's what you need:

• 8 oz 1/3 less fat Philadelphia cream cheese
• 8 oz reduced fat sour cream
• 16 oz jar mild salsa
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 2 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
• 2.25 oz black olives
• (Optional) 1 lb. ground meat

And here's what you do: 

Brown meat and spread in the bottom of a 9 by 13 or other large pan.  In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sour cream, salsa and taco seasoning and mix well with an electric mixer. Spread on the bottom of a large shallow glass dish.Top with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese and black olives.  Place in pre-heated oven until cheese is melted. Serve with baked tortilla chips.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 can chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 tbsp taco seasoning

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can diced green chiles

3-4 chicken breasts

Top with Monterey Jack & Colby shredded cheese

Put all ingredients in a large slow cooker.  

Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours.  

Remove chicken breasts, shred with two forks, and return to soup.  

Ladle soup into bowls, top with cheese, and serve with Tostitos Scoops.  

This was not originally a slow cooker recipe, but everything worked perfectly by forgetting the stove top and throwing everything in the slow cooker instead!  We absolutely love anything we can eat with Tostitos, so this was definitely a winner!

White Chili

I just happened to stumble upon this recipe on another slow cooker blog...and Yum!  The lime juice gives this chili a nice, unexpected flavor.

2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth (I used a little more just because I had it...and I like it soupy)
3-4 chicken breast, trimmed of fat
3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 cans great northern beans
1 can white shoepeg corn (I just used the yellow frozen corn from my freezer)
3 TBS lime juice (I eyeballed the lime juice and just added a little throughout the cooking process)
2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro

Add chicken, beans, corn, broth, cumin, oregano, garlic, salt, and red pepper to slow cooker. 
Cover and let cook for about 6-8 hours on low or until chicken falls apart. 
Shred the chicken with two forks, then return to slow cooker
Add chopped cilantro and lime juice to slow cooker. 
Put cover back on and let cook for 30 more minutes until heated through.