SLOW COOKER CHICKEN EXTRAORDINAIRE

 Believe me or not, but I actually made time to cook this week. It didn't take me too long because I used my slow cooker. Because of the 30-Block Exchange Group I joined the last of February, most of my time since then has been spent in my sewing room. But for the most part I am finished with that. I have one more block that I the pieces for but haven't made yet. I also have a couple of blocks I still need to write tutorials for. And then of course when I receive my 28 blocks I will want to start on my Friendship Quilt with them.

I have also started another home improvement project that was planned for last summer but didn't happen. I am painting the walls downstairs in the family room, a.k.a. Wayne's man cave. Then nailing up some ship lap with a chair railing for the lower part. The room is so dark because it is partials below ground level and with what I have gotten done so far, it already looks brighter. Anxious to get it finished, but I am not rushing. I plan to write a post on the work as I go along so you can be looking for it.

But today I am sharing an awesome recipe for cooking chicken in the slow cooker that I made Monday afternoon. I had good intentions to start it Monday morning, but something got in the way. That's the good thing about cooking in your slow cooker. If I don't have enough time to cook, I just cook it on High instead of Low and that's what I did.

The recipe said to cook on Low for 8 hours. Instead I cooked it for 4 hours on High. I started out with the chicken breasts frozen and they were pull-apart tender 4 hours later. I used regular spaghetti that I cooked on the stove, but I think it would taste good also if you used rice, brown rice in particular. The recipe cooked enough for us to have full-serving leftovers so if you are cooking for four, it will be perfect and you wanted used two chicken breasts. How cool is that?

For a printable copy of just the recipe, click HERE.

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN EXTRAODINAIRE

2       chicken breasts

3       cloves of garlic, chopped or left whole

10.5  ounce can of cream of chicken soup

3/4    cup of chicken broth

1/4    cup (2 ounces) cream cheese

1/4    cup butter

1       0.6 ounce package of Italian dressing mix

 *     *     *     *

Spaghetti or rice

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.

Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the cooker. They can be frozen or thawed. (I used frozen ones.)

Top with the garlic. I peeled and kept mine whole

Soften the butter and cream cheese in the microwave. Whisk until smooth. (Best to start with room temperature butter and cream cheese.)

Whisk in the soup, undiluted, and then add the dressing mix. (I used zesty Italian mix.) Then add the chicken broth. (I made my own using 3/4 cup of water and 1 bouillon cube in the glass measuring cup and heat to boiling in the microwave. Then stir to dissolve the bouillon cube. Whisk mixture well. 

Pour over the chicken breasts. 

Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours. Reduce temperature to Keep Warm if you are not ready to eat.

Prepare spaghetti or rice according to package directions.

I cubed the cooked chicken and since it was just the two of us eating,

I used as much of the chicken as I wanted to and added it along with some of the "gravy" to the spaghetti to serve it.

I also sprinkled a little parsley on top.

The leftover chicken, I added back to the slow cooker with a little bit of extra spaghetti I had and covering it, placed in the refrigerator to eat another day.

It was quite tasty and was so easy, I think it will probably become a regular way to cook chicken since we eat so much.

Here is a teaser for the upcoming post of our remodeling project downstairs. (I love those overalls. I have had them for many years. They fit so nicely. Whatever possessed me to use them as my painting attire?