French onion smothered boneless porkchops

It's a dreary, overcast day outside and I just want to curl up in bed and sleep all day. I force myself to be productive even though it's hard.

I tried to use what I had at home, but realized I had to go out anyway so I picked up a couple items I needed for this recipe.

It is super easy, it was done in however long it takes to brown both sides of boneless pork chops. Maybe 10 min. Thrown in the Crock-Pot on high for 4 hours. Even put in at 2pm. Dinner will be done by 6pm tonight. That's a win in my book.

Ingredients:

6-8 boneless pork chops (I had 7)
1 onion, sliced thinly, halved
1 can Campbell's chicken with herbs soup
1 can Campbell's french onion soup
Season of choice. I coated both sides of my pork chops with Ms. Dash

2tbsp butter and olive oil for browning pork chops

Directions:
Brown pork chops in olive oil and butter.

Place half the sliced onions on bottom of Crock-Pot

Place first half of pork chops on top of onions then layer rest of onions on pork chops. Top with remaining pork chops.

Mix the two cans of soup together and


pour on top of layers of onion and pork chops. Set on high 4 hours. Enjoy!

Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup

This recipe I made up. I have been making it for a few years now. I started making it because I had gotten a butternut squash from a bountiful basket and didn't know what to do with it. So I searched recipes online and saw several for butternut squash soup. None of them sounded too bad, but I didn't have everything that those recipe called for. So I improvised and created this DELICIOUS soup. I emphasize this because I have made it for a few of my friends and they are still begging for the recipe and for me to make them my soup. They crave it. They call me and ask if I'm going to make any anytime soon. I figured it was about time to add this to my blog recipes. I hope you enjoy this simple recipe as much as my family, friends and I do. It's perfect for a cold wintery day or just because you want some.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

64 oz of chicken stock/broth
1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
4 apples- gala, fuji or braeburn - peeled and diced
4 med - small potatoes - peeled and diced
1 onion diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8oz cream cheese - room temperature
S & P to taste

Directions

In a Large Crockpot (6 qt or larger), add the butternut squash, apples, potatoes, onion and chicken stock. Set on low for 8 - 10 hours or high for 4-6 hours. Once they are soft and mushy, use a submersible blender and blend until smooth, add chicken soup and tempered cream cheese. Continue to use the blender until nice and smooth consistency. Season with Salt and Pepper to taste. Top with bacon bits and chives, or a little sour cream and cheese.

Serve warm.

Verdict on this... HEAVENLY! nice and smooth, rich and creamy, sweet and savory... the best of all world.

Please let me know what you think of my recipe. I love getting feedback from all who visit my blog. Thanks for stopping by. :)

Hawaiian Hay Stacks

Tonights dinner comes from my food storage. As I'm getting ready to head on another road trip, I don't want to waste money shopping. I'd rather use it on my trip. Tonight is a use what's in the house kind of dinner. The great thing about Hawaiian Hay Stacks is that you can top it with whatever your family likes. For instance, my kids don't like tomatoes, or much in the way of toppings. It can have peas, fresh celery, tropical fruit, tomatoes, or whatever they want. I've even seen people add olives. not my cup of tea, but as long as you like it, it can go on top. In my opinion, it only requires a few "main" ingredients and then the topping is what ever you want. Here are my main ingredients and my toppings.

Main Ingredients: (Chicken sauce)

2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 handful of freeze dried celery
1/4 tsp cumin
a dash of salt
1 can chicken broth
1 can chunk chicken (drained)

Main Ingredient: (Cooked rice)
3-5 cups of cooked rice

After that it's add what toppings you like and enjoy!

Toppings of choice at my house:

mandarine oranges
sweetened coconut flakes
corn
cheese
crushed pineapple
chow mein noodles (kind of a main ingredient - but a topping)

Do you see a theme with it... it's all either yellow or orange. but it's tasty :) My kids love the chicken sauce I made, and can not wait to dish up their own dinner with their toppings. It's summery, beachy and tasty! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. :)

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice (slow cooker)

Picture from Campbells' Kitchen: Slow Cooked

This morning, I am still sick. I am exhausted and I know that by dinner time I'll be ready for bed. I didn't want to have to worry about dinner tonight. I still have to plan FHE tonight. :) I'm so grateful for websites to help me think when my brain is fried. Also, I'm grateful for cookbooks for inspiration.

I have recently purchased a slow cooker cookbook. All the recipes inside are slow cooker recipes. I think that's a total score :) It is called the 3 in 1 Rival Crock pot cookbook. Under the American Classics section, I found this recipe Campbell's Creamy chicken and Wild Rice recipe. I read the few ingredients and it was the winner of todays dinner. :) I don't have campbell's brand cream of chicken soup so I didn't want to use the name. Plus, I added a can of corn and 1 Tbsp of dried minced onion that was not listed in the ingredients.  It seemed easy enough and perfect for a cold, rainy... sick day.

Ingredients:
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups water
1 pkg (4.5-6oz) seasoned long-grain and wild rice mix (I used rice a Roni)
4 Lg carrots, thickly sliced
8 boneless chicken breast halves (I used 8 chicken tenderloins)
1 can corn, drained
1 Tbsp dried minced onion

Directions:
Add all ingredients to the crock pot. Stirring and coating the chicken. Set on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours or until done.

Serve with a side salad and bread.

Verdict: This was pretty good. I liked it but it needed a little spice or flavor. It's kind of bland. I didn't add any salt or pepper, and not even Mrs. Dash. But those would be a nice addition to this recipe. I will probably try this with a can of french onion soup next time. Instead of water. To see if it adds some more flavor without other stuff. The minced onions were nice and they added slight flavor to the wild rice. We have enough for everyone in our family, plus enough for one person's lunch leftover. (can you guess my lunch today?) I hope you try it and like it. I know we did. It was a nice change from our usual slow cooker meals. :) Enjoy! :)

Crock pot Chicken

Tonight is an easy dinner. I love, Love, LOVE crock pot meals. I really enjoy letting them do most of the work. Is that bad? I don't think so. Isn't it better to work smarter not harder? Well, tonight luckily for me is another easy crock pot dinner. Crock pot chicken... can I just say it's heavenly! We never have any leftovers. I am going out on a limb here to say I have never had a yummier crock pot chicken dish then this. I know i'm crazy but it's the truth. Try it and you'll agree... I think so anyways.

Ingredients:

10 chicken tenders or 5 chicken breasts - boneless, skinless

2 cans of cream of whatever soup (I used cream of mushroom with roasted garlic and cream of chicken.

1 pkg dry italian dressing mix

1 stick of butter

1 room temperature 8oz brick of cream cheese

Directions

Mix the cream soups and italian dressing mix together in the crock pot. then add the butter and chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4. Before serving blend in the cream cheese. (remove the chicken from the sauce, add the cream cheese and blend either with a immersible mixer or with a wisk, then replace the chicken.) Should be a nice smooth cream sauce. You can either leave the chicken tenders/chicken breasts whole or shred them.

Serve with orzo, rice, or egg noodles. I like to serve a green veggie with this dish. The sauce is heavenly. The chicken is tender, fall apart. My children and hubby eat it till it's gone. No leftovers. If you want leftovers, I suggest you make a double batch. So delicious! Enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada's

I had this pulled chicken from when I made the chicken broth and I wanted to use it up, before it went bad. I polled on Facebook what to make either chicken noodle soup or chicken enchilada and the verdict was a unanimous chicken enchilada. :) yummy.

My recipe makes two large pans, so feel free to share one of these yummy dishes with a neighbor, or freeze for future use.

Ingredients:

Filling

2 veggie pucks (see chicken broth)

1/2 cup salsa

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp dried minced onion

3 tsp taco seasoning

3/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp fresh ground sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can sweet corn

4-5 cups diced/pulled chicken

1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

12-14 flour tortillas

Topping

2 cans cream of chicken soup

8 oz sour cream

1 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 medium minced jalapeno (no seeds, or green chili's)

Sprinkle a little mexican cheese blend on top..

Mix all of the fillings together and fill into the flour tortillas,

roll and place into 13X9 pan. (this will fill 2 - 13X9 pans.

Mix all of the topping ingredients together. Use the same bowl you mixed the filling in without rinsing to get some of the flavor.

Spread topping on top of the rolled flour tortillas, and then sprinkle with cheese.

Cover with Foil and bake in the oven 350 for 30-45 min until bubbly and heated through (all things precooked) just needing heated through. Enjoy :)

Verdict! :) Well, I love it! This has great flavor, not too much to be spicy, but just enough of a kick to let you know its a mexican dish. The sweet corn makes a nice touch and adding a little crunch to the dish instead of being all mushy. Another thing that I like is that since I didn't add any sauce to the bottom of the pan or spray it with cooking spray, it is nicely golden with a little crunch too, not a stale crunch but a nice crunch. In all, I am very pleased with this dish. I made this with things I already had in the house and it is very healthy. Lots of added veggies from the veggie pucks, and you don't even know it. :) I love that. My son has scouts tonight at 5:30, and this will be something he can eat before he goes. :) I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. I gave away my second dish to have a friend try it. :) I'll let you know what she says. But I give it two thumbs up!!