crockpot chronicles: day 5

okay, i know this isn't quite another day...but i owe y'all!

Crockpot Chicken and Rice – from forkinit.blogspot.com

Ingredients

2-4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese (let sit out to soften)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pkg. italian dressing seasoning (the dried kind in the packet)

rice

stir the cream cheese, cream of chicken, and seasoning together in the crockpot. i actually start it on low and let them sit in there for about 30 min so the cream cheese is softer to stir. (but don't forget about them like i did today!) put the frozen (because i'm lazy) chicken in and cover with the mix. cook on high 4-6 hours or until the chicken is cooked and fall-apart-tender. after the first two hours when the chicken is softer i cut it up into strips for easier eating. how easy is that!?

cook the rice in a pot (or rice cooker if you're not dumb like me and know how to use the stupid thing) and smother with chicken mixture! the italian seasoning is the secret ingredient! so yum!

the previous instructions/comments are from the blog (it's an awesome, check it out!) where i found the recipe - not my original thoughts. my original thoughts are these: this was quite yummy. i love things that are cheesy, and this totally fit the bill. it was also quite simple. i took the cream cheese straight out of the fridge and put it into the crockpot, let it sit there for the recommended 30 minutes, then i added the soup and attempted to stir them together. that's not entirely true. i attempted to whisk them together, which was a mistake. don't use a whisk. use a spoon. or something. but not a whisk. everything else was good - i shredded the chicken instead of cutting it into strips; i've become a shredded-chicken super-fan. my only complaint about this recipe is that it stuck to my crockpot like nobody's business.

this is that whole...tough cleanup i was talking about.

 i scraped as much of it as i could off, because in my family, we love the crunchy corners of the casserole, but let me tell you, it was a pain in the behind getting it out. lots of elbow grease, and the whole time i was paranoid about scratching my crockpot. (i ended up using comet, which totally did the trick, but i'm not sure i was supposed to use it on the crockpot. doesn't seem to have done any damage, and i've used the crockpot since then.) anyway, on the blog i linked to, there are lots of great comments, and even some ideas about how to help with that particular problem - like adding up to a cup of milk or water. some folks also mentioned adding veggies, which i had thought about myself - i think broccoli or mushrooms would bze fantastic! - probably not for the whole six hours, though, i guess closer to the end would be a better idea. for the rice, i did some brown rice that i had in the pantry - perfect!


judges?

  

• ease of prep - 4 - the whole...whisking thing. 
• multiple parts/same pot - 4 - the rice...but some folks suggested doing that in the crockpot, too, so maybe i'll give that a shot next time.
• cooks for 6-8 hours - 5 - enough said!
• crockpot to table ease - 5 - rice in, chicken on top - you're done!
• freezer leftovers - 4 - this is kind of a guess, because it never made it into the freezer (yummy yummy!), but i'm thinking about how you'd have to make a fresh batch of rice or pasta or whatever you want to use.

that brings us to a total of 22/25 - i loved this one. except for the cleanup. i'm definitely going to try it again with some of those suggestions i mentioned earlier. let me know what y'all think!
♥whit

crockpot chronicles: day 4

good afternoon, everyone! i know we've had a bit of silence, but between midterms and rodeo, there just hasn't been a whole lot of extra time - that's not to say i haven't been getting my money's worth out of that crockpot, though! i hope y'all are ready for a series of rapid-fire recipes, because now that it's spring break, i'm eager to let y'all know what i've been up to the last week or so. here goes!


Easy Slow Cooker Turkey – from slowandsimple.com

INGREDIENTS

2 to 3 pounds boneless turkey breast tenders or cutlets, or use chicken breast halves

4 medium potatoes, sliced

4 medium carrots, sliced

1 can (10 1/2 ounces) French onion soup, undiluted

DIRECTIONS

Put vegetables in bottom of crockpot. Add turkey breast. Pour in onion soup. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serves 6.

this one was super easy. except for the fact that i was trying to peel the carrots and potatoes without a vegetable peeler. kind of like trying to shave your legs with a paring knife except that instead of your legs, it's carrots and potatoes, but it's just about as easy and just about as effective. (my daddy bought me a vegetable peeler this weekend, so we won't have to worry about that anymore!) the only other trouble i had was trying to find the french onion soup in the grocery store, but that's only because i didn't see it right in front of me. it was there the whole time. also, i used chicken breasts, not turkey. 3 pounds. like i said, it was super easy, but when i got it out, there was just not a whole lot of flavor. as in, like, none. i was afraid to salt it because i thought with the french onion soup being undiluted it might be way too salty, and i figured the soup would have had enough flavor on its own to flavor the chicken. i was wrong. ask my mother. since i made so much of this chicken, i have about a pound of it sitting in the freezer right now. trust me, it will be doctored before i eat it again. i'll let you know how that goes.



judges?

• ease of prep - 5 - i cannot, in good conscience, dock points here because i didn't own a vegetable peeler. who doesn't own a vegetable peeler?
• multiple parts/same pot - 4 - more carrots, more potatoes, less chicken. maybe that would help with the flavor thing, too.
• cooks for 6-8 hours - 5 - i'm tellin you, these are fantastic for school days!
• crockpot to table ease - 5 - into a bowl or onto a plate, and you're good to go.
• freezer leftovers - 5 - it's in the freezer. and it was easy. and i see it being quite easy on the way back out, too.

this reconfirms my previous thought about adding a "yummy" category because this one got a 24/25 and that did not account at all for the major lack of flavor. that part will be in a future update, once i work through all the leftovers in the freezer. check back, but at this present moment, this is not what's for dinner tonight.

♥whit

cardinal nation

today's not about crockpots or crochet hooks or knitting needles - it's about a very happy girl and what made her that way.

this is how i felt when i heard the news

after that horrible day earlier this year when my beloved albert pujols saw fit to move on to other things and leave behind the team and city that have loved him since no one knew who he was, i am so, so relieved to see yadier molina staying around for at least five more years! here's the article that made my heart swell up real big like the grinch in the end of that movie - i didn't ruin that for anyone, did i? a great big thanks to yadi, melvin roman, john mozeliak, and everyone else involved for not breaking my heart for a second time this off-season. i must admit, i wasn't always a yadi-lover like i am now. i tended to get quite frustrated with him when he was a younger player, but after he pulled it out for us in the series in '06, he has had my heart, and i could not be happier that i don't have to take it back! (*ahem* albert, this could have been written about you.)

my two favorite parts of the story are quotes from cards gm john mozeliak and from yadi himself:

"I really admire what Yadi was willing to do. You certainly don't know what the free-agent market might have looked like for him. His willingness to really want to be here and stay here really says a lot about his commitment to the organization." - john mozeliak

 "I was still thinking [about] it [being] a business, but my idea was to stay here. My commitment was to stay here with the organization. It's everything. I grew up here [as a player]. I feel good here. It was my first choice to stay here, and I'm glad we got it done." - yadier molina

thanks, #4, for reminding me that loyalty still matters to some people, and thanks, john mozeliak, for appreciating what you have.

i love my team. i love its fans. i love when it all falls into place.

mike matheny, this year is going to rock. you hear me? go cards!

♥ whit

photo of yadi from http://buenojoe.com/2011/06/senor-yad/