Slow Cooker Chicken Rice Soup (non-cream)

Here I am, yet again, posting a soup that I love!  This is a soup I made sort of off-the-cuff, but it was delicious and the entire family gobbled it up.  I make a tasty cream of chicken rice soup and used that as the base for this non-cream soup.  You can play with it a little, adding or deleting veggies and/or seasonings that you prefer in your soup, but this is a great, basic soup for a chilly day.  (I tend to go a little overboard with veggies when I make soup; I always add more than it calls for.)  I also doubled this (other than the chicken; I just used 3 breasts) to maximize the use of my big crock pot.

Chicken Rice Soup

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts (I used 3 frozen.)

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 package of Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice 
1/2 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper

1 Sazon Goya seasoning packet (see pic below, can be found in ethnic/Hispanic food section)
1 cup carrots, grated, diced, or chopped
1 cup celery, grated, chopped, or thinly sliced

Dump all ingredients into Crockpot. 

Cook on Low for 6 hours or High for 4 hours. 

Remove chicken from Crockpot and shred. 

Add chicken back to Crockpot. 

Let everything cook about 30 more minutes in Crockpot.

Serve.

(I’m Italian so I always sprinkle a little grated Parmesan cheese on my bowl of soup. Plus, everything is better with a little cheese, ya know. J )

Chicken Spaghetti

I was given this slow cooker recipe by my friend Holly and it was simple and delicious; even our 3 year old ate it!  It smells so good while cooking and it so easy to make in the afternoon.  

Chicken Spaghetti

2 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 bag frozen bell pepper/onion/celery blend (Her orig. recipe called for pepper/onion but I couldn't find it at the store.)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper
3 cups cheddar cheese (separated 1 cup and 2 cups)
12 oz cooked spaghetti

Cook everything except 2 cups of cheddar and the uncooked spaghetti in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. Take out the chicken and shred it. Return it to sauce and add the other 2 cups of cheddar and the cooked spaghetti. Cook for 15-20 more minutes on low. That's it!

I think this might also be good with a can of peas/cooked frozen peas mixed in during the last few minutes, too.

Sorry for the bad picture.  I didn't remember to take a picture until after we were done eating dinner.

Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken

You should know by now that I’m a HUGE slow cooker fan.  You can thank John Shaffer and Stephanie O’Dea for getting me hooked!  John is a guy we know from church.  While riding to a praise team practice together, Joe, John, and I got to talking about slow cooking.  In that conversation he recommended O’Dea’sbooks Make It Fast, Cook It Slow.  I quickly purchased Volumes I & II from alibris for a great price.  I’ve made countless recipes from these books.

This recipe is a mixture of O’Dea’s “Lazy Chicken” and a BBQ chicken recipe I found while doing a Pinterest search.  We were craving some Shane’s Rib Shack chicken, but I wanted to try and make something similar at home.  Behold, this had a lot of the same flavors and was super simple to prepare.  We loved this dinner (even the 3 year old) and will definitely be making it again!  I served it with baked potatoes and green beans.

As prepared, this made 4-6 sandwiches. This recipe can easily be doubled.  

Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken

3 large frozen chicken breasts

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 cup BBQ sauce of your choice, plus more to put on finished sandwich

¼ cup Italian Salad Dressing (I used Kraft Zesty Italian)

¼ cup brown sugar (unpacked)

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Place frozen chicken breasts in slow cooker.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken in crock.

In medium bowl mix all other ingredients.  Wisk for a minute to make sure all brown sugar is well incorporated. Pour over chicken.

Cover.  Cook 3-4 hours in high or 6-8 hours on low.
About a half hour before serving, take chicken out and shred.  Put back in crock and stir with the sauce at bottom of crock.  Cover and let everything cook together for a half hour longer.

Slow Cooker Cream of Chicken Wild Rice Soup (cream)

I love soup.  I've always loved soup.  I could eat it every day if I absolutely had to.  Okay, I could eat it every day on my own accord.  I even had friend in middle school who called me "soup"--thank goodness it was one of my short-lived nicknames.  Here in our house, we have a handful of go-to soups that I tend to cook pretty often.  I'm certain that this one will slip into that rotation quite easily.

When I have a few minutes (usually late at night) I browse Pinterest for new recipes I want to try.  This is one (on my Slow Cooker Board) that I've had my eye on for quite some time.  I decided to try it today since we have some sickness going around the house and I wasn't in the mood to have to figure out dinner tonight.  We were all very pleased with the turnout!  I doubled the recipe so we have plenty to spare.  I definitely found a winner with this recipe!

I modified the recipe slightly, but you can find the original here.

Cream of Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package of Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice 
1/2 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter (I used slightly less since I ran out.)
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 cup grated carrots (I chopped mine in a food processor.)
1 cup diced celery

Directions:

Combine broth, water, carrots, celery, chicken and rice (along with seasoning packet) in a large slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours. 

Take out chicken and shred with two forks and then add back into slow cooker. In a small bowl combine salt, pepper, and flour. 

In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in flour mixture by tablespoon to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. 

Stir cream mixture into slow cooker and then let cook on low for 15 more minutes.

Enjoy!  Would pair easily with warm biscuits or croissants.

Slow Cooker Caribbean Jerk Chicken

Slow Cooker Caribbean Jerk Chicken

I wanted to use this new McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning in a slow cooker recipe. I put together the following recipe and it was delicious! My husband was a HUGE fan of Red Robin’s Jamaican Jerk’d Chicken Sandwich, but they took it off the menu some time ago.  (He is forever disappointed about this.)  I was going to try to come up with a variation using some of the same ingredients.  This is what I came up with.

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts (I used frozen.)

3 Tbsp. McCormick® Caribbean Jerk Chicken Seasoning

1 can chunk pineapple (drain, but save juice 4-5 Tbsp.)

Juice from 1 lime

3 tsp. garlic, minced

This is super easy!

Put frozen, yes frozen, chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Rub with Caribbean Jerk Seasoning. Squeeze lime juice over chicken. Spread garlic over chicken. Drain pineapple saving 4-5 Tbsp. of juice. Pour pineapple chunks over chicken. Pour reserved pineapple juice over everything. Cook on high 4-5 hours, low 6-8 hours.  I served this with red beans and rice and green beans.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice

Truth be told, the photos of this recipe didn't look super appealing to me, but I was looking for something to make using ingredients I already had in the house.  I had this one saved on Pinterest for a while and decided to give it a shot.  We were very pleased with how it came out!  We're already thinking about different variations we can do with the same concept!

It only requires six ingredients and I had all of them.  Woohoo for an easy, tasty meal--even for an 18 month old!

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts  (I actually only used two large breasts.)

1 large onion, chopped

1 -8 ounce box Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup (regular or fat free)

1 -15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained

Instructions

Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Scatter chopped onion over top. Spoon cream soup over top of that. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. 

A few minutes before serving, break up chicken a bit, add in cooked rice, corn, and cheese. Stir to combine. Cover and let cook 5-10 more minutes.  Serve hot.

UPDATE:  I made this again using Zatarain's Rice Pilaf, since I didn't have any Yellow Rice at home.  It was good, but the Yellow Rice box definitely gives a little more flavor.  Rice Pilaf made a good second choice, but the Yellow Rice is still #1.

Recipe found here.

Chicken Pot Pie - A Crowd-Pleaser

Here’s another quick and easy recipe to make for dinner.  It was a crowd-pleaser, even for our little 18 month old crowd-pleaser.  I’ve made this a few times, but somehow I forgot about it.  I’m sure it’ll come out more often now that the little guy loved it!  The prep is easy and it bakes for only 30 minutes.

Hearty Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

1 package (16 ounces) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

1 cup cut-up cooked chicken

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup Original Bisquick® mix

½ cup milk

1 egg

Heat oven to 400ºF. Mix vegetables, chicken and soup in ungreased 2-quart casserole.  

Stir remaining ingredients in small bowl with fork until blended. Pour into casserole.  

Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.  

Makes approx. 6 servings

The original recipe can be found here.

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Ingredients: 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (You can also use thighs if you prefer.) 1 bottle (12-ounces) favorite Caesar dressing 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 1/2 tsp. ground pepper 2 cups shredded Romaine lettuce 8 hamburger buns, toasted Directions:  Without adding any liquid or spices, place chicken in a 3-4 quart slow cooker.  (I put mine in frozen.)  Cover and cook on LOW heat for 6-7 hours.  Drain any accumulated liquid from slow cooker and shred chicken with a sturdy spoon or fork.  Pour in 1/2 bottle of dressing, Parmesan cheese and pepper.  Stir together until evenly mixed.  Continue to add dressing until desired moistness level has been reached (for me it was about 3/4 bottle).  Cover and cook on HIGH for 20-30 minutes or until mixture is hot.  Toast the buns, if desired.  Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture over toasted buns.  Add lettuce.  Serve immediately.   UPDATE:  If we make this again I will not use any more than half the bottle of dressing or I'd use more chicken.  They were good, but the flavor was over-powering.  I might also add a few stalks of chopped celery into the mixture.  I think that'd give it a nice crunchy texture to the chicken.  Overall, this was very good. Original Recipe found here.