SHE Cooks: Creamy Cheesy Crockpot Chicken & Rice

Happy Friday! The other day I made this tried and true recipe that I've had forever and knew it would be perfect to share with you!  The cooler weather has hit us (at least this week) and it's perfect crock pot weather now! 

Let's start with ingredients -

3-4 Chicken Breasts

1 can Cream of Chicken

1 box Yellow Rice Mix (7oz)

1 can Corn

1 - 2 cups of Cheddar Cheese

Onion

Now let's talk about these ingredients. First, I realized while pulling this post together that I didn't flip the cream of chicken for the picture (embarrassing...), so that's what that random can is. Second, you can almost make this recipe what you want it to be. Hubs and I don't like chunks of onion, so I use minced instead of chopping one up, but you can do whichever you like. We also like a lot of cheese so I ended up using 2 cups of cheese even though the recipe only calls for one!

To start lay your chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock pot and cover with onion. 

Scoop the cream of chicken on top of the chicken. Cover and cook. If using the low setting, cook for 4-6 hours. If using the high setting, cook for 8-10 hours!

In the last 30 minutes of cooking start preparing your rice according to the directions on the box. (Hint: you could also do this the night before and just have it waiting in the refrigerator.) 

Add your corn to crock pot while the rice is cooking so it can begin warming up. If you cooked your rice ahead of time go ahead and it now too so it'll be warming up. 

You'll notice my chicken is shredded at this point. The chicken is so tender at the end of cooking that I just stirred it and it fell apart!

Once you've added the corn and rice, you can add your cheese! Stir it in and then recover and let cook a few more minutes so the cheese can melt.

That's it! From there you're ready for a nice delicious hot meal!

I hope you enjoy this meal and I hope you're also getting nice temperatures right now. 

Happy fall and happy weekend!

xo Courtney

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SHE: Cooks This Week

Hey Y'all,

It is Sunday afternoon and I am thinking about what all we have going on this week and I am determined to plan some yummy dinner options. This is much better than Monday night @ 5:30 thinking "Hmmm, wonder what we can have for dinner??" I admit as empty nesters it is less of a stress for me. But, we really do still like dinner of some sort.

image via google

Now our sweet, organized SHE Lisa ~ she plans her meals for the MONTH complete with grocery shopping. SHE is awesome!!  SHE Brittney & SHE Courtney have both shared their tips (& they are the newlyweds)... I am over here flying by the seat of my pants. I seem to be the only SHE who doesn't meal plan.   Dinner?  sure I can make .....  Don't laugh too much! I am taking baby steps.  

Looking at this week, I know I have commitments 2 nights, so leftovers would be nice for Mike. So I need 5 meals, 2 that are suitable for leftovers. Perusing my guilty pleasure of Pinterest and SHE Degree's website for some inspiration, I think I am going to try these dishes.

Baked Ravioli : You use frozen ravioli, pasta sauce of your choice and mozzarella cheese. Layer and bake. Add a green salad and you have a dinner (and leftovers).

We love chicken and rice. I found this crockpot recipe, but it only takes 4 hour. I would be afraid it might be too "cooked" when we get home.  So that would be a good option for a leftover dinner if I make on the weekend.... didn't happen this weekend, but maybe with some planning it can next week.

Rotisserie BBQ Chicken Sliders: I love using a rotisserie chicken. You can shred it and pour on your favorite BBQ sauce. Serve on little slider buns.    You can also use it to make a quick pot of chicken and rice.  I cook the rice in water with a bouillon cube (you can use chicken broth instead of water), add a little onion and garlic salt. Once the rice begins to simmer, drop in the shredded chicken and cook as directed. You may add a little pat or two of butter to add a little more flavor. It's a good idea to add slightly more water than called for to allow a juicier dish. Depending on the amount of rice you are cooking and the size of your family, if only a portion of the chicken is needed, you can use the other 1/2 for chicken salad, or toss the chopped chicken into a green vegetable salad for a healthy lunch or dinner.  You can also purchase some deli "chicken fingers" for your salad topper or add a few sides and dinner is ready, with just a little bit of outside help. 

It is a guarantee that at least one weeknight dinner will be hamburgers of some sort. This is my husband's favorite dinner! Grilled hamburgers are yummy and although I try to never let him down,  some nights it is too hot to grill. So I opt for a twist and this Hamburger steak looks like something we would both enjoy. Definitely left over options.

Another quick dinner is grilled steak. With a little preparation, you will have a even yummier steak. Marinate your steaks overnight in a mixture of lemon juice, oil, worcestershire sauce and garlic salt in a Ziploc baggie in the refrigerator. When you are ready for dinner, start the grill and take out the baggie. Let them warm up a little before placing on the grill, they will cook more evenly and not affect the temperature of your grill as significantly. My go to side for this is a fluffy baked potato and salad and I really love hot rolls with lots of melted butter... but we are trying to forget how much we enjoy that. :)

Well, it looks like I did it! I planned my dinners for several nights this week. Woo Hoo! Now, if I actually prepare them, we will call it success.  Have you tried any of these recipes? What is your family's go to dinner? Please share your recipes below, we would love to have more tried and try favorites and suggestions.

Happy Monday friends ~ 

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SHE Loves Dips

Hi Friends!

So a little bit about me – I’m a HUGE dip fan! Like not even kidding, I almost always have to have something to dip whatever I’m eating in. French onion chip dip, ranch, queso, salsa, guacamole (recently learned I like this one!), I’ll even dip my roll into gravy if I have it. I guess you could call me a dipoholic. 

Today I’m going to share with you two of my go-to dip recipes that I love to whip up if I need something.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

(I’m going to start by saying there are a lot of different recipes of this out there. This is the one I go by and have adapted to my likes!)

16oz cream cheese, softened

2 cans chicken

½ Frank’s buffalo sauce

1 cup ranch

I like the dump my chicken into my KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment before putting anything else in. Let it run on low for a few seconds to help shred the chicken up. Then I add the remaining ingredients.

I have a cute 9x9 casserole dish that I usually make this in, but you could use a variety of things. I bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or so. 

Helpful Hints:

 If you’re in a hurry (and the dish you’re using fits) this can be made in the microwave – I’ve done it and it tastes the same!

 One of my favorite things to do with the leftovers (if you have any) is to make quesadillas! 

Baked Potato Dip

This dip is so good! And like the other one, is so easy to make! Recommended chips to serve with are potato skins or plain potato chips! This recipe can also be found in our cookbook!

16oz sour cream

Ranch dip mix (packet)

Bacon bits to taste

1 ½ cups Grated cheddar cheese

Chives to taste

Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Add the bacon bits and chives to your liking. I personally usually leave the chives out.

Do you have a go-to party dip? I’d love to hear about it and add to my collection!

xo Courtney

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SHE: Plans Ahead for Lunch

Hey Ya'll! I am a planner - always have been, probably always will be. I like to get all of my ducks in a row on Sunday afternoons to make for a less stressful week. That includes meal prepping for dinner, as well as lunch. Today I am going to share with you my go-to lunch prep that I've been loving lately.

I tend to get in a routine with lunches, and will eat the same thing for weeks at a time. For example, the whole year of Kindergarten I ate a plain bologna sandwich on white bread. Today the thought of a bologna sandwich makes me want to gag. But I digress. Lunches can quickly become boring, so I try to mix things up a little, while trying to stay moderately healthy. Recently I started cooking one pound of boneless, skinless chicken on Sunday afternoons. I will either boil or bake it, then shred it up. At this point you could easily turn your chicken into Amy's chicken salad. I however, have simply been adding 1/4 cup of my favorite salad dressing (think caesar or an Italian vinaigrette) to season it. You will notice the dressing only adds flavor, not a lot of creaminess or texture at all to the chicken, which I love. You could certainly add more salad dressing to make it more of a "chicken salad" texture.

Once I have the chicken seasoned, I divide it into 3 or 4 servings and put them in the refrigerator for the week. Usually, I will pack a basic salad (greens, cucumbers, cheese, bacon, and croutons) and top the salad with the chicken once I'm ready to eat. Since the chicken is already seasoned with the dressing, I don't find it necessary to add more. It cuts calories, and still remains flavorful! I've also eaten it with crackers or on a croissant. The options are endless! It's super quick and easy, and takes the stress and hassle of work week lunches! If you find yourself running out of ideas for lunch, make sure to try this out.

xo ~ Brittney

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SHE Cooks: Baked Ranch Chicken

Hey Ya'll! I hope you are having a great week! Today I wanted to share a super quick dinner recipe that will be sure to please everyone in your family - baked chicken tenders seasoned with ranch. Yum!

To start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking sheet with cooking spray. Next, dump cereal in a plastic bag, and beat with a rolling pin until it appears like "breadcrumbs". Then pour the cereal into a mixing bowl and add your ranch seasoning packet. Next melt the butter.

You can use chicken breasts, tenders, or even boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I've tried each way, and they were all delicious). Rinse the chicken, and dunk into the melted butter, then into the cereal mixture. Once all of the chicken has been coated, place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. It's that easy!

As a tip, we are not big cereal eaters in our house. So if we only need one cup of cereal, for a recipe, I buy the individually prepared Special K cereal cups instead of an entire box of corn flakes. Every time I make this recipe there is always more than enough, and I do not have to worry about using an entire box of cereal afterwards.

Recipe

1 pound chicken

1 cup of corn flake cereal

1 Ranch seasoning packet

1-2 Tablespoons of Butter

I hope you enjoy!

xo ~ Brittney

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SHE Cooks: Chicken Stuffed Shells

Hey Ya'll! The other night I attempted a new recipe, and it was super simple and tasty! Chicken stuffed shells is one of our new favorites. With only a handful of ingredients and 30 minutes in the oven, it's hard to beat.

Image via Pinterest

There are three key ingredients to this recipe, chicken, jumbo pasta shells, and StoveTop chicken flavored stuffing. Start by boiling 6-7 chicken tenders, or 2-3 chicken breasts. In another pot, cook 18-20 jumbo pasta shells, drain and set aside to cool. Once the chicken and pasta shells are almost finished cooking, begin cooking your StoveTop stuffing as directed (only takes 5 minutes!).

Once your chicken is finished cooking, shred or cube it, and place in a large mixing bowl along with the cooked stuffing. Next, add one can of cream of chicken soup to the chicken/stuffing mixture. Take a large spoon and stuff the chicken mixture into a pasta shell - easy as that. Stuff your shells and place them in a greased baking dish until all of the mixture is gone. Lastly, take one more can of cream of chicken and dump it into a small bowl. Fill the cream of chicken soup can halfway with milk - whole milk or evaporated milk works better than skim or low fat milk, but use what you have - and mix it with the cream of chicken. Pour the mixture over the shells, cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

This recipe makes more than enough for Andrew and I, but you could easily half or double the recipe if needed! I hope you enjoy!

xo ~ Brittney

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