Balsamic Chicken in the Crock Pot

This is by far one of my new favorite recipes! It has a tremendous amount of flavor and texture as well as a great color that makes it wonderful for dishing up for guests! On a side note, don't let the balsamic vinegar scare you off. It does have a slightly ominous name and the term "vinegar" doesn't sound appetizing to most but this is another "trust me" moment! The vinegar taste cooks off and leaves the hearty, sweet flavor that balsamic vinegar has over other varieties of vinegar! Did I mention it's also a light dish... ya buddy!

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat
olive oil
2 cans of italian style diced tomatos undrained
1 onion sliced very thinly (not chopped!)
5-6 garlic cloves (If they're extra large, be sure to cut them in half)
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
a sprinkle of italian seasonings

Alright, drizzle your crock pot with olive oil. Place trimmed chicken inside. Top with onion and garlic. Sprinkle seasonings. Cover with vinegar and then pour your cans of tomatos on top! Cook on low for 5-6 hours but NO LONGER! THis has a very thin sauce so your chicken will dry up quickly if left to cook much longer!

*side note* I have started to lightly sauté the onions before putting them in the crock pot.  It adds more flavor and ensures they are soft at serving time

This meal is great served with some of the tomato and onion on top of the chicken as well as a heaping scoop of the sauce and veggies served over some angel hair pasta with a sprinkle of fresh grated parm! Any green veggies pairs well but I really recommend you try the roasted balsamic asparagus I have on here!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup for the Crock Pot

This my friends, is comfort food at it's very finest! It is rich, creamy, cheesey and oh so tasty! This is not in any way, shape or form healthy... you've been warned :) I found this recipe online at numerous websites and adjusted it to suit my tastes.

8 medium potatoes, peeled half way and diced in 1/2 inch pieces

1 small onion chopped

4 stalks of celery sliced

3 tsps chopped garlic

1/4 cup butter

sprinkle of salt

sprinkle of pepper

sprinkle of parsley

1 quart of chicken broth

1 cup of half and half (I used the fat free kind)

1 cup sour cream

8 slices of bacon, browned and crumbled

1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded

3 TBSP chives

more cheese and croutons to garnish

Start by sauteing your onion and celery for a few minutes in some butter to soften it a bit.
This is what I mean by half peeled potatoes. Most potato soups call for peeled potatoes but I prefer to retain some of the nutrients.

Into your crock pot goes the broth, potatoes, onion, celery, garlic, butter, parsley, salt and pepper. Cook this for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Half an hour before it's done, add your chives, cream, cheese and sour cream.During this last half hour, fry up your bacon (I attempted turkey bacon.... ick). I chose to stir my bacon in but you could use it, along with some extra cheese and croutons to garnish. Enjoy!

Creamy Italian Chicken

There is nothing better then a super easy and equally yummy crock pot recipe! This one is a new favorite. The sauce is a must-have served over rice!

1 can cream of chicken soup (I use the 98% fat free stuff)
1 pckg dry italian dressing mix
1 8 oz pckg of cream cheese (I like the 1/3 less fat kind)
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Trim chicken, place in crock pot. In a seperate bowl mix soup and dressing mix and pour over chicken. Now, slice your cream cheese, place on top of soup and cook on low for 6 hours! About an hour before it's done, reach in there and stir that cream cheese into the sauce. Serve the chicken with a little sauce on top, use remaining sauce on top of some yummy brown rice and serve up with some green beans!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

To be honest, I don't know why it took me so long to try this recipe but I'm sure glad I did! I made it for the first time last winter and it is very simple to make and the best part about it: you can pump up the spice level if your family prefers hot food! Here ya go!


1 lb bonless skinless chicken breasts (I use two large ones)
1 medium onion finely chopped (I only used half)
1 can diced tomatos with chilis, undrained
1 can (10 oz) mild enchilada sauce (or medium or hot, whichever you prefer)
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chilis, drained (I use mild but here's another chance to spice it up)
1 can chicken broth 1 can corn, drained (this time around I used half of a small bag of frozen corn)
chopped garlic (I used about a tablespoon full)
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1.5 teaspoons of cumin (I've made it before without and it tasted just fine)
5 soft corn tortillas cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can of beans drained (kidney, black beans, pinto, whichever you prefer or have on hand)

Spray your crockpot with non-stick spray and place your trimmed chicken breast in the bottom. Top with your "chunky" ingredients.

Top those with the can of tomatos, sprinkle with seasonings and layer with tortilla pieces. Pour the liquids on top.

Cook for 6-8 hours on low. Pull the chicken breasts out, shred with fork then return to pot.

You could top with sour cream and shredded cheese if you'd prefer. Enjoy!

This time around I got smart and rather then let the leftover tortillas from the package go bad, I divided them into groups of five and put them in a freezer bag and froze them for my next round of tortilla soup!

1-2-3-4 Chili

This is really as easy as 1-2-3-4! I do add a secret ingredient that gives the chili a fabulous nutty flavor (see below).


The ingredients are 1-2-3-4

1 packet chili seasoning
2 pounds of ground beef (browned and drained)
3 cans of beans (2 of kidney beans drained and one of chili beans with sauce)
4 small cans tomato sauce (I use 2 regular size ones)

Optional-
1 TBSP chili powder
garlic and onion powder to taste
secret ingredient- heaping spoonful of peanut butter (I left this out right now because we've yet to introduce Ashton to peanuts)


Pour tomato sauce into crockpot, add chili seasoning and optional ingredients. Mix well. Add the beans and beef. Cook on low 8-10 hours. It's not quite as tasty but if you're in a time crunch you can cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Serving suggestion- 30 minutes before it's done I mix in 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. I like to serve ours over rice (it turns it into two meals and really makes it more filling). I use the leftovers to make chili mac!

Russian Chicken

This was by far one of the best meals I've made. I think it was so tasty to me because it has a totally different taste then most meals I make. I am going to post two different ways to cook it. I originally found this as a crockpot meal but our crockpot is not very nice to chicken so I did it in the oven. I'll post both versions :) I guess I should laso mention that while looking up variations of this recipe I found it was made two different ways equally (one with cranberries and another with apricots)

1 8 oz bottle Russian dressing (the kind I used was by Wishbone)
1 can of whole cranberries in sauce (you can choose to replace the cranberries with a small jar of apricot preserves)
1 envelope onion soup mix (dry)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

To cook this in the crockpot simply place your trimmed breasts at the bottom of the pot, mix the other ingredients seperately and pour them over the chicken. Cook on low 5-6 hours.




To bake it, tenderize your chicken breasts to equal thickness. Place them in a 9x13 dish coated with PAM. Mix all other ingredients and pour over the top.



Cover with foil and bake about 40 minutes, removing the foil for the last 10 or so (it might need a little longer to cook, just check it at 40. I did mine an hour like the original recipe and it was overcooked)
It is a MUST to serve this with rice or mashed potatos and use up all that extra sauce on top!

Beef Stroganoff

I got this recipe from my mom. While it is not traditional stroganoff this dish has wonderful flavor and is a great comfort food!

2 lbs stew meat (I actually used "taco meat" which is very small chunks of beef)
3 cans cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken)
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 16 oz container of sour cream
1 envelope of onion soup mix

Mix soup, sour cream, water and soup mix in crock pot. Add beef and mushrooms. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over noodles.

This comes out of the crock pot rather thin. What i like to do to rectify that is mix 2 tablespoons of white wine with 2 tablespoons of corn starch to create a slurry. I mix this into the stroganoff about an hour before serving.