Crockpot Mexican Chicken

The crockpot. Was there ever a better invention? Uh...no. If you don't own a crockpot, or don't use the one you have, then that needs to change. You'll thank me later, trust me.

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen. She's pretty amazing. Just in case you've been living under a rock and haven't been to her website, crawl out and do that now. You'll thank me later for that, too.

Crockpot Mexican Chicken
Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours

Servings: 4

You will need:

1.5 lbs. boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning, or if you buy it in bulk like me, then 1/4 cup
1 10oz can cream of chicken soup
1 cup salsa
1 15oz can of black beans

Put chicken in the bottom of the crockpot. Add taco seasoning on top of chicken. Add cream of chicken soup and salsa. Drain the black beans and add.

Cook on high for 3 hours, or on low for 6-8. Shred chicken and then serve over Spanish rice, in tacos, or as nacho meat. Top with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, or whatever you prefer.

Chicken Enchiladas

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com I love that website. Tons of good ideas, and it will even put together a shopping list for you! The only thing that I changed with this recipe was that I used a rotisserie chicken and shredded the breast meat with two forks for the enchiladas. I was sick and thought that eliminating a step would be nice. I also wanted the dark meat, and the carcass for homemade broth for chicken and dumplings the next night. It's nice to piggy-back meals like that whenever possible. It stretches a buck!

Chicken Enchiladas

Prep time: 30 min

Cook time: 30 min

Serves 8

You will need:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 onion, chopped

1/2 pint sour cream

1 3/4 cups Cheddar cheese- divided into a one cup portion and a 3/4 cup portion

1 T dried parsley

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. salt (optional)

1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

1 T chili powder

1/3 cup chopped green pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

8 10 inch flour tortillas

1 12oz. jar taco sauce--FYI taco sauce doesn't come in a 12oz. jar, so go with the next size up.

• Preheat oven to 350


• Cook the chicken, or cheat like me and shred the chicken. Add the onion, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano, ground black pepper. Heat until cheese melts. Stir in salt, tomato sauce, water, chili powder, green pepper and garlic.


• Roll even amounts of the mixture in tortillas. Arrange in a 9x13 baking dish. Cover with taco sauce and 3/4 cups cheese. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Let stand to cool and set up for 10 minutes before serving.

Taco Bueno Bake

I love, love, love the cookbook clearance section at Borders. Ok let's be honest, I just love cookbooks. That's where I found 365 Easy One-Dish Recipes: Easy One Dish Recipes for Everyday Family Meals. This recipe is the first one I've tried out of this cookbook. I'll definitely be using it more often. I have a feeling that it will be well worth the $4 I spent on it. We had this for dinner tonight, and the kids thought it was great. Richie and I liked it, too.

This isn't the original recipe, because I off course changed it, but it's pretty close.

You will need:

2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 small onion
1 1/2 cups taco sauce
I box of Spanish rice- prepared. So add on the ingredients needed for the rice.
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Mexican 4-cheese blend, divided in half.
1 can (15.25 oz) black beans (This is one of the things I added, so I suppose you could leave them out if you dislike them)

This dish can be eaten as is, which is what the cookbook says to do, but we thought it should be topped with the usual suspects: shredded lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, sour cream, etc. Richie and I both thought it would make a great meat mix for nachos, taco or burrito filling. So tack on extra ingredients if you want to take it in that direction.

*Preheat oven to 350

*Chop up the onion and add it to the ground beef, brown and drain if needed.

*Add taco sauce, rice, half the cheese, and black beans.

*Spoon mixture into sprayed 3-quart baking dish.

*Cover and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle remaining cheese on top and return to oven for 5 minutes. Serves 8.

Richie and I couldn't understand why it needed to be heated in the oven. All of the ingredients were fully cooked. It helped it to set up a little bit, but if you are in a hurry you could skip baking it and just melt the cheese on top. Enjoy!

Dinner with the Parrys

We tried a new recipe at our house tonight. The kids LOVED it. I don't think I've ever even seen Victoria clean her plate, and she ate two helpings. Tristan ate three helpings. I thought it was a little bland and needed some salt, but that's easily remedied. Best of all it's cheap and fairly healthy. All of the ingredients (excluding spices) came to $9.40. The recipe says that it makes 8 servings, but I thought it was more like 12. This brings the cost to 78 cents per serving. You can't beat that! This dish would also freeze well, or be great for a potluck.

Quesadilla Casserole

You will need:

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8 3/4 oz.) whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can chopped green chiles, undrained
6 flour tortillas (8-inch)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. oregano leaves
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional- I left it out)

1. Brown beef and onion in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain.Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well. Stir in all of the spices except red pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add red pepper to taste, if desired.

2. Spread 1/2 cup pf the beef mixture on bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking dish sprayed with no-stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

3. Bake in preheated 350 oven 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.