Week 13 and 14 - Crockpot Salsa Chicken, BBQ Cheddar Crusted Chicken PLUS a bonus recipe for Creamy crockpot Spaghetti!

Sorry for being so slow with my posts! I have actually had time to cook, but no time to blog. I will be sharing THREE recipes today. 

The first recipe I found on Pinterest of course - I had trouble linking up directly to the recipe, but here is the link to the website where the recipe can be found: http://www.persnicketyplates.com/p/featured.html

Ingredients:

• 3-4 boneless chicken breasts
• Taco seasoning (I used about 1/2 packet; enough to cover the chicken)
• Salsa - again I didn't measure, but used enough to cover up the chicken (see photos)
• 1/2 cup frozen peas (recipe called for corn, but we didn't have any in the house)
• Taco Shells or Wraps
• Rice
• Shredded cheese of choice (I used cheddar)

Directions:
Put chicken into crockpot in one layer. Sprinkle with taco seasoning

  top with salsa

 and add peas or vegetable of choice

Cover and let cook for 4-5 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low. Stir and shred with a fork. Mine fell apart really easily.

Now comes the fun part....assemble any way you want. We made rice and also had taco shells to use. Some people made taco's and some just topped the chicken mixture over the rice. There are many ways to do this and it was delicious and EASY!!!

Definitely a recipe to use again!  We had company that night to share and they really enjoyed this!

The second recipe I made this week was for BBQ Cheddar Crusted Chicken - http://www.hellmanns.com/recipes/detail/43184/1/bbq-cheddar-crusted-chicken

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (about 1 oz.)
• 2 Tbsp. barbecue sauce
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/4 lbs.)
• 4 tsp. Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Combine Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise, cheese and barbecue sauce in medium bowl. 
   
   
   
3. Arrange chicken on baking sheet. Evenly top with mayonnaise mixture, then sprinkle with bread crumbs.
   
   
   
   
4. Bake until chicken is thoroughly cooked. I had bigger pieces of chicken so it took about 45 minutes to be cooked through. If you use thin chicken then 20-25 minutes should be enough.
   

 This was another hit with Ben and my dad who was visiting us for dinner!

This week's bonus recipe is for Creamy crockpot spaghetti. This was perfect for today's snow day!
http://picky-palate.com/2012/03/19/creamy-crock-pot-spaghetti/
**I did modify the recipe and will show what I did below**

Ingredients:

• Pasta sauce - I had a big jar and just eyeballed the amount to be used
• 1 pound spaghetti noodles
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1-2 cups chicken broth

Pour one jar of pasta sauce into bottom of crock pot on high heat. Break spaghetti noodles in half and place noodles over sauce then top with cubes of cream cheese.

Pour another jar of pasta over cream cheese, close lid and let cook on high for 3 hours. 

After 3 hours, give a good stir (will be thick) and add last jar of pasta sauce and 1-2 cups of chicken broth (I used 1.5 cups, but use more if you want a thinner sauce). 

Close lid and let cook another hour or until ready to serve.

 

This also came out really good and was super easy!!! Even Ellie liked it :)

Stay tuned for more recipes. I plan to make fried ravioli soon so keep an eye out for that recipe and more!!

Stay safe!