Guest Blogger: Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

2 onions, chopped

3 carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

dash dried leaf thyme

3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

1 package frozen peas (10 oz.), about 1 1/2 cups

1 2-1/2 to 3 lb. whole fryer

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup noodles (we used egg noodles)

Place all ingredients in slow cooker, except noodles, in order given. Cover and cook on LOW 8 to 10 hours, or HIGH 4 to 6 hours. One hour before serving, remove chicken and cool slightly. Remove meat from bones and return meat to slow cooker. Add noodles. Turn to HIGH. Cover and cook 1 hour.

*D: Just to be clear here, did you read the title of this recipe? Crock. Pot. Chicken. Noodle. Soup. Sounds good, huh?


You have no idea.


This recipe...let me just say that we've had leftovers for 3 days now and I wish they weren't almost gone. The chicken comes out moist and tender. The whole soup has a strong savory flavor that makes you wish you were a slow eater. Luckily I am. Often when you cook something with carrots and celery together, the flavors fight for the spotlight. Not in this recipe. And with all that parsley, it turns out to be a beautiful dish. Sounds strange, but it's so true.


This is technically a guest blogger recipe because I didn't make it. I was sick a few days ago and my husband whipped this up for me. He said he followed the recipe except for two things. We did not add peas (ew). And instead of adding one cup of egg noodles, he added about two and a half or three. The good thing is there was a lot more meal to go around - which is probably why we have had it for 3 days so far. The down side is the noodles soaked up all the moisture, making this more like chicken noodle stew than soup.


So, if you want to add more noodles, go for it. Just add a little more moisture - maybe a cup of water per extra cup of noodles?


Try this. You will love it, I promise. Especially on chilly winter days or when you're not feeling fantastic.

Pair it with some corn bread or homemade wheat bread and boy howdy, you've got heaven on your table.

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Guest Blogger: Chili Pasta Skillet

1 pound ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 -- 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 can of corn
1/2 cup dried elbow macaroni
1 -- 4 ounce can diced green chiles, drained
2 to 3 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
A couple squirts of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese

In a large skillet, cook meat and onion until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain fat.

Stir in beans, undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, uncooked macaroni, green chiles, chili powder, garlic salt, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 20 minutes or until macaroni is tender, stirring often. Remove skillet from heat; sprinkle mixture with cheese.

*D: My sister-in-law sent this recipe to me. Her son is a picky eater and will always eat this dish! Pin It

Cream Cheese Chicken

4 chicken breasts cubed
1 stick of butter
1 pkg dry Italian Salad Dressing mix
1 8oz pkg of cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup

Put chicken, butter and dressing mix in a crock pot on low for 3 hours. Watch it, it cooks fast.

Then turn on high for half an hour. After cooking on high, add the cream cheese and cream of chicken soup. Cook for another half an hour on high.

Serve over rice or noodles. (Penne or egg noodles are yummy.)

*D: This is a recipe I've served and shared with my family. My sister hounded me until I finally put it on my blog to share with the world. :)

I love this dish. It's one of my absolute favorites. I make sure to always have cream cheese and Italian Dressing mix on hand, just in case. I usually follow the directions accordingly because, hey, they're easy.

If you don't have 4 hours, this can be made on the stove top. Melt the butter and cream cheese on low in a saucepan. Add the other sauce ingredients and let it simmer for a while. The chicken can be cooked on the stove top as well. Fry it in a pan - you don't need oil. Chicken creates its own juices. Just don't let it burn. If the pan starts to brown and the chicken is not done, turn down your heat and add a little water. Pin It

Easy Cheesy Tuna Casserole

1 can Cream of Chicken soup
3 cups cooked pasta
1 can of tuna
1 cup shredded cheese

In a glass baking dish, mix pasta, soup, and tuna. Top with cheese and bake at 350* until cheese is melted.


*D: Easy, right? You know, I don't love tuna casserole, but I could eat this once a week. The tuna flavor was very subtle because there is only one can.

Variations: Use cream of mushroom instead, top with french fried onions or seasoned bread crumbs, add in half a bag of frozen peas, top with fresh tomatoes.

This is a small recipe - it only calls for 3 cups of cooked pasta. If you have more than 3 people in your family, I'd double it. I did not measure how much cheese I put on top. I just grated cheese and covered the top with a layer - that's my favorite part!

Yum. Pin It

Onion Pasta

1/2 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
5 onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 cup water
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
1 pound pasta, cooked according to package directions


1.In a large skillet place oil, butter and onions and cook until golden brown.
2.Add basil, pepper, water and bouillon and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
3.Add onion mixture to cooked pasta, sprinkle with cheese, toss and serve.

*D: Ok, folks. I got this recipe by typing "pasta" into the search engine of allrecipes.com. I came up with no less than 3,140 recipes. I chose this one at random and it turned out to be a keeper - which is a good thing since the title is a little bit of a turn off.


Let me start off by saying, yes, you read that right. Five, count 'em, five, onions. Now, I giggled a little. Chuckled a bit, then promptly crossed off the 5 and wrote in a 1. Was it enough? Oddly...no. I would say maybe 2. I cut the oil in half and left the butter amount, and after I sauteed the onions, they became sweet. You'd almost expect to feel like you're biting into an onion when eating this pasta, but the flavor was unexpectedly light and (again) sweet. I used penne, but I would recommend penne, rotini, bow tie, ziti... any pasta besides long and skinny (like spaghetti or angel hair). I don't think those would be as good. But try it out and let me know if you'd like. And if you need ideas or have no clue what rotini is, click here.


So, cut the oil in half, make it two onions, add a little garlic and Bob's you're uncle. This was fast and delicious. Oh! And I forgot to sprinkle with cheese. That may have made a difference, but at least you know I ate it without the cheese and still enjoyed it. Pin It

Creamy Chicken with Bacon & Penne

4 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
2 cups penne pasta, uncooked
1/2 cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread
3/4 cup fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 green onions, chopped

WRAP 1 bacon slice around each chicken breast. Heat large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cover. Cook 5 to 7 min. on each side or until chicken is done (165ºF). Remove chicken from skillet; cover to keep warm. Discard drippings in skillet.

COOK pasta in large saucepan as directed on package. Meanwhile, cook cream cheese spread and broth in skillet until cream cheese is melted and sauce is thickened and well blended, stirring constantly with whisk. Stir in tomatoes and onions; cook 2 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

DRAIN pasta; return to pan. Add sauce; mix lightly. Serve topped with chicken.

*D: I used this recipe as a general guideline for a skillet dinner. Here's how I did it:


I cubed the chicken in bite sized pieces (I had 2 breasts instead of 4) and fried it in olive oil until no longer pink. Meanwhile, I had the pasta cooking. I cooked about 3 - 4 rather than 2.


After the chicken was done, I melted half a brick of cream cheese (I guess that's about 4 oz) and 1 cup of broth (it was easier for me to make 1 cup with the bouillon granules rather than 3/4 of a cup) in a pan and added dehydrated chives. To be completely honest, I didn't even taste the chives. So I need to add more in the future. So if you only have plain cream cheese, go for it! I waited until the chicken was done because I didn't want the sauce to cool while waiting for chicken to cook.


After the chicken was done, pasta cooked and sauce melted, I mixed it all together in the skillet I cooked the chicken in and stirred in a few handfuls of crumbled bacon.


It was delicious! And easier than wrapping chicken in bacon.


Possible sides: green salad, asparagus, green beans, steamed carrots, bread. Pin It

Extra Easy Lasagna

3/4 pound ground beef
3 cups spaghetti sauce
6 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese (about 2 cups)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup water

Brown the ground beef. Spoon off fat. Add spaghetti sauce; heat through stirring occasionally.

In 2-quart oblong baking dish, spread 1 1/2 cups meat mixture. top with three uncooked lasagna noodles, half the ricotta cheese, and half the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining meat mixture. Slowly pour water around the inside edges of t baking dish. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 375* for 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes more. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

*D: This is so easy to make and tastes like lasagna. I know that's a silly thing to say, but sometimes "easy" recipes don't taste like the hard recipe. This one, however, does. I would caution you to make sure you layer your lasagna as follows:


1 1/2 cup meat
3 lasagna noodles
1 cup ricotta
1 cup mozzarella
1 1/2 cup meat
3 lasagna noodles
1 cup ricotta
1 cup mozzarella
remaining meat


I did not read the instructions right and had a total lapse in judgement when I made this and ended up with my ricotta/mozzarella layers on top, so then I had to open another jar of spaghetti sauce to top it off.


I also like to put mozzarella on top. I use home-made spaghetti sauce, and that tends to be a little runnier anyway. If you are using home-made, you don't need to put in all the water. Maybe 1/8 cup or none at all. Ours ended up pretty runny because I added the full water as called for.


Possible sides: french bread and salad. Pin It