Category: Recipes: The good, the bad, & the inedible.

Crockpot Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Posted on by Kelley Elmore

alfredoIt’s no secret how much I adore my crockpot. There is no better feeling that coming home after a long work day and a nice home cooked meal is ready and waiting for you! And your house smells heavenly. I tried a new recipe today and made a few changes. It turned out great. Sometimes Alfredo sauce can be too rich but not this stuff. It’s delicious!

Recipe:

3 chicken breasts

1 1/2 packets of Italian dressing mix

2 10oz cans of cream of chicken soup

2 8oz cream cheese

1 lb fettuccini pasta

Optional: broccoli, peas, parmesan cheese, etc.

Before work, add all of the ingredients except pasta and optional items. The best way to add the cream cheese is to cut it in chunks before throwing it in the crockpot. Add 1 1/2 cans of water. Set it on low for 6-8 hours and go to work. When you get home, take the chicken breasts out, put them on a plate, and using two forks shred them. Before you return the chicken to the crockpot, whisk the sauce. The cream cheese will still be chunky if you don’t. Once you’re done, return the chicken back to the sauce and add broccoli or any other additions you’d like. Make your fettuccini pasta and enjoy! The picture does not do it justice. Trust me. Add a salad and bread sticks and you’ll be saying, “What Olive Garden?”! Maybe not, but it will cost you less.

Update: My picky three year old loved it and asked for seconds! He doesn’t like anything but nuggets lately. Victory!alfredo2

Sweet & Tangy Chicken Legs

Posted on by Kelley Elmore

This is my favorite way to make chicken legs. After working all day, it is so easy to mix up all of the ingredients and put the chicken in the oven for an hour while I do a load of laundry or straighten up the house. Hope you love it too!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs of chicken drumsticks

 3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

3 garlic gloves, minced

salt & pepper

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In a big glass bowl add the honey, soy sauce, ketchup, and minced garlic. For more convenience you can get the jar of minced garlic and just add a few spoonful. That’s what I do. I say to put all of it in a glass bowl because you’ll probably have to heat the mixture up in the microwave for a minute or two to help it blend together.

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Next, line a glass casserole dish with foil. This isn’t necessary but it makes clean up a lot easier! Lay the chicken legs in the dish and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Add the liquid mixture and make sure to coat all of the legs. It’s okay that the sauce doesn’t cover the legs. You’ll turn them later.

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Bake the mixture on 350 degree for forty five minutes. Then take it out and flip the legs. Put them back in the oven but this time crank the heat up to 425 degrees and bake them for an additional twenty to thirty minutes. Increasing the heat is the key! Let them cool & enjoy.  Let me know what you think!

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Ridiculously Easy Tortellini

Posted on by Kelley Elmore

I try really hard to eat a low carb diet. Key word being “try”. But sometimes a girl just needs her pasta! Am I right?! Fill that pasta with cheese and I’m in heaven. This is a really easy, cheap, weeknight dinner that the boys just love. I brown one pound of hamburger meat, drain and return to the pan. Add diced tomatoes (get the onion & garlic flavored kind and you can save the time it would take to sauté the garlic & onion yourself), alfredo sauce, and tomato sauce. Let simmer for about fifteen minutes. While the sauce is simmering, bring a pot of water to boil and add your cheese filled tortellini. Cook per package instructions, drain, add to the sauce and you’re done. My family likes to top it with way too much parmesan cheese. But seriously, is there such a thing as too much cheese? Not really.

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(Hamburger not pictured)

Ingredients:

1 lb hamburger meat

1 cup alfredo sauce

1 can diced tomatoes (I like the garlic/onion flavor)

1 can tomato sauce

20 oz package of cheese filled tortellini (in the dairy section)

The sauce is kind of tricky. I like it to be a nice pink color. Just add the ingredients slowly. If your sauce is too red, add more alfredo. If it’s too white, add more tomato sauce. The end result will look something like this…

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Low Carb Mexican Chicken Casserole

Posted on by Kelley Elmore

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This one is just way too easy, and the toddler eats it without too much of a fight. That makes it a winner! I adore my crockpot. It makes weeknight dinners a lot easier (Except when you go off to work and forget to turn the crockpot on. Yep, that’s from experience.) This recipe called for boiling the chicken, but it took too long. I put a whole pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot with a half cup of chicken stock, a table spoon of minced garlic, salt, & pepper. It looks something like this….

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Not very appetizing, yet. Hold on. It gets better. It cooks on low heat for six hours. When I get home from work I shred it and put it in a glass casserole dish. Add two cans of diced tomatoes and chilies (I use mild Rotel) and mix well. Next, add a layer of cream cheese. You definitely want to spread it over the chicken. If you do dollops, you’ll get a big mouth full of cream cheese and as Aiden would say, “That’s just gross”. Anyway, it will look like this…

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The cream cheese could have been spread more evenly before that picture was taken. Oh, well. Next, cover the top with shredded Mexican cheese. It probably takes two cups. I don’t know, I just cover the top. And when it looks like enough, I add a little more. Bake it at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Long enough to heat it through and melt the cheese.

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The final result is a nice cheesy, Mexican chicken casserole that you can add vegetables and maybe rice on the side, of course it will no longer be a carb free meal at this point.  Check it out. Looks good, right?

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Ingredients:

1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cooked & shredded)

2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon minced garlic

salt & pepper to taste

2 10oz cans of diced tomatoes & chilies

8oz cream cheese (the tub is easier to spread than the block)

2 cups of shredded Mexican cheese

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes