Sunrise Chicken

I got a new crockpot recipe book for Christmas that is so fun! I love cooking in my crockpot, and I found this recipe book that has all kinds of simple recipes that use the stuff I already have in my cupboards. Nothing too fancy. I've been trying all kinds of new things that I wouldn't have even thought of making and surprisingly the family likes them too! I'll share what I made yesterday because it's seriously the EASIEST thing I've ever made in a crockpot.

Sunrise Chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup of barbecue sauce
1 cup of orange juice

Dump ingredients into crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours.

I used a mesquite barbecue sauce and it made a very mild barbecue chicken that wasn't real sweet. I cut the chicken into thirds once it was cooked and served it with baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes.

I haven't been able to fully convert all the kids to sweet potatoes yet, so I have to do a mix of normal potatoes and sweet potatoes. I just bake them all in the same dish in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Cream of Chicken Rice

This is one of our favorite fall-back meals. I make it when I haven't gone shopping for awhile and need something quick. When I took it out of the oven this time, Samantha came in and started jumping up and down saying, "I love this dinner!" That's always a good sign.

Cream of Chicken Rice

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded

1/2 onion, chopped

2 c. milk

1 c. uncooked rice

Boil chicken for 1 hour on stove (or however you like to cook it). Shred the chicken. Mix all the ingredients together. Pour into casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Stir occasionally so the rice will cook evenly.

I sometimes add broccoli into this mix, or you can top it with buttered cracker crumbs. This is how it looks when it's done.

Our favorite way to serve this is to spoon it onto your plate while it's really hot. Then add a little butter on top and let it melt. Top with salt and pepper.

This time I also served salad with it. The salad was simply red leaf lettuce, chopped spinach leaves, chopped carrots, cucumbers, and green peppers. YUM!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I decided I needed to make this yesterday because . . .

the day looked like this!

It's almost May and the weather is unbelievably cold. However, it will warm up soon and that means we only have a few good soup days left! Time to pull out the crock pot!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
celery salt
poultry seasoning
wide egg noodles
chicken bouillon
salt and pepper to taste

I don't follow a recipe for my homemade chicken soup, I just throw everything in the crock pot and test it until it tastes right. So, yesterday morning I put a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot and turned it to high. Then I added 1 chopped onion, 4 carrots (peeled and sliced), put in just enough water to cover it all and let it cook until afternoon.

In the afternoon I took 2 forks and broke up the cooked chicken breasts into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Then I added canned chicken broth and chicken bouillon. I had to add the bouillon to make up for the water I already had in there with the chicken and vegetables. I also added the celery salt, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Then, about an hour before we ate I put in as many noodles as I wanted and let them cook.

The soup turned out really good. One thing I would have done differently is put the noodles in a little later. They ended up softer than I wanted and broke apart before I served it. I ended up making a double amount of soup so that we can have leftovers today and I can have a little break from cooking dinner. Maybe I'll make some rolls tonight to go with the leftover soup. Those are always a hit.

Oh, I can't forget our "side" with the soup from last night! This is certainly a kid favorite and I had them when I was a kid. What is it? CRACKER SANDWICHES!!! I still like them.

Actually, these little cracker sandwiches go a long way as an incentive to get kids to finish their soup. I put them together with a little bit of butter in the middle. So tasty! I ate them with my soup and it added a real buttery taste to my soup.