Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Over Rice

Here in South Texas it's officially cold front season and the tempuratures can easily go from 85* on Christmas Day to 48* the next morning. My house is sitting at a pretty frigid 67* right now with no heater or AC going so I can finally lay on the couch with a blanket and not sweat it off a few minutes later like usual. So, with this cold weather I felt like eating something to warm my body up and that wouldn't take very long to make that way I could spend extra time cuddling my babies on the couch. Thus, this recipe came about. It's cheesy (Weston's favorite), has broccoli (my favorite), and of course the chicken adds a healthy amount of protein to really fill you up. I served it over rice because one of my FAVORITE homecooked meals is my mom's cheesy broccoli rice and I thought this would fill the void I've been having since Thanksgiving.

This recipe took less than 5 minutes to put together and only 5 hours in the crockpot or you could prepare it in the morning and set your timer that way your crockpot would just keep it warm till dinner time. Luckily I'm on winter break and have all day to do things around the house otherwise I would be going with the morning method.

Ingredients:

• 10.5 oz Cream of Chicken (Condensed)
• 10.5 oz Cheddar Soup (Condensed)
• 14 oz Chicken Broth
• 1.5 cups Shredded Cheddar
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• Frozen/Fresh Broccoli (I added how much I want, you can too, there's no right or wrong!)
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Garlic Powder
• 1/2 Coarse Black Pepper
• 2-3 Chicken Breasts 

Throw the cream of chicken, cheddar soup, chicken broth and spices into the crock pot and stir until smooth(ish). Add your chicken breasts and set the temp to low for 4-6 hours or high for 3 hours. About an hour before finished or serving shred the chicken and add your sour cream, shredded cheddar, and broccoli. Allow everything to melt and for the broccoli to cook through, you can stir occasionally.

Serve over rice and you're good to go!

Hope y'all enjoy this super quick and easy recipe. Weston loved it and I loved how easy it was to make so it will be a staple from now on.

Grocery Savings and Winter Break

Well, I finally beat my last best of $15.74! This was a complete surprise since I did not put ANY planning into this trip whatsoever like I usually do. However, this was one of the most hectic trips I have ever made because the week before Christmas at HEB is a literal black hole. Despite it all though I came out on top....even with Weston making constant "extreme couponer" jokes about me to the cashier...

In other news, I'm officially on Christmas Break from my kiddos and I successfully slept in till 10 today....then took another nap at 11....and 1....and 3....basically I slept all freaking day and I have absolutely no regrets about any of it. Tomorrow I will get back to work and do some minor winter cleaning around the house. We are hoping to have Weston's family here on Christmas and I would like for our house to not look like its usual very "lived-in" self.

Goals this week:

• Get my office space together
• Wash the comforters and guest sheets
• Fold and actually put away the laundry
• Finally make a schedule to follow for blogging
• And last but not least, spend some quality time with my sister

Gobble, Gobble!

One of my goals this fall was to attempt to cook a turkey...my mom ended up making the turkey this year and my boyfriend's family had a fish fry for Thanksgiving so I thought my moment was shot. However, I love turkey and don't mind eating it after Thanksgiving! So, that's what I set out to do and of course it was made in a crockpot. I had my parents over for dinner and this was a total hit. I was so worried I would mess this up but it is seriously so simple there is NO WAY to ruin this turkey. Have fun with it, use other spices if you wish!

Ingredients:
4-5 lb Turkey Breast
3 Stalks/Ribs Celery (chopped into 2 in. pieces)
1 Carrot (cut into 2 in. pieces)
Garlic Powder
Kosher Salt
Coarse Black Pepper


Chop up all of your veggies and place them in the bottom of your crockpot.

 

Wash and pat dry your turkey breast and place on top of veggies. Sprinkle with Garlic, Salt, Pepper to taste.

That's it! Set your crockpot on Low for 4-5 hours and leave it alone! Internal temp MUST reach 165 before consuming. If you want that "crispy" skin you would get from roasting, feel free to throw it under the broiler for a few minutes to toast it up once it is done cooking.

Enjoy!

Holy Cow! Or at least, chicken!

Today I embarked on a journey I have been scared to try for some time.....a whole chicken. I was mostly scared of royally screwing this up but to my surprise it was a complete WIN!

Right into the crockpot

Ingredients:
4-5 lb chicken
3 lemons
2-3 heads of garlic
brisket seasoning

Cook time: 4 hours
Prep: 15 minutes (depending)

Remove the ends of one lemon on each side as if you wanted to stand it up straight. Cut lemon in half and place at bottom of crockpot. Cut 1 garlic head in half and place at bottom of crockpot as well.

Finished product!

Rinse chicken inside and out very well and pat dry with paper towels. Remember to remove any insides if they are present (I buy ready to cook chickens to avoid this, gross!). Once dry season inside and out with brisket seasoning. Stuff chicken with other head of garlic separated into smaller pieces and peeled. Cut 2nd lemon into quarters and stuff chicken with these too. Cut 3 lemon into slices and place on top of chicken.

Set crockpot on high for 4 hours and leave alone! When thickest part of chicken reads at 165 degrees with a meat thermometer, chicken is cooked!

Enjoy!!!

Btw, of course this chicken was bought on sale :)