Creamy Chicken and Rice Crockpot Dinner.

Wow,  Don't expect so many posts a day.  But I had to share, because my house smells amazing.  Truly amazing.  I cook because I love.  I cook and bake for those I love because to me, what is more loving than putting your all into a dish for another person.  So tonight, I decided to try my take on multiple Pinterest pins on Chicken and Rice crockpot meals.

I woke up this morning deteremined.  I was going to make something amazing.  In my humble opinion, waking up with a purpose is so much better than not.  Do not get me wrong.  There are days I just want to lounge in bed feeling sorry for myself.  Honestly there are days that I DO lay in bed.  I'm human, life gets the best of me sometimes, but not today.  I don't know if you've heard the quote, "Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says, "aw crap, She's up.'" 

That was me this morning.  That is me most mornings.  I was up before anyone in the house thinking about ways I could "get into trouble." I don't aim for jail.  Not my cup of tea, but just enough trouble to have people roll their eyes and shake their heads.  Yeah, that's fun.  I decided I was going to crockpot it today.

I opened my pantry and...oh crap...nothing.  Well not nothing...Crackers, noodles, cream of chicken so....wait a minute I have chicken in my freezer.  So I went to pinterest and looked up what I could make with Chicken and Cream of Chicken soup.  Other than the obvious put chicken in dish slather with soup, stick in oven.  Too boring for me.

So I found multiple pins with rice and chicken and soup.  Time to go Kroger-ing.  I should state that when I cook, I cook for a small army.  I have never been good at cooking for two.  So this dish will feed 4-6 people easily with seconds.  Before I left, I put my frozen chicken boobs (my kids think this is hilarious) and put them in the fridge to dethaw.

Kroger is amazing.  I love Kroger.  I love that Kroger is a block away from me.  I gathered up everything I needed and checked out.  My local Kroger has the nicest people that work there.  I always get a smile and a have a great day and usually a laugh.  With my newly purchased items I came home.  And began to create.  Then I thought well crap....people need to see what I'm putting into this amazing dish.  So I took a picture.

 I also began writing what amounts I was putting into the crockpot, so I could share this recipe.  This is what I put into the crockpot.

• 1.5 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (You can add more...yeah...add more) cubed
• 2 10.5oz. can's Cream of Chicken soup
• 2 packets of Chicken Flavored Rice.  I used the bargain brand, because why not?!?!
• 1 8 oz. package of Cream Cheese.
• 1 16.9 oz. bottle of water (I live in Toledo 'nuff said)
• 21 oz of milk. I used 2% because I live dangerously.
• 1 bag of Colby Jack cheese

I sprayed the sides of my crockpot with cooking spray, to cut down on cleaning.  Next, I dumped all of the ingredients in to my pot (yes I realize the chicken is raw, it'll cook and be tender and amazing I promise), turned the knob to high and let it cook for an hour and a half.  After that I turned the knob to low.  It's been cooking for 7 hours.  I just turned it to warm.  It tastes amazing.   I mean look at it. 



mmmm so delicious.

Comfort food at its best.  And here it is plated with steamed broccoli sprinkled with cheese.

I wish you could smell and taste it.  I don't cook with much salt, so salt to your taste.  I figure that you know your own tastes and can flavor it for yourself.  I made this for someone that does not like veggies.  I think that you could add carrots or celery and it would be a delicious addition, plus the texture of those veggies might bring an added dimension.

Enjoy my lovelies!  Let me know what you think lizzo.loves.blog@gmail.com.

"Eating is a necessity, but cooking is an Art."

 

 

Love Lizzo

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Dog is afraid of my crochet hooks.

I consider my first post a win.  It was super yummy and easy to do.  However, Pinterest has some projects on it, that I consider sooooooo cuuuuuuttttteee.  Of course when I attempt them, they come out as something else all together.

This post is about one fail in particular.

My poor, poor schnauzer Katie.  Lady Katherine.  If you ever met her, you'd say, "Wow, she is the cutest, sweetest thing I've ever met."  She also is my model.  Poor, poor baby.  One cold evening I was rubbing her fluffy ears and thought, oh wow her ears are so cold.  So I set upon a quest to find a dog hat.  I had recently completed some super cute beanies for my friends and family.

Gretchen's Hat

Mimosa's Christmas Morning

Grandma O's Hat

 I loved making these hats.  The pattern was really easy and I could turn out one hat a night.   How hard could it be to make a dog hat.  Am I Right?  Oh...how wrong I was. 

Now if you are anything like me you can imagine how long this process took me.  I entered "dog hat" into the search spot.  And wow is there tons of pins on dog hats.  So I modified my search to "crochet dog hat" and then again to "crochet dog hat easy pattern."  Should have been easy, but what I found was a bunch of hats with ears cut out.  This would not do for my sweet baby Katie.  After approximately 3 hours of dog hat looking (I told you I have a problem....I admitted it, That's the first part of solving a problem....DON'T JUDGE!!!!) I found this...




*SQUEEEEEEEE*  I can't take the cuteness



"OMG How cute is this?!?"  I thought.  And I can totally make this.  But it's now almost 23:00 hours.  And I don't have the same yarn it calls for, sooooo I'll just improvise.   I believe this is where I went wrong.  So instead of the soft baby yarn this pattern called for, I used my super bulky soft yarn that I had left over from an old project.  This couldn't be too bad right?  Poor, poor baby Katie.  I measured her head and started crocheting.  It really was a quick project.  It took me less than 30 minutes.  Basically you chain as many as it takes to go around your dogs head.  Then you join the ends together and crochet around...and around...and around until you think.... Hey this will cover her ears.  Which is what I did.  Another problem I had was figuring out how to join the ears to the hat.  I sewed them on, but that is neither here nor there.  Because this is what I came up with...

You can almost feel her shame.

 Poor, Poor Baby Katie.  It looks kinda cute.  However, she felt so bad.  She kept shaking the hat and because of the HUGE ears on it, it would turn.  So instead of cute teddy bear ears, she had balls.  Balls hanging from her chin.

Please don't look at me.

We kept trying to fix them, and she'd leave the hat on her head for a minute or so, and then she'd shake.  Balls....on her chin.  Finally we felt so sorry for her we took them off. 

I feel confident enough to say, that was a pretty bad fail.  She still comes near me and even takes treats from me again.  Good girl Katie.

*No animals were physically or verbally harmed in the making of this blog.  But I'm fairly certain she will hold the scars of balls on her chin forever.


Hope you enjoyed my fail, even if Katie did not.

I like to end things on a quote.  I love quotes.  Sometimes I'll write something amazing (Haha) or I'll share quotes that make me smile. 

"I'll never be perfect, but I can be better" -Unknown

 

Hopefully I've made you smile

 

Love Lizzo

I love Pinterest.  I love everything about it.  If there were a 12 step program for Pinterest, I'd probably need it.  Lately, I've found so many wonderful recipes and crafts, that I've decided to share them with you!  Recently I made a homemade baked spaghetti, that rocked my family's world.  I even have to say that it was amazing, and I am my worst critic.  Pardon the completely not professional picture as it was taken with my cell phone.

Baked Spaghetti.  January 2016

 

Yummy right? Totally.

 



Here's the recipe.

 

 

Lizzo's Baked Spaghetti

 

• 2lbs Ground Meat, browned and drained (I used ground beef, as I feel it is juicier.)
• 2 Jars of Sauce. (I personally use the store brand as I add to it, but its a good base.)
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 box of regular spaghetti
• 2 bags of mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1 bag of Colby Jack
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Large baking pan

 

 

I do need to say this before you begin.  This is not a quick dish.  I believe most dinners can be done quickly, but take your time with this one.  It is completely worth it, I promise. 

 

 

First, you'll need to grab a big skillet.  Brown and drain the meat and let it cool in a very large bowl. 

 

Next, you'll need a large pot and the stove.  Place your pot on the burner and turn the heat to low.  I know this sounds like it is going to take forever, but it is worth the wait.  Pour both jars of sauce into the pot.  Add the sugar into the sauce and stir. 

 

•  DO NOT throw away the jars.  I repeat, DO NOT THROW AWAY THOSE JARS!!!  Fill one of the jars 1/4 full of water, replace the lid and shake.  Pour the contents into the pot, and repeat with the second jar.  Completely fill the jars with water and replace the lids to use later. 

 

 

Open, and drain the excess liquid from the diced tomatoes and combine with the sauce on the stove.  This is the time consuming part.  I stirred every 15 minutes for about 3 hours.  During the time it was cooking, my girls and I played cards, and snuggled and laughed.  Take that sauce off the stove and let if cool.  Once it is no longer scorching hot, I combined the sauce and the meat in the large bowl.  I also added the two bags of mozzarella cheese.   

 

This is the really cool part.  I used the same pot to cook the noodles in as I used the sauce.  It really adds flavor to the noodles.  So gather the two jars that are left over with water in them, and add them to the now empty sauce pot.  If you need more water for the amount of pasta, add some.  Turn the heat on the stove to high.  You want a rolling boil before you add your pasta.  I used only half a box of regular spaghetti.  Once you have a rolling boil, drop the pasta in the water.  I broke my noodles in half.  Do NOT over cook your noodles.  Boil the noodles until they bend.  I boiled my noodles for 5 minutes.  Drain the noodles and rinse them with water.

 

 

Pre-heat your oven to 275 degrees. 

 

Take the large baking dish and grease it.  I use cooking spray, because, well I can.   Make sure the meat, sauce and cheese are mixed well.  It should be a "soupy" consistency.  My daughter Rebecca, complained that it was "too liquidy" and that I was going to "ruin it."  It is okay, because the not done pasta will soak up that liquid and make the dish taste amazing.  Take half of the sauce, meat and cheese mix and pour it in the bottom of the greased pan.  Place the noodles on top of the sauce.  Spoon the remaining sauce/cheese/meat mix on top.  Cover with foil and place in the oven. 

 

I let it bake for 2 hours covered.  After the dish had cooked for 2 hours, I removed the foil, covered the top with the bag of Colby Jack cheese and let it bake another 30 minutes.  It could have been 15 minutes, but hey, I was playing with my beautiful babies, Don't Judge. 

 

And that is it.  I paired the meal with a salad and some garlic bread.  My girls loved it.  My picky eaters ate everything off their plate.  Amazing.

 

If you like spicy food, add some red pepper flakes.  Or maybe, use pepper jack cheese.  I am not a spicy food person.  If you do tweek this recipe to make it your own...Let me know!  I love feedback.  If you hate this recipe and think it's a tragic fail, let me know as well.  My email address is lizzo.loves.blog@gmail.com

 

Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy.

 

 

Love Lizzo