I wish I had a dime for every time someone asks me, “Can you make that in a crock pot?” And I intelligently answer, “UMmmm I dunno, I guess so…..”. Truth is I am not a crock potter, for lack of a better term. I cook all sorts of recipes slow, just not in my crock pot. I usually throw things together in my dutch oven or roasting pan and cook on low in the oven for hours. I use my crock pot to keep things warm, but not for cooking.
This school year has been a whirl wind. I feel like I blinked in September and WHAM bam thank you maam January is almost over! I have resorted to all sorts of tricks for making a home cooked dinner for my family.
Trick #1 Take out.
Trick #2 Calling home giving, child that answers the phone, cooking instructions. This is not a bad trick at all, my kids have learned to cook many a food via satellite. They have also learn how to use the washing machine too!
Trick #3 Cereal and lots of Breakfast for dinner, dinners.
Trick #4 Ordering food/Take out. Did I mention there is a really good Thai restaurant not far from my house?
Trick #5 Finally, using my crock pot to cook dinner.
Are you wondering why I need tricks to get dinner made when I don’t even work….outside of the home?
Well, besides being busy doing many other things that I will spare you the gory details of, the challenge of dinner most nights is that my family is not all around at the same time. After the kiddos get out of school the vicious cycle begins. Picking up, dropping off, watching games, getting haircuts, trying to keep orthodontic appointments (Having four children in some sort of orthodontic appliance is WHACKO!), band, orchestra, swim meets, piano. Did I mention Kenny started a new job that has nearly turned our lives upside down? Well, I am not complaining, I am very thankful my husband has a job but…..can I just say, “CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!”.
So I have found, after 17 years of wifely duties, the crock pot to be my new friend. We are still trying to get to know each other. Trying to figure out what works. My kids have their favorites and not all of them work in the crock pot. That’s where trick #2 comes in handy. But I have come up with a few new recipes that have made their way into our regular dinner rotation.
Rotel Crock Pot Chicken was created from a conversation I had with another mom at a basketball game, she told me that she uses her crock pot all the time. “For instance last night I just threw in chicken breasts and a jar of salsa and we had it over rice.” she told me. OK that got my wheels a spinnin’, and I missed the whole next half of my sons game while I day dreamed about what I would add to chicken breasts in my crock pot. I’m easily distracted by food.
Place 3-4 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts in crock pot, pour 1 can of Rotel over top. Cover with lid. Cook for 3-4 hours on low….longer if you need to.
After you have let chicken and Rotel cook for at least 3 hours on low, take a fork and pull chicken apart into bite sized pieces.
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Drain 1 can of Cannellini or Black Beans. We prefer Rotel Chicken with black beans, but all I had this day was cannellini. It was still delicious.
While draining your beans, toss in 1, 8 ounce block of Cream Cheese.
Add the drained beans and 1 can of Fiesta Corn, drained, to the pot.
Gently stir ingredients around, and turn crock pot temperature to Warm. Cover and wait for the family to show up and eat. I have left this meal in the crock pot for 4 hours on warm.
Use Trick #2 if you are not home to make rice. If you don’t have anyone that can make rice for you, or if you are out of rice, or just don’t care for rice. Rotel Chicken is amazing served with tortilla chips. Crumble a few in bottom of bowl, ladle Rotel Chicken over top, crumble a few more over top with a sprinkle of cheese. We especially like to spoon it over Cilantro Lime Rice, you can find the recipe here.
Now I’m going go out with Calgon…he’s taking me away….to the land of bon bons and no alarm clocks!
Enjoy!
Sheila
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Rotel Chicken
3-4 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
1 can Rotel, any variety. I use original.
1 8 ounce brick Cream Cheese
1 can Black or Cannellini Beans, drained
1 can Fiesta Corn, drained
Place chicken in crock pot, pour can of Rotel over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or as long as 5. When ready use fork to break chicken into bite sized pieces, add cream cheese, beans, and corn, gently stir. Turn crock pot down to warm heat, cover and serve over rice or with tortilla chips. This will keep on warm in crock pot for up to 4 hours.
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Sheila, I love your posts. They make me smile!! Makes me laugh, the name SAHM. Who stays home?? 🙂 I love my crock pot and need to use it more! Great recipe.
Yummo!!! Making this tomorrow. I love my crock pot and am always looking for new recipes. Thanks
Kristen VanLaecke
Sheila – – – Thank you so much for sharing this story. It really made me laugh!…and relate. When I was first married, I tried using the crock-pot a few times. My husband and I both agreed that nothing good came from it! LOL!!! I was trying to adapt recipes that just didn’t work well in a slow cooker.
Then I discovered Mable Hoffman’s Crockery Cookery…You know that anyone named Mable is going to have good crock-pot recipes! This gal has wonderful recipes for all sorts of things and everything that I have made from it is delicious. Her Old World Sauerbraten is out of this world! And she has a ton of recipes for all sorts of things and all sorts of tastes.
Oh…and there is a recipe for Chinese-Style Country Ribs that is so good…and it only has 5 ingredients!…The ribs (3-4 pounds pork ribs or baby-backs), 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup orange marmalade, 2 Tbsp. ketchup, and 1 clove garlic – crushed. Rub the ribs well with the last 4 ingredients then throw ’em in the crock-pot pour any remaining rub over the ribs and cook them on low for 8-10 hours…That’s it! You’ll never get Chinese take out spareribs again. All her recipes are like that – quick and easy…and reliable. This was key for me when it came to my earlier failures with the crock-pot! LOL!!!
You can probably find her book on amazon – maybe even used. It should be inexpensive as it is just a paperback. I found my well-worn copy in the clearance section of a used bookstore. But whatever the price – it’s well worth it! ….Update….I just checked on amazon and they have it new for $7.50. 🙂
BTW – – – Your Rotel Chicken looks great. And I actually love that you used canellini beans – they’re one of my favorite. And the cream cheese is genius. It just makes everything better! 🙂
Oh – and I have one more recipe for the crock-pot that always comes out great. I shared it with Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer as something we always enjoy when football is on TV. My girlfriend shared it with me. Basically this is it…
Slow Cooker Texas Chicken Chili:
It is sooooo easy to make and literally one of those open this, open that recipes and your done. She takes two cans of any type of beans, a 16 ounce jar of mild salsa (you could use medium salsa if you want more of a kick), a small can of corn, 2 tsps. ground cumin, 1 tsp. ground corriander, a tsp. salt, a half tsp. black pepper and dumps it all into her slowe cooker. Then she adds in about a cup or two of cut-up left over chicken and about 2 cups of water or chicken stock, if she has it on hand. Then she puts the lid on and lets it slow cook all day on low. The flavors all meld together beautifully. I think it’s because it sits in the slower cooker all day as opposed to just on the stove-top for a short time. We top it with grated cheese, sour cream, and a squeeze of lime. It’s out of this world!
Oh – and I just have to say, I loved your comment about how does a stay-at-home mom struggle to get dinner on the table…how I laughed. I think only other stay-at-home moms could relate to that one. My friends who work outside the home always wonder what I do all day! All I know is that I collapse into bed at 10pm exhausted. LOL!!!
So sorry this post went on so long…Before I became a mom, I was an attorney for many years – – – we’re not known for our brevity! LOL!!!
Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Mary
Mary,
I cannot wait to try the ribs! I am definitely going to get that cookbook thanks so much for all your wonderful recipes and stories…I know whatcha mean about collapsing in bed, I am going to do just that as soon as I sign off and go pray with my kiddos. Thanks again! I love your long comments they’re like a hug, new friend! Have a great night, Sheila
Oh Sheila…you are so sweet.
Hugs to you 🙂
Mary
Made this tonight!! Delicious and so easy, will definitely be making again! It was the first time I ever made jasmine rice -wow-I have really been missing out! Husband loved it too, said “this is like real rice, not from a box” nice! Always just make brown rice b/c healthy but it can get pretty boring!
This looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it in my own crock pot. Had to laugh at crock potter though.
This looks great, Sheila! I’m a big crock pot fan. Mostly, I cook beans – we eat lots of them. You can soak them and then cook them in the crock pot. This week, my family rebelled about too many beans and I cooked a pork shoulder in the crock pot. We had pork tacos with beans and fresh salsa. It was delicious!!
Oh we love beans too….but well lets just say beans have an adverse affect on my family, if ya know what I’m sayin. ; )
Is it horrible that I could eat corn straight from a can – not even warmed up? I love it – and love my crock pot, so this is a must – make for me. If I don’t eat all the corn…
You are easily distracted by food = love it! I’m the same way with books… 😉
xoxo michele
Ok, so I threw this into the crock pot yesterday and let it bubble away. Served it to my family with great results (over wild rice), but had so much left over today and didn’t want it to go to waste. So, I made a batch of taquitos. I just sprinkled grated monterey jack cheese on warmed corn tortillas. topped it off with some of the chicken mixture, and rolled them up (secured with toothpicks) and fried them until crispy and browned. Served them up with sour cream and salsa on the side…HUGE hit!! Thank you so much for providing a great meal x 2!
You ROCK! That sounds so good. My third child loves taquitos. We had this last night for dinner too, but no leftovers 🙁
Thanks for sharing your great success! ; )
Made this tonight and served over tortilla chips. Huge hit at my house. Will definitely be making again. Thanks!
Yeh! So glad it was a hit with your family, I know it is with mine! Thanks for taking the time to let me know 🙂 Sheila
i found your recipe for chicken chili. It sounds so good that I partially thawed a couple chicken breasts, opened a can of corn, black beans, & rotel, put it all in my crock & turned it on! Currently waiting for the wonderful smells to begin. Oh I forgot, I put an onion in—no powdered onion. Yes it’s a hot summer day here in Denver but the air conditioner will be on!
I saw a previous comment for ribs I want to try too!
I think this post is worth at least a nickel! Hehe.
Ha! Thanks for stopping by! XOX I hope you enjoyed it! Sheila