Sharing some recipes

About 6 weeks ago I got this great new recipe book called Fix-it and Forget-it Big Cookbook by: Phyllis Pellman Good, as a birthday gift and I wanted to share some of the recipes out of it that we have tried and enjoyed. I shop two weeks at a time so I make a meal plan prior to shopping and do my best to stick to that plan. This book as made it very easy for me to throw something together in the crockpot and be on with the day.

Here are a few that we enjoyed:

Tortilla Soup

16oz can fat-free refried beans

15oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

14oz can fat-free chicken broth

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

3/4 cup chunky salsa

3/4 cup boneless, skinless cooked chicken, cubed

1/4 cup water

2 cups shredded cheese, divided

1 bag baked tortilla chips

1. Combine all ingredients except cheese and chips

2. Cook on low 3-4 hours, or until heated through

3. Add half of cheese. Stir until melted

4. Crush chips in bowls. Add Soup. Top with sour cream and more crushed chips

(I pre made the chicken in the morning and then came home during my lunch and got the rest of the meal ready - it was perfect!). This is not too spicy and there was enough to serve all of us and have left overs!!

Chicken Soft Tacos

(this is what the recipe is called, but not how I used it!)

1-1 1/2 lbs frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies

1 packet of taco seasoning

1. Place Chicken breast in slow cooker

2. Mix tomatoes and taco seasoning. Pour over chicken.

3. Cover. Cook on low for 6-8 hours

4. Serve in soft tortillas. Top with salsa, shredded cheese, guacamole and fresh tomatoes.

I took out #4 and shredded the chicken and added it to lettuce, corn and black beans for a variation of taco salad. I use lighthouse "jalapeno ranch" dressing (not too spicy when mixed conservatively with salad). Also there is a new salad topper on the market (usually with the croutons or almonds) that is tortilla strips; they have tons of different flavors and were a huge hit on this salad! I cooked this recipe overnight in the crockpot, shredded the chicken in the morning and then let sit in the refrigerator until it was time to serve!

I could also imagine using this chicken for enchiladas!

Mix-It-and-Run Chicken

2 15oz cans cut green beans, undrained

2 10oz cans cream of mushroom soup

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1/2 tsp salt

1. Drain beans, reserving juice in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

2. Stir in soup into bean juice, blending thoroughly. Set aside.

3. Place beans in slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt.

4. Place chicken in cooker. Sprinkle with salt.

5. Top with soup.

6. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours, or until chicken is tender, but not dry or mushy.

I really enjoyed this recipe and served it over rice. One thing I love is that once you try something ideas on how to improve the meal often come up. We think next time we make this one (on next weeks meal plan), we will cook the rice and put in a casserole dish, put chicken over rice, cover with shredded cheese and bake on 350 until cheese is melted. It was super yummy on it's own, but we are excited to try the variation.

There are so many meals in this book and we have tried a few that we feel were good, but not great. We have tried a few that we made notes to change things here and there and we will try again and the great thing is there are 1400 recipes, so many more to add to the list! You can get your own copy of this cook book by clicking here.

I had a few more recipes that are out of our family favorites, but I ran out of time this morning. I will post those and a few more soon!