Kendi's Kitchen: Crock Pot Potato Soup

I tried a crock pot potato soup recipe I found on pinterest once before.  It did not go well.  It actually killed my stick blender, well, Kevin's stick blender.  So when my BFF, Kimmy, posted a picture of the soup she had just made on IG, I immediately sent her a message asking for the recipe.  She sent it to me and I set out making it for dinner Sunday night.  It. was. FABULOUS!  Just like the kind you buy in the restaurant.  And it was super easy.  Be warned, it's not healthy.  But its nice comfort food.  Now if I can just make a bread bowl...


Crock Pot Potato Soup (original recipe here)

1 bag frozen hash browns (30oz)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth (I use the powdered bouillon)
1 diced onion
1 pkg softened cream cheese (8oz)
1/2 tbsp of pepper 

Optional:  green onions, bacon, shredded cheese

In your crock pot, mix cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, onion, pepper and hash browns (use the whole bag!).  Cook on low for 5hrs.  

Here's what I used.  I'm a "no-name brand" girl

It should look like this when you start to cook

After 5hrs, stir in the whole block of cream cheese.  Stir it enough to see it melt pretty well.  Continue cooking on low for another 30 minutes.  Here's a Kendi tip: I only added the equivelent of one can of broth for the 5 hrs by mistake, so I had to quickly add the second.  Since it was bowling hot when I poured it in, I think it helped melt the cream cheese and really make the consistency what you see in the picture.  I will probably keep making it that way.

It should look like this when you are finished cooking.  Nice and creamy!

Now, you can eat it just like this, which is very good.  Or you can get restaurant fancy with green onions, shredded cheese and bacon and make it "loaded baked potato soup".  :-D

Mmmm...fancy...

Cheers!

Stats:
Time: 6 hrs
Cost:  around $7
Servings:  4+
Leftovers:  yes

Taco Chicken

I have to share this with you.  It was a pin that lasted three days.  It was also the easiest pin I think that we've tried.  I'm calling it Taco Chicken, or Chicken Tacos.  Enjoy!

Taco Chicken

2-6 chicken breasts (we used 4)
16 oz. jar of salsa
package of taco seasoning

Pour the whole jar of salsa into a slow cooker.  Mix in the package of taco seasoning.  Add the chicken breasts on top of the salsa.  You can spoon some of the salsa on top of the chicken to cover them.  Cook on low for 6-8 hrs.  That's is.  After it's done cooking, the chicken will shred apart.  It should look like this:

Then, you just make tacos like you normally would.  We made soft tacos with wheat tortillas, added some cheese and lettuce and went to town.  They were really good.

Because we made the chicken with four pieces, we had a LOT left over.  Kevin ended up using some of the chicken the next day to make a quick quesadilla for lunch.  Way easy.  For dinner, we altered the "8 Can Taco Soup" recipe.  It's also really easy and filling and makes great leftovers.

8 Can Taco Soup

1  15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1  15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1  14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes, drained
1  15.25 oz can sweet corn, drained
1  12.5 oz can white chicken breast, drained (we used our leftover taco chicken)
1  10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
1  10 oz can green enchilada sauce
1  14 oz can chicken broth (we make this from powdered bouillon.  WAY cheaper...)
1 packet taco seasoning

There you have it!  The second meal with the Taco Chicken.  The soup was just as good as the first time we made it.  Sprinkle some cheese on the top and break up a taco shell to add some crunchies and you're good to go!

The last meal we made with the taco chicken was oven baked tacos.  Got the idea from this pin.  We didn't follow it exactly, basically just used the oven idea.  We got some hard shells, lined them up in a baking dish, put the taco chicken on the bottom and added cheese.  Baked them in the oven and topped them with lettuce and sour cream when they came out.  Very easy and so nice eating a taco that doesn't fall apart with the first bite.  We will definitely try her whole recipe some time in the future.

So, if you're keeping track, we made 3 dinners and 7 lunches from 4 chicken breasts.  All for less than $15.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  :)

Cheers!

Stats:
Time: prep- 5 mins, slow cooker- 6-8 hrs
Servings: 13
Leftovers:  Definitely
Cost: less than $15