Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Hello friends!

I know I said I was going to lower the amount of recipes there would be ... but I am not going to abolish them completely! I still love creating new flavors to sing within our mouths ... I won't let a silly little budget stop me from doing that entirely! I plan on doing one to two recipes a week ... hopefully!

So this little number I bring to you tonight is absolutely fabulous! I know that soup season is just about over ... but I just had to post this ... besides ... who doesn't love a good chicken soup when they are sick ... and this one is perfect for that because it is easy and healthy ... win win! If you are looking for a super simple yet awesomely delicious recipe for chicken noodle soup look no further ... this soup may not contain homemade noodles and a lot of veggies ... but the rice and the chicken make it so filling and divine!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup:

3 c. water
1 can chicken broth (14 ounce)
1 can reduced fat and reduced sodium cream of chicken soup
2/3 c. wild rice
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 c. (aprox. three to four breast) chicken shredded
2 c. fresh chopped spinach

Shred Chicken. In crockpot combine all ingredients except for chicken and spinach. Cook on low for seven to eight hours or on high for three to four and a half hours. Right before serving add chicken and spinach.

Easy right! I told you you'd love it!!!

Have a good night my friends!

Polar Express Hot Chocolate

So! I totally forgot that my wonderful friend Lauren from recipe group asked me to post a picture of the hot cocoa that I made for them to drink that night ... geez ... simple request ... bombed execution ... at least I'm cute right ... ha!

Ok ... so I found the recipe here on the honey and fritz website ... which is also where I stole the picture ... R was being a good husband and did the dishes ... but he forgot to let me get a picture ... not that I told him I needed one ... but yanno ... this picture works!

Polar Express Hot Chocolate:

Thank you so much 

1 1/2 c. heavy cream
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 c. bittersweet chocolate (I used chocolate baking bars ... she used chips)
6 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

for crockpot: combine all ingredients and cook on high for at least three hours stirring every so often (chocolate will burn on bottom if you don't at least every half an hour).
for stove top: combine all ingredients in large pot and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring constantly

Now ... I liked this original recipe ... it was so rich and creamy ... the recipe group loved it too ... they said they love the bittersweet chocolate taste ... however, if you have  sweet tooth that is a big as mine it would probably be better if you used milk chocolate ... or ... you could even use white chocolate chips for white hot chocolate!

Either way you like it enjoy!

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken

Hello again friends! I have another new recipe ... get excited because it is super good ... Rs plate is still out so I can take a picture of what it looks like after he finished eating this meal ... its worth it ... promise.

So E takes ballet every Tuesday from 3:15 to 4pm ... now ... one thing you should know about her place of ballet instruction is that it is the community center here in Logan ... for those of you not living here you should be made aware that there is a gigantic playground outside. E always wants to go and play after class but I always have to go home and cook dinner so it can be ready for when R gets home from work. This week I decided that with winter coming E really needed to get out there and play ... and now we have introduced into the Combe family Crock Pot Tuesdays!!! Today was the first crock pot Tuesday ... so I wanted it to be great ... However ... E slept in until about 9:15 today ... no joke ... so R and I did too ... score! This also meant that we were a little lazy until about 12:30 today ... yup ... so I needed something simple ... this is when I remembered pinning this recipe from the stick a fork in it blog (which happens to also be one of my moms favorite movie quotes) a couple of weeks ago! hallelujah! easy ... yummy ... cheap ... just what we like in the Combe family!

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken:

2-4 frozen or thawed chicken breasts

8 oz. cream cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pkg. dried Italian dressing seasoning

2-4 servings of rice (we prefer jasmine rice the best ... suuuuper yummy with this)

If cream cheese is still hard (like mine was because it has been sitting in the fridge) then combine cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, and Italian dressing seasoning and cook in crock pot on low for 30 minutes (this softens the cream cheese enough to stir everything together). Next, add chicken and cook until your own chosen dinner time (high = 4-6 hrs, low = 6-8 hrs). Cook rice. Serve chicken (we shredded our chicken after we got it onto our plates) and sauce over rice. Enjoy!

In the words of E ... this dish is delish (delish is her new favorite word ... apparently children can pick up attributes of the step parents too ... sweet ... she gets my vocab! love it!)! This is what Rs plate looked like after dinner was over:

Yes ... he did lick it clean ...

Ok ... have an awesome night you guys! Tomorrow I am starting an experiment with E and her fit throwing using all the different ideas given to me by my wonderful friends ... one week trials with each (I think R put the kibosh on spanking ... dang ... isn't that one supposed to be the fun one ... ha!) ... we will see how it goes!

Crock Pot Loaded Cheesy Potato Soup

It's fall time everyone ... yanno ... thought I would announce it just in case you didn't notice ... but that means that recipes shift! It is now not sooo blazing hot outside that turning on your stove makes your house become Hell itself. Aside from that, it means that it is soup time! Yes ... there is a preface to even this story ... so ... I am not so much a soup person ... I like it just fine when given it (you know ... no other options type thing) ... but never really been one to seek it out ... until today. I have joined a recipe exchange group (thank you so much Sarah for inviting me!) that some of the girls in my ward started (two reasons - maybe get out of the whole chicken and pasta thing that I always do ... and two - make more friends[Thanks girls! It was so much fun])! Super exciting ... I know.

Well, the theme for this month was fall soups. "Ok ... Ok ... if I have to" (internal monologue) ... so began my journey to find an amazing soup (you know when you first start in a group and what you do/say has to be quality ... yea ... that way they don't "forget" to invite you next time ... that was my mindset). First, I called my best friend (I really need to come up with a name for her on here so I stop just saying "my best friend" ... I mean ... I talk about her enough) ... she is an AMAZING chef ... seriously ... way better than me ... and she told me of this soup that she had just made ... holy crap it looks amazing ... heck ... I'm even going to link the recipe ... I was planning on doing this lasagna soup ... but then I realized that I hate tomatoes ... yup ... I said it ... I think they are yucky ... everything from ketchup to pizza sauce ... can't stand them ... so why would I make a soup that has a tomato base? Sorry Christen ... I couldn't bring myself to do it ... you'll have to make it for me to convince me otherwise. And then this lil beauty fell into my lap (original found here)... seriously ... I was on pinterest for maybe two minutes before I heard it calling to me (almost literally ... I'm so not joking) ... it was potato (which I love) ... it was easy (which I also love) ... therefore it was mine. As always I have made some changes that I really feel make it phenomenal ... maybe you will have to try it both ways and tell me yourself which way is better. Anyway ... here it is:

Crock Pot Loaded Cheesy Potato Soup:

funny about this picture ... I actually forgot to take a picture until I had already put the soup into the freezer ... so I hurried and took it out and put the garnish on it ... just to scrape the garnish out and dump it back into the tupper ware to go back in the freezer ... yup ... what I do for this blog

5 lb russet potatoes (peeled or not ... your choice ... I peel mine) diced
3 tbsp fresh garlic minced
1 whole onion chopped (best to use white or yellow ... I used white)
64 oz chicken broth/stock
16 oz cream chees
2 c. (1 pkg) cheddar cheese
4-8 slices of bacon (I used turkey bacon ... I only needed four...my feeble attempt to be healthy) ripped up
bacon, sour cream, chives, or shredded cheese (all for garnish)

Combine first 4 ingredients in crock pot (low = 8 hrs ... high = 5hrs). Once cooked use hand mixer to combine cream cheese and contents of crock pot. Stir in cheddar cheese and bacon bits. Garnish with sour cream, chives or even more cheese or bacon ... or even all four!!

Super simple right!!! seriously ... I was amazed at how well it tasted ... I mean ... this was the first soup I have ever made ... I think it worked ... one for the books ... perfect to the perfect fall day ... enjoy (I know you will)!