Creamy Chicken and Noodles

I'm a big fan of classic dishes, especially now that I have moved away from home.  I love cooking things like this on Sundays...

Creamy Chicken and Noodles
-3-4 boneless chicken breasts
-2 cans of cream of chicken soup
-1/2 cup of butter in slices
-42 oz. of chicken broth

Put all of these items in your slow cooker for 8 hours.  Remove chicken at this time and shred (or dice) and return to the cooker.

-One bag of egg noodles (I prefer the medium size, but you can do whatever makes you happy)

Put the noodles in the cooker for another hour or so and dinner is served!  Adjust the times and amount of broth for how your family likes their noodles - soupy, mushy, firm, or casserole like.

Kitchen of Reality Tips:
- I have never actually made this in a slow cooker.  I think this is perfect for when you forget to take the chicken out of the freezer.
- I put the frozen chicken (literally like in a block) in the broth and soup and poach it for about 20-25 minutes.
- Then I take it out and dice it.  I put it and the noodles back in the pot and let it go for about 8 minutes until it is the consistency I like.  I add more broth at this point if it needs it.
- I use way less butter, if any.
- This is great frozen and reheated, especially if you put it in a casserole dish with a little Parmesan and breadcrumbs on top.

Smothered Beef Burritos

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it's quickly becoming a favorite in my house!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds stew meat or other beef cubed (top sirloin is great)
• 1 large can mild enchilada sauce* (at least 19 oz.)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/2 can refried beans (optional)
• 5-7 burrito size flour tortillas
• 1 cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Put beef, bouillon, and enchilada sauce into a crock pot and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until meat is very tender. (Can also cook on high for maybe 3-4 hours.) 

When beef is done (very tender and flakes off when stirred), taste and add more salt, if desired. Heat up refried beans in the microwave (covered and in a microwave-proof dish, of course)and put your oven on broil. On an oven-proof plate, or cookie sheet even, lay out a tortilla.  Place on tortilla about 1/2 cup of the meat, drained by using a slotted spoon, and a spoonful or two of beans. Roll into a burrito (hopefully you know how to roll these). Pour some of the remaining enchilada sauce from the crock pot over the burrito to cover it. Sprinkle with some cheddar cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly, about 2-4 minutes.

Serve.
Makes 5-7 burritos, depending on how full you make them.

Notes from Kitchen of Reality:
-We hate beans so I omit this part.
-I use a slotted spoon and remove all of my beef from the crock pot and put it in a large bowl where I shred it with two forks.  Then we found the broth to be too thin to get a nice coating on your rolled burritos, so this time, I did a corn starch/water mixture to thicken it.  I did maybe a Tbsp of corn starch in a little bowl with cold water.  Mix well and then I added it to the cooking liquid left in the crock pot.  I turned the crock pot to high while I shredded the beef.  It made it more gravyish in consistency and really did a great job of staying on the burritos after I rolled them. 
-block cheese melts WAY better than preshredded stuff.  Buy the block and shred yourself, you will be happy you did.

We eat this with Spanish rice and the Chili's copy cat salsa recipe right below this one.  DELICIOUS!  And beyond easy with basically ingredients I always have! 

Chili’s Copy Cat Salsa

I had lots of garden tomatoes and peppers to use, so I was looking for a great salsa recipe. Olivia, who posts on here quite often, recommended this one and it is AWESOME!! Especially since I’ve always been a huge fan of Chili’s salsa… not so much the rest of their menu.

Super easy and makes a ton… so stock up on your favorite chips and make it a Mexican week for your menu so you don’t have to throw any away!

Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

2 cans (14.5 oz each) whole tomatoes, drained

3-4 canned, whole jalapenos

1 yellow onion, quartered

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons lime juice

Directions:

Place all of the ingredients together into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality:

- I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Threw a close guess for the amount it called for in cans into the blender because I was too lazy to chop and go for an exact measurement. Turned out fine.

- While I know that Chili’s salsa is chopped very fine… I tend to like a little chunk to mine, so be careful in your blending.

- Also, not all peppers are alike. So add them one at a time and taste between. I like spicy so I used 6 or 7.

 

***Original recipe from http://www.sixsistersstuff.com***

Salted Caramel Butter Bars

Salted Caramel is the “new” everything in the world of sweets it seems. I was looking for something new to make and decided to give it a whirl. These seemed easiest enough and if you like sweet and salty then you are going to LOVE these. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Crust:

- 1 lb salted butter, room temp

- 2 Tbsp vanilla

- 1 cup sugar

-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

- 4 cups flour

Filling:
- 1 bag (14 oz.) caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped

- 1/3 cup milk or cream

- ½ teaspoon vanilla

- 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt (optional)

 

Directions:

Crust:

1. In mixer, beat butter and sugars until creamy.

2. Add vanilla, mix well. combined. 

3. Sift flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until a smooth soft dough forms.

4. Spray a 9×13 inch baking pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Press one-third of the dough evenly into the pan to form a bottom crust. Place the rest of the dough in fridge.

5. Bake at 325 until edges are a pale golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool about 15 minutes.

Filling:

1. Place the unwrapped caramels, cream, and vanilla in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If caramels are not completely melted, microwave on high for 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.

Final Assembly:

1. Pour the caramel filling over the crust. 

2. If you are going to salt the caramel sprinkle it on caramel layer now.

3. Remove the remaining chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble it evenly over the caramel.

4. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is bubbly and the crumbled shortbread topping is firm and lightly golden, about 25 – 30 minutes.

5. Let cool before cutting into squares.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality:

- My dough never really got stiff—I think because I didn’t want to go to the store and buy butter. I used margarine instead and while the consistency wasn’t quite right, it baked up and tasted great.

- I only had EXTRA course sea salt… it was a bit salty if you got too much in one bite. Next time I will put it in a ziploc and give it a good whack or two with the meat mallet to make it a bit more fine.

***Recipe found at: www.cookiesandcups.com**