New Family Favorite

I found this recipe on no other than Pinterest and never thought it would have gotten the reviews from my family that it did.  I was totally blown away...I mean, Paul was the first one to say how good it was and went back for seconds (which he doesn't do very often).  AND...this recipe is so ridiculously easy.

Here's what you need:

   4 chicken breasts

   1 pkt of Italian dressing seasoning

   1 - 8oz block of cream cheese (softened)

   2 cans of cream of chicken soup

   milk

   1 box of rotini or penne pasta

Here's what I did:

The night before, I cooked the four chicken breasts on the stove in a covered skillet.  After they were fully cooked, I threw them in my mixer and let it do the shredding (another helpful trick I learned from the many hours of research I've done on Pinterest).  I then let the shredded chicken cool and before going to bed, covered it and put it in the fridge to hang out overnight.

**Update (12/2/12) - I used the beater attachment on my KitchenAid Mixer.  When using this trick to shred chicken, it's a good idea to place a towel over the mixer to keep the chicken in the mixing bowl.

The next morning, I set out the cream cheese to soften while I got ready for church.  Before leaving for church, I got out the crock pot and dumped in all ingredients except for the milk and turned it to low and let it do it's thing while we were at church (recipe said cook on low for 4 hours).  When we got home from church, I put on a pot of water to cook the pasta.  While the pasta is cooking, stir the Italian chicken mixture...this is where you might need to add some milk to the mixture to thin it out a bit.  After the pasta is cooked, drain and then dump in a large bowl (I mean, LARGE, you're going to need a large one for all the pasta and chicken mixture) and add the chicken mixture and stir everything together.  OR you can do what I made my family do...mix it together on their own plates!

I didn't have any pictures of this delicious meal, but my family loved it especially with salad and homemade garlic bread.

I want to credit someone for this recipe, but the pin I found with this recipe doesn't actually link you to the recipe you see here...so, whoever you are, thanks for a great and easy recipe that is Karrick family approved!!!

Happy cooking!

Sunday Dinner

In my quest to start using my crock pot, I searched for a recipe that would be easy and delicious for a Sunday dinner.  And the recipe I found has now become my favorite for BBQ Chicken.  And it went well with the leftover sides we had from the night before.

Click here for the link to the recipe that I used.

I followed the recipe this time (except for using frozen chicken, I thawed mine first after reading some of the comments), but here are a couple of things I'm going to try differently next time:
   - use less vinegar
   - cut small slits in the chicken so the sauce will go into the chicken and flavor it even more


And for a little something a little special, I also whipped up some of these Cheesy Garlic Biscuits.

I also followed this recipe, but here are some things I will adjust next time:
   - add 1/4 tsp of garlic salt to biscuit mixture, and only use 1/2 tsp garlic salt in butter mixture
   - use only 1 tsp of oregano

Happy cooking!