Chicken Taco Soup

This recipe makes a lot of food. Great if you are feeding a lot of people or want leftovers. I love slow cooker recipes. Today was unusually warm for October, so it was nice not to have to put the oven on.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped

1 (16 ounce) can chili beans

1 (15 ounce) can black beans

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (I used 12 oz of chicken broth instead)

2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained

1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning

2 cups of elbow noodles

3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Shredded Cheddar cheese

Sour Cream

Crushed tortilla chips or Fritos

Directions

1. Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer (or chicken broth), and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.

2. Cook elbow noodles until tender. Set aside.

3. Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve with elbow noodles, topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Recipe courtesy of Lori Held. Lori's tip: use leftovers for enchiladas. Just drain the liquid.

Monkey Bread

I'm signed up to receive emails from the Pillsbury website. This week I was sent Monkey Bread. This stuff is to die for! A few teachers at my school have made it and I always say I want the recipe. Today I decided to surprise Brian with them. He's never had Monkey Bread before.













INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired

1/2 cup raisins, if desired (I omitted raisins)

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large -storage plastic food bag, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.

2. Separate dough into 16 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan, adding walnuts and raisins among the biscuit pieces.

3. In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over biscuit pieces.

4. Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.
Recipe courtesy of Pillsbury.

Cutie Pies

I made these mini Boston Cream Pies aka Cutie Pies for a baby shower I had at my house this weekend for Erin Surma. My friend Danielle Shannon made the pacifier candies.

Ingredients to make Cutie Pies:

1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1 cup cold milk

1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Directions:

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

PREPARE cake batter and bake as directed on package for 24 cupcakes. Cool completely.

BEAT pudding mix and milk with whisk 2 min. Let stand 5 min. Meanwhile, use serrated knife to cut cupcakes horizontally in half. Stir 1/2 cup COOL WHIP into pudding; spoon onto bottom halves of cupcakes, using about 1 Tbsp. for each. Cover with cupcake tops.

MICROWAVE remaining 1 cup COOL WHIP and chocolate in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Let stand 15 min. Spread onto cupcakes. Refrigerate 15 min. before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

Recipe courtesy of Kraft Foods.

Easy Bake Chicken

I've made this recipe for the last ten years. It is one of my fall/winter favs! It is a recipe from my mom's friend. I usually cut the recipe in half. Makes for great leftovers. I like to serve with an applesauce cup and a vegetable.

Ingredients:
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 slices of Swiss Cheese
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/4 c of dry white wine
2-3 c crushed herb seasoned stuffing mix
1/4 c or bit more of melted margarine

Directions:
Wash chicken and pat dry with paper towel. Place chicken in a 9 x 13 in buttered dish. Lay a slice of cheese over each breast. In a bowl, combine the soup and wine. Stir to mix and pour over chicken and Swiss cheese. In another bowl, mix stuffing and margarine and sprinkle over chicken. Cover with foil and place in a 350* preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover for an additional 20-30 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Time depends on thickness of the chicken breasts.

Recipe courtesy of Bunny Moorman aka Sister Mary/Gladys/Bonita :)

Tuna Melt

This was a super easy, super quick, and super tasty dish I made tonight. I love Kraft foods. It is where I found this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pita bread
2 tbsp Cream Cheese with onion and chives
1 3 oz can of tuna
3 tbsp of shredded cheddar cheese
carrots, cucumber, and radishes chopped up

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400*. Mix tuna and cream cheese together. Spread onto pita bread. Sprinkle desired amount of chopped vegetables. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake 3-4 minutes or until cheese is melted.