Busy families need easy, nutritious and inexpensive meals that don’t require a lot of preparation time or ingredients. Use meat as a condiment, rather than the entire course to trim your grocery budget. Soups, stir-frys and casseroles call for only a few ounces of meat per person, so feeding a family of four requires only a pound of meat or poultry.
Creamy Crockpot Chicken And Vegetables
Serves Four
Allow approximately four ounces of chicken per person. Skinless boneless chicken breasts are the simplest to prepare, but thigh or leg meat can be used.
Ingredients
One pound raw, skinless chicken, cubed
1/8 cup margarine or butter
One package (.7 ounce) dry Italian salad dressing mix
One small package frozen mixed vegetables (Or substitute any preferred vegetables)
One package (8 ounce) cream cheese
One can (10.75 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup
Pasta, noodles or rice
Directions
Place vegetables and chicken in crockpot. Sprinkle with dressing mix and dab butter over the top. Stir ingredients to blend and cook on low for five to six hours.
Cut up the cream cheese into cubes and combine with the soup. Add to crockpot, stir and cook on high for ½ hour or until thoroughly heated and cream cheese has melted.
While mixture heats, prepare rice, pasta or noodles
Serve this creamy and satisfying chicken dish with salad, crunchy garlic French bread and strawberry shortcake for an easy supper that leaves the kitchen cool and the cook stress-free.
Summer is not the time to heat up the oven or use the stove any more than necessary. That added heat puts more strain on the air conditioning unit, causing it to run longer and use more electricity. A little pre-planning will have supper ready when you arrive home and save on the utility bill as well.
This recipe is great to dress up for company or easy to simplify, including only the veggies your children prefer. Use the basic chicken and sauce and add whatever vegetables you have on hand or are on sale. This recipe works well with noodles, pasta or rice. Kids love it on tri-color pasta wheels or other fun pasta shapes.
This basic recipe does not use any additional spices or seasonings. Your little gourmands may have their favorites or find that some flavors are just yucky. Chicken goes well with many spices and herbs. Add garlic, onion, basil, rosemary, thyme, pepper or other seasonings your family likes for added flavor.
