Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn, undrained

1 can Rotel, undrained (aka: green chilies and tomatoes)

1 pkg. ranch dressing mix

1 t. cumin

1 T. chili powder *

1 t. onion powder

1 8-oz pkg. light cream cheese

2 chicken breasts

* I thought the whole T. was a little too much heat for me, so next time I will only use 1/2 T.

Recipe:

1. Drain and rinse black beans. Place chicken at bottom of slow cooker pot. Pour on can of corn, Rotel, and black beans.

2. Top with seasonings and ranch mix. Stir together.

3. Place cream cheese on top. Cover with lid and cook on low 6-8 hours.

4. Stir cream cheese into chili. Use 2 forks to shred chicken. Stir together and serve.

Rating: 4.5 of 5

A bit spicy for my taste with the whole tablespoon of chili powder, but that's easily fixed. We really liked this chili. I don't really have much to say about it other than it was a creamy version of the Chicken Tortilla Soup, which is one of our all time favorite soups. And, I do think this soup would be good topped with some chopped cilantro.

Source: Plain Chicken, Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

Creamy Chipotle Enchiladas

Ingredients:

2-3 lb. pot roast

10 oz. can of diced tomato with green chilies

8 oz. can Ro Tel enchilada sauce

7 oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1/2 t. cumin

1/4 t. oregano

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 -1 c. heavy cream

1 can of corn, drained

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

8 oz. can tomato sauce

1/4 c. cream cheese, somewhere between softened and melted

6 large tortillas

shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese

sour cream

cilantro, chopped

Recipe:

1. In a medium bowl, mix diced tomatoes, enchilada sauce, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, cumin, oregano, and garlic.

2. Place roast in crock pot and cover with tomato-chipotle mixture. Cook on high for 4ish hours.

3. Remove roast from crock pot and shred meat.

4. Using a fine strainer, pour juices from crock pot into a medium bowl. Reserve juices. Remove chipotle peppers from strainer. 

5. Replace tomatoes and green chilies (in strainer) in the crockpot. Pour about 2-4 cups of reserved juices into crockpot. Pour in heavy cream and stir together. Replace meat. Add black beans and corn. Continue cooking for another 20-30 minutes. (The key thing here is to have enough juice/sauce to coat the meat. It's not going to cook that long so it shouldn't dry out.)

6. Mix tomato sauce and cream cheese together in a small bowl.

7. Grease 9x12 baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

8. Lay out a tortilla and scoop meat mixture on to 1/2 of the torilla. Place a handful of shredded cheese on top and then roll the torilla. Place seam side down in baking dish. Repeat until dish is full. (I actually ended up with extra meat so there would be enough to almost make 2 full baking dishes of enchiladas.)

9. Cover enchiliadas with tomato/cream cheese mixture. Top with cheese.

10. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes, until cheeses are melted.

11. Serve and top with sour cream and cilantro.

Rating: 4 of 5

This was one of those meals that I used whatever I had on hand. It actually turned out really well. I didn't measure anything so the measurements are all my best guess. The chipotle peppers add a pretty good kick, so I used the cream and cream cheese as a way to tone it down a bit. If looking to cut out some of that then you could just remove the chipotle peppers from the adobo sauce before the initial cook time. I really enjoyed this dish and would make it again!

Source: my own

Parmesan and Basil Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 c. Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 c. cream cheese, softened

1/4 fresh basil leaves, minced

1 small clove garlic

1/8 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

Recipe:

1. Pat the chicken breasts dry. Using a parking knife and starting at the center edge of one of the breasts, cut a slit into the breast making sure to lave a 1-inch border around all sides. You'll be stuffing the filling into this slit.

2. Mix the cheeses, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper together until uniform. Reserve about 1 T. per breasts and set aside.

3. Divide the remaining filling and stuff into chicken breasts. Use toothpicks to cinch each of the slits closed. *

4. Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and heat until shimmering.

5. Place the chicken breasts in the pan without crowding. Cook without disturbing until browned on the bottoms, about 3-5 minutes.

6. Flip the chicken breasts and cook, covered, until a thermometer registers 160-165 in the middle of the meat, about 5-10 minutes.

7. Just before removing the chicken from the pan, remove the pan from the heat and spoon 1 T. of filling over each breast. Cover and let rest for 1-2 minutes, or until filling is melted over the chicken breasts.

8. Let chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving.

*If you're going to use colored toothpicks, then you might want to go with yellow. The blue ones bleed terribly! Haha.)

Rating: 4.5 of 5

This was so good! I recommend slitting the chicken closer to the edges (rather than 1-inch) so that there is more room to stuff. As long as the chicken had the cheese filling with it, it was fantastic. Eating it without any filling was just eating a plain piece of chicken....not so great. Super, super easy recipe. Stuffing chicken is not as hard as I always thought it was. I definitely don't like the part where you have to handle the raw meat.....gag. After this meal, I've been convinced that I need to grow some basil in our garden now.

Source: Dishing the Divine, Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Parmesan and Basil Filling

Cinnamon Sugar Breadsticks with Cream Cheese Drizzle

Ingredients:

For the breadsticks:

2 1/4 t. yeast

1/4 c. sugar, divided

1 c. warm water, divided

1 1/2 T oil

1 egg

1/2 t. salt

2 1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. butter, melted

Cinnamon sugar mixture: 6 T. sugar and 1 t. cinnamon

For the cream cheese drizzle:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 c. powdered sugar

1-2 T. whipping cream

1 t. vanilla

Recipe:

1. In a mixer dissolve yeast, 1/2 T. sugar, and 1/2 c. warm water. Allow yeast to proof (about 10 minutes).

2. Add in oil, egg, salt, and 1 1/2 c. flour and remaining sugar(1/4 c - 1/2 T) and water (1/2 c.). Mix until smooth.

3. Stir in remaining flour (3/4 c.) to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic.

4. Place into a greased bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes or until doubled.

5. Punch down the dough and put onto floured counter. Roll into 8x14 rectangle.

6. Using your pizza cutter, cut into about 10 pieces.

7. Roll each strip like a snake. Then hang the dough over your finger in the middle and twist the two ends together.

8. Place on a greased cookie sheet and allow to rise for another 40 minutes or until doubled.

9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

10. While breadsticks are baking, mix together the cream cheese drizzle ingredients. Beat until you reach a good consistency for drizzling. Place in a Ziploc bag and snip off the corner.

11. When breadsticks are done cooking, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Drizzle with cream cheese mixture.

Rating: 3 of 5

These are good, but they aren't quite as good as I was expecting. First off, I think there are some serious typos in the bread measurements, because the dough I ended up with was as if I hadn't added the remaining flour even though I had. I probably ended up adding about 2 more cups of flour until I felt like the dough reached the proper texture and consistency. So, that was a little bit of an issue, but a fixable one.

I feel like the puffiness of the bread is too much for the cinnamon sugar taste. The sweetness gets a little drowned out. But, with that being said, the bread is really fluffy and soft, which is always a plus. The cream cheese drizzle was not as good as I was hoping. I guess I just got my hopes up. I thought that this recipe would get pretty close to pretzels you get at the mall. Oh well. They're still good. I just might have too high of a bar for them right now. (P.S. Just because they're a 3 doesn't mean I didn't have at least 5 of them when they came out of the oven......)

Source: Thirty Handmade Days, Cinnamon Sugar Breadsticks with Cream Cheese Drizzle

Crockin' Fettucini

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing mix

2 T. olive oil

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. cream cheese

1 c. chicken broth

Fettucini noodles

Recipe:

1. Place chicken in slow cooker and sprinkle Italian dressing over chicken. Drizzle with olive oil.

2. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

3. Mix soup, cream cheese, and broth until smooth.

4. Add soup mixture to slow cooker and cook on low for 1 more hour.

5. Serve over hot, cooked noodles.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

I'm relying on LaDon's judgment tonight. I've got a cold and can't taste a thing. But, I do know that Daniel really liked his with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. From what I can tell, it is very similar to zesty chicken, just a lot more runny instead of thick. Although I couldn't taste it, you can't go wrong with a crock pot and small children eating it up!

Source: Crockingirls.com, Crockin' Fettucini

Cheesecake Cookie Bar

Ingredients:

2 18-oz. packages of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

2 8-oz. packages of cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 13x9-inch baking pan. Let both packages of dough stand at room temperature about 15 minutes.

2. Reserve 3/4 of one package of dough. Press remaining 1 and 1/4 packages of dough evenly onto bottom of prepared pan.

3. Combine cream cheese, sugar, and eggs in large bowl; beat until well blended and smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture over dough in pan. Break reserved dough into small pieces; sprinkle over cream cheese mixture.

4. Bake 35 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

Rating: 4 of 5

Of course, LaDon would not like this one. He doesn't like cheesecake. But, I really like it. Not too sweet for a dessert. You can taste the cheesecake flavor, but it's not over powering. The cookie presence is good, but it doesn't taste like cookie. This cookie bar really is a nice blend of flavors. Definitely like this one!

Source: Cheesecake Cookie Bars

Cherry Bread

Ingredients/Recipe:

1 8-oz. package cream cheese

1 c. butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. vanilla

Cream above ingredients together

Add: 4 eggs-one at a time

Add:

2 c. flour

3/4 c. cut cherries

dash of salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Put in 1/4 c. flour, 1/2 c. nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans) combined with cherries

Bake in bread pan @ 325 for 1 hour

Frosting:

2 Tbs. melted butter

2 c. powdered sugar

cherry juice

enough milk to make desired consistency (about 3 Tbs)

frost bread after cooling.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

Loved it! I really like cherry flavored things though.

Source: Shannon Booher

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

2 t. vanilla

5 3/4 to 6 1/4 c. sifted powdered sugar

Recipe:

1. Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well.

2. Gradually beat in additional powdered sugar to reach spreading consistency.

3. This frosts tops and sides of two 8- or 9-inch layers. Halve the recipe to frost a 13x9x2-inch cake.

4. Cover and store frosted cake in the refrigerator.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

This is a pretty good recipe for cream cheese frosting, but it's not quite what I'm looking for. I could probably tweak it enough to get it to the taste I want though. Pretty good on just normal cake box cupcakes (that's what we made this week), but I think it would be delicious on red velvet.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, pg. 171

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Ingredients:

1/3 c. (3 oz) cream cheese

1/4 c. green salsa

1 T. fresh lime juice

1/2 t. cumin

1 t. chili powder

1/2 t. onion powder

1/4 t. granulated garlic, or garlic powder

3 T. chopped cilantro

2 T. sliced green onions

2 c. shredded cooked chicken

1 c. grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas

kosher salt

Recipe:

1. Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

2. Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

3. Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. (It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.) *

4. Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges. **

5. Roll the tortilla up as tight as you can. Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt of top.

6. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

* I, honestly, don't care if the tortillas cracked. I would roll some that were practically ripped in half.

** Rather than spreading the mixture on just the lower third, I spread it all around and really didn't pay much attention to this step. We like out taquitos thick and less corn torilla-y.

Rating: 4.5 of 5

We loved these! I don't really know what to say about them other than they are absolutely delicious! But, let's be honest, everything that comes from Our Best Bites is absolutely delicious. Really, though, I love the crunchy tortilla you get from baking them. The creamy chicken filling is a nice flavorful blend of everything American-Mexican. Unworthy review of the amazing-ness of these taquitos.

Source: Our Best Bites, Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Zesty Chicken

Ingredients:

6 skinless boneless chicken breasts *

2 packages zesty Italian seasoning **

2 cups water ***

2 cans cream of chicken soup

8 oz. cream cheese

1/8 tsp. parsley

*I usually only use 3-4

**when making a double batch I use 3 packages instead of 4

***I usually cut the water in half to make the sauce thicker

Recipe:

1. In crock pot mix together Italian Seasoning, water, cream of chicken soup, and parsley. Add chicken to mixture.

2. Cook on low for 6-8 hours *

3. 1 hour before serving cut cream cheese into cubes, add to crock pot. You may need to use a fork to break up the cubes of cream cheese.Serve on pasta or rice. **

*I usually cook it on high for 3-4 hours – perfect for cooking while at church!

**I favor wide egg noodles.

Rating: 5 of 5

We LOVE this recipe. It's not new for us, but I still had to share it. It's so easy that LaDon made it when I was on partial bedrest when pregnant with Daniel. We got this recipe from Kristen (who is the Queen of the tastiest and easiest recipes around). Anyways, the seasoning is perfect, it limits the chicken mess you have to deal with, and Ally loves it! Super tasty.

Source: Kristen Lanshe

Chicken Squares

I've had a lot of people think these are the same as chicken pillows. They are not, but after all the talk about chicken pillows, I just may have to make them!

Ingredients:

3 oz. cream cheese *

3 T. butter, melted

2 c. chicken, cubed and cooked **

1/4 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

2 T. milk

1 T. chopped onions ***

1 can Pillsbury crescent rolls

* I use 8 oz.

** I like to shred the chicken, or just canned chicken

***I like to use dried chopped onion and reduce the amount to about 1/2.

Recipe:

In a saucepan blend cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Divide rolls into 4 squares by combining two crescents together and pressing the edges together. Spoon serving of meat mixture into center of each square. Fold and firmly press corners to seal. Bake on ungreased sheet according to Pillsbury package directions (generally 375 for 11-13 minutes).

Rating: 4.5 of 5

Well, this recipe isn't new at all. It's just our favorite. We love it. I discovered a few weeks ago, that you can form the squares and keep them in the fridge until ready to cook. Easy way to take dinner to someone and have hot food still!

Source: cook book with family recipes