Slow Cooking: Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce

This recipe is from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two. It's very simple: just two chicken breasts, a jar of alfredo sauce, 3-4 T of pesto sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.

I cooked the chicken a bit on both sides before putting it in the crockpot, but you don't have to. Salt and pepper to taste.

In a separate bowl mix the alfredo sauce with the pesto.

Pour it over the chicken. I cooked it for 3 hours.

Served over fettuccine pasta and with a side of veggies.

We have 8 different colored plates, and somehow I manage to get the same one for both of my food posts. Figures.

Anyway, this was really good. My husband liked it even more than I did. I think the sauce had thinned too much. Next time I will cook it for 2.5 hours, or add more alfredo sauce. But other than that it was very tasty, and it is now on our list of things to make again!

Slow Cooking: Enchilada Casserole

I love using my slow cooker, and I'm going to try and use it more often this year. I've got a lot of great cookbooks, but I've also been inspired by Stephanie O'Dea and her 365 Days of crockpot cooking.

Here's what I tried yesterday: Enchilada Casserole

I started by cooking two chicken breasts until they were tender, then used two forks to strip them into shredded chicken. Then I pretty much followed her recipe, except I didn't use olives because my husband vetoed that. I also pared down the recipe since it was just for Brian and I.

Close up of it all layered in the crockpot

My crockpot is a 6qt, so it looks small

And here is the result!

It may not look very pretty, but it was tasty. There are two things I would do different: I would use less sauce (I used a 24 ounce can of enchilada sauce, but I think I needed about half that) and more tortillas in layering. For some reason I used two tortillas on the bottom, but when I layered I only used one. So the tortilla kind of disintegrated and was invisible during consumption. Definitely should have used two tortillas for each layer. Oh, and more cheese. I only used cheddar, but I think I might use a mexican blend of cheese next time, and more of it.

Now I'm off to have some leftovers! Isn't that the BEST part of slow-cooking?

The Ramble

I stink. I really need to get my act together and write. I have just not been in the mood! Returning to work, where I write emails ALL DAY, zaps me of energy and creativeness. It took me 10 minutes just to finish these measly sentences. Yikes!

Update: As I was composing this not-so-thought-out entry, I got really nauseous and had to go lay down for about 2 hours. Things just keep happening, but I'm determined to hash this out!

The easiest way I'm able to chronicle what I've done in the past couple of weeks is through photos:

Mmm...homemade pizza by husband. Except the dough is from Trader Joe's. Thank you Joe. This version is pepperoni, pineapple, bell peppers and black olives on garlic dough.

Another trip to our lovely small town zoo. This is our baby giraffe, Daniel! Except you can't really tell he's a baby when he's not standing next to the other ginormous giraffes. (Wow! Check out my alliteration!)

I was starting to think the zoo was playing a joke on everyone. I've been to the zoo 30+ times in 2 years and I have never seen the leopard. I managed to catch it's hind end as we were walking toward the exhibit. It does exist! Though I cannot confirm it has a head.

Awwww....baby otter!

We had a great time at the wedding we attended! Here's the beautiful bride and groom - how gorgeous is her dress!?

My "big sis" and I dancing. I'm a little too tall with heels on I think...haha, I didn't want to dance with the groom :)

For those of you who don't know, this is a dresser. We have gone more than a year without one in our apartment because my husband thought it was unnecessary. The piles of clothes on the floor spilling out of the closet said otherwise. The clothing gods have spoken! All hail the beautiful antique dresser!

Coming up next...how I almost caught the apartment on fire.

Saturday Mornings

Our Saturday mornings are always yummy.