Crock Pot Chicken

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c chicken broth
1 envelope of good seasons italian dressing
1 can cream of chicken soup

Mix on low in sauce pan then put 4 frozen chicken breasts (or like 12 tenderloins) in crock pot and pour mixture over. Cook on high for 4 hours. Easy to double or half. After cooked break up or shred chicken if you'd like and pour mixture over rice.

pizza-dilla.

this recipe comes from an old friend in seattle whose mom taught me to play the piano. this variation on a quesadilla has quickly become a favorite in my book because it is easy, fast, and delicious.

1 can fire-roasted tomatoes, drained
mozzarella cheese (i prefer a 50-50 mix with feta)
3-4 chicken tenderloins or two chicken breast, cubed
oregano
basil
salt & pepper
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
olive oil
tortillas

cook the chicken. while the chicken is cooking, drizzle some olive oil in pan and cook the garlic for a minute. add the fire-roasted tomatoes and cooked chicken to the garlic and shake some oregano, s&p, basil, any other desired spices over it. let the mixture simmer for a couple of minutes. in another pan, lightly drizzled with olive oil, lay your tortilla down and cover it with a layer of cheese. add some of the tomato mixture on top, then sprinkle more cheese over that, laying another tortilla on top. cook. flip. cook. lunch/snack/dinner in 10 minutes.

quick note on the tortillas. the best of the best in my opinion are the uncooked tortillas found at costco. but with two people and 44 tortillas, we run into problems. so i have started to divide the tortillas into groups of 6-7, put in gallon sized ziploc bags, and then freeze all but one group. when i start to run out, i just pull a bag out of the freezer and they are ready to go in a few hours. mm, delicious.

Oatmeal Pancakes

2 c. milk
3-4 T. butter
2 c. rolled oats

Microwave these three ingredients until butter is melted.

2 eggs
1/2 c. flour (can do 1/2 white 1/2 wheat)
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 banana mashed with a fork

Mix all of these ingredients into the oats, butter and milk. You can 1/2 this recipe for two people, but keep the same amount for sugar, baking soda and baking powder.

Banana Nut Pancakes

Shout out to the Looslis (Eli's sister Saren's fam). They made these for us one trip to St. George and they are awesome. I like that you probably have all of the ingredients in your kitchen right now. Also, I loved the whole wheat in them; makes you feel like you are eating more than just sugar for breakfast. Lastly, even if you aren't a huge nut person, add them anyway. Just trust me on that one. Enjoy!

2 mashed extra-ripe bananas
1 1/3 – 1 ½ cups milk (the amount of milk will determine how thick the pancakes are – start with 1 1/3 cups and add a little more later to get to desired consistency)
2 tbsp melted butter
2 eggs
1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour (can use all white if you don't have WW flour)
3 tsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. sugar (or honey or molasses)
2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans

Mix together wet ingredients, add and mix in dry ingredients, fold in walnuts. Turn on griddle or frying pan to medium high heat. Use ½ cup measuring cup to put batter on hot griddle or frying pan. Once bubbles come up on the raw side of the pancake, flip it over. Cook until both sides are golden brown. Serve with maple syrup or fruit and whipped cream on top.

Enough for 15-20 pancakes.