Crock Pot Italian Chicken and Pasta (updated)

Don't worry, I haven't changed the recipe a bit. It's just that the photographs for the original post were so blurry that I wanted to give this recipe a second go. It is one of my favorite recipes. I make it once a month and I wouldn't change a thing.

Crock Pot Chicken Bacon and Ranch Pasta

I have a few favorite crock pot meals. Ham and white beans for cold winter nights, chicken taco chili, and creamy Italian chicken and pasta are at the top of my list and tonight's dinner was quite similar to the Italian chicken pasta.

There's something about chicken in a creamy sauce over pasta that is so comforting and when you can throw it all in the crock pot and forget about it (or leave the house for an hour or so like I did today) it's even better. This was originally supposed to be the new recipe on my birthday but we wound up eating out that night.

Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken

A note before we begin:  I'm posting this without pictures for the time being. My computer still will not read my memory card. Since Aaron is already asleep I can't ask him to e-mail me the photographs. I promise to edit the post to include pictures as soon as possible, but for now this is the only photo I have of our meal and it's not the best quality. My apologies.

It seems I've been branching out a bit with my cooking. I've been cooking large beef roasts, whole pork shoulders, and bone-in chicken more often. I even made Pioneer Woman's chicken and noodles with a whole chicken. That was a bit scary for me since I generally stick with boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenders and it was my first time cutting up a whole chicken.

Crock Pot Taco Chicken Bowls

I've found another winner from Budget Bytes. Tonight's meal was filling, satisfying, and delicious. Oh, and did I mention it was cheap? Every recipe posted on Budget Bytes shows the total cost. Once I've tried a few more of the recipes I'm thinking of having a Budget Bytes week each month, choosing cost effective meals to keep the grocery bill down.

Crock Pot Chicken Teriyaki

Oh, crock pot, how I love you! It's so nice to be able to do other things while you slow cook a meal for my family. Things like baking bread for my bestest friend. Even better, things like coloring and playing play-doh with my beautiful little girl.

Crock Pot Ham and White Beans

So this was the scene outside outside my house yesterday afternoon. It may not look like much snow, but for East Tennessee it is.

See, the problem with snow in Tennessee is that it frequently comes on quickly and unexpectedly so we have little time to prepare for it. When it started snowing Tuesday morning Aaron was already at work. The weather report showed snow flurries and maybe a dusting in our area and our roads were not treated. I woke up very late (almost 11:00) and by that time the roads in my neighborhood were slick and completely covered with snow.

Crock Pot Potato, Barley, and Canadian Bacon Soup

Two recipes from Iowa Girl Eats in two week? Yes, I think that is a very good idea! Oh man, she just can't go wrong. Every recipe on her blog is amazing, and I've tried quite a few of them.

I actually came across this soup when looking for healthier new recipes for January. I kept looking through Pinterest, but all I had pinned were high fat recipes. Most of them were for fried foods or were smothered in cheese or cream sauces. Don't get me wrong, those sound like fabulous meals, just not exactly what I'm looking for right now.

Crock Pot Pineapple Chicken

We have been fortunate this week to have Aaron home with us during the day. First he had a four day weekend, then it rained him out of work part of this week. Needless to say, Bailey has been thrilled to death. She really enjoys having him home during the day, though it is a bit more difficult to get her to go down for a nap.

Dinners have been easy. Tacos on Tuesday, pizza on Wednesday, and tonight...

Leftover Roast Beef Stew

Sooooo I'm an idiot.  I admit it.  I willingly admit that I'm a nerd and a dork, but tonight I am a total idiot.  Dinner tonight was supposed to be made in the crock pot.  I put all of the ingredients in the crock pot just like I was supposed to.  I turned the crock pot on low and went to sit down in the living room.

Yaya's Crock Pot Roast Beef

Aaron is always asking me to cook him meals that his mother cooked when he was little.  He wants these sour cream chicken enchiladas that she used to make (which I've tried to make twice with different recipes and he still says they're not right), her beef stew (which as it turns out is just like Mom's vegetable beef soup only a bit thicker), and his favorite food to ask for is roast beef.  Now, Mom always made roast beef in the crock pot.  She would put it in the night before and cook it really low overnight.  By morning the beef was cooked and we could have a roast beef sandwich for lunch!

Crock Pot Chicken and Barley Vegetable Stew

I think I may have found a new second favorite blog!

My favorite blog is still Annie's Eats, possibly because she posts tons of really original cupcake recipes (most recently Samoa Cupcakes which I can't wait to try) and because I have yet to try a bread recipe from her blog that did not turn out amazing.

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken

This is probably one of the easiest meals you could possibly make.  The hardest part of it is opening the bottle of barbecue sauce.  Truthfully, you could make this with only two ingredients: chicken and barbecue sauce.  I just happen to think it tastes better when doctored up a bit.

Crock pot Italian chicken and vegetables

I think my family may have discovered a wonderful new idea.  Tuesday night for dinner at Yaya's house we had a leftover swap.  My brother brought leftover pizza, I brought Spicy Sausage Pasta Skillet, and Yaya had a to-go box full of delicious Mexican food.  My brother and I shared Yaya's leftovers and Yaya ate mine.  Bailey had the pizza.  It was a brilliant plan.  We all got rid of our leftovers and got to eat something new.  Bailey particularly enjoyed the meaty pizza.  She's used to having veggie loaded Calzones instead.

Crock pot Italian chicken and pasta

Crock pots are just a really wonderful invention.  For one thing, it makes it a lot easier to clean up dinner when everything has cooked together in the crock pot.  There's no need to keep an eye on dinner so there's more time to finish all of your other chores.  A crock pot meal is perfect for a new mom, a busy day of errands, or during spring cleaning when you just don't have time to stop cleaning and make dinner.  It's a huge help for moms who work outside the home as well.  I don't use mine as often as I'd like to, but I'm hoping that I'll get to use it more as I work through the recipes I've pinned on Pinterest.

Chicken Taco Chili

I just want to start out with this:  I cannot wait for my cat to get better!

I love her so much, but she fights tooth and claw against her medicines and her food.  I'm actually pretty good at getting cats to take pills.  I used to take care of my former boss's cats when she would go out of town and they were all very old and on lots of different medications.  I could get them to keep their pills down no problems, but Rhada is a different story.  Every single pill is a fight and she has to have 7 each day.  My patience is wearing thin.