Creamy Crock Pot Mexican Chicken

I tried out this new recipe from Pinterest (obviously), and I was really impressed at how versatile it is! Not to mention easy - I love the Crock Pot. Whoever invented it deserves a medal.

This is pretty much your standard Mexican chicken type recipe, with one surprising twist - cream cheese!

You just dump everything in the crock pot and shred up your chicken before eating. Simple simple.

We ate this with with some basmati rice wrapped in tortillas, but it would be great just over rice, or plain in a tortilla. The next day I ate some leftovers with some lettuce and crushed up tortilla chips, and it was delicious! You could even eat it with just tortilla chips like loaded nachos - seriously, eat it however you want!

I only used half of the tub of cream cheese, but if you want it to be extra creamy, add the whole tub (if you're in America, an 8 oz block of cream cheese). I've found that the Mother Dairy tub of cheese spread works as a pretty decent substitute for cream cheese (I've used it in cheesecake also).

Creamy Crock Pot Mexican Chicken

Original Recipe

1 lb chicken breasts

1 cup of salsa

1/2-1 whole tub of cream cheese

2 cups of black beans

1 cup of frozen corn

1 medium onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 TBS chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

(instead of the chili powder and cumin, you could also add a package of taco seasoning)

Shredded cheese for serving (optional)

Add everything to the crock pot. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Shred the chicken with two forks before serving, and stir together.

Serve with rice, tortillas, lettuce, tortilla chips, or any combination!

Chicken Burgers (or meatballs) with Spinach and Cheese

For some reason, I've been a little leery about making burgers in India. Maybe because I've never had a chicken/turkey burger before, so I just wondered if they were a little bit weird.

So these were my first attempt at India burgers...and I must say, we all loved them! Even Landon, my pick eater, loved the "handaburg" as he calls them. Layla calls them "hangabers." I have the cutest kids.

Anyway, here they are!

I sprinkled a little bit extra of the grated "processed cheddar cheese" that I had also mixed into the patties, but you could also top it with a slice of cheese. In fact, you could pay the big bucks to get real, actual cheddar cheese, and these would probably be even more delicious. I think they would taste PERFECT with a smear of mayonnaise, but alas, I didn't have any when we ate these. Maybe next time - because there WILL be a next time.

Take note that you need to mix this together 2 hours before you actually want to make dinner - it allows all the yummy flavors to infuse into the meat more.

Tip: I toasted the buns with a  little bit of butter in the pan after cooking the burgers, and that was definitely the perfecting touch on these burgers. Totally worth the extra effort.

Chicken Burgers with Spinach and Cheese

Original Recipe

1 lb/450 grams of ground chicken (chicken keema)

1 onion cut into big chunks

1 cup of wilted spinach (just sauté it in a pan for a couple minutes)

3+ cloves of garlic

2 TBS of balsamic vinegar

2 tsp of soy sauce

1 tsp of lemon juice

1/2 tsp chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup shredded cheese

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (or regular bread crumbs, or crushed Monaco crackers)

Put your chicken keema in a large bowl. In a blender or food processor, add the spinach, onion, and garlic and pulse until well chopped, but not pureed. Add to bowl with chicken. Add the remaining ingredients into the bowl with the chicken and mix everything together well. 

Cover and refrigerate for 2+ hours.

When you're ready to eat, heat a pan over medium heat. Make 6 patties out of the chicken, and add to the pan (I used 2 pans with 3 patties in each). Cook for 6-7 minutes per side...I'll confess that I perhaps overcooked these a little, but I don't have a meat thermometer and was super paranoid about undercooking them since it's chicken and not beef. 

Top with additional cheese after cooking. Serve on toasted buns with mayo, lettuce, and tomato if you have it! Even additional sliced onion would be great.

As an option, you can also roll these into meatballs instead of burgers! Mix the meat the exact same way, but then roll into balls and either pan fry or bake in the oven. Eat them plain or with some salad.

Cajun Chicken Pasta - Pioneer Woman

Fun fact: my first job I started at age 16 was working at a Cajun restaurant. I honestly didn't even know what Cajun food was before I started working there, but I quickly learned, and quickly fell in love with the spicy goodness. Although I'll also confess, I could never bring myself to try one of the boiled crawfish...so maybe I'm not truly Cajun after all.

This pasta.

Oh my wow.

Really, all I need to tell you is that it's a Pioneer Woman recipe, and that should sell you on it immediately. (I love you, Ree!!)

Cajun Chicken Pasta?! What's not to love?!

And the best part is, this recipe is totally totally India safe. I have some Cajun seasoning I brought from America, but you could throw your own spice mix together if you don't. (Just google - homemade Cajun seasoning).

Her recipe is so perfect, I'm not even going to give you my own instructions; I'll just point you directly to her site.

Two notes: Firstly, I did not add tomatoes, bc Kyle and I don't really like chunks of tomatoes in pasta, so instead I just used three colors of bell peppers - red, yellow, and green.

Secondly, this is what I used for the cream:

I've said it before, I'll say it again. I don't really understand what this stuff is. It's not heavy whipping cream, because it doesn't have enough fat to whip into cream, but it's so, SO thick, that you can literally scoop it with a spoon. So my suggestion is to squeeze out the package into a separate measuring cup and give it a stir to recombine the liquid and the spoonable clumps, before pouring it into your sauce.

Um, and by two notes I actually meant three: Thirdly, I don't have any white cooking wine, so I just replaced it with extra chicken broth, but it took a long time to thicken up, so I maybe would just omit the cooking wine if you don't have it. Not sure if that's due to the chicken broth or the difference in the cream...I just make the food, I don't know the science behind how it cooks :)

This pasta was sooooooo delicious - and the nice part is you can make it as spicy or not spicy as you want. I'm already trying to decide how short of a time is appropriate to wait before making it again...

Pioneer Woman's Cajun Chicken Pasta