Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken with a Mexican Flare

Pre-cooked

There are literally hundreds (or more) recipes for crock pot chicken with cream cheese. This is just one of the variations. I read several recipes and made my own adaptations.

You'll need:

2.5 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 can diced tomatoes with green chili's
8-10 oz. chunky, medium, Pace Picante sauce
taco seasoning
1 yellow onion
2 cans black beans
2 cups cream cheese

the finished product

Sprinkle taco seasoning on both sides of chicken. Place chicken in crock pot. Rinse and drain both cans of black beans, pour on top of chicken. Pour diced tomatoes and Pace on top of the black beans. Dice up onion, mix into the bean/tomato mixture. Cook on low for 4.5 hours. Then add the cream cheese. Allow to cook an hour or two longer. Serve with rice and or tortilla's.

We found the mixture was a bit too runny to use the end result as burrito filling. We ate ours with Spanish rice and flour tortilla's and had extra salsa and shredded cheddar cheese for toppings for those who desired it. It was delicious! I will be making this again, no question.

If you really prefer mild flavors I'd recommend not using the medium Pace and either using their mild sauce or another can of diced tomatoes. I've seen this basic recipe where people added corn (not my cup of tea, I don't want any Tex in my Mex) and olives. Feel free to be creative and add whatever you think would blend well.

Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats

When I first found Pinterest I went a little nuts finding all these "cake batter" recipes. Truffles, fudge, rice krispie treats. I had the best intentions of making all of them. Yeah. Anyway, I finally made the rice krispie treats. I mostly followed the recipe here.

You'll need:

10 oz. marshmallows
3 Tbs. butter
6 cups Rice Krispie cereal
2/3 cup yellow cake batter (just the dry mix)
1/4 cup (or so) sprinkles (your choice)

Melt the butter and marshmallows over low heat. Once melted, slowly mix in the dry cake batter powder. Then mix in the rice krispie cereal. Sprinkle on about half the sprinkles, mix, then add the rest and mix.

Put into a 13x9 pan that's been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Allow to cool off before eating. Enjoy!

USB Drives

Tell me we aren't the only family who never has a USB drive. It doesn't matter how many I've purchased, it seems every year when my kid needs one for any subject I have to buy another. How is this possible? Where do they go?

 In my search tonight I found the plug in alarm I had for my car... my car that I haven't had for 8 years. How is it possible I can find that, on which there is one, of which I have zero need for and not a freakin' USB drive?!

 Several drawer and desk digs later I finally did find one. Just one. One of however many I've purchased since my kid has needed them for school. He needs one for tomorrow you see, for pre-engineering. I think this particular USB thumb drive was from his 7th grade engineering class, so hey... but what about all the others? I started having to buy these things when he was in 5th grade. We're up to 9th now.

 Kid did give me some warning. He sent me a text today while I was at Target. So I looked for one. Guess what? Target had several brands, GB and colors of USB drives. However, every.single.one had either red or blue. No red or blue at kid's school. Those be gang colors, yo. No bueno. So yeah... thankfully the USB that allowed itself to be found tonight is all black. *whew*