Mississippi Chicken

We've been making Mississippi Roasts at our house in the crockpot.  They are super tasty and I found the recipe through pinterest here.  We've used both beef and pork.  What we've liked best thus far is getting pork picnic.  Admittedly I don't love having to cut the skin off because I am slow at doing so but it really has been the best tasting meat we've done.  I normally get bone in and when it is done cooking I can grab the bone and it pulls straight out - no cutting involved.  

After making a roast with the pork picnic last week the hubs asked me if I thought it would work with chicken...well - there's only one way to find out.  

And the answer is YES!  It makes quite a tasty chicken.  

1 five to six pound chicken - skin removed

Sit it right down in your crockpot.  DO NOT ADD ANY WATER

Lay 1 stick of butter on top.

Sprinkle 1 package dry Au Jus seasoning and 1 package dry ranch seasoning over the top.

Add 7 - 10 pepperocini peppers (I only had 4 or 5 left in my jar).

Cook on low 8 - 10 hours.  

When I got home from work my plan was to pull the legs and wings off and then strip & shred the rest of the meat.  I grabbed a hold of the leg bone and it came out clean.  This chicken was super tender and plenty moist.  You can see in the picture on the right how much juice it made.  

The only change I would make is that instead of using the seasoning packets I would probably just season with salt and pepper.  The chicken didn't absorb the seasoning well like the roasts do so next time I may just make my own seasoning recipe to see how it turns out.  There was not an ounce of waste with this chicken.  All the bones fell out and the meat shredded super easy.  

Yummy chicken night at our house! 

South Western Soup

 I have been having a hankering for some good southwestern soup.  

I love what they have at Chili's but haven't ever found a recipe that I loved. 

So I tried my hand at making a crockpot recipe wit the items that Russel and I like in our South Western soup.  

It turned out yummy. 

 

Here's our recipe!

Ingredients:
2 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
Water
1 can Mexican Ro-tel (diced tomatoes with lime juice and cilantro)
1 packet Taco Seasoning (whatever hotness you desire - I used mild)
2 cans (14.5 oz cans) Swanson's Chicken broth
1 can (15 oz) black beans drained and rinsed
Whole kernel corn  **I used a bag of Kroger frozen whole kernel but you can use drained rinsed canned corn too.  I would probably use 2 cans if I wasn't using bagged**
1 medium sweet onion chopped

Optional ingredients:
shredded cheese
avocado sliced
salsa
sour cream
tortilla ships

This recipe made my crock pot about 2/3 full.  I would say enough for 8-10 full bowl servings
Place two frozen chicken breasts on the bottom of an ungreased crock pot.  Pour the ro-tel (including all its juicy goodness) over the top of the breasts.  Fill the ro-tel can about 1/2 full of water and pour beside your chicken onto the bottom of the crock pot.  Do not pour over the chicken.  You want the ro-tel to stay on top of the chicken.
Cook on low for 8 hours.
After your 8 hours is up, pull the top off your crock and smell the yummy delishiousness that is your cooked chicken.  Take two forks and shred your chicken right in the crockpot.  It should shred REALLY easily and be super tender and juicy.  Now you are going to add all but your optional ingredients. So get to it and add your taco seasoning, chicken broth, black beans, corn, and onion.  Stir it all up good and let it cook on high for an hour - or low for a couple more hours.   
You've waited long enough now - so ladle out a big helping of our South Western Soup and top with your favorite optional ingredients.  We go for the shredded cheese and sour cream but add all the South West toppings that you like.  

I hope that you love the recipe - I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions - If you want to share this recipe please do but please give credit where credit is due and link back up to this post.  

Thanks!  Stacey