Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

Every time I want to make this soup I come looking here for the recipe, so I thought maybe I should actually ADD the recipe so next time I'll be able to find it. I found this a long time ago on allrecipes.com and it's fast, easy and yummy. It's also very adaptable to your personal taste.

(Special note for Dione from Dione: Don't forget that Amanda would rather eat dirt than soup, so when you're shredding the chicken, set aside some for her to make a taco.)

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (I usually use chicken broth instead)
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.

Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

The Barbie Days...

We're deep into the Barbie days at our house and I'm totally in my element. I have my own credit cards and I COULD have the Barbie world of my dreams if I wanted to.

Amanda asked for a Barbie house for Christmas. Yes, this is the kid who already has a big old Barbie house. But there was a part of me that wanted that big old perfect Barbie world. For a while there I was thinking I should be practical and just get some furniture and let them use our bookshelves as rooms (which they do anyway).

I ended up impulsively buying her the collapsible Barbie house in the top two pictures... on clearance at Mervyn's so Scott couldn't tell me to take it back, ha! But before I did, I set up one of those ebay search thingies that sends me an email whenever some fun Barbie world thing comes up. And I haven't turned it off yet.

When the 1962 Vintage Barbie house showed up today I had to show it to Amanda and tell her that I used to play with a house just like it when I was a kid... and that before I played with it, Auntie Deni did and then Auntie Darin... She was wowed....
Then I decided DUH I should post it here.




















By the time I got the house, most of the furniture was long gone. I think maybe I got the TV/stereo thing though. It was a very cool house with or without furniture.



















Somewhere buried on this sisters blog, Darin and I discussed Skanky-Ho-Goes-to-the-Bar Barbie so imagine my delight when another of my emails from ebay offered up the playset above, that no little girl should be without... Does it get any better than this? It's the Skanky-Ho-Barbie-Bar!

Chicken Divan

1 Cup Mayo
2 10 oz pkgs frozen brocolli (or buy stems & steam)
4 boned chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. curry powder
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup bread crumbs or stuffing mix
1/4 cup melted butter

Simmer chicken in small amount of water until tender (about 35 min.)Cook broccoli in water as directed. Drain broccoli and arrange in a shallow qt. baking dish. Drain chicken and shred and arrange on top of broccoli.

Pour soup, mayo, lemon juice and curry powder mixture over the above chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle the casserole with grated cheese. Mix the bread crumbs and butter and sprinkle over the cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve with rice. Can also be used with turkey.

(contributed by Dione)

Salsa Chicken

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tsp. taco seasoning
Cooking spray
2/3 cup bottled salsa
2/3 cup (about 2 1/2 oz.) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1 (4 oz.) can whole green chilis, drained and thinly sliced
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
2 Tbsp. sliced olives

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Combine chicken and seasoning in a medium bowl, tossing to coat. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated wtih cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook for 4 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Arrange chicken in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with salsa, cheese and chiles. Bake at 475 degrees for 8 minutes or until chicken is done and cheese is melted. Top each serving with 1 Tbsp. sour cream and 1 1/2 tsp. olives. Serve with tortillas.

Makes 4 servings
each serving 207 calories, 2.1 g fiber, 3.5 g fat

Weight Watchers: 4 pts. per serving, 6 pts. w/tortilla

(contributed by Dione)