dinner shortcut

We all know how busy this time of year is. Some of the busyness is good: Christmas concerts and choir at church, hilarious White Elephant parties with our bible study group, fun work Christmas parties. Some of the busyness is just white noise: wrapping gifts, shopping, baking cookies to take to work. I just know that I end every night exhausted with no need for Ambien to carry me off to sleep for a few precious hours before I do it all over again.

So we have been spending a lot of extra time together, my Crockpot and I. Or maybe I should say we have been spending a lot of extra minutes together because I only deal with recipes that I can put together in 10 minutes. If I don't even have enough time for breakfast in the morning, I am sure not getting up early to chop and peel. I found this gem in my favorite Crockpot cookbook, "Make It Fast, Cook It Slow" by Stephanie O'Dea of the fabulous blog A Year of Slow Cooking (who has not given me anything for free and has no idea that I exist). It was so stinking easy and it was DELICIOUS. In this busy time of year, we all need a shortcut for dinner.

Cream Cheese Chicken

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen out of the bag works fine)

2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning (I used thyme)

1/2 teaspoon celery seed (who even owns that? not necessary...)

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon black powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 10oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 8oz block of cream cheese

Put the chicken (frozen or thawed) into the slow cooker. Combine the spices, sugar and garlic in a small dish and then pour on top of the chicken. Add the mushroom soup and cook on low for 6 hours (if chicken is thawed) or high for 6 hours (if chicken is frozen). Shred the chicken and add the block of cream cheese, cooking on low for 30 more minutes until the cream cheese has melted. Serve over pasta or rice (we used rotini pasta). Delish!