My crock pot is probably my favorite kitchen appliance. I love throwing ingredients in there and letting it do most of the work for me. It has most likely been in the home of every friend and family member we have at one point. It has given us awesome grub for football games, holidays, parties, dinners, lunches, and potlucks. It gives us soup when we’re sick, warm meals for cold days, and even breakfast to wake up to. It’s like a little kitchen genie. We’re kinda mean to it, though. It has been dropped a few times, leaving a couple of nicks and scrapes behind. It has been borrowed, tossed around, left in the trunk of the car, scrubbed, soaked, and left with caked-on ingredients more times than I can count. But, no matter how much we use or abuse it, it still delivers every single time. It seems like a one-sided relationship, but my crock pot is pretty much my kitchen BFF. (Wow…if I treated people like I treat my crock pot, I wouldn’t have any friends.)

This meal is easy and flavorful. You can set it before work, school, or errands, and with just a little prep afterward, it’s ready to go. When you’re busy, frazzled, stressed, pressed for time, or just lazy (it’s okay), recipes like this can be real dinner-savers.

Ingredients: 

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 packet onion soup mix, dry
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese
• 2 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning
• 1 Tbsp crushed red pepper, optional

Preparation:

• Lightly coat your slow cooker with cooking spray.
• Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker and sprinkle evenly with dry onion soup mix.
• Mix the mushroom soup with 1/2 can of water, and pour this over the chicken.
• Set the slow cooker to low, cover, and cook for 8 hours.
• Remove the chicken and set aside.
• Cube the cream cheese and add it to the soup in the slow cooker and stir to mix and melt. Whisking will make this process faster.
• Once the cream cheese is fully incorporated, add the Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper (if using) and mix well.
• Add the chicken back to the slow cooker and replace the lid for about 10 minutes or just long enough to heat the chicken back up and allow the flavors to combine.
• Serve the chicken over pasta, rice, or you can eat it alone.
• Spoon some soup over the entire dish and serve.

 There’s no need to shred or cut the chicken. It is so tender, it will easily pull apart with a fork.

You can add all of the ingredients together at the beginning, but be warned that the cream cheese may not fully incorporate into the soup. You’ll be left with some very tiny cheese curds floating around. This doesn’t affect the taste, but it may not be aesthetically pleasing to some people. Adding the cream cheese just before serving avoids this and will give the dish a more creamy-looking texture.

Make this dish lower in fat by using low-fat ingredients if desired.