Easy Dinners for Days

Do you know what is music to my ears? Easy Dinners.

I have a confession: sometimes I have trouble finding the time to prepare our evening meal. Some days I can whip something up during Parker's afternoon nap. But other days our dinner needs to be in the oven during his nap which means I need to prepare something during his morning nap. And sometimes that just doesn't happen for me. On those days, I need Easy Dinners.

I'd like to share a recipe I discovered recently that has given us easy dinners for days. I'll admit, I'm a little late to the chicken + salsa + crock pot party and I realize this post may be too elementary for some. But hopefully you'll find something here you can add to your Easy Dinner list!

This recipe is for Crockpot Chicken Salsa. Once made it can be eaten as a main dish or used to make any number of meals! Here is how to make it and some ways I have been using it around the Snowden household.

You'll need: a crockpot, 3-4 chicken breasts, a jar of salsa (I use Pace medium), and a can of black beans.

You simply place the chicken in the crock pot, pour the salsa on top, and turn on your crock pot.

If the chicken is frozen, cook for 4 hours on high. If the chicken is thawed, cook for 3 hours on high. During the last hour of cooking, use two forks to shred the chicken and add the can of black beans. That's it.

Is that easy or what?! When you add the black beans you can also add cream cheese, corn, jalepenos, or whatever you like. We don't eat too much cream cheese or corn and with little ones eating this dish I don't add jalepenos to the mix either.

Once the cooking is complete, you have yourself some Chicken Salsa! We use this to create three popular meals in our house...

ONE: I make Chicken Salsa Salad by placing the chicken on a bed of spinach with some sliced avocado, sliced tomatoes, and a little shredded cheese on top. I find that the chicken has so much flavor that this is one salad I do not dress!

TWO: I also use this same chicken for Chicken Salsa Tacos by adding some fresh guacamole, salsa, spinach, and shredded cheese rolled up in a sprouted grain tortilla or lettuce wrap. Soooo good!!

THREE: And to make yet another meal, we have Chicken Salsa Enchiladas! For these, you start by  covering the bottom of a baking dish with a thin layer of enchilada sauce. On a separate surface, lay out a sprouted grain tortilla, add several spoonfuls of Chicken Salsa and sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Roll it up and place seem side down in your prepared baking dish. (I can fit 6 enchiladas in a 9x13 pan.) Next, pour the remainder of your enchilada sauce on top and cover with cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 and dinner is served!

With the cold weather we are having in Kansas, I have been getting quite a bit of use out of my crockpot! It is so nice to whip up Crockpot Chicken Salsa and know that I can have an easy dinner a night (or two!) that week. I usually end up freezing some to pull out when I need to have an easy dinner night.

I hope you can add one of these dishes to your Easy Dinner list and give yourself a night off from "cooking"!