I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a really long time now. Last week though, I was looking through my bookmarks again and decided that I was finally going to make it. So I added the ingredients to my grocery list (all four of them), and stuck them all in the crockpot on Sunday morning before I left for roller derby practice.

It couldn’t have been easier to make. Rinse four cans of white beans, toss in 2 cups of salsa and cube up some cheese… sink the chicken breasts in the mixture in the crock pot, turn it on low and walk away. 7-8 hours later, I came back and pulled the chicken out. It just fell apart. I didn’t have to work to shred it at all, I just looked at it, maybe poked it with the fork a little bit and it was done.

I have to be honest though. I just wasn’t crazy about this as a chili. It was alright, but I didn’t want to curl up with that whole bowl of it and eat it as is. It did, however, make an AWESOME taco filling! The next day, I swung by the grocery store again and picked up some soft tortillas, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream and put this chili in the bottom. It was delicious!

White Bean Chicken Chili
Source: Pink Parsley

4 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat
8 ounces Pepper jack cheese, cut into 2-inch cubes
2 cups salsa

Combine the beans, cheese, and salsa in a crockpot. Nestle the chicken breasts into the mixture, and cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove chicken breasts, shred with a fork, and return to crockpot. Stir to combine, and serve with desired garnishes.

But these enchiladas are in the top 10. I think.

They’re incredibly easy to make, but we make one deviation from the original recipe. The original calls for 1 cup of sour scream and 1 can of cream of chicken soup. The filling won’t be enough that way, but if you change that to 1 1/2 cups sour cream and 1 1/2 cans of cream of chicken soup, it’s perfect. The pictures and the recipe at the end reflect this change.

You’ll need: Tortillas, chicken, onion, cheese, garlic powder, salt, milk, margarine, cream of chicken soup and sour cream.

Start by dicing up your onion.

While you are doing that, you can get your margarine melting in a skillet.

Add the onion to the margarine in the pan.

Followed by the chicken you have cut into bite sized pieces. This is obviously not my entire pound of chicken… don’t be like me. Have all your chicken cut up before you get started.

Cook until the chicken is done, and then remove the chicken from the pan.

Add 1 1/2 cups of sour cream to the pan you cooked the chicken in.

Followed by 1 1/2 cans of cream of chicken soup. Obviously my soup was 2 different brands.

Add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.

Followed by some salt. I don’t have a measurement here, so I just shook some in and called it good.

Stir until well combined.

Reserve one cup of your sour cream and soup mixture.

Then return the chicken to what’s left in the pan.

Stir to coat the chicken.

Then add 1 cup of cheese, and stir that in.

Spoon chicken mixture into the center of a tortilla.

Roll up the tortilla and place seam side down in a 9×13 pan. If you look closely, you can tell that I was struggling with the softness of these tortillas and kept ripping holes in them.

You’re supposed to be able to come up with 8 enchiladas, but I usually run out of filling after 7, unless I’ve been skimping.

Return the reserved mixture to the pan, and add a little milk, if necessary, to thin it out. Then pour it on top of the enchiladas in the pan.

Sprinkle cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. Mmmmm! Delicious! I’d tell you what to serve them with, but I’m lazy and generally serve them with NOTHING. And they’re still good

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

1 lb chicken
1 stick margarine
1 cup sour cream
shredded cheese
tortillas
onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 t. garlic powder
salt
milk

Sautee onion in margarine until onion is clear. Add chicken. Cook until done, approximately 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Add sour cream, chicken soup, garlic powder, and salt to same pan. Reserve 1 cup of mixture. Add chicken to sauce left in pan. Add 1 cup of cheese. Roll in tortillas and place in 9×13 pan. Put reserved mixture back in pan. Add enough milk to thin sauce. Pour over enchiladas. Put 1 cup of cheese on top. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes.

Yesterday though I made chicken salad, which I had not only never featured on this site, I’ve never made it myself before! I use my mom’s chicken salad recipe because it’s incredibly simple, and the best chicken salad I’ve ever had.

Here’s what you need.

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Crushed Pineapple. Pecan Pieces. Miracle Whip. I suppose you could use regular mayonnaise, but I can’t promise it will be as delicious without the tangy zip of Miracle Whip. (No, I don’t get any money from the lovely folks at Kraft, but maybe they should pay me for my constant pushing of Miracle Whip.)

First you need to boil your chicken… no pictures of this step. The best thing about chicken salad is that you can make as much or as little as you’d like. You could make just one or two chicken breasts, or you could make the whole package. I pulled out about 5 pieces of chicken. Two were pretty big, and one was really small. I thought about cooking my whole bag of chicken, since I knew I’d have to share. But since I’ve never made chicken salad before, I decided not to… if I made that much and it didn’t turn out well for some reason, I’d have been heartbroken.

After the chicken has cooked all the way through, you’ll want to shred it. You can wait for it to cool and pull it apart with your fingers, or you can be like me and use two forks to pull it apart while it is still hot.

Put the shredded chicken in a large bowl. Lament again that all you have are white bowls, and your camera doesn’t like white bowls. (I have a blue bowl, but my blue bowl does not have a lid.)

As you can see, those are not the pecan halves from the ingredient picture… I ran them through the food processor. I added a big handful of pecans, a couple good sized spoonfuls of Miracle Whip, and a big spoonful of crushed pineapple. No exact measurements, you have to just see as you go. And if you know me at all, you know how much that drives me crazy. I ask my mom for exact measurements on EVERYTHING. That’s part of why you see more baked goods on here than other cooking– baking is precisely measured, just the way I like it.

A note about the pineapple, don’t strain it.. you don’t necessarily want to just pour it in there, but you want some of the juice. In the end I think I ended up putting just a touch more pineapple and a little more miracle whip in the bowl.

This is what the chicken salad looks like when it’s done. Mmmm… I don’t know if it looks appetizing to you or not, but it does to me because I know how delicious it is. You should be able to tell from the picture that there’s enough to get pineapple and pecans in each bite, and the chicken is well coated in the miracle whip… you don’t want dry chicken salad!

At this point, I stuck it in the fridge for awhile since I’d mixed it up when the chicken was still warm, and I wanted to let the flavors sit together for a bit.

It’s good on bread, but the BEST way to serve this chicken salad is on a croissant. Yum! I’m glad I packed some for my lunch today because I’m drooling now!

Next you’re going to take your two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast and dunk them into the egg/milk mixture, and then into your bread crumb mixture. Make sure the chicken gets nice and coated and then transfer it to a 13×9″ baking pan.

There were four of us, so I made five chicken breasts so that we’d each have one and I’d still have some leftover. There were plenty of bread crumbs left so this could be easily scaled up or down. When you’ve got all your chicken ready, slide your pan into the oven and back at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, combine two cans of cream of mushroom soup, and 1/2 cup of milk. (You can add more milk if your sauce is too thick).

After your chicken bakes for thirty minutes, remove it from the oven, pour your mushroom soup mixture on top. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the whole thing, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.

While you’re waiting, you can cook up some spaghetti, and I always mix up some extra soup and milk mixture to spoon over the top. I also made more parmesan cheese available to sprinkle over the finished product, and served salads on the side.

I only wish I’d have gotten a picture of my plate made up with the chicken and spaghetti on it, but I was eager to sit down with my family and start enjoying what I’d been working on!!

The Recipe:
White Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
4 tbs parmesan cheese
1 tsp of oregano
dash of garlic power
dash of pepper
1 egg
2 lbs of boneless / skinless chix breasts
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of milk

In one bowl, combine egg and 1/2 cup of milk. In separate bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder and pepper. Dip chicken into egg mixture, and then into dry mixture to coat. Place in 13×9″ pan and bake at 400F for 30 minutes.
Combine two cans of soup, and 1/2 cup of milk. May add up to an additional 1/2 cup milk if sauce is too thick. Pour over chicken, and return to oven for another 30 minutes. Serve over spaghetti, and enjoy!