Poppyseed Chicken

For Guinea Pig Thursday (Wednesday rather) - we had Poppyseed Chicken. I'd had this before, but never made it myself. I have a really bad habit of changing things in a recipe before I've even made/tried the dish - and it took all my will power not to change this recipe. As I was making it I kept thinking - holy crap, this is a lot of butter!! And it was. But it sure did taste great!! =) Our guinea pig was Jordan, Ry's brother.

Poppyseed Chicken

• 4 large chicken breasts, cooked & diced
• 3/4 cup butter, melted (could be less)
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 12 oz sour cream
• 1 1/2 rolls Ritz crackers (could be reduced fat, but not reduced sodium)
  
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 Tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice (could be more, even doubled)

Cook the rice & put in bottom of greased 9x13 pan. Mix chicken, 3/4 c. melted butter, chicken soup, & sour cream. Pour over rice. Crush & mix together crackers, 1/2 cup melted butter, & poppy seeds. Sprinkle over the casserole. Bake for 30 min at 350 degrees.

*Do not substitute butter for margarine - my sis-in-law who gave me this recipe tried that once & said it turned out weird.

Crockpot Lasagna

This one's for you Lisa! I wanted to try something other than a roast in my crockpot & I've never made lasagna - so here ya go.

The guinea pigs were a few of my in-laws. Minimal preperation, which rocks. I think next time I would do 1/2 lb ground beef & 1/2 lb italian sausage to give it more spice. I also would cut back on the cheese a little.

It just was a little too much cheese for me. Or maybe leave the cheese as is, but do another 1/2 lb meat to compensate. Oh, and the recipe also says cook on low for 4-6 hours - 4.5 was plenty. It was starting to burn on the bottom.

Click here for the recipe (and other great crockpot recipes)!

Creamy White Chicken Chili

For Guinea Pig Thursday we had Creamy White Chicken Chili in soup bowls...yum! I had a taste of this at a local grocery store try-out a few months back and loved it! Of course, it tasted different when I made it, even though I followed the recipe exactly.

Our guinea pigs were the in-laws. Everyone seemed to really like it, but agreed it was a little on the salty side. I thought it was ridiculously salty! Next time I will be skipping the salt all together.

It definitely is a hearty soup - Ry thought a little less chicken might be good. So with a couple of changes I think it'll be great next time. It was super easy & cheap to make - feeds a lot of people!

So I can't find my recipe card...but I'm pretty sure I can remember all of it...

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cans (4 oz.) diced green chilies
  
• 6 cans great white northern beans
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 2-3 cans (14.5 oz) chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp oregano
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

I think that was it. Cook/brown chicken in large pan with oil - then add onions & chilies, cook until onion is soft. Add everything else & cook on med/high 20 minutes until thickened.

I thought it would be really tasty to throw in some cooked rice as well for added texture and heartiness. So - no salt, little less chicken, and rice. The end. Enjoy!