Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken And Rice (The downside of being a Swan Princess)

I have a firmly held belief that the most important lessons in life are learned in Kindergarten. For this reason (and many others) when my five year old speaks, I listen. Oftentimes she’ll say something that has me stifling a giggle (Katy Rose does not like for folks to laugh at anything she says right now unless she clearly states that it is a joke beforehand), but others she’ll speak something truly profound and in her innocence has no idea that she has just opened her mama’s eyes to wisdom once again.

Yesterday, we were sitting in the living room together. Katy Rose was watching the Swan Princess while I worked on my laptop. The movie came to a part where the “evil guy” (as Katy Rose put it) was trying to keep the Swan Princess  prisoner and Katy watched for a few moments before turning to me in absolute frustration.

“You see that, Mama? See that stuff right there? That is why I’ve decided I don’t want to be a princess when I grow up anymore – because you have to deal with that evil stuff.” She huffed and looked back for a moment, clearly disappointed in the downside of her now former dream before adding, “So here is what I’m going to do. If I have kids, I’ll just be a Mama. If I don’t have kids, I’m just going to live with you forever, okay?”

“Okay Katy Rose, that works for me”

Bless her heart, at five years old she just really feels compelled to have her entire life plotted out and realizing there was a downside to royalty threw her for a loop.

Fact is, there is a downside to every dream no matter how big or small it is. Look at people whose lives you dare to envy. Actors and actresses appear to have it all but can you imagine the frustration of not being able to run to the grocery store or go to lunch with a friend without folks stalking you with cameras and such? The hours they spend memorizing lines, being berated by directors for improper delivery, pressure of keeping up appearances.  Reading glowing praise about yourself one day and scathing criticism the next. Sure, they may have a lot of money but they have a whole heap more bills than us that go with that. Staff, security, etc. There is a downside to it all and although we may hold them at arm’s length as if they are somehow a different class from us, they are just people beneath it all, same as we are.

I don’t reckon a lot of us think on the downside of our dreams and that is a good thing, because the upside of things is infinitely more inviting anyway. The funny thing that struck me most though, is that out of Katy’s two fallback dreams, both of them revolve around family.

With that in mind, how many of us are living the  dream right now? You may look at starring in a movie as the “dream” but I packed two lunches this morning and watched two beautiful little blonde heads  bob to the car as they headed off to school.

There may be a big reserved room for someone in a fancy restaurant with patrons dressed in formal attire but tonight I’m going to sit down to dinner with my husband and kids at an old oak dinner table and I doubt a single one of us will even be wearing shoes.

When I lay my head down at some point after the sun sets today I won’t be in a luxury suite, but I will be in our warm house, safely sheltered with a peacefully sleeping family and a big old dog snoring at the foot of my bed.

When I wake up tomorrow, I’ll have a big grin on my face and a song in my heart.

Living the dream, folks. Living the dream.

Now for the food….

You talk, I listen. Well, I listen whenever I can, of course! Folks have been asking for more slow cooker recipes for a multitude of reasons. Who doesn’t like to come home and have supper all cooked and waiting for them? I know I sure do! This is a recipe I modified for the slow cooker and some of you will be happy to know I also removed the entire stick of margarine it called for. Others, like myself, will shrug and go on with things. Because, in the grand scheme of the world, there are more important things to concern myself with than whether or not I’m ingesting a tablespoon of margarine with my chicken and rice ~winks~.

Alright, lets get cooking!

~revs up the engine~

Hello easy!

You’ll need: Yellow Rice*, Cream of Chicken, Whole kernel corn, onion, chicken breasts, and shredded cheddar cheese.

I love Zatarain’s rice, one of my favorite meal helpers. If you want to use the lower fat cream soup that’s fine in this. A lot of folks have been making my Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice with cream of chicken because they don’t care for cream of mushroom and that is great, too! Make it your own and tweak these recipes however they work best for your family.

Place your chicken breasts in the bottom of your slow cooker. Chop up onion and toss on the top.

Getting ready for my book tour, I made Ricky watch me do this. I kept telling him “Now you can do a slow cooker, its easy to cook supper if you just throw it all in and then finish it up when you get home from work. See how I’m doing this? See how simple this is?” He nods and feigns interest but who are we kidding? It’ll be pizza and happy meals the whole time I’m gone…

Spoon or glob your cream soup over that.

Y’all don’t be fooled by me using name brand soup here. I got it on sale. I’d use Timbuktoo brand if it saved me ten cents.

Now cover this and cook it according to the following:

Low – 7-8 hours

High 3-4 hours.

This is great to put on in the morning on the weekends if you cook it on high and then have a nice meal at lunchtime.

When it is done cooking, drain your corn and toss that in along with your cooked rice and cheddar.

You’ll need to cook your rice before this step. What I like to do is cook my rice the night before and just stick it in the fridge. Then you can dump it in and stir it up and give it a minute or two to get heated. You can also cook your rice soon as you get home, though. It’s still an easy and delicious supper!

Stir all of that up and give it a few minutes to get all heated and warm (this won’t take long)

This stuff is to die for. Prepare for a happy landing in  your stomach!

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken And Rice

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 large onion, chopped (I use Vidalia)
• 1 -8 ounce box Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup (regular or fat free)
• 1 -15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained

Instructions

1. Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Scatter chopped onion over top. Spoon cream soup over top of that. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. A few minutes before serving, add in cooked rice, corn, and cheese. Stir to combine. Serve hot.

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Are you living the dream?

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section below!

I updated my Tales from the Tour section with the latest goings on. Click here to read that section of Southern Plate if you’d like. I don’t send those updates out to my email subscribers (don’t wanna bog down your inbox) so you might have missed a few posts. Right now we’re just gearing up over there but it will get more lively as I start to travel more!

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today.

It’s already tomorrow in Australia.”

~giggle~

~Charles Schultz. Submitted by Amy.  Submit your quote by clicking  here.

The book is already showing up in some stores!

SIX days until the official debut and we’re still the #1 Southern Book on Amazon right now thanks to you!

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Posted by Christy Jordan on Sep 29 2010. Filed under Crock Pot, Main Course, Quick&Easy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry