Ingredients

Chicken breasts 4	840
Cream cheese 8 oz	800
Cream of chicken soup 1 can	275
Mushrooms, 4 oz can, drained	60
Green chiles, 4 oz can	40
Total:	2015

Divided into four portions, that's about 500 calories per serving. Not something you can eat much of if you are trying to lose weight, but okay at normal weight if you are getting your other carbs from non-starchy fruits and vegetables.

Procedure

1. Put chicken in crockpot. Mix these spices

   • 1 tbsp mixed Italian spices
   • 2 tsp garlic powder
   • 2 tsp onion powder
   • 1 tsp ground cumin
   • ½ tsp red pepper

   with ½ cup of water. Pour over chicken. Cook on high for 2 hours.

2. Mix cream cheese, mushrooms, green chiles, and chicken soup. Pour over chicken. Cook for an hour

Ohmigosh, but this stuff is good! I was wondering how to decrease the fat. Maybe use Neufchatel cheese instead?

---

Second attempt — Sept 2011. This time I used six chicken breasts. Came out way too watery. Next time I'll try it without the chicken soup. Or maybe I'll used a tablespoon of vegetarian chicken broth for add'l flavoring.

---

Third attempt — Sept 2011

Ingredients

• Frozen chicken breasts 6-7 (one of the frozen bags from Fry's
• Sour cream 8 oz.
• One large onion, chopped
• One can of chopped green chiles, 4 oz.
• 1 tbsp vegetarian “chicken broth” powder
• 1 tbsp mixed Italian spices
• 2 tsp onion powder (didn't have this time)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp red pepper
• ½ cup of water

Procedure

Put frozen chicken in crockpot. Pour onions on top. Mix spices and broth powder. Mix with water. Pour over chicken. Cook in crock pot on high for 3 hours. Mix sour cream and green chiles. Mix with contents of crock pot. Cook on high for another hour.

It turned out okay. Sour cream left the juice much less creamy, so next time cream cheese. And next time I'll add a teaspon of salt.

---

Fourth attempt — Sept 2012

Ingredients

• Chicken breasts, 3 lbs (one of the frozen bags from Fry's
• Cream cheese 8 oz.
• 3/4 large onion, chopped (didn't have a whole one
• One can of chopped green chiles, 4 oz.
• 1 tbsp Mexican “chicken broth” powder
• 1 tbsp mixed Italian spices
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp red pepper
• ½ cup of water

Procedure

Put frozen chicken in crockpot. Pour onions on top. Mix spices and broth powder. Mix with water. Pour over chicken. Cook in crock pot on high for 3 hours. Mix cream cheese and green chiles. Mix with contents of crock pot. Cook on high for another hour.

Turned out good.

---

Fifth attempt: original recipe, although only three chicken breasts because they were quite large

In my quest to eat more greens and also to find recipes that don't heat the house in the summer, I'm experimenting with crockpot collard greens. I took two bunches of collards, cut off the think stems, and chopped the leaves. In the crock pot I threw some coconut milk along with 1 tbsp of hot curry powder. I used a wire whisk to mix the coconut milk and curry powder evenly. Then I threw in the collards. Then I set the crockpot outside on the porch, plugged it in, and set it to low. The amount of liquid in the pot is minimal, which concerns me, but I really don't want a mess of pot liquor. I added 4 oz of water just in case. I'm hoping that four hours will do it. The calorie significant parts are:

13 oz collard greens	104
8 oz coconut milk	341
Total:	445

Divided up into four servings, that should be about 111 calories per serving.

I ended up letting it cook 4 hours on low. Added a bit of salt. Then I stirred it. Then let it cook another hour. The amount of time was enough to cook the collards without turning them into a stringy mess. The taste was mediocre. It probably is a mistake to make collards without adding some decently sauteed onions and garlic. Or maybe just a tablespoon of sugar.

Today I'm trying the recipe for “creamy Italian chicken” from p. 214 of “Taste of Home Slow Cooker Classics.” The calorie heavy ingredients are:

4 chicken breasts	840
cream cheese 8 oz	800
cream of chicken soup, 1 can	275
Total:	1915

Assuming four servings, that will come to about 480 calories per serving. That's okay for a main dish, if the sides are low calorie.

The recipe called for a packet of Italian dressing. Way too pricey. I substitued a mixture of:

• 1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs
• ½ tbsp onion powder
• ½ tbsp garlic powder

That worked well.

The dish turned out fine. It's simple. Definitely a repeater. I put the crock pot outside as it cooked, so this is a “cool house” recipe.