The Effects of a Good Meal.

By now, I'm just going to go ahead and assume that you have heard and have visited the website phenomenon of Pinterest.  If you haven't, you're really missing out.  This might get you motivated to head over and check it out-don't be overwhelmed..just do it.  A lot of my new recipes lately have been coming from pinterest. We had one of my absolute favorites last night.  Here's a little background of how the day went...
I was off work yesterday so Tenley and I had a day to be productive at home!  I had laundry to do and I wanted to try out a new recipe.  I got everything going in the crockpot for Italian Chicken.  T had different plans though.  The crockpot was convienently placed on the counter just within her finger tips reach where she could move the dial from "Low" to "Off" in a simple little flip of the wrist.  More than once I went to check on my frozen chicken breasts only to find that the crockpot was OFF.  That little stinker.  I finally moved the crockpot to another counter and mentally added another hour to the cook time.  This is how the rest of our day went:  Whine Whine Whine Whine.  Mickey Mouse.  Coloring.  "No Tenley, you can't color on your high chair."  "No, mickey isn't on right now."  Scream.  Whine.  More whining.  I'll admit, I lost my cool more than once and had to walk away.  Are we nearing the terrible twos?!  There can just be so much attitude in such a sweet little girl (Grandparents, I know you're rolling your eyes not wanting to believe such things).  But it's true!  By dinner time she had me looking at the clock wondering how close we were to bed time.  With Daddy's help we got her settled down and in bed early.  I went to check on my great recipe and while it smelled delicious, it was just one of those days where I wanted to burst into tears and order a pizza instead.  But I knew I had to keep going.  So I made some egg noodles, shredded the chicken, and plated this meal:

Now I have to tell you, that I looked at Mike before we sat down to eat and I said, "This smells good, but I still just want pizza."  I felt defeated.  That beautiful little girl just got the best of me.  He grabbed my hand and sweetly said, "If this isn't good, we'll order pizza.  I promise."  I laugh about this statement now, because it was meant to be so nice and assuring- but now thinking about it I think he really thought this meal was going to be awful.  We both took a bite, looked at each other and exclaimed "It's good...really good!!"  And it was.  Sigh.  I relaxed knowing that even if the day didn't go as planned, at least SOMETHING still came together.  Something as simple as a crockpot meal.  To top it all off, Mike said after his second helping, "That was the best meal I've had in a long time."  I'm feeling less defeated now.  And I think I'll double this recipe next time. Here it is for you and here's hoping it has the same effect on your family!

Italian Crockpot Chicken

4 chicken breasts

1 packet dry Zesty Italian dressing 

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1-2 cans cream of chicken soup (depending how cream cheesy you want it)  *I only used one and I thought that was fine.

Place the chicken in a crockpot and sprinkle Italian dressing over it. Combine cream cheese and cream of chicken soup in a small pot over low heat and pour over chicken. Cook on low in the crockpot for at least 4 hours. You can leave it in there all day.  Once chicken is done you can leave the chicken breasts whole, cube it, or even shred it. 
If you feel the sauce is too thick you can thin it to your preferred consistency with a little milk. Serve over pasta or rice.