Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

So...our life has been extremely crazy lately!!! In short, my husband broke his ankle early summer; my sister and her husband came home for a wedding/visit from Alaska and we had the girls a mermaid pool party; we packed up and moved into a camper in my parents back yard, and then into their house. We, for some time, have been feeling God tell us we need to do whatever possible to finish paying off our debt before we delve into buying our forever home! We are following Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace! If you haven't heard of it, visit Dave's website here! Find a class in your area and take it---it will change your life!!!

Anyways...long story short, this has all happened over the past 2 months, and it has already taught me so much! It has been such an amazing experience having my Mom here helping me with this very busy stage of my life! We alternate grocery weeks, and so we work on weekly menus together and have tried a few new Pinterest recipes out that I'm dying to share! Some are crockpot because we have AWANA on Wednesday and my 3 year old started dance this year on Thursday, so to help cut back on eating out, we try to do crockpot dinners on those nights!

This amazing crockpot recipe came from the blog nobiggie.net, and its a solid 3 in our house! NOW-let me explain our system before you're like "A THREE?!?!?" We do a three star scale-1* means-it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you never fixed it again. 2** means-it was good. 3*** means-I could eat it every night!!!!

So with the star system cleared up, I'm ready to share this amazing three star recipe!!!

Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Throw the following items in your crockpot-3-4 hours on high OR 7-8 hours on low!

4 boneless chicken breast

1 cup of uncooked wild rice (rinse it off before throwing it in!)

1 medium onion, diced fine

1 cup chopped celery (I did 4 stalks)

1 cup chopped carrots (I did 4 carrots)

1 Tablespoon of minced garlic

2 Bay Leaves

2 (32 ox) boxes of chicken broth

1 cup of water

2 Tablespoons of Poultry Seasoning

(we use this for ALL of our chicken soups!)

About 15 minutes before you're ready to eat,  pull the chicken out and shred it. Return it back to the crockpot when you're finished.

NOW....get out a sauce pan,

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1/2 cup of All Purpose Flour

2 cups Whole Milk

salt and pepper (I didn't add any-to each his own!)

Melt the butter, then add the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk the mixture and begin adding the milk.

Once it's mixed and creamy, pour it into the crockpot, mix it up really good, and enjoy! It's really that easy!

Chicken Fajita Bowls

So....we try to eat {somewhat} healthy, but we love love love fajitas and taco's and anything Mexican! So, as a healthy version, we do "Chicken Fajita Bowls"-no tortilla, but all the goodness! In my personal opinion, the onion and peppers really make the fajitas great! I mean, they don't top the homemade guacamole and fresh avocado, but the onion and peppers are a staple! It is important how you cook the peppers and onions-my favorite way is on the grill, but with two girls under the age of three, it's not the easiest to just fire the charcoal up and grill something! SO-I like to pull out my Pioneer Woman cast iron skillets and go to town!!! And NO, I didn't intentionally put my guac into the shape of a heart! The guac just wanted to show some love back to me!

Chicken Fajita Bowls

5-6 Chicken Breast

Red, Yellow, and Orange Peppers

Onion

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Olive Oil

Shredded Cheese/ Gordo's Queso

Avocado

Salsa

Sour Cream

Any other taco toppings

Cut chicken, onion, and peppers into small strips. 

Place in separate bowls. Heat skillet to medium. Put some olive oil on chicken and toss. Pour some homemade taco seasoning onto chicken-toss to coat.

Place chicken in hot skillet, cook, and set aside. 

Toss peppers in olive oil and then in homemade taco seasoning.

Place into hot skillet, and cook until they are limp and a little brown.

Grab a bowl and fill with chicken, peppers and onion. Top with your favorite taco toppings-queso, cheese, gauc, avocado, homemade pico de gallo, salsa, sour cream, etc.

You could also add brown rice and black beans for more protein!

Whitley's favorite part is the guac-as if you can't tell!

Click the link for my recipes for pico and homemade taco seasoning!