Beans, beans, beans

Since I've already introduced you to my best friend, I thought I'd share an even easier recipe with you.
Seriously, easiest dinner you'll ever make.

Ready?
It's oh so cleverly called: Sausage and Green Beans.
And it's one of my kids favorite meals.

Ingredients:

Smoked Sausage
Frozen Cut Green Beans
Seasoning of your choice (optional)

I wasn't kidding when I said it was easy.

I usually add 3 bags of frozen green beans to the crockpot and add some water so that they don't stick to the pot.  I add some garlic and dehydrated onion (because I usually don't have fresh onion on hand) and sometimes some black pepper. 

I add the smoked sausage on top but don't cut it.  The reason I don't cut it, is because just like most of my crockpot meals, it probably cooks too long and that helps it from getting too dried out.
I love the green beans to be on the mushy side for this meal, and so do the kids, so actually it works out well that this cooks for about 9 hours because that helps them get nice and cooked!  Make sure to use a slotted spoon to drain out the water when you serve it up!

Sometimes I do add some sort of potato to this to try and round out the meal, or I'll add a side of garlic bread.  Many nights it can be a struggle to get my daughter to eat her veggies.  Not so with this meal.  Maybe it's because it's pretty much the base of the meal, as opposed to a side item.  I'm not sure why, but I just roll with it. 
Most nights, she asks for seconds!

{please excuse his ridiculous, long over due hair cut in this picture!  I promise it has since been cut!}

I'm all about easy meals that everyone in the family loves.  I grew up on this meal, and it's still a winner in my house!

Meet my best friend

Do you all love your crock pot as much as I do? (ok, I think the technical term is slow-cooker because crock pot is a brand name, but you know what I mean)

It is seriously one of my best friends. Let me explain:

5:00pm is by far one of the most hectic times of our day during the work week. It's when we're getting home from work, picking up the kids, feeding the dog and letting her outside, and trying to get a (somewhat) wholesome meal on the table so that we can all eat together as a family before it gets cold. And all of that must happen in a span of about 15 minutes.

I've picked up a few tricks to try and combat the craziness, but there's only so much you can do.

Into my best friend, the slow cooker.

Dinner is already made for me, and all I have to do is lift the lid and dish some deliciousness onto the kids plates to let it cool off for a minute before it's served.

Talk about awesome.

One of the other things I love about the slow cooker is that it is basically effortless. Dump a bunch of ingredients into a big pot and turn it on. Really. It's that simple. I'm always experimenting with new "recipes" if you can even call them that. I rarely measure ingredients and many times will just add in random items that I have on hand or left-over.

Here's my latest creation (before being cooked):

　

　

I know you can't see all of the ingredients in this picture, and I'm a bad blogger by not taking step by step instructions. But I know you're smart and I bet you can figure it out from my super simple instructions:

What you'll need:

2-3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts

8oz cream cheese, softened (I use fat free; use your preference)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes, juices included (Get creative here...I used diced tomatoes with green chilies; you can use any variation you wish!)

1/2 small onion, chopped

Add any spices you enjoy (I always add garlic, because I'm a garlic lover)

　

Layer ingredients into the slow cooker in the order listed above. Turn slow cooker on low and let it cook for a few hours (until chicken is cooked through).

**Here's the thing, since I cook mine while I'm at work for 8-10 hours, I really have no idea how long it takes until it's done. I know mine is slightly over cooked, but that's the awesome thing about slow cookers...it's pretty difficult to ruin the meal!)

I served mine with rice, all mixed together :) I had made the rice the night before (after the kids went to bed) so that took about 1 minute or so to heat up the microwave :)

You can eat it as is, like a casserole type dish, or we actually then put the entire mixture (with rice) served on soft taco shells with lettuce, cheese, and avocado (I'm sure my husband added hot sauce; he always adds hot sauce).

We don't have a name for it other than Crockpot Mexican Chicken Mix...if you come up with something better/more creative, feel free to share in the comments below :)