Crock Pot Recipes for the Busy Teacher

After a long day of differentiating, assessing, managing, data analyzing and communicating with parents- I am shocked to come home and discover that my children want to eat dinner. Don't they know how tired I am?! Do they really need to eat dinner EVERY day? Tired mommy and hungry kids taught me the value of the crock pot! I now use it to make the majority of all of our dinners! I love the ease of throwing simple ingredients in the pot in the morning and coming home to a finished meal. Here are five of my family's favorite crock pot recipes:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts or tenders
2 cups of your favorite salsa
2 cans of corn (do not strain)
1 packet of taco seasoning
Rice
Shredded cheese
Sour cream

Directions:
Place the chicken, salsa, unstrained corn and taco seasoning in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-9 hours. Take the chicken out of the pot and shred with a fork or with a hand mixer. Mix the chicken back into the ingredients in the crock pot. Prepare the rice. Serve the rice with the chicken mixture on top. Add shredded cheese and sour cream as desired.

My family LOVES this meal. We actually triple the chicken recipe and freeze the extra two meals in Ziplock bags. Then we have two meals that just need to be thawed and heated up in a sauce pan! Add rice!

Ingredients:
Thick cut pork chops (Thick cut allows you to leave it in the crock pot longer without the meat getting dry and tough.)
1 can of tomato sauce for every 4 pork chops
water

Directions:
Place the pork chops and tomato sauce in the crock pot. Add enough water so that the pork chops are immersed in liquid. Cook on low for 6-9 hours. Serve with rice, apple sauce and veggies!

So simple and the meat is VERY tender!

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 large onion
1 can of cream of chicken soup
8 oz of rice
1 can of corn
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Place the chicken at the bottom of the crock pot. Sprinkle the onion over the chicken. Cover with the soup. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Just before serving, stir in cooked rice, corn and cheese.

I think this tastes like a comfort food!

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 packet of dry Italian dressing seasoning
1 softened 8 oz cream cheese
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
Cooked pasta

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. If the sauce is too thick, add milk. Serve over a cooked pasta.

This is a rich meal that has lots of flavor! Mmmmm!

Ingredients:
1 30oz bag of frozen shredded hash browns
3 cans of chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1/4 tsp of pepper
1 package of cream cheese (Do NOT use fat free because it will not melt!)

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the cream cheese in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-9 hours. About an hour before serving, add the cream cheese and heat until the cream cheese has melted. Serve with toppings you like such as sour cream, shredded cheese, chives and bacon bits.

We love to have this soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. I love this soup anytime, but it is especially yummy on a cold day! We usually have left overs and the soup reheats nicely for lunch or dinner the next day.

I hope these recipes help to make back to school just a tad easier!