Recipe #4 Day 4

Day 4 of 30
Chicken Azteca

This was super easy and very tasty. Next time I'd make a few adjustments, see below.

2 cups frozen corn
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup chunky salsa, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg. (8 oz) 1/3 less fat cream cream, cubed
Hot cooked rice
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Combine corn, beans, 1/2 cup salsa, garlic and cumin in slow cooker. Arrange chicken breasts over top; pour remaining salsa over chicken. Cover; cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours or until chicken is tender. (I cooked it 5 hours, cut up chicken, cooked an additional 30 min.)
Remove chicken; cut into bite-size pieces. Return chicken to slow cooker; add cream cheese cut into cubes. Cook on HIGH until cream cheese melts and blends into sauce.
Spoon chicken mixture & sauce over rice. Top with cheddar cheese.

I served this with Jiffy Cornbread mini-muffins.

My family really liked this, especially my 13 yr. old boy who tends to be the more finicky eater of the family. He gave it a 10+.
My husband & 14 yr. old son thought it was good but could use a little kick, I agreed.

Here's what I did this time:
I used more salsa than 1 cup total, I'd say I used approx. 1 1/2 cup.
I added more garlic, 3 cloves minced total. Garlic mellows as it cooks so its ok to add more.
I cut two of the chicken breasts in half, horizontally. They seemed really thick to me and I was worried they would not cook all the way through. One horrible bout with salmonella poisoning has made me ULTRA cautious.

I stirred the mixture in the last step to incorporate everything together.
I also added crumbled tortilla chips on the top of the shredded cheese to give a little texture.
I used Mahatma Jasmine rice, we love this rice, it's similar to a Japanese Sticky Rice. You could use any rice you wish, I'm thinking a mexican rice would also be good.

Next time I would use a Medium Salsa rather than the Mild salsa to give it a little more spice.
Otherwise, I will definitely do this recipe again. This is the first time I've baked/cooked chicken and as I "forked it" to get it out of the slow cooker, it fell apart. Very tender chicken.
If you're not a huge fan of cream cheese, cut the cream cheese down to 4 oz., I think it would still be very good.

Total cost: $12-14.00 with corn muffins

ps. If you have a really good slow cooker recipe, I'd love to try it and post it.
thanks in advance. Kim M.'s BBQ Shredded Pork Sandwiches tomorrow. thanks Kim.

Bon' Appetit'