Creamy Italian Chicken

My sister Angella is a recipe scavenger.  I'm not sure she does it now as much as she use to, but she has piles upon piles of recipes printed off the internet.  Back when I was single and living on my own (and really just learning to cook), she would send me recipes that either a)she tried and loved, b)thought I would like, or c)were meant for just two people--perfect for my situation.  I have acquired some of my most favorite recipes this way.  All that to say, I can't take credit for today's recipe.  It came from my sister years and years ago.  I'm sure she got it somewhere on the internet, but I can't credit that person either, because I don't know where she found it.  What I do know is that it is super yummy, very easy, and you will want to give it a try!

It's called Creamy Italian Chicken, and here's what you'll need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 

(I just use one pound-sometimes breasts, sometimes tenders)

1 envelope of Italian salad dressing mix

1/2 cup water

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 can (4 oz) mushroom stems and pieces, drained

pasta (penne)

This is made in the crockpot.  Doesn't that make it even better? :)

Place chicken in bottom of crockpot

I put it in frozen.  It was just slightly thawed.  If you are using really thick pieces of breast meat, you may want to thaw it out some before you start.  I've had problems with pieces like that not cooking all the way through in the thickest part.

Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over  chicken

Cook on low for three hours

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and soup until blended.

Stir in mushrooms and pour over chicken

I know, it sort of looks gross, doesn't it?  Don't worry!  You are suppose to let it cook for another hour or until the chicken juices run clear.  Tenders tend to cook quicker, so my chicken was pretty much done at this point.  I let it sit on low for a few minutes and then just turned it to warm while I made my pasta.

After about twenty minutes it looked like this

Mmmmm.... yummy!!!

Serve over pasta and enjoy!

It really does takes like something you could get at Olive Garden.

Don't worry--if you don't like mushrooms, you could easily leave them out.  Or if someone in your family doesn't like them, but you do, they are big enough to pick out (which is what Michael did).