Creamy Italian Chicken

No picture, but this is one of my favorites that I have made many, many times. I loved it so much that I made sure to pack some dressing packets to bring across the pond to England when we moved here. This isn't as "made from scratch" as some of my recipes, but it is really easy and a family favorite! This recipe is supposed to be made in a crock pot, but since I don't have one over here, I made it on the stove top and it worked fine. I just boiled the chicken first and shredded it and then simmered it with a little bit of water and the mix, along with the other ingredients for an hour.

Ingredients:

• 6 to 8 boneless, skinless chicken breast (I usually do less, but then it probably doesn't serve as many people)
• 1 envelope Italian dressing mix
• 1/4 cup water
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (cream of mushroom soup works too)
• 1 (4 oz) can mushrooms, sliced (I've never made it with mushrooms)
• pasta or rice to serve it over

Directions:

1. Put chicken in crock pot (even if frozen). Combine seasonings and water, pour over chicken.
2. Cover and cook on low heat for 3 hours.
3. Mix the soup, cream cheese, and mushrooms together and pour over the chicken.
4. Cook for one hour longer.
5. Boil the pasta or rice according to package instructions.
6. Serve chicken over pasta or rice.

Serves: 8

Chicken & Leek Mash Topped Pie

Not the best picture in the world, but YUM-MY! Trust me! This is my first attempt at making something "British" since we moved here. I found it on a can of condensed cream of chicken soup over here and improvised it based on what I had on hand. In fact, there were no leeks in my version, just a few leftover spring onions and cooking onions. Also, I added carrots to the mashed potato (or mash as they call it here) topping since I didn't have enough potatoes left and had some carrots on hand. I probably didn't make enough of the topping (but, like I said, I was just doing what was on hand), so it didn't brown up as much as it could have. Jeff really liked it and told me to keep the improvised recipe for sure!

Ingredients: (Note: the original recipe has some of the ingredients in weights, since that is how they measure here. I've tried to adjust it to be easier)

• 3 cups potatoes, peeled & cubed
• 1 - 2 carrots, peeled & chopped
• 3 large chicken breasts, cubed
• 2 leeks, sliced (I didn't have leeks, so I used some spring onions and chopped cooking onions)
• 1 can condensed Cream of Chicken soup
• 4 Tbsp milk
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 - 2 cups shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Boil the potatoes and carrots in water until soft.
3. Stir fry the chicken in oil until almost cooked. Add leeks (or onions) and continue cooking until the leeks are just soft.
4. Stir in the soup & milk, mix well and pour into ovenproof baking dish.
5. Mash the potatoes and carrots with the butter and cheese.
6. Roughly spread over the chicken and cook for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serves: 4