creamy chicken with broccoli and baby bella mushrooms over rice

CONFESSION: I'm too scared to leave the crockpot on when I am not in the house. It's a silly fear, I know. One that I'm hoping to get over...soon. I'm just convinced something will happen. E.g. my food will overcook, I'll forget about it (go out with my friends, get drunk, and come home 20 hours later), or there will be a fire. Ridiculous, I know. I am making a little bit of progress. Tonight I left my crockpot unattended for 2 hours while I went to the gym (although I must confess, my roommate was home the entire time). That's why this recipe calls for the crockpot to be set on high (so it cooks faster because of course I started cooking this when I came home from work...at 5. #lifefail). I'm sure you could cook it on the low setting and just go to work and come home to a delicious meal (like normal people).

This recipe is super easy and I am sure someone could adapt it so its made with less canned items (aka less preservatives). Honestly, that someone is probably not going to be me. Maybe in the future...

Creamy Chicken with Broccoli and Baby Bella Mushrooms over Rice (excuse my capitalization. it's probably wrong)

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken (I used defrosted, previously frozen Trader Joes thighs)
1 can of broccoli cheddar soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup of sour cream (I only had a scoop of sour cream...I tried to make it work. 1 cup = definitely better)
2 cups of broccoli
1/2 a small container of mushrooms (you know, those grocery containers that the mushrooms come in)
Seasonings! - the recipe I used called for salt, garlic salt, and cajun seasoning. I used garlic salt, adobo seasoning (don't ask, I put it in everything), paprika, cayenne pepper, and normal pepper.
Brown rice

Directions:
Put chicken, soups (and broth), and seasonings into crockpot. Cook on high for 3 hours.

Shred chicken with a fork. Add broccoli and mushrooms. Cook for another 30 minutes.

In the meantime, cook rice.

Stir in sour cream and serve over rice.

Sorry, no photo. Just imagine something creamy with chicken, broccoli, and mushrooms. I would totally make this again. So easy!

pumpkin dutch baby pancakes

Well, I guess it is technically a pancake, and not pancakes. Either way, this requires no stovetop and no griddle, just the oven. Gotta love lazy Sundays.

It's been awhile since I've posted a recipe, so here you go...

Pumpkin Dutch Baby Pancakes
Serves 4 (I'm convinced it really only serves 2-3 because I always want seconds)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk (I've used whole and 1%, I don't think it makes a big difference)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (The first time I made this, I only had salted butter. It came out alright)
Powdered sugar (for the top!)

Directions:
Combine milk, flour, eggs, pumpkin, spices, and salt into a bowl and mix.

Spray 8x8 pan with cooking spray. Place butter in the pan, put in oven, and preheat to 450 degrees. When butter is hot and sizzling, remove from oven and pour batter into hot pan.

Put pan back into the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and fluffy.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve with coffee (coffee + powdered sugar...an absolute must).

Obviously, as soon as I snapped this photo, I then dumped 4 more pounds of powdered sugar onto my pancake. Really, I made these so I would have and excuse to eat powdered sugar.

Also, I think it might be prettier if you double the ingredients and bake it in a 9x13 pan, but since I am basically just a 1 person household, I really don't need a 9x13 pancake for myself.

In other news, I am going to NYC next weekend. I've been informed that I haven't been in over 5 1/2 years. I've also been informed that I need to get out more. I'm looking for cheap, tasty things to eat while I am there. Any ideas?