Creamy Italian Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix

1/3 cup water

1 package cream cheese, softened

1 can condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted

-Place the chicken breast halves in a slow cooker.

-Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over chicken.

-Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours.

-In a small mixing bowl, whisk together cream cheese and soup until blended.

-Pour cream cheese mixture over chicken.

-Cook 1 to 3 hours longer or until chicken juices run clear.

I serve this over penne pasta with crescent rolls.  Yummy!

Blueberry Muffins

Gannon's pre-k class is compiling a class recipe book, so his homework assignment this weekend is to write down his favorite recipe to bring to school.  I thought I would post it here, too.

What is Gannon's favorite recipe?  None other than blueberry muffins!

Here is what you will need:

• a large egg
• 1/4 C oil
• 1/2 C milk (or yogurt)
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1/2C sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 C fresh or frozen blueberries

Here is what you need to do:

1. Preheat your oven to °400, and grease your muffin pan.
2. Beat egg until foamy in a small mixing bowl. Then, beat in oil and milk.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Stir in blueberries.
4. Make a well in the center and pour in liquid ingredients. Mix together with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened; no more than 25 to 30 strokes. Batter will be lumpy.
5. Using an ice-cream scoop, fill the cups in the muffin pan. This will measure your batter equally for each muffin. Fill each muffin cup slightly more than half full. (Try to scoop only once for each cup; muffins will be lighter.)
6. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and muffins test done with a toothpick.
7. Serves

Hidden Valley Ranch Crispy Chicken

Borrowed from Cooking in Lewis Land

1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. corn flake crumbs
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1 pkg. of Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix (powder)
Make sure that you use the powdered mix and not the actual dressing. It's in the same aisle as the regular ranch.

Combine corn flake crumbs, Parmesan cheese and dressing mix in a zip-lock baggie- set aside. Melt butter. Dip chicken in melted butter and then coat chicken with crumb mixture. Put the piece of chicken in the baggie (one at a time), seal it up, and shake it until it's coated. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

I like to cut my chicken breasts in half to make them thinner, so if you do that, it doesn't need to cook for 45 minutes. For me, it's 25-30mins, but if you make this way, just see what works for you and your oven.