Creamy Chicken Ranch Chili

It's amazing how quickly housework, chores, and various errands can stack up when you're gone for practically 2 weeks.  We were out of town this past weekend for the wedding of a couple of our friends from Rolla and we had a great time!  Hanging out with the Rolla kids really seems to bring out the party in people :)  Now that we're back home and I've been doing some sprint cleaning, I finally feel like I have some time to write a blog post.  I'm down to the last backlogged post so I guess I'll have to get cooking/crafting this week.  But for now, here's a delicious chicken chili recipe that I found at a blog called Plain Chicken.  I've made it probably 3-4 times in the last couple months and we really love it!  Plus, it's sooooo easy.  It's a crock-pot recipe and you don't even have to thaw the chicken.  Here's the recipe:

Creamy Chicken Ranch Chili:

2 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can corn, undrained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Rotel, undrained
1 package ranch dressing mix
3/4 c. water
1 t. cumin
1 T. chili powder (or less if you don't like it too spicy)
1 t. onion powder
1 8 oz. cream cheese (I use the 1/3 less fat)

- Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock-pot.  I usually run my bag of chicken under warm water just long enough to thaw the edges so I can cut off the questionable bits.
- Mix the corn, black beans, Rotel, ranch mix, water, cumin, chili powder, and onion powder together in a bowl.
- Pour the mixture over the chicken.  Slice the cream cheese into a few chunks and place them on top of everything in the crock-pot.
- Cook on low for 8-10 hrs, or on high for 4-5 hrs.  If possible, stir it around a couple of times during cooking.
- Near the end of the cooking time, use 2 forks and shred the chicken in the crock-pot.  Then stir so the cream cheese gets mixed in well.
- Enjoy!  It would probably look nice garnished with something like cilantro or even avocados, but obviously I didn't do that.

Everything but chicken and cream cheese.

Ready to cook.  The chicken is hiding at the bottom.

After cooking, but before shredding the chicken.

The chicken shreds apart really easily.

All done!

Mm, mm, mm

Hopefully I'll be able to pick back up on my posting this week.  I'm supposed to be making a 40th birthday cake for a coworkers wife this Saturday, so that may be keeping me busy.  We'll see.  Have a great week!