Cream Cheese Chicken

It's another attempt at crockpot cuisine--with a can of soup to boot.  I've had the recipe for a while and I'm not really sure where it came from.  So I figured it was as good a time as any to give it a go.  According to the directions, the dish can be frozen when cooled in a gallon freezer bag. 

Cream Cheese Chicken

1 frying chicken, cut up (or use 3 lbs boneless, skinless breasts)

2 tbsp melted butter

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp (1 package) dry Italian salad dressing

1 can condensed chicken soup

8 oz. cream cheese cut into cubes (low-fat is fine)

1 tbsp onion minced or 1 small shallot, minced

Brush chicken with melted butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place in a crockpot and sprinkle Italian dressing mix over all.  Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours.  About 45 minutes before done, mix soup, cream cheese, and onion in a small saucepan.  Cook until smooth.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook remaining time.

Serve with rice, pasta, or potatoes

The Verdict:  Awesome taste, but if you're feeding a small child, go with the boneless skinless breasts.

Instead of a cut up fryer, I used breasts and whole chicken legs.  Toward the end of the cooking, the moisture of the chicken and the heat of the crockpot cause the "meat just falls off the bone" phenomenon.  This would be great if the bones the meat were falling off were huge--not things like tiny ribs.  In fear of the little one choking (or maybe even one of us big ones), I spent a good 15 minutes picking out the bones and adding the meat back into the crockpot.  That was annoying. 

Other than the bone issue, I am pleasantly surprised to be able to report that this recipe--despite its canned soup and dry dressing--was delicious.  The Italian seasoning is perfect and the sauce that the soup and cream cheese mixed with the juices of the chicken was creamy without being goopy and very tasty.  We really liked it served over mashed potatoes.

Where this is a freezable meal, I think I just might make a batch or two to keep in the freezer for a quick meal.  Well, who woulda thunk I'd give my seal of approval to a "cream of dinner"?  Julia Child would probably roll over in her grave, but for what it is, it was tasty.