Somethin' Smells Good!!

You know, if I had an endless amount of money, an incredible and huge kitchen, and all the time in the world, I could probably stock up my kitchen with all kinds of amazing ingredients and experiment until something good happened. But, that is just not reality so I generally go recipe hunting to find a yummy, healthy dish that doesn't require 80 ingredients that I will never use again that end up costing me $150. I also usually aim for something rather quick and easy. That is not always an easy task, especially because Cooper is SUCH a picky eater! So, when I see something that looks like it fits all my criteria, I jump on it! Welllll, low and behold, I'm on Pinterest the other day and I spot a yummy looking picture. I immediately click on it to find out that it is a simple little crock pot meal!! After reading the ingredients I realized, this was right up my alley! 
Here is the picture of the dish I found on Pinterest: 

I decided that it sounded like something that Cooper would eat and definitely something that fit into my budget and time schedule! 


So, the next morning I went to the store and got the ingredients: 

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 bag of red potatoes (you only need 4-6, cut in half)
• 1 bag of baby carrots (you only need 1/2 bag)
• 1 bag of shredded Parmesan (you only need 1/2 cup)
• Italian Seasoning (I used Paula Deen's)
• 1 16 oz bottle of Italian dressing (I used low fat and I had to get the Newman's Own Organic Italian  because Cooper insisted!)

As soon as I got home from the store, I got to work (not that it was much work). I got out my trustee ole crock pot and put a slow cooker liner (genius invention) in it. I then did exactly what the recipe said....  I poured a little of the dressing in the bottom of the pot, put in two of the breasts, put on a little bit more of the dressing, and sprinkled on some cheese and Italian Seasoning. Then I put the other two breasts in the crock pot (you gotta try not to stack them directly on top of the other two if possible), sprinkled on the rest of the cheese, dumped in the carrots, poured on some more Italian dressing, sprinkled on some Italian Seasoning, and then dumped in my potatoes followed up with the rest of the bottle of dressing and a little more Italian Seasoning. I put the top on that sucker and put him on low for 8 hours and BOOM, dinner is done! 

Here is how mine turned out: 

Although it doesn't look as pretty as the picture from Pinterest (nothing ever does), it was so delicious and tender, when I tried to get the chicken out of the crock pot, it literally fell apart! I served it with a lemon/olive oil salad and, Voila, a healthy dinner that Cooper and I both loved! Definitely something that everyone should try... You could definitely make it your own by throwing in different spices and herbs (not that it needs it) but the dressing definitely does a great job at flavoring the chicken AND keeping it from drying out! 

Thank you to The Cook for blogging this recipe!