My Never-Ending Quest

I dislike having to come home from church and make dinner. I am constantly on the lookout for meals that I can put together in the morning and cook in the crockpot or in the oven with the timer so that when I come home it takes just a little bit of work to finish up the meal. Now that it's summer and the temperatures are rising, the crock pot is a good way to fix a meal without heating up the kitchen.

I found this recipe online, I don't remember where, and we tried it today. It was easy to do, and I made a couple of adjustments and took a few steps to make Sunday prep smoother. First, I chopped all the veggies on Saturday and put them in a ziplock back. I used a large can of sliced mushrooms rather than fresh ones. Instead of chicken broth, I put in the measured amount of water and added a scoop of chicken base which you can purchase from Sam's Club or Costco. Rather than buy the chicken breasts and slice them up, I used chicken tenderloins (3-4 per person), putting them directly in the crockpot and tossing them with the flour before adding the remaining ingredients.

Serve with mashed potatoes, noodles (more traditional) or rice. We made rice in our rice cooker, again to keep the house from heating up, and it was off the charts amazing. A crisp green salad and you're set!

Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikash

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch strips

• 2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)

• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth

• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper

• 1 cup shredded carrot

• 2 tablespoons sweet paprika

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (I used granulated garlic)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms

• 16 oz sour cream

Combine flour and chicken in a medium bowl; toss well. Add chicken mixture, chopped onion, and the next 8 ingredients (through mushrooms) to an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Stir in sour cream.