Day 7: Cheesy, Creamy Italian Crock Pot Chicken

*Another Note* The description of the pin in this link contains the recipe.  If you have pinned this to your boards, you will see that the link actually leads you to another recipe entirely.  Someone used the picture/link and changed the recipe in the description.  I originally made the recipe from the description of the pin, and below are my alterations.  The recipe that is linked to the photo sounds good, too, but it was a bit complicated for my liking.

Tonight for dinner I made a recipe that I had made once before, called Creamy Italian Crock Pot Chicken.  I'm posting the link to the original pin, but I altered it the first time I made it, and I altered it so much more this time that I'm going to post my actual recipe here.  I really need to make it one more time, because there were definite changes that I would make still.

This Time:                                                       

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts           

4 oz. cream cheese, softened                        

6-8 oz. ricotta cheese                                  

1/2 pkg. frozen spinach, squeezed dry       

1 can cream of mushroom soup                    

1 can cream of chicken soup                      

1 can chopped mushrooms                               

1 pkt Italian dressing mix                

Next Time:

Forget the dressing mix! It doesn't add much flavor and it's SO salty!  I would use fresh garlic (1-2 cloves), salt and pepper to taste, oregano (2 tbsp), celery salt (1 tsp) and maybe some dried parsley.

Also, fresh mushrooms would be good, but don't put them in too soon or they will overcook and get rubbery.                                     

                                                                        

                                                        

The original pin calls for chicken, cream of chicken soup, cream cheese and dressing mix.  It says toss it in the crock pot on low for 4 hours and serve over pasta.  I had ricotta and spinach filling left over from a chicken rollatini recipe I made a few days ago, so I halved the cream cheese and used that instead.  I liked that it added a veggie and some color, as well as lightened the sauce a bit.  I also used a can of mushroom soup as well as a can of chicken soup.  We like mushrooms!  However, I would not just toss it all in next time.  The cream cheese needs to be mixed well with the other ingredients, or else you end up with white globs floating in the pot.  Next time, I'll cream everything together before I pour it over the chicken in the pot.  Also, mine was totally done after 2 1/2 hours of cooking on low.  This will depend on the size/thickness of your chicken breasts, but don't overcook!  I served it over rotini pasta.  I like the way the little swirls soak up the sauce. Overall, I'd do it again, but it could be better.  Suggestions?