Chili cheese dip

This is orange, so I think it qualifies as Halloween food (kidding), but it's really the cream cheese challenge. It's super easy.

1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1 can chili (your favorite; i prefer beanless for this dip)

Put in a glass bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Continue microwaving and stirring at 1 minute intervals until the cream cheese is completely melted and mixed into the chili. Served best warm with tortilla chips.

Chicken Cream Cheese Soup

I love Fall for so many reasons, one of them being that it's time to make soup again. This soup is pretty easy to make (it requires a lot of chopping, but it's nothing difficult), and it's so good. There can be hardly a better comfort food.

I found it on The Sisters' Cafe about a year ago, and knew it would be good. I have an eye for good recipes, but this one surpassed my expectations. The original recipe can be found here, but I've tweaked it just a little.

Chicken Cream Cheese Soup

1 lb chicken (breasts or combination)
1-2 Tb butter
1 onion, diced
2 handfuls baby carrots (about 2 cups sliced small)
2-3 stalks celery, sliced
4-5 potatoes, diced small
1 c milk
1/4 c flour
8 oz package cream cheese, softened and cubed

Put chicken in pot and cover with water, add seasonings (I use salt pepper, sage, basil, poultry seasoning, and onion); boil until cooked. Take chicken out of water but keep the broth. When chicken is cool, shred.

Saute onion in butter. Put onion in pot and add carrots and potatoes. Add 3-4 cups of broth or enough to cover vegetables. Add bouillon cubes or soup base for flavor (I add 4 bouillon cubes). Bring to a boil and simmer until veggies are tender.

Mix flour with milk and add to soup. Add chicken. Add cream cheese to soup and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

I don't care what my husband would rate this (though I suspect it's at the very least a 4.5), this is a five-star meal.

Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken

I know that I have been a total slacker the last couple of months. We have been so busy that I really haven't been cooking. Things are calming done now and we are getting back to normal.

This is a recipe I got from a lady in my mom's ward right after I got married. It has become a staple at our house.

4-6 chicken breasts (frozen are great)
1 package Italian seasoning
1 cube butter
8 oz cream cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Put chicken, Italian seasoning, and butter (cut into chunks) into crock pot. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Add this point I like to shred the chicken (this is because sometime I only put in 2 chicken breasts and it makes it go farther). Add the cream cheese and soup. Let sit for 10 minutes and then stir in. Cook on high for one more hour. Serve over rice.

I have seen this same recipe where you use powdered ranch dressing mix instead of Italian seasoning. We tried it and don't like it as well.

We love this!!! We give it a 5. I have served it for company before and they loved it. This is also something I can't to my friends and neighbors that have just had a baby.

Challenge Ingredient: Cream Cheese

This week our challenge ingredient is cream cheese.


What is cream cheese? On About.com we learn:

Cream cheese is an American invention developed in 1872 in New York state. A cheese distributor soon commissioned the enterprising dairyman to produce the cream cheese in volume under the trade name "Philadelphia Brand®." The company was eventually bought out by Kraft Foods in 1928, and still remains the most widely-recognized brand of cream cheese in the United States.

Cream cheese is similar to French Neufchatel in that it is made from cow's milk, but differs in that it is unripened and often contains emulsifiers to lend firmness and lengthen shelf-life.

For cream cheese tips, hints and solutions, click HERE.

To introduce this challenge I was planning on posting my husband's family's super easy no-bake cheesecake recipe, but I'm not sure if it is top secret or not, and I don't want to wake him up to ask, so I'll find out tomorrow and possibly add it to this post. *fingers crossed*

Let's see what interesting things we can do with cream cheese. Please post by Sunday night, and don't forget--there is still time to post your APPLE recipes!