Chicken and Veggie Slow Cooker Casserole

I was in the mood for a crockpot dinner this morning, but I also wanted to try something new.  I got my kitchen shears and headed out to my garden to see what I was going to work with.  I knew in my refrigerator that I had chicken and sausage, so I had to find something to work with one of those.  When I got out there I saw that some fresh squash, zucchini, and potatoes had grown.  I also saw all of my delicious herbs, and knew I could do something with all of them.  I cut off some oregano, parsley, and basil.  I then picked a yellow zucchini, green squash, and a few potatoes.  Then I headed into the house to come up with dinner.

I got into the kitchen, pulled out the crockpot, looked at my ingredients and decided that chicken was going to be the main part of this dish.  Then I headed to my pantry to see what I had to mix with my fresh food.  I pulled out a couple of cans of soup, some chicken stock and broth, and started working.  Here is what I came up with...

Ingredients

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

5 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 squash cut into chunks

1 zucchini cut into chunks

1 onion chopped

4 potatoes cut into chunks

1 cup of carrots either cut into chunks or baby carrots

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup chicken stock

3 cubes of chicken bouillon

a handful of parsley, oregano, and basil, chopped

a handful of jasmine rice

4 whole garlic cloves peeled

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

Directions

Coat your slow cooker with olive oil so your ingredients don't stick.  Throw your chopped onion, bouillon, and garlic on the bottom of your slow cooker.  Layer your chicken, and veggies.  

In a mixing bowl combine your soup and chicken broth/stock.  Mix well and then dump over your chicken and veggies. 

Sprinkle in your seasonings, and turn slow cooker on low.  Let cook for 5 hours.  At 5 hours throw your rice in and mix well.  Continue letting cook on low for about 1 more hour or until rice is soft.  Serve. 

Make sure to not season too much.  If you taste it before your rice has softened, it will taste like it has too much or too little salt and pepper, but once your rice has absorbed the juices that is when you should season your dish.  Your meal will taste completely different once you add that rice, so wait until it's cooked to do your main seasoning.

Make sure that once the rice is cooked that you turn your slow cooker off or it will just get softer and softer and keep sucking up those juices that are keeping all of your ingredients yummy and juicy.

This was a big hit at my house tonight.  It was the perfect comfort, home style meal that I was looking for.  It was super easy and so much fun to use the 1st of my fresh veggies of the year in my dinner!  Enjoy!