Salsa Crockpot Chicken - Not Exactly Making Me Want to Dance Just Yet

It's about time I updated this blog. According to my stats, I have only cooked nine times since January 1st. That seems about right. That also seems quite sad.  Also? I haven't cooked anything since April, almost five months ago.  My husband thinks that is quite sad.

So thank you Julie & Julia. I watched you the other day and was inspired. Mostly to eat lots of gourmet food, but also to cook a meal and blog it.  Unfortunately, I was only a little bit inspired so you get a slow cooker meal.  Even sadder? I kind of phoned it in and even apologized to my husband.  Good news though - I have figured out ways to make this better the second time around.  

It's a start.

First, this recipe came from SparkPeople.com so it is supposed to be healthier.  At least if you follow the instructions. I did not.  We got the full fat salty mostly unhealthy version and it still didn't taste as good as it could have.  Sigh.

The ingredients I used:

That would be two chicken breasts, 1 cup mild salsa, half of a package of taco seasoning, one can of healthier cream of mushroom soup, and a splatter of dried onion flakes.

What I was SUPPOSED to use was low sodium taco seasoning and low sodium cream of mushroom soup.  It would have helped as this was quite salty.

First, put the chicken breasts in the crockpot:

Then sprinkle them with taco seasoning (although not as much as I did or it will have a REAL taco taste):

Then cover those breasts with the salsa:

Then the cream of mushroom soup:

And then the onion flakes which I added because I wanted it to have a kick, but you could leave out because it didn't seem to do a damn thing:

I didn't take a picture of the finished product because it just looked like shredded chicken. Also I forgot.

Verdict:

Too salty and too taco tasty.  As I told B, I just phone this one in.

What I Learned:

1. There is a reason a recipe says no sodium - listen to it!
2. This needs more of a spicier salsa to get rid of the taco flavor.
3. Bell peppers would have been a nice addition
4. The sour cream the recipe calls for and I left out might have neutralized the salty taste.
5. When making mexican dishes, it is best to have lettuce or some mexican cheese, not just shredded mozarella on hand. 
6. You really should have rice or beans or something on hand when making burrito type meals.

This one will be revisited, folks.