I cooked an entire dinner using my crockpot. I never use my crockpot because I honestly forget I even have one. I think I may have got it for a wedding present ten or so years ago, but it's arrival into my household is truly a mystery.

I really love to cook and when I find a good recipe, it's like Heaven in the kitchen, at least for me. My family, on the other hand. tends to be on the picky side. Well, except for Gunny who enjoys licking floors and sucking on Piper's tail - which I agree, is absolutely disgusting and not much appreciated by the cat.

Anyhoo, back to the miracle at hand. I'm a huge collector of cookbooks with a particular love for fast and delicious recipes. I want recipes that contain few ingredients and cost a minimal amount to prepare. Grandma Linda paid attention to my frugal *cough* lazy ambition in the kitchen and gave me a cookbook entitled, "Fix It and Forget It. 5-Ingredient Favorites" by Phyllis Pellman Good.

I read through the book and was impressed at the ease of the recipes and the normal ingredients it called for. Tonight I made the "Chicken Stroganoff" and it was a hit. I modified the recipe just a bit but this is what I did and it was awesome.

* Four chicken breasts, cut up into chunks
* Half a stick of butter
* Two packages of dry Italian dressing mix
* One can of Cream of Chicken soup
* One block of cream cheese (8 oz)
* Instant brown rice (you could use egg noodles instead but I was trying to lower our Gluten consumption)

Salt and pepper to taste.

I placed the cubes of chicken, butter, and seasoning in my crockpot and cooked it on high for about two hours. Like I said before, I am not at one with my crockpot so I really had to keep an eye on it as far as cooking times went. When the chicken was cooked thoroughly, I added in the soup and cream cheese and then simmered it on low for about an hour. During the last ten minutes or so, I boiled the instant brown rice so it was ready to go when the chicken was done. For the grand finale, I Ioaded up each plate with rice and then spooned over the chicken stroganoff.

It was so stinkin' good. Hubby even asked me a couple of times if I had actually made it. Loser. Maybe I should have splashed some flour and water onto my face so I appeared more convincingly domestic. Perhaps I should have donned a maid costume since that would be more fitting to all the crap I do on a daily basis. And no, not a french maid costume because I refuse to try and make my bitching and whining look sexy - I want a pity party, not pervy stares.

I'm going to crack that book open up again tomorrow night. I have two pounds of hamburger mooing for a new home in our bellies and I can't wait to try something new.