Yes, I should have said from beginning, in “about” page, that my purpose 98% of the time…when it comes to cooking, food, eating…it’s with my granddaughter (Lily) in mind (15 at time of this post); there’s some times it’s something my daughter likes/wants and times my son (Lily’s daddy) 🥰 Just as an update, her most frequently used utensils are chopsticks 🍜

Hence multiple fettuccini alfredo or chicken parm 😉 trying to find “her” favorite versions.

Well, I scored high this week 😁 with slow cooker chicken tortilla soup and another chicken parm. For one thing I’ve been upping the heat factor, as in spicy.

Previously I made McCormick recipe for the chicken tortilla soup, with their seasoning packet. I didn’t have it this time so I used my own seasonings, along with a couple/few other ingredients. 😁

slow cooker chicken tortilla soup

I relied on my freezer this time, for chicken breasts, green chilies, green peppers, orange peppers, corn & cilantro. Fresh is always great but sometimes it’s #makeitwork 😉
(I use #BetterThanBouillon a lot‼😁) and I added corn & black beans, only for the reason they were their 😄 looking at me 😶🧐😳🤭
I used (if I remember it all) cumin, oregano, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, bold & savory poultry seasoning (SPICY), onion powder, I didn’t use garlic powder due to adding roasted garlic base 😜, 4 cups of chicken (& garlic) broth via Better than Bouillon ❣
& ingredients already mentioned. Boom, should be done by 4 or 5.

Served with good crispy tortilla chips from #CarolinaMexicanFood

THEN I made a better version of chicken parm because I just put a small amount of sauce on each chicken breast and the right amount of cheese; I did have extra sauce on the side for anyone who wanted more…on that or the spaghetti I made with it. Much better.

Browned both sides of chicken first; I didn’t do the whole breading thing, just seasoned well and seared. They liked it more that way 🤷‍♀️

then put in baking dish, put a little sauce in center of each chicken, then parmesan, topped with mozzarella. 350° oven, for approximately 20 minutes. I didn’t get good photos, but definitely better. It “looks” like more sauce in baking dish but that was from sauce heating and mixing with juices from chicken 🥰 🐓 🍅 🧀 🍝