Pesto Ranch Chicken

This recipe combines two of my favorites: pesto and ranch! The only other ingredient is the chicken. and it's done in the crockpot! Can you hear the angels sing? cause there is no easier or better recipe for chicken.

• 1 jar of pesto (about 6 oz) - homemade pesto is even better.
• 1 bottle of Ranch (16 oz)
• 6 chicken breasts - cut into pieces

 Place everything in the crockpot and give it a stir so it's combined. Cook on low for about 6 or 7 hours. (you can, of course, cook it on high and it should take about half the time)

Aji de Gallina - Peppered chicken?

We visited Lima and Machu Picchu this year and had an amazing time. We also gained a few pounds cause the food there was DELICIOUS. Carmen was our host and cook most of the time and her food was even better than at restaurants. She was kind enough to share some of the recipes with us. The Aji de Gallina was Jason's favorite.

Ok, so some of the ingredients(for this one, mainly the peppers) were difficult to find so we replaced them, still it came out pretty good.

• 1 chicken breast
• 4 aji amarillo - yellow Peruvian pepper or yellow/orange chili peppers
• 1 small onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• bread (about 6 slices of a loaf of white bread - remove the crust)
• turmeric or  Spanish saffron
• chicken broth
• Parmesan cheese

Cook the chicken in broth, save the broth. Shred the chicken

Soak the bread in the evaporated milk

Fry the onion with the aji amarillo, garlic and salt. Once cold, put in blender with turmeric,  the bread and evaporated milk, and about 1 cup of broth.

 Put in a pan over low heat, add the chicken, and Parmesan cheese.  We ate it served over rice or potatoes but I'm sure it will be good over pasta as well.

Creamed chicken

• about 3 lbs of chicken pieces (not too big not too small)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons dry Italian salad dressing (1 pkg.)
• 1 can condensed chicken soup
• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese - cut in chunks
• 1/4 cup chopped onion (at times I use 1/2 an envelope of dry onion soup)

Place the chicken in the crockpot, pour butter on, mix. Mix the soup, onion, dry italian dressing and the chunks of cream cheese.
Put on top of chiken and cook on low for about 7 – 8 hours (if cooked in the oven, cover the pan and cook until chicken is ready).