30 Days 30 Dinners - Day 1

So, for my first day of this challenge, I get to explain just what the heck happened today/tonight...

So, we were heading to Delaware today for JP's birthday party.  The drive is pretty long, so I figured that by the time I got home, there wouldn't be much time to cook, much less have the energy to do it.  So, crockpot meal FTW...I like doing crockpot meals, provided I remember to prep them the night before, or do them on a weekend.  The only problem is, I only have about 3-4 that I do well...Beef Stew, Pot Roast, Pulled Pork, and Chili.  My family doesn't eat chili, beef stew and pot roast are more Winter meals, and we just did Pulled Pork last week.  So, after perusing SparkRecipes last night, I chose a new one to try...Broccoli Cheese Chicken.  Without posting the full on recipe, basically you put chicken in the crockpot, and cover in a mixture of condensed broccoli cheese soup, milk, spices, and onion.  So, I prepped it up this morning, topped it with 1/2 cup FF shredded cheddar, turned it on, and we were on our way...

On the way back, I was telling Shannon how I made it, and in stepped curveball #1...Since the mixture is basically soup, Shannon was already not feeling it.  She's not a huge fan of soups.  I argued that we do something similar with my Chicken Stuffing Casserole, but she felt like the stuffing kind've counteracts that.  So, already, we're not feeling it.  When I got home and looked at it, I knew we were likely getting something out for dinner.  Adding the cheese on top was a bad idea, it ended up on the sides and bottom, gummed up.  Also, I forget that things that cook all day in a crockpot tend to thin out a bit.  So what was already basically soup just became even more thinned out.  And when I taste tested, I was hit with curveball #3 (#2 was the look of it)...all the spices I had added and taste tested had basically dissapeared, leaving the mixture real bland.  It had flavor, but just very much like weakened soup.

So, I caved and ordered the family some food from our local sub shop.  But, knowing I had the challenge tonight, I decided to give it a try by myself.  I went ahead and re-salted the mixture, which mostly fixed my spice issue.  I did also throw in some Old Bay...because, let's face it, I am a Baltimore Boy, tried and true, almost everything tastes better with some Old Bay (btw, the original spices featured a good portion of Old Bay as well).  I also turned the heat back on and added some corn starch slurry to try and thicken it.  Didn't do much, but just enough that I was okay with it.  The end result:  Not too bad.  It'll be worth a try again, with a few modifications.  Especially good to server it on top of rice, and throw cheese on it AFTER it cooks!

So, onto the nutritional facts, to prove that I tracked it...Best way to do this is break the dinner down into it's elements

1. Chicken - I used 10 tenders in a 1.5 lb pack.  In my dinner, I had 2.5 tenders, so 6 oz of boneless skinless chicken tenders.
2. "Sauce" - The recipe I used mixed 2 cans of 98% FF Broccoli Cheese Soup, 1.5 cups 1% Milk, onion, basil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Old Bay.  The reason I listed this seperate from the chicken is because I didn't take 1/4 of the sauce, I took more like 1/8.
3. "Rice" - I used Knorr's Rice Sides, Buffalo Chicken.  I've said before how much I love Knorr's Rice Sides.  It's not really organic or natural, but it tastes awesome.  I wouldn't really reccomend using Buffalo Chicken rice with this recipe, I'd probably stick with a more neutral kind like Vigo Yellow Rice or plain white rice, but I'm the only one who likes Buffalo Chicken rice from this family, so I have to pick my times to use it.  I ate about 3/4 cup of rice.

So, the added up totals:

Calories: 455
Fat: 5 g
Carbs: 45 g
Protein: 57 g