Cheryll's Celery Leek Crock-Pot Chicken

Mom of 2 Teens & 2 Toddlers's Note:

I combined portions of a couple different recipes and added my own twist according to what i had in my cabinets. chicken is tender, flavors were great, and there's plenty of sauce. i made rice to go with this, which works well as a side or put the chicken and sauce right on top. carrots are what i had in my refridgerator, but many other veggies would work well. i used 6 pieces of chicken, not thin. my broth was not low sodium. i had cream cheese on hand, and i used cayenne pepper. the cream mixture is thick and i spread it on top with a spatula. during cooking liquid built up and it made for a great creamy sauce. i found that each flavor in this recipe was detectable without one overpowering the other. i hope this works as well for you as it did for me!

• Total Time: 3 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 -6 boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup approximately chicken broth (can be low sodium)
• 1 (10 ounce) can 98% fat free cream of celery condensed soup
• 8 ounces softenedneufchatel cheese (can be light) or 8 ounces cream cheese (can be light)
• 0.5 (2 ounce) package knorr leek soup mix
• 3 -4 fresh carrots, sliced or 3 -4 fresh carrots , diced
• tastefully simple garlic garlic
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (adjust to your taste and may be omitted) or 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes (adjust to your taste and may be omitted)

Directions:

1. Preheat crockpot on high.
2. approximately one even shake of garlic over one side of each piece of chicken.
3. 1 - 2 turns of ground pepper on each piece of chicken.
4. lay seasoned side down in crockpot.
5. lightly sprinkle over top of chicken with garlic and ground pepper.
6. in bowl combine cream cheese, can soup, leek packet, and chicken broth. mix with whisk or combine and smoosh with spatula.
7. add cayenne or crushed pepper. mix.
8. smooth mixture over top of chicken.
9. sprinkle carrots on top.
10. cover and cook on high for 3 1/2 hours.
11. platter chicken. whisk sauce in crockpot scraping in browned sides.
12. pour over chicken or put in gravy boat.
13. sprinkle chicken with fresh or dried parsley for garnish.