Ranch Chicken Tenderloin Bites - Crockpot Style

Two days ago, I removed a package of chicken breasts from the storage freezer. Apparently at that point, I had some huge idea that I was going to assume the reigns of the household and prepare some glorious meal in the crockpot that would leave me as the champion of the household.

Now, let us revisit the beginning of the first sentence..."two days ago." 

Yup, that is right, we are now two days into the chicken that has assumed a place on a plate inside of the fridge. Now I know that time is of the utmost importance and that I need to find something to do with said chicken, but what? We've done the crockpot chicken and stuffing, which ended up as a sloppy mess not only in my crockpot, but with the unamused children, so what else was there to do?

I am all about easy. I hate doing extra work, prep work, or anything of the sort. You really need to get me in a great mood to whip out and prepare some elegant meal. Plus, I wasn't about to jump into my car and go down to the grocery store either. It's cold and I hate unloading groceries into my trunk and then bringing them up the stairs only to have to put them away in their appropriate spaces. So instead, I raided the cabinets for things to throw in the crockpot.

THE CHOSEN ONES
So, what did I end up choosing you ask (or maybe you didn't, but whatever, I will tell you anyway).

• 3lb bag of Tyson all natural chicken breast tenderloin (they are more like little pieces rather than full breast pieces)
• Container of sour cream (the large one, not sure of ounces, sorry)
• Small container of cream cheese with chives
• Two packet of Hidden Valley ranch dips (the kind that you make yourself, the powder)

PREPARATIONS
It's really easy...obviously you are going to set up your crockpot and place your thawed chicken at the bottom (you could use frozen chicken, but I would suggest adjusting cooking time accordingly). I then placed half of my large container of sour cream over the chicken. After I spooned that out over it, I spread it out covering the chicken. I then scooped out 3/4 of my small container of cream cheese with chives and then spread that over the chicken as well. Finally, I sprinkled the two packets of ranch dressing powder over the chicken.

I set my crock pot on high for 4 hours and let it do its job. I checked it at about 3 hours in, and it was perfectly cooked, so for the remaining hour, I set my crockpot over to the warming feature. I do have a newer, digital crockpot that is one of the top picks from Cooks Country, so I would recommend that you check yours sometime during the cooking process. Also, my chicken was smaller pieces (almost chicken strip-like), so if you are using normal sized chicken breasts, you may find yourself cooking it for the entire time! 


THE VERDICT
Delicious! So maybe the kids didn't think so, although Lexi thought it was fantastic and had three helpings of it. The chicken was perfectly cooked & tender. The "sauce" was perfect and had the best taste. I will absolutely be making this again and if the kids don't like it, then oh well, too bad for them! See, I'm not into the catering to what the kids want and making sure the food is exactly what they like, otherwise we'd be eating pizza, pizza rolls, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and other assorted junk food.