Update: Cream Cheese Chicken

It has been almost exactly one year since I started this blog on January 15th last year. I can't believe that. What a year it's been! Thank you to all of my readers who have kept up with the blog.

As time goes by, I make some of the same recipes that are posted on my blog, but I think I tend to improve them. And I think my pictures have gotten better...I hope anyway. Haha. This is one of those recipes. I won't say that I am overly conscientious about food ingredients. We still eat quite a few processed foods, and I use convenience items sometimes, and well...snacks foods are a weakness of mine. But I will say that on the rare occasion I actually do make improvements on the health side of things, I should probably share it. Haha. So I think that's the case with this. The original recipe from January 30th of last year (found here), contained a can of condensed cream of chicken soup, cream cheese, and a pre-made Italian seasoning packet, which I'm sure had lots of sodium and some preservatives and whatnot. I actually made my own cream of chicken soup last time, but I used heavy cream for it, so...yeah. Anyway, I made a couple minor improvements that I hope some of you health and/or weight conscious readers might find more to your liking. This will still not be considered a "healthy" meal, but it's healthiER. Haha. Have fun!

Ingredients:
-5 tablespoons butter, divided
-2 tablespoons flour
-1.5 cups 2% milk
-1/2 cup chicken broth
-2 chicken breasts
-8 oz block reduced fat cream cheese
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-2 tablespoons garlic herb seasoning mix (not a packet, one of those spice mix shakers you can get. I use this one all the time)
-a starch to serve it over (I use egg noodles; rice or something is fine too)

Directions:
In a large pot, melt 2 of the tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the chicken breasts. Sprinkle on the garlic powder, onion powder, and seasoning mix.

Cover with the pot lid and cook for about 10 minutes, turning the chicken over after 5 minutes.

At this point, I remove the chicken, cut it into bite sized pieces, and then return it to the pot.

It probably won't be completely cooked through, but that's ok. I add one more tablespoon of butter so nothing will burn on the bottom of the pot before I can add the other ingredients.

While the chicken is cooking, I heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium/low heat in a medium skillet. Whisk in the 2 tablespoons of flour to make a roux. I added the milk in 3 parts (1/2 cup at a time) so that it would have a chance to thicken each time before adding more. Since the milk is low-fat, it takes a little longer to thicken up than a higher fat milk or cream would, so adding it slowly helped the roux thicken it more easily. Whisk frequently to keep the milk from boiling, but let it thicken by sitting still for just a bit. Once the milk is all added, reduce the heat to low and let it continue to thicken, stirring frequently, until you get the chicken all cut up and ready to go.

Start a pot of water boiling when you start the milk mixture. Once it's boiling, cook the egg noodles, stirring occasionally, until tender. Drain and set aside.

Add the milk mixture and chicken broth to the large pot with the chicken, and stir to combine.

Let everything meld together, stirring occasionally. Add the cream cheese in chunks and let it melt into the mixture, stirring frequently.

Once it's all melted and well combined into the other ingredients, taste test the seasoning and adjust it as needed. I think I added a little more to mine, but it depends on your taste. Serve the hot chicken mixture over the egg noodles and enjoy!

Yummy!