Chicken Teriyaki & Fried Rice

This one is a double feature! The fried rice is a good recipe to make by itself - just add bacon and some extra veggies. In this case, I'm using the teriyaki chicken as the meat, so I'm omitting the bacon.

If you're like me, then with every recipe that calls for chicken, you just put in one package of chicken, from Publix or Costco or wherever, without checking how many pounds it is, because you know that's what will feed your family. However, I tried that with this recipe, and it was way too sweet. So, if you don't often measure your amounts of chicken, make sure to put two packages of chicken in the slow cooker. You'll thank me later!

This combination of recipes may seem complicated, but I omit a lot of unnecessary ingredients. Often I have so many of the main ingredients on hand that I don't need to buy anything extra. Keep in mind, you will have to buy a bottle of soy sauce and a bottle of rice vinegar the first time you make this, but they last a long time!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This is a great one to use if you have lots of potatoes to get rid of. I've modified the original recipe to make it a bit heartier - if you're anything like me, sometimes a baked potato (even a loaded one) just doesn't fill me up. The original recipe didn't call for corn, but I like having my main veggie in the slow cooker with everything else, so I literally don't have to do anything else with the meal once it's cooked.

Aside from the potatoes, this doesn't require a lot of prep (unless you want to cook the bacon beforehand, but you can also wait until the meal is done before you do that). I like to peel and cut the potatoes the night before and soak them in water in the fridge overnight so they don't brown.