Seven

Why seven? Well, besides being the number that both 2009 Superbowl Champion Ben Roethlisberger and I wear... that's the number of hours of sleep I got last night! That's a LOT of sleep, people. Actually, I'd say it's easily almost two hours more than our average.

And I owe it all to my trusty slow cooker. Our relationship has significantly improved in such a short time and I couldn't be happier.

I think I'm in love. How could I be anything else? A mere 5 minutes of prep yesterday morning resulted in a deliciously flavorful Chicken Taco Soup, ready the moment I walked in the door. Okay, so I did throw together a quick garden salad before we were actually able to sit down for our meal - but a homemade and healthy meal turned around that quickly is pretty much unheard of in this house at least.

Have I caught your attention yet?

If not, the fact that all but two of the ingredients came in a very inexpensively purchased can should be the clincher.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Taco Soup (serves 6)
adapted from All Recipes

3/4 onion, chopped
1 can (16 oz) chili beans (I used Hormel Vegetarian beans)
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) can corn, drained
1 can (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 can (12 oz) beer (I used Miller Lite)
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained (I used Rotel)
2 TBSP chunky salsa
1.25 oz package taco seasoning
4 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Mexican blend cheese (optional)

Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer and diced tomatoes in slow cooker. Add taco seasoning and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until covered by the liquid ingredients.

Set slow cooker on low heat for 6.5 hours. Shred chicken breasts (which really amounts to just pulling the breasts out with tongs because they will "self-shred" right then and there) and stir chicken back into the soup.

Turn the cooker up to high and cook for another hour. Serve with shredded cheese if desired.

Oh, and see this?!?

That enormous pot of delicious soup means only one thing - left overs (and another 7+ hour night of sleep)!!!