Slow Cooker Smoky Chicken with Pinto Beans

This hearty chicken and bean stew simmers all day in the slow cooker and gets a ton of flavor from jarred salsa. The recipe for this stew originally appeared on Taste As You Go in 2008. It appears here with slight modifications and updated photos.

Believe it or not, this recipe was one of the very first recipes I ever shared on Taste As You Go. In my first few months of blogging, I relied quite a bit on stock photos. I knew my posts needed photos to break up the text and add interest, but I had no way of creating photos for myself. I didn't yet own a digital camera.

So, already, this updated version is ten times better than the original.

What's for Dinner: February 17 - February 23

Looking for dinner inspiration? Here's what I've planned for dinner at our house this week!

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Caroline and I are back from our Girls' Trip to New York. We were only gone for one night, but it felt like much, much longer. Now that we're back, Stephen is off on another trip for work, and I'm preparing for several days of solo-parenting.

At times like this, I can't help but wonder why we've planned our lives so that we're nearly always going-going-going. I hear it doesn't get any better once the kids are in school and committed to sports teams and/or extracurricular activities. I almost feel like we should slow down now to give us a fighting chance in the future...

Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to list to me wax philosophical, so I'll just stop myself now. Without further ado, here's what I've planned for dinner at our house this week.

Tidbits

Sharing what I'm loving right now, family/life happenings, favorite finds, and whatever else pops into my head.

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I was hoping to share a new recipe post with you all before writing another Tidbits post, but that obviously didn't happen. Between work, creating Valentine's Day cards for the kids' classmates, planning Caroline's birthday party, and making updates to the blog on the backend, I haven't had any spare time to devote to new content.

Until now.

I have a bunch of links to share with you, so without further ado, here's the next batch of tidbits for you!

What's for Dinner: February 10 - February 16

Looking for dinner inspiration? Here's what I've planned for dinner at our house this week!

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I have to tell you... I'm feeling a lot better since the last time we chatted. I figured out what kind of Valentine's Day cards to make for the kids' classes at school and ordered my supplies. Since I'm doing the same card for both classes, they should be pretty simple to put together.

I admit it, though. I did not come up with an original idea. I hit up Pinterest and read some parenting blogs for inspiration. For the past two years (here and here), I've assembled Valentine's Day treats that didn't involve candy. I'm sure there will be plenty of sweets at their respective parties, so I followed the trend. When we all show up at school on Thursday, the kids will have something inedible to share with their new friends.

Supplies arrive on Monday, so I'm going to try and make as many of this week's meals ahead of time as I can. I'm going to need the time after work to put everything together... I plan to snap some photos when I'm done, so keep on eye on Instagram to see the finished product!

In the meantime, here's what I've planned for dinner at our house this week.