Creamy Basil Chicken

This slow cooker recipe can help to make another dinner later in the week. I wrote the recipe as it appears in the magazine. Please see my notes at the end for changes I made.

Ingredients:
2 C sliced mushrooms
2 medium red/yellow sweet peppers cut into strips
1 large onion
4 oz. cooked bacon, chopped
8 cloves of garlic, minced
3 Tbs. quick cooking tapioca, crushed
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (2 1/2 - 3 lb)
1 c chicken broth
1/4 white wine
1 lb. asparagus spears
1/3 c whipping cream
1/2 cup fresh basil
2 cups hot cooked orzo pasta
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese

Prep:
1. in a 5-6 quart slow cooker stir together mushrooms, sweet peppers, onion, bacon, and garlic. Sprinkle with tapioca. Place chicken on top of mixture in cooker. Pour broth and wine over all.
2. Cover; cook on high-heat setting 3-3 1/2 hours or low-heat 6-7 hours.
3. Meanwhile, snap off and discard woody bases from asparagus. Cut into 2-3 inch lengths. If using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat. Stir in asparagus, cream, and the 1/2 cup fresh basil. Cover; cook 30 min. more.
4. Reserve four chicken breast halves to prepare Chicken and Rice Chowder. Serve remaining chicken, vegetables, and sauce with orzo. Sprinkle with extra basil and Parmesan cheese if desired. Makes 4+ servings and extra chicken for chowder recipe.

I put in about half the vegetables knowing that my kids wouldn't be big fans of most of them. I only put in 2 cloves of garlic. If you don't use wine, add an extra 1/4 broth to make up for it. I used 4 frozen chicken breasts from CostCo and cut them in half. I used asparagus but I think that broccoli would be a good substitute, just make sure it doesn't get overcooked. As I suspected, my kids were not big fans of the vegetables but they loved the sauce that this made for the pasta and the taste of the chicken. The smokiness of the bacon really comes through and the basil adds a really fresh flavor. I had enough sauce left over to use with chicken another day. Also, this would taste great over rice or another kind of pasta if you don't like the orzo type (orzo is very small pasta, rice-like almost). I didn't serve a side dish, other than the orzo, because this is a full meal. Enjoy. Paige