This recipe is so easy that it’s not really a recipe.

But sometimes we need that, don’t we?

I, for one, need it right now.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the sounds and smells of Christmas: the twinkly lights, the scent of cinnamon in the house, the rustle of wrapping paper. But I don’t always have the energy to take on those extra tasks.

This year, we have a tree up. We also have ornaments on it, thanks to the kids. We have a variety of Christmas decorations laid out, from a head-bobbing Rudolph to a trio of felt gnomes to a one-foot-tall smashed Charlie Brown tree.

All of that is in addition to a tiny nativity I bought for $5 at a drugstore years ago. It features an infant with his hands resting coolly behind his head, a resin figurine I like to refer to as the Whazzup Jesus.

However, Whazzup Jesus and bobble-headed reindeer aside, this year I’m ill prepared for the trappings of Christmas.

I filled out but never turned in the faculty and staff secret Santa questionnaire, which I guess is better than the years I’ve filled it out and subsequently failed to fulfill the obligation.

I wore my ugly Christmas sweater to work yesterday. Ugly Christmas sweater day was today, apparently. I guess that’s OK, too, because I was called away from work yesterday anyway.

My classroom door is covered in brown paper – thank you, sweet daughter of mine – but that’s it: all brown paper, all over the door. I probably won’t place in the door decorating contest at this rate.

(Zayley and I have a plan to create a ninja gingerbread man snow fight. Maybe it’ll happen by the deadline. Maybe it won’t. Life is a mystery.)

So I’ve been pulling out my slow cooker and pressure pot a lot lately. These days, it’s more often the pressure cooker than the slow cooker because I can’t seem to get anything into the slow cooker before jumping out the door in the morning.

But this is one of my longtime go-to recipes for the slow cooker. It meets all my requirements: no cooking beforehand, no time-consuming dicing and minimal ingredients.

It does look like dog food. I will grant you that. But it tastes delicious.

Unfortunately, I have not made it in some time because one of our kids is allergic to beans. It is certainly possible to nix the beans and use just salsa and corn, which is what I do… it’s just not quite as good.

Try it. I hope you like it as much as I do.

SALSA CHICKEN

Ingredients
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large jar corn and black bean salsa (or one jar salsa plus one can of drained corn and one can of drained beans)
1 8-ounce block cream cheese
Cooked rice (I cook it when I get home from work)
Optional: shredded cheddar, sour cream, green onion

Directions
■ Place chicken breasts in bottom of slow cooker. Pour jar of salsa (or salsa plus veggies) over top of chicken. Place lid on slow cooker. Cook on low for about 6 hours or high for about 3 hours.
■ Using two forks, shred chicken in crockpot. Add brick of cream cheese. Replace lid Cook rice while cream cheese softens, about 30 minutes. Mix cream cheese into contents of slow cooker.
■ Serve salsa chicken over rice. Add cheese, sour cream or green onion as desired. Store leftovers in refrigerator. They are delicious.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.