Italian Chicken Nachos

When my schedule is busy, it typically revolves around a lot of evening meetings and, unfortunately, a lot of eating out. I tried to combat that this week with a collection of crock pot meals, and this is my favorite. To give credit where it's due, the starting point for this recipe was this version at Beyer Beware.

Ingredients:

• One pound of boneless, skinless raw chicken (breasts, thighs or tenders should all work)
• One 12-ounce jar of mild pepper rings (I used 3/4 of a 16-ounce jar)
• Two .7 ounce packets of dry Italian dressing mix
• One bag of tortilla chips
• One cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 pound of sliced mushrooms
• One regular size or two Roma tomatoes, diced
• About 1/4 cup sliced black olives (half of a small can)

Combine the chicken, pepper rings (with the liquid from the jar) and dry Italian dressing mix and cook in a slow cooker on low for at least three hours. More time wouldn't hurt, but that was enough for me. Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred it, then return it to the slow cooker while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Saute the mushrooms in a little olive oil until they've reduced a bit and are tender. Line a cookie sheet with foil and grease it with a little cooking spray, then layer the ingredients in this order:

• Tortilla chips
• Chicken and pepper mixture (allow the liquid to drain off as you remove it from the slow cooker)
• Cheese
• Mushrooms and olives
• Tomatoes (or you can wait and add these after baking)

Bake this on a high rack in the oven for eight minutes at 350, then switch to the broiler and allow it to cook for another two minutes or so, until the cheese browns a little.