Chicken and Dumplings

I love chicken and dumplings. My dad really loves chicken and dumplings, but no one in my family has learned how to make them for him. (I think he tried to learn once when we lived in GA)
Now, one day, I will learn how to make them from scratch, but until then this recipe will do. It is really very good.
So good in fact that I made it on a Tuesday, and Matt ate all the leftovers that week and requested I make it again for dinner on Monday. Which I did ( I did manage to get some leftover this time)
I have been torturing my dad with texts and taunts of this yummy yum, I am making them on Friday so I can take him his own big bowl of CnD. :-D Best daughter ever.
This recipe is adapted from Kevin and Amanda's Recipes
[Printable Recipe]
Ingredients:
1lb of chicken breasts (I used about 3 breasts)
10 bouillon cubes
2 qts water
2 c. bisquick
2/3 c. milk
2 tbsp butter
4 eggs
2 stalks of celery
1 small onion
20-25 baby carrots
Directions:
Put 10 bouillon cubes, chicken and water in a large pot and bring to a boil.

Then reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the chicken is cooked through.
While chicken is cooking boil the eggs. I do this by placing the eggs in a pot, covering with cold water and bringing to a boil. I boil for 1 min and then cover the pot and remove from heat. I let sit in the hot water for 17 mins then immediately place into a bowl of ice water and let cool completely.
When chicken is cooked, removed from pot.
In a small bowl mix together the bisquick and milk until a dough forms.
Drop spoonfuls of dough into the chicken stock.

Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes covered, then uncover and cook for another 10 mins.

While dough is cooking, cut veggies and sauté in a pan with the butter on a low heat. Let the veggies slowly become tender. Season with  a little pepper (avoid salt because the bouillon cubes add a lot of salt)


Cut the chicken into small pieces.

Add to the veggies and season with a little pepper.
Stir everything to combine.

Add the chicken and veggies to the stock.
Shell the eggs, and remove the yolks.

Chop the egg whites and add to the soup.

Stir everything to combine.

This takes about an hour start to finish but is totally worth the time. The original recipe didn’t call for onion and carrot, but I figured why not sneak in more veggies. I really like it with the added flavors.

When you go to reheat – sometimes you need to add a little water to thin it. I reheated mine in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time stirring in between. Matt reheated his on the stove. Both worked fine.  This is a must make!

Stuffed Shells

[Printable Recipe]

I love me some stuffed shells, but I have never made them myself. I have bought the frozen kind, and I will occasionally get them out at a restaurant, but when Amanda at Tales of a Horvath Housewife posted her recipe I decided I needed to try it.
I combined her recipe, the recipe on the back of the shell box and some of my own ideas to create this dinner.
Ingredients:
Jumbo pasts shells
2 cups broccoli florets
15 oz part skim ricotta cheese
3/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
half a jar or so-  pasta sauce
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Turkey pepperoni
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Boil jumbo shells for about 10 mins (according to the packaging)

Drain and rinse with cool water.
While boiling pasta, steam broccoli in the microwave (or stove top if you wish)
Roughly chop the broccoli. (I also added some minced garlic and a little butter after the broccoli was steamed)
Chop pepperoni

In a bowl, stir together ricotta and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Season with garlic and Italian seasoning.

Add broccoli and pepperoni to cheese mixture. ( I actually made some with out pepperoni because I wasn’t sure how it would taste. I should have used more pepperoni because it didn’t really change the taste too much but I think it could be really good)



Spoon cheese into the shells.

Place in a baking dish and top with pasta sauce.

Sprinkle top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.

These were very good. I would make them again, I would add more pepperoni to the cheese, and season it a little more. I like that you get a veggie in the meal, without really tasting it. I ate broccoli with my shells, but I slept better that night knowing that Matt had some green veggies for dinner :-D (not really but I always wish he would eat more veggies, I should too for that matter)
Also, I always print out my recipes, they eventually make it into my binder. Usually I put them immediately in plastic, but I didn’t this time, and good thing. I let it get a little close to the flame of the gas stove. Now my recipe has a little character. 


*** I know I haven’t posted many baked goodies lately. I haven’t really been baking much, I can’t bake without a reason right now or else I would gain 50 lbs. (this is the downfall to not working at the daycare anymore-no coworkers to share with) I have family dinner coming up soon, which always means I will try a new dessert recipe. I hope you enjoy some of the meals I have been making.

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

[Printable Recipe]

Matt and I were watching Giada on the food network one day, and she made this dish. It looked so good that we printed the recipe and made it the next night for dinner. I also made it for my family when they came to visit. I think my brother ate 4 helpings (probably half of a 9x13 pan – no joke)
I describe this meal as a grownup’s mac and cheese. You have to try it.
Ingredients:
1 c. pastina pasta( or any small pasta – I used elbow)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 c. cubed chicken breast
1/2 c. diced onion ( I actually used more like 1 c.)
1 clove garlic (used more like 2 or 3, but we like garlic)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 c. shredded mozzarella
1/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. butter

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400.  Butter a baking dish.
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over a high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender. Drain pasta into a large bowl.

Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes, dice the onion and garlic.
  
While pasta is cooking, put olive oil in the pan, and cook chicken, about 3 mins.  Season the chicken with garlic salt, pepper if desired

Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are soft and the chicken is cooked.

Put chicken in bow with pasta. Add canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.


Place the mixture in the baking dish. I used to circular baking dish. I doubled the recipe and used a 9x13.

In a small bowl mix together bread crumbs, and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture.
 
Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until top is golden brown, about 30 mins.



This was so good. Definitely making the rotation. My only suggestion is season all the layers, season the chicken, then season the mixture. I may try to use melted butter on top next time. There seemed to be some dry spots. But still worth making again, and again.

Crockpot chili

YUMMMM!!

My parents were coming because we were going to go on a West Wing tour (it got canceled but rescheduled) I gave my dad the option of poppy seed chicken or chili and yay he picked chili.

This was so easy. I tossed it together Friday night - and got up Sat and put it in the crockpot and forgot about it.

By some standards I cheated - I used the McCormick chili seasoning packet. I just needed quick , easy and cheap.

[Printable Recipe]

Ingredients:

2 lbs of beef ( I actually used 2.5 lbs)

1 Package of McCormick chili seasoning

2 cans (14 oz) Diced tomatoes ( I used petite dice because I don't like whole tomato chunks)

2 cans (16 oz) kidney beans, drained ( I used one of the large cans of Dark kidney beans)

1 can (15.5 oz) tomato sauce

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Directions:

Brown the meat and season with onion and garlic powder. Drain the meat and combine everything together in crockpot. I refrigerated over night and got up and put it on high for 3 hours, then I switched it to low for the next 2. If I was going to be cooking it all day I would have just put it on low for 8-10 hours. Spoon into a bowl, and eat with toppings of choice.

Brown the ground beef




combining everything




Mix well




cook for at least 4 -5 hours



hot sauce, sour cream, cheese, fritos and corn muffins - pick your toppings

Eat!




This was super easy to make which is great because I had to clean the apartment- it was nice to set it and forget it. This was good for lunch on Monday and also on hotdogs for dinner the other night.

French Dip Sandwiches with Au Jus

[Printable Recipe]


Matt loves french dip sandwiches, and always requests we make them - or go to a place that has good ones. One night he was thinking out loud about how he wanted one, and I said find a recipe, go to the store and get the stuff and I will make it. So he did.(Recipe from Allrecipes.com) I have never actually had them - maybe a bite of Matt's. These were very easy and very good. Makes for a really easy dinner. Typically when you make this you roast the beef in a slow cooker for a day so that it is very tender. I don't have a slow cooker- and we didn't decided on this until 7pm so a day of roasting wasn't possible anyway.

Ingredients:

1 (10.5 oz) Can beef consomme

1 Cup water

1 pound thin sliced deli roast beef

8 slices provolone cheese

4 hoagie rolls.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 - open hoagie rolls and lay out on baking sheet (we used the small toaster oven - and buttered the bread a little before toasting.)


bread with butter for toasting


heat beef consomme and water in a medium saucepan over medium- high heat to make a rich beef brother. ( We added garlic salt - though garlic powder will be used next time the consomme was salty enough, onion powder and pepper to season) Place the roast beef in the broth and warm for 3 mins.

warming the consomme and spices


Matt adding the beef


beef warmed and ready to go


Arrange meat on the hoagie rolls and top with 2 slices of cheese ( we added the cheese to the rolls half way though toasting so the cheese would melt to the bread)



melted and toasty





Bake the sandwiches in oven for 5 mins or until the cheese just begins to melt ( we skipped this as we had already melted the cheese)

Serve sandwiches with small bowls of the leftover broth for dipping.

meet piled on and sauce for dipping. (this was Matt's with extra meat)


This was very good and will be a repeat on the monthly menu.