Chicken and Dumplings

I have always loved Chicken and Dumplings, having cooked a whole chicken earlier in the week I decided to boil down the carcass and make some dumplings!  I losely followed a recipe I found online at cooks.com called Grandma's Chicken and Dumpling soup, but I added and subtracted based on what sounded good to me and recommendations from various dumpling recipes I had found.  The recipe below is as close to what I actually did as I can write it, I didn't change the dumpling part at all but the soup is quite different from what I found online.  I absolutely loved these dumplings and it made enough that we had left overs for a couple dinners and I had it for lunch most days I didn't have it for dinner.  I wonder why I never made this before!

_______________________

Chicken and Dumpling soup

To make Chicken Broth this is what I did:

In an 8 quart pot add 1 chicken carcass to about 4 quarts water, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 1 hour, strain, remove chicken from carcass, place chicken in the chicken broth.  Then I stored the broth in the fridge until the next day when I was actually making the chicken and dumplings.

Bring chicken broth to a boil and add 2 chicken breasts and 2 bay leaves in from previous day, simmer for about an 1 1/2 hours until chicken is tender

Once chicken is tender:
Add chicken bouillon and herbs to taste
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can sodium free chicken broth
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken and mushroom soup
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
4 stalks chopped celery
4 carrots chopped
1 c. chopped onion
ground clove to taste (2-3 shakes)
thyme to taste
seasoned salt to taste

Put cover on kettle; simmer soup on low heat for 2 to 3 hours.

Feather Dumplings:
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. white or black pepper
1 egg, well beaten
2 tbsp. melted butter
2/3 c. milk

About 30 minutes before serving, mix up feather dumplings by sifting dry ingredients together. Add egg, melted butter and enough milk to make moist, stiff batter. Drop by teaspoons into boiling liquid. Cook, covered and without "peeking", for 18 to 20 minutes or until the dumplings are done. Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

It's a new blog...

I decided to start my new blog and I'm super excited about it. I have another blog that is more like a journal where I've been posting the recipes, most people can't see that blog so I decided that it's about time I made a blog for all to enjoy.  Most of the recipes really are too good not to share.  I'll be adding in the posts from my other blog as well (hence this isn't the "oldest post"  Though I do believe I'll post this twice... once for today and once for the oldest date.  Either way, enjoy the recipes!

Cranberry Chicken

When I had my pampered chef party at the beginning of October, if you had told me I would actually roast an entire chicken in my new deep dish baker I was getting I would have told you that you were crazy.  I hate the feeling of raw meat so I have a few issues with taking a whole chicken and doing much of anything with it.  That being said, this was super easy and I managed to do it without creeping myself out!

This recipe came from my pampered chef consultant in a huge list of recipes that could be made in the deep dish cooker.  I love the gravy (and now understand why I might need a gravy separator someday, getting the fat out of the gravy was quite the task).  We had it with basmati rice and snap peas of some sort.  It would be FAR better with mash potatoes then the rice (we tried the gravy on mashed potatoes the next day, very good!) and the veggies didn't turn out all that great, but the chicken was super moist and the gravy was so good that the rice and veggies went fairly unnoticed.
__________________________________

Cranberry Chicken 
From: Pampered Chef

Mix one can of whole berry cranberries w/ can of cream of mushroom soup & one packet of onion soup mix. Pour over top of chicken in baker. Cover with lid, place in oven; bake for 1-½ hours at 425 degrees.

That's what it looked like before cooking, can you believe I actually touched that and I'm even considering doing it again!

Sausage and Bean Casserole

I found this recipe online and it sounded really good, minus the sausage links that is.  So I decided to be a little adventuresome and make it with ground sausage instead.  I absolutely LOVED how this turned out, I call it sausage bean casserole candy, it was sweet and yummy and I just wanted to eat more and more of it!  I cooked up a thing of french fillet green beans to go with it, a very nice complement.  It made me kind of sad that my french fillet beans didn't grow in the garden last summer!

For the bread slices it says to use, I toasted the bread and then chopped it up with my food chopper, I'm not sure how they really expected this to be done but it worked out well this way so I would probably do it like that again. 

I made the entire thing in one of my new pampered chef cookware pieces it was handy that I could cook it all on the stove and then put the cookware in the oven.  I am really loving my new pampered chef stuff. 

This is a highly recommended recipe, at least with the substituted regular jimmy dean ground sausage like I used that is, I'm not sure how it would be with the turkey links it called for.

_____________________

Sausage and bean Casserole
Cooking Light, November 2007

Ingredients

Cooking spray
1  cup  chopped onion (about 1 medium)
1  (16-ounce) package light smoked turkey sausage (such as Hillshire Farm), cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2  garlic cloves, minced
1  (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2  tablespoons  brown sugar
2  tablespoons  tomato paste
1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
3  (16-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1  bay leaf
1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper (optional)
3  (1-ounce) slices white bread
2  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and turkey sausage to pan; saute for 5 minutes or until browned. Add garlic, and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in 2 tablespoons brown sugar, tomato paste, dried thyme, freshly ground black pepper, cannellini beans, and bay leaf. Add ground red pepper, if desired. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 1/2 cups.  Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over bean mixture, and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle with parsley.

Apple Slicer... Corer

So this didn't require any cooking, but it is a new gadget I got from Pampered Chef recently.  I highly recommend that everyone who eats apples own one of these things, they make eating apples so insanely easy.  You just push the little metal thing down and it becomes 10 slices and a core, just like that!

Loaded Baked Potato Chowder

I suppose I should start by saying that this is what we made at my pampered chef party so that is why I chose it.  There is quite a bit of microwaving involved and it killed my microwave during the show.  Oops!    It was very good though and I had bought enough stuff to make the recipe twice over, so I made it again about a week later after we bought a new microwave. 

I tried adding all the different optional toppings, I much preferred the bacon (I used turkey bacon) and sour cream version, but the broccoli is certainly more filling. 

Everyone at the show seemed to enjoy the chowder, even though the potatoes were not quite as cooked as they should have been, I can only imagine how much more then would like it if they had been cooked as well as they should have been.  Yummy!

_________________________

Loaded Baked Potato Chowder

Pampered Chef Recipe

Ingredients:

3 large baking potatoes (about 2½ lbs/1.1 kg)

3½ cups (875 mL) milk, divided

4 oz (125 g) cream cheese, softened

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
2-3 green onions with tops
(¼ cup/50 mL sliced)
4 oz (125 g) sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1½ tsp (7 mL) salt
½ tsp (2 mL) coarsely ground black pepper
Optional toppings such as chopped cooked bacon, sour cream or steamed broccoli florets

Slice potatoes in half lengthwise with Santoku Knife; place in Deep Covered Baker. Pour ½ cup (125 mL) of the milk over potatoes. Microwave, covered, on HIGH 11 minutes. Remove baker from microwave. Move center potatoes to ends of baker and outer potatoes to center. Cover; microwave on HIGH 8-11 minutes or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Remove baker from microwave. Coarsely mash potatoes with Mix ‘N Chop.

Meanwhile, whisk cream cheese until smooth in Classic Batter Bowl. Slowly add remaining 3 cups (750 mL) milk, whisking until smooth. Add cream cheese mixture and butter to baker. Microwave, covered, on HIGH 3-5 minutes or until mixture is hot. Slice green onions with Chef’s Knife.

Carefully remove baker from microwave. Grate cheddar cheese over chowder using Rotary Grater; add green onions, salt and black pepper, and mix using Small Mix ‘N Scraper® until cheese is melted. Serve with toppings, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (8 cups/2 L)

Cook’s Tip: For a lighter version, omit butter. Substitute fat-free (skim) milk, reduced-fat (Neufchâtel) cheese and light cheddar for the 2% milk and full-fat cheeses.

Apple and Carrot Salad (with Salmon from the Costco Deli)

We often go to Costco and pick up this salmon, it comes prepared and all you have to do is put it in the oven and cook it until a thermometer says it's done.  It has butter and some herbs on top and is very very yummy.  I put the salmon over the Trader Joe's microwaveable rice and then we normally put some mixed vegetables with it.  This time I decided to try something a little different and made the Apple and Carrot Salad that came from the weight watchers website.

I loved the salad, I left out the pepper as always and forgot the chives the second time I made it.  I think I prefer it with no chives.  Neither Richard or my mom liked the feta in the salad so the second time I made it I left the feta out and just sprinkled a little on after dishing it onto my plate.  It was quick and easy and I would recommend it for a nice light salad.

_____________________

Apple and Carrot Salad

From: Weight Watchers Website

Ingredients:

2 large apple, 1 red and 1 green, cored, thinly sliced, cut into matchsticks

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice or less to taste

3 cups carrots, cut into matchsticks (many stores sell these pre cut)

1/4 cup chives, chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper or more to taste

2 oz feta cheese, french-variety suggested, crumbled

Instructions

Place apples in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice.  Add carrots, chives, oil, sugar, salt, pepper and cheese; toss to mix thoroughly.  8 servings; yields about 3/4 cup per serving

 

Lemon Lush Pie

I must start by saying that I did NOT take this picture, it is from familyoven.com and was posted by Marg.  It looks exactly like what I made (because it is pretty much what I made) and I forgot to take a picture so here ya go.

I love this dessert, it is so light and fluffy and incredibly tasty.  The recipe calls for instant pudding but I made it with the cook kind because I bought the wrong stuff.  It takes far longer if you do it that way but I do think the lemon is more flavorful when it's the cooking kind.  I used more cool whip then most of the recipes call for because that is what the recipe I was given called for, though as I reread it if you actually go by the cup and a half and not 12 oz description it would be what the recipes online said.  I think it would be better with a little less cool whip then I did in the bottom layer so the cream cheese flavor can stand out a little more.  The recipe below is actually for a chocolate pudding because that is what I was making the first time I made this, just sub out the lemon pudding where the chocolate goes.  If you use the cook lemon pudding you will need to have eggs and a few other things as well (check the box), and you'll have to wait for the pudding to cool before placing it on the cream cheese layer.  It was really good so I would say it's completely worth the wait. 

This recipe will be remade for certain!  Though I'm thinking we might leave out some of the nuts next time we make it as Richard wasn't a huge fan of having them in the crust.

______________________

Chocolate Pudding Dessert
From Julie Jewell

Crust Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts

Filling Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups cool whip (12 oz size)
1 cup powdered sugar

Topping Ingredients:

1 (5 oz) package of chocolate pudding
1 (8 ounce) container cool whip
2 1/2 cup cups milk

Directions:

For Crust:  Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt margarine and then mix well with the margarine and nuts. Press into a 9 x 13 inch pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

In the meantime, for the filling, cream together the cream cheese, cool whip and powdered sugar and then pour over cooled crust.

Then make the chocolate pudding according to package directions, but use only 2 1/2 cups of milk. Spread the pudding over the filling layer.

Spread a layer of cool whip on top of that. Sprinkle with nuts and refrigerate until ready to serve.