Chicken and Biscuit Dumplings

Not much time, because I want to watch the BCS game. There is also no picture to go with this one, because none of the ones I took turned out. I had more help in the kitchen with this one from My Buddy. Mom made her chicken and dumplings like this when we were growing up. They are SOOOO good! There really is no particular recipe to how much of each thing to use, so I will tell you what I think I used. You can add or take away whatever floats your boat!

Chicken and Biscuit Dumplings

3 large chicken breasts (enough for about 3 c. shredded chicken)
chicken bouillon cubes
1 stick of butter (HELLO!)
1 (10 count) can of refrigerated biscuits
pepper to taste

In a large pot, place chicken and just barely cover with water. Add 1-2 bouillon cubes to the water and boil until chicken is cooked. Remove and shred chicken. Reserve approximately 2 c. of the chicken broth (unless you like yours more soupy...then keep more water). In same pot, add 1 stick of butter to the broth. (You can add less if you are scared of butter!!) Open can of buscuits and flatten each biscuit. Then cut into pieces. Drop into lightly boiling broth, being careful to stir while adding so that the biscuits don't all stick together. After about 5 minutes of cooking, add shredded chicken. Season with pepper and serve.

Mmmmmmm

Tater Tot Casserole

Well, we had a great time with The Under 6 Crowd this weekend! They were very good for us and even slept until 8:00 every morning! I told their mama that they could stay here everyday if they would do that. We had to come up with a lot of entertainment, so we did fun things like Jump Zone, movie and popcorn, hiking up our backyard woods, and making homemade goodies in the kitchen. They were very good helpers and wanted to put their aprons on and bake stuff all weekend long. We made homemade chocolate chips cookies (recipe from the back of Nestle chocolate chips), 1-Pan Brownies (my mother in law's recipe) and blueberry muffins (from Martha White!). There was lots of bowl and finger licking!

I made it real fun and let them do all the work. They did all the cookie dropping and I baked them that way.

This dish was a big hit for The Under 6 Crowd. It is a recipe that my friend's mother (the friend that really likes to eat Jiffy corn muffins with me!) made for us one night when we were still in high school and I think the two of us ate the whole thing ourselves. I called her the other night for the recipe. She very willingly shared!

Tater Tot Casserole

1 lb. ground beef

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 (8 oz.) pkg. shredded cheddar cheese

1 (32 oz.) pkg. frozen tater tots

In a large skillet, brown ground beef and drain. Mix in mushroom soup and drained corn. Put meat mixture in 9x13 baking dish. Top with cheese. Arrange tater tots on top. Bake in oven for 350 or 375 until tater tots are golden. (I did 375 for 30 minutes.)

We ate it as leftovers a couple of times and even put some ketchup on top. Very good with ketchup, too!

--

Round 2 is on their way now, so I am off to make Chicken and Biscuit Dumplings. I'll post that one later. I just love lots of company!!

Pork Green Chili

When The Dish Washer and I went to Fort Worth, we had the best Pork and Hatch Green Chili at The Lonesome Dove. I've been looking and looking for a recipe that I thought was similar and found one. I made a few changes, and even though it isn't exactly what we had (not even close because his was incredibly good!), it is YYYYUUUUUMMMMMMMMMYYYYYY! I made the first batch Monday night and The Dish Washer just went on and on about it. It was such a big hit that when I was at the grocery store last night, I bought the ingredients again. I went home and made another pot of it and put it in the freezer.

It does have a kick to it, so you pregnant gals may want to watch out for that. You can add as much of the ingredients to it as you would like. This is a fun food reminder of that trip as well as our honeymoon in Santa Fe. Out there in New Mexico, they simply ask "red or green?" (Meaning color of pepper.) I always go green! Green seems milder to me than red. In fact, one day I will have to tell you about the best Huevos Rancheros we had on our honeymoon.

Pork Green Chili

1-1/2 pound ground pork
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 (4.5 oz.) cans of green chiles, drained
2 Tbsp. chopped jalapeno peppers (more or less depending on your heat level)
1/4 c. tomato sauce
2 c. water
garlic powder to taste

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add chopped onion. Cook until tender. Add in ground pork and brown. Once pork is completely cooked, add in the flour and stir well. Add chiles, jalapeno peppers and tomato sauce and combine. Once combined, gradually stir in water. Season to taste with garlic powder. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

--

This would be fun to make in a dutch oven...maybe I will go get one with Christmas money.

--

You won't hear from me for a while. We have two little ones coming to stay the weekend with us while their mama and daddy enjoy some time away cheering on our favorite team. Wish us luck (with the kids - not the game)! I am already planning to make homemade chocolate chip cookies with them one day for "entertainment." My friend also shared her best dish...Tater Tot Casserole. I will post it later!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Brown Rice

Food always has a story. Saturday, my friend (and The Chicken Farmer's sister) had her first baby. A beautiful baby girl! It made me think a lot about My Buddy's Mimi, their mother who passed away from breast cancer almost three years ago. I know she would have been so proud! So, in honor of Mimi, who always seemed to have roast and brown rice on a Sunday, I proudly made this for a family get together that day. I thought I had her original recipe but I couldn't find it. This recipe was a "go with what you got" recipe and it turned out really good. Not her's, but good! The Chicken Farmer said he would tell me exactly how to make it, so maybe Sister can post that for us!  (She did.  Check out the comment section for original recipe.)

Brown Rice

1/2 stick butter
1 c. rice, uncooked
1 can beef consomme
1 can cream of onion soup
1 can filled with water

In casserole dish, melt butter in microwave. Stir in the next 4 ingredients. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue baking for 30-45 minutes longer.

Dijon Gravy Pork Chops

A while back we had some yummy pork chops. I don't really know what to call them which is why I will call them Dijon Gravy Pork Chops. It is a variation of anothere recipe I was reading. It made such a good gravy and The Dish Washer carried on about how good it all was. They were very easy, and then we went all country cooking on ourselves and had boiled cabbage and fried squash to go with it.


Dijon Gravy Pork Chops

4 pork chops
lemon pepper
1 Tbsp. butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. milk
2 Tbsp. dijon mustard

Season chops with lemon pepper according to your taste. In a skillet, melt butter and brown chops on both sides. While browning, mix together the soup, milk and mustard. Remove chops from skillet and pour in soup mixture. Be sure to stir really well and get all the good bits off of the bottom of the pan. Place chops in oven safe dish and pour soup mixture over chops. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Well Christmas has come and gone and we'll do it all over again in 12 months. We had a great Christmas with our families, and in fact will do a little more celebrating today and tomorrow. This is a recap of all of the food we ate:

The Dish Washer's Family (2 gatherings)

Ham
Dressing
Three Bean Salad (I found the recipe and will post later.)
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Casserole (more like a souffle)
Peas
Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese
Grape Salad
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Bread
French Silk Pie
Lemonade Pie
Pound Cake
Peppermint Cake
Fudge
Yummy Cheese dip and chips for after we opened presents

I didn't have to take anything! My mother in law had all of the food, but she did allow me to help her the Saturday night before our Sunday gathering. I also got to go to their church's Christmas dinner theater that night and we had French onion soup, salad, prime rib, baked potatoes, dinner rolls and cheesecake! Writing all of this food really makes me feel guilty for eating so much! :)

We also got to participate in Family Communion this year because they changed it from Christmas eve to the Sunday before Christmas. Their church does it where each family goes in as a group one by one and participates in The Lord's Supper together. There were 17 of us from This Dish Washer family there. It was very special.
--
Crockpot Chicken Spaghetti (YUMMY!)
Green Bean Casserole (made by The Dish Washer and not your mama's)
Salad
Bread
Leftover desserts from above gathering

This was our gathering on Christmas day. We were able to bring the green bean casserole. When I make it, I usually use the traditional recipe. When The Dish Washer makes it, he adds this and that to it and it is so good, but unfortunately there is no recipe that goes with it. He is good at that kind of thing. I am a pretty strict recipe follower. There isn't even a picture of the casserole because my battery died. Hopefully Kim will share her recipe for chicken spaghetti for later.

My Family (Christmas Eve)

Turkey
Ham
Dressing
Giblet Gravy (that turned out very good this year!)
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Casserole
Squash Casserole
Macaroni and Cheese
Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Lady's Green Beans
Pea Salad
Devilled Eggs
Dinner Rolls
Four Layer Delight
Sausage Cheese Dip (for munching)

WHOA NELLY! That is a lot of food! There were certainly a lot of mouths to feed, so honestly I don't feel like I overate like I could have. (Maybe I am just trying to justify it in my mind.) :)

I made this salad, the Four Layer Delight and the Sausage Cheese Dip. I have added several pictures to the recipes if they didn't already have a picture. I forgot to take pictures until we had already fixed our plates, which is why you have "after" shots.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

2 c. crushed pretzels
1-1/2 sticks butter, melted
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
3/4 c. sugar
1 (8 0z.) carton Cool whip
2 (3 oz.) pkgs. strawberry Jello
2 c. boiling water
1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen strawberries, sliced
1 small can crushed pineapple

Preheat the oven to 400. For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter and 3 Tbsp. sugar. Press into 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 7 minutes and set aside to cool. Beat together cream cheese and 3/4 c. sugar. Fold in cool whip. Spread over completely cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled. Dissolve the Jello in the boiling water; cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.

Sausage Cheese Dip

This is such an easy dip and everyone LOVES it! It doesn't stay around long at my house. It will be great for any New Years' bowl parties you may be going to.

Sausage Cheese Dip

1 roll of sausage (like Jimmy Dean)

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese

1 can Rotel, undrained

Brown and drain sausage in saucepan. Add cream cheese and can of Rotel and mix until melted and creamy. Serve warm with tortilla chips.