Chicken Dumpling Casserole

Hello again! So we tried another really good recipe. Wanted to share it!

Chicken and Dumpling Casserole

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 cups chicken broth (2 8oz cans)
2 cups frozen peas/carrots
1/2 to 2/3 cup frozen southern hashbrowns
1 cup fresh broccoli (if you like)
4 cubs cubed cooked chicken

Dumplings:
2 cups biscuit/baking mix
1 tsp dried basil
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup shredded cheese (can also add cheese to the veggie/chicken mixture if you like)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, saute the onion, celery, and garlic in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, sugar, salt, and pepper until blended. Gradually add broth; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute; reduce heat. Add peas/carrots/hashbrown/broccoli and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chicken. Pour into greased 13x9 baking dish.

For dumplings, in a small bowl, combine baking mix, basil, and cheese. Stir in milk with a fork until moistened. Drop by tablespoonfuls (or bigger) into 12 mounds over chicken mixture.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cover and bake 10 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in the dumpling comes out clean. Yield 6-8 servings.

I was going to title this post SPRING and wish you all happy new beginnings... aren't these tulips so pretty!?!?

And my plants have caught spring fever as well... new buds everywhere...

BUT. This morning we woke up to THIS!! More snow. In March. I'm about over it. yesterday it was near 50 degrees, and today there are a couple inches on the ground. Ah well... still time to cook those warm winter soups and enjoy them I suppose. :-) Smile!

Aloha Pork Chops

Because I'm a full time student and working at the hospital as well, I've been trying to come up with dinners to cook on Sunday and Monday evenings that would work well for leftovers the rest of the week. AND... we've been looking for new recipes to try... rather than making the "same old, same old". Here's one I made last night and LOVED! Try it!!

Aloha Pork Chops (courtesy http://www.kraftfoods.com/)

Ingredients:

2 cups instant white rice (I used instant brown rice)
2 cans (8 oz each) pineapple tidbits in juice, undrained
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 tsp Ginger (optional) (love it!)
1/2 cup SHAKE'N BAKE Original Pork Seasoned Coating Mix
4 bone-in pork chops (about 5 oz each), 1/2 inch thick (I used boneless pork chops)

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Mix rice, pineapple with juice, broth, green pepper, and ginger in 13x9-inch baking dish.

MEASURE 1/2 cup coating mix and place in plastic bag; coat chops as directed on package. Place chops on top of rice mixture.

BAKE 35-40 minutes or until chops are cooked through (165 degrees F).

YUM!!

A cure for the "Winter Blah's"

I love to gaze through online recipe collections and their pictures - how do they always make *anything* look so good?? Anyways, one of the sites I like is www.Kraftrecipes.com. I've always wanted to try making White Chili, so I found the following recipe - DE-LIC-IOUS!!!

Southern White Chili

Ingredients:

2 TBSP Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
1 small onion, chopped
2 cans (15 oz each) white beans, rinsed (*I used 1 can white and 1 can regular chili beans*)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
1 can (4 oz) green chiles, undrained
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 cups Kraft mexican style finely shredded four cheese
2 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

HEAT the dressing in a large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add chicken and onions; cook 7 min or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally.

STIR in beans, broth, chilies, and cumin. Bring to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 10 min, stirring occasionally.

SERVE topped with cheese and cilantro. Yum!



Another website to look at is www.copykat.com. They have recreated recipes for many of our favorite restaurant foods. (And no... they aren't exactly the healthy ones, so don't peek if you're looking for healthy!) I don't have a picture, but this past week I also made this:

Bennigan's Ultimate Bake Potato Soup

Ingredients:

3 lbs all purpose potatoes, scrubbed and pierced in serveral places
1 TBSP stick butter or margarine
1 1/2 cup finely chopped onions
2 TBSP minced garlic
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
3 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
TOPPINGS: shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, and chopped scallions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake potaties 1 hour or until tender when pierces. (I used a microwave for this step, and it went a LOT faster) Peel when cool enough to handle. Melt butter in a 4 to 6 qt pot over medium low heat. Stir in onions and garlic, cover and cook 10 minutes until soft, but not brown. Add 2/3 potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Add broth, milk, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cut remaining potatoes in small cubes. Add to soup and stir gently to reheat. Sprinkle each serving with toppings. YUM!

Quick Strawberry Pie

I've been cooking again! I've been in a mood to try new recipes - to build up my recipe box with lots of "good ones" that you would use when you have company come over.

This was a simple one I found online... Kids would LOVE it!

Quick Strawberry Pie

Ingredients:

1 small box strawberry jello

2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

1 container frozen whipped cream

1 graham cracker pie crust

Directions:

Boil 1 cup of water and mix in strawberry jello. Add ice cubes to water to make ice water, then mix 1 cup of ice water into the jello. When jello has cooled, remove remaining ice pieces (if there are any. Mix in 2 cups of chopped strawberries. Mix in whole container of whipped cream. Place jello/strawberry/whipped cream mixture in fridge to cool. When it is firm (but not entirely set), spoon mixture into graham cracker pie crust and return to fridge. Let set. Eat!

These are so fun - so I made some more!

I haven't had much time for any kind of sewing - I don't know if I've mentioned that I'm also going to school full time to get a Nursing degree, and working at the hospital part time as well. But I DID manage to make a few more cards... they don't take very long, and it's okay if they aren't perfect. :-) (My kind of project!) I've just been using up the little pieces I've cut... mixing and matching. Some of these would look better with some ribbon, or buttons sewed on - maybe even tags or silk flowers. Not sure yet... but we'll see. It would be nice to build up a little box of these for any occasion.

This one is my favorite... The red is kinda unexpected...

Fun little project

Someone suggested I try small sewing projects first... and I've seen this idea in a magazine, so I wanted to try it. Fabric greeting cards! They look so easy! And guess what... THEY ARE! I've only made simple ones so far, but perfect for a beginner, eh?

These were birthday cards for my mom and mom-in-law, and also a Valentine's day card for my Grandma. She LOVES to sew, and was part of my inspiration to learn. :-)

I haven't decided where this one will be sent yet, but I'm may just make up a bunch of them to have on hand for birthday's and occasions. They are so cute! They don't even have to be all color coordinated... just use scraps!! Love it!

Time in the kitchen...

Last week I had a free saturday (I've been working every other Saturday) and decided that I should do some cooking for leftovers/freezing. It only took about 3 hours... and YUMMY were the results!!

Oatmeal/Raisin/Cinnamon Bread

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Steamed Veggies (and rice)

Red potato salad

Egg Salad (per request for lunches)

Sausage and Hashbrown Breakfast Quiche

And the best for last.... German Chocolate Brownies! YUM!!

Most of these are just the "home comfort" type of food that are good for taking to work and school for lunches... and for quick dinners on cold evenings. I'll have to come up with something new this weekend! :-)