Quick and Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Yesterday, RT and I flew to Georgia to visit my mother for awhile. Out of our seven siblings (of which I’m the median one) - five were there. My sister-in-law, Vicki, made a HUGE pot of chicken and dumplings. I love chicken and dumplings. It’s the ultimate comfort food, and it’s really good for you. Here’s an easy recipe for homemade chicken and dumplings.

You’ll need:

1 can refrigerated biscuit dough (If you really like dumplings, you can use 2 cans. It just depends on how much you’re making. There’s no hard and fast rule here. Vicki made such a huge pot of chicken and dumplings, she probably used five or more cans!)

chicken (a package or two of boneless chicken or a whole chicken. I usually make sure there's some dark meat in the mix because it adds so much more flavor)

chicken stock (one or two cans of chicken broth)

salt, pepper, poultry seasoning

1 onion

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 cup plain flour

Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add the chopped onion, grated carrot and finely chopped celery to the water. (If you happen to have bell peppers - green, yellow, or red - you can chop some of that finely to add color and flavor). Season to taste with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Simmer until the chicken is well cooked. Remove the chicken from the pot and let the chicken cool. Leave the vegetables in the pot with the liquid. Once the chicken is cool, remove the meat from the bone and cut or tear into bite size pieces. Set the chicken aside.

Place the flour in a small bowl. Open the can of biscuits and cut/break each biscuit into about 8 pieces. Put the pieces into the flour and coat well. The flour is what thickens the liquid. So use it generously.

Bring the reserved liquid to a boil. Add additional chicken stock, if desired. It depends on how much chicken and dumplings you are making. Sometimes I add a drop or two of yellow food coloring to make it “prettier.”

Once it is at a rolling boil, drop the biscuit pieces into the liquid one at a time. Stir gently to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Make sure each biscuit piece is well coated with flour before dropping it into the liquid. After it has simmered for awhile, add the chicken back to the liquid, and it’s ready to serve. Prepare a salad or vegetable, and you’ve got a perfect meal.

Creamed Chicken on Cornbread

This recipe was given to me by a friend, and I've made some adaptations to it. I leave out the mushrooms and the peas, and it is SCRUMPTIOUS! You can also leave out the sherry - I usually do., This is a fantastic meal - one of those foods that makes you feel good - true comfort food. I've served it to company many times, and it always receives raves. Make a salad to go with it, and you have a complete meal.

Creamed Chicken on Cornbread

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups light cream (half and half)
2 cups milk
4 cups chicken (cooked and chopped)
8 oz. can mushroom pieces, drained
3 oz. jar diced pimentos, drained
1/4 cup sherry
1 pkg. frozen peas (optional)(or one can of peas)
salt and pepper to taste
Corn meal muffins or sticks

Melt butter. Add flour and salt; cook until bubbly. Add chicken broth. Stir with a wire whisk until smooth. Add cream and milk. Simmer 30 minutes. When ready to serve, add the other ingredients and heat thoroughly.

Serve over corn meal muffins. Yield 6 to 7 servings.

Poppy Seed Chicken

This makes a very large casserole, and it is a crowd pleaser. I've never served it that I didn't get rave reviews, requests for seconds along with requests for the recipe.

Poppy Seed Chicken

2 sticks margarine or butter, melted
3/4 lbs. Ritz crackers, crushed (3 sleeves)
1 50-ounce can cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
5 Tablespoons poppy seeds
8 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
2 cups milk

Mis the margarine/buter, 3 tablespoons poppy seeds and 2 sleeves Ritz crackers together and press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Layer chicken on top of crust. Combine soup, milk, sour cream and 2 tablespoons poppy seeds. Mix well. Pour over chicken. Sprinkle remaining crackers over mixture. Bake 45 minutes at 300 degrees until slightly browned on top. Serve over rice.

Crock Pot Chicken and Dressing

What could be easier for your holiday dinner than Crock Pot Chicken and Dressing. Thanks to Ruthlace for sending me this recipe.

Crock Pot Chicken and Dressing

5 skiness and boneless chicken breast halves
1 9x9 pan of cornbread, baked, cooked and crumbled
9 slices of day old bread, torn into small pieces
4 eggs, beaten,
1 onion, chopped finely
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 14.5 oz. cans chicken broth
1 10.75 oz. can cream of chicken soup
2 Tablespoons margarine

Boil chicken, cook and chop into small pieces. In a crock pot, stir together the chicken, cornbread, bread, eggs, onion, salt, pepper, chicken broth and chicken soup. Stir until well blended. Dot with margarine.

Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours. Remove lid and fluff with fork. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Chicken Casserole

My sister, Joan, gave me this recipe. Her son always asks for this for his birthday dinner each year.

Chicken Casserole

5 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1 stick margarine or butter
2 cups chicken broth

Cook chicken and remove from bones (or use boneless chicken breasts to begin with). Chop the chicken.
Place the chopped chicken in a casserole dish
Mix both cans of soup with one cup of chicken broth.
Pour this mixture over the chicken pieces
Mix the stuffing mix with the melted margarine and 1 cup chicken broth.
Spoon this mixture over the chicken/soup in the pan
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes

Chicken Cheese Corn Chowder

This is a delicious cold weather soup. It's comfort food at its finest. My younger sister, Debi, gave me the recipe. It's quick and easy - and delicious!

CHICKEN CHEESE CORN CHOWDER

1 cup chopped oniion
1 Tablespoon butter
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken (chopped into chunks)
3 cups milk
8 ounces Velveeta
8 ounces of Colby/Jack or cheddar cheese
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups diced potatoes
1 17-ounce can of creamed corn
salt/pepper to taste
Mrs. Dash seasoning to taste

In a large soup pot, cook the oniions in the butter until transparent. Add the chicken broth, chicken, potatoes, salt, pepper and Mrs. Dash seasoning. Simmer until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Add the corn, milk and cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted and mixed in well.

Thai Style Chicken

My Cotillion sister, Nicki, has a fantastic cooking website, Now We're Cookin', and she just posted a recipe for Thai Style Chicken. Doesn't this sound delicious? I intend to try this ASAP!

Thai Style Chicken

Ingredients:

1/3 cup peanut butter (shown with creamy, use chunky if desired)
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon chili powder
dash cayenne pepper (optional)
2 cups uncooked pasta
2 boneless chicken breasts

Directions:

Take two cups of your favorite pasta and cook according to package instructions. I made mine with thin spaghetti. While that’s cooking, chop the chicken breasts into bite size pieces and cook until meat is no longer pink in the middle and the juices run clear.

To mix up the sauce, combine the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, lemon juice, honey, garlic, chili powder, and cayenne pepper (optional) in a medium sized bowl. I found it easiest to mix with a small wire whisk to combine the peanut butter and wet ingredients first, then use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and fold in dry ingredients.

When the chicken is done, toss in with peanut butter mixture until well mixed. Drain pasta, toss in olive oil (if desired).

Serve in a bowl with pasta topped by chicken and peanut butter mixture.

Go check out Now We're Cookin' for more delicious recipes!

Turp's Tailgate Wings

My nephew's family has a blog, and it includes this delicious recipe for wings.

We had some friends over for New Year's Eve and I decided to make hot wings. I tried many, many different recipes for hot wings and I never could get them crisp like I like them. Finally, a good friend of mine gave me this recipe and so I thought I would share it with you.

Turp's Tailgate Wings

buy a five pound bag of wings

pre-heat oven to 500 degrees

spray 3 glass casserole dishes with non-stick cooking spray (I use 3 dishes for a 5 pound bag of wings and using glass dishes is the key to crisp wings)

place the wings in the dishes (I have found it better to thaw out the wings even though they would still turn out fine if you forget - you just collect more juice in the dishes when they are not thawed out)

sprinkle the wings with black pepper and garlic salt

turn the wings over and sprinkle again with black pepper and garlic salt

place wings on the top shelf of the oven and cook for one hour

after the first 30 minutes take the wings out and turn them over with a fork and place them back in the oven for the final 30 minutes

To make the wing sauce you need to do the following:

• buy your favorite hot sauce from your local grocery store (I usually use either Franks hot sauce or Texas Pete's wing sauce, but you can use whatever you like)


• pour the entire bottle of hot sauce in a blender


• add butter that has been softened in the microwave to the blender and mix for 5 to 10 seconds or until the butter and hot sauce is mixed well (the more butter you add the milder the sauce will be - also, if you want a thicker sauce then do not melt the butter as much. A good starting point for a medium sauce is 50/50 hot sauce to butter. All of this will be done to taste.)

There are five of us in my family and this recipe feeds us well. I usually deep fry some french fries, cut up some celery and make some good old sweet tea to go with the wings. Well, that's it - I sure hope you enjoy them.

Ricky and Lyn's Sweet and Sour Chicken (a la Carol)

My niece, Lyn, and her husband, Ricky, have a delicious sweet and sour chicken recipe. After making it a few times, I felt I no longer needed to look at the recipe. I could make it from memory. After I had the sauce mixed, I realized it didn't look like it usually does. I checked the recipe. Oops! For some reason I thought the recipe contained mustard and I had already added some mustard to the sauce, but mustard was definitely not in the recipe. So I accidentally came up with a new recipe - because adding the mustard made it better than ever. So here is the recipe - with my own touch:

Ricky and Lyn’s Sweet and Sour Chicken a la Carol

8 boneless chicken breasts (I use frozen chicken tenderloins)

1 8-ounce jar peach or apricot preserves

1 8-ounce bottle Catalina dressing

2 envelopes onion soup mix

1/4 cup prepared Dijon mustard

Mix all ingredients except chicken breasts. Place chicken in casserole dish. Pour mixture over the chicken breasts. Bake covered for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Remove cover and bake an additional hour.

I serve it over rice.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Okay, I have a new recipe for you. I made this for dinner last night, and it was delicious! It made two pans worth - one for last night (with enough extra for lunch today), and a pan for another evening soon. I love having frozen meals that I can pop from the freezer to the oven for a good dinner on a busy evening.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

2 cups chicken (cooked, deboned, diced. I just bought a package of chicken - already cooked and diced)

1 can black beans (drain and rinse)

1 can whole kernel corn (drain)

1 can mild tomatoes and jalopenos (Rotel)

2 cans enchilada sauce

several cups shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)

8 flour tortillas

Prepare a baking pan by spraying it with Pam. Preheat the over to 350.

Mix the chicken, beans, corn, Rotel and 2 cups shredded cheese together in a bowl. Take a tortillas and spoon some of the mixture in the middle and fold in the sides. Place the enchilada folded-side down in the pan. Prepare all the tortillas the same way.

Pour the enchilada sauce on top of the tortillas. Then sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes. Take the foil off the top for the last few minutes.

You can add sour cream or whatever topping you like. We ate them with nothing extra and a tossed salad on the side, and it was an absolutely scrumptious meal.

Besides being delicious, the best thing about this meal is how easy it is. I got home around 5:15 - and by 6:00 we were eating dinner. Just dump the ingredients in the bowl, mix, fill the tortillas and bake for awhile. Couldn’t be easier.

Quick and Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Yesterday, RT and I flew to Georgia to visit my mother for awhile. Out of our seven siblings (of which I’m the median one) - five were there. My sister-in-law, Vicki, made a HUGE pot of chicken and dumplings. I love chicken and dumplings. It’s the ultimate comfort food, and it’s really good for you. Here’s an easy recipe for homemade chicken and dumplings.

You’ll need:

1 can refrigerated biscuit dough (If you really like dumplings, you can use 2 cans. It just depends on how much you’re making. There’s no hard and fast rule here. Vicki made such a huge pot of chicken and dumplings, she probably used five or more cans!)

chicken (a package or two of boneless chicken or a whole chicken. I usually make sure there's some dark meat in the mix because it adds so much more flavor)

chicken stock (one or two cans of chicken broth)

salt, pepper, poultry seasoning

1 onion

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 cup plain flour

Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add the chopped onion, grated carrot and finely chopped celery to the water. (If you happen to have bell peppers - green, yellow, or red - you can chop some of that finely to add color and flavor). Season to taste with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Simmer until the chicken is well cooked. Remove the chicken from the pot and let the chicken cool. Leave the vegetables in the pot with the liquid. Once the chicken is cool, remove the meat from the bone and cut or tear into bite size pieces. Set the chicken aside.

Place the flour in a small bowl. Open the can of biscuits and cut/break each biscuit into about 8 pieces. Put the pieces into the flour and coat well. The flour is what thickens the liquid. So use it generously.

Bring the reserved liquid to a boil. Add additional chicken stock, if desired. It depends on how much chicken and dumplings you are making. Sometimes I add a drop or two of yellow food coloring to make it “prettier.”

Once it is at a rolling boil, drop the biscuit pieces into the liquid one at a time. Stir gently to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Make sure each biscuit piece is well coated with flour before dropping it into the liquid. After it has simmered for awhile, add the chicken back to the liquid, and it’s ready to serve. Prepare a salad or vegetable, and you’ve got a perfect meal.

Chicken Cobbler

I tried a new recipe for dinner tonight. I usually make adjustments to any recipe to reflect my own tastes, and this recipe is no exception. It tasted very good!

Chicken Cobbler

6 T. butter, divided
5 cups cubed bread (I used a few slices of sourdough bread that I cubed - other breads would be good, too)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 T. chopped parsley
2 medium onions, chopped
1 cup buttermilk (you can substitute regular milk OR wine, depending on your taste)
1 (10.5 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup drained/chopped roasted red peppers
2 1/2 cups chopped/cooked chicken (I used canned chicken)

(1) Melt 4 T. butter and toss lightly with rolls, cheese and parsley. Set aside.
(2) Saute onions in 2 T. butter until golden brown.
(3) Stir in the buttermilk.
(4) Add the soup, peppers and chicken.
(5) Heat in the saucepan until bubbly.
(6) Pour into a 9-inch square baking dish.
(7) Top with the bread mixture.
(8) Bake at 375 for about 20 - 30 minutes until browned.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

I made this for RT’s company party last week. It is delicious, and it makes a lot. This is for 5-6 servings.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

First prepare the chicken:

1 1/2 to 2 lbs. chicken (I used boneless chicken breasts and thighs)

1 rib celery, chopped

1 small onion, quartered

2 bay leaves

Combine the chicken, celery, onion and bay leaves. Cover with water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from broth, cool, debone (if needed) and chop. Set the chicken aside. Discard the bay leaves. Save the broth, onion and celery.

Now it’s time to make the gumbo:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 cups diced onion

1 cup chopped celery

6 cups chicken broth

1 pound sliced okra

1/2 pound turkey link sausage, cut into 1/2 inch slices

Hot cooked rice

In a large pan, combine the oil and flour and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the roux is a dark brown. This will take about 15-20 minutes. Stir in the diced onion and chopped celery. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add 6 cups of the reserved broth (including the onion and celery that was cooked earlier with the chicken), the chopped chicken, okra and sausage. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for an hour or longer. Serve over the cooked rice.

This is REALLY delicious gumbo, and by using chicken and turkey sausage, it’s on the healthy side, too.

Easy Chicken Quesadillas

A quickie meal - easy, only three main ingredients.

Easy Chicken Quesadillas

1 package grilled/diced chicken breast (or you can season, grill and dice your own)

6 large flour tortillas (more or less, depending on how hungry you are)

Grated or thinly sliced Mexican cheese (mixture of white and yellow cheeses)

Spray Pam in the bottom of a large frying pan and place a tortilla in the pan, fllat. On one half, place some of the cheese and chicken. Fold the tortilla in half. Lightly brown each side. I usually keep a pan in the oven to place the quesadillas when I’m finished with them. It helps to finish melting the cheese and keeps them hot until I have enough prepared for everyone. To serve, use a pizza cutter to slice each quesadilla into wedges. Serve with sour cream and salsa. Yummy!