Like Grandma’s Chicken Dumplings?

A recipe titled “Like Grandma’s Chicken Dumplings” is a loaded one, for me. My grandmother never cooked (not that I remember; she was always busy shifting through mounds of paperwork, perhaps life insurance rates and retirement benefits?). But seemed to always serve Campbell’s tomato soup and tuna fish sandwiches. It was fine with me, because I loved tomato soup and disliked Chicken Dumplings. Yuk.

Buuuut…. I couldn’t let my kids grow up without once trying Chicken Dumplings, now could I? What kind of mother would I be?! So I found a recipe that made it easy. I can’t say it’s very tasty… they liked it OK, but I didn’t care for it. It is certainly palatable, but I don’t like cream sauces… and this had more sauce then chicken. The original recipe is at Disney Family Food (a new recipe website I’ve discovered). I altered it a little. Here’s what I did.

Like Grandma’s Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients
2 cups cooked chicken
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 soup cans water
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits)

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients, except biscuits, in 4 1/2-quart CROCK-POT® slow cooker.
2. Cut biscuits into quarters and gently stir into mixture. Cover; cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours.

Tip
Don’t add water to the CROCK-POT® slow cooker, unless the recipe specifically says to do so. Foods don’t lose as much moisture during slow cooking as they can during conventional cooking, so follow the recipe guidelines for best results.

OK, I doubled the recipe. The “2 cans” soup water made for a LOT of water. I did it anyway….

Looks… interesting….

It was just too watery. So I added potatoes. And carrots. All the Chicken and Dumpling recipes I ever saw had potatoes and carrots. This was turning more into a Chicken Stew…. but I wasn’t going to eat canned cream of chicken soup and chicken cubes! It just didn’t seem enough. Adding the potatoes probably diluted a little of the saltiness from the “bouillon” granules (I used Ramen packets). So more salt is necessary.

End result?

Not TOO bad. I skipped the refrigerated biscuits and served fresh rolls instead. The kids liked dipping the rolls into the soup. And the chicken was marvelously tender and moist. But the overall taste….. eh. OK. It’s always the creamy sauce stuff that I don’t care for.

So this was an OK recipe. I don’t intend to make it again, unless the kids beg me. And they probably won’t. The WILL beg me for Tortellini with Edamame and Kielbasa, which I am going to make again.

Four Foods For Friday 102

I’ve stopped fussing about my tardiness over the FFFF, lol. Oh well! I’m just going to enjoy the meme. Plus, I have a new WAHM job and things have been hectic, so I’m blogging a little less these days. Not to mention I have had NO time to cook!

1. What’s your favorite type or shape of pasta?
2. Where do you shop for groceries?
3. What’s your favorite mayonnaise?
4. What is the food in your freezer wrapped/stored in?

1. Mmmm I love pasta. It loves me, too, especially my hips. Why is it the yummiest foods that make us fat?? :-p Anyway, I like the angel hair, the thin spaghetti, the rotini, the rigatoni! I use rigatoni the most around here, because it is bulky and it’s not too light and not to heavy.

2. WalMart.

3. I loved mayo as a kid, but rarely eat it now. Maybe it’s because it’s too much work to get it out the jar, lol– I like the squeezy mustard containers. I never buy name brand (I tried Miracle Whip and that was too sweet), so I don’t have any favorite.

4. Well, here’s hoping freezer bags don’t cause malignant Mesothelioma or anything, cuz that’s what I use! I am too lazy much in a hurry to warp things nice and neat.

This was an interesting FFFF, interesting with its low-key questions…

Tortellini with Edamame and Kielbasa

I spotted this recipe at Disney Family Food site, and WOW! It took all of 20 minutes to make and throw on the table… and the family DEVOURED it! I love edamame (I blogged about the nutritious little buggers here), and snack on them regularly. The kids don’t like them, though. Ah, but I figured out a way to get them to eat it! Now if I can only get them to nab some ritzy IT Jobs…. sigh…

Well, I have copied the recipe (below) but I’ve made a few modifications to make things a little easier and to use fewer cooking pots than the Disney recipe calls for. This is a GREAT recipe! My kids ate everything in this dish.

Tortellini with Edamame and Kielbasa
serves 6

Ingredients

1 pound frozen cheese tortellini
1 cup shelled edamame (frozen section of the grocery store)
1 cup diced red pepper
1 pound Kielbasa
1/2 cup Italian dressing (I made my own using a dry packaged mix– I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil)

Directions

Take the tortellini and the edamame packages out of the freezer to loosen up a little.
Fill a big stock pot halfway full of water and set to boil.
While the water is heating up, slice the kielbasa into 1/4″ slices, and dice the pepper.

When the water starts to boil, dump in the tortellini, and boil for about 5 minutes.
Add the edamame, and boil for 2 more minutes.
Drain in a colander and set aside temporarily.
Set the stock pot back on the hot stove and dump in the kielbasa slices and diced peppers. Heat on high, rapidly stirring, for about 2 minutes. Dump in the Italian dressing to heat.
Dump in the tortellini and edamame, stir.

EAT!

I served a salad on the side, but it wasn’t really necessary. The edamame is very filling, and the meal is very well-rounded. My kids ate the edamame! I’m still beaming.

Next Page »