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.

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.

Wow Chow Pork and Beans Bake

I am blessed by four children who love to eat beans. I can’t believe it! I HATED beans as a kid. Beans are incredibly nutritious, and incredibly cheap! So I’m implementing them more in our diet. I’d like to have it so that we eventually have a bean dish of some sort two or three times a week, rather than once every other week. Served with rice, beans are a complete protein- perfect for children’s growing bodies and for maintaining a healthy heart. Beans and rice, yum! Better than the best prenatal vitamins you can buy!

My recipe makes use of budget meat, packaged dried beans (although you could use canned), and bulk rice. It’s a very budget-friendly meal. I nabbed up a large package of Southern Style pork ribs at my local supermarket– they have them on sale for $1 a pound! The dried beans cost me $1.20, and the rice (5 cups) probably cost me around .50 because I buy my rice in bulk. So for feeding six adult-sized portions, this meal cost me about $5.70 to put on the table. And we still had leftovers, after that. I did add a salad, which raised the price of my meal, but you could add something like apples and oatmeal mixed together, or sliced fresh peaches, and that would drive the cost down. This is also a recipe that keeps well, so you could make two casseroles and serve one of them later in the week.

Here’s a quick and easy (what else?) recipe that’s perfect for a chilly winter’s day. This would probably be a great meal in the summer, too!

Wow Chow Pork and Beans Bake
serves 6-8

2 Tablespoons olive oil
3-4 pounds Southern Style pork ribs (bones removed and fat trimmed, cut up into large cubes)
1 bag dried black beans boiled/prepared to package instructions (or 3 12oz cans, drained)
1 small can tomato soup (save the can, you’ll need it to measure water)
1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning
Minced garlic (according to your liking)

In a large skillet, heat up the oil and sear the meat. Add the Adobo seasoning and cook a little longer. Once the meat is almost completely cooked, place the pieces into a large casserole dish. Pour in any remaining juices from the skillet.

Open the tomato soup can and pour all over the meat. Fill up the can twice with water, and pour it in the casserole.
Take your boiled beans and pour them on top. Add the minced garlic. Chop in the beans just a little, to mix with the liquid.
Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour; then, turn your oven down to 325 and bake for 3 more hours.
The house will smell GREAT.

Serve with rice and green salad or a fruit salad.

Leftover Turkey Salad Pasta Primavera

I know it’s an unusual name. It’s a very unconventional kinda recipe.

BUT OH MY GOSH THIS IS DROP-DEAD GOOD!!!

I am *still* using my leftover turkey. No no, not from Thanksgiving. Not from Christmas, either. Not New Year’s Eve, even. (My husband wanted a nice dinner that evening, so I made him one. Mmm, roast turkey. Salad. Mashed potatoes with garlic and parsley. And Rum and Molasses Apple Pie– I’ll have to post that recipe sometime). After the holidays, turkeys go on sale and I scarf them up as quickly as I can! I love turkey. YUM. And the cold house feels a little warmer with roasting poultry in it.

Well, we had some salad and turkey left over recently, and the salad was starting to wilt pretty bad. What to do? I concocted a great dish off the cuff! Kind of like a gumbo-style, throw-in-the-pot-and-see-what-happens new orleans la style cooking.

Here’s what you need:

This:

Oh, and this:

MMM, and this:

To get this:

OK, in English:

Wow Chow Leftovers Primavera

Left over turkey, cut up in bite-sized chunks
Left over salad (in my salad: lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, red pepper, red onion)
Pasta (any kind, I used rigatoni)
Alfredo Sauce

Boil the pasta.
Get a frying pan and add a little olive oil. Add the turkey and saute just a little until heated through.
Add the salad, and saute until heated through. Add some prepared minced garlic (to your liking).
Remove from heat.
Drain the pasta.
Combine the pasta, turkey and salad, and alfredo sauce.
EAT!

It’s so good. SOOOOO easy. And it gets rid of the leftovers. No more bland turkey casseroles when you’ve got this!

There’s Adobo Chicken, and Then There’s Adobo Chicken

Oh gee. For the longest time, I thought this was what made Adobo Chicken:

HEE HEE! I like this stuff- I sprinkle it generously on skinless boneless chicken breasts with some olive oil, and bake, It’s wonderful with rice.

But… Adobo Chicken, a recipe from the Philippines, is different! I didn’t know this until reading some of the Filipino blogs. Asian bloggers talk about food ALL THE TIME. I can never surf these blogs on an empty stomach, especially the Japanese blogs. YUM!! I don’t need fall protection, I need food protection! I get so hungry when surfing those blogs. :-p

Anyway, here’s a recipe for Adobo Chicken. It’s so easy! Going to do this this week. It’s from Manilenio, a fellow Entrecarder. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!

Ingredients
1 head of garlic, minced
1 cup of vinegar
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
3 leaves of laurel (bay leaves)
1 kilo of pork or chicken cut into pieces

Over low heat, saute the minced garlic and add the pork or chicken meat. Add in the 1/2 cup of water, 1 cup of soy sauce, 1 cup of vinegar while stirring to prevent the meat from sticking to the pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste, then add the bay leaves. You can turn up the heat to bring it into boil and simmer until the meat has turned brown and tender, OR you can maintain the low heat for slow cooking and more flavor for about an hour.

Top it off with garlic flakes (minced garlic fried until golden brown) for added aroma. Enjoy your Adobo!

You can also use pork for this recipe. Go to Manilenio for more yummy recipes.

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