Dolly Parton Chicken and Dumplings

Y'all, I took on a feat today. We decided that chicken and dumplings sounded good. As I was researching a recipe, we came across the Dolly Parton recipe. Since she's a southern goddess and a real delight, we chose her recipe. Here it is, I will not retype all of it:

https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/dolly-parton-chicken-and-dumplings/

Here are some photos I took of our process:
Here is me, taking all of the chicken off of the bones, because you use an entire freaking chicken. And then here is the chicken after all the bones are out!

 And then here we have the soup as I am adding all the ingredients, and then the soup in my bowl!

Something that I didn't realize until we were mixing the chicken into the final soup, is that the chicken I was using was double the size the recipe called for ... so I definitely had way too much chicken in here haha.
But! This recipe is freaking delicious. I cannot recommend it enough. Make it, it's not even that hard.

Stuffing Casserole

Most of the problem with being at home all the time is that we have started to cook way way more. We very rarely go out, and have to come up with food ideas all the tine. Luckily that's where Pinterest comes in handy and I've been utilizing that a lot. Today we made a recipe I found on there, a stuffing recipe. Here it is, just in case you're interested: 

1 lb. ground sausage

4 Tablespoons butter

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 cups fresh green beans

¾ cups celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, mince

Salt/Pepper, to taste

2 cups chicken broth

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1/3 cup sour cream

¼ cup Craisins

14 oz. stuffing mix, equal to 8 cups

½ cup crispy fried onions

Fresh parsley, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 350. Brown the sausage, after it is browned remove it from the pan. Melt the butter, add the onion, fresh green beans, and celery. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper, cook for another minute or so. Add the chicken broth. Turn off the heat, mix in the soup, sour cream, and craisins. Add the sausage back to the pan along with the stuffing and stir until combined. Add to a lightly greased 9X13 pan. Bake, covered, for 1 hour. Remove cover and bake another 5 minutes. Add the crispy onions and bake for another 5 minutes. Top with parsley and enjoy! 

Y'all! This was delicious! It tastes like a freaking Thanksgiving dinner remixed and I'm obsessed, absolutely recommend. 

I Made Bread! From Scratch!

Y'all, I have bread. From scratch. Using YEAST! Oh my goodness, I am so proud of myself. I'm going to just link straight over to the gals recipe I used, there are too many steps to write down !

https://www.somethingswanky.com/chunky-french-toast-caramel-syrup/
Here it is, much delicious. And here are some pics to highlight!

 Here is my dough as soon as I had mixed it!

And here it is after I've broken it into pieces and dipped in a cinnamon butter dip.

 So then, I forgot to get pics of the other stuff (my bad, guys, it was stressful to make bread!) and then here it is, after baking, after cooling, after cutting, and ready to be put into the oven to bake into delicious French Toast.
And then I didn't get pics of the finished product. But !! It is delicious. Guys, I felt like a real bona fide baker and master of my domain with this, and I absolutely recommend this recipe.
Enjoy!

Minimal Cake Dessert

There's not really a name for this, as far as I can see, and it's really such an easy cake, I loved it. And I felt like it was sort of healthy (even though it isn't) and that was a nice thing for my brain. Here it is:

It's so easy to make. Basically, take your favorite chocolate cake recipe, but split it between 3 pans. Since I only have 2 8-inch cake pans, I bought some disposable aluminum pans, and they were square. After baking them, I let them cool. Then I made some typical whipped cream - 2 cups of whipping cream, some vanilla, and powdered sugar. (the recipe is on the carton of cream, if you need it). Put down one of the cakes, spread some whipped cream, another cake, another cream, last cake, last cream and then throw some berries on top (I chose strawberries, blueberries and raspberries). I'm sure I could have made it prettier, but meh, I honestly don't care.
It was so good! We cut the cake into 9 pieces and that was a plenty big enough for anyone. I totally recommend this for anyone, and it was legit the most easy.

Krispies

I made some Rice Krispie treats today, and holy cow did they turn out good! Recipe (literally it's the usual Rice Krispies recipe you get off the box but I sure add a lot more butter):
1 stick butter
1 10-oz bag marshmallows
9ish cups of Krispies

Melt the butter about halfway in a bowl in the microwave. After its about half melted, add the bag of marshmallows, and microwave another minute or so. When the butter is melted and the marshmallows are doubling in size (because of the heat) take it out, stir it a bit and add the Rice Krispies, and really, you can choose how many you want. The recipe calls for like, 8 cups, but when I added 8 I still had too much mallow, so I just kept adding cereal until I liked the consistency. Pour into a pan already sprayed with cooking spray, press into place. Let cool.

Also a fun treat I did this time is I did half Coco Krispies and half Red/White/Blue holiday Krispies.

They are delicious! Recommended.

Red Velvet Popcorn

Stamp & Chat is tomorrow night, so today I made the treat for it. The theme for this month is just a red dessert, so on the Six Sisters' website, I found a recipe for Red Velvet Popcorn, and it looked delicious! Of course, when I made it, it looked nothing like their version. Here's the recipe :

6 cups freshly popped popcorn
1 (12 oz) bag white chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup red velvet cake mix
Pour 6 cups of popped popcorn into a large bowl.
In a small bowl, pour white chocolate chips and microwave in 30 second increments stirring in between until smooth. Pour in vegetable oil and mix until combined to make mixture smoother, and easier to pour. Pour half the melted chocolate in a small bowl, and mix in red velvet cake mix until smooth. Pour over the popcorn and mix so the red velvet mixture evenly covers the popcorn (it may be slightly clumpy, but that is fine). Spread the red velvet covered popcorn out on a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil. Drizzle the remaining half of the white chocolate over the red velvet popcorn. Wait until hardened, then break into smaller chunks and serve.

It was still delicious, though! 

Banana Oatmeal Energy Balls

I had a million bananas leftover last week that I didn't get to before they were too brown for me to eat. So I had to make a load of things with them. I made some oatmeal banana chocolate chip cookies, and then I still had a few bananas left. So I googled recipes and found one for energy balls, with no sugar. Sounded interesting.

2 ripe bananas
2 cups rolled oats
¼ cup almond butter (or peanut butter, or your favorite nut butter)
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Combine these into a bowl. 

 When it's all combined, it'll look like this:

Then, round them into about-2 inch balls and place them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. 

Refrigerate for 2 hours, then you can transfer to another container. Store in the refrigerator. Guys, these are so good. They have no sugar (minus the chocolate chips) and dang, are they tasty. I recommend these for a healthy snack. 

Crockpot Chicken Parm

All right all right, Sunday, which means crock pot day. Tonight I chose a new recipe, and gave it a go. And I gotta say, I like it. Let's jump right in.

2 (24-oz.) jars tomato sauce. (I mixed it up and used my regular Paul Newman's, but I did one regular marinara sauce, and one of the garlic sauce, delicious.)
1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. oregano
1 lb. penne pasta
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese (turns out I didn't have any, so I just used the one in the green can, the sprinkle kind, still worked)

Add the chicken to a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Sprinkle over the salt, pepper and oregano. Pour the pasta sauce over those.  Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours, without opening the lid during the cooking time. When the slow cooker is done cooking, prepare the pasta on the stove-top according to the package directions. While the pasta is cooking, remove the chicken on to a plate and cut into bite size pieces, the chicken will shred very easy, but I still like to cut it up a bit so there isn't long strings of chicken. Add the chicken back to the sauce. Drain the pasta very well. Add the pasta to the chicken and sauce in the slow cooker. Stir. Flatten the pasta out into an even layer. Sprinkle over the shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Cover for 15 more minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

All right, this was delicious. And it made a lot, so be prepared, you can definitely cut the recipe in half, if you have a small crew. I wish I had, because I think I'll be eating this all week. That's all right, it's  delicious enough, I'm all right with it.

Congo Bars

So, here's the thing. I got this recipe on Pinterest. I have no idea why these are called Congo Bars. I don't know what that's in reference to. I don't understand the name at all, and that's all right. I had decided to make these tonight, and after I had softened my butter and was all ready to get going, I realized, I don't enough have any brown sugar in the house. Me! No brown sugar! Gah! So I googled how to make some (just in case you could!) and found a recipe. So in addition to making these cookie bars, I made my own brown sugar! To make your own, you do 1 cup of white sugar and 1 TB of unsulphured molasses, and mix those up. That's it. So I did that, and then, made them. They are:

2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup salted butter (softened)
3 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 - 2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add in eggs and vanilla and stir until combined. Add the baking powder and flour, by cups, into the bowl. Fold in chocolate chips. Grease a 13x9 pan. Press dough into pan (you can either do this with your hands or a spatula, I used a spatula. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until lightly browned. Test with a tooth pick. (The dough should be soft in the center.)

So, there they are. As an added bonus, I threw in like, a half a cup of mini M&M's, just for color and fun. Did a forget to take a picture? Yes. Did everyone eat them before I remembered? Yes, but take it from me, they were delicious, and should be made.

A Delicious Roast

One of the greatest inventions of the world is the crockpot. You throw a bunch of ingredients into a bowl, turn it on, and then a few hours later, blam! A delicious meal that you can enjoy. Sunday is usually my go-to day of crockpotting, Today I chose a Pioneer Women recipe, and got started. It'll take 100 years to recreate her recipe on her, so I'm just going to do a link:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008_the_year_of_the_pot_roast/

And of course, I naturally forgot to snap a picture of my food before I ate it, because I was so dang hungry. Just know that it was delicious, and I definitely recommend this recipe.

Choco Chip Cookies

I'm always on the lookout for the perfect recipe for chocolate chip cookies. All the ones I've had are delicious of course, but I always want to see if a new one I find is just a little more delicious. So tonight I tried a new recipe. Let's break it down.

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
1 Tb vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp  kosher salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Melt butter in a bowl in the microwave. Add brown sugar to a large bowl, then pour melted butter over brown sugar. Stir to combine butter and sugar. Let stand 5 minutes.
Add egg and egg yolk; stir to combine, and stir in vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Using a medium cookie scoop (or your hands if you don't have a scoop, I just do, it's about a tablespoon+, drop scoops of dough 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 7-10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

Guys, these were super delicious! I really dug these, and they were so fast and quick to make, when I finished, I could hardly believe how easy they were!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

So, here we are. It's now fall. The air has a chill, the leaves are falling, and it's time to cuddle up under a blanket and watch the Food Network all day. (Why the Food Network? Honestly I don't know, but they are comforting to me). So I decided to make some soup for last nights dinner. I picked something with potato because frankly, I had a bag of potatoes that I needed to use up, since they didn't get used up last week with the fridge shenanigans. I found a recipe online, and got it going. Here's the recipe for those so inclined to use it:

4 peeled and diced Russett potatoes (honestly I'm not sure what diced meant, and I can't hand dice equal potatoes so I just did my best)
1 small onion, diced
4 cups chicken broth

Put these into a crockpot and cook on low for 4 hours. (mine is a really hot running one, so you may have to adjust your times on this). After the 4 hours, when you want to eat in 30 minutes, here is a new list of ingredients:

4 TB butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup cream

In a small pan on the stove, melt the butter, and then add the flour. Whisk until bubbly. Then slowly add in the cream and sour cream, heating through. Add this to the crockpot, stirring well. Let it cook for another 30 minutes. When ready to eat, use your favorite baked potato toppings. I just used cheese and bacon pieces, yummmmm.

This soup was crazy delicious! I had some reservations throughout the day, but when it was finished, I was so pleased with the results. I ate with a delicious crusty roll, so pick those up (or make, if so inclined) and have a super delicious warm meal. Happy Fall!

Meatless Monday - Sugar Snap Pea and Carrot Soba Noodles

We have decided of late to make Mondays a meatless day, just for variation and fun. This week, this is the recipe we did. Let me tell you how I made it. First of all, I was supposed to get soba noodles to make this, but after going to the store, I couldn't find them. Instead, I just used spaghetti. So first off, make 6 ounces of spaghetti noodles according to package directions. Then, 

2 cups frozen organic edamame

5 ounces (about 1 cups) sugar snap peas or snow peas

6 medium-sized carrots, peeled

1 red pepper, diced 

¼ cup sesame seeds

I just shredded the carrot, I didn't have a julienne peeler like the recipe called for, so I did that. In the future I probably would just buy a package of carrots that are already cut into the long thin strips. Boil the edamame according to package directions. Put the noodles and vegetables into a bowl (after they're all prepared and cooked) and add the sauce. 

For the sauce:

¼ cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons quality peanut oil or extra-virgin olive oil

1 small lime, juiced (3 TB of lime juice, if you just have juice and not limes)

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar

2 teaspoons ginger powder

1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce

Mix all together, and pour on the vegetables. Mix mix mix and then eat, its delicious.

This was so good, I couldn't get enough of it! In the future, I think I would add a few more ounces of spaghetti, there was more vegetables than noodles left over at the end. Otherwise, a great addition the menu.

Chocolate Chip Oreo Peppermint Cookies

I made a new batch of cookies tonight, and I had to mix up two recipes together to make them happen. I took the recipe for my chocolate chip cookies, and added some new things. Here’s the recipe for these delicious cookies:

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup Andes peppermint chips
1 cup smashed up Oreos (not completely – you want chunks, not just the fine powder)

Toss together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325F degrees. In a medium size bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg, then the egg yolk. Finally, whisk in the vanilla and peppermint. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together. Pour in the chocolate and peppermint chips. Then, hand mix in the Oreos, and don’t overmix or the Oreo’s will take over the cookie dough. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoons of dough each. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. The cookies will look very soft and underbaked. They will continue to bake on the cookie sheet. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

These were crazy delicious! Honestly, the peppermint is such a great edition. But truth be told, when I make these in the future, I think I’ll leave out the Oreo. It’s a delish cookie, and I liked the taste, but I want to see what it’s like without it. But otherwise, these are awesome and super tasty. Enjoy!

Pies and Cooking

So, before I start this, I’m going to level with you. I didn’t take a single picture of any of the stuff I made today. I forgot to get pictures of the pies I made, and the hot fudge I made. Yup, that happened. Dang it. So, here we go:

Tonight, I made the pies for Thanksgiving. I made a pumpkin cheesecake that didn’t really work out very well. I followed the recipe, but it made too much cheesecake-to-pumpkin pie ratio. I made a backup pie then, a peanut butter pie, an old staple, and I dig it. It’s a no-bake pie, so it’s easy and awesome. During the making of the pb pie, I learned I didn’t have any hot fudge in the house, despite previously thinking I had a full bottle. Dang it again! So I looked at recipes online, and finally found an easy one that I could make hot fudge at home! So after making that, I finished my pies. Here’s the recipe for the delicious hot fudge:

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup half and half OR milk OR cream (which is what I used)
4 TB butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and keep stirring for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a heat safe container. (I used a small mason jar) Allow to cool and store in refrigerator.

Easy and delicious! So finally, my pies are ready, and Husband made an apple pie while I was doing these, so I think at this point, we’re all ready for Thanksgiving!

Taco Casserole

For dinner this past Sunday, we made a taco casserole that was made in one pot! It was ridiculously easy, and incredibly delicious. Here’s how to make it:

1 lb Lean Ground Beef
1 Package McCormick Taco Seasoning (low sodium)
2 Cups Water
1 (15oz) Can Diced Tomatoes (low sodium)
1 (15 oz) Can Tomato Sauce (low sodium)
1 Cup Frozen Whole Kernel Corn
2 Cups Uncooked Elbow Macaroni
1 Cup Shredded Colby/Jack Cheese

Brown beef in 3 quart pot over medium/high heat. Drain fat and return beef to pot. Add taco seasoning, water, tomatoes, tomato sauce and corn. Bring to a boil. Add uncooked macaroni and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes (until pasta is cooked through), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Sprinkle cheese on top and cover. Serve once cheese is melted.

Here’s what it looked like in the pot, after the cheese had melted.

And once I served it up, it was delicious and oh so tasty.

Crockpot Chicken and Rice

So for dinner last night, we made a super tasty meal, and it was really easy to make. Here are the ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
14 ounce can Cream of Chicken Soup
14 ounce can Cheddar Soup
14 ounces Chicken Broth
1/2 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup sour cream
6 cups steamed broccoli florets (Boiled in hot water for 3 minutes then drained)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

And then, super easy directions:

Place soups, chicken broth, Cajun and garlic salt into a crockpot over low heat.  Whisk until smooth.  Add chicken, pressing to the bottom. Cover lid and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours. When chicken is cooked, use 2 forks to shred into bite size pieces.  Stir in sour cream and broccoli. Serve over steamed rice and sprinkle with cheese if desired. If you’d like, top also with crunchy chow mein noodles.

This was fantastic and delicious.It reminded me a little of Hawaiian Haystacks, and it was so tasty.

Pumpkin Pie Dip

For Stamp and Chat tomorrow, we’re all making (getting) our favorite dips and chips. Since I don’t really do chips and dip that often, I went for a dessert dip. I saw this on Pinterest and was super jazzed to try it. The ingredients are few, they are:

15 oz can of pumpkin
5 oz box of instant vanilla pudding (you won’t be making the pudding, you just need the powder)
16 oz cool whip, thawed
1/2 TB pumpkin pie spice
1/2 TB cinnamon

Mix every ingredient together in a large bowl. Chill for several hours before serving. To dip, you can use apple slices, Nilla wafers, or graham crackers.

Guys, this was crazy delicious. I can’t even explain how good this was! You can either dip stuff into it, or literally just eat it by the spoonful. It’s awesome.

Snickers Pie

I needed a dessert to bring to a family dinner tomorrow evening, and decided to make a Snickers pie. It was crazy easy! All you need is:

1 green apple
20 mini snickers bars (I’m sure you could use some big ones but I didn’t)
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
2 1/2 cups Cool Whip, softened
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
4 oz cream cheese

So, chop up those Snickers, chop up those apples, and put them on the bottom of a graham cracker crust pie. Poor the caramel topping on them. Mix together the cool whip, the milk, and the cream cheese. Spread it over the pie crust. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Then, sprinkle some of the leftover Snickers pieces, a few strategic apple slices, and some caramel topping drizzled over.

This was so tasty! And so easy! Make it, guys. It’s sticky to eat, but oh so yummy.

Snickers Brownies

Ok, I made the most amazing dessert last night. I’ll give you the website straight off where I got it:

http://jaseyscrazydaisy.com/2012/02/snickers-brownies/

But that’s just because in case you have questions, you can go there for clarification. The first website I got the recipe from, like, skimped on details, so luckily she posted to this site so I could use it instead, so I was glad not to have to rely on the first one anymore. Here we go:

Brownie Layer

1 box of brownie mix (I suppose you could also homemake one, but man, go the easy route, guys
1/4 cup hot fudge topping, unheated, straight from the jar

Nougat Layer:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
2 (7 oz.) jars marshmallow creme
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla

Caramel Layer

1 (17 oz.) jar of caramel, preferably Mrs. Richardson's Butterscotch Caramel

Candy Bar Topping

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

How to:

Prepare brownie batter according to package directions for a 9x13-inch pan, adding 1/4 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, unheated and straight from the jar to the batter. Cool the brownies.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil. Add in the marshmallow crème, peanut butter, and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Fold in peanuts. Pour evenly over cooled brownies. Use a spatula to help spread the mixture. Cool, by sticking the brownies in the fridge for like, half an hour. Scoop caramel topping into a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat over low until caramel is soft and easy to stir. I’m going to be honest – my caramel was already pretty soft, so this step seemed like a waste, but do it anyway, just in case. Pour the caramel over the nougat layer. Make sure to pour it evenly across the nougat. Let cool. Again, I put this in the fridge for like, 20 minutes. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Pour over the caramel layer, and let cool, again. And yes, again, I put it in the fridge.

Now, the chocolate melts pretty quickly when it’s not left in the fridge, so keep it there until you’re ready to eat it, and then bring it out, let it sit a few minutes to soften just a touch, and then cut your piece( s ) and then put back in.

Guys, this was awesome. It tastes just like a Snickers and it was fantastic. Make them, post haste.