Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts1 can of cream of chicken soup1 can of cream of celery soup (I subbed cream of mushroom and it was great)3 15-oz cans of chicken broth1 small onion, choppedchopped carrotschopped celery1 tbsp dried parsley flakes1/2 tbsp celery seedsalt and pepper to taste1 can of biscuits (Grands), cut into 6 pieces each

Place everything except for the biscuits into the crock pot and cook on low for 6ish hours.
Then take out chicken and shred it or chop it- whatever is easiest.  Place the chicken back in the crock pot and add the biscuits.  Cook for about 1.5 more hours on low.    

Freezer Burritos

Okay this recipe also came from Pinterest and was also a winner.  It's not REALLY a recipe, it's just something I did not know.  I found it here.  Who knew that you could make ahead burritos, freeze them, and then just stick them in the microwave when you're ready to eat.  I guess it makes sense since you can buy freezer meals, I just never thought to make my own.  


Freezer Burritos:

Basically, I cooked a batch of rice in my rice cooker along with a can of diced tomatoes, one chopped onion, and a clove of garlic.  I made a batch of burritos using the rice mixture, black beans, refried beans, chicken, cheese and salsa.  Then I wrapped them up individually and stuck them in the freezer.  When we're ready to eat them, we'll just unwrap them and stick them in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Perfect!

Crockpot Italian Chicken

This is one of my favorite crock pot meals, so I decided to share it today with Kelly's Korner Crockpotalooza.  I can't wait to find some new yummy recipes!  Feel free to jump over to my personal blog if you want to find out more about me and my family...

stick-a-fork-in-it

Crockpot Italian Chicken: 
Ingredients:
2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (can be frozen)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese (let sit out to soften- or stick it in the microwave)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pkg. italian dressing seasoning (the dried kind in the packet)
rice or pasta

Stir the cream cheese, cream of chicken, and seasoning together in a medium bowl. Place the chicken in the crockpot and cover with the mixture. Cook on high 4-6 hours or until the chicken is cooked and fall-apart-tender. After the first two hours when the chicken is softer i cut it up into strips for easier eating, but it's not necessary.  Serve over pasta or rice.  Yumm!

Funfetti Cake Batter Buddies

Saw this one on Pinterest here and knew that I needed to try it out. Mine doesn't look quite as good as their picture, but it was definitely yummy!  Definitely an easy recipe for a special snack or treat!

Here's what you'll need: 

5 cups Chex cereal (I used Rice Chex, but Corn Chex would work great!)

10 oz (5 squares) vanilla flavored Almond Bark

1 1/2 cups Funfetti cake mix (any kind of cake mix would work)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vegetable shortening (not pictured)

How to make it: 

1. Melt Almond Bark according to the package directions, adding vegetable shortening to thin (I heard that you can make it without the shortening, but it worked great for me to use it).

2. Place your chex mix in one large bowl.  In a separate bowl mix the cake mix and the powdered sugar. 

3. Pour the cereal into a large bowl and drizzle the melted Almond Bark over the cereal. Mix gently with a large spoon or spatula.

4. Dump the cake mix and powdered sugar onto the cereal and mix gently with large spoon until all the cereal is evenly coated.  It just looks like a big messy blob at this point.

 

5.  But it's a big TASTY messy blob.  Enjoy!

Easy Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour (self-rising)
1 Cup Sugar1 Cup Milk1 Stick of Butter

What To Do:Melt the stick of butter and mix together the flour, sugar, milk & butter.  

Pour the mixture in a 9 x 13 baking dish.  
Remove the skin from about 8 regular size peaches & cut into pieces.
Pour the peaches on top of the mixture in your 9 x 13 dish.  
Bake 45 minutes to an hour at 350.  YUMMY! 

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:

-3 cans pillsbury butter crescent rolls
-2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (softened)
-1 cup sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/4 cup butter (melted)

-Cinnamon & sugar

Instructions:

Unrolled and spread 1 & 1/2 can crescent rolls on bottom of un-greased pan. 

Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. 

Spread mixture over crescent rolls. Unroll and spread remaining crescent rolls over mixture. 

Spread melted butter over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Easy Sweet & Salty Treats

 I saw this recipe on Pinterest, and thought I'd give it a try.  It looked yummy and there didn't seem to be any way to really mess it up since there are just three ingredients:

1. Mini Pretzels
2. Hershey Kisses
3. M&M's

They turned out great, so if you want to try them yourself, here is all you need to do...

Step 1: 
Preheat oven to 275 and lay out pretzels on an un-greased cookie sheet. Place 1 Hershey Kiss in the middle of each pretzel.  I used my oldest cookie tin because I wasn't sure if the chocolate would melt through and make a mess.  I didn't want to mess up one of my good cookie sheets, but it didn't melt through so that wasn't a problem.

Step 2:
Place in the oven for 3-4 minutes, until Hershey Kiss is soft but not completely melting. Remove from oven.

Step 3: 
Press one M&M into the center of each Hershey Kiss.  Refrigerate until eating.  I actually placed the entire pan in the refrigerator.  Since it was only in the oven for 4 minutes, it didn't even get that hot.  By the time I'd pressed M&M's into every one, the pan wasn't even that warm to the touch, so it was fine to put into the refrigerator.

That's it!  They were so easy.  The hardest part was unwrapping all of the Hershey Kisses!

Spaghetti Calzone

Thanks again, Pinterest, for giving me another easy recipe to add to the collection.  This one was pulled from here but I altered it a little bit.  Basically instead of eating spaghetti with a side of garlic bread, this recipe combines it all into one.  Kevin called it the spaghetti calzone, and actually that's exactly what it was.  The original recipe calls for frozen bread dough or dinner rolls (Rhodes), but I used pizza dough (found it in the freezer section in Ingles).  I guess the only difference is that my bread/crust wasn't as light and fluffy.  It was more calzone/pizza-like.  Still pretty good.


**Update- I tried this again with the frozen bread dough and liked it just a little better.  The Rhodes brand frozen dough was a bit harder to find, but worth it. You can see the original recipe here.

Before baking:

And after:

There's not really a set recipe for this one.  Basically, make spaghetti the way you normally would and go ahead and mix your sauce and noodles.  

Then roll out your thawed-out dough.  Place a row of spaghetti down the middle of the dough.  Then, I put a little more sauce on top of my spaghetti just because I like a lot of sauce.  Don't put TOO much though.  You don't want it too soupy because then when you bake it, the bottom of your crust will get soggy. 


Next, top your spaghetti with lots of mozzarella cheese (or whatever kind of cheese you prefer).  


Then start cutting your dough from about an inch away from the out toward the edges. 


Next, pull the strips toward the center of the spaghetti, to close the calzone, alternating sides.  You'll want to make a criss-cross pattern so the calzone will stay closed. 


Brush the top with one egg white, and sprinkle with garlic powder, parsley, and parmesan cheese.  


If you decide to use pizza dough like me, follow the directions on the box for cooking- mine was at 450 for about 45 minutes.  The bread dough cooked for 30-35 minutes at 350.


That's it!  I think this is a great idea for spaghetti leftovers.  here.

Loaded Potato Soup

Here is a recipe for the BEST loaded potato soup.  Kevin actually said it's better than he's had in any restaurant.  It's probably worse for you than eating two double cheeseburgers, but it is SO good....

Ingredients:

12 slices bacon
2/3 cup margarine
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
7 cups milk
4 large (*or 5 med) baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 green onions, chopped (I substituted 1/2 of a medium yellow onion)
1 1/4 cups shredded sharp cheddar
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
chicken broth (if needed)

1. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain, crumble, and set aside.

2. In a stock pot or Dutch oven, melt the margarine over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

3. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.

4. Add chicken broth as needed to reach desired consistency. We like our potato soup really thick so I didn't add any chicken broth.  

That's it!  This made enough for us to eat twice, and there's still a little bit leftover for lunch tomorrow.  Enjoy!

Sticky Buns

They're so good.  Not really sure what you call them, but they're like sticky buns.  It's yet another recipe that I got from Pinterest and it's super easy.  Here's how you make it...

Ingredients:

2 small tubes refrigerator buttermilk biscuits (I just use the Ingles brand)

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

1/2 C. pancake syrup

1/3 C. packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 C. chopped pecans, optional

1/4 C. chopped almonds, optional

1. Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (if desired).


2. Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top.


3. Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (closely together) to form a ring.


4. Pour the other half of the syrup mixture on top of the biscuits and sprinkle with the remaining brown sugar mixture.  This is how mine looked right before I put it in the oven.  And of course I had to get my little helper in the picture!





5.  Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. 


6. Remove from oven.  Here is what mine looked like right out of the oven.

7. Let it stand for about a minute and then flip it over onto a plate.  Enjoy!

And I had to get in one more picture of my little helper.  She had just woken up.  Look at that morning hair! :) 

Crock Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken (Mexican)

Kevin and I both love Mexican food and this one was a recipe for Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken. 

Not my picture- Taken from the Pip & Ebby website

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
24-oz jar of salsa (we actually used 2 smaller jars of salsa- one mild and one medium)
Juice from one lime
One medium onion, chopped
One pack of taco seasoning
2 jalapeno peppers- chopped

Mix all ingredients together and put in crock pot.  Cook on low for 6 hours.  Enjoy!

I think you're supposed to eat the chicken as an entree and serve sides.  We actually choose to shred the chicken after it was cooked and then put it all in a soft shell taco with a bit of sour cream.  Yumm!