Chicken 'n' Dumplings, Oh My!

Chicken 'n' Dumplings just happens to be one of my signature dishes which we enjoy a few times during the winter months. For some reason, I have always thought of it as a "cold" weather food and really don't know why. We eat chili in the summer, why not chicken 'n' dumplings? I must remember this and make it a point to make it at least once during next summer.

You will need a whole chicken, Bisquick, onion, grated carrot, chicken broth (maybe) bay leaves, garlic powder, thyme, black pepper.

 I always start with a whole chicken because it makes the best broth. Place chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add 3-4 bay leaves(is not the same without these), pepper, thyme and garlic powder. (I don't measure the spices so you will need to add by taste) I do not add salt because I sometimes have to add some chicken broth and that has sodium and so does the Bisquick(dumplings). Bring to a boil, turn down heat, cover and cook for about an hour and a half. When done turn off heat and let cool for about a half hour. Then, take the chicken and place it on a platter or whatever works for you. I place it in a colander so it can drain and I can pour it back into pot. Get another pot and strain the broth into it. Cover the broth and refrigerate till next day. I do this so that I can remove the fat off the top before I finish up the dish. So much better when you remove the fat.

Now you want to remove the chicken from the bones and shred it or cut it up. Place in fridge till next day. Do not put it back in broth till after the fat is removed.

It's the next day and you are ready to finish up this wonderful dish. First you will use a slotted spoon and carefully remove as much fat as you possibly can from the top of the broth. Once this is done, place on stove and add the chicken, a chopped onion and some grated carrot. Now, if you think you will need more broth for the dumplings to cook, just add some chicken broth that you buy at the grocery store. Once all this is added turn up the heat and bring to a boil. While waiting for this to boil, follow the dumpling recipe (very easy) on the Bisquick box. In the photo the dumpling recipe was doubled. These are our favorite dumplings. Enjoy! This dish is awesome!

An Awesome Breakfast - Nancy's Quiche and Fresh Fruit

I had never heard of Nancy's Quiche until I went to stay the weekend at my sister's. The first time she served them, she served the mini quiche that comes in a variety of flavors. I was totally amazed at how good these were! She served them with a variety of fresh fruit. In fact, this was so good that every time I go to stay with her, at least one breakfast is the Nancy's Quiche and fresh fruit.

I want to make sure that I let you know that one time my sister bought a different brand of the quiche and they were so NOT good, we couldn't even eat them. Nancy's is the best in our opinion.

One day when I was on my way to my sisters, I stopped at Kroger to get a few things to take with me. I happened to notice that in the freezer by the breakfast items, Nancy's Quiche also came in an individual size. And in my favorite, which is the Quiche Lorraine! Love it! I had to pick up a couple of these so that we could have them with some fresh fruit. My mouth was watering and I couldn't wait for breakfast the next morning. (I know, doesn't have to be for breakfast, but my favorite time to eat them)

When I arrived at my sister's place, and she saw the individual size quiche, she said that she had noticed them before but had just never bought them. Well, needless to say, when morning arrived and we sat down to eat this scrumptious meal, we were not surprised at how good the quiche was. And just enough for one person. So, so yummy!



 







No photos of the mini ones yet. Was mad at myself for that when I realized that I wanted to share how good they with all of you!

Pizza On Pita Bread? Yummy!

Just like a lot of 5 year olds, when it comes to foods he will eat, my grandson's tastes can change at the drop of a hat, but, pizza seems to stay at the top of his list. There are times when ordering pizza out just does not sound good. Maybe we just get tired of the same old thing.

Sometimes we want something a little different and, also, east to make. In the past I have made little pizzas on English muffins and on lightly toasted (so they don't get soggy) hamburger buns.

Recently, my sister told me that she had made pizza on pita bread so I decided to try it. I thought that this would be something that my grandson and I could do together. So, I went to the store and bought what I needed to make this happen.

Pita bread, pepperoni, bacon, pizza sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese. Bacon is another food at the top of my grandson's list and this was the first time he had it on pizza.

                                                                         Pizza Before Cooking

First thing I did was cook the bacon till crispy, but not too done. Preheated toaster oven to 375 degrees F and lined pan (the one that came with toaster oven) with foil. Sprayed the foil with non-stick spray. Then we took a pita bread, spread pizza sauce on it, added some moz cheese, pepperoni and bacon. We placed it in the toaster oven and cooked it till it was nice and brown and bubbly. Not really sure of the time but, remember, toaster ovens vary so I suggest you watch it close the first time.

                                                                       Pizza After Cooking

Kevin with raw pizza on left, cooked pizza on right.



These pita bread pizzas were very good which actually surprised me. We will be making these again soon!

I would enjoy onion, green pepper and tomato (and occasionally pineapple) with the pepperoni and next time I will add that to mine.

"Boiled Dinner" - Cabbage, Potatoes, Onions and Skinless Smoked Sausage

Occasionally, when I was growing up, my mother would make what we called "boiled dinner". I remember being disappointed when I would smell it cooking as I did not like cooked cabbage as a child (but I would eat it raw). Back in those days, my mother made it with only cabbage, potatoes and onions so it was a meatless meal.

As I grew older and got married, I learned to love this meal and it is so simple to make too! With so many variations that can be done, a person could have this meal at least once a week if they wanted.

It can be used as a side dish with any type of meat or eaten as a vegetarian meal. It is great with bread "n" butter or garlic bread/toast. I have added green beans to it. Ham is also good. Meatballs is another (I cook them first to remove most of the grease). This is just a few of the things that you can do with this dish. I want to add that I always add garlic powder and black pepper. (I do not cook with salt)

 My favorite is with cabbage, potatoes, onions and skinless smoked sausage. We made out own garlic toast to go with this meal. It was delicious!

My grandson and my nephew enjoyed this meal tremendously. It is even better the next day and we will be finishing it up today. Yummy! Don't you just love to eat food!

Private Selection Angus Ribeye Steak - Very Good!

For the ones that don't know, Private Selection is from Kroger. Most of the products that I have tried have been pretty good. Right now I want to talk about the Angus steak.

I received a $3 off coupon for Private Selection Angus Beef and because the ribeye steaks were on sale, and I had never had a ribeye, I decided to buy them.

I took them to my sister's because she had mentioned that she was hungry for steak. When it was time to fix dinner, I simply rinsed the steaks under cold water (I rinse all meat), preheated the broiler on toaster oven, sprinkled garlic powder and black pepper on steak and placed them in the oven. Turning them every 3-4 minutes, they were ready to eat in 16 minutes. We like our steak very slightly pink in center so for someone who likes it more rare, they would reduce the cooking time. 

As you can see, we had corn on the cob and sauteed peppers 'n' onions along with out steak. This dinner was so good. The steak was so tender you could cut it with a fork. Great taste too! I will definitely buy Private Selection Angus Ribeye Steak again in the future.

I want to add that when I sautee my peppers 'n' onions, I do not add any butter or oil. Just a little water (veggies create their own juice so you only need a little) and, basically, steam them till they are tender. They are so good and totally fat free. We love them!

Memorial Day Breakfast & Dinner with Mom, Sister and Grandson - Who Says Ya Gotta Cook Out?

My grandson and I went to spend the Memorial Day weekend at my sister's. Pancakes are one of my grandson's favorite foods (mine too) so, on the morning of Memorial Day I got up and made them for all of us.

Normally I would make them from the box of Bisquick (the best in my opinion) but, my sister had already bought the kind that is in a jug and you just add water.

I fry my pancakes in butter so when we eat them we do not add butter on top of them, only syrup.

The only syrup that I eat anymore is Log Cabin because they do not add High Fructose Corn Syrup to their recipe. I tried some 100% maple syrup recently and it just doesn't taste the same. I guess I am just too used to the "fake" maple flavor.

These pancakes were very good and, by the way, we did have scrambled eggs with these.

For dinner we had decided to have parmesan crusted talapia baked in the oven with baked sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, some pineapple and strawberries and, for dessert it was, chocolate eclairs and apple cake that my mom had made.

My mom and my sister on the left, mom on the right, getting ready to dig into dinner.

Left is grandson, Kevin, starting to eat his dinner. He loves fish so this is a favorite meal for him. Right is my mom and Kevin enjoying the Memorial Day food.

 I just realized that no one had the strawberries and pineapple on their plate. I did get a photo of them though. I never thought that these two would be good together but, they were absolutely delicious!

Now that I am looking at these photos, I am thinking, "why didn't I have some of this fruit on the plate with the cake and eclair?" That would have been really good, I'm sure. Well, next time:)

Now it is time for dessert, YUMMY! My mom's apple cake along with a chocolate eclair is SO very good!

There's Kevin above eating one of his favorite desserts. He was in his glory, hahaha!

As you can see by the above video, Kev is in his glory with that chocolate eclair! Kevin is such a blessing and a joy to have around.

Well, as you can see, we enjoyed our Memorial Day dinner without even going outside, hahaha! Not that there's anything wrong with going outside, now. I have spent many a Memorial Day outside cooking or at a park cooking. It's just that sometimes, it's easier to stay in and cook a meal.

Happy cooking!

Spring Dinner with Kroger

Here I am again talking about Kroger Brand Products. It just so happens that I received some free products to try and now that I have tried them, I want to share my opinion of them. The products in the below (except for the cake and frosting since these were reviewed in my last post) photo are what I am going to talk about.

I'm going to start by saying that I had not ever bought or cooked a pork tenderloin in my life, so, receiving one for free was the perfect opportunity to try one. I decided that slow cooking might be a good way to cook this type of meat and that is exactly what I did.

I always rinse my meat before I cook it because you don't know who has handled it and sometimes there are bone shavings on it. After rinsing I placed in my slow cooker and added about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of chicken broth.  (I am sorry but I am one for just guessing at the amount of spices and such.) I then added some salt, pepper and crushed garlic.  I love garlic so I added a good amount of it.

I set the cooker on low and cooked the tenderloin for 4 hours, turned off cooker and let the meat sit for 1 hour before slicing.

When the Kroger Moist & Tender pork tenderloin was done, I proceeded to cook the Kroger Homestyle Mashed Potatoes and the macaroni and cheese in the microwave according to the package directions.  I also had the Kroger Crescent Rolls in the oven.

Alright, dinner is ready! (Even though I don't have a photo of the green beans, they are Kroger canned cut green beans. For some reason I didn't think of taking a picture of the can.)

I am going to first talk about the Kroger Moist & Tender pork tenderloin. It was so moist and tender you could cut it with a fork. So good you didn't want to stop eating it! Slow cookers are awesome!

On to the Kroger refigerated Homestyle mashed potatoes. My family and I did not care for them at all. The texture is awful and they don't taste like potatoes at all. Will not buy these again.

The Kroger refigerated macaroni and cheese my grandson loved but I thought it wasn't cheesy enough. Better than the mashed potatoes by far though.

The Kroger Crescent Rolls taste about the same as any other brand. Will definitely buy these again. And I always buy Kroger green beans as they are always good.

Dinner was a success even if we didn't care for the mashed potatoes and I just want to say that this was the first dinner we had with the Kroger’s Moist & Tender pork tenderloin. A whole tenderloin goes a long way.

The second night I cooked some green beans and potatoes together and heated some of the Kroger Moist & Tender pork tenderloin with some bbq sauce. This was absolutely delish! (plate on right is my grandson's, he is a fussy eater)

The third night we just had pork tenderloin sandwiches with some swiss cheese, lettuce and mayo on whole wheat bread. Delicious!  I am hooked on Kroger’s Moist & Tender pork tenderloin and will make again in the near future.

Now, we did have dessert each night and my last post was on the Kroger yellow cake mix and Kroger Chocolate Fudge Frosting. The cupcakes were yummy for sure. I wanted to try the white cake so I bought a Kroger White cake mix and baked it in a 13 x 9 cake pan. I did not frost because my mom made some cherry jello with fresh strawberries and we topped with some Kroger whipped cream in the can (like Readi Whip). This was fantastic!













As a BzzAgent I receive free and discounted products to try. The opinions written here are strictly my own. If you want to hear what all the "Bzz" is about, please visit BzzAgent.com.

Making Cupcakes with My Grandson Using Kroger Yellow Cake Mix and Chocolate Fudge Frosting

I have tried a lot of Kroger Brand products but was always afraid to try the cake mix. Just assumed that it would be really dry and taste like cardboard. There is a reason why they say "never assume anything".

As all of you know, I am a BzzAgent for BzzAgent.com and I was recently invited to a "Kroger Spring Dinners" Campaign. When I picked up my "free" products, I decided to try the yellow cake mix with the chocolate fudge frosting.  (I received other products besides these and will be talking about them in the near future)

 

I had decided to make cupcakes even before I went to Kroger to pick up my products. I thought that my grandson would enjoy helping me and he did.

 When the cupcakes were baked and cooled, it was time for the frosting. My grandson and I are both chocolate lovers (actually we love sweets). Both of us waited patiently until all cupcakes were frosted to try one. I will say it wasn't easy! The smell of the cupcakes baking and then the smell of the frosting upon opening had our mouths watering!

The cupcakes are frosted and ready to eat. Yay, we can try one! Omgosh, I can not believe that I am eating a cupcake made from a Kroger cake mix. I am totally impressed! I will be buying these in the future for sure!

The Finished Product

As a BzzAgent I receive free and discounted products to try. The opinions written here are strictly my own. If you want to hear what all the "Bzz" is about, please visit BzzAgent.com.