Chicken Casserole

Prep Time: 15 minutes Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and chopped

1 box of stuffing

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

8 oz. Sour Cream

1 pkg. Ritz Crackers

4T. Butter, melted

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees


• Make stuffing according to box. Add chicken to stuffing.


• In a bowl, mix soup and sour cream together.


• In another bowl, crush crackers then add melted butter. Stir until all crackers have butter.


• Layer in a 13x9 pan the chicken and stuffing, then the soup and sour cream, finally sprinkle the buttered cracker crumbs on top.


• Place in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes.

Review:

First I want to say sorry for the not complete casserole pictured above. But it was already attacked by the time I remembered to photograph it. Now, on to the review...

This is great with leftovers! I used the leftover chicken mixture from my Chicken-Stuffed Dumplings to make this. I didn't have enough for a 13x9 pan so I used an 8x8 pan. I also was out of Cream of Chicken so I used Cream of Mushroom. I upped the sour cream. I could taste more of the sour cream than the cream of mushroom which I like but someone else might not.

The first time I had this was at a friends house and they used turkey and it was great! You can do just about anything with this recipe. The stuffing was an addition on my part but the rest was from my friend.

My husband gave it a 5 1/2 out of 5 stars tonight.

Chicken-Stuffed Dumplings

Prep Time: 30 minutes Yield: 4-8 servings



Ingredients:


1 can refrigerated homestyle biscuit dough
(do not get butter flavored or flaky biscuits)
4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 box chicken Stuffing
Celery (optional)
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup


Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Cook chicken, flavor with salt and pepper. Shred chicken into a large bowl. Make stuffing per box directions. Chop celery into small pieces. Add celery and stuffing to shredded chicken.
• Flatten each individual dough biscuits. Place 2T of chicken mixture onto center of flattened biscuit. Fold dough over and pinch the ends together. Place in a roasting pan large enough to allow room for all 8 dumplings with room (they will expand).
• Heat all soup and 1/2 of required liquid for the soup, milk preferrably.
• Pour over the dumplings and cover. Place in oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Review:

Ok, I have to say this is a 10 star out of 5! I love this meal. It was the meal I requested whenever my mom let me choose for a special day. This recipe has seen some changes over the years but it's still basically the same. We used to make it without the stuffing so if you don't like stuffing please feel free to leave it out. It will still taste great! If you don't have celery on hand use some celery salt.

I usually like to make 2 per person so really this is a recipe for 4. You will find that you will have much chicken mixture left over for future use in something else or the same thing so you can get more biscuits and more soup and keep the same amount of chicken if you like.

I usually make this with mashed potatoes and then use the soup mixture as a gravy. I just served this last night for a dinner party I had (not recommended as the dumplings do take a little work to prepare, unless it's a small dinner party) and everyone loved them. I even got requests for the recipe today.

If you do want to do this for a larger gathering the chicken mixture can be made ahead of time, I'm not sure about making the whole dumpling ahead of time though. I haven't tried it yet. The dumpling will be about the size of a chicken breast. Many people think that is what it is when they first see it.

Measurement Conversion and Abbreviation Chart

My mom used to run a dining hall for a Baptist College. All of her help came from ladies that attended the college. She (and I) were amazed when of the many girls that came to work for her over the course of her time there only 1 knew kitchen measurements, how to read a recipe, etc. So for any one out there that maybe never got the chance to learn, hasn't had the opportunity for anyone to show them and you just get frustrated by recipes and wish they would just tell you what they want you to do, I hope this helps you out a little.

Measurement Conversion and Abbreviation Chart
1 tablespoon (tbsp or T) = 3 teaspoons (tsp or t)
1/16 cup (c) = 1 tablespoon
1/8 cup = 2 tablespoons
1/6 cup = 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons
1/3 cup = 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon
3/8 cup = 6 tablespoons
1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons
2/3 cup = 10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
3/4 cup = 12 tablespoons
1 cup = 48 teaspoons
1 cup= 16 tablespoons
8 fluid ounces (fl oz) = 1 cup
1 pint (pt) = 2 cups
1 quart (qt) = 2 pints
4 cups = 1 quart
1 gallon (gal) = 4 quarts
16 ounces (oz) = 1 pound (lb)

Herbed Slow Cooker Chicken

Prep Time: 15 minutes Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
1T. Olive Oil
1t. Paprika
1/2t. seasoned salt
1/2t. dried basil
1/2t. dried thyme
1/2t. pepper
1/2t. garlic powder
1/2c. chicken broth
4-6oz. bone-in chicken breasts

Directions:

Place first seven ingredients into a small bowl and mix together. Rub on chicken breasts. Place in slow cooker. Add chicken broth to slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.

Review:

This was very simple to do. My husband gave it a 4 out of 5. There is one ingredient missing from the above list it's a browning liquid that was optional. I did not add it above because I could not find the book I got the recipe from and I'm not sure on the amount. I did not add it to my chicken either, I believe the browning liquid is more for the looks of your dish than the actual taste of it. I had no idea what this was until I did a little more research. If there are some of you in the same boat as me here is an idea for what you are looking for:

Kitchen Bouquet Browning Sauce
You can find it in the sauce aisle at your grocery store.

I also used those boneless skinless chicken breasts with rib meat. They were on a great sale at my store so I bought these instead. I only did 3 chickens due to the size of them and it was more than enough for my family of 4, 2 adults and 2 toddlers. You may want to up it for larger families.

My chicken was still frozen when I added it. I changed my cooking to 4 hours on high. Unless you like your chicken dry cut the time by 1 hour if you do the frozen method.

Meatloaf with Sweet and Tangy Sauce

Prep Time: 15 minutes Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
1 onion chopped
1t. Salt
2t. pepper
2c. Old fashioned Oats
2 1/2c. Ketchup
2T. Mustard
1/3c. packed Brown Sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl add ground beef, eggs, onion, salt, pepper, oats and 1c. Ketchup. Mix together well. Place inside a bread pan or 8x8 pan. Shape loaf. Cook for 30 minutes.
In a small bowl mix remaining ketchup, mustard and brown sugar together. Pour over top of meatloaf then cook for 15 minutes longer.

Review:

This is a simple meatloaf recipe I've come up with. I made it last night for dinner and it turned out well but there are some things I did a little different than the above recipe. I didn't have any oats so I used some crushed butter crackers instead and I forgot to add the onion. It didn't hit me about the onion until well after we ate dinner. I also cooked my meatloaf a little too long, 45 minutes at 400 then 15 minutes more and after the fact I would have preferred it at the above stated times.
The topping is, I think, very good! It's sweet and tangy and is a nice addition to the simple meatloaf. I found it from another recipe I was using for meatloaf.
Since this is such a simple recipe you can add to it according to the likes of your family and tastes. Enjoy!

*Sorry, no picture, I forgot to snap one after it was done. I'll edit this post the next time I make this meatloaf.

Slow-Cooked Pork Barbecue

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Yield: 8-10 Servings

Ingredients:
1 boneless pork loin roast (3 to 4 lbs)
1-1/2 t. seasoned salt
1 t. garlic powder
1 c. barbecue sauce
1 c. cola
8 to 10 sandwich rolls, split

Directions:

• Cut roast in half; place in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Sprinkle with seasoned salt and garlic powder. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until meat is tender.


• Remove meat; skim fat from cooking juices. Shred meat with a fork and return to the slow cooker. Combine barbecue sauce and cola; pour over meat. Cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours or until sauce is thickened. Serve on rolls.

Review:

I got this out of a Taste of Home Slow Cooker book I bought at the grocery store. It was very easy to make and tasted good. I used Dr. Pepper instead of a regular cola because we didn't have any in our house (my husband is a Dr. Pepper man and I really don't drink soda). I don't think there was too much of a difference but I would like to try it again with a regular cola next time.

Shredding the meat was the most difficult. I used the two fork method and my fingers were killing me. I could have probably let the meat cook a little longer to make it more tender and easier to shred. I tried finding an easier way to shred online and the only things I found were your fingers or forks.

There wasn't much fat to remove from the cooking juices so it was difficult for me to get what there was.

I forgot to by the proper rolls for the sandwiches so I used regular sandwich bread. If you find yourself in the same predicament toast your bread lightly first so it won't get completely soggy.

It was very easy to make and it would be a great make ahead for potlucks and parties.