Chicken and Dumplings

What a great meal for a cold rainy night! My kids love Chicken and Dumplings and is an easy go to meal for me. The recipe is so versatile as most soup recipes are. You really just need to dump in what you have. I will post the basic recipe and then tell you how I changed it up last night using what I had. 

Chicken and Dumplings        (Items marked in red are ones I substituted)

2-3 Chicken Breasts boiled and shredded (save stock)          
Small Onion

Celery

1 Bay Leaf

1 Can Chicken Broth

1 Package Lipton Noodle Soup

3 Diced Potatoes
1 Can Cream of Chicken or Mushroom Soup

Bisquick Biscuits 

Boil chicken with onion, celery and bay leaf. Remove bay leaf and shred chicken. Add chicken, broth, leftover chicken stock, potatoes, cream of chicken soup, and noodle soup. Bring to boil and add salt and pepper. Drop biscuits and boil for about 20 minutes until biscuits and potatoes are done.

Alrighty!! Great basic recipe! Last night I simplified it some due to having to use what I had on hand and it turned out great! (I had 3 servings!!!)

Here are the changes I made last night... easy peasy folks!
~Instead of shredding the chicken I just cubed.. or diced it up small to save time.
~I omitted the celery because I didn't have any
~I didn't use chicken broth OR the noodle soup. Instead I used the stock I saved from boiling the chicken. I drained out the onion and bay leaf and chicken goo. I then threw in a chicken bullion cube.
~No Bisquick in the house but I did have a package of Grands Biscuits. They were the jumbo butter ones that I just quartered. 
~ I also added carrots to mine.. I used canned but fresh is good too! If you use canned be sure to wait to add them until right before you drop your biscuits. 

 

As you all know my son Cody is in culinary school and he has just finished up his first quarter/session. I'm going to toot my own horn here and brag on him for making the President's Honor Roll at the Le Cordon Bleu. Congrats Cody!! One of the things he mastered this quarter was a 7 sided french cut called a Tourne cut. I believe it's pronounced Tor-nay...that's what it sounded like he was saying anyway. The chefs at the school were very impressed with how quickly Cody caught on. To me.. as I look at the finished product I think... why bother? Just give me a chunk of potato in my soup.. I don't care if it has seven sides! Ha.. oh well. Here are some pictures of Cody demonstrating this difficult cut.

 This is the finished product. They cut potatoes and carrots in this shape for soups and stews. Look at all the wasted potato! Ha! This one was made from using half of a smaller potato. 

Those knives are sharp by the way. Notice Cody's finger injury. ;) 

Kid at Heart

Looks like this may be out last nice day for a while. The temps will soon be falling which will make me want to start decorating for Christmas. I will need to force myself to hold back for a couple weeks so that I don't completely skip over the Thanksgiving season. 

I'll be packing up the Halloween tonight so I thought I had better post what my creepy project was this past week. Britt and I made a spell book out of an old book that was laying around. Then we made potions out of used bottles we had. We also printed off creepy photos from the internet and framed them. I had to spray paint the frames black. All of this cost me a total of .50 cents. I already had everything.. just happened to find a potion bottle at our local thrift store that I spent 50 cents on. That's it! I think it turned out cute. Michaela's dressing table was in limbo.. already out of her old room waiting to go into her new room.. so we just put it in our entry way to display all our handmade stuff! 

 

Britt waited patiently for the trick or treaters last night. He sat on the top step so that he could see them coming. He had so much fun passing out candy.. look at that smile! 

Don't mind the paint on the door..we are under construction..lol

Recyled Halloween Candles

I was working on my very creepy halloween project last night and I had planned on making these empty toilet paper tubes look like real candles like this: 

Isn't this a really cool idea? And sooo cheap too!
I found this idea at: 102 Wicked Things To Do

So I gathered all my empties around and realized that I only had one glue stick and Survivor was on... so I couldn't leave the house...ha! Not to mention driving 20 minutes for glue sticks was a bit crazy. Someone remind me to have Britt pick some up for me tonight so I can do THIS project!

ok.. so I'm sitting there thinking... surely there is SOMETHING I can do with what I have. This is what I came up with. It turned out ok for being recycled materials. 

I started with the empties and taped them together and stuffed them with newspaper so they would hold their shape.  

I then took scrapbook paper and wrapped them.

Then I inked them to make the paper look worn.. tied on some ribbon and then with my one little glue stick I glued them together. I then added my lights that I got from Dollar Sense (2 lights for a buck!)

I hope to post my creepy project Friday.. so stay tuned!

Blown Away

If you go outside today you may just be blown away! I was hoping our tree out front would hold it's beautiful bright red leaves until Saturday so that Cody could see. I guess I had better hurry and take a picture before all the leaves are blown away. I haven't posted much this month... not that I haven't been thinking about my little space out here in the worldwide web... it's just life got a little hectic. Here is a little recap of my month. 

We started the month out with much excitement over Homecoming. It's a pretty big deal here as I'm sure it is at every high school. The students had spirit week and Michaela had a lot of fun coming up with unique ways to show her spirit. She makes a killer pirate! Friday....aka game day the kids only had half a day of school. The Homecoming parade made it's way through town. It's exciting to see how many people come out and show their school spirit. I'm going to miss that about small town living. Knowing someone in practically every float was pretty fun! Friday night the Pleasant Hill Roosters actually won the game!! Go Roosters! Saturday wrapped up Homecoming with a dance. Michaela and Caleb looked fabulous and made an adorable couple. 

Michaela's beauty, confidence and caring spirit continues to BLOW ME AWAY every single day. 

ok.. so on to Senior recognition night. This was the same weekend as a trip I had planned. Britt was also going to be out of town for a fishing tourney. I stayed behind so that I could be there. It truly was a special occasion. It's a time when seniors are acknowledged along with their parents in front of everyone before the football game. When they called our names we had to walk from one 20 yard line to the next. It was weird hearing our names over the loud speaker. "Michaela Richards, Daughter of Britt and Tricia Richards" Then we started to walk.. stopped for a picture.. then walked a few more paces before I turned to look at her. The second I looked at her my heart just dropped. She had tears streaming down her face....she says... "mom this is it. This will be the last time I cheer on this field" CHOKE... CHOKE... I can't breathe. That my dear is what is called a bitter sweet moment. I'm delighted that my daughter has a sentimental side to her. 

After Senior Recognition I got in the car and drove to Iowa to join my girlfriends at the craft cottage. We had a FANTASTIC time!! I highly recommend it to anyone needing a girls weekend away. We had a blast! Here is a picture..Jennifer and Sherry were also there.. just not in this pic.  

We have had lots of fun this month so far!

Amazing Stuffed Mushrooms

Alrighty folks... this has got to be the best thing I have tasted in a LONG time! Britt put this together the other night using what we had in the frig and BOO-YA it was a hit! I had to have more of course and now I wish I would have bought more than one package of mushrooms. This is a recipe that truly hits every taste bud you have! This recipe is dedicated to my son Cody who is now in his second week of culinary school. (Cody.. this recipe for sure needs to be on your menu when you open your restaurant) 

Garlic Stuffed Mushrooms

Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic Dip
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. Garlic Garlic Seasoning 

Whole mushrooms
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Grated Swiss Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove stems from mushroom and stuff with the Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic dip. Top with Parmesan and Swiss Cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese has a nice brown glow.. :) 


ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! 


Do you need some Garlic Garlic Seasoning? Contact my supplier (ha) Sharon Pyburn @ 816-289-4484 or Jspyburn@aol.com she will hook you up! Tell her I sent ya! 

And he's off!

It's been a long weekend peeps! We started off Friday with a going away party for Cody. We had about 30 friends and family at the house and I can't believe I didn't get a picture of everyone!! Here is what I did manage to shoot. 

Leave it to me to make sure I got pictures of the alcohol and sweets! We really did have a fantastic time and were super blessed by all the people who came out to wish Cody well. A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who made it by. 

Saturday morning rolled around and Britt let us sleep in longer than normal. I guess he didn't want to have to deal with crabby people the whole drive to St. Louis. SMART man I say! Here are a few photos of Cody getting ready to go...

 The most important thing to pack.. the X Box! That was handled very carefully and with the utmost care. Unlike his clothes that were thrown in a suitcase straight out of the dyer without being folded. :) Mom quickly fixed that!

At Casey's filling up for the 3.5 hour trip to St. Peters, Missouri. 

Cody starts school on Monday the 26th. I will not be there but we were able to shoot these pics outside the school for my scrapbook. 

 These kitchen pictures were taken through the window.. not too bad! 


We are very excited for Cody..he's going to do very well! 


While in St. Peters we stayed with my Aunt Kay and Uncle Dennis. They were WONDERFUL! She introduced me to pickle soup which believe it or not was delicious! It tasted so wonderful that I came home and made some! I will for sure post pics and a recipe next time I attempt it! 


Alright.. signing off! Here's to everyone having an exceptional day!!


~Trish

Cajun Chicken Pasta

I made this the other night and it was VERY good! It will have a place in my recipe book for sure! The kids both loved it and needless to say they even ate the leftovers! 

Ingredients:

4 ounces linguine pasta 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning 2 tablespoons butter 1 red bell pepper, sliced 1 green bell pepper, sliced 4 fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 green onion, chopped 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 teaspoon dried basil 1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2.	Place the chicken and the Cajun seasoning in a plastic bag. Shake to coat. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the chicken in butter or margarine until almost tender (5 to 7 minutes).
3.	Add the red bell pepper, green bell pepper, mushrooms and green onion. Saute and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat.
4.	Add the cream, basil, lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder and ground black pepper. Heat through. Add the cooked linguine, toss and heat through. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

My Son... Soon to be Chef!

My baby boy Cody has decided that he want's to be a Chef. This weekend he takes the first step in his journey by moving to St. Louis to attend the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School. This is when I'm supposed to be jumping up and down for joy... but I'm having a little trouble letting go. We are having friends and family over tomorrow evening for a Cody send off. Cody will be away for about a year. Alot is going to happen while he is away. Our house will go on the market, Little sister Michaela will graduate high school.. and we very well could be moving on with our new adventures too! I think my anxiety comes from the fact that this could very well be the last few nights he spends living at "home". He will be making his new home soon... and I will not be apart of it. :( 

I love you Cody! You will be the best Chef EVER! 

Love, Mom