Chicken and Biscuits

     Chicken and biscuits isn’t really a summer dish but this recipe makes it easy because the chicken part is made in the crock pot. The biscuits are a dry mix that you just add water to and put in the oven for about ten minutes. The most time consuming part of this meal is making mashed potatoes but they are optional. I made them since Matt was coming over and needed more than just chicken gravy and biscuits for three people. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy sour cream so the potatoes didn’t come out as good as they usually do. Here are the ingredients for an easy meal that cooks while you are busy:

2 large chicken breasts

2 tablespoons butter

2 10.5oz cans cream of chicken soup

1 14.4 oz can chicken broth

1 large onion finely chopped

½ bag frozen mixed vegetables

1 packet Bisquick biscuit mix (I use cheddar biscuits)

½ cup water

     Plug in the crock pot and set the temperature on low. Everything will be done cooking long before the 8 – 10 hours that the low setting is for but because of the cream soup, you don’t want it to burn. Chop the butter into a few small pieces and scatter it in the bottom of the pot. Place both chicken breasts on top of the butter, side by side. Evenly top the chicken with the vegetables and onion. Pour in both cans of cream of chicken and spread evenly over the vegetables leaving room around the edges of the pot. Finally, pour the entire can of chicken broth over the contents of the pot making sure to get some to the bottom around the chicken. Let this cook for at least 4 hours but no more than 8. Just before serving you may notice the mixture looking kind of watery, don’t panic. Using tongs or forks shred the chicken thoroughly in the pot. While you do this, everything will mix around and thicken up. Following the directions on the biscuit mix, bake these in the oven and place one or two on each plate and top with the mixture from the crock pot. If you make mashed potatoes, put them on the plate and top with the mixture as well.

     Like I said before, the potatoes didn’t come out great but with the chicken mixture poured all over them I didn’t really notice. If you look at them recipe again you will notice that there are no spices or seasonings used. Despite the lack of those there was a lot of flavor from the chicken and the soup. The cheddar biscuits were a great vehicle to thicken up this dish as the chicken gravy soaked right into them. This dish would be perfect during a cold winter night but it was good on a humid one too.

Rating: Yummy – Potatoes didn’t work out but everything else did

Crock Pot Chili

     Chili is a dish that you can do so much with because you can add virtually anything to it and it will still taste good. You can make chili is a stock pot but I use my crock pot to make chili so I can let it cook while I am not home. Most crock pot recipes for chili make a lot of servings so I made sure to invite Matt over to help eat it all. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare the chili so I went with the recipe on the back of the seasoning packet I bought. Here is the recipe, with a few changes, if you would like to try it out:

1 packet McCormick Crock Pot Chili Seasoning

2 lbs ground beef

2 14oz can diced tomatoes

1 14oz can dark red kidney beans - drained

1 14oz can light red kidney beans - drained

1 12oz can tomato sauce

1 large onion – chopped

     I have a large crock pot that tends to cook hot so I put it on low even though it was only going to be 4 hours until I got home. Start off by browning the beef in a large pan so you can drain some of the fat. While the beef browns, open all the cans, drain the beans, and then pour the contents into the crock pot. Roughly chop the onion, don’t worry about large pieces because they will soften during the cooking process. Once the beef is browned for the most part, drain as much fat out of the pan as you can. Add the ground beef to the crock pot and pour the seasoning packet on top. Stir until all the ingredients are mixed thoroughly. I didn’t think there was enough sauce when I mixed everything but the tomatoes will break down and there ended up being plenty.

     When we got home, the chili was done so I turned the crock pot off. I used a packet of corn bread mix and made corn muffins. I was only able to make six muffins with the one packet so if you have more than three people, you will need at least one more packet. Just about the time that the muffins were done, Matt arrived, he was just in time. I ladled two large scoops into each bowl, served them with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. We all enjoyed this simple recipe and like I said you can add whatever you want. Next time I will add green pepper and maybe some mushrooms.

Rating: Yummy – A great base chili recipe.

Taco Soup

     I love, love, love, making soup or anything for that matter in my crock pot. There isn’t much more satisfying than coming home to a home cooked meal that is hot and ready to eat after a long day. Soup is a great meal to make because you can throw virtually anything in the pot and it will come out well. I had a recipe for taco soup that Christine got from a customer of hers. There were no directions on the paper, just ingredients, so I decided dumping them all in the crock would work. ANYONE, can make this soup because it is primarily canned vegetables and requires little prep work. Here is the recipe for those of you who want an easy soup to make:

1½ cups water

1 pound lean ground beef

1 large onion - chopped

1 12oz can crushed tomatoes

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 4.5oz green chilies

1 14oz can whole kernel corn

1 packet ranch dressing

1 packet taco seasoning

     I didn’t have lean ground beef because I primarily buy 80/20, so I browned the beef in a pan until most of the fat had cooked out. But didn’t cook the beef completely through, because it would continue to cook while in the crock pot. Once the fat was drained I added the beef, water, and onion into the crock pot. There isn’t much water in the recipe because there will be a lot more coming from all of the cans. Next, I poured in the contents of both of the cans of tomatoes and the green chilies. I drained most of the water out of the canned corn because there is a lot in there and I didn’t want the soup to be too watery. Finally, I poured both of the packets’ contents on top of everything and mixed until combined. Large crock pots tend to cook hot so I set mine on low even though I would be home after a few hours since I did all of this on my lunch.

     When I got home the kitchen smelled wonderful with a spicy-tomato aroma in the air. All the vegetables had broken down and had become soft. The beef, while normally tough if cooked too long, was very moist. I topped each bowl with some cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Instead of crackers, I served tortilla chips on the side which provided a salty crunch to the meal. Christine and I both mixed the cheese and sour cream around in the soup which thickened it up a little bit but not too much. It is hard to describe the taste other than liquid taco filling but that is how it tasted. It didn’t turn out spicy like I had expected with the taco seasoning and chilies mixed in. That wasn’t a bad thing because it made the soup very light tasting despite its thickness. I will definitely be making this easy soup again, especially during the cold winter nights.

Rating: Delectable - One of the best soups I've made thus far. 

Mom's Sauce & Baked Penne

     I have never made homemade tomato sauce before for a couple of reasons: 1) I’m not a huge red sauce fan despite having Italian in me 2) Everyone I know who makes sauce says it is a pain to make. We were having guests over so I decided to use my mom’s sauce recipe to make baked penne with. I’m not sure if my mom wants everyone in the world to have her recipe so I won’t post the exact measurements needed to duplicate it. It is very important that you do not use any metal utensils or pots when making this sauce as the acidity of the tomatoes in it will take on a metallic taste if you do. I used a wooden spoon to stir with and a plastic ladle to scoop the sauce out. I don’t have a Dutch oven so I substituted my large crock pot in its place.

     You need to render some of the fat from the sausage which is near impossible to do in a crock pot because it won’t get hot enough. Since there was no tomatoes used in this step, I sautéed the sausage with olive oil in a pan. Cook the sausage for about 10 minutes and then remove it from the pan. Since I was using a pan I had to modify the next step slightly, I added garlic to the drippings and sautéed that for a few minutes. Next, I added the drippings and garlic from the pan into the crock pot and mixed them with tomato paste. I had plugged the crock pot in and put it on high so it was hot enough to do the rest of the cooking needed. Once the mixture of drippings, garlic, and tomato paste turned a few shades darker, I added tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, and some water. I stirred everything up and dropped in the sausage links. The following seasonings are sprinkled on top: oregano, basil, parsley, salt, celery seed, and sugar. Stir the seasonings into the sauce until completely mixed with the tomatoes. If using a Dutch oven, turn the heat down to low and allow this to simmer for 3-4 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Since I was using the crock pot, I left it on high and just kept an eye on it.

     About 30 minutes before adding the sauce to the pasta, I took all the sausage links out and chopped them down into small pieces and mixed it all back into the sauce. Thinking we were having 6 people total, I boiled 2 pounds of pasta in a large pot. Once the pasta was done, I ladled the sauce over it and mixed until it was all covered. As a final step I sprinkled mozzarella cheese over the pan of pasta and stuck it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Once the cheese began to bubble and turn a golden brown in spots, I pulled it out and served it up.

     Everyone enjoyed the penne and I think the sauce had a lot to do with it. Like I said before, I’m not a huge fan of red sauce but it was good and I’m glad I took the time to make it from scratch. The sauce was very light and smooth which is nice for those of you who don’t like the chucky sauce most restaurants serve. Everyone had seconds so there was little left over and what was left was sent home with people and I’m having the last of it for lunch today.

Rating: Yummy - I know I'll make this again but it isn't a "must".