Individual Chicken Cobblers

Individual Chicken Cobblers

Adapted from Cheap, Fast, Good by Beverly Mills & Alicia Ross

4 Frozen Southern-style biscuits (you can use canned refrigerated biscuits or homemade biscuits)

1 lb chicken, uncooked (Any chicken will do. Leftover chicken would work great. I used boneless skinless breasts)

1 TBSP veg oil

1 large onion, about 1 cup chopped ( I used dried diced onion because I hardly ever have fresh on hand)

8 oz fresh button mushrooms ( I left these out because the kids don't like mushrooms)

1/4 cup cooking sherry ( I used one cube of chicken bouillon disolved in 1/4cup water)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk ( I used whole because that is what we use at our house)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

1 Preheat the oven and bake the biscuits according to the package instructions.

2. Heat the oil in an extra deep 12-in skillet over medium heat. Peel and coarsely chop the onion. Add to skillet and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

3. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, adding them to the skillet as you cut. Cook, stirring occassionally. Meanwhile, rinse, pat dry, and slice the mushrooms,if using. When th e chicken turns white on the outside, after about 4 minutes, add the mushrooms to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until they begin to release their liquid, about 2 minutes. Add the sherry and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Then add the cream of mushroom soup, milk, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to mix well. Add the frozen vegetables and stir to mix in. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture is bubbly and the vegetables are heated through, about 3 minutes.

4. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer while the biscuits finish baking. To serve, split the biscuits in half and place a bottom portion in each of four bowls. Spoon the chicken mixture evenly over the biscuits and top with the other half of the biscuits.

Meatloaf

I don't know about you, but in my house meatloaf never tastes the same way twice. It drives my husband nuts. :) Tonight we are having meatloaf for dinner. I don't know if the family will like it. They liked it last time, but remember the "meatloaf phenomenon". LOL Here's the recipe I used for tonight's meatloaf.

Thursday Nights Meatloaf

(not real original, I know)

1-2lbs ground beef

1-2TBSP mustard-any type will do, I used regular yellow

1-2 TBSP ketchup

2-3 eggs

1-2 tsp dill weed

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until well blended. Put mixture into a loaf pan. Bake at 375 for about an hour. Or you can line your loaf pan with plastic wrap or foil before you put the mixture in then place the whole pan in the freezer. Once it is frozen you should be able to pop the loaf out and put in a freezer bag. When you are ready to use, unwrap the frozen loaf, pop it in the loaf pan and let it thaw before cooking.

The idea behind this was that it would taste like a hamburger. We'll see how that goes over. LOL You could put half the mixture in the pan, put a layer of cheese in the center leaving space ont he edges, then put in the remaining meat mixture. I didn't do that because sometimes the family weirds out about cheese. LOL

Super Yummy Super Easy

This has become a family favorite. Everyone likes it and the chicken comes out "juicy" just how Griffin likes it. :) I got the original recipe from Penny Pinching Main dishes by JoAnna M. Lund. I have tweaked it a bit, like I do most recipes My notes are in parenthesis. I hope that you enjoy it as much as we do.

Chicken Cola Bake

16 oz skinned and boned uncooked chicken breasts, cut into 4 pieces (I use 5-6 IQF boneless skinless chicken breasts)

1/2 cup diet cola ( we don't do diet, so I use regular)

1 can cream of Mushroom soup (she suggest Healthy Request, but I use whatever I have on hand)

2 tablespoons dried onion flakes (use a bit more, maybe 3 Tbsp)

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes (If I don't have these, I leave it out and it still tastes good.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken pieces in a baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine cola, soup, onion and parsley flakes using a wire wisk. Pour mixture over chicken. cover and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is tender.

Great Find

My old breadmaker is dying a slow death. I do have to say it has held up well . It's about 8 years old. It is just getting progressively louder. The motor is working harder, the beater thingie (yes, that's the techical term. LOL) is squeaky, the nonstick is starting to come off in place. All in all it has served me well, but I knew I would have to start looking for a new one soon. :)

I had been looking at this machine, but it was a little out of my price range right now and I would have had to save up for it. I was at the Goodwill store the other day and stumbled across this for $15. It is wonderful. I LOVE it. It's quiet, compared to my old machine. It has a setting for 3 different size loaves. It makes jam!!! What a great find. I am so thrilled. I plan on making tons of bread with it. Ok, maybe not tons, but you know what I mean. :) I will definately be posting pictures and recipes as I make them. This is so gonna rock. :)

Yummy Biscuits

I made these biscuits last night for dinner. They turned out wonderfully. I used the following recipe from Hillbilly Housewife. I didn't freeze them, I just baked them straight away.

Paula's Purty Nearly Instant Biscuits

6 cups self-rising biscuit flour (OR 6 cups flour, plus 3 tablespoons baking powder & 1 Tablespoon salt)
1 cup shortening
2 cups buttermilk OR sour milk OR yogurt thinned with a little milk or water
This recipe is inspired from a very dear friend named Paula. It involves preparing biscuits from scratch and then freezing the unbaked biscuits. Paula created the idea because her family always wanted her good biscuits for supper, and she needed a way to make them hot, and fresh, even on days when she didn't feel like baking. The results are divinely inspired.
First get out a large mixing bowl. Measure in the self rising biscuit flour (or flour, baking powder and salt). Add the firmly packed shortening and mash it into the flour with your fingers or a fork. DO Not Overmix. The shortening should be casually combined with the flour, and small chunks the size of dried beans should remain. This is what makes the biscuits flakey. Now stir in the buttermilk or sour milk or thinned out yogurt. Stir it up until you have a nice soft dough. Knead the dough about 10 or 12 times. NO more, No less. This activates the gluten in the flour just enough to make good biscuits. Roll the dough out into a nice thick slab. I use a rolling pin, but any sturdy jar or glass will do. Cut the dough into biscuit shapes. Use a clean can or glass rim, if you don't have a biscuit cutter. Tuna cans are just the right size for big breakfast biscuits. Continue rolling and cutting until all the dough is used up.
Lay waxed paper on a plate or large pan. Arrange the shaped biscuit dough on the waxed paper. Freeze overnight. The next morning the biscuits can be gathered up and stashed in plastic freezer bag.
When you want to cook them, just take out the specific number you want and place them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake in a preheated 425 to 450° oven for about 10 minutes. The biscuits will rise up beautifully and will be a nice golden brown when done.
These biscuits are better tasting, and much cheaper than canned whack-'em-on-the-counter-biscuits. The whole recipe makes between 30 and 35 medium sized biscuits, or about 20 big breakfast size biscuits (grand-sized).

Chocolate Soda Cake

A couple of weeks ago I picked up some diet chocolate cherry Dr. Pepper. I drank one, it was alright. It was a little to chemically for me, if you know what I mean. :) Anyway, I had been looking for ways to use it up. In my search I came across this recipe for Chocolate Soda Cake . I figured it would be a great way to use up this soda.

Chocolate Soda Cake
Recipe #147890

12 servings
40 min 10 min prep

1 (18 1/4 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 1/4 cups diet cola- (which is a tad less than one can of soda. I used the diet chocolate cherry dr. pepper I mentioned earlier)

Mix dry cake mix with soda. Don't pay any attention to adding oil, egg, etc.
Pour into floured cake pans, bunt pan, muffin tins, etc.
Bake according to directions on box.

**********************

So, Griffin and I are making this cake for dessert tonight. It was super easy to mix up. We poured it into my Pampered Chef Fluted Stoneware Pan that I picked up somewhere for $5. :) I also sprinkled some halved maraschino cherries onto the batter and sorta poked them into the batter. It's in the oven and has to cook for about 40 minutes. I am going to melt some chocolate chips and drizzle that over the top once it is cooled. I will be sure to update later and let you all know how it turned out.

*****CAKE IS DONE*****

So, here it is. :) The whole drizzled chocolate thing didn't quite work out, so I had to spread it on the top. It looks delicious and I am sure it will be.

Griffin is so excited about it. He can't wait to eat it. I hope he makes it until after dinner. :)

Long time no post.

Well, it's been a while. I never did get those brownies made. We moved halfway across the world since that last post. We have finally adjusted to Texas after spending the last 8 years in England. Well, maybe not 100% adjusted, but adjusted enough. LOL

We have finally settled in and I am just getting back to blogging. :) So, look for more posts, more pics, and more recipes shortly.