Easy Chicken and Dumplings

This recipe came to me from cooks.com and was submitted to them by Megan Durbin

her recipe (and my notes)

chicken 1-2 lbs
1 can cream of chicken
2 cans chicken broth ( I prefer chicken bouillon cubes)
1 1/2 cup water (more broth, less water for a fuller flavor)
1 can peas
1 can carrots
1 package of biscuits
(she lists you can add celery if you wish)

she suggest cutting the chicken into smaller chunks so that it cooks faster

all all ingredients (except biscuits) to a crock pot and turn it to low for an all day cook or to high for faster.

You should include all spices and seasonings into the crock pot at the same time.
parsley, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder are all listed as options

15 - 20 minutes before ready to eat, cut biscuits into 1/4's roll into balls and place in the crock pot. Stir occasionally. cover and finish cooking until you are ready to eat.

For me... I usually try this on the stove over medium heat. I find that the biscuits take 30 minutes to really cook to the consistency I like. I also will include my favorite cajun spice mix or some tabasco.

Chipotle Chicken Pinwheels

Originally found on pg 36 of Dec 06 Pillsbury Appetizers & Desserts
1 can refrigerated Crescent rolls
1/2 cup finely chopped cooked chicken
3/4 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 crumbled bleu cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives.

Basically pinch the dough into rectangles instead of triangles, smear on the cream cheese pile the rest in, roll it up, slice with serated knife and bake 350 for 10-15

So here's my adjustments...

I sauted some red onions with the chicken and chipotle tabasco sauce.
I smear on gobs of cream cheese, then the chicken mixture and top with pepper jack cheese. (my group decided the blue cheese didn't add much to this and opted for the pepper jack version) I also left out the chives in recent experiments with this appetizer, and no one really missed them.

Give it a try and let me know how you like it...

What's in that WonTon?

I was walking through the grocery store a few weeks ago, and having just watch Julie and Julia I was in a cooking mood. Not like I was going to start going through some old cookbooks and try my hand at french cooking, but I was going to EXPERIMENT.

So I had these wonton wrappers... and I didn't know what I was going to do with them.

My vision was turkey, bacon and ranch.

But that didn't real seem like it would come out right. So I went with this.

Ground Turkey, cooked first
Diced Red Onions, sauted with cooked turkey
Diced Bacon, fried and added to turkey mixture

I took this mix, a glob of cream cheese and a speck of avacado,
then a dash of chipotle tabasco.

All this wrapped into the wonton wrapper and fried up.

I tried this later with out the avacado, and it was okay, but I do prefer the avacado.

I just tried it again tonight and while it's not the hit of the party, it's well liked and better than that... it's a nice variation on what people expect! :)

What do you put in your wonton?

Italian Flavors Pasta Salad

I've messed around with this recipe for so long I don't recall all the sources that played into my version.

1 bag of elbow macaroni - cooked and cooled
1 cup diced red onion
1 cup diced bell pepper (the more colorful the better)
1 small can sliced black olives
1 cup diced provalone cheese (i tried an applewood smoked last time, yummo)
1 cup diced salami
1/2 bottle of Italian Dressing
2 tbls dry italian seasoning
chill for 2 hrs
garnish with sliced grape or roma tomotoes just before serving

Guacamole

I learned a little more about guacamole from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guacamole

And I found a great video on this website.
http://blog.diningchicago.com/2009/11/04/eat-this-guacamole-a-singing-sauce-on-its-day/

Here's my dad's family recipe

Avacados - smashed
yellow onion - diced
tomatoes - diced (I started substituing pre made pico de gallo)
lemon juice
salt
salsa picante (preferably pace)


And now my "greener" version

Avacoados - smashed, but a bit chunky still
green onions - sliced/diced
jalepeno - diced
fresh garlic - smashed then chopped
cilantro - chopped finely
lime juice
salt


Here are all the other ingredients I've heard have been added to Avacados to make a guacamole, post your favorites for us?

tomatoes
onions (red, green, yellow...)
garlic
jalepeno
other peppers?
sour cream
cream cheese
shredded cheese
Salt
lemon juice
lime juice
cilantro
cumin
black pepper

First Post

I've decided to start a food blog. I've been trying so many new recipes and keep getting requests for some older ones too. I'll be putting up ones I've tried and failed at to get your help as well as posting my successes as a way for my friends and family to steal the recipes that work!

I'll take suggestions on how to improve my recipes and I'll try anything my readers are interested in.

A disclaimer... I don't eat fish, therefore I don't cook fish. I'm not a chef, and I've never been professionally trained in a kitchen. As you will see by my many mistakes along the way.

Some things about copywrite. I will post where my original recipe came from and give crtedit to the author and publisher when it's available, or links to the site I found it on. All additions and changes will be my experiments and if they end up similar to another recipe it is purely a coincidence.

I'll start adding in some back recipes from the past year as quickly as I can after my school work gets done :)