Basil Chicken Dumpling Casserole

While still living at my parents home and still in high school, I received the Taste of Home magazines. This is one of the first recipes I made from it. The basil totally makes the dish. Anytime I make this for someone, I get raving compliments. This is a wonderful fall/winter comfort food. As you can see in the pix above, I didn't just have peas - I had mixed veggies so that's what I used. Everyone loved it:)


Ingredients

* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1/2 cup chopped celery
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/4 cup butter or margarine
* 1/2 cup flour
* 2 teaspoons sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon dried basil
* 1/2 teaspoon pepper
* 4 cups chicken broth
* 1 (10 ounce) package frozen green peas
* 4 cups cubed cooked chicken

Dumplings

* 2 cups buttermilk biscuit mix
* 2 teaspoons dried basil
* 2/3 cup milk

Directions

1.In a large saucepan, saute onion,selery and garlic in butter until tender.
2.Add flour, sugar, salt, basil, pepper and broth.
3.Bring to a boil, stirring.
4.Cook and stir for 1 minute.
5.Reduce heat.
6.Add peas and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
7.Stir in chicken.
8.Pour into a greased 13 in X 9 in X 2 in baking dish.
9.For dumplings combine biscuit mix and basil in a bowl.
10.Stir in milk with a fork until moistened.
11.Drop by TBS onto hot casserole.
12.(12 dumplings) Bake, uncovered, at 350*F for 30 minutes.
13. Cover and bake for 10 minutes longer, or until dumplings are done.

Greek Chicken and Potatoes

While this dish is not very colorful - it was incredibly yummy. So very simple to make to.

Ingredients:
1 package chicken - 3-4lbs?
4-5 pealed and cut potatoes (not too thick)
4-6 tablespoons butter
olive oil
oregano
1 lemon quartered
salt
pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of casserole dish, then lay potatoes and chicken on the bottom - making sure chicken is in a single layer.

Cut butter into pieces and place all around chicken.

Drizzle chicken with freshly squeezed lemon - then place lemons in the baking dish.

Sprinkle liberally with oregano and then season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 1 hour or till chicken runs clear and potatoes are tender.

A big thanks to Stephenie on amomshideout.com for this yummy recipe!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Bars

These are yummy! Dh wanted his with ice cream on the top.

Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups baking chips

Directions:
Beat butter, sugars and vanilla till well creamed - about 4 minutes.

Add in peanut butter and mix till blended.

Add eggs and mix till blended.

Next add oats, flour and baking soda, a little at a time till combined.

Stir in chocolate chips and pour into a greased 13x9 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 mins or till just set.

Old Fashioned Vegetable Soup

I modified this recipe from one that was online. The one I made it after did not call for the tomato paste or the bullion - both of which give this soup it's flavor. I totally forgot to precook barley and add it in. I will definately do that next time. I would recommend salting individual bowls once this is finished cooking as the vegetables can really soak up the salt. Also, this makes a lot. I would guess you could serve 8 people with this recipe. Just make sure to have some good bread and butter and maybe even some homemade applesauce on the side:)

Ingredients:
1-2lbs ground beef
2 quarts water or tomato juice
4 diced potatoes
1/2 head cabbage - thinly chopped
1 diced onion
1/2 pound frozen green beans
1/2 pound frozen peas
1 can corn - drained
1 can tomatoes
6oz tomato paste
1/2 - 1 Tablespoon beef bullion

Directions:
Cook beef and onions. Drain any excess grease.

Add rest of ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-45 minutes.

Shredded Italian Beef Sandwiches and Fried Sweet Potatoes

I made some honey wheat rolls for the beef sandwiches. Big mistake. They need something less sweet and dense. The rolls on their own are amazing as is the beef. Next time I'll need a lighter, non-sweetened bun. We used monterey jack cheese slices on the beef which was oh so yummy! Sorry about the blurry picture - I was in a hurry to eat. lol.

Honey What Rolls

Ingredients:
1 cup warm milk
1 beaten egg - preferably at room temp
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cup unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Directions:
Place ingredients in bread machine and start dough setting. This usually takes 1-2 hours depending on the bread machine.

When dough cycled is finished, divide up into as many balls as you like.

Place them on a baking stone and flatten down a bit. Let rise covered till doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.



Fried Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes
coconut oil - I used refined since I was frying
sea salt

Cook sweet potatoes till slightly tender but still a little hard.

Warm up oil in pan and fry sliced, partially cooked potatoes. Make sure to get them nice and golden.

Remove and place on paper towels to remove excess grease.

Season with sea salt.

**Note** The thinner you slices these, the more like fries they'll be. Mine were pretty thick so they were very soft in the middle. Still very good though.



Italian Shredded Beef

Ingredients:
5lbs roast
1 package italian dressing mix
3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon onion powder (I didn't have so I didn't use it)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder.

Directions:
Mix water and seasonings together. Place roast in crockpot and dumb mixture over meat. Cook in crockpot over low for 8 hours if thawed or on high for 8 hours if frozen.

Take meat out and shred. Place back in crockpot for about 15 minutes.

Spoon with a slotted spoon onto buns.

Chicken Bundles

These are very yummy! My mom told me how she ate them at my sil's house. I"m not sure if this recipe is exact, but this is how I make them. Very easy, especially if you have leftover chicken.

Ingredients:
3 oz cream cheese
3 Tablespoons melted butter
2 cups cooked, chopped chicken
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon chopped onion
1 8oz can refrigerated crescent rolls

Directions:
Place all ingredients except crescent rolls into a mixer (I use the kitchenaid) and mix well.

Open up the rolls and spoon mixture into 2 triangles - don't separate into triangles. Instead, pinch the creases together before placing the filling in the middle. Pull up top left corner, then bottom right and pinch together. Do the same with the two remaining corners and try to pinch all together so no filling oozes out.

Bake on un-greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

I got this lovely recipe as well as the pix off of recipezaar and tweaked it a bit. There are a few things I would/did change. First of all, it needs some garlic. Salt needs to be added after cooking for each individual taste. I'm thinking a great alternative would be to add some diced tomatoes and cut down on the water a bit. All in all this is a good vegetable soup. Oh yes, I would also add some kind of bullion or broth powder. If not, it lacks flavor.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup pearl barley
11 cups vegetable (or beef) stock - divided
2 tablespoons oil
1-2 chopped onions
1/2 - 1 chopped large zucchini
2-3 chopped carrots
1-2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
1-2 stalks chopped celery (I didn't use this time)
fresh ground pepper

Directions:
Place 3 cups of the stock and the barley in a saucepan. Bring to boil then cover and simmer for 1 hour - or till liquid is absorbed.

Approx. 1/2 hour after barley has simmered, place oil and chopped veggies in skillet. Cook till mushrooms are nicely cooked and shrunken. Add remaining stock and pepper - simmer for at least 30 minutes uncovered.

Add in the barley and simmer for about 5 minutes longer (I skipped this step).

Let each person salt to their taste.