Childhood memories are often associated with foods.  This recipe is one of my favorites.  I used to “help” my mom in the kitchen when she would make this meal.  She always started the chicken as soon as we got home from school, and by the time my Dad got home from work, it would be time to make the dumplings.  That’s where I came in.  It was my job to roll out the dumplings and cut them into dumpling-sized pieces.  Then I would stack them up gently and hand them off to my Mom in small batches for her to drop into the simmering broth to cook.  The end result was warm, rib-sticking, and delicious.

I was reminded that I had this recipe by a friend of mine who mentioned that it was one of his family’s favorite cold-weather meals.  I haven’t made this for my own family simply because NOT ONE PERSON in my family likes them but me.  The only time I get them is either when Mom has leftovers or I get to make a trip to the Cracker Barrel.  Alas, I can look at the recipe and remember!  PLUS I get to share the recipe with you lucky people!  Go forth and make dumplings.  You’ll love them!!!

Chicken and Dumplings

3-pound fryer

2 quarts water

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

Wash chicken thoroughly.  Place chicken in a large pot and cover with about two quarts of water; add salt.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook for about an hour until fork tender.  Remove chicken and cool.  Allow broth to cool.  Debone chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces.  Pour broth back into pot, add chicken and black pepper and heat.

For dumplings:

2 cups all purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

1 Tbsp baking powder

¼ cup shortening

¾ cup buttermilk

¾ stick butter

½ tsp. black pepper

Sift flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.  Cut in shortening with a fork (or your fingers) until mixture resembles meal.  Make a “dip” in the mixture, add buttermilk and stir with a fork until blended.  Use hands to turn dough until covered with flour.  Turn out onto a floured surface.  Knead until well mixed.  Shape dough into three balls about the size of baseballs.  Pat each dough ball out to desired thickness, about 1/16 of an inch.  Slice dough into 2 inch strips.

Bring broth and chicken to a boil.  Add butter.  Drop dough strips, one at a time, into the boiling broth.  Do not stir.  Push strips down carefully into broth with a fork.  Reduce heat to medium low.  Add more strips.  Be sure to cook the last batch of strips for ten minutes.

One of my favorite things that my Mom makes is Cavatini.  It’s inspired by a dish that Pizza Hut used to have eons ago.  It’s basically pizza sauce with sausage, pepperoni, olives, green peppers, onions and mushrooms over pasta, topped with mozzarella and baked until bubbly.  Supremely delicious!

So last night, she called me and said, “I made cavatini tonight.  I have leftovers do–”

“Oh my God, yes!  I want the leftovers!”  I didn’t even let her finish the sentence.  Then she said another magical phrase, “I also made buttered noodles.”

“YUM!” I said.

She laughed and said, “Ok, I’ll send them over with your brother when he comes to your house.”  So now I have cavatini in my fridge waiting for lunch tomorrow, AND I have buttered noodles too!

Anyway, even though I didn’t make it myself, I thought I’d share the recipe with you, so YOU can maybe make some for yourself!

Cavatini

1 jar Paul Newman’s spaghetti sauce with onions and peppers

1 small can of mushrooms

Sliced black olives (as many or as few as you want)

1 onion, chopped

Sliced pepperoni

1 lb hamburger or sausage, cooked with the onion and drained

1 pkg.  Trio Italiano pasta, or your favorite shape pasta (corkscrews work well) cooked according to directions

Mozzarella cheese

Combine all of the above and put into a casserole dish that has been sprayed with Pam.  Bake at 350˚ until well heated.  Top with mozzarella cheese and return to the oven just until the cheese melts.

If you find that you have too much pasta for the casserole, just save it to the side and melt some butter over it.  Add a little salt, pepper and parmesan cheese and there you have a SUPER little add-on.  ENJOY!

So I’ve totally been slacking on the blog stuff.  I know.  I don’t have any excuses except that I’ve been cooking my old stand-by stuff that just isn’t that exciting.  However, tonight I tried something new.  It’s super easy… so easy it’s almost shameful!  Here goes…

Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken

6 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I use the IQF ones)

1 bottle bbq sauce (I used Jack Daniels sauce)

1/2 cup Robusto Italian Salad Dressing

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Throw the frozen breasts in the crock pot.  Stir together the bbq sauce, salad dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce and pour over the frozen chicken.  Set the crock pot on low and let cook for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 3 to 4 hours.  Once the chicken is done, remove it from the sauce and shred it.  Return it to the sauce and stir.

I served this on kaiser rolls to my hubby, but since I’ve developed gestational diabetes again, I’m trying to watch my carbs a little closer than normal.  I baked myself a small potato in the microwave and had the chicken on top of that.  It was SO good.  We’re definitely adding this one to our list of favorite suppers.  Even my picky 10 year-old liked it!!  Bonus!

Thanks to Daemia for this recipe!  Since I have this weird egg allergy problem thing that prevents me from enjoying a lot of baked goods like CHOCOLATE CAKE, I’ve been on a sort of quest for the perfect eggless chocolate cake.  I have at last found it.  It’s rich, moist and oh so very chocolaty.  Without further ado, here it is.

Crazy Cake, as written on the back of an envelope

3 c flour
6 T cocoa
1 t salt
2 c sugar
2 t baking soda

2 t vinegar
2 c water
2/3 c oil
2 t vanilla

Mix dry.
Mix wet.
Pour wet into dry.
Mix.
Bake @ 350 for 30 min.

I was totally skeptical about the outcome of this cake, but it was perfect.  I was afraid that it would rise or it would be rock hard or tasteless.  I was so very pleasantly surprised.  Try it!  You’ll love it.

Daemia included a frosting recipe for the cake, but I chose to forgo it because dairy and I are not getting along during this pregnancy.  I love it, but it hates me and wants me to die.  /CRY  So I frosted my cake with a store-bought frosting, and it was delish.  Here’s the recipe for the frosting if you and dairy are good friends, and you want to try it out.

8 oz cream cheese
1 3/4 c powdered sugar
1/8 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c heavy whipping cream

Whip cream till stiff peaks form.
Combine other ingredients separately.
Fold in whipped cream.
Frost and serve, or else it’ll get all runny (still haven’t tinkered with it enough to fix that).

 

 

Tonight I’m in the mood for something really easy, but really tasty.  So I’m pulling out one of our favorite EASY meals.  Italian sausage with onions and peppers with crusty garlic bread.

Buy your favorite Italian sausage links.  I almost always get the Johnsonville Mild Italian because they have the flavor I like.  Cook them according to the package.  In the meantime, slice up 1 red bell pepper, 1 green bell pepper and 1 onion.  Saute them in a little olive oil until tender and slightly browned.  Also have a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce warming on the stove.  I use Paul Newman’s Sockarooni or Marinara.  LOVE IT!

Once the sausage is done, slice it up and add it to the onions and peppers and let saute for a couple of minutes just to give the veggies some of the sausage flavor.  My hubby’s not a huge fan of the spaghetti sauce, so he usually doesn’t have the sauce on his plate.  That’s the only reason I keep it separate from the rest of the mixture.  If you wanted to, you could add the sauce to the sausage and peppers, and it would be equally delicious.  Keeping it on the side allows you to have as much or as little sauce as you personally prefer.

Serve with some crusty garlic bread and the spaghetti sauce.  It’s also very good with pasta.

So I have this egg allergy thing that is super annoying when you love things that contain eggs. Like cake. But I found these, and they are AMAZING.

1 boxed devil’s food cake mix
1 15-oz can pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling!)

Mix the two ingredients in a bowl. The batter will be SUPER thick. Scoop into a lined cupcake mold and bake at 400 for about 20 mins. Makes 12.

These were super moist and oh so chocolaty. You can’t even tell there’s pumpkin in there!

I was trying to come up with a weekly menu the other night while I was over at my mom’s house.  I had everything but one night, and I needed something to do with chicken.  So my mom said, “How about Ritzy Chicken?”  Uh what?  My grandmother used to make this dish on Sundays, apparently.  She’d put it in the oven before they left the house for church and by the time they got home, it was done and ready to eat.

This could NOT be simpler.  Take 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers and BZZZZZZT them in the food processor to get crumbs.  Melt 1 stick of butter.  Roll boneless, skinless chicken breasts first in the butter and then in the Ritz crumbs.  Bake in a 350 oven until they’re done – it took mine about 45 minutes or so.

The crackers had just enough salt that the chicken didn’t need any other seasoning for me.  My husband, odd person that he is, decided to have his with some chipotle mayo that I made for him.  (1 cup of mayo, 2 chipotle peppers and a tablespoon or so of the adobo sauce from the chipotles can… BZZZZT in the food processor and done.)  I don’t like it.  Mayo is gross.  But he loves it.  Whatever.  Try the chicken, it’s delish!

Sometimes I want the flavors of lasagna, but I don’t want the hassle.  I learned this little recipe from my mom who is the Queen of easy meals…. Rachel Ray eat your heart out!

Skillet Lasagna

1lb Ground Beef

garlic salt, pepper and about 1/8 tsp Italian seasoning

2 cans Italian stewed tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

1 small tub cottage cheese or ricotta cheese, whichever you prefer

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1 lb egg noodles, cooked and drained

Brown the ground beef and season with garlic salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle in the Italian seasoning as the beef cooks.  Meanwhile, combine the stewed tomatoes and tomato paste in the food processor.  Process until you have your desired consistency.  I have a 10 year old, so the less chunky, the better.  Once the meat is browned, add the tomato mixture.  Allow to simmer while the noodles finish cooking.

When the noodles are done, add them to the meat mixture and stir in the cottage cheese.  If you want, you can drain and rinse the cottage cheese before adding it.  Sprinkle mozzarella over the top and cover to allow the mozzarella to melt.   Once it’s melted, it’s ready to serve.

For years my mom made this with a specific brand of tomato sauce that was discontinued a while ago.  I asked her how she got around this problem, and she told me about the Italian stewed tomatoes and tomato paste trick.  I am amazed at how close the flavor is to the old style.  LOVE it!!!

I got a really great deal on loin chops at the grocery store today.  I managed to pick up 12 fairly thick chops for $9.99!  So what am I going to do with 12 chops??  Well I’ll break that up into at least two suppers.  Since I already have a package of chops in the freezer in the marinade I use for the pork tacos, I decided to do another of our favorites.  Pineapple grilled chops.  These couldn’t be easier.

Pineapple Grilled Pork Chops

• 6 loin chops
• 1 small bottle zesty Italian salad dressing (I use Wishbone)
• 1 large can pineapple
• 3 Tablespoons soy sauce (more if you love soy sauce)
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Drain the juice from the pineapple into a bowl and set the pineapple slices aside for grilling with the chops later.  Add the salad dressing, soy sauce and brown sugar to the juice.  Pour the marinade over the pork chops in a zip top bag.   Allow to marinate for at least 2 hours — overnight gives the best flavor.  When you’re ready to grill, cook over medium-high heat.  DON’T overcook the chops or they will dry out! Serve with grilled pineapple slices.

This works great in the freezer.  Just put the chops in the zip top bag with the marinade and toss in the freezer.  When you’re ready to cook them, let them thaw overnight and then drain off the marinade.  In this case, I usually just add a small can of pineapple juice to the marinade and open a can of pineapple when I’m ready to grill.

I can hear you thinking, “Geez.  Betsy’s going all Fancy Schmancy on us.”  The thing is, I’m so not.  This is the simplest thing I think I’ve ever seen.

Through the whole season of The Next Food Network Star, one of my favorites was Melissa d’Arabian.  She was a mom (like me!) who cooked simple food (like me!) and had no formal cooking training (like me!).  Well something happened that just never happens.  My favorite, Melissa, WON.  Now she has her own show on Food Network called $10 Dinners.  Cheap and delicious?  Yes, please!

Last weekend Melissa made this crispy skinned chicken a l’orange and crispy potatoes.  By the end of the episode I was drooling as much as my 7-month-old (that’s a lot!!).  It looked and sounded delicious, and it seemed simple enough that I couldn’t screw it up.  So we tried it tonight.

O.M.G.  The chicken came out crispy on the outside, moist on the inside and super flavorful.  I spooned the extra sauce in the bottom of the pan over the chicken after I cut it off the bone to serve.  I caught myself running my fork through the sauce on my plate just so I could lick it off.  I’ll definitely be making it again.  I might even try to put a little twist on it next time and make it an Asian chicken a l’orange with a teeny bit of soy sauce in the glaze.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe you need:

Crispy Skinned Chicken a l’Orange

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 skin-on bone-in chicken breast halves
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
• 4 tablespoons honey

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Liberally salt and pepper the chicken breast halves. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat and sear the chicken, skin side only, until brown and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the orange glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the orange juice concentrate, honey, and salt and pepper, to taste, over medium heat, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Turn the chicken over and brush each piece with the glaze. Turn the chicken skin side up and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, brushing on more glaze halfway through, about 15 minutes in total. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board. Remove the chicken breast from the bone and slice the meat on the bias. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and serve.

Yeah, that says frozen orange juice concentrate.  And honey.  That’s it.  That’s all there is to it.  Amazing, no?  I thought so.  So don’t let the fancy name put you off.  Give it a try, and you’ll be amazed at how easy this is to make.  I even had time to sit down for a few minutes while the chicken was in the oven!

**Photo and recipe courtesy of FoodTV.com and Melissa d’Arabian