The weather is starting to turn pretty cold here in Northern WI! The hubby has been out in the water for the pst 2 weeks and will be for another 2-3 weeks so I like to have something warm on the stove when he gets home from work. This recipe that I adapted from http://www.ourbestbites.com/ is really good, warming and pretty fast to put together! I had 3 people coming home at differnet times the night that I made this, so I just put in the dumplings for each person seperately so they were all fresh and it worked out well! Hope you like it!
Chicken ‘N’ Dumplings
INGREDIENTS:
6 cups chicken broth
1 rotisserie chicken, cut up
1 cup sliced carrots
1 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 14 ounce can fat free evaporated milk
1 recipe Jiffy dumplings-recipe on box
DIRECTIONS:
In a alrge pot, heat some oil over medium heat and add onions and garlic. Saute for a few minutes and then add chicken broth, chicken and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Add carrots and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook until carrots are tender. When carrots are almost done, add evaporated milk. Increase heat to boiling and add prepared Jiffy biscuits by small spoonfuls (go small because they puff up a lot during cooking). Cook until dumplings are done-about 10 minutes.
NOTES: You can use other biscuit mixes like Bisquick
Let me see a raise of hands–how many people love an Almond Joy?? My hand went up first!! My favorite candy bars are Almond Joys and Take 5. I just LOVE the combination of sweet and salty that both represent. It’s like a McDonald’s chocolate shake and french fries!
This was fun to make and the boys loved eating it, what a fast, easy dessert to whip up for company! I have quite a few “posts” waiting in line for their day in the blog sun, but this one had to move straight to the front of the line because I couldn’t wait for you to try it!
Nutella Layered Coconut Pound Cake
INGREDIENTS:
1 loaf (16 ounces) frozen pound cake, thawed
1 can (14 ounces) fat free sweetened condensed milk
2 cups flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 jar Nutella
DIRECTIONS:
Cut the pound cake horizontally into four layers. In a small bowl, combine the milk, coconut and almonds. Place bottom layer on a serving plate; top with half of the coconut mixture, one cake layer and 1/2 cup Nutella. Repeat layers and ending with Nutella on the top.
NOTES: Adapted from May/June issue of Simple and Delicious
Yum, yum, yummy! These little bits of heaven are divine!! When I first saw that the recipe only made an 8 x 8 pan, I thought, “that’s not going to go very far…” but they are rich, so a small bite was all you needed for pure contentment. I used 1/3 fat cream cheese, and low-fat sour cream to help bring down the fat and calories and it turned out great, you would never know the difference!
Cheesecake Squares
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
FILLING:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate sprinkles
DIRECTIONS:
Line an 8 x8 baking pan with foil; grease the foil. In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Cut in butter until it resembles fine crumbs. Sir in the egg yolk, vanilla and pecans. Press into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, flour and salt. Beat in the egg, egg white and vanilla on low speed just until combined. Pour over warm crust. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Garnish with chocolate sprinkles and cut into 1 inch squares.
Right before I entered 8th grade, my family moved 150 miles from my Hometown. For most young girls, I would think this would be traumatic, I on the other hand usually go with the flow. At first, of course, I wasn’t happy to leave my friends and the only town that I knew.
The move was a long time in coming since that was 1980 and interest rates were 18%, we had a hard time selling our house, so my dad commuted for 18 months or so until we could follow him.
Lucky for me, there was an 8th grade girl that lived across the street and we became fast friends. One day, right before school started, our moms took us shopping “uptown”–this was a cool term to me, since in my old town we went “downtown”. My mom bought me a few of the trendy items that would ensure me fitting in at my new school and then we went to a sporting goods store called “the Gamut” for a few sports items.
I picked up a duffel bag in my new school colors of evergreen and white and thought it was really cool. An aisle over, I overheard my mom say to my friend’s mom, “I think I’ll get Anne that bag, maybe that will make her feel more a part of the new school”. And this was my first taste of a small deception from a parent in order to make their child feel better….
So, why this recipe you ask?? And how does it tie in with my story?? Well, I have one son who does not like PUMPKIN!! He came home from soccer and was STARVING and dinner wasn’t quite ready, so I offered him one of these muffins, knowing full well he doesn’t like pumpkin, I omitted that ingredient when telling him what they were made of, which lead me to a whole hour of thinking about when I remember first being deceived.
I’m sure my mom had no clue that I heard her and she meant no malice by what she was doing, as I meant no harm to my son. But guess what, he liked the muffins–mostly because they had chocolate chips I’m sure! So the pumpkin will be our little secret!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
INGREDIENTS:
2 Spice cake mixes (Duncan Hines)
1 30 ounce can pumpkin
1 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine mixes, pumpkin and eggs, stir. Add in chocolate chips. Pour into lined muffin tins and bake for 24-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Adapted from: http://www.ourbestbites.com/
You people are just too much!! My 1st and 2nd awards came in the same day! I was over the moon before, now I’m over Jupiter! Thank you to Roz over at http://www.bellavita-bellasblog.blogspot.com/. She’s got the most beautiful site and awesome authentic recipes, you just have to check her out!! anne
3 comments » 
The weather is starting to turn pretty cold here in Northern WI! The hubby has been out in the water for the pst 2 weeks and will be for another 2-3 weeks so I like to have something warm on the stove when he gets home from work. This recipe that I adapted from http://www.ourbestbites.com/ is really good, warming and pretty fast to put together! I had 3 people coming home at differnet times the night that I made this, so I just put in the dumplings for each person seperately so they were all fresh and it worked out well! Hope you like it!
