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Archive for the ‘Quick and Easy’ Category

When the weather turns cold and staying at home cozied up by the fire seems like the best thing to do, I like to make a pot of homemade soup. One of our favorites is Chicken Dumpling Soup. It is comfort in a savory, steamy bowl of creamy goodness!

This soup can come together in less than an hour and is one I make from leftover baked chicken with potatoes. Once I take the cooked  chicken out of the pan, I pour all the juice into a bowl. The next day when I’m ready to make soup, all the fat can be easily skimmed off the top and the juice has all the great bits of meat and spices that make this soup extra tasty. Your chicken for the soup is pre-cooked as well as the potatoes, which is why the soup can come together so quickly.  I don’t usually measure the ingredients for this soup, so the following are “guestimates.”

Chicken Dumpling Soup

chicken broth (approx. 2 cups or 2 cans)

1 cup cooked potatoes, cut into chunks

1 cup celery, sliced

1 bag of frozen mixed veggies

3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces

6 cups water

1 tsp. parsley

1/2 tsp onion flakes

1 can of refrigerator biscuits (do not use the flaky variety!)

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

salt and pepper to taste

In a stockpot, mix the chicken broth with the water, add in celery, potatoes, frozen veggies, chicken, parsley, onion flakes and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil on medium heat. Add in the refrigerator biscuits by pinching off a bite-sized piece at a time and dropping into the pot. Cover and let boil without peeking into the pot for about 15 minutes or until the biscuit dough is nearly cooked. Add in the cream of chicken soup and stir well to completely mix. Let simmer for about 5 minutes and serve!

 

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When a friend recently had major surgery, her sister-in-law took on the task of organizing meals to be brought in to the family. She used a fantastic website called foodtidings.com to schedule the meals.

I love this website. You log in, go to the schedule, select the day you want to bring the meal, then type in what you want to bring. That information is posted where everyone can see it. Everyone participating knows what days are covered and who is bringing what so meals aren’t duplicated.

For the organizer, it makes things so much easier and simpler as well. They set up the basic information of who receives the meals, where, what time and what dates as well as inviting people to participate in bringing the meals. It is so easy for them to keep track of who is bringing what and when.

If you have someone who needs to have meals brought in due to illness, surgery, new baby, or family emergency, this is a great service to use.

You can also find some great tips and recipes on the site’s homepage.

If you are in charge of organizing meals for a loved one or friend, check this site out. It makes it very simple and easy to bring comfort and joy to others through food!

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For many people, standing in the kitchen doing the prep work necessary for cooking is not terribly appealing.  In fact, many people avoid this step as much as possible, thinking of prep work as some form of torment or drudgery.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

You can have fun with prep work and also get through it a quicker when you have some good basic tools in your kitchen. Take a look at the tools you use. Are they outdated, in need of sharpening, not good quality, from early-marriage poverty? It may be time for an upgrade!

I’m not an advocate for oodles of tools, but you will see a huge difference in the amount of time and effort it takes to do prep work when you invest in a few quality pieces. Have at least one great piece of cutlery and cookware. Get a good-quality peeler or paring knife. Have a set of mixing bowls that you like to use, that fit your hand well and hold up to a variety of challenges. Get two good cutting boards, one for meat and the other for everything else.

Invest in tools that you can use for a lifetime and you’ll be so glad you did!

For information about the tools I recommend the most, please sign up for my newsletter or post a comment here.

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polka dotsSummer’s bounty of delicious fruit is not wasted at our house. One of Hubby’s favorite desserts is this quick and easy fruit cobbler that is great with any type of fruit. From peaches to plump berries, it comes together in a snap and is so good with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Enjoy!

Jiffy Fruit Cobbler

1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. milk
1/2 stick butter
3 cups fruit

Melt butter in baking dish at 350 degrees. Mix sugar, flour, baking powder and milk. Add to melted butter. Do not stir. Put fruit on top. Again, do not stir . Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

What is your favorite fruit cobbler? Please feel free to share your comments here!

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