Category: Cooking

Recipes that may or may not been successful

Chicken and Dumplings

Good old fashioned comfort food!
Hearty and great for lunches for the week.

Make sure you read all the way at the bottom for a few tips I found that helped quite a bit while making.

Prep time: 45 minutes (though some is done while simmering is happening)

Cook time: 2 hours approx total start to finish

Ingredients

  • 1/4 c. butter
  • 3 stalks celery cut into 3 pieces
  • 2 carrots cut into 3 pieces
  • 1 small white or yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 large bay leaves
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp poultry seasoning
  • 3 lbs bone-in chicken breast
  • 32 oz carton chicken broth
  • water (4 – 6 cups approx)
  • 4 tbsp self-rising flour
  • 2 cups self-rising flour
  • 1/4 c shortening (Crisco shortening sticks)

Instructions

  1. Mix all seasonings in a small bowl
  2. Melt butter in a 10 quart stock pot over med-high heat. Add celery, carrots, onion and seasonings. Mix and cook for about 5 minutes. Push veggies to the side as much as possible so chicken can be laid on the bottom. Brown chicken 5 -7 minutes each side.
  3. Measure 3/4 c. of chicken broth and put in refrigerator to chill
  4. Pour remaining chicken broth into stock pot. Add water as needed to cover chicken breasts completely by 2-3 inches. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, reduce heat, cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 1 hour.
  5. Remove chicken and carrots and place on a plate/platter to let cool. Celery can be removed and thrown away.
  6. Measure out 1/2 c. of cooking liquid and put in a bowl to cool for about 5 minutes. Once cooled, add 4 tbsp. flour and whisk together well. Add back to stock pot and whisk well until smooth. Keep liquid simmering on low.
  7. In a large bowl add 2 c. flour and shortening. Using a fork, cut shortening into flour until it is evenly mixed and in small bits. Add in half the chilled chicken broth, using gloved (or bare) hands knead together. Continue adding broth until all flour is moist and dough pulls together into a ball.
  8. Flour a flat surface. Knead dough in flour 5 – 6 times. Flatten, sprinkle with flour and roll out to approx 1/8 inch thickness. Cut dough with a sharp knife into small squares: 1 in x 1 in or smaller. (They will expand quite a bit so in order to get bite size pieces they must be fairly small to start).
  9. Drop dough squares, in batches, into simmering cooking liquid. Use a spoon to push dough aside to add more pieces to prevent them from sticking together. Partially cover and simmer for roughly 12 minutes, until dumplings are firm. Cover and remove from heat.
  10. Pick meat off of chicken bones, pulling apart/cutting into bite size shreds. Slice carrots into desired thickness. Add chicken and carrots to pot. Leave covered for about 30 minutes before serving.
  11. May need to be salted to individual taste.

Tips

  • 2 large chicken breasts or 3 smaller pieces work best. You have to be able to fit the largest surface of each pieces on the bottom of the stock pot to brown
  • Using a smaller crock pot:
    • Browning chicken may be more difficult because of less surface space on the bottom but it can be done
    • May need more broth or water to completely cover chicken for cooking
  • You could use the milk cap or similar sized form to make dough circles instead of squares. Just make sure that pieces are small or it is difficult to easily eat.
  • Add more carrots if desired
  • Add 1 – 2 tsp minced garlic if desired to step 2

Spaghetti Stuffed Meatball

I tried a new recipe for dinner that was a huge hit. I mean, who doesn’t love spaghetti and meatballs…IN REVERSE!

Being the first time I attempted this recipe, I followed the directions and made one giant meatball but next time I want to try making smaller, individual meatballs. If you want to do this, you would just need a smaller bowl to form the right size.

The hardest part was “wrapping” the meatball. It takes a bit of time and some patience but in the end, it was well worth it. When you try this, just keep working the meat into a solid ball.

Recipe was originally found on Tasty but I made a few modifications to our taste.

Make sure to comment after you make this and let me know what you think!

  • Giant Spaghetti Stuffed Meatball

RECIPE: SPAGHETTI STUFFED MEATBALL

PREP TIME: 30 MINUTES

COOK TIME: 1 HOUR

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1.5 lbs ground beef/sirloin
  • 0.5 lbs sweet or spice Italian sausage
  • 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup Italian parsley chopped
  • 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 24 oz jar of marinara
  • 1/3 box of spaghetti pre-cooked and cooled
  • Parmesan cheese for topping
  • Fresh basil chopped for topping

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 375F (190C)
  • Mix sausage, ground beef, bread crumbs, parsley, parmesan, garlic, eggs, milk, salt, pepper and onion powder into a large bowl until all ingredients are well combined.
  • Using a large mixing bowl, preferably glass though I used plastic, line the bowl completely with plastic wrap. Make sure that the entire bowl is covered and plastic wrap hangs over the side with at least a few inches extra all the way around. Coat the plastic wrap in the bowl with cooking spray.
  • Evenly spread meat mixture into the bowl starting at the bottom and working it up the sides of the bowl. Try to keep the thickness of the meat to roughly 1/2 inch all the way around.
  • Sprinkle mozzarella on the base of the meat bowl.
  • Coat cooked spaghetti with marinara sauce. About 1/3 jar. Make sure spaghetti is coated well but not “runny” with sauce. Add noodles on top of mozzarella.
  • Pull the plastic wrap hanging over the sides of the bowl up and towards the opposite sides of the bowl. Working the sides of the meat together and over the spaghetti to form a ball. This takes a few minutes of working the meat. Pinch the seam so that it disappears. Once you have the seam closed, you can take it out of the bowl and continue to pat and shape the whole ball so the meat is even and solid all the way around. If you need to, you can put it in the fridge for 15-30 minutes to help it “stick together” then continue patting and forming.
  • Place ball on a foil-lined cooking sheet.
  • Cook for 45 – 60 minutes depending on oven. Meat should be evenly browned and slightly crispy on the outside.
  • Let meatball sit for about 10 – 15 minutes.

SERVING PREP:

  • Ladle some marinara sauce onto your serving plate and spread evenly.
  • Add extra spaghetti noodles to plate and spread out so meatball will sit evenly on top.
  • Carefully remove meatball from foil using a spatula to prevent foil from sticking to meat and place meatball on top of spaghetti.
  • Top with marinara, parmesan and fresh basil (if you prefer, you can leave off the marinara topping on the entire meatball and spoon extra sauce onto the individual slices once served. This makes serving less messy.)
  • Cut the meatball into slices like a cake and serve.
Cut into cake slice and serve! YUMMY!

TIPS:

  • Wearing gloves while handling meat makes clean up much easier! No meat under your nails (that always weirds me out).
  • Extra mozzarella never hurt anyone
  • Slice up leftovers and store in individual containers for easy reheating. This gave us about 4 slices of leftovers, which are each a meal. It reheats really well! Stick in the microwave for 1 minute at a time until warm. Add extra marinara on top when storing to prevent meat from drying out in the microwave.

ENJOY A UNIQUE TWIST ON SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS!