Pot Roast and Gravy

Southern Living is a treasure of a resource for everything for the home, especially recipes. So, of course, I was beyond excited to receive another one of their cookbooks for Christmas. "Southern Living All-Time Favorites" is a great blend of treats for everything from breakfast dishes to pastas to desserts. Isn't it wonderful to be from the south?! Exactly how do people in the north cook??

After a nice long trip back home to Georgia, the hubs was feeling a bit homesick when we returned to Louisiana. So, I decided that some comfort food would be perfect. So bring on, what else than, the pot roast! I've seen my mom and mother-in-law make numerous pot roasts before, but had yet to make one on my own.

Also, it was a wonderful excuse to use a wedding gift I had yet to break in (yea, yea it's been almost 2 years now). It's the French version of a Dutch oven and after one use, I'm in love! Thank you Aunt Barbara!

Country-Style Pot Roast and Gravy

Ingredients:
4-5lb boneless chuck roast (I used a rump roast because the only chuck they had at the store was HUGE. I got a 5lb rump and put half of it in the freezer)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or enough to fill the bottom of your Dutch oven)
1 package dry onion soup mix
2 cups water
6 red new potatoes quartered (I used russet potatoes because that's what I had on hand)
2 carrots chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 10oz package red pearl onions pealed (I just chopped up one sweet onion, because I already had one)
for gravy:
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper

Cooking Directions:
1. Brown roast in hot oil in Dutch oven. Add soup mix and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 hours.

2. Add vegetables and return to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

3. Remove roast and veggies and keep warm. Add flour, salt and pepper (and water if necessary, mine was already soupy enough without it) to drippings. Stir constantly until gravy thickens.

You can serve the gravy alongside your roast and veggies or do like I did: add veggies back into dutch oven and stir into gravy. Slice roast and enjoy the deliciousness!

Oh. my. goodness. The hubs could not stop complimenting me while we were eating (lol). We loved it! The roast was super juicy and the vegetables were perfectly tender without being mushy. Hubs took the leftovers to work for supper that night, he was so in love. Plus now I have the other half in the freezer just waiting to be used in a few weeks.

New Year - New Fiascos

Happy 2012 y'all!! I hope that everyone had a marvelous Christmas and New Year's.

I apologize for my long absence. The hubs and I just got back from a great trip home for the holidays. And I am so happy to announce that I received 3 new cookbooks as christmas gifts that I am excited to tear into! This week I will be getting back into my routine of trying at least one new recipe a week, so stay tuned for more fiascos!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Italian Chicken Crockpot Style

The hubs has been working nights since Thanksgiving which complicates cooking dinner since we now have to eat dinner around 3:30 in the afternoon. That combined with my work schedule has been my excuse for not trying new recipes the past couple of weeks. But this week I'm making up for it with 2 new recipes!

I have Pinterest to thank for this week's inspiration. Seriously, how did we ever come up with new recipes to try and diy crafts to make before Pinterest?

Anyways if you've seen my Pinterest page you've seen the following picture with this recipe:

(Photo Credit: The Girl Who Ate Everything)

Crockpot Italian Chicken

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (I used 6 tenderloins)

1 packet dry Zesty Italian dressing

8oz softened cream cheese

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1/2lb bow tie pasta

Cooking Directions:

1. Place chicken in crockpot and cover with Zesty Italian dressing.

2. Over medium heat on the stovetop, combine cream cheese and soup until well blended. Then pour over chicken in crockpot on cook on low for 4 hours.

3. Cook pasta and drain. Serve with garlic toast.

The chicken was so tender it fell apart on the plate so we ended up shredding it and mixing it in with the pasta and sauce. This was really easy to make and quite inexpensive. I think it would have been even better topped with cheese (which is kind of what it looks like in the picture she just doesn't mention it in the recipe?). Because I used chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts we had some extra sauce which is perfect by itself with left over pasta.

So there you have it. An easy, cheap supper (or mid afternoon lunch in our case.) It wasn't amazing, but it was good and we'll probably have it again.

Apple Roasted Chicken

It's only a couple of weeks until Christmas!! Trying to get our taste buds in the holiday mood (without baking cookies!) I pulled out my Lady and Sons Christmas magazine from last year and happened upon the following recipe (actually the original recipe calls for 2x what I have listed, but I was only cooking for 2 people so I reduced the portions).

Apple Roasted Chicken with Herb Vegetables


Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (4-5lb)
3 red delicious apples
4 carrots
1/2 clove garlic
1 tablespoon rosemary
4 springs thyme
2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper

Cooking Directions:
1. Take one apple and cut in half. Place chicken in cast iron dutch oven and stuff with halved apple, garlic and rosemary. Tie legs together. Rub butter over entire chicken and cover with salt and pepper. Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

2. Cut carrots into bite size pieces. Core and slice remaining 2 apples. After 30 minutes take the chicken out of the oven and carefully place carrots, apple slices and thyme around the chicken. Return the dish to the oven and continue cooking 30-45 minutes.

I cannot express to you how juicy and delicious this chicken was!! It was literally melt in your mouth goodness.. The carrots were perfectly tender without being mushy. The apples (though not a favorite of the hubs and mine) were pretty yummy but a tad on the mushy side.

This recipe is perfect for the season. It took a little time (not a quick casserole to stick in the oven) but totally worth the investment. I served it alongside mashed potatoes and it made the perfect December dinner for two! I'm thinking that it might also be good to add some sliced potatoes and onion. But that will be for next time.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites

Ok, so, I have to admit that I can be some what of an addict when it comes to pretty much any thing cinnamon sugar flavored, especially pretzels!! So of course I was beyond ecstatic when I was wasting my day away on Pinterest and found this recipe for, what else, pretzel bites.

Get off Your Butt and Bake! has great pictures and step by step directions for how she makes her bites. I had to make a little adjustment to her recipe and I unfortunately don't have great lighting and a nice camera. Nevertheless here is what I did to make my very own cinnamon sugar pretzel bites.

Cooking Ingredients:
1 small can refrigerated biscuits
butter
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Cooking Directions:
1. Boil a large pot of water to a slow boil. Cut biscuits into quarters. Toss biscuits into water for about 1 minute. Remove pieces with a slotted spoon and place on paper towel for a few seconds to cool.

2. Place cooled pieces on a greased cookie sheet. Bake in oven at 375 for 15 minutes until they are golden brown. In a small dish mix together sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

3. Remove pieces from oven and coat in melted butter. Roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture until completely coated. And you're ready to eat, nice and warm!

I also made the vanilla glaze which was super easy - just mix 1 cup powder sugar with 2 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
But, next time I'll leave out the vanilla extract or at least use a lot less because its flavor was too overwhelming.

So there you have it, your very own home made cinnamon sugar pretzel bites! The first couple of bites I could taste the biscuit flavor a little but I was probably just thinking too much about what I was eating. They may not win a taste test against Auntie Annie's, but they'll definitely satisfy my cinnamon sugar appetite. Plus they're easy to make and would be a great party snack!

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

It's official, I have had my first fiasco!

I was so excited when I saw this recipe for Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti on Pinterest. I couldn't wait to try it. The pictures looked yummy. The recipe sounded yummy. All roads looked like they headed to yummy. And then I tried it.

It was the most bland thing that I have ever made! And talk about cheese overload. Now I am one that loves cheese, and trust me when I say that this was way too much cheese.

The hubs was a darling and said it wasn't "that bad" and ate his entire plate. Talk about grin and bear it. He's the greatest :).

So, if you see the below picture for cheesy chicken spaghetti floating around Pinterest, don't say I didn't warn ya. Better luck next time.

Chicken n Dumplins

My grandmother loves to cook. I remember when I was growing up, whenever we went over to her house for a visit she always had something boiling on the stove or baking in the oven. She had some interesting concoctions at times, but one of my favorites was always her chicken and dumplings. Thick and creamy, the kind that cooked on the stove for hours before it was finally ready. I can almost taste it just thinking about it!

However, as delectable as it was, it also scarred me for life (ok, so that may be a little dramatic, but it has left a serious impression). Because in spite of what I am sure were her best efforts, there were always chicken bones in it. And for those of you that know me well know that I have a problem dealing with bones. I just can't handle them. Chicken, human, any kind of bone just freaks me out.

That being said, I have always been afraid to try chicken and dumplings and restaurants and other people's homes for fear of finding those nasty little chicken bones that are a result of cooking a whole chicken to put into the chicken and dumplings.

Well, thank you Pinterest and BubbleCrumb for showing me the obvious. Boneless chicken breasts for chicken and dumplings! Plus it uses a crockpot. Yippie!

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:
4-6 BONELESS skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 diced onion
1 tablespoon dried paisley
4 grands flaky refrigerator biscuits

Cooking Directions:
1. Place chicken, butter, soup, broth, onion and paisley in crockpot. Cook on high for 4-6 hours.

2.Break chicken into pieces (the chicken should just fall apart). Chop biscuits into pieces and add to crockpot and continue cooking 30 minutes or until done.

(photo credit: BubbleCrumb)

The results? Perfecto! Let's just say the hubs and I ate almost the entire crock pot full. I did, as usual, make a couple of minor changes. I used 6 chicken tenders and only had 1 can of cream of chicken soup on hand. Also instead of 4 flaky biscuits I used a small tube of 6 biscuits and flattened them out to get 9 pieces out of each biscuit. But it still worked out perfectly well. Thank you Pinterest!