Slow Cooker Chicken & Cheater Dumplings

This recipe comes from my dear friend and cousin, Allison.  It's actually Carl's cousin's wife, or as I usually say, Cam's bff's mom.  :)  It is the perfect pick me up when you are sick or on a cool fall day.  Luckily it was just the latter we were working with today!
 
 This is just slightly modified from her version

Slow Cooker Chicken & Cheater Dumplings

4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of butter
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of celery soup
3 1/2 cups of chicken broth (If you use low-sodium, you will just want to add salt to taste)
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup celery, diced-
1 1/2 cup carrots, diced
Pepper to taste- about 2 tsp

*As for the dumplings… You can make your own dumplings, or use 1 (10 oz) package of refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into small pieces
 
1. Excluding the biscuits,  put all ingredients in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours or high for 4.
2. About 60-90 minutes before serving, remove chicken and pull into pieces and return to the soup mixture, place the torn biscuit dough in and cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

Baked Potato Soup

This isn't the first time I've made this recipe. It isn't even the second. It might be the third. I can't remember. Anyway, I've made it quite a few times, and every single time, Carl gets disappointed when it's gone. You might think, "Well gee Molly, just make a double batch!" And to that I'd say I was already ahead of you, and I make triple batches :/ It's delicious. It's the perfect soup for these cool fall days and I, too, get sad when it is all gone!

I've adapted a bit since that original recipe, so these are actually my instructions.

Ingredients

• 3 turkey bacon strips, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 tablespoons all-purpose flour (more if you like it thick, less if you like it thinner)
  
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
  
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Optional (I don't use the following, I'm more of a purist :) )

• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Minced fresh parsley

Directions

1. In a stockpot, cook bacon until crisp (I spray my pan with a little cooking spray since the Turkey Bacon doesn't produce grease). Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the same pot until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. I add the bacon in at this point and stir, but you can also just top the soup with the crispy bacon.

P.S. I apparently cannot photograph potato soup. I promise, I tried. Twice. I gave up.

Annie's Broccoli Cheddar Soup

1st, yes, I am alive. And yes, I actually have been eating the last 6 or so months, even though I haven't been telling you about it. To be honest, I haven't tried many new things and when I have, they just haven't been that exciting. But, I think last night might have got me back in the swing of things food-wise!

2nd, I want to live at Annie's house. I would be her maid and she could pay me in food. I love that she makes things that are reasonable and not too far fetched where I can't find the ingredients in my local store.

I had starred this recipe for Broccoli Cheddar Soup awhile back and this week was finally up to the challenge of making some new meals. I can't really say it's healthy, but you do get a truckload of veggies in your system and it's a super frugal dinner option! Oh and it came together quickly, for a soup especially! I'm enjoying a bowl of it for lunch today and am looking forward to having it for lunch again tomorrow!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup
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Ingredients:
6 tbsp. butter, divided
¾ cup onion, chopped
1 cup carrot, chopped or shredded
4 cups small broccoli florets
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
½ tsp. onion salt
½ tsp. garlic powder
4 tbsp. flour
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the onion to the pan and sauté until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the carrots to the pan and cook a couple minutes more. Stir in the broccoli, chicken broth, onion salt and garlic powder. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

In a medium saucepan, melt remaining butter. Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown, whisking constantly. Whisk in the milk and cook until the mixture thickens and bubbles, about 5 minutes. Once the mixture has thickened, whisk in the cheese until completely melted. Remove from the heat and add the cheese sauce to the soup pot. Allow to simmer until warmed through and broccoli is tender. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. If desired, puree the soup with an immersion blender for a smooth texture.

Source: Annie’s Eats original

My notes: I used my mandoline with the cheese grater slot to shred the carrots and I just rough chopped the broccoli. I like a chunkier soup though. I also noticed that it needed a decent amount of salt and pepper on the first day- so I added a little to the pot, but day 2 was perfect. No need for any additional seasoning. It easily made enough for 4-6 servings.

Pioneer Woman's French Onion Soup

I wanted to make something new this week, and Lindsay, my official guinea pig, told me I just haaaaaaad to try PW's French Onion Soup. Now, I'm a huge fan of FOS, and PW hasn't done me wrong yet, so it only seemed appropriate to give it a go. I'll warn you the same as Lindsay did- this is not a quick recipe. It takes about 2 hours, only about 30 minutes of hands-on time, but just be warned.

Now that I have appropriately warned you about the time, let me warn you on one other thing. You are probably going to eat way more of this than you need. It is some delicious warmness, and you won't want to put your spoon down. See those three ramekins up there in that picture? I did not make this for Carl, Gibson and me. It was just me.

Alright...now that you are really warned, go buy these ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
4 large or 6 small/medium yellow onions, halved root to tip and sliced thin
1 generous cup dry white wine
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
4 cups beef broth
2 cloves minced garlic
Worcestershire Sauce
Several thick slices french bread or baguette
5 to 7 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (Swiss, Asiago, Mozzarella, or Romano works, too)

Now do this:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Melt butter in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onions and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.
Place soup pot into the oven with the lid slightly ajar to ensure the onions will brown.
Allow onions to cook in the oven for 1 hour, stirring at least once during the cooking process so onions won’t stick and burn.
Remove pot from pan and place over medium heat. Stir pan, scraping all the brown, flavorful bits.
Turn off heat and pour in wine. Turn heat back to medium.
Cook wine for five minutes, allowing it to reduce.
Add broths and minced garlic and reduce heat to low.
Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Butter one side of the bread slices and broil over low heat, allowing bread to brown and become crispy.

When soup is ready, ladle into bowl or ramekin. Place crispy bread on top, then sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve immediately.

Note: I cut the recipe in half. It would fill about 6 small ramekins. I made half up tonight and will probably have the leftovers tomorrow. I only did the bread and cheese portion for the 3 ramekins I made tonight. ENJOY!

Gruyere Potato Soup

Yaaaaaaaay! The Gruyere is gone! Please understand, I really love Gruyere, but to avoid freezing it (because I am horrible at using frozen cheese) I just wanted to use the whole bar of cheese. So one last time, I searched for recipes using Gruyere and found a potato soup, but then I kept searching to find one that sounded the best and came across this one. I wanted to make it for our last Friday of Lent, so I skipped the bacon, but it was still really really good! It had a nice light flavor.

Since I left out the pig, I started with a little olive oil to cook the onion. The only other thing I would do different is add some fresh garlic with the onion to give a little more flavor.

I also cut it in half, and that was the perfect amount for the two of us to have it as our main meal. I served it with my Perfect Side Salad.

Ingredients:

* 4 slices bacon, chopped
* 3 medium onions, chopped fine
* 3 cups chicken broth
* 3 1/4 cups water
* 3 pounds boiling potatoes (preferably yellow-fleshed)
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 pound Gruyère cheese, grated (about 2 1/2 cups)
* 1 tablespoon Madeira or Sherry if desired
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

Preparation:

In a heavy kettle (at least 5 quarts) cook bacon over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp and spoon off all but 1 tablespoon fat. Add onions and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring, until pale golden. Add broth and 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Peel potatoes and cut into 3/4-inch cubes. Add potatoes to soup and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.

In a small bowl whisk together flour and remaining 1/4 cup water until smooth and add to simmering soup, whisking. Simmer soup, covered, 5 minutes.

In a blender purée Gruyère with 3 cups hot soup broth. Stir purée into soup with Madeira, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste and remove soup from heat. Soup may be prepared up to this point 3 days ahead (cool uncovered before chilling covered). Reheat over low heat but do not let boil.

Just before serving, stir in parsley.

Big Carl's White Chicken Chili

Ok, so I actually made this on Monday (not that you care) to start off the "feel like home" week for Carl. I call his dad Big Carl, since they call my Carl, Little Carl. So "Big Carl's White Chicken Chili" it is! I'd say I hit the nail on the head with this one!

1 1/2 -2 pounds cooked boneless, skinless chicken- cubed (I just cook mine in a little water in a skillet)
2 14oz cans of chicken broth
1 480z can of white northern beans
2 c finely chopped whit onion
2 tbsp fresh minced garlic
1 small can chopped green chilis
2 tsp cumin (heap if you like it hot)
2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you like it hot)

Saute onions and garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil until onions are tender. Stir in the green chilis.

Mix all into big pot with the chicken. Heat until boiling, simmer for 10-15 minutes. The longer you cook it, the more tender the chicken will get.

My Notes: This is the perfect fall recipe! Drop a spoonful of sour cream and sprinkle with cheese for the ultimate flavor explosion! It makes enough to feed 6 adults easily. We had this two nights in a row and then I took the remainder to work and shared with a co-worker. He was also a huge fan. We will definitely make this again and again!