Chicken pot pie soup

  First off, WINTER is here!!!!! Yay!  Time to break out the sweaters, slippers and warm soup! I would like to say that I thought that this was crazy to.  Never before had I even considered the thought that you could turn this magnificent dish (Chicken Pot Pie) into.....into....something glorious!  My father (who gives his opinions liberally) told me specifically that this got his 5 star approval.  To make this even better, it's a crock pot meal!  Prep time is about 30 mins, cook time is 5 1/2 to 6 hrs.

 Ingredients:

  2 Lbs boneless, skinless, chicken breast

  2 1/2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables

  3 cups of raw potato's ( I did maybe 4 to 4 1/2 cups)

  3 cans of Cream of chicken soup

  1 onion

  1 Tbsp. minced garlic

  Salt, Pepper, Red pepper flakes and any additional seasonings you might like :)

  
  Pretty simple right?!  What you want to do first is cube the chicken and put that in the crock pot.  I like to put the things with the most flavor on top of the chicken so it can absorb all of that goodness.  That would be the seasonings of choice, onion, garlic.   Now put in the mixed veggies, potato's, and the Cream of chicken soup.  Mix well and set crock pot to high.  When getting towards the last couple of hours you will need to stir to detour the burning on the bottom and the sides. This will take about 5 1/2 to 6 hours to fully cook.....my family was pretty impatient for their food so we cut the time a little short. 

  I hope you enjoy and God Bless!

German Milk Pie

  As promised in the previous blog here is the German milk pie!  This pie is great for if you have to make a dessert on short notice or if you just are in the mood for an amazing tasting pie.  So simple and all it takes is a few ingredients!


  Ingredients:
  I can of sweetened, condensed milk
  4 eggs
  1 cup of flour
  1/2 tsp baking powder
  2 Tbsp butter
  1 Tbsp of butter for brushing the pan

  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  To prepare your 8 inch pie pan start by brushing it with the tbsp of butter then flour.  With an electric mixer, mix all ingredients (condensed milk, eggs, flour, baking powder, and butter) together till smooth then pour it into the pie pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until pie is done depending on thickness.  Serve with powdered sugar or fresh fruit or both sprinkled on top.   As I said this was very simple and easy, not a lot of steps.  Rating from family:  5 out of 5 stars.  I hope you like it and God bless!

Peach Kuchen

  Okay, for starters I really love peach cobbler.  I mean hands down if there on a table is cookies and peach cobbler, I am choosing the peach cobbler!  Lately my mom has been trying out different cobbler recipes.  Over the span of a couple of weeks we had made and eaten 4 to 5 recipes....all of them were good just not my cup of tea.  Mom suggested I make this German Peach Cobber and I use it for my blog. I don't normally do blogs on something I haven't made, or that hasn't been family approved yet.  So I told her that I would do as if I was preparing to make it for the blog, take the pics ect, ect.  As it turned out, the camera was dead.  I wrote it off of the blog list and made it for dessert that night and everybody, I mean EVERYBODY loved it!  (whoop, whoop!)  This German Peach Cobbler is a keeper!  As I mentioned before, the camera was dead so consequently, no pictures.  I will have a really easy German milk pie recipe coming in a few days!



  Ingredients:
Crust
   1 cup all-purpose Flour
   1/4 cup Confectioners' Sugar
   1/4 tsp Salt
   1/2 cup Butter
 Filling
   2 cans (one 29 ounces, one 15-1/4 ounces) sliced peaches drained
   2 Eggs
   1 cup Sugar
   1/4 tsp Salt
   3 Tbsp all-purpose Flour
   1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
 Preheat oven to 450 F.
  First in a small bowl, mix together the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt.  Then cut in the butter and form a dough ball.  Pat the dough lightly into an ungreased 11-in. x7-in, baking pan.  Arrange the peaches over the crust and set that aside for now.  In another bowl, beat eggs. Whisk in the sugar, salt, flour and sour cream until mixture is smooth.  Pour that over the peaches.  Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes, then reduce your heat to 325 F.  Bake 30 to 45 minutes or until the center is set.

This is not my recipe I got it from the Taste of Home cooking website.  Just thought I would share this awesome recipe with y'all!  Have a great day and God bless!

Twangy Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes

  Hello, lovely readers.  My family loves pancakes!  We have tried several kinds a finally found an easy basic recipe.  The great thing about a basic recipe is that you can add new things to it!  So, In this thunked up recipe I added cinnamon and buttermilk.  I've never made cinnamon pancakes with buttermilk before so this was a journey for me....  Now for the ingredients.

Basic Pancakes

1 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour

2 tps. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar

1 1/2 cups Buttermilk  

(If you don't have any, mix in about 3 to 4 tsp. of white vinegar)

1 Egg

3 Tbsp. of Vegetable Oil

For the cinnamon mixture you will need about...

2 Tbsp of Granulated sugar 

2 to 3 Tbsp of Cinnamon

Depending on how much cinnamon you like you can add more or less.  This is about how much I use.

   Start first with getting your butter milk ready so that when it's done you can just add it to the flour mixture.  Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together.

  Put your skillet on low heat for now mix your egg and oil mixed in a small bowl.  By this time the buttermilk should be done curdling, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Mix well.

Now the fun part, add your preference amount of sugar and cinnamon, stir in well. 















I cook 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup size pancakes, sometimes I want them bigger and I use a half cup.  Whatever floats your boat though. :)  I am using a cast iron skillet to cook mine ( I love this skillet), any skillet will do really.  I have had mine preheating on low I'd say for about.....the time it took to mix everything.  hehe, can't remember the time.  I'm going to turn the heat up to about medium, and wait for a minute or two.If you wet your fingers and sprinkle some water on the skillet and it pops and sizzles, your good to go.

 Side note:  I like to heat my skillet up slowly with a lower heat first so that I don't burn the first pancake.  Then if I find that I need it hotter I just crank the heat up then.

  

  When the pancake starts getting bubbles on the top it is time to flip it.  If you wait to long it will burn, so use your best judgment.  Its takes maybe a minute to two minutes to cook on each side.

   Top with your choice of toppings. This is my brothers plate, he likes it pretty plain Jane with butter and syrup.  I like peanut butter with honey and fresh whipped cream on mine.( Berries if they are available too!)   Thanks for visiting and come back again! God Bless!
 

Blueberry pancake muffins

      It's been a really long time since I have posted, or at least it feels that way to me. :(  Our church had a county wide revival (Amazing, God is so good), so I've been out of the loop for a while.  This morning I was tossing around ideas for this week and remembered this awesome muffin recipe!  This was seriously a breakfast lifesaver and I mean seriously who doesn't like blueberries?? Okay, there are probably a lot of people that don't like blueberry's, but me? I love em'.  These are light, fluffy and tasty. All it takes is 5 simple ingredients!

       Ingredients you will need:
  2 1/2 cups Blueberry pancake mix
  2/3 cup Water
  1/2 cup Sugar
  1/4 cup Veg. oil
  1 Egg


     Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Prepare your cupcake pan.  I prefer using cupcake liners in my cupcake pans because of the easy cleanup. Really though, whatever floats your boat.:)  Makes 11 to 12 muffins.

      Mix all ingredients together.  I used a wisk, you could use a wooden spoon(Whatever floats your boat).  (I really need to stop using that line). 

Use a 1/2 cup measuring cup and fill it about 3/4 way full for each muffin.

      Use a half cup measuring cup and fill it about 3/4 way full for each muffin.  Bake for 15 to 17 minutes until golden brown or toothpick comes out clean.  Let me know how they turned out! God Bless!

 The pics aren't the best (not exactly my cup of tea).

Basic Old World Bread

    So, my family really likes bread and what they like more that is Homemade bread.  We eat a lot of sandwiches around our house so what better way to have a sandwich than with homemade bread.  The problem I have run into is that the regular bread is soft and falls apart easily and is better for sopping up soup.  I mentioned this to my BFF's mom and she said that she had an old world recipe that was the bomb diggidy, (my words).  This recipe is the best so far!

                                                                        
 
   6 cups bread flour(recommended) or all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
  * I used half whole wheat flour and half bread flour*
  1/2 t. Instant or active-dry yeast
   2 1/2 t. salt
   2 2/3 cup cool water

      1.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and salt.  Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated; the dough should be wet and sticky.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Let the dough rest 12-18 hours on the counter at room temperature.  When the surface of the risen dough has darkened slightly, smells yeasty, and is dotted with bubbles, it is ready.

       2.  Lightly flour your hands and work surface.  Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour.  Fold the dough over on itself once or twice and using floured fingers, tuck the dough underneath to form a ball.

     3.  Generously dust a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with enough flour, to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel as it rises; place dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour,  Cover with the edges or a second cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours until it has doubles in size.

     4.  after about 1 1/2 hours preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place a 6-5 quart heavy covered pot, such as a cast-iron Dutch oven, in the oven as it heats.  When the dough has risen, carefully remove the pot from the oven.  Remove the top towel from the dough and slide your hand under the bottom towel; flip the dough over into pot, seam side up. (I sprayed a little oil on the sides of my pot cause it has the tendency to stick sometimes).  Shake pan once or twice if the dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

     5.  Cover and bake for 40 minutes. uncover and continue baking for 10-15 minutes, until the crust is a deep chestnut brown.  The internal temperature of the bread should be around 200 degrees.  You can check this with a meat thermometer, if desired.

     6.  Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Hope you enjoy and God Bless!

Pecan pie

     How goes it this week with everybody?  Last week was revival at our church, so I didn't have time to post. This week on our Monday night meal my contribution was dessert.  One of my family's favorite type of desserts is Pie.  Any kind of pie, and we had some pecans laying around....can you see where this is going?  Pecan pie, pure yummyness!  Yep, so....this is one of the recipes of the week.  Now this is a really easy recipe I got off of the back of the Karo bottle, and it passed the family test.  ( I seriously live with a bunch of food connoisseurs!)

Ingredient you will need

1  C. Karo

3 Eggs

1 C. Sugar

2 Tbsp butter melted

1 tsp Vanilla

1 1/2 Cups Pecans

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

     Ok, this is really easy so, lets get started.  Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix the first 5 ingredients together. The big mason jar is sugar, we like to bye it in bulk and dry can it (we bake.....a lot).  It's a very effective way to keep things like flour, sugar, and oats preserved for like 5-10 years, and it kills any kind of creepy crawly creatures that might be hiding in there.  I just love our farm eggs!  They're so much better that store bought eggs. (my opinion anyway) :).  Getting back to the recipe, after mixing the first 5 ingredients add and mix in pecans, then pour into waiting crust.  Check out my Easy Pie crust recipe!

       





 

      Bake for about 60 to 70 minutes or until middle doesn't wiggle when jiggled.  Cool on wire rack until reaching your desired temperature to slice ( I like mine hot with a spoon of hand whipped cream!).  God Bless and enjoy!

    

Easy Pie Crust Pt. 2

     Hey everybody, This week will be a part 2 of sorts to the pie crust blog last week.  Apparently wrapping the dough in plastic wrap, in a ball isn't how my mom does here crust.  She rolls hers out on a sheet of wax paper, covers it with another sheet, folds it in quarters, then freezes it.  However!  After she told me this, mine was in the freezer so  we decided that we would experiment with it.  What do you know!  It actually worked.  Here is the part 2 it that recipe.

          First.. take 1 ball dough out of the freezer, let it thaw until soft and pliable. Unwrap the dough, set on a floured surface.  Knead a few times.

      Roll out your dough bigger around than your pie dish,( I roll mine a little big and had left over pieces).  Now, to get the dough in the dish. 

     It's really not that hard and I will try to explain how I did it.  Pick up one side of the dough and lay over your rolling pin, suspended in the air.  The spot where your dough was laying is where you want to put your pie dish so as to just roll the dough over the dish.   Once centered in the dish get a knife and cut a finger to two lengths away from the edge of the dish. 

      Once you've got the crust cut all the way around, you can make some kind of design on the edges or just leave it like it is.  I, however, put my thumbs and index fingers on either side of the dough (as showed in picture), and squish together to make kind of a pucker in the dough.

      When you are done puckering the dough, cut about 4 to 5 slices in the bottom of the dough.  This will prevent the shell from pulling away from the pan.  Lastly, put your filling of choice in the shell.

Hope this helped you! God Bless!

Easy Pie Crust Pt. 1

     Hello again,  how goes it with everyone this week?  This week I will be doing my mom's famous Pie Crust.  So, until recently I haven't been able to master this super easy, and really tasty pie crust.  You know what she did?  She let me in on her secret.  All these years of fouling up, she finally let me know what I was doing wrong.  The ingredient are the following.

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 cup Butter ( 1 stick)

1/2 tsp Salt

Ice water

     One thing I want to talk about is the water, all these years I was using cold water.  Well, I was wrong.  (Mom's always right!) What do you know, using Ice water works wonders!  Apparently it sticks better with the ice cold temp. 

     Alrighty, now we an get started.  First whisk together the flour and salt.  Once that is done work butter in the flour mixture.  ( I use my hands, you can use a pastry cutter, whatever floats your boat).  

     After the butter is all blended in, add the water (Ice water) starting at 2 Tbsp, then add more as needed.  The end result should be a smooth dough.

     It looks small from the picture (Picture taking..... not my forte), but it makes 2 shells.  I'm not making a pie today (sadly), I was so excited about finally being able to make the crust that I'm going to just put them in the freezer for now for later.  After dividing the dough wrap it securely in plastic wrap.  I put mine in a ziplock with a date so I didn't forget when I made it. (leave it up to me for that tho happen) :)

      *Note* If you are making a pie, then you will want to divide the dough and roll it bigger that your pie pan.
2.  If you like a sweet crust you can add 1 to 2 Tbsp of sugar into the flour mixture.
Have a wonderful late valentine and God Bless!

Pumpkin Pie

     Dessert.  My Family's favorite part of meal time.  My brother would rather just skip the meal altogether and eat the dessert.  Every Monday we have a get together of sorts, we invite some family and friends to visit for fun.  This week I'm in charge of the dessert what I am doing is.... (Drum roll please).  Pumpkin Pie.  I know, I know not in the right season but, my family is a bit abnormal though, hehe.

Ingredients 

 1 9x9 unbaked deep dish pie crust (Pie crust coming soon!)

3/4 C. Honey

*When using honey you will want to decrease the amount of liquid in the recipe*

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp ground Ginger

1/2 tsp ground Cloves

2 Eggs

1 (15 ounce) can100% pure pumpkin

1 (12 ounce) C. Evaporated milk

* I used a 13.5 ounce can of coconut milk because my sister has a dairy allergy*

     1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

     2.  Combine honey, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a small bowl.  Beat eggs lightly in a large bowl.  Stir in pumpkin and honey-spice mixture.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk.  Pour into pre-made pie shell.

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     3.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.  Bake for1 hour or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack.

     Mine went just a little to long in the oven (my bad:( ) So Sorry!  Pie crust coming soon!  I will try to perfect it by next week.  Please leave your comments, let me know how yours turned out! God bless.

Free of the wheat oatmeal peanut butter cookies

      This week I am staying at my aunt and uncle's house so, I had to be creative.   I'v never done a dessert post on here before so that is what I will do today.  On the menu is....Gluten free, Oatmeal Peanut butter cookies.

 Here are the ingredients you will need.

 1 C. Honey
1/2 C. Butter (room temp.)
1/2 C. Peanut Butter
1 Egg
1 1/4 C. Bob's Red mill wheat, Gluten, Dairy free, all purpose baking flour
3/4 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
 1/4 tsp Salt 
1 C. Oats
1/2 to 3/4 C. Dark Chocolate Chips ( I like a lot in mine)

   
       On the flour, you can usually get it at a health food store, or a big Wal-mart.  I've occasionally found it at a Brookshires Bros.  This recipe when I found it was pretty bland if you know what I mean.  I added the chocolate, oats, and the vanilla.  My uncle (The Connoisseur of sweets) said that the were good (for gluten free cookies)

       So first you'll want to cream the butter, then mix in the honey, vanilla, peanut butter and egg.

     Once creamed, mix dry ingredients together, then mix into the wet mixture.  Once creamed fold in the chocolate chips.

      Cover bowl with plastic wrap and put in fridge for 3 hrs at least if you have that long to wait.  After the time is up preheat the oven to 375 Degrees F.  Bake them until light brown, It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.  I had the first batch of mine in the oven to long and they were great coffee dunkers! Please share you comments, I would like to know how yours turned out! Stay warm and God bless!

Easy Stir Fry

Easy Stir Fry

Ingredients

3/4 head of Cabbage

2 medium Onions

3 Lg Chicken breasts (1.5 to 2. lbs)

6 good sized Carrots 

3 cups of Parboiled Rice

6 cups of Water

Salt, Pepper, and Morton's Nature's Seasoning

     First you are going to chop everything up, (with the exception of the rice and water of course).  Once that is done mix the all veggies in a bowl together. Cube the chicken and put it in a bowl big enough to toss the chicken around.  I like to put an even coat across the top ( works for me and tastes good).  So, coat the chicken with salt, pepper, and natures seasoning and toss making sure that you get all the chicken coated with the seasoning.  

    After you got the meat seasoned and the veggies cut up, its frying time.  It's going to take at least 2 skillets to get the veggies and meat fried.  I used a wok and a iron skillet for my frying, it worked really well. 

     To keep the veggies hot as they comes out of the frying pan, I put mine in a crock pot on warm. The chicken, I put in a glass baking dish with a lid and paper towel inside.  About a fourth a way through frying that you will need to start boiling the water for the rice.

      Once boiling, pour the rice in, when the water comes back to a boil (which won't be long), cover with a lid and time it for 20 minutes.  In the meantime just keep the meat and veggies going.  Everything should come out right about the same time give or take.

Side note:  You are not just limited to these vegetables, this is just what we had in the house at the time.  You can add celery, green onions, broccoli, cauliflower, just use your imagination!  Have a great day and God Bless!

Grandma's Pot Pie

     My Grandma's Pot Pie

     My Grandma makes the best pot pie ever, and to my luck she let me use her recipe.  My grandma, on Sunday's likes to have lunch ready by the time we get back from church.  So, before she leaves she puts on a huge pan of roast, potato's and carrots.  (My second favorite meal that she makes!).  If for some reason there is leftovers, during the week she makes pot pie.  We didn't have roast (sadly) but I was wanting pot pie so I made up my own recipe.  These are the ingredients that you will need.  (This is not a wheat free dish).

  The Biscuit dough

 (Redbook cookbook recipe)

2 cups of all-purpose flour

3 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of salt

6 Tbsp soft butter

2/3 cup of milk

Because in this dish there is a top covering the filling you will need to double this recipe to have enough dough.

Filling 

1 lb of Ribeye steak

(doesn't really matter what kind of meat you use) 

1 can of carrots

6 medium red potatos

1 can of green beans

1 can of cream corn

1 can of your choice of peas

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

McCormick's  instant Beef gravy mix

        Start by cutting up the potatoes.  Once there all cut up, put the them in a soup pot and cover with water.  While that is cooking start the meat going. Cut the meat into1 inch chunks.  I like to stir fry mine in a wok with the onion and garlic so that all of the flavors mix (Scrumptious).  Now this is the perfect time to season the meat.  I, when cooking meat, like to experiment with all kinds of seasoning. This time I used 2 Tbsp of Fajita seasoning, a dash of garlic powder, and onion powder, salt and pepper, and 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper ( I like things with a kick).  So, really whatever floats your boat :).  After the meat and potato's are done, drain the potatoes and put both in both in a large bowl and mix in the rest of the ingredients in the filling in.  Set to the side.

    Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.  Now it's time to start on the dough.  In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Once that is done cut the butter into the flour mixture (I personally just use my hands). The butter needs to be smaller than English peas. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour the milk in and mix thoroughly with a fork until soft dough is formed.  Knead dough on a lightly floured counter top about 6 times.  Split dough in half and set one section aside.  Roll out big enough to fit inside and up the sides of a 13x9x2 inch baking pan. 

     Now get the filling you set aside and scoop into the pan. We're not quite ready to put the top on this pie. Different people use different recipes for their gravy, and I (sadly) don't know how to make it.  I had my mom do it, and I don't know what she did (So sorry).  So, it is my suggestion that you get a store bought instant gravy mix.

   Once your gravy is made pour over your pie, then roll out the second piece of dough and place on the top of pie

       Mash or roll the 2 pieces together. 

  Your oven should be preheated by now.  It takes about 30 to 45 minutes to cook.  Hope you enjoy and God Bless!