Chicken and Dumplings

This is one of my favorite comfort foods. I can remember helping my great grandmother make them for me when we'd go to visit her in Palataka, Florida. She and my mother would cook the chicken in a pressure cooker but I have to admit, those things scare me! I can just see me blowing something up in my kitchen. Because of that, I came up with this super easy way to make a delicious meal (without the fear of blowing up my kitchen!). Recipe and directions are after the picture!


Chicken and Dumplings

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt, pepper, onion powder to taste
3 tbs. oil
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cups milk
1 - 32 oz box chicken stock
2 cups chicken bouillon

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces, put in a large Dutch oven pot with the oil, season to taste. Cook until no longer pink in the middle. Mix Bisquick and milk together to form a soft dough. Mix 2 chicken bouillon cubes with 2 cups boiling water. When chicken is cooked through, add chicken stock and chicken bouillon. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, drop dumplings in one at a time, maintaining the boil. Boil 10 minutes uncovered and 10 minutes covered.

Enjoy!


* If you have a large family (or a really hungry one), just double the recipe.

* I use Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt on my chicken along with the pepper and onion powder but regular salt is fine.

Easy Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops

I love my Crock Pot. It is honestly one of the greatest inventions...ever. Having two small boys it has been a Godsend lately.

This is the latest recipe I tried (found on Pinterest) so I can't take credit for coming up with it. It was incredibly easy to throw together and turned out so very, very good. My hubby even loved it and has taken the leftovers to work twice; I didn't get a chance to have any more! We don't have pork chops very often (bone in or out) because they are always so tough; these chops were FORK TENDER! I served it with garlic mashed potatoes, a fresh salad, and apple cinnamon muffins (my 4 year old's choice). The recipe and directions will follow the picture!



Ranch Pork Chops

4-6 boneless pork chops
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 packet Ranch dressing mix

Mix the soup and ranch mix together. Place the pork chops in the Crock Pot and cover with the soup mixture. Cook on high 4 1/2 hours or low 6 1/2 hours. Spoon extra gravy over the mashed potatoes (recipe to follow).


*Because Crock Pots may vary in their cooking start checking your chops an hour or so before the cooking time is up!

*If you want more gravy, just use two cans of soup and about 1 1/4 of the ranch mixes!

*Slow Cooker liners by Reynolds are the second best invention ever! It makes clean up super easy!


Garlic Mashed Potatoes


Yukon Gold Potatoes
butter
milk
salt and pepper, to taste
garlic powder

Peel most of the skin off the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces (makes it easier to cook). Put in a large pot of salted water and boil until fork tender. Drain the water. Mash potatoes. Add milk, butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and continue to mash until you get the consistency and taste you desire (more milk and butter and mashing = creamier potatoes).


*I use Yukon Golds because I just prefer the taste and texture of them but you can use any potatoes you want.

*You can also use minced garlic if you want; powder was just what I happened to have on hand.

New Tastefully Simple Catalog!!

Tomorrow is September 1!! Wow...how did that get here so fast??

The new Tastefully Simple catalog starts TOMORROW!!! Let me tell y'all...these new fall/winter products are AMAZING!! I tasted some last night....yum. I put down my anchor and stayed near the Chipolte Queso Dip almost all evening (having to fight with two others over the bits left in the crock pot!). Besides that the Scalloped Potatoes made with the new Bountiful Beer Cheese soup and the Mashed Potatoes made with the new Roasted Onion dip were positively delicious!! And the Amazing Amaretto Chocolate Sauce??? Chocolate and Amaretto, need I say more?

These are just a few of the 26 new products in the catalog this season (along with the standard line of course...Bountiful Beer Bread, Absolutely Almond Pound Cake, Spinach and Artichoke Dip...yummmm). If any of these sound tempting to you, you can browse my site here and order! Hope to hear from some of y'all soon! Don's miss out on these awesome products!!

Come on September!

What's so great about September you ask?

Several things this year!

My precious first born will be turning 4 mid month and I'm wondering how in the world is he that old already??? Didn't I just bring him home???

The new Tastefully Simple catalog comes out either the 1st or 6th and I am very excited! Can't wait for my customers to see what's in store! Check out my site here.

Cooler temps (hopefully). Need I say more? The man on the radio said the high - the HIGH, not with the humidity - will be 100 on Wednesday; I don't want to think about adding our humidity into that!

Fall festivals!!! I love this time of year!!

Our book club is doing something different this month: instead of meeting at someone's house and bringing food, we're meeting at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant to discuss our read for the month (Memoirs of a Geisha). So excited!

We're hopefully taking said 4 year old to Disney World at the end of the month. We took him when he was two but I know he doesn't remember anything. I think he's going to pee in his pants from excitement when we get there!


I really do love this time of year. So many things to look forward to...its just a fun time all around! Really looking forward to the holidays this year!

Wish Folks Would Respond!!

Today's rant: People who won't return phone calls, text messages, Facebook messages, etc, etc.

Don't ya just hate it when you're trying to get in touch with someone in an effort to get some important information and they just will not respond?? There are several folks here recently I've been trying to contact via all forms of available media and can not get one person to get back in touch with me.

Gahhhh!!!

I'm about to throw up my hands and say "Too bad, so sad" when they don't get what they need from me!!!

Really, is it that hard to just respond with a "Hey, I'm busy right now. I'll get back to you"??? At least then I know you care enough.

Bleh.

Rant over.

My Latest Venture...

Oh wait...its really my ONLY venture (besides my poor attempt to make primitive crafts).

After thinking about it for a while and discussing it with not only the hubby but several friends and family members, I've decided to try my hand at one of those direct sales businesses - Tastefully Simple.


Why did I choose this particular company? Well, for a few different reasons:

• I love to cook and this company is a "gourmet" food business.
• I don't consider myself a great promoter or seller so, for the above reason, I think this company's products will be something I can actually promote.
• I felt food would sell better than kitchen gadgets and had more of a chance of reorders. Besides, everyone likes great food!
• The food is really tasty! Really!
  
• The cost was something I thought I could handle to start and I liked their policies.
  
• All the other well known direct sales businesses are already being sold around me by various family members or friends (but I can't see myself trying to sell make up since I don't wear it much!).

So for those reasons (and the fact that I really wanted to find something where I could work from home, set my own hours, make a little money and not fork it back out for day care!) I've submitted my consultant agreement, paid my fee, and now I'm just waiting to hear back from them. I am actually really excited about this and have my fingers crossed that I can be successful.

Let me know if you're interested in purchasing anything! Wink, wink!

Random Randomness...

1. It seems like I've spent this entire pregnancy either sick or tending to a sick 3 year old. This is by far the sickest I've been during the time span...I feel like I'm trying to cough up a lung or something.

2. Has it really been 10 years since Dale Earnhardt died in the Daytona 500? It really doesn't seem that long. I remember pulling into my parking space at college, listening to folks call in to the local country radio station (I really do miss 106.7) and talking about Dale and I could tell something was wrong. It wasn't until I was in my dorm and had the TV on that I realized what had happened. My first thought (after wow) was "I feel really sorry for his son since everyone is going to expect him to become his dad instantly."

3. I made some delicious pineapple cupcakes with coconut frosting a week and a half ago. They were so yummy. It was my first attempt at from scratch cupcakes. I'm really hoping I can get some interest...I'd love to have a little cupcake business. Wish I'd thought to take a picture of them...they were so pretty. That coconut buttercream was the best frosting I've ever made!!

4. We still haven't picked a name for the baby. Guess we'd better get going on that! At least we have first names narrowed down to 3: Luke, Colt, and Evan. We're having a harder time agreeing on one this time around for some reason.

5. I'm tired of snow and cold. Never thought I'd say it but I don't want to see another flake of snow for quite a while. We've had more snow this year (and we're only two months in!) than I think we've ever had...and let's not talk about how I was stuck in the house for 4 days with my 3 year old son in January because of the snow and ice. Ugh.

6. Warmer weather will also make getting dressed easier! It is extremely hard to get my shoes on and putting on flip flops will make life so much better! :)

7. That master's degree will have to be put off for a few more years. I had thought once my son started school I could look into it but with a second on the way it will push that timeline even further back. Think I've figured out I'll go to Georgia College and State U in Millegeville when I'm finally ready; they have thesis and non-thesis options in the program I'd go into.

8. My England trip is something else that's going to be pushed back. No way was I going to travel overseas while pregnant! At least this gives me more time to save up!