Friday's Recipe Box

Hello! Happy Friday! I am sooo glad that the weekend is here! LOL!!! Working on getting orders done and the chill in the air has me looking through my crochet, knitting and quilting patterns for Christmas gifts.
Tonight, after hubby got home, we were talking about doing craft fairs next year-- I have sold on line for the most part and I am thinking about getting my feet wet with doing the fairs--anyways I told him I want to pick up a few more Christmas trees for display purposes and I told him I want a white or pink one for Valentines decorating and a BLACK one for Halloween! I have seen a few and I think it would be so neat to have a black one with orange or purple twinkle lights! Could you just see it?? All decorated with ghosts, pumpkins, bats, black cats and pumpkins or punks as my son calls them all around underneath instead of presents?? I think it would be the neatest thing! What do you think??

OK! Continuing on with the comfort foods of last week, I am sharing a slow cooker chicken and dumplings and my family's meatloaf recipe! Yum! If anyone has a recipe they are looking for or suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know! Some of the things I am looking forward to is sharing Christmas cookies and candies and other holiday goodies!

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Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings

 The inspiration for this recipe comes from a recipe at allrecipes.com.

The largest crock pot or slow cooker you have--I have a 7 qt one that I use for this!

3lbs whole chicken breasts, thighs, legs or a combination--skin on or off, your choice! I often brown the  chicken before putting it in my slow cooker 

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 T butter

1 can chicken broth

1 onion, chopped

2-3 carrots, chopped

2-3 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp poultry seasoning 

salt and pepper to taste 

2 cans refrigerated biscuits 

frozen peas or kitchen cut green beans or both!

Place chicken and veggies in slow cooker, combine soups, broth and seasoning and pour over. Dot with butter and cover. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. 1 hour before serving, open cans of biscuits and separate. Add desired amount of peas and green beans to chicken mixture and check seasoning. Tear each biscuit into 4 pieces and place over the top of the chicken mixture. Push each piece of biscuit under the broth (this really helps with the taste and texture of the dumplings. Cover, turn up to high and cook for 1 hour. Serve! I often sprinkle each portion with some fresh chopped parsley for color and some fresh flavor.

You can also add other desired veggies like corn or potatoes or turnips! This is a great recipe and my family has always really enjoyed it. This does make quite a bit, so feel free to cut the recipe in half! 

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Mom's Meatloaf

2 lbs ground beef (you may sub out 1 lb beef for ground veal if desired)

1 lb ground pork

1/2 cup finely chopped onion 

1 T celery salt

1 tsp garlic salt (could substitute garlic powder if concerned about salt)

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp dry mustard 

1 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce

1 T dry parsley

3 eggs 

1 cup cracker crumbs--mom always used a sleeve of saltines and crushed them up with a rolling pin! 

horseradish to taste.

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Place in a 9x13 baking pan and shape into a loaf. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until cooked through. Let sit for 15 minutes, slice and serve! 

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I hope you have enjoyed the recipes I have shared with you! So Enjoy! Happy Eating and until next week--be safe and be happy!