Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

To walk into the house from a long day at work and smell dinner ready (or in this case almost ready) and not actually have to do anything is awesome. And for that dinner to taste good as well is even better!!

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup (I used 1 can chicken and 1 can mushroom...both 98% fat free)
  
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces (I used Pillsbury grands reduced fat)
• 1 can fat free chicken broth
  

Directions

• Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water (This is where I used the chicken broth...in place of the water) to cover.
• Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.These biscuits took a lot longer than 30 minutes. It was probably closer to 1.5 hours for them to get to a consistency that wasn't doughy/gummy.

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com

Red Velvet Cake Balls

Photo is from Bakerellas blog!

These things are simply amazing. They get devoured every time I make them! They are easy, yet extremely time consuming. I made 2 batches the last time and it took me a combined 6-8 hours to complete.

Ingredients:

• 1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
• 1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
• 1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate) I used chocolate Almond Bark
• wax paper

Directions:

• After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
• Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
• Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
• Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
• Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
• Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

If you need some times on how to do these, leave a comment and I'll get back to you!

Courtesy: http://www.bakerella.com

Salmon with Avocado Dip

This was sooooo good. I could eat this forever! The only thing I did wrong (because I love garlic too much) is I put too much garlic into the dip...so really only use what the recipe calls for this time!

Ingredients

• 2 avocados - peeled, pitted and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 3 tablespoons Greek-style yogurt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 pounds salmon steaks
• 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil grate. I baked mine in the oven
2. In a medium bowl, mash together avocados, garlic, yogurt, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Rub salmon with dill, lemon pepper, and salt. Place on the prepared grill or in my case, on a cookie sheet with tin foil sprayed with cooking spray, and cook 15 minutes, turning once, until easily flaked with a fork. Serve with the avocado mixture.

Chicken and Shrimp Jambalya

This is a recipe from Stephanie Cooks- its a weight watchers blog (stephaniecooks.blogspot.com). I liked this dish, its a little bland, but overall it was good.

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
8 ounces uncooked boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
2 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes with garlic, undrained
12 ounces peeled and deveined shrimp
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp hot pepper sauce I used Franks
4 cups cooked brown rice
Salt & pepper

Directions:
1- Add the oil to a large non-stick skillet. Add the onions and peppers, heat for about 5 minutes.
2- Add the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.
3- Add the shrimp, cook about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and stir. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes or until shrimp are cooked through.
4- Stir in the rice. Continue cooking until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 2 minutes.

Chicken and Bok Choy Stir Fry

This recipe was given to me by a friend (Hi Cartz!)...and I was really unsure about it because I had never had bok choy before...but I REALLY liked it and it was sooo easy. I made it with rice and just kinda mixed it all together. YUM!

Ingredients

• 1 cup long-grain white rice (you can use whatever rice you want)
  
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 heads baby bok choy, quartered lengthwise (my store didnt have baby bok choy so I just got "adult" bok choy and chopped it up)
  
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup store-bought barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
  
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced (omitted)
  

Directions

1. Cook the rice according to the package directions.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, tossing occasionally, until browned and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add the bok choy and ¼ cup water to the skillet. Cover and cook until the bok choy is just tender, 3 to 4 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, barbecue sauce, and scallions. Add to the skillet and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the skillet and cook, tossing, just until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with the rice.

Recipe from realsimple.com

Mediterranean Chicken and Eggplant

This one was pretty good. It took a while to get everything together, and I've never cooked with eggplant before so that was a task and a half to figure out how to peel the thing easily....

Ingredients

• 3 eggplants, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices I didnt use all 3. I probably only used 1 whole eggplant
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place eggplant strips in a big pot of lightly salted water and soak for 30 minutes (this will improve the taste; they will leave a brown color in the pot).Instead of this, I layered the slices of eggplant in a colander and salted each piece then put another layer, salt, layer, salt, etc. Let that sit while I cooked the chicken and then rinsed it off.
   
2. Remove eggplant from pot and brush lightly with olive oil. Saute or grill until lightly browned and place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Set aside.
3. Saute diced chicken and onion in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in tomato paste and water, cover skillet, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
5. Pour chicken/tomato mixture over eggplant. Season with oregano, salt and pepper and cover with aluminum foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi

I did NOT like this glaze, like at all. I don't know what it was but I didnt like it...so I'm not even sure why Im posting this...maybe someone else will like it. No photos...sorry!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
• 1 clove garlic, crushed or to taste
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 (6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a shallow glass dish, stir together the honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper, and place them into the dish. If the fillets have skin on them, place them skin side down. Cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to marinate. Instead of doing this...I followed other reviewers and just made the glaze seperate and did not marinate the fish. I baked the fish in the oven at 400 for about 15 minutes.
   
2. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove fish from the dish, and reserve marinade. Fry fish for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, turning only once, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm.
3. Pour reserved marinade into the skillet, and heat over medium heat until the mixture reduces to a glaze consistently. Spoon glaze over fish, and serve immediately.

(Items in italics I changed or removed, items in pink are the changes I made)

Recipe from allrecipes.com