Comfort Foods

Can someone check my temperature? For real – I have been a cooking fool over the past week. Like, using my crock pot more than I have in the past year.

In a week.

And this, the week we have no kitchen. Well, we have one, but it’s kinda half of one – I have to walk across the house to get to the fridge in the garage. Which makes cooking way more exercise than usual.

Maybe I’m burning off the calories of this good stuff?? Maybe not.

And really, is crock pot cooking really cooking? When I do next to nothing and it does it all, I feel like I’m cheating when I say I’ve been cooking.

All I know is I’ve been making yummy meals and I’m loving it. Imagine how much I’ll love it when I have my island and garbage can and refrigerator back? It’s going to get spectacular!! ;)

I’m sharing some of our favorites from the past week or so and some changes, if any, that I made to them. (I’m just sharing the original poster’s pics and I’ll recap each recipes here.)

First up – a truly scrumptious recipe I found on Pinterest from Bubble Crumb:

Crock Pot Chick and Dumplings

It is SOOOOO good! Whooeee, I’m so thrilled to find this. I am a chicken and dumplings NUT. Have you had them at Cracker Barrel? (I almost wrote Crate and Barrel. You can how much I think about cooking – never.)

Anyway – yummo! This does not disappoint.

Here’s the deets:

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 onion diced (I used half of one)
1 tablespoon dried parsley
4 grands flaky refrigerator biscuits (I used five)

Put the chicken, butter, cream of chicken, chicken broth, parsley and onions in the crock pot and cook on high for four to six hours. Mine only needed five, and probably didn’t even need that much.

As the chicken cooks and gets tender, break it up with a spoon or fork, whatever.

Get your biscuits and cut them into nine pieces. I kind of rolled them into balls to ensure they stayed whole but it’s not necessary. Stir into chicken mixture and cook for another hour.

(The recipe says to cook for 30 minutes and my biscuits were not done at that point. One hour did the trick.)

I noticed as it cooked that it was a tiny bit thick, and the recipe said to add chicken broth if necessary. I was out of that, so I used chicken soup and it worked great. ;) I just put a bit in to make it a little creamier.

It was AWESOME. (!!!)

Next up, one of the many great recipes from Tracie’s place that I shared last weekend. This one is crock pot mac and cheese:

Crock Pot Easy Mac and Cheese

The goodies:

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Very important before you do anything – spray the crock pot well with cooking spray. This cheesy goodness will stick otherwise. I sprayed but not well enough. :)

Mix the egg, fresh milk, evaporated milk, and Worcestershire together in a large bowl. Mix in the uncooked macaroni and three cups of shredded cheese. Pour into the crock pot and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Cook on low for five to six hours. Do not stir or remove lid while cooking.

That whole not stirring thing was so hard for me. Not sure why. I always feel the need to stir.

I cooked ours on high for five hours and it only needed four, if that. It was a bit overdone. I also used a bit too much cheese (I know, is there such a thing?) – I used thicker shredded cheese, and I think the finely shredded would have worked better. It was just major CHEESE and combined with being cooked a bit too long, it wasn’t as good as I know it could be.

But, it was still GOOD. :) I know it would be GREAT with those little changes. I plan on giving it another go this weekend. ;)

And I saved the best for last…hold on peeps. This is fan-freaking-tastic. I also found this on on Pinterest and it’s from Chef Mommy:

Crock Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Ohhh…I’m drooling just thinking about it. SO. GOOD.

This one takes a teeny bit more work, but it’s so worth it.

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package of Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice
1/2 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
2 cups half and half
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup diced celery (we’re not bit celery people so I used one small can of mushrooms – SO GOOD)

Mix the broth, water, carrots, mushrooms, chicken and rice (and the seasoning packet) in the slow cooker.

Cook on low for six to eight hours or on high for four hours. I did the high version and it turned out great.

Once chicken gets tender (couple hours in), break it up into pieces while cooking.

At the end of the cooking time, get a small bowl and mix the salt, pepper and flour. In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in flour mixture by tablespoon to form a roux.

I had no idea what a roux was, but found out it’s a mixture used as thickener for stews, soups and gravy:

 
(source)

Then, while still on the heat (I’m guessing here – that’s what I did), whisk in the half and half, a little at a time, into the roux until mixed completely and smooth.

Stir this yummy mixture into the soup in the crock pot then let it cook on low for 15 more minutes.

Then die and go to heaven cause it tastes that good.

Oh my goodness. I think I need to go eat some leftovers.

Mine was a bit thick – almost like gravy, not soupy like the photo. But that’s how we like it. :) You could add a bit more broth if you like it thinner. (Wait to see how it cooks up first.)

So there you go – my very favorite comfort foods from the past week! I really don’t know what is wrong with me – we’ve had cool weather the past couple of days, but the chicken and dumplings I made on a 95 degree day.

I guess I’m just craving comfort. ;) If you are too, you can’t go wrong with any of these!

Any yummy, easy fall recipes you make all season? I’d love to hear about them -- I need to plan out the dinners for the rest of the week. Stop laughing, I’m FOR REAL.

Yes, taking my temperature. And then reheating some leftovers. Hollllla…