Quick & Easy Chicken & Dumplings

I just tried this tonight and it was so good and so easy I had to share it right away! I had originally found this recipe here through Pinterest. It was supposed to made in a crock-pot but when I finally decided to think about making dinner at 4:03pm this afternoon, I didn't exactly have time for the slow cooker! I made this on the stove while modifying the recipe and it took about 25 minutes from start to finish! Serves 4.

• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 Tablespoons Parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon minced onion
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 large biscuits from a can (1/2 can, and I used the buttermilk variety)

Bring all ingredients except the biscuits to a boil. Cut each unbaked biscuit into 9-12 pieces. Drop each piece into the soup and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Serve hot.

Mine sat an extra 15 minutes while it waited for Dylan to get home from work. It got thicker as it sat longer.

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

This is a sneak peek at what I am serving at a party tomorrow night! I have been wanting to make these for awhile but really have not had a chance. I was so excited about the results that I had to share them immediately. I know you have seen these all over Pinterest so I decided to give them a try. If you can make box brownies, you can make these!

• 1 box of brownie mix and all ingredients called for on the box
• creamy peanut butter
• peanut butter chips
• chocolate chips (I used mini chips because I had an open bag in the cupboard)

Start by mixing the brownies according to package directions. Grease a mini muffin pan and pour brownie batter in each space filling about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the brownies cool for about a half hour and remove from tins. Smooth some peanut butter on each brownie. I mixed the chips together in a bowl. Dip each brownie into the bowl. Store in a airtight container until ready to serve.

Freezer Meal Meatloaf

So... I have not posted for a very long time. Long story short, my computer was stolen, had to buy a new one and then I started three accelerated summer classes. But I'm back! I have been cooking and baking a lot of new recipes that I am excited to share with you.

I've been thinking ahead to this fall.  I have an awfully busy fall. Two on-line classes and I will be working at a corn maze for the youth group at our church. I am excited to do all of this but know I will not have much time for cooking. This usually leads to us McDonald's, Subway, cereal, or going out for ice cream for supper. Definitely not healthy or budget friendly options. I'm sure you have all been browsing Pinerest and have see the new rage with Freezer Cooking. I have attempted this a couple different ways. The first time, my mom and I did it together. We each bought ingredients for ten recipes then we got together on one day and cooked it all. I have never seen such a mess in all my life. But in the end I had 39 meals in my freezer and I believe my mom had 20. I bought loaf pans at the Dollar Tree (3 for a buck!) so that it was the perfect size for my little two person family. My mom used more 9x9s and 9x13s so she came out with less meals. This has saved us countless trips for fast food and poor eating choices. This second round, I am attempting a little differently. As I have time throughout my week I do some cooking for a couple hours and throw it in the freezer - creating a stockpile for this fall. For those of you who don't even have a couple hours here and there, you could just start doubling the recipes that you are already cooking and throw one in the freezer for later.

I like meatloafs for the simple fact that I can pull them out the morning I need them and they will be thawed. I have noticed that casseroles can take a few days to thaw so meatloafs cater to the spontaneous family. I found this recipe while cruising around Pinterest and absolutely love it. I put a few changes on it, she bakes all the meatloaf before, while I just freeze them raw. I also do not use as much stuffing mix. My mom told me it was hit at her house too. I just made this recipe and doubled it a couple days ago and was able to stockpile 8 meatloaf meals in an hour, including clean-up!!!

• 3 pounds ground beef
• 3 pounds ground turkey
• 6 oz stuffing mix
• 3/4 cup oatmeal (you could use bread crumbs but I like the whole grains)
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup BBQ sauce
• 5 Tablespoons onion powder
• 4 Tablespoons garlic salt
• 6 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Pack meatloafs into loaf pans, cover, and freeze.

To use: Thaw meatloaf and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. Your cooking time will vary based on the size of your loaf pans.

Chicken Enchiladas

I am pretty excited about this recipe. This recipe was found on Tasty Kitchen. I made it quite awhile ago and I have been waiting to share it with you as I was doing a bit of an experiment. This makes a huge batch of enchilada filling. So much, that I was able to get 3 meals out of it with leftovers. Altogether, this made 16 enchiladas, and you could get more by not filling them so full.  I made this last fall and made it for two meals, one for a night with my friends and another for a night just with my husband. Overwhelmed by the amount of enchilada filling leftover, I froze the filling for a quick meal later. I was not sure how it would hold up in the freezer and I am telling you now that I am really impressed. This is an all around time saver recipe as it utilizes the slow cooker to cook the meat.

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken breast (I used four large breasts)
• 1 (16 oz.) bottle Italian Dressing (I used Kraft Free and it worked fine.)
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic

Place all these ingredients in a slow cooker on high for 3-5 hours, shred and place back in slow cooker until ready to use.

• 1 box Hamburger Helper Cheesy Enchilada Rice

Cook the rice according to package directions. Do not add the meat called for on the box or the sauce mixture. Just make the rice with the seasoning.

• 1 can black beans

Heat in a large microwave bowl in the microwave.

Combine the chicken mixture, rice, and black beans in the large bowl and mix well until combined.

• Tortillas (If you are making all at once, you will need at least 16. If you are planning to divide in half and freeze remaining filling, you only need 8. Just have on hand the number of enchiladas you plan to make)
• Enchilada Sauce (I used one 10 oz. can per pan of 5-6 I made)
• 3-4 cups shredded cheese

Fill each tortilla with 1/3 cup filling, roll and place seam side down in a pan appropriate in size for the number you are making. Pour enchilada sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese. If you have warm filling, bake at 350 for 20 minutes until bubbling around the edge of pan.

If you have leftover enchilada filling, place in a freezer safe Ziploc bag, label and date. Place in the freezer for a speedy dinner another night

To use: Thaw enchilada filling and heat in a microwave safe bowl. Fill each tortilla with filling, roll and place seam side down in pan. Pour enchilada sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. If the filling is even a little bit cold, allow to bake for 30 minutes at 350 instead of 20.

White Almond Sheet Cake

A few weeks ago I wrote about a chocolate sheet cake by the Pioneer Woman, which you must make now if you haven't tried it yet. Anyways, my husband is not a huge chocolate fan and saw this recipe for a white sheet cake in the cookbook my mom gave me before I got married. He's been begging me to make it ever since so today I whipped it up and I am sharing it with you.

• 1 cup butter (two sticks)
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

In a saucepan, melt butter and add water and bring to a boil. Meawhile, place flour, sugar, milk, eggs, salt, baking soda, and almond extract in a large mixing bowl. Mix until combined. Add butter mixture and mix until batter is smooth. The batter will be very runny - this is normal. Pour batter into a greased jelly roll pan (10x15 inch pan). Bake 20-25 minutes at 350. Wash the saucepan and mixing bowl as you will need it for the icing.

When the cake is almost done baking, mix up the icing.

• 1/2 cup butter (one stick)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar

In a saucepan melt the butter and add the milk. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add to the mixing bowl with powdered sugar and almond extract. Beat until smooth. Spread over warm cake after removed from the oven. Try to drizzle the icing over the entire cake so that it keeps a smooth finish as it cools. Attempt to spread as little as possible as it is not as smooth looking as a finished product. The icing is runny when warm but firms as it cools.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

I want to start by saying that I do not like sweet potatoes but I do love these pancakes! I normally would have never tried this recipe except for the fact that I had some sweet potatoes on hand. I started getting locally grown/organic produce through a program at work called Doorganics and what they deliver each week is what I eat for the week. It's a bit on the pricey end for what I would normally pay for produce but it is very high quality and I get a huge variety each week that I know I would not normally buy if I went to the grocery store by myself. Because of the price, I make sure to use every last bit of the produce I recieve. So last week, I got these two lovely sweet potatoes. Great. Normally I have a hard time even swallowing sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are a great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and fiber. I also got my issue of Taste of Home magazine last week and saw a recipe for sweet potatoe pancakes. I made a few changes to make them the way I like pancakes and I am really pleased with the results!

• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 egg
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1/2 of a sweet potato
• Hot syrup or caramel sauce

Start by cooking your sweet potato. I microwaved mine on a plate for a couple of minutes and then mashed it with a fork (like you would bananas for banana bread). I then threw all the other ingredients and mashed sweet potatoes (minus syrup/caramel sauce) in a bowl and whisked together until smooth. Heat an electric skillet on medium heat or 300 degrees depending on what kind you have. Grease the skillet with cooking spray or cooking oil. I prefer cooking oil as it gives pancakes a crispier edge. Pour batter from bowl on skillet to make three inch circles. I would keep these on the smaller side and keep a few inches between pankcakes as these expanded quite a bit. Cook until the top start to bubble and then flip. Cook until each side is a nice pretty golden brown color. Serve with hot maple syrup or hot caramel sauce.

I preferred the maple syrup while Dylan liked it better with the caramel sauce - both ways were great!

Homemade English Muffins

Okay, so some of you may be wondering why I would go through all the hassle of making my own English muffins when I can buy them at the store. First, these are NOT a hassle to make, they are very easy. Second, I am trying to eat more natural foods and "clean" up my diet as well as my husbands. I've been looking at the foods that we most often eat and I have been trying to make them myself from "scratch" to avoid extra fillers and chemicals. Half of you probably think I am crazy right now and I already know I will be receiving a phone call from my best friend to tell me as much. :-)  I have been reading a  ton of the food labels in my house over the past month and I am truly shocked by all the ingredients in my food that I put into my body that I cannot even attempt to pronounce. I have decided that I want to know what's in my food, where it comes from, and be able to pronounce without saying words that are 6+ syllables.  I noticed that my husband and I eat a lot of bread. He eats English muffins every morning for breakfast and I often eat them for lunch. My husband eats a lot of sandwiches. Bread is a huge component to our diet and I'm sure if you evaluated your diet as well, you would notice that you ate a lot of bread. Many store bought breads contain high-fructose corn syrup. In my Meijer brand wheat sandwich bread I found high fructose corn syrup, "natural flavor" (whatever that is), sodium stearoyl lactylateon, ethoxylated mono-diglycerides, calcium propionate, and monoglycerides. Yikes! Maybe all this will cause no harm to by body, but who knows? You know how easy it is for me to whip up a loaf of bread in my bread mixer, certainly easier than driving to Meijer, finding a parking spot, dodging traffic to safely walk in, find the bread, wait in a check-out line, pay, dodge parking lot traffic again to find my car to drive home. I'm not saying I want to be this perfect eater with all these homemade foods because some weeks that is impossible. I'm trying to slowly make changes to our diet so that we can eat foods that are natural. I have decided to start with bread products and they are a huge part of our daily diet. It really is not very time consuming once you have the routine down after a couple times of making yeast products.

I made a recipe for English muffins last week that I thought were pretty good but I was not completely satisfied with the end result. I found the recipe on Pinterest which was linked with the Food Network. It was also messy and a lot of work. I kept searching and found this recipe that I am going to share with you today on Tasty Kitchen. I tried it last night and I made a few adjustments so the recipe would work for me. Totally sold on it! So easy. They look exactly like the ones you buy at the store except they are free of preservatives and fillers! The recipe made 20 English muffins. My English muffins from last week stored great in a airtight container for nine days now (there is one left).

• 1 cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups flour (you may need more or less)
• cooking oil (I used canola oil).
• Additional tools: electric skillet, wax paper, rolling pin, circle cookie cutter.

1. Warm the milk in the microwave for one minute (lukewarm). Stir in the sugar.
2. In the mixing bowl you plan to use put the water and yeast. Stir a bit and then let set so the yeast can dissolve.
3. Pour milk into the yeast mixture. Also add the melted butter, salt, and about 4 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. (I used my kitchenaid with the dough attachment)
4. Continue to add flour by small amounts until you are able to form a soft ball of dough that does not stick to your finger when touched.
5. Place dough into a greased bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise for one hour.
6. Punch down and put dough on a floured surface.
7. Roll dough with rolling pin until it is about 1/2 inch thick.
8. Cut out dough with cookie cutter or biscuit cutter. (I had a fun idea last nigh when I was making these. I think for Valentine's day I will make heart shaped English muffins. You can make these any shape you want).
9. As you cut the muffins out, place them on wax paper. If you are concerned about sticking, just sprinkle a little flour or cornmeal on the paper. I did not have any problems with sticking.
10. Cover and let the muffins rise for 30 minutes
11. Heat your electric skillet. If you have a skillet with temperatures, set the heat to 300 degrees. If you have a low-high skillet, set heat between low-medium heat.
12. Pour a small amount of cooking oil and swirl skillet to coat. (I used a pastry brush to coat the entire surface with oil.) You want enough oil in the bottom as this causes the nice brown color to form.
13. Place muffins on the skillet for about 8 minutes on each side. I just checked them often. Once each side is browned feel the sides. They will feel soft. I just broke my first one open to see if it was done (and it was so I slathered some strawberry jam on it and ate it right then). That way you can gauge if your other ones are done or not.
14. I let mine cool on a paper towel so that some of the oil was also absorbed

So, there you have it! Your own homemade English muffins! My husband LOVES these, says they are better than the store bought muffins anyday!

The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake

This cake truely is the best cake in the world. It involves basic ingredients so you do not have to make a shopping trip to the grocery store just to pick up the ingredients. I found this recipe in Pioneer Woman's cookbook. Not familiar with Pioneer Woman? Visit her here and get her recipe for her cake and make it today. The icing is absolutely the best part of the cake. Once cooled, the icing forms a glaze that is the best thing you will ever put in your mouth. Since this recipe makes such a huge amount, I either bring the cake with me to work (where it has recieved rave reviews) or I cut it into individual serving sizes, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze so that it can be packed in lunches. I usually do not put the nuts in as I'm not a huge fan of nuts.  You can also make these into cupcakes, although I have never tried it but have read about in my cookbook. Also, if you are making this for a special occasion, you can decorate with sprinkles before the frosting hardens. Go ahead, give this cake a try today!

Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole

I think my mom found this recipe in Taste of Home magazine a long time ago. If you are looking for ultimate comfort food, you have come to the right recipe. If you are looking for a healthy recipe, RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!! This is so good though and does not contain any "cream of ... soups." A lot of times I make it for my friends who have babies. Actually, this is the only time I make it. It's a special occasion! I just brought this to a friend yesterday and she said her boys said it was the best food ever! So, now you have to give this a try. This can probably easily feed 8 people so that is why I make it for friends. I will make a small loaf pan size for my husband and I, then I put the rest in a 9x13 inch pan for friends! Works out great!

• 4 cups cooked rice (I used brown rice and you can't tell a difference. Great time to get some whole grains, may be the healthiest thing in this recipe!)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups milk (I used skim and it still thickened beautifully!)
• 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 cups chicken, cooked and shredded
• 12 ounces Velveeta cheese, cubed
• 2 cups sour cream

Optional Cracker topping:

• 1 1/4 cup crushed Ritz crackers
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Start out by spreading the rice in the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch pan. In a large saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour until smooth. Do this over medium heat as not to burn the butter/flour. Add milk, chicken bouillon granules, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Bring to a boil and stir 2-3 minutes until thickened. Reduce heat and add Velveeta cheese and sour cream. Continue to stir until cheese is melted. Add chicken and mix well. Remove from heat and pour over rice. (At this point, if you are planning to add the cracker topping, mix crackers and butter and evenly spread over casserole.) Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 20-30 minutes until heated through.


***This dish can be made ahead and served later. Just keep these things in mind. First, you will need to add cooking time as it will be cold out of the refrigerator. Second, it will not be as creamy because the rice will absorb some of the cheese mixture. It still turns out great, but just a few things to keep in mind***

Bran Bread

Lately I have had an obsession with bread. I don't know if it's the winter months or what but I need bread. I was given my church's latest cookbook as a Christmas gift and have been trying many new recipes. One of which is this one. I like to try recipes from other generations other than my own. I enjoy trying foods that grandparents or parents grew up eating. It's kind of fun for me to read through old cookbooks and try recipes. That is what I really like about my church's cookbook is that they reprint the much loved recipes from older cookbooks, plus some newer ones. I made a minor change. The original recipe called for shortening and I avoid using shortening at all costs. I put in real butter. I also avoid margarine at all costs.

I know, I know. Bran. Really? Give it a try. I brought a loaf of this with me to work and got rave reviews. One person I work with admitted that she only tried it to be polite and ended up loving it. Another said that she would try and add some cinnamon, which is crazy, because I too thought I would add some cinnamon. My brother-in-law thanked me four times when I shared this bread with him. Give it a try, you won't be sorry!

• 2 cups raisins (optional)
• 3 cups water
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 3/4 cups All-Bran
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

If you are planning to put raisins in your bread, boil raisins in the 3 cups water for five minutes and set aside to cool. Beat eggs, sugar, and butter. Add the flour, All-Bran, baking soda, and salt. Now add the water. If you are adding raisins, add the raisins and the water you boiled them in. Mix well. Split batter between two large, greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes depending of the size of your pans.

***Maybe add a teaspoon or two of cinnamon if you are looking for a comforting, wonderful smelling bread!***

What's New Around Sarah's Sweets and Cooking Spot!

I have spent numerous hours trying to figure out how to organize my blog so that if you want to find a recipe for chicken you can click "chicken" and it will pull up all my recipes for chicken. Every other blog has this feature and I wanted mine to as well! Finally I figured it out with the help of my friend Abby. It is this nice little feature called "labels." After she explained it to me it still took me 20 minutes to figure it out. Now my blog is organized so you can use it like a cookbook. I know that I am super behind on posting recipes. I will try to get caught up so you can start trying new recipes too! Enjoy the new "label" feature and special thank you to Abby to getting me with the times!