Chicken and Dumplings in your Deep Covered Baker

Remember that time when I got my first crock pot? 

I went onnnn and on about it and wondered, Had I been living under a frickin rock?

Well, something similar has happened. Again. 

As most of you know I'm part of a Pampered Chef cooking class.

Yes, it is ACTUALLY called a cooking "club," but for me it's a "class." I am learning. No judging.
See Also: That time I YouTubed how to use a can opener.

We use all PC products which kinda sucked in the beginning because I had NONE.

...Until I recently invested in several that we had been using.

[Enter the Game Changer.]

TA - DA! The Deep Covered Baker:

(Click Image for Link)

Make a DELICIOUS pot roast or a 10 minute oven-to-table casserole, heck, it could

probably even dress your kids and get them to school if it had to.

I've come across tons of DCB (see what I did there?) recipes including

appetizers, soups, entrees, desserts, etc but I was excited to whip

up one of my favorites- Chicken and Dumplings! 

Or Chicken 'n Dumplins as Bryan calls it. 

Click here for original recipe. 

You Will Need:

Your Deep Covered Baker

3-4 Chicken Breasts

2 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup

Frozen Peas & Carrots

Jenny and me was like peas and carrots. Name that movie... 

1 Can Homestyle Biscuits

1. Place chicken breasts in Deep Covered Baker and add cans of soup.

2. Microwave on High for 22 minutes. 

(Do NOT be scared to put this thing in the microwave - I was a little hesitant

at first also but its a form of stoneware that enable the cooking process. 

The chicken is perfectly safe and tastes good too!) 

3. Stir and add in frozen peas and carrots.

4. Chop each biscuit into quarters and top the chicken/veggie mixture.

5. Microwave on High for another 10 minutes.

6. Done anddd done! 

I PROMISE you it tastes as good as it looks. And sooo so quick.

I have basically brought myself to the point where if it requires more than 30 minutes

to cook, it ain't happenin. Once Bryan and I got engaged, I promised I would learn to cook.

I did not say that he would be coming home to Rachel Ray-esque meals. 

Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Happy Tuesday friends! 

So not to beat a dead horse, but you know I just flat out DON'T enjoy cooking... right? 

I'm not sure if there is just a piece of housewife DNA that I'm missing somewhere in my genome

but I just don't enjoy it! Baking? Obviously. Cleaning? Love it!

DIY & Crafting? Yes, pleasssseee! Cooking? Shoot me. 

However with a husband and, more than likely, kids in the near future

(parents don't make me regret that statement later)

I have forced myself to be in the kitchen more and that doesn't mean standing

over the stove with a box of Hamburger Helper. 

#truestory

I've started to attend a once a month cooking class where we prepare

an appetizer, entree and dessert so I'm getting tons of new, easy recipes to try.

See HERE, HERE and HERE.

THEN, of course, there's Pinterest. I may be the 24938712487612th

woman to ask this question but, where would we be in the world without Pinterest ? 

Enter THIS little gem of a recipe:

Buffalo Chicken Penne Pasta

You Will Need:

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breasts

8 oz package of cream cheese

1/3 c buffalo sauce (I use Frank's)

1/2 c chicken broth

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp kosher salt

3/4 cup blue cheese OR ranch dressing

12 oz penne pasta

optional toppings:

green onions (chopped)

crushed red pepper flakes

1. Begin making the sauce by melting the buffalo sauce, cream cheese and chicken broth.

2. Next, add in your spices. Also proceed to yell "BAM!" while doing this

because your husband will think you're practically Emeril once he tastes this.

3. Heat the sauce for 5 minutes over medium, until creamy.

4. Add your blue cheese (or ranch) and mix well.

5. Mix in your cooked, shredded chicken until the sauce is well-distributed.

6. Allow to cook to an additional 10 minutes to blend flavors. In the meantime,

boil a large pot of water to cook your penne pasta.

7. Next, combine your pasta with your buffalo chicken sauce.

8. Garnish with your choice of toppings- I used chopped, green onion but

you can also throw a bit of crushed red pepper in there as well!

9. E N J O Y :)

I'm a huge lover of ANYTHING buffalo. And pasta? Sold!

I had a few friends ask me for this recipe so clearly I'm not alone

on the buffalo chicken obsession bus. I literally stock up on

Frank's and after this, I would suggest you do the same. 

Recipe Swap: Creamy Chicken Bake

I know, I KNOW... me? Linking up for a recipe swap?

Someone is getting this cooking thing down over heeerreee!

We are fresh back from our mini vacation to Turks & Caicos this past weekend and I wanted 

to share this recipe! No, I didn't cook last night. I was too busy trying to comprehend

the fact that I was no longer on vacation and preparing for a Tuesday morning back in the real world.

We had Firehouse subs.

#guilty

But the week prior I made this tasty dinner and have been looking for a fun recipe linkup!

So horraaayy for Martinis & Bikinis and Green Fashionista for hosting! 

Creamy Chicken Bake:

• 2 1/2 to 3 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (I use 4 large breasts)
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (10 3/4 ounces, condensed )
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (10 3/4 ounces, condensed)
• 1 Cup Sour Cream
• 8 oz can Mushrooms drained (stems and pieces) *optional
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1 teaspoon Chives (chopped) 
• Few dashes of Paprika  
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish or similar size. Place chicken breast in baking dish in a single layer - lightly salt and pepper. Mix soups, sour cream, onion powder, mushrooms, chives and water.  Evenly pour over top of chicken and lightly sprinkle with paprika.  Bake on middle rack for 1 hour, until chicken breast is cooked thoroughly and internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F.

I like serving it with rice and broccoli! My husband seriously ate. this. up.

No joke.

Full recap on our Turks and Caicos trip later this week!

Now excuse me while I go back to day dreaming about this fabulous view... 

Yes, I am taking cooking classes

Oh hello THERE!
Has it really been almost 2 months since my last post?
Cannnn we say slacker?! Things have been a little crazy as of lately but life update:
I'M MARRIED.

The big day was March 1st 2014 and I still can't believe it's already been 2 weeks!
Rest assured I will be recapping the whole shebang of the party that was
{ #caracciolowedding }
but for the time being I'll just let you swoon over the above photo.

NOW. Let me share this new little dinner recipe with you, but first a brief synopsis..
A few months ago one of the ladies I work with insisted I join a cooking class with her.
I think it was sometime after sharing the story of me putting
an entire head of garlic (rather than the clove) in my meatloaf.
Yes, I was a Martha Stewart damsel in distress.
So I joined! One class a month for 10 months- we cook an appetizer, an entree
and a dessert (I've got the baking thing down, so we're placing most of the focus on the app/dinner).
The "cooking club" is actually hosted by Pampered Chef so the frosting on the cake
was really the fact that I will end up with $200 in products over the course of the 10 months.
New kitchen goodies AND fun recipes?! Win, win!

Tonight I'm going to share the Chicken & Broccoli Wreath recipe with you via Taste of Home.
NOT exactly the  healthiest thing I've whipped up but Bryan is addicted to crescent
rolls (I think I have witnessed him eat an entire pack in one sitting) anddddd I was
looking for something quick!

Click HERE for the full recipe.

ENJOY! :) And I willlll be back in action here on the ol' blog soon I promise!
I even have a few changes that will be made around these parts :) Bear with meee!

Housewife 101

If you know me personally and you read the title of this post, I know what you're thinking:

"Yeah? This should be interesting." 

As soon as Bry & I got engaged I knew it was time to kick

it up a notch in the housewife department.

I mean how did I even get this guy to want to marry me?

I can throw one heck of a party and I make a mean cupcake but

it is absolutely noooo secret that I DON'T love cooking and I have

to physically force myself to do laundry.

Well, girls.

Let me introduce you to two new items in my household that have

become an absolute staple in my routine. 

Item One: The Crock Pot

WHAT.

To say that I have been missing out on this little beauty of a kitchen

appliance is a major understatement.

Problem: Don't like cooking?

Solution: Crock pot.

Problem: Don't have time to cook?

Solution: Crock pot.

Problem: Have a full time job and you enjoy after work activities such as going 

to the gym, tanning, shopping or partaking in happy hour 

but you still need to feed your Hulk of a man?

Solution: Crock pot.

You get where I'm going with this don't you?

Find yourself a good crock pot recipe book.

Gather your ingredients.

Throw 'em all in.

Crank that baby up and go.

Literally, go... go to work, go to school, just leave.

Dinner will be waiting for you upon your return home.

It is just fabulous. 

Item Two: The Steamer

Okay...again on the in the dark about things.

This thing is ridiculous.

My Mom, to this day, still spends like a solid day ironing clothes.

I'm sorry but ironing was a luxury in this household.

Laundry would get done and folded if Bryan was lucky.

My method of ironing is called the ol' throw it back in the dryer trick.

But nowwww this gal is wrinkle free! 

I still grab my clothes right out of the dryer and hang them up but

I have so many of my dresses and Bryan's work shirts that wrinkle so easily.

Now the night before, when I'm picking out my outfit for the next day, I steam! :)

SO. FUN.

Where has this thing been all of my life??

If you're newly engaged or just married and still have some polishing

to do on your housewife skills, seriously, INVEST.

Happy Happy Happy!

Burgers 'n Beer & Lilly P

Good Lord- are you over my food posts yet??

Sowwiieeee I'm just so ridiculously proud of NIGHT #3 of dinner at home.

On last night's menu was good ol' fashioned burgers n beer!

Served on none other than a Lilly Pulitzer plate. Duhhhhh.

There was a sale on all the Lilly party stuff at a boutique around the corner

so naturally I purchased a bunch of that shizzzz. 

Speaking of Lilly...

I know I touched a tad on some spring shopping things

that were at the top of my list yesterday but that was fun right??

So you won't complain if I do it again, right?- Spring Wants: Dress Edition ? 

The "Delia" Dress

The "Pearl" Dress

The "Cassie" Dress

Ok I'll stop overwhelming you with $300+ dresses

which, in itself, is a tad depressing.

I'm off to partake in a Groupon date night!

You have gotttt to love the Groupon "Now" deals! 

Happy Friday Eve fraansss!

Chicken Pot Pie: My 3 Favorite Things

Onnnnnly kidding people!

Nobody panic.

But seriously!  Everybody loves chicken pot pie, do they not?

Ultimately I would like to conquer these bad boys:

Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes via

But since I'm neither THAT crafty nor do I have enough faith in conquering them, 

I give you my homemade chicken pot pie:

Not bad for just a little baker, eh?

Ignore the 8x8 casserole dish. 

I actually don't own a pie dish.

Note to self: Invest in a pie dish.

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Press one pre-made pie crust

on the bottom of dish.

2. In a 2 quart sauce pan mix 2 1/2 cups shredded chicken,

1 can Cream of Chicken soup, one bag of mixed frozen vegetables and salt and pepper to taste.

3. Whip it all up! Then spread evenly over pie crust.

4. Lay second pie crust on top and crimp crust all around the sides.

5. Cut slits in top pie crust and pop in the oven

for about 30 minutes on 400.

That's it! 

Easy Peasy!

Two dinner recipes so far this week- I know! WHO am I right?!

Please don't be under the impression that I am some kind of foodie blogger. 

Because that I am not.

I'm just holding myself to my word and cooking dinner every night this week.

That's right- NO. RESTAURANTS.

I won't lie to you- kind of rough! 

But think of all the money we have saved the past 2 nights!

When I say "we" I actually mean Bry.

But saving money on dinners means spending money on more important things!

cough spring shopping cough

                             

Ok moving on!

I have some 1000mg Ibuprofen, a pillow and some Bravo TV calling my name-

Wisdom Teeth 1 - Corin 0 

Paula Paula Deen, YALL!

I just love me some Paula Deen.

On my recent trip to Savannah, it was an outright NECESSITY
that not only do we make a pit stop at the gift shop, but that we dine at
Paula's restaurant, The Lady & Sons.
Just when I didn't think it was possible to put butter on butter?

Naturally, we had to snap a pic next to the life sized Paula cutout.

Ok onnnnn to the foodie portion of this post!
On last night's menu was steak and shrimp- not just any steak and shrimp,
Paula-inspired steak and shrimp!

I picked up the Whiskey Steak Sauce at the Paula gift shop in Savannah-
along with a pink "Hey Y'all!" koozie because doesn't every girl just NEED one of those??
Anyway- BOYFRAN decided that he wanted to go shrimping late Sunday night.
So that he did.
He took off around 8PM and braved the 30 degree weather
(apparently that's the best time to go shrimping?)
and came back with tons of little shrimpies!
Enter Monday night dinner planning..
Grilled up some steaks, boiled his freshly caught shrimp and dunzo!

Juuuust a little heads up- you will see 3 more similar posts throughout the course of the week.
We decided to eat in this week, well, ok.. Monday-Thursday, in attempts to save a little monay honaaay!
Thrifty. I KNOW.

On to preparing dinner numero dos at home!

FISH! (...and FISHING)

So we took the boat out on the St. John's River this weekend. Bryan, who has been watching the fishing channel for basically 72 hours straight, was convinced that we were going to catch something. So here we were- boat, 5 different fishing poles, 5 different lures- I was expecting our day to look like this:

                              

It looked more like this:

                               

Needless to say, we caught nothing. We were on the river for 5 hours straight and spent most of our time fighting the wind. After regrouping over a Bloody Mary and gator tail, we gave it a try for another hour and a half, which resulted in another down-pour and Bryan jumping out of the boat to stop us from getting thrown into the shallows by the wind. We decided to load the boat and go home.

We were obviously set on having some type of fish for dinner the next night. Mahi Mahi from Publix it is! My grill-master of a boyfriend was responsible for tonight's dinner. I mean, come on now! After all, the title of this blog is not "Corin Grills."  ;)