Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken Dumplings are one of the meals that I remember my dad cooking often that all of us kids loved.  I now make it for my own family and it is a huge hit.  It is so simple and so delicious.  I also love that it is a one pot meal.

Chicken Dumplings (Serves 6)

1 (32 ounce) can chicken broth
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 (16 ounces) package baby carrots
2 stalks celery, chopped
salt and black pepper to taste (other favorite seasonings, if you wish)
2 1/4 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk

Directions:
Combine chicken broth, chicken breast cubes, onion, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper, and other seasonings  in a large pot.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer until chicken is no longer pink in the center and vegetables are tender.  About 20 to 25 minutes.

Mix Bisquick and milk in bowl until dough is sticky.  Drop golf ball sized pieces of dough into the soup.  Cover pot and cook until dumplings are cooked through,  About 10 minutes.

Hawaiian Haystacks (Crock pot sauce)

I have always loved Hawaiian Haystacks.  You don't really need a recipe for it, except for the sauce. There are so many sauce recipes, but this is the one I used because I had an open can of chicken broth and evaporated milk in my fridge that needed to be used.   I also love using a crock pot because I don't have to cook the chicken beforehand and continually stir the pot.  I am all about ease.  The less work I have to do the more time I can spend with my family.  I forgot to defrost my chicken before hand so I put it in frozen and it turned out just fine.  Another great thing about Hawaiian Haystacks is that I normally have all the ingredients I need to make it last minute since the toppings can always vary slightly.

Hawaiian Haystack Ingredients:

Sauce Ingredients:
*  4 boneless skinless chicken breast
* 1 c. chicken broth
* 2 (10 3/4 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup
* 1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk

6 cups cooked rice

Toppings:
* Cheese
* Pineapple crushed or tidbits
* Celery
* Olives
* Diced tomatoes
*Onions
* Chinese noodles
* Peppers
* Other favorites

Hawaiian Haystack Toppings

Directions for sauce:
Place chicken in greased slow cooker/crock pot.  Combine all ingredients and pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.  Shred chicken.

Serve over hot rice with toppings. 

This little cutie thought the little bowl of cheese was his own personal bowl and loaded it up with all of his other favorite toppings.  Love my little chef helper.

Chicken Burgers

Most of my elementary school years my mom made me my lunch to take to school.  We called this "cold lunch".  I remember having "hot lunches"(school lunches) once in a while though, usually when I helped in the school kitchen.  The main hot lunch that I remember was chicken burgers.  I loved them and still love them to this day  Now I get to make them myself and add lots of healthy toppings to them.

This is a great meal for those days when you are in a hurry and don't have time to do anything fancy.  

Ingredients:

* Bag of Chicken Breast Patties

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* Hamburger buns

* Lettuce

* Cheese

* Tomatoes

* Onions

* Toppings (our favorite is ranch)

Directions:

Prepare the chicken patties as directed on the package.  Add your favorite toppings to your burger.  Eat up!  

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family does.  

Teriyaki Chicken

My dad has made Teriyaki Chicken for us numerous times and I finally learned how to make it myself.  It seriously is so easy, fast, and delicious.  It is one of those foods that is hard to mess up and easy to get compliments on.
We always eat our Teriyaki Chicken over rice and with an amazing salad.  I can not express how good this meal is.  From start to finish it only takes about 30 minutes to prepare.  

Sorry for the bad pictures.  I forgot to take pictures until after we started eating.  

Ingredients: (I hate when I have a recipe that doesn't tell me the exact amounts of ingredients, but that is exactly what I am going to give you.  The reason why is because it just depends on how big the thighs are, how many people you want to feed, and how much you eat.)  

1. Rice (Make the rice however you like it.  We always put it in our rice cooker and it gets done right when the chicken is ready)

2. Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs

3. Teriyaki Sauce

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees on broil.
2.  Line the bottom of a broiler pan with foil.  This will make clean up so much easier.

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3. Lay Chicken thighs on top of broiler pan.  Coat thighs with teriyaki sauce. I put my teriyaki sauce in a squeeze bottle and just squirt it on the chicken.  Then I brush the sauce all over the thighs.

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4.  After you put the sauce on one side, flip the thighs over and do the same thing on the other side.
5.  Broil at 500 degrees for about 5 or so minutes.  Then flip the thighs over, add more sauce and broil for another 5 minutes.  You may need to do this one more time.

Teriyaki Chicken over Rice

Side Salad

ENJOY!