Crock Pot Chicken and Rice Soup

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I love the rare nights that we get snow and ice in Middle Tennessee. Despite not having to drive in to work, I still get up early the morning after with the pups, have my coffee, and put on a crock pot of soup to slowly simmer all morning. There's just something satisfying about finding all the ingredients you need in your pantry without having prepared for a winter blast!

Here's a delicious and easy recipe I came up with today!

CROCK POT CHICKEN AND RICE SOUP

Prep Time: 5 minutes.

Cooking Time:  3-4 hours

Serves: 4

1 can Bumble Bee cooked chicken

1 cup rice (white or long grain)

1 box reduced sodium chicken broth

1 can shoepeg corn

1/2 to 1 can carrots

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1 T dried onion

4 T butter

4 T flour

2/3 cup milk

Put first 8 ingredients in crock pot to cook for 3-4 hours on low to meld flavors.

Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour. Stir until blended. Add milk and let thicken to consistency of a sauce. Add to soup in crockpot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

New Year's Cupcakes

This was a really easy, moist recipe with a cake mix but tastes like from a bakery!

Use Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix and mix according to box directions. Add 1/2 cup (or more if your taste desires) of Almond cake filling (in a can found in the baking aisle). Bake in cupcake liners according to directions on the box.
Cool.

For the almond buttercream icing, I used the recipe found here, but made only 1/2 of the recipe for cupcakes.

These are delicious and I'm looking forward to sharing with good friends tonight on New Year's Eve!

Papa Murphy's on The Big Green Egg

First time trying this tonight and it turned out perfect. That's only due to the fact that I did my online homework first!

Place setter feet up, grill in place, and pizza stone. Heat to 450 degrees and hold.

Place pizza (on the paper pizza round) on top of the pizza stone. Cook for 7 min at 450.

Slide from paper round to directly on pizza stone and cook at 450 for approx 23 more minutes for crunchy crust. ( if meatless, you may want to shorten cook time)

Let cool for 5 min before cutting. Enjoy!

We do not have a Papa Murphy's close to us but will be worth a short drive to do this again.

Old Kentucky Boiled Custard

Making boiled custard has become one of my Christmas Eve traditions. The recipe was handed down to my mother-in-law by her Kentucky ancestors. This boiled custard is literally so good you'll watch people work their tongues down inside the glass to lap up every last drop!

1 3/4 c. sugar
3 T plain flour
3 eggs
1/2 gal. whole milk
vanilla flavoring to taste

Mix together sugar and flour with electric mixer until well blended. In a blender, beat eggs well. Add enough of the milk to eggs to fill blender half full and blend well. Gradually add sugar/flour mixture to egg/milk mixture in blender and blend well. Pour mixture into heavy 4 qt cooking pot. Add remainder of milk and stir until blended well. Cook on medium to medium-high heat until mixture has thickened to consistency of a medium white sauce. Stir (tradition says with a wooden spoon) throughout the cooking process so the mixture will not stick or burn on the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and add vanilla flavoring to taste. Be patient! This recipe takes a while. Chill in refreigerator or on the back porch if it's cold enough outside. Serve in cups or stemmed goblets. Cannot be frozen or microwaved. Servings: 10-12 (6 oz each).

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A New Request

When I asked Trey which of his favorite desserts he wanted for Christmas, he said Peppermint Candy Cane Chocolate Cupcakes, something I've never made! He insisted that a recipe must exist somewhere, and sure enough, it was in my cupcake cookbook. However...there were way too many steps and ingredients so I decided I could do it easier my own way!

Peppermint Candy Cane Chocolate Cupcakes

Prepare 1 box any chocolate cake mix in bowl according to directions.

Mix in 1 to 2 tsp Peppermint flavoring (more or less to suit your taste)

Bake according to pkg directions in cupcake tins. Cool.

Add 1 to 2 tsp Peppermint flavoring to prepared cream cheese icing and spread onto cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.

Enjoy!

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Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

This is one of my favorite treats which my mother made during my childhood.

In medium saucepan, add:
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Karo corn syrup

Stir constantly and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Do not overcook. Remove from heat.

Stir in:
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Add Rice Krispie cereal to the mixture (eyeball the amount until mixture is thick and consistency will be easy to drop into spoonfuls on wax paper).

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Almost Like Mama's Cornbread Dressing

Unfortunately, my mama never wrote down her dressing recipe. It was our family's holiday favorite. Because she passed away in 2005 from Alzheimer's Disease, we'll never know her exact recipe, so I have experimented every holiday for several years to make mine as good as hers. This is very close!

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
6 cups crumbled cornbread (I make mine from scratch using the recipe on the Martha White meal bag)  
4 cups crumbled biscuits (I buy Mrs. B's brand, southern style, frozen and bake until light brown) 
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 tsp dried sage leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves (optional)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg, beaten
4 cups chicken broth

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 13x9 inch baking dish or pan. Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and celery; cook until tender, stirring occasionally. In large bowl, combine onion mixture with all remaining ingredients; mix well. The secret for moist dressing is to use plenty of chicken broth which will absorb into the breading during baking. Spoon into greased baking dish. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with holiday turkey. Makes 12 servings.

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