So Easy Chicken and Dumplings

I almost feel guilty posting this recipe because I am a firm believer of cooking with fresh ingredients. Meaning homemade biscuits and homemade soups I make from scratch. I'm not really a big canned soup fan, so when this recipe called for Cream of Chicken soup, I didn't know what to do. Thank God Campbells makes a wonderful soup because this recipe is my new favorite "brag of the day." I called my mom after making this and invited them over so I'll have an excuse to make it again. It would be a sin for me not share this recipe with you. It's so easy and definitely will win you tons of accolades. Follow the recipe below and wow your loved ones.

Ingredients
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cans of chicken broth
1 onion, finely diced
6 carrots cut into 2 inch chunks
3 celery stalks, cut into 2 inch chunks
2 (10 ounce) packages
refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

Directions
1.Place the chicken, butter, soup, onion, carrots and celery in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.
2.Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

Banana Cake with Caramel Frosting

The other day Steven and I went to the French Corner Bakery and he ordered a mini banana caramel bundt cake that was really good. I found this recipe the other day and it looks wonderful. I'll be making this this weekend.

Banana caramel cake

Cake:
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs
1 ¼ cups (300ml) vegetable oil (or canola oil as in the original recipe)
1 ¾ cups (350g) sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (75g) coarsely chopped walnuts
85g (3oz) dark chocolate, broken into small pieces (size of chips)
3 ripe bananas, diced

Caramel:
½ cup (88g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 tablespoons (56g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Butter and flour a tube pan or a bundt pan that can hold 12 cups*; preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking soda.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs, oil and sugar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the sugar has been incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and mix for another 30 seconds.
With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients a bit at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to ensure everything is incorporated.
Once the dry ingredients have been added, remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the walnuts, chocolate and bananas. Gently fold them in with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Don’t over mix.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes and then test the cake to see if it’s done by poking a toothpick or cake tester into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, bake the cake for another 5 to 10 minutes. In Ivonne’s oven, this cake took 55 minutes; in mine, 1 hour.

About 5 to 10 minutes before the cake is done, make the caramel by combining all the ingredients in a small pan. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.
Once the cake is out of the oven, poke holes all over the cake with a skewer. Immediately pour the caramel over the cake, stopping every now and then to let the caramel sink in. If the caramel pools in spots, poke more holes to allow it to sink in.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once it’s cool, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and then unmold it onto a plate.

* I halved the recipe and used a 19cm (6-cup capacity) ring pan

Serves 10-12

Kids Card Drive

I am really excited about the next kids card drive I am participating in. If you are interested in joining in, the details are below.

We are hoping to collect a ton of cards for NINE sick children and their families. Cards of encouragement, love, cheer and hope. We truly feel that cards can lift spirits. And, in these rough times, it is an inexpensive way to make a difference in someone's life.

A few details:
•This card drive will be ongoing. We have no end date set. However, this second round of prizes will be drawn from cards shipped by March 31st.
•Cards can be anything cheery, encouraging, supportive, etc. Anyone can send a card - even your children, scout troops, etc.
•Cards can be for the child or for their family members.
•All cards need to have a message in it for the child/family. Please also sign your name and where you are from. On the card envelope, write the name of who the card is for. Also, please don't seal the envelope, as the parents might want to preview cards before the kids see them.
•Please stick to just cards or lightweight things like stickers, etc. If you want to send anything heavier, please include a bit of money to cover the added cost.
•There is no need to send money with your cards. However, it is greatly appreciated as it helps with the cost of mailing the thousands of cards and many, many prizes. Very appreciated.
•All cards can be mailed to the following address:
Jennifer McGuire
Cards for Kids
PO Box 428612
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242
•In each package, PLEASE include a piece of paper with your name, address, email address and how many cards you sent and for which child/family they were for. This helps us greatly in keeping track for prizes! For each card you send, you will get a chance. So the more cards you send, the better your chances. (See below.)
•PRIZES! In April, I will pick NINE prizes to send out - based on the cards I receive by March 31. One prize will go to someone who sent in cards for Kate in that round. One will go to someone who sent a card for Gavin in that round, etc. So, if you really want a prize, it is best to send in cards for each child/family each round. We will keep track of how many you sent for each child.

I know i am missing some details, as there is so much to think about! I will add more as we go, so be sure to ask your questions.

And, once again, a HUGE shout out to Jana and Kristina for all they do for these card drives. I could never do it without them. And to Mary Kay and Heather, who have volunteered to help with shipping of cards. And... my dear dad who picks up cards every single day from my PO Box and gives them to me in huge bunches. THANK YOU. Love you all.

Thanks again for giving your time and talent for this.

Valentine's Day Dinner

My husband went all out this Valentine's Day for me and I wanted to do something special back, so I made his favorite dinner. This recipe is so easy, simple and delcious for salmon. All I do is mix 1 T of Montreal Steak Seasoning and 1 T brown sugar and coat the salmon by patting it on. I then bake the salmon at 400 degrees or put it on the grill and bake for 20 minutes. It is absolutely scrumdelicious! I usually present it on a bed of greens and serve it with mashed potatoes or rice. If ou want to wow someone this is the way to go.

Porthole Card

I made these cards to sell at my neighbor's store for Valentine's Day. The one in the middle is from the Wild Card cartridge and is the porthole card. I've completed all the cards I need for VDay and soon I'll start on the St. Patty's cards.