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I short cut most everything in this recipe except for the gravy. I used the breast from a rotisserie chicken. I use a steam in the bag red potato, but only cook them 1/2 of the recommended time. Pre-cleaned baby carrots.

• 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• half a chopped onion
• 8-10 diced baby carrots
• 4-5 partially cooked red potatoes diced
• 3/4 cup of frozen peas
• poultry seasoning
• chopped rotisserie chicken breast
• dry sherry
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Dumplings

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon of sage
• 2 tablespoons butter diced
• 1/2 cup of milk

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions and carrots over medium-low heat for minutes. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce, . Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, poultry seasoning to your taste about 1 tsp, add in the diced chicken, and potatoes and simmer 20 minutes. Make your dumpling dough. Add a dash of sherry, cream and peas to the gravy.

Combine flour, baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and sage in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk; stir just until moist. Drop dough, 2 teaspoons at a time, into stock mixture, this makes 12- 16 dumplings. Cover and simmer 7 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through.

This is the first time I used sausage. I always use bacon or veg. I browned about a 1/3 of Hickory Nut Gap sausage drained it on a paper towel and left it to cool. I put 1/2 tablespoon of shredded sharp cheddar in the bottom of each egg mold and topped that with 1 tablespoon of sausage. I made the eggs per my recipe except I used cheddar instead of gruyere. This mold is the bomb. These eggs are velvety. https://sophisticatedsoutherngirl.com/2020/04/06/egg-bites-2/

Welcome to my crazy Sunday afternoon. I put in 10 hours today and came home to get started for next week. This insane French nosh is chicken rillettes. It is pate with no liver, Ya! When I make chicken and dumplings I use a rotisserie chicken but just the breast. We don’t eat dark meat. I checked out a French cookbook from the library this week and it sparked this. I took pulled the breast meat off the chicken and put the rest in a pot.

Chicken Rilletes

• 1 Rotisserie chicken minus the breast meat
• ½ cup water
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 garlic clove smashed skin on
• The top and tail of an onion
• 1/4 cup of reduced simmering liquid
• 1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon tarragon (minced)
• 1 teaspoon parsley (minced)
• 2 teaspoons shallots (minced)
• 2 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons of white wine

Put your chicken and all of the ingredients through the onion into a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Strain all the ingredients. Put the liquid back in the pot and reduce by half. When the chicken is cooled remove the meat and the garlic with out the skin and place that in a food processor with the simmering liquid and puree a minute or 2. Add in all of the other ingredients and puree to the texture that you prefer. Taste and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Place into jars and cover with more melted butter. Chill over night and serve with bread and cornichon. This tastes so amazing prior to sitting and melding together overnight. I can’t wait to taste the final product!

This recipe is a little Spanish influenced. So I drove that theme home. The recipe as is is to dry for me. This screams serve me over rice. So, I double the amount of tomato sauce and use chunky sauce. I add some smoked paprika, oregano and bay leaf. The last 10 minutes I throw in some frozen peas. I would top this with fresh parsley, but I had none. It is a great week night meal. Let it cook while you are working and come home and make rice. I used the slow cooker version of the recipe. https://www.skinnytaste.com/braised-cubed-steak-with-peppers-onions-and-olives-instant-pot-and-slow-cooker/

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My house smells amazing! Lemon, oregano and garlic, yum! This meal is so delicious. The recipe calls for a whole chicken. We are just not dark meat people. So I use 2 bone in breasts. And I double the vinaigrette recipe. Instead of the dressing for the green bean salad I use the same vinaigrette for the whole meal. https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/06/roasted-greek-chicken-and-potatoes-in-lemon-oregano-vinaigrette-recipe.html https://cookieandkate.com/green-bean-salad-recipe/

This is an easy and flavorful dish. This a recipe from an old cooking light magazine. I could not find it on their website but I did find a the recipe. I leave out the chicken and use the asparagus, I saute it into the mushroom mixture before making the sauce. https://www.food.com/recipe/creamy-chicken-and-mushrooms-cooking-light-17434

A store bought curst makes a quick dessert.

Refrigerated pie crust

2 Medium size apples sliced thin

1/3 Cup of brown sugar

Cinnamon

1 Tbls of lemon juice

1 Tbls of flour

A hand full of golden raisins

A hand full of chopped walnuts

1 Tbls of melted butter

Let your pie crust sit at room temp about 15 minutes. Add all of the other ingredients together in a bowl and toss. Pre heat your oven to 350. Unroll your crust on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour in the filling and push it back about 1 to 1 1/2 inches from the edge all the way around. Fold your crust up over the filling pressing the folds to each other. Brush with the melted butter and bake until the crust is brown about 30 minutes.

So, I left off the taco in the title of this soup. Nothing about this is taco to me. I left off the corn and hominy, my sweetheart is allergic to corn. I doubled the beans, used my frontera taco sauce which is wet so I left off the salsa and used 1/2 of the tomato paste. Topped it off with cilantro, cheddar and black bean chips. Southern recipes are famous for adding a block of cream cheese! This one is no different. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tex-mex-chicken-taco-soup-recipe-1915692

I am not a big pork chop fan, but I love this recipe. I make a cauliflower puree from a steam in the bag garlic cauliflower cooked per instructions pureed in the food processor with some garlic herb cream cheese and a little cream. I tossed a bag of pre prepped sugar snap peas with some olive oil and sliced shallot and seasoned with salt and pepper. Roast at 425 for about 15 minutes. This sauce is so creamy and flavorful. The sage screams fall. https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/one-pan-whiskey-flavored-pork-chops

Back when I first started my blog I shared the story of my recipe book. I find recipes and try them and if they are keepers they go into the book. Well the cool weather had me pulling out some of my favorite fall/winter recipes. Stay tuned for this weeks menu!