Fall Cooking

While this is not necessarily a cooking blog,cooking and baking are things I really love to do.  I never really had a reason to cook until John and I got married and I tried a lot of new things the first two years.  Since then, I haven't done as much cooking and I used to think it was because I was in grad school and between homework, reading, studying, and night classes I just didn't have much time.  Now I really think it is because for over two years we haven't had a dishwasher, and I really hate washing dishes.

Fall is a wonderful season because there are so many good comfort foods that are really easy to prepare.  Soups, chili, casseroles; I think you get my point.  After the bout of cooler weather we had a week or so ago, and even though it has warmed up for the time being, I had an itch to make some tried and true favorites and to also experiment with something new.  Here are a few dishes that I made this week.

*DISCLAIMER: I am new to this food blogging thing, and I didn't think to take pictures of the meals (except for one).  Next time I will do better :-)

Buffalo Chicken Chili  I will go on and say upfront that this did not turn out how I hoped it would.  It wasn't horrible, but it was too tomato based for me and I had a hard time tasting the buffalo sauce.  Which resulted in me adding too much and making it a little too hot for my taste.  I plan on completely reinventing this recipe, and once I get it to my liking I will share. 

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings This is a very yummy recipe, and while it might not completely replace making dumplings from scratch, it comes close and is so easy to do. I have my friend Amanda to thank for this, and you should definitely visit her blog for many different creative ideas at A Lovely Place to Land. This is what I use to make it for John and me, and there are usually leftovers:
  
2 boneless chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
chicken broth
water
salt and pepper to taste
1 package of 5 refrigerated biscuits

I place the chicken breasts in the crock pot and cover it with the cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, water, and then dash the salt and pepper in.  Cook all day on low.  After 5-6 hours, shred chicken.  One hour before you are ready to serve, tear up biscuits into crock pot and cook on high.

This time I added onion, carrots, and peas at the beginning, so feel free to add whatever veggies are your favorite!

BBQ Pulled Pork, Baked Beans, and Baked Apples  This has to be my favorite meal I fixed all week.  I LOVE BBQ pulled pork, and I can eat it year round!  I found this very easy, but very yummy Paula Deen recipe that has been a big hit the few times I have made it.  I like to use Boston pork butt, and the night before I make it I press the rub in and let it sit in the refrigerator over night.  The next morning I put it in the crock pot with the remaining ingredients and let it cook on low all day.  Feel free to cook it in the oven like it says to in the recipe, but I have a gas oven that warms the house up quickly and no AC right now.  I have cooked it both ways and I found it easier to do it in the crock pot, and it tastes the same!

As sides for this meal I fixed baked beans and baked apples.  I have a hard time eating BBQ without baked beans, and this time of the year I love anything and everything to do with apples!  For the beans I just bought a can of Bush's Original, and then added some real bacon bits, BBQ sauce, a little dijon mustard, and a little Worcestershire sauce.

I followed this recipe for the baked apples. I did not peal the apples for two reasons. 1. That is where all the good nutritious stuff is! 2. I don't have time to peal apples with a 6 1/2 month old baby. I left out the raisins and would have maybe added a little more milk, but they were SO good!  I also used brown sugar instead of white, and to mix the flour/sugar/spice mixture with the apples I placed them all in a zip lock bag and shook to coat.  I did manage to capture a few pictures of this scrumptious meal.
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