Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings, The Easy Way

First, go out and get yourself a crock pot. I like the ones from Rival, even the cheapest one you can find at Target. They hold up forever, take a serious amount of abuse, and if you're really lucky, they come with an adorable carrying case. Just make sure you get one that has a removable crock, I didn't really get going with this little gem until after the one I inherited from my mother without the removable innards died and was replaced with his grandson whose crock can go in the dishwasher. The crock is probably the most used appliance in my kitchen, after the blender. It's the least involved cooking method I have in my repertoire, everything I make in it tastes like I slaved and best of all, it doesn't heat up the kitchen but you can still have hot food. Right now, that alone is reason enough to dig it out and not have to stand over a stove making dinner when I get home from work.
The recipe below is for a four quart crock. Feel free to scale up or down to fit yours, though you may need to make the dumplings themselves on the stove if you go below the 4 quart size.

Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:
- 4-6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup (low fat/no fat versions are fine)
- 1/4-1/2 can water
- 1 cube chicken bouillon (the big soft kind, not the little Wylers pebbles)
- 2 small or 1 big roll of refrigerated biscuits (low fat version at your own risk here, they aren't nearly as good)
- Salt & Pepper

Directions:
- Empty the soup, water and chicken bouillon into the crock, stir together until smooth.
- Add the whole chicken breasts to the pot and stir to coat them with soup mixture.
- Set crock pot on low and leave covered for 8-10 hours or overnight/all day. Chicken is done when it falls apart easily when pulled apart with a fork.
- Remove chicken from crock and set aside in large bowl or plate.
- Set crock pot to high.
- Cut biscuits into bite sized pieces while crock is heating up.
- Dump biscuit pieces into crock and stir briefly to break up and coat with the soup. Put lid back on crock and allow dumplings to cook 20-30 minutes until cooked through.
- While dumplings are cooking, shred chicken with forks.
- When dumplings are finished cooking, return shredded chicken to the crock and stir to incorporate.
- Taste for salt and pepper, adjust seasonings as desired.


Notes:
-This doesn't have vegetables in it. If you want them, I'd recommend some baby carrots/potatoes/onion/mushrooms go in with the chicken, and anything else get added when you add the biscuits. Frozen mixed veggies work quite well if you feel the need, I use a blend of peas, corn and carrots most of the time. Add frozen veggies during the last half hour, they'll disintegrate if you add them in the beginning.
-This freezes very well, so make the whole crock even if it's just you eating it and freeze the rest in individual portions. You'll save yourself some time later, and who knows when the need for some true comfort food will hit?
-As this doesn't have vegetables as a required ingredient, it goes very well with a salad or some other form of edible plant life. I like steamed or frozen myself to help balance out the heaviness inherent in chicken and dumplings and other comfort foods.

The Ultimate Banana Oat Loaf

So I've been experimenting with a banana bread recipe that called for the addition of oatmeal. The first batch I made by roughly following the recipe (but doubling the oatmeal) came out pretty well, but wasn't quite substantial enough for my personal taste. I wanted something I could eat for breakfast and really not be hungry afterwards. After three more batches, here's the rib-sticking result:

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Loaf

Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter, softened
3 eggs
6 or 8 very ripe bananas (frozen works just fine too, just let them thaw completely first)
2/3 cup brown sugar or honey
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup dried cranberries (a couple of handfuls out of the bag)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (a couple handfuls)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional...but recommended)

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Combine butter, eggs, bananas and sugar in a LARGE bowl.
- When combined, add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, oatmeal and spices.
- Continue until well mixed, and add in the cranberries, nuts and chocolate chips, if using. Batter will be thick and gloppy, but will just get more soggy the longer you let it sit as the oatmeal absorbs the liquid. Don't worry, it turns out fine.
- Scrape into a well-greased bundt pan or 9x13 pyrex. Do not skimp on the cooking spray here. This batter will rise, but not too much. As long as you're not overflowing or too close to the lip of your pan it should be fine.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes for a 9x13 or 50-55 minutes for a bundt. It's done when a toothpick to the center comes out mostly clean and the edges are browned a bit. It's ok to slightly underbake this, as it will not give a perfectly clean toothpick and it's better slightly under than burned.
-If using a bundt, turn out the loaf and allow to cool on the counter or a rack.

Notes:
-You can use whatever kinds of dried fruit you have taking up cupboard space. I just don't like raisins, but think this might be quite good with dates or dried apples or chopped dried apricots.
-This loaf is HEAVY. It comes out mostly oatmeal, held together with some eggs and kept moist with bananas. It will in no way resemble cake, hence the "Loaf" designation in the title.
-I imagine you could try subbing apple sauce for the butter, at least for some of it. I'm trying that as soon as I restock the oatmeal and buy some. I'd up the sauce to half a cup or so though.
-This recipe is pretty easy to halve, just use a loaf pan, 8 or 9 inch cake pan or pie plate to bake it.
-This stuff stays moist uncovered on the counter for days, freezes just fine and is delightful with a cup of tea at my desk for breakfast.

Most of all, use this as a jumping off point of your own. I've found that so far, no matter what I do to it, it stays completely edible, so you can add whatever kinds of things you like to the banana/oatmeal batter and it should come out fine as long as it's good and set in the middle when you take it out of the oven. Enjoy it, this is supposed to be fun :)