I was a tiny bit better at the general baking of cakes and cookies. The problem was that I never really grasped, until I was well into my adulthood, that baking is a science, not an art, the way that cooking is. Experimentation just doesn’t work when you need exact measurements of precise ingredients to trigger the chemical reactions that make the magic of baking happen.

Cooking is far more suited to my “a dash of this, a pinch of that” methodology. I like to take recipes and exercise my creativity in adapting them to my own tastes and experimenting to see how various ingredients taste when combined. Meals at my house are never boring, but you probably won’t be eating cake for dessert!

 

INGREDIENTS

1 large onion, diced

1 can (10.5 oz.) cream of celery soup

1 can (10.5 oz.) cream of chicken soup

1 tablespoon fresh parsley

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

Black pepper to taste

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

2 cups frozen vegetables or peas and carrots, defrosted

1 can (8 pieces) refrigerated biscuits (Buttermilk, Country or Homestyle)

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Using a 6-quart crockpot, place diced onions on the bottom and arrange the chicken breasts on top of them.

Take a small bowl and whisk together both cans of soup, the poultry seasoning, pepper and parsley, until well-blended. Pour this mixture over the chicken breasts. Then carefully pour in your chicken broth so you don’t disturb the soup. Set on High temperature and cook for approximately 5 hours.

After the chicken has been cooking for 4 hours on High, take your refrigerated biscuits out of the refrigerator and let them sit for 20-30 minutes to come to room temperature. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out each biscuit until it is fairly thin. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Now quickly add your veggies to the crockpot, give it a quick stir and place the biscuit quarters on top. Try to do this as quickly as possible so that you can replace the lid before the temperature has a chance to drop. Cook for another hour, or until the veggies are tender and the biscuits have puffed up. If you left your lid off for very long, you may need to increase this cooking time in order for your veggies to get tender and the biscuits to rise.

When the veggies are tender, remove the chicken breasts from the crockpot and shred. A hand/stand mixer will make short work of this, if you place them in a bowl and use your regular beaters on medium-low speed. Or you can use two forks. Return the chicken to the crockpot and gently stir into the veggie/dumpling mixture, breaking up some of the dumplings. Continue to cook for 10 more minutes, then serve.

USE RED NEXT PAGE LINK BELOW

NEXT

Quick Tip:  When choosing refrigerated biscuits to use in this recipe, you need to look for those that have a heavier, more doughy composition and texture. These are often labeled as Buttermilk, Country Style or Home Style biscuits. This type of biscuit will swell up in the cooking liquid and not become a soggy mess. Flaky-textured biscuits with layers or crescent rolls would not work, as they would absorb too much of the liquid and break down into a limp, soggy mess. You want biscuits that are going to rise as they cook.

Recipe courtesy of Holly at Spend With Pennies, image courtesy of marthastewart.com