If you can't beet em, can em and everything old is new again.....

I hope you all had a good weekend and Monday treated you well.  I had a wonderful weekend. Saturday I got to spend the day with Little Miss which always makes me smile.  She is a walker and a climber now so spending the day with her is also very exhausting.  When her mom was done working, they joined us for dinner and after they left I kind of just vegetated on the couch for the rest of the evening.

It was one of those weekends, and it may be one of those weeks, where nothing that I had planned seemed to work out.  Thank God for flexibility in life.  I had some beets in the fridge that needed to be pickled and canned.  Originally this was going to happen last Thursday with my friend Tami.  But life got in the way and Tami was unable to make it.  Then we were going to do it on Friday but again life got in the way and I changed it to Saturday.  Yep, you got it, Saturday I got a text from Tami that she couldn't make it so finally on Sunday, after Mass and breakfast out with John, Kirsten and our friend, Sandy, I came home and took care of the beets.  Here are the directions for making your own Pickled Spiced Beets.

I moved my menu for Sunday to Saturday and will be sharing that with you this Saturday so stay tuned...did you get all that?  I did this because Amy invited us over to their house for dinner on Sunday and my planned Sunday meal was on the schedule to be blogged for our French Winophiles group.  It turned out delicious, by the way, so you will definitely want to take a gander when it is posted.

That left me with the chicken and broth in my fridge that was supposed to be used for Saturday's meal.  So, even though it was Meatless Monday, I needed to use the chicken and while browsing through the group B SRC posts for which I was a guest blogger I found this delicious sounding Chicken and Dumpling Casserole that Kelly of Wildflour's Cottage Kitchen had posted from her assigned blog, Sarah's Kitchen.  Did you get all that?  Welcome to my world.  Of course, that left me with the corn for Monday's scheduled dinner so I just added it to the casserole and called it a day. I did get in for my haircut on Monday so at least something scheduled didn't change.  And a good thing too because my hair was driving me to distraction!

Today my friend, Karen, came over and helped me make these adorable cookies for Melody's first birthday party that we are having on Saturday.  Tingting had originally wanted a ladybug theme, then she switched it to a pink and gold theme, hence we have pink and gold ladybugs.....aren't they the cutest little things?  I used the recipe for Pie Dough Cookies that I previously shared.

So there you go....I am sharing two previously posted recipes and a new recipe of an old, classic favorite.  Perhaps now life will get back on schedule.  When I read the recipe for Chicken and Dumpling Casserole I was intrigued.  You layer all of your ingredients and you don't stir at all before baking it.  I adapted the recipe a bit.  I added corn as written above. I did not have self rising flour so I added ingredients as suggested by Kelly in her version.  Instead of 2 c. of chicken broth, I used one soup can full.  Kathy had said she used less than the original recipe called for and I like to add liquid to the soup can to help get all the soup left stuck to the sides.  I also added some thyme because I love thyme in creamy chicken dishes.

Melt butter in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan.

Sprinkle the chicken and corn into the bottom of the pan.

Combine the flour, soda and salt in a bowl.

Whisk in the milk and pour over the chicken and corn layer.

Whisk together the soup and broth.

Pour over the flour layer.

It was very tasty and I think it will be appearing on our table again.

The next time I will add some more veggies, perhaps carrots and peas, to the first layer.

Chicken and Dumpling Casserole

adapted from Wildflour's Cottage Kitchen via Sarah's Kitchen

2 c. shredded cooked chicken

Kernels from 2 ear of corn

1/4 c. butter, melted

1 c. milk

1 c. flour

1 1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 (10.5 oz) can Cream of Chicken soup

10 oz. chicken broth

freshly ground pepper to taste

1/4 t. dried thyme

Swirl melted butter in the bottom of  a 9" x 13" baking dish.  Sprinkle the chicken and corn (and any other veggies you are adding) over the bottom of the baking dish.  In a small bowl combine the flour, soda and salt.  Whisk in the milk then pour over the chicken and vegetable layer.  Do not stir.  Whisk together the soup, broth and seasonings.  Pour over the dumpling mixture.  Do not stir.  Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 40-45 minutes or until browned and bubbly.  Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.  Print Recipe

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