Homemade Chicken and Dumplings

 There are some days when comfort food is needed and I was excited to give this recipe a try. As we have been going down to the US more lately I keep seeing dumplings on the recipe so I wanted to give this one a shot. 

This one is relatively easy to make - just remember to keep an eye on the roux when adding in the stock to make sure you are able to get the right consistency. 

I cooked up my chicken fresh and then saved some for other meals. I just diced it up so it wouldn't take very long to cook. I also skipped the peas as I personally hate them and then I unfortunately missed the bay leaf as my package had gone missing.

This was a great meal and I loved eating the leftovers! 

You can find the recipe here: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/chicken-and-dumplings/

Cheese Enchiladas

I try and make Mexican a couple of times a month but it doesn't always work out that way. This looked good on pinterest and I decided to give it a try.

First off - so simple and quick to make! The longest thing on prep was grating all of the different cheeses. I used Monterey Jack, Old Cheddar and Mozzarella as my three types of cheese. I bought some enchilada sauce but I think I could have doubled the amount of sauce. I also put some whip cream into the bottom of the pan to make it a creamier sauce 

OMG!!!! These are the most simple and delicious things ever! I could have probably eaten the entire pan. 

There are so many different variations and I think it would be awesome to add in either a pineapple or mango salsa into the tortilla as well as a fun twist. 

As soon as I finished dinner I ordered more enchilada sauce so I can make these at a moments notice!

I highly recommend giving these a try:

https://julieblanner.com/cheese-enchiladas/

Best Banana Bread

 So this is another one of the amazing banana bread recipes that I tired. This one is for all of you people out there that just want a plain banana bread without all of the extra goodies. 

This recipe is simple and straightforward and once again I just used three bananas instead of the exact 1.5 cups so not sure of that would really change anything or not.

I think next time I might even add in a little more cinnamon just because I really love the cinnamon and banana combo.

This recipe is really good and I love the different combos that this website has with banana bread!

You can find the recipe here: https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/banana-bread/

Cast Iron Pan Pizza Recipe

 This was a recipe I was excited to make but when it came down to the day I was going to have it I had to improvise due to being short on time and unable to make the dough from scratch.

I had a Pillsbury pizza crust in my fridge so I molded it into the cast iron pan with a little bit of difficulty of stretching and filling in the holes.

So I will admit that this one would have not tasted as good as what was originally on the website.

I used a Classico pizza sauce which I really enjoy. I was surprised at laying down pieces of mozzarella on top of the sauce but I really liked how it turned out. I then threw on grated mozzarella, pepperoni and then the parmesan. I loved the parmesan on top and I will do this with more homemade pizzas in the future!

Overall it was a great pizza night and I can't wait to try again with more time!

You can find the recipe here: https://thefoodcharlatan.com/pan-pizza-recipe/

Cannoli Pancakes

 I seem to be working every weekend and generally in the morning so I seem to never be able to make the kids pancakes so I decided to make them for dinner one night. 

These ones looked really good and different but once again used ricotta cheese so I was excited! 

I love the orange and chocolate together as they were refreshing and fun! 

I followed the directions but may have thrown a few more chocolate chips in than necessary. They were very chocolatey but still super good! 

Now the pancakes got a little bit well done as I couldn't find the cord to plug in my pancake grill and instead used my non-stick pan that I had just cooked sausages in.

You can find the recipe here: https://snappygourmet.com/cannoli-pancakes/

Appy Night - Baked Brie and Jam Pull-Apart Bread and Dorito Chicken Bites

 One thing I seem to rarely make is appies! If we are headed out to a friend's I may make some but I find I generally end up buying something and not making stuff from scratch.

We decided to have a relaxing Friday night with some appies and watch some TV which we generally seem to never do as a family.

The recipes that I chose were a Baked Brie and Jam Pull Apart Bread and Dorito Chicken Bites.

The recipe for the bread was super easy to follow and I used a cherry jam that I had from a previous recipe. I do think that I needed to cook the bread longer as not all of the cheese was melted enough. I think it was my foil wrapping job. 

The second recipe was for Dorito Chicken Bites. This is something that really could be made with full-size chicken as well as the recipe is super easy to follow and the chicken tastes really good. I love that you could totally change it up with different flavors of Doritos! We used the regular nacho cheese ones and then added some sweet Chili Heat ones when we needed a few more. 

The Chicken Bites are a little time consuming but worth it! 

Both of these recipes are super easy to follow and great for a nice night in! 

You can find the recipes here:

Baked Brie and Jam: https://www.lemonsforlulu.com/baked-brie-and-jam-pull-apart-bread/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug

Dorito Chicken Bites: https://tipbuzz.com/3-ingredient-popcorn-chicken

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

 Continuing on with my exploration of different banana breads this was one I was excited to try with my love of peanut butter!

This bread is a little more dense with the addition of peanut butter and it is a heavier loaf. 

I followed all of the instructions but once again I just used 3 bananas and didn't actually measure out the exact proportions so this may change the recipe a little bit.

I found this one great and I think it would be even better with some chocolate chips sprinkled on top although it may add a couple of more calories! It would totally be worth it though! 

You can find the recipe here: https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/peanut-butter-banana-bread/