Saturday, January 23, 2010

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

I love my crockpot. I don't use it nearly as often as I should, but when I do it always amazes me how good and easy the meals turn out to be. The latest meal we made was Chicken and Dumplings. This was incredibly easy and SO delicious I just had to share. Hubby and all three kids RAVED over it at dinner that night. I had to admit it was one of my favorites too.

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used 3 because it's what I had)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup frozen veggies
1 packages refrigerated biscuit dough (like Pillsbury Grands)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning to taste

Place the chicken in the crockpot. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning to taste. Put butter on chicken.



Add onions. Pour cans of cream of chicken soup and chicken broth over the chicken, add 1/2 can of water to make sure chicken is covered. Cover crockpot and cook for 5 hours on high.


About 1 hour before serving, take the chicken breasts out and shred then into small pieces. Put the chicken back in and then add the frozen veggies and tear the biscuit dough apart for the dumplings. I used frozen peas and corn because it's what I had on hand and I knew the kids wouldn't object TOO strongly. You can also try adding the veggies at the beginning but I wasn't sure if they would be too mushy. Then place the torn biscuit dough in the crockpot. Be sure to push the dough into the water to make sure it gets wet. Cover and cook until the biscuits start to brown. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product before hubby started serving, so I took one of my bowl. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and tweaked a bit after reading some of the reviews. It is even better the next day for leftovers, if you have any! Enjoy!!



Friday, January 22, 2010

The Most Amazing Bargain EVER!

My talented husband and I have been working on the addition to our home for the past 5 years. One of the big projects that has taken a back seat is our Master Bathroom. Now, there is still some finish work yet to be done, but the Master Bath has been at the bottom of the list. And that's been okay. We have the kids full bathroom upstairs to shower and get ready in. However, every so often we do work on it a little and make some progress. Last February we decided to install the vanity. We had purchased a vanity (no top) at Home Depot for $200 in the clearance section. We were thrilled with our score. Then it sat for a few years while other rooms were finished. When we went back to look for a top, it was amazing how expensive it all was when money was now a issue, meaning we didn't have much. So, we decided to use some marble tiles friends had given us that were leftover from their bathroom project. The plan was to tile the top and sides with marble and drop in two sinks. We already had the faucets so all we needed were the sinks...

Off to Home Depot we went. We knew we wanted plain white, cast iron. Cheap enough was good enough. So in the sink aisle we came across two white, Kohler, cast iron sinks that were marked down to $50 each. They were perfect. They had originally been almost $100 a piece, so it was a great bargain. We took each of them out of the box to inspect and found nothing wrong.


When we reached the register, I was trying to keep the kids from mutiny while Hubby checked out. I heard this conversation:

Cashier "Huh, the sinks rang up for 1 penny."
Hubby "I knew they were on clearance, but I didn't think they were that cheap!"
Me "SOLD! Hahaha..."
Cashier "Let me try it again. They rang up for 1 penny. I can't get into trouble because that's the price they are scanning at."
Hubby "Uh, I guess I should pay you now" At this, he takes a quarter out of his pocket and hands it to the cashier. At this point, he is a little in shock and I am not believing what I am hearing.
Cashier "Here's twenty-three cents change and your receipt. Have a great day."
Me as we're walking out "Did we just buy two sinks for two cents?"
Hubby "Ssshhhh, let's get to the truck and load them in before they change their mind."





I kid you not. If I didn't have the receipt I wouldn't believe me either. Now, if you can just imagine the amount of money we have spent at Home Depot and Lowe's over the past five years, blowing our original budget by three times what we estimated, we call that day a blessing. The cashier was willing to let us have the sinks at the price they rang up and we were not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. So we installed the sinks about three months later and I framed the receipt, which sits between them on the counter.

I am definitely a bargain shopper. I use coupons and am always on the lookout for the best deal. But this is, by far, the best bargain I have EVER gotten. We bought $200 worth of brand new Kohler sinks for $.02!! So, what is YOUR best bargain ever??

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Welcome!



I have been wanting to start a blog for some time. I finally got the push I needed from my awesome friend, Brandy. I have known her for 30 years - man, can we possibly be that old? We decided to both start a blog and journal our lives with family and friends, plus the many crafting and decorating projects we love to try. I promised her my first post would be about the Most Amazing Bargain Ever, so after this welcome I will post that. Welcome to my humble blog.