*Random Thoughts of a SUPERMOM!*

Monday, October 15, 2012

Kid-Friendly Fruit and Yogurt Smoothie

What kid doesn't need to add more fruits and veggies into their diet?!? I try to serve up fruits and veggies with almost every meal {and yes I count pasta sauce as a veggie sometimes}, but sometimes it can be fun to mix things up a little! I've found one of the easiest way to get my boys to eat their fruits {and veggies can be mixed in to} is to turn them into a smoothie. Now, this isn't really a recipe, more like a list of ingredients that you can mix, match, and combine to make any kind of fruit and yogurt smoothie that your kiddos will love!

Start with yogurt in a food processor or blender.

Any kind of yogurt will do.

We use vanilla flavored yogurt, but plain, greek, and even homemade yogurt will work.

Toss in a handful of frozen blueberries.

Add some frozen strawberries.

{We like a lot of strawberries!}

The more frozen berries you use, the thicker your smoothie will be.

Cut up a fresh orange...

...and let your little helper squeeze in the juice.

You can also just a little bit of orange juice from a bottle if that is what you have on hand...or just leave it out!

At this point, you an add in any other kind of fruit {bananas are yummy in this smoothie}you like, and you can toss in some spinach to get a serving of veggies in the mix too!

Then you put the lid on your food processor....

...and let your helper turn it on.

Blend the ingredients for a few minutes to make sure all the frozen fruit is mixed in well, then serve your smoothie in a mason jar with a cute striped straw.

Yummy.

Easy.

Kid-Friendly.

And full of good stuff!

Linking up here..

Monday, October 8, 2012

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Fall is finally making it's way to Mississippi. And fall weather mixed with late night football practice pretty much screams for a crock pot meal! I have to be honest and tell you that up until a few weeks ago, I really only ever used my crock pot to make an annual pot roast and to heat up cheese dip for parties. I don't know why, but for some reason the crock pot just never really appealed to me. But with our afternoons being so busy lately, I decided using my crock pot was the only way I was going to be able to feed my family a meal that didn't include frozen chicken nuggets or pizza! I've actually tried quite a few different recipes, and this delicious recipe for Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings has been my favorite by far!

I searched around for an easy crock pot recipe, and I found this one at BubbleCrumb.com. The thing I liked most about this recipe is that it is very similar to the recipe that my mom uses for her chicken and dumplings, except it uses a few more canned ingredients and a crock pot. I modified the original recipe to make it a little easier and to suit my family. I started with a couple of frozen chicken breast. Actually I threw in two smaller sized chicken breast and about four frozen chicken tenderloins because that is what I had in my freezer.

I added in two cans of cream of chicken soup and then I added enough chicken stock to cover the frozen chicken pieces.

I gave the cream of chicken soup/stock mixture a little bit of a stir in the crock pot and then added a couple pats of butter and a little sprinkle of some dried parsley, salt, and pepper.

Then I put the lid on my crock pot and let it go on high for 4-5 hours. The one thing I love about cooking with my crock pot is that it is almost impossible to overcook something. So if you accidentally leave your chicken in the crock pot a little longer it will be fine and still moist and delicious!

After the 4-5 hours is up, I pulled the cooked chicken out of the crock pot and shredded it up with two forks. Then I added the shredded chicken back to the crock pot.

I got my tube of refrigerated biscuits out. I used butter flavored biscuits because that is the kind that my mom always used in her Chicken and Dumplings, but the original recipe calls for Grand's biscuits. Use whatever kind your family prefers, just know that the butter flavored biscuits add a really yummy, buttery flavor that regular biscuits won't. I rolled out my biscuits a little with a cup and then cut each biscuit into four pieces. Next time I'm going to cut them a little smaller to make the cooking time a little shorter and to ensure that the dumplings aren't still gooey when it's time to eat.

I then dropped my biscuit pieces in a few a time and carefully stirred them into the liquid. At this point, you can also add a little more stock or even a splash of milk if you think you need more liquid. After I added all the dumplings, I let it cook for about another hour on low. The cook time will really depend on how big you cut your dumplings, so keep that in mind.

Serve up these delicious and easy Chicken and Dumplings with a side of butter beans and maybe even some warm cornbread on a really cold day! These Chicken and Dumplings were a big hit at our house. Henry even said he liked mine better than my mom's, thought Grant said he still prefers Grammie's:)