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:) 

September Recap Via Instagram

We started September off with a short camping trip.

 We did a lot of bike riding....

 ...got yummy snoballs...

 ...made popcorn over the campfire...

 ...did a little geocaching...

 ...and went to the beach one last time!

 I got a sunburn...and it was not pretty!

 I decided to start using my crock pot more...but then forgot to buy chicken:)

 We celebrated Eli's 4th birthday.

 The fall is all about football in the south!

 We had a fun barnyard brunch birthday party:

 Grant had a sore throat so we went to the doctor and wasted a couple hours for them to say it's just a virus.

 I took advantage of the fall like weather and headed to the walking track.

 My blog disappeared for a day {and scared me to death}!

 We had smoothies for dinner on a busy Wednesday night.

 I got a much needed pedicure...

 ...and treated myself to Starbucks while shopping at Target:)

 We took the Airstream to our annual family reunion....

 ...and I took this picture of the boys again:

 I started following along with She Reads Truth on YouVersion.

 I went back to Target again:)

 Eli cried when I picked him up from school because he wanted to stay!

 The photobooks that I order from Shutterfly came in the mail!

 I made some yummy chicken and dumplings in the crockpot.

 I wore a new dress with my pretty turquoise sandals.

 Henry and Grant played football....

 ...then we watched the Bulldogs play football.

 Eli decided to add a little graffiti to his arms and legs on the way to town.

 I took some meds that made me sick so I ate tons of saltines trying to make myself feel better.

 I played around with the new panorama option on my iPhone:) SO MUCH FUN!

 The boys' pee wee football team was in our local homecoming parade.

 The boys went swimming at a birthday party...at the end of September!

 Silly Eli asked me to "unwrap" his banana for him:)

Pallet and Hay Fall Display

So I've been a little absent from the blog world lately, mostly because things have been really busy around here...but also because I feel like I've lost a little bit of my creativity. I thought when Eli started preschool two days a week, that I would have a ton of time to do some crafting, creating, and decorating. But so far that hasn't happened. Instead my house is a wreck, my craft room is still nonexistent, and I can not for the life of me keep up with the laundry! Despite all of that {and sorry for my whining, but surely I'm not the only one feeling like this right now!?!}, I did manage to get a few fall decorations put up last week. I created this fun outdoor display from a few things leftover from Eli's Barnyard Brunch birthday party along with some of my usual fall decorations and a some things from a local nursery. 

 I think my favorite part of this whole display is the fun pallet with the vinyl saying. This is the same pallet that was the backdrop for the food table at Eli's party. I had already added the whitewash effect, which I thought was very fun and fallish. But it needed something a little more, so I broke out my Silhouette and cute out the cute Happy Fall, Y'all saying. I think it adds a ton of whimsy to the display! The best thing about it is that if I want to use this pallet again for something else, all I have to do is peel off the vinyl!

I also love the look of the funky pumpkins stacked together. I originally had a triple stack of pumpkins and another cute orange one, but the Mississippi heat was too much for the pumpkins and I ended up with some gross rotten pumpkin soup. I managed to salvage the two in the picture, but I don't think they are going to last much longer either....I'm starting to see the beauty of the fake, crafty pumpkins:) I threw in a couple of mums to complete the whole fall look, and I think it turned out pretty cute! 

Do you put any fall decorations outside?

{And do your pumpkins still look perfect, or do you have rotten pumpkin soup like me?!?}