Decking the halls is one of the best parts of the holiday season. There’s just something so special about beginning the Christmas season by breaking out all the decor.
Every year, I try to make this particular evening as special as possible. I want to give my kids the fondest memories imaginable. I love sticking to tradition and having a plan. This helps to make everything a little less chaotic.
Usually, we wait until after Thanksgiving to put up our tree, but this year Thanksgiving is so late. Plus we aren’t having Thanksgiving at our house so we decided to just go for it this year. Usually, I like to decorate the house on a Friday. There’s a method to my madness here, I promise. The reason being, I can get everything down from the garage and rearrange some furniture, all while the kids are at school. We can also take our time decorating because there’s no mad dash to get to bed on time because it’s a school night. You get it. See, I told you I was a genius (You’re like, no you didn’t).
We like to put on our cheesy family Christmas pajamas, crank the holiday music, light my pine-scented candle, and I pour the kids some sparkling apple cider. It’s always a great time and puts everyone in a festive mood! My kids are old enough now where they can basically decorate the whole tree by themselves. It’s nice because that means, I can sit on the couch and watch while I sip my bubbles.
If you’re anything like me, you are looking for a stress-free evening, creating magical memories with your family. That’s why I created this easy slow-cooker Chicken and Dumplings recipe.
It’s the perfect meal for your decorating night. You want to be able to relax and not worry about cooking dinner and doing dishes. This dish will be waiting for you when you’re ready. It’s packed with flavor and even veggies, that way you don’t even need to make a salad. So go ahead and pour that glass of champagne and sleigh the night away!
After I dropped off the kids at school, I came home and got to work on dinner for that night. I wanted to check that off the list for the day. The instructions are so simple and so are the ingredients. I started by chopping all of the veggies into small dices. I have young kids so I made sure to cut them small, that way they would hopefully eat them without any complaints.
My kids love carrots so you know I took full advantage of that and went heavy on the carrots! I then placed 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into the slow cooker and seasoned them on both sides really well with salt and pepper. After that, I threw in the onion, garlic, celery, condensed soup, and chicken broth. With a wooden spoon, give it a nice stir. I closed the lid and said a prayer that my kids would love this new recipe and that I didn’t completely waste my time. This recipe cooks on high for 5 hours or on low for 8.
Now it’s time to get to work on all the things around the house. Or take some time to yourself and go for a walk, or take a nap, maybe catch up on Greys Anatomy or a cheesy Hallmark movie? You get the point. After about 4 hours I took the chicken out and shredded it with 2 forks. It should be falling apart at this point.
When it’s completely shredded, place the chicken back in and add your diced carrots. I like to add the carrots halfway through so they don’t get too mushy.
While I was moving furniture around, I decided I wanted to get a little crazy and in a couple more veggies for depth. I cut up a russet potato and threw it on into the hot tub. I’m so glad I did because it made this dish hearty.
In the last 90 minutes, go ahead and add your biscuits. Make sure to roll them in salted flour first. This will help thicken the sauce. The dish is ready when your biscuits are a light golden brown.
Enjoy! And remember, sometimes it’s okay to decorate early that way you can enjoy the joy a little longer!
Recipe:
2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 TBSP butter
1 small onion or 1/2 of a large, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic grated on a rasp
1 large celery stalk finely diced
2 medium carrots
1 can of homestyle buttermilk biscuits from the refrigerated section
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
14 oz chicken stock
22-24oz cream of chicken, condensed soup
1 russet potato finely diced
1 cup of frozen green peas (optional)
How To:
- Place chicken in the slow cooker and salt and pepper each. Add the butter, stock, cans or cartons of cream of chicken condensed soup, garlic, diced onion, and celery. Stir to just combine, cover, and turn the slow cooker on high and cook for 4−4½ hours. Or if you want this to be waiting for you at the end of your workday, cook it on low for 8 hours. There’s no need to stir or chop the chicken—just put the ingredients in the slow cooker and let it do the work.
- After about 4 hours, remove the lid and use a wooden spoon to stir and loosen everything from the sides and the bottom of the pot. Take the chicken breast out and shred them with 2 forks. Or use the wooden spoon to break the chicken into chunks or press the chicken against the side of the pot to shred it if you prefer. The chicken should be very tender and come apart easily.
- At this point, you will stir in the carrots and potatoes (or whatever vegetables you like). Replace the lid and allow the vegetables to begin to cook while you prepare the dumplings.
- Pop open the cans of those homestyle buttermilk biscuits. Roll each piece of biscuit in flour to coat it completely. Make sure you salt the flour a bit. This way you are seasoning every layer. The flour will help thicken the stew. Drop the coated biscuits into the slow cooker on top of the stew. Space the dumplings out as evenly as possible. Once all of the dumplings have been placed in the pot, use your wooden spoon to dunk each one into the hot stew.
- Cover with the lid once again and allow biscuits to cook for about an hour and a half. Once they are cooked through and lightly golden, it’s time to eat!
