Chicken and Dumpling Soup

The other night I was craving some good old fashioned comfort food.  The air was cold, Christmas specials had started, and me and my family were hungry.  So what to make?  What my grandmother used to make of course!  My mom, for years, tried getting the recipe off my grandma before she passed away, but she never would give it up.  So, I have been scouring FoodGawker, looking for something like this for ages!  But, they all seemed really complicated, with lots of spices and things, but then I thought, Grandma's was never complicated.  It was plain and perfect.  And then I remembered my friend Cassie telling me she had just made this not to long ago!  So I asked her how she made it and this is her version of Chicken and Dumplings with a Lauren twist!

Ingredients:

~2 Cans cream of chicken soup

~2 Packages Chicken Bouillon

~1 Can Pillsbury Country Biscuits

~1 Package Chicken Fillets, cut into bite sized pieces

~Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Prepare the soups as directed on the cans, and add the packaged bouillon.  Bring to a rolling boil. Add the chicken and cook through.  When the chicken is cooked through, open the can of biscuits, separate, and cut into quarters, then add to the soup and cover.  (I, at this point, had no idea how to tell when the biscuits would be ready.  And mom kept telling me, "until the don't taste doughy!" But really what does that mean?  So I cooked the soup for about 15 minutes more and had my mom taste it.  She said they were done)
Add your salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Brownies!

Oh hey there.  It's been a while hasn't it?  Sorry about that!  I've been busy getting ready for Christmas and the winter season that is approaching.  Although with the weather today, you would never know it was December!  

Anyway, I've been scouring the FoodGawker website, looking at anything and everything!  I've really become interested in baking from scratch, as I watch a lot of The Food Network and want to be able to cook something delicious from scratch.  As I've mentioned before, I'm not a natural cook, and I'm really pushing myself to learn different recipes and try things that I normally wouldn't have even looked at before!  But the one I ended up trying, ended up settling my chocolate craving that I have been having!  Who needs a chocolate advent calender when you have homemade brownies?

Here they are all frosted and ready to eat!

Rich Chocolate Brownies (found on FoodGawker.com)

Brownie Ingredients:

~1 Cup Sugar

~2 Eggs

~1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

~1/2 Cup Butter, melted

~1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour

~1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder (I bought mine from my local bulk store- Bulk Barn)

~1/4 tsp Baking Powder

~1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  next, beat in the melted butter.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  Mix well, and add gradually to the batter and once again, mix well.

2. Pour into a greased 8" X 8" square baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees, for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.

Now for the best part!  The frosting!

Frosting Ingredients:

~3 tblsp Cocoa Powder

~3 tblsp Butter, melted

~2-3 tblsp Warm Water

~1 tsp Instant Coffee Granules

~1½ Cups Confectioners' Sugar (powdered sugar)

Directions: 

1. To start, combine the cocoa and melted butter.  In another separate bowl, combine the warm water with the coffee and dissolve the coffee, then add it to the cocoa mixture.  All that's left is to slowly stir in the powdered until is becomes a smooth, yummy looking frosting!  Frost your brownies and enjoy!