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Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie

March 13, 2017 by Dana

This Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie post has been a long time coming! I haven’t mentioned too many times on the blog that I am from a small town in Central Pennsylvania. I grew up about 45 minutes north of Harrisburg. I’m no world traveler, however I do know a lot of people think of chicken pot pie as a literal pie with chicken and vegetables in it. I always thought of Chicken Pot Pie as the Pennsylvania Dutch version. I like to call it the “soup kind.” 🙂

Truth be told, growing up we really didn’t have any family recipes. My parents weren’t the kind to make dinner and have the family sit around the table. I have no idea why, but I do cherish these moments with my own family now. I wish I could say this was a generational type of recipe, passed down from my Grandmother, but it really isn’t! My grandmother is Polish. What I remember her making were traditional Polish dishes. Very few times have a seen her cook anything else, mostly because we see her at large family gatherings where family members expect the good Polish stuff!

So the cat is out of the bag. This was not passed down to me by anyone. This is my own recipe that I created as an adult who wanted to eat traditional PA Dutch pot pie. I grew up eating it in the elementary school cafeteria, and it was awesome! This is a quicker version of some traditional recipes because I am not making my own noodles and stock.


Around here most grocery stores carry these noodles, however I have no idea if grocery stores elsewhere carry them. You can purchase them on Amazon here.

Recipe Tips

If you have ever made a homemade soup, you will be very well prepared to make this because the recipe is pretty much identical to a soup recipe. I do cook the noodles in the broth, which helps all of the flavors come together, and thickens up the broth a bit.

For the chicken, I just roasted my chicken in the oven prior to making the pot pie. I have in the past, boiled my chicken and made a homemade stock, then prepared the pot pie from the stock. I’ll just be honest and say I like this version better. It is easier and tastes the same, if not better to me. Slow cooking broth all day is a great thing to do if you have the time, but lately I haven’t. I wanted to share a chicken pot pie recipe that tastes great, but doesn’t take hours upon hours to make! To make this even quicker, you could pick up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store and cut out the roasting step. Your family will never know!

Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes

Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Soup

January 4, 2015 by Dana

This super silky milk based soup will have your family smiling ear to ear on cold winter days. Great for thermoses and leftovers!

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This soup will hit your mouth like BAM! The perfect dreamy, creamy, comforting chicken soup + dumplings. Does it get any more comfort food then this? I think not. 🙂

While the Holiday cheer was wrapping up I was all like *Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Soup must happen now!* Parties are over, gatherings are over, and I don’t have to share with anyone! This soup = Not for sharing! That is, unless your trying to impress your hunky new man (or woman), or trying to prove to your kids that you are indeed the best cook ever and nobody will ever come close to Mama’s home cooking.




Speaking of Mama’s home cooking… I have an 8 year old that is determined to tell me about every single time in his life that he hated my food. Today in the car I heard something along the lines of:

“Remember that time that you made that lasagna with the broccoli and squash and you promised me that you were going to save a corner with no veggies for me, and then you didn’t, and then you actually burnt it and I hated it. Remember that time?”

Of course I remember that time honey, the time I actually tried to get you to eat broccoli and you acted like I was trying to kill you. How could I possibly forget that you don’t understand that cruciferous veggies are loaded with all the good stuff to keep your little body growing the right way? How could I possibly forget that I didn’t make enough béchamel to cover the noodles completely and ONE BITE got a little crispy on top? One….bite….!!!!! Kids, they don’t forget a thing!

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Cooking Tips and Techniques

  • I used chicken breasts for this soup, however you could sub 2 cups of shredded chicken if you’d like.
  • I added 1/2 cup finely chopped kale for some extra nutrients. I added it very last so it didn’t get soggy and gross. I promise, you can’t even tell it is there! Oh Hi Kale! 🙂
  • I adapted this recipe for the dumplings. I used whole wheat white flour, which does yield a courser dumpling. I advise using whole wheat flour MOST of the time, but if your family isn’t used to whole grains you might want to sub 1/2 all purpose. I loved the dumplings, they had a great flavor, and the longer they sat in the broth the better they were!
  • The dumplings will get bigger after you drop them in your pot. Small dumplings = better dumplings because if you make them too big you will end up with a weird center.

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Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes

Coconut Chicken Fried Rice

December 29, 2014 by Dana

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Well Christmas just flew right by, didn’t it? Of course the last few days have been an absolute hurricane at my house, however today I managed to get a few things in order. My oldest son is home from school this week, so you know what that means, I’m officially a referee now! I think I heard the words “He hit me” more times today then I ever really wanted to hear them. Actually, I’d be totally fine if I never had to hear those words again! 🙂


Amongst all of the chaos I somehow managed to muster up the energy to put dinner together tonight and it was one of those Ohhhh-Soooo-Takeout inspired dishes that did the trick BUT was made with all real, healthier ingredients then you would typically find in takeout food. I was surprised how great the consistency of the sauce turned out because it reminded me of something JUST LIKE you would get from Panda Express. Three Cheers for creating a great sauce with a few simple ingredients that would surely rival Panda Express!

Speaking of Panda Express, I actually looked for their ingredients online and wasn’t able to find ANYTHING. Being tight-lipped about ingredients? Not cool Panda Express! Of course, I know their food is GMO-laden, and probably contains a lot of soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup, but I’d be curious to see what else is hiding in there. They do claim that they only use “natural forms” of MSG so that makes me think they use yeast extract or other flavor enhancers instead. Tricky, tricky! If anyone knows where to find their ingredients shoot me a comment! 🙂 Or better yet forget about them all together and make your own!

I put this delish Coconut Chicken over fried rice, but it would also go great with sticky white rice (GASP!) or brown rice. Ok, I know… the white rice. But there is just something about it that is so wonderful and amazing in every way that makes it perfect for a sticky sweet/spicy/salty sauce. Food heaven is that you???? I have to admit I can eat 100% whole wheat bread and pasta all day every day and never miss the bleached/refined stuff but the sticky rice with takeout-style food is my bleached grains pitfall. Just being honest! If you decide to forgo the extra fried rice steps I would recommend doubling the sauce recipe so that you have a little extra goodness for the rice.

 

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Cooking Tips and Techniques

  • For best chicken results filet chicken (cut in half lengthwise) first, then cut into small chunks, and finally thin slightly with a meat tenderizer. This will ensure your chicken will cook through easily because it is thinner, and it will be nice and flat for a crispy finish. It sounds like a lot but I promise the extra few minutes of effort it takes will save you cooking time and yield a perfect bite of chicken!
  • Rinse pan after each batch of chicken is cooked (unless you are using a non-stick surface, then you can just wipe down with a paper towel, and add more olive oil). I used two chicken breasts, and only had to rinse pan one time. This ensures none of your chicken will end up stuck to your pan!
  • Heat your pan well in advance. I put my oil in the pan and allow it to heat up on low while I’m breading my chicken. When I’m about to cook my chicken I turn it up to medium.  I don’t go any hotter then medium/medium low because I’m using olive oil.
  • Sauce can be cooked in the same pan as your chicken! Save yourself a dish, and use the flavor of the stuff on the bottom of your pan for a delicious sauce. Yumm!
  • Any veggies you have on hand can be used in the fried rice. Have a ball, throw in them all! I went broccoli  heavy cause that’s just how we roll. Hello Cruciferous veggies!

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Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes

Chicken Minestrone Soup

December 10, 2014 by Dana

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Can I just puuurrrty please dive head first into this pot on a cold, sleeting/freezing rain/snowy day and hibernate there until May? PLEASE?????? Ok, maybe that’s what I’ll be asking Santa for this year!


Confession: most of this soup never even made it to leftover land. It was supposed to, that was the plan. Tomorrow is my husband’s Holiday work party and the kids need a dinner. A big pot of soup is perfect, I said. It will last until the end of the week, I said. This is totally the last bite, I said. Then I lost all self control and kept coming back for more. Where did my self control go again?

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Oh that’s right, my self control flew right out the window when I realized how delicious and nutritious this soup was. One more bite because it contains veggies, and then another because Hello! Whole Grains are good for you! And then just one more for the spinach! And the tomatoes! And the ground chicken is lean! And come on, one more because it looks pretty! Ok, heck just dump the whole pot in my mouth, please.

Then all of a sudden I’m all like…honey did you eat all the soup? 🙂

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This soup all started when I was at Wegman’s today and saw the organic ground chicken on sale. I kept thinking back to a few years ago when I tried to use ground chicken for tacos and it was a complete disaster. We basically just threw a TON of cheese on top and gagged it down because it had a really odd texture and was just plain awful. I used to use ground turkey quite a bit, so I thought ground chicken would be similar but in truth it really isn’t the same at all.

Today was the first time since the taco debacle that I even considered purchasing ground chicken again and I’m so glad I did! Sometimes I get so sick of using the same meats over and over again, so I thought heck, why not give it another go. I’m a much, much better cook now and I was confident I could doctor it up to make something super yummy out of it. Immediately I thought SOUP, so I went with it. I was really surprised how awesome it turned out, so I just had to share for all those ground chicken doubters out there like myself.

So what made it different then the awful tacos? Well 1) I wasn’t using a seasoning packet that contains an array of random crap added because we just don’t get down with Ortega like that anymore! Then 2) There are so many other flavors going on, and everything kind of blends together to create an overall great taste. Basically what I’m saying is that I was totally wrong for all this time and I used to be a horrible cook! 🙂

*I usually use my own chicken stock, but in a pinch today I found this organic free range Pacific stock that does not contain any added MSG/Yeast Extract. If you don’ t have any homemade stock on hand, I highly recommend checking out this product.

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Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes

Parmesan, Mushroom and Rice Soup

October 25, 2014 by Dana

Dana Carvell (3BoysUnprocessed)
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Parmesan. Mushrooms. Rice. Because everything is better with cheese! 🙂


I’ve made mushroom soup a ton of times. I can easily say THIS Mushroom soup should get a big blue ribbon that says #1, and maybe even one of those little gold star stickers because it is by far my favorite mushroom soup… ever!

Not only is this soup really delicious, it is packed with nutrition and antioxidants. Yes, I just said antioxidants. I know, I know, I’m going to get all healthy-person talk right now but bear with me because you might just want to try something new at the end of this! Black Japonica rice is hands down my new favorite ingredient to use. It has a really nutty and unique flavor (without being totally overbearing) that gives this soup just a hint of earthiness that goes perfectly with the mushrooms. Not only that…. it isn’t bleached and processed or fortified with a bunch of nutrients. It doesn’t need that crap, because it is just perfect the way it is. Anything that leaks color into a soup like this rice is amazing because color=antioxidants. I love, I love I love! If you don’t have black rice on hand, check the organic section of your local grocery store, I’m sure it will be there. I used Lundberg brand.  There’s a handy-dandy link at the bottom of the post so you know what it looks like! Wild rice would be a great substitute for black rice if you’d like to go that route as well.

I mean really, this color! 🙂

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So what else makes this soup really amazing? Whole grain mustard. Again! I know, I know. WHY more whole grain mustard? Hasn’t every recipe I’ve recently posted contain it? To be honest, maybe. I know for sure my Sweet-Fire Chilli had a little mustard in it, and I threw it in some Mac n Cheese the other day, and well it is just awesome so please expect to see a lot more of it! It just makes everything good. That’s all.

I served this soup with grilled cheese sandwiches (Ezekiel bread, butter, cheese), and my family loved it! Nothing says *breezy fall day* like soup and grilled cheese sandwiches so this was a perfect fall dinner.  Veggies + Antioxidant rich rice + Grilled Cheese = Yum!

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*This listing is for 6 bags of rice, in the grocery store it is far less expensive. 🙂

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Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes

Homestyle Sweet Potato and Chicken Soup

October 8, 2014 by Dana

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Sweet Potatoes. Nutritious. Delicious. Cheap. Versatile. AMAZING!


But seriously… this soup. The perfect balance of sweet and savory in a big, warm mug waiting for you on the table with a pretty fall decoration in the middle and a pumpkin spice latte on the side! In my house you can go ahead and just throw that pretty fall decoration on the floor and rip it apart because if you haven’t noticed I have 3 boys. They do that. A lot. Well, basically I should just take my pretty decorations and throw them in the trash myself because that’s where they’ll end up. That will save me the hassle of having to clean anything up, right? Boys!

One thing I LOVE about this soup is the color that comes out of the carrots and sweet potatoes to make it the perfect fall orange. Of course, being the only woman in my house nobody else cares about the beautiful color of my soup, so I have to make pictures like the following to bask in my orange glory while others cheer. Is this happening? Please… anyone… someone out there in internet-land, do you care that my soup is orange? Please say yes! 🙂 Please give me a big *nice soup* while we both glance at that pretty bowl!

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Thanks, you just made my day! Now I can get over the fact that I will not be displaying any pretty fall decorations on my table until the baby is 18. That’s 17 years of decoration-less fall’s I have yet to endure. But hey, at least I have my orange soup!

And can we talk nutrition for a second because this soup ain’t no rice cake (thanks Blake Shelton for that one). Sweet potatoes = one of the most nutritious foods in the world. That’s right, it tops many other foods labeled “super foods” so I think that makes it even more acceptable to eat numerous bowls in one sitting while burning my mouth because I’m too impatient to wait for it to cool down. Totally acceptable! Until I’m old and have no taste buds left. Then I’ll have to go to restaurants and asks the cooks to heat my soup up over and over and over again until it is boiling in the microwave and my old ass is finally happy. Sound like a real life scenario? That’s because it is! I know, I know, the old people always get a bad rap but seriously I can’t even tell you how many times a day this happened while I was cooking in restaurants. So remember folks, wait until your food cools down or you’ll be THAT old person some day!

*No old people’s feelings were hurt in the making of this post. 🙂

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And one more thing.. I found these crackers today. TWO ingredients! 100% whole wheat and salt. Ummm helllllooo healthy cracker I’ve been looking for forever. Thank you for coming into my life today so I could dip you in my soup and take pictures of it. Things always work themselves out perfectly, don’t they?

*I used my Homemade Chicken Stock in this recipe.

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Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes

Classic Alphabet Soup

August 25, 2014 by Dana

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Is Alphabet Soup awesome or is Alphabet Soup awesome?

I think it’s pretty awesome if I do say so myself! You know what is even better? 100% from scratch Alphabet Soup. Yes, this amazingly comforting and delicious soup is 100% real! No fake stuff, no gimmicks, no MSG, no Campbell’s crap. Just the good stuff. You know, like my favorite Kenny Chesney song all wrapped up in veggie goodness and served in a cutesy bowl from Pier 1.

You know your life is pretty simple when your bowl from Pier 1 makes you smile! 🙂 But hey, it’s the little things in life people, like Alphabet soup and Kenny Chesney songs.

Speaking of the little things in life, I’m about to get all sentimental up in here so bear with me folks… this is THAT soup! The soup that your kids will remember momma making forever. The soup that I will teach my kids to make so that one day they will be able to make it for their own kids. *tears!* The soup that is nostalgic, comforting, nutritious, and just all around lovely. The soup that is simple in the simplest form, and food in the most loving and comforting form. It is THAT soup that will leave memories of dirty hands and little feet running around in my mind. I will remember the days of my kids loving my Alphabet soup forever! One day my 80 year old self will make this for my husband and we will talk about the good old days when our kids were little and we couldn’t even pee alone. I mean really… *tears* Ok, ok I’m stopping with the sappy stuff now!

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Ok now that we’ve got the tears and warm fuzzies out of the ways let’s talk soup. I made this soup in 25 minutes the other night with a baby sitting at my feet and a toddler crying nearby. It was that time of night. You know, that time when everyone is spent, hungry, and hasn’t napped all day. It can be done that quickly, so why not? Here are the steps to making this soup:

  1. Dice onion and carrots and throw them in large stock pot. Add beef, brown, and drain.
  2. Add tomatoes, stock, green beans, peas, and seasonings.
  3. THAT’S IT! Sigh of relief because dinner is made and everyone is looking for the letters of their name in their bowl!

I should also mention that I use no salt added, glass jarred tomatoes. I also use a homemade stock. If you are using tomatoes or stock with salt added you might have to adjust my recommended amount of salt accordingly.

*If you are looking for Alphabet Shaped pasta here is the one I use. I’m also including the tomato product I use, if you can’t find this product look for something of a similar measurement and get as close as you can. A little more or a little less won’t ruin the recipe! Both of these links include more then 1 of the item, hence the price.

Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes

Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

May 5, 2014 by Dana

chickensoup8 We invited some of our friends from church over so I decided to make a nice big pot of chicken noodle soup. I love this soup and make it often. I always think I will make extra and we will have a lot leftover to eat throughout the week but somehow it always disappears quickly! One thing I do not use in a soup like this is boxed chicken stock or bullion cubes. Although these products can make a soup taste good, they all contain MSG or some form of it (yeast extract, autolyzed yeast). I have not found a boxed product that does not contain these ingredients. Even stocks that are labeled as containing “No MSG” still contain the yeast extract and autolyzed yeast. I would stay away from these products especially because these companies are being deceitful about what is in their products, which is not the type of company I want to support. Not only is MSG linked to obesity, depression, eye damage, and fatigue, it also over-excites your brain cells and tells you that you want more.

This recipe does take some time to make, but 95% of that time is spent just simmering to create a tasty broth. I can put this on the stove and do a number of things before I go back to the soup for the next step. It is a great soup to make on a weekend when you cleaning the house or playing with the kiddos. I also use half regular potatoes, half sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes give the broth a hint of sweetness that sets this soup apart from any other chicken noodle soup you have had!


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Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes Tagged With: 100% whole wheat egg noodles, chicken, garlic, kosher salt, onions, potatoes, soup, sweet potatoes

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I'm Dana! Foodie + Photographer. Momma of 5. Baby lover. Coffee addict. Cooking through the chaos one recipe at a time! I've built this food blog out of a desire to create and share. My time spend around the table with my family and friends means the world to me. My hope is that you get to feel that too!

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Foodie + Photographer. Momma of 5. I've built this food blog out of a desire to create and share. I feel most alive when I'm talking with family and friends around the table. My hope is that you get to feel that too!

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