I'm Back!

Hi everyone!  I have definitely been MIA for a ridiculous amount of time.  I know, I know.  I guess I can blame that on the fact that I wasn't really cooking or baking enough to blog about, since I was single up until almost 6 months ago.  Combine that singleness with a stupid busy work/school schedule and you get nothing to blog about (food-wise, at least).  But enough excuses, no one cares about all that. 

What matters now is that I'm back.  Baking, cooking and blogging is something I LOVED to do, and I found myself truly missing it.  My life has really changed in the past few months.  I met an absolutely AMAZING guy, Garrett, who treats me like a princess.  I fell in love with said guy, and have since moved in with him.  He loves food just as much as I do (cooking and eating it!) and thankfully he's not a picky eater!  He's an amazing cook and an amazing taste-tester.  It's truly a blast to come home to him everyday.  <3 font="" nbsp="">

Cooking for Garrett is one of my most favorite things to do these days and a few days ago, I found myself making a meal plan for the week.  Yes, a meal plan.  If you're one of those people who wants to barf at the sight of a meal plan on a blog, I feel you.  If you'd have asked me a year ago, I would've been right there barfing with you.  And I'm no Martha Stewart, but even in the past few days, making a meal plan has been such a stress-reliever.  And it's been fun, really!  I love going through the 1600 bunches of recipes I've bookmarked over the past few years and deciding what to eat for the week!  It's actually saved us a lot of time and a lot of money on eating dinner out and buying lunches at work (since we have tons of leftovers).  So I've converted over to the meal-planning camp.  If you hate meal plans, I hope we can still be friends.  Just bear with me, because I'm going to be sharing some amazing recipes.  You don't have to be a meal planner to ogle food.  Am I right?  

So if you're still sticking around, I'm going to share the first amazing recipe I made this week (well, second.  The first was chili, but that involves me opening cans and dumping them in a pot with some ground beef and macaroni and a bunch of spices...maybe I'll share that one later.  Maybe).  

I saw this recipe for Chicken Broccoli Casserole Cobbler on A Cozy Kitchen and it seemed like the perfect comfort food to me.  Yes, it has more than one "cream of" soup in it.  Sorry, not sorry.  I grew up and live in the South.  "Cream of" soups are a staple.  If you don't like them out of a can, you could make your own I suppose, or just skip this recipe.  But you'll be missing out.  Just trust me.  Plus, it's topped with homemade cheddar biscuits, which might just be the best drop biscuits I've ever made.  It's a pretty simple dish to prepare, and it's even better leftover.  I may or may not be eating this out of a Tupperware right now.   Don't read that last sentence.  

Note: I altered a few things, since Garrett is allergic to mushrooms, but you can get the original recipe if you click on the link above.  

P.S.  Would you look at this grated butter?  Ohmahgarsh.

You can't go wrong with chicken, cheese, and broccoli.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole Cobbler

adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

makes 6 servings

Ingredients

Filling:

1 large can cream of chicken soup (26 oz)

1 small can of cream of broccoli soup

3 Tbsp softened cream cheese

1/2 store-bought rotisserie chicken, shredded

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp black pepper

Cheddar Biscuit Topping:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for topping

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp buttermilk

1 large egg

black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cream of chicken and cream of broccoli soups with the softened cream cheese.  Stir in the shredded chicken, broccoli, and cheese until combined.  Pour into a 12-inch cast iron skillet (or large rectangular casserole dish) and set aside.  

3.  To make the biscuits, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Using a cheese grater, grate the stick of butter on top of the dry ingredients.  Place bowl in the freezer for about 5 minutes.  While the butter is chilling, whisk the buttermilk and egg together.  Remove bowl from freezer and gently crumble the butter into the flour with your hands, until you have pieces about the size of small peas.  Then add the 1 cup of cheese and mix until evenly distributed in the flour mixture.  Next, add the buttermilk/egg mixture and knead until the dough comes together.  

4.  Drop mounds of dough around the edge of the chicken and soup mixture, and add cheddar cheese (as much as you want- the more the better!) to the center.  Bake 20-25 minutes until biscuits are light golden brown and cheese is bubbly.  

Enjoy, y'all!  

P.S. Please don't make fun of my food photography skills.  I'm working with the camera on my phone for now.  Maybe someday I'll get a "real" camera.  

P.S.S.  My next recipe will involve pumpkin (are you shocked?).  And it is not a dessert.  I promise I'll hurl pumpkin desserts down your throat soon.  Stay tuned!  :)