a meal that my husband always likes

and he doesn't generally comment on food unless it is absolutely revolting....

First, when you read my recipes, keep in mind that I do all my food preparation in the morning - I sort out ingredients in various containers according to how and when they will be added, if meat needs to be precooked, I cook it and put in the refrigerator etc. At one point, I was so uptight about early preparation that if I left the house in the morning without food ready I was rather freaked out about my day. So my recipes always make use of conveniance tools such as the crockpot or bread machine and I seldom make stuff that is super last minute. Which leads me to a plug for the steamer I bought. I bought one of those flavor steamers about a year and a half ago because I wanted to make sticky rice (long convoluted story) but found out that for fresh veggies it is a dream. I chop the veggies in the morning and put them in the fridge in a container of water. Fill the steamer up with water and herbs and let it sit. In the evening when hubby calls to say he is on the way home, I turn on the steamer, drain the veggies and put them in. Yum!!

Oh yeah the recipes!!

Creamy Buttermilk Chicken

Chicken breast halves to feed the family
4 tbsp of dry buttermilk dressing mix
1 1/2 cups (12 oz) chicken stock
2 cups softened cream cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 cloves garlic
about a cup of mushroom slices


I forgot to note in the original post that the last few times I've made this I've added 1 tbsp olive oil and tbsp dry sherry to the first sauce.

About three hours before serving, place the chicken in the bottom of the crockpot. Mix the buttermilk dressing mix and chicken stock and pour over the chicken. Place lid on pot and turn on high for one hour then turn to low. About half an hour to an hour before serving pour out the broth mixture and mix with the cream cheese, mushroom soup, and mushrooms and pour back over the chicken finish cooking so that the meal has cooked for a minimum of three hours (no more than four).

Serve with potatoes or noodles and buttermilk biscuits.

Buttermilk Biscuits

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup plain cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 frozen stick of butter cut into tiny bits
3/4 cup cold buttermilk, plus 1-2 tbsp more if needed

Mix all dry ingredients in the food processor. Add butter pieces; and pulse mixture until it resembles corn meal with a few slight larger lumps.

At this point I put in a closed container in the freezer (because i am doing this about eight or nine in the morning). In the evening about an hour before I expect hubby I get out the meal mixture and stir in the buttermilk until the dough gathers into clumps then roll it out and shape into biscuits.

I can never remember what temp I bake these at...sorry!

This makes very tender flaky biscuits. Last time I made them I expected to have some for breakfast. However, when I got up I couldn't find them. I looked in the trash bin and there was a paper plate, and a napkin. Husband had them for a late night snack.

I buy all my spices and mixes (including the aforementioned buttermilk dressing mix) from Penzey's Spices