50+ Lifestyles

Ella’s Kitchen

Autumn is here. The days are cooler and shorter. It is a good time for some crock pot comfort food and the aroma of apple desserts baking in the oven.
– Ella

[Ella can be contacted at ellaweeza@yahoo.com or Ella – 50+ Lifestyles, 804 W Lombard Street, Davenport, IA, 52804]

One Bowl Apple Cake

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
dash nutmeg
dash ground cloves
1/2 cup oil
6 medium Gala or Fuji or Honey Crisp apples
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and oil. Peel and slice the apples and add to mixture in bowl (coating as you go to keep apples from turning brown.) Mix together the baking powder and flour and add to the ingredients in the bowl. Mix well with fork until the wet ingredients absorb all of the flour. Pour mixture into two greased 9? round pans. Bake for approximately 55 minutes. May serve warm with ice cream or heavy cream.
(Ella’s note: I just recently received this and have not tried it yet, but I plan to real soon. )

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Pasta Fagioli (Pasta and Beans)

2 lbs ground beef or ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans, drained
3 (10 ounce) cans beef stock 3 teaspoons crushed oregano
2 teaspoons coarse pepper 5 teaspoons parsley flakes
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional) 1 (20 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
8 ounces pasta

Brown meat in a skillet. Drain fat from meat, if any, and add meat to crock pot with everything except pasta. Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours. Add pasta the last 30 minutes.

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Easy Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

2 Tablespoons Butter
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
(or 6 skinless chicken thighs)
1 Onion, finely diced
2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
2 small packages Grands Jr biscuits (10 biscuits)
flour

Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion in a greased slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.

Secure lid and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 30 minutes before serving, roll each torn biscuit piece in flour (to prevent them from sticking together), then drop into the slow cooker. Replace lid and cook remaining 30 minutes.

This recipe is bone-in. If you prefer to remove the bones before serving, do this BEFORE you add the biscuits. You can pull the bones out and leave large chunks of meat or shred the meat with a fork.