When I told our Greenville daughter Elizabeth that I have a chicken recipe today, she asked if I remembered her friend Angie Alderman’s experience with a chicken.
Angie, a sales rep with a pharmaceutical company, is accustomed to dealing with people who probably don’t know a lot about chickens. She is also a city girl. Once, many years ago when she and Elizabeth were here, the dog attacked a chicken, resulting in bloody bodily wounds.
We grabbed the chicken from the dog and Angie held it, probably the first time she had ever touched a chicken, while I applied Neosporin and Band-Aids to its hurt parts. The chicken recovered, and for years Angie had a story to tell about giving first aid to a chicken.
The chicken in this column was not as lucky as that one and involves dressing and slow cookers, not Band-Aids.
The slow cookers have been around for a few years. The most recognizable name is the Crockpot, but there are others. This was a great invention. Some recipes cook on high for three or four hours; others cook on low for seven or eight – all making meal preparation during a workday easier. These slow cookers also allow the homemaker to make dishes, such as this one, that she (or he), without the slow cooker, may not have time to prepare.
If you have a slow cooker, you will want to try Belinda Henderson’s recipe for chicken and dressing.
Belinda is a member of Unity Baptist Church in Simpsonville, which is a member of Greenville Baptist Association. Danny Bridges is in his sixth year as pastor, and the church offers a range of Southern Baptist programs. In 2000 it celebrated its 100th anniversary, and Unity averages around 100 in attendance.
Belinda has been a member of Unity since she and her husband Jerry married in 1983. He had been there all his life, and his family has been for three generations: His grandparents were among the church’s founding fathers.
Both Belinda and Jerry are in the choir, but because of a recent illness from which he is recovering they haven’t been able to participate much recently. Jerry is also a deacon and Belinda is a substitute teacher for the Fallaw Class – the Sunday school class named for former pastor H.M. Fallaw, who was pastor from 1923 until 1948. The class is for Unity’s oldest ladies. Belinda says she learns more from them than they do from her.
Belinda works part-time at the Fountain Inn Library. This leaves plenty of time for Jerry, for cooking, and for caring for their dog, a labradoodle. You may not know the breed. It is a cross between a Labrador retriever and a standard poodle.
Her work at the library gives her access to the new cookbooks the library receives, so she can check them out and copy any recipes she likes. These will join files of recipes and cookbooks she has been collecting for years. She doesn’t recall where she got this recipe or the chicken and dressing bake. There is a similar one that can be baked in the oven.
When asked about substituting a couple of slices of loaf bread for the biscuits, she didn’t think much of that. Sometimes, she says, if she doesn’t have biscuits she will run by a local fast-food place and buy a couple for her dressing.
Try this recipe. Cook the chicken and cornbread on Saturday, assemble the dish early on Sunday, set your slow cooker on high, and a delicious dish will be waiting for you after church for … Sunday Dinner.
Crockpot Chicken and Dressing
4 chicken breasts, cooked
2 10¾-ounce cans cream of chicken soup
½ to 1 stick butter or margarine
2 eggs, beaten
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup crumbled biscuit
1 stalk celery, chopped
½ cup milk
1 14½-ounce can chicken broth
2½ cups crumbled cornbread
Sage to taste
Remove chicken from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Sauté the onion and celery in the butter or margarine until tender. Mix with the crumbled biscuit and cornbread. Add eggs, 1 can of the cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, milk, salt, pepper and sage. Mix well.
Grease or spray crockpot. Pour ½ can cream of chicken soup in bottom.
Alternate layers of dressing and chicken, ending with chicken. Pour remaining ½ can of chicken soup on top.
Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 4-5 hours. Serves 10-12.