My house was so cold this morning I could see my breath; my dogs Foofer and Rainee engaged in a bit of play early on, and as they swirled around the living room their combined breaths “poofed” in the meager sunlight filtering in from the front window. My husband and I have been resisting the urge to get our heater going for the season, mainly because we’re due for some warmer weather next week, but also because the cost of doing so is outrageous. Last year we kept the temperature in our house at an even 67 degrees, and even then our monthly gas bill climbed as high as $189.

 

I wasn’t going to cook today. I had planned on having a large lunch salad, but with the house being so chilled I decided to try one of the new “Complete Meals” from Betty Crocker just so I could fire up the oven. I selected the “Homestyle Dumplings & Chicken” and found it as easy to prepare as the “Homestyle Bakes” from Banquet. However, there the similarities ended.

 

The Betty Crocker meal came with a Bisquick mix for the dumplings, but unlike the Banquet variety the dumplings were dropped on the bottom of a casserole dish, with two cans of Progresso Chicken and Four Garden vegetable sauce and a seasoning packet poured on top. When the meal was ready, I found it tasted like the insides of a chicken pot pie, and the dumplings were miniscule and rather tasteless. I also added a large can of white chicken meat to the casserole, but this didn’t seem to help matters. Of course, if I were to make the Betty Crocker version again I would probably drop the dumpling batter on top of the other ingredients.

 

In this case, I would have to say the less-expensive Banquet “Homestyle Bakes” win hands down over Betty Crocker, both in price and taste.