Chicken N Dumplins

Chicken and Dumplings are just a delicious comfort food and a southern staple.  I learned to make them from a dear aunt. Then I made it my own.  My girls love them, especially when they are sick. 

The main characters;

A whole chicken

Carrots

Celery

Onion

Poultry seasoning

Paprika

Salt & Pepper

Whole chicken

big pot

Cut the celery, carrot and onion in chunks and put in a big pot of water.  Add salt and pepper.

Cut up the chicken and add to the pot.  Let it boil until the chicken is tender.  Add more water if you need to.

Cut up the chicken in pieces to cook more evenly

Rinse the chicken after boiling and set aside to cool

Be sure you save all the water in the pot which has now become a rich delicious broth!  I didn't

 get a picture of that!

Throw this away! I used a pot with the strainer.  If you don't have this kind of pot, strain your broth.

Next get the broth boiling.  Add more water if needed or chicken broth if you like.

Time to make the dumplings!!

Cast of characters:

Self rising flour

Salt

Milk

I make the rolled out flat dumplings.  There is no fat in my dumplings.

Put about 2 1/2 cups of flour in the bowl.  Add at least 2 teaspoons of salt, more if you like things salty.

Mix that together and add milk a little at a time until you have a wet batter, kind of like biscuit dough.

Turn it out on a well floured board.  You want them to be  floury when you put them in the pot so they will thicken the broth.  Knead it a few times until you have a smooth dough.  Roll it out about 1/4 inch and cut in squares.

Drop them one at a time (that's important!) into the boiling stock and let them cook until they are firm.  Tast them if you need to in order to make sure.

Meanwhile pull all the chicken off the bones and shred in generous pieces.  Discard all the bones and skin.  Add the chicken back to the pot and let it come to a slow boil again. 

 Add in 1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup, stirring to dissolve.  Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.  If it doesn't thicken up as much as you would like, add in some slurry(cornstarch and water).  Let it simmer a while to meld the flavors and dish it up!  I like mine with corn muffins.

Enjoy!

SG

Pesto

Yesterday I made my first ever batch of fresh pesto using the basil I am growing in my garden. It is so hot that most of my garden is just burning up in spite of it getting late afternoon shade and my watering efforts. I planted 2 basil plants which are doing pretty well, and I am keeping the blossoms pinched off of them. I went out and harvested 2 big handfuls and made Pesto, which I didn't take any pictures of. This is a stock photo of basil...

I first put 4 cloves of garlic and a handful of walnuts in the food processor and ground them up. ( used walnuts because they are about $2 a pound and pine nuts are $30 a pound!)
Then I added the 2 handfuls of basil with a small sprig of fresh oregano I also grew in my garden. Then I threw in 2 big handfuls of fresh spinach and processed it until it made a paste. Then I added about 1/3 cup of parmesan, and with the processor running, I streamed in olive oil until it became the consistency I wanted, not too thick, not too runny. I also added some sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

I tossed this with some hot angel hair pasta, and garnished it with chopped fresh tomato and some more parm.

It was yum! The spinach kept it from getting so strong, and the walnuts added a nutty taste. All that planting and watering was worth it! If I had to buy the basil, the cost would be just too much.

Hope you are keeping cool today!

SG

Today's recipe

Here is a favorite of mine:

Wilted Cabbage

(Some people call this fried cabbage)
1 medium head of cabbage, coarsely shredded
4 slices of bacon
¼ C thinly sliced onion
¼ C vegetable oil
2 T sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the bacon into pieces about ½ inch.  Fry until crisp in a large skillet, stirring while it cooks.  Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the shredded cabbage, and sugar.  Stir continuously as it cooks. Add the oil a couple of tablespoons at a time as needed.  Cook until the cabbage is wilted down, but not completely soft.  Serve immediately.

Variations:
I liked to add ½ pound cajun sausage sliced thin to this. Add it to the bacon when it is almost finished.

Cooking for two

Well, we are at that stage in life where we cook for two.  I see a lot of recipes on blogs and the networks site that I try, but they make such a big amount of food that we end up throwing a lot away.

So I will try on this blog to make food that will feed two with maybe lunch leftovers.  Some of these will not have specific recipes, but will just include the ingredients and suggestions. Because that's the way I usually cook unless I am baking!

So far I have not ventured into the photography thing but I will try to get that going real soon!

So come back soon and follow along!

SG