RECIPE TIME

On my previous post, I mentioned that Chicken & Dumplings are one of my favorite comfort foods. I promised to share the recipe at some point and since there was some interest, I will share it now.

I think I should preface my recipe post by saying that I am by no means a chef. I love to cook, I love to cook things my family likes, and I love to cook for anyone who will eat what I cook. I love to "tweak" recipes to fit our tastes - you know make adjustments here & there to make them more compatible with our pallets. I also love to try to create my own recipes. But again, I am not a chef - I do not always know the "proper" terminology, or make things fancy. I do have some low fat recipes that are good, but I also have plenty that are in no way low fat - so if low fat is your style, I may disappoint on occasion as many of my recipes have real butter, and other very bad for you things in them. Also, please remember I am Arkansas born & raised, so my recipes are just good ol' southern home cookin - most are simple, passed down through generations, etc... I think I will try to throw in a recipe post weekly ( I think I will have to see how it goes.) If you have requests, let me know I will share if I have what you request.

So, my Chicken & Dumpling recipe will be the first I share. Naomi, here, asked what dumplings are - they are defined at Wikipedia.com as: "piece[s] of dough, sometimes filled, that [are] cooked in liquid such as water or soup" or "sweetened dough wrapped around fruit, such as an apple, baked and served as a dessert." - for my recipe, it would be the pieces of dough cooked in liquid (no filling).

Here is the recipe:

1 chicken

3 cups flour (all purpose)

1 tsp. salt

1- 2 sticks butter or margarine (divided use)

1 1/2 - 2 cups milk (divided use)

Season chicken with salt & pepper and boil with enough water to cover. Add water if needed while cooking. When chicken is done remove from broth to cool. Save broth. Debone chicken when cool and set aside.

Mix flour & salt. Cut 1/2 stick butter or margarine into flour mixture (should be a cornmeal type consistency). Add enough milk to make a stiff dough (not sticky). Turn dough onto floured surface and knead (don't over knead, this will make it tough). Roll thin (1/4 inch or less) and cut into narrow strips (about 1'' by 1'' or smaller, needs to be bite size).

Bring broth to a rolling boil and drop strips in one at a time (I know this sounds crazy, but they stick together if you drop them together). Cook until tender (approximately 10 minutes). Add cooked chicken, 1/4 stick butter (I usually use a whole stick), 1 cup milk, and salt & pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Sauce should thicken as it simmers. If not thick enough, thicken with milk & flour (or cornstarch). If too thick, thin with milk or water. (we like our sauce thick).

Several fellow bloggers commented that the use canned biscuits, I have tried this & it is good, definitely easier (and I love easy), but we like the thinner dumplings over the thicker ones (the thicker ones tend to be too gooey for our taste). There are many chicken & dumpling recipes out there w/many variations, this one just happens to be my family's favorite!

Hope you enjoy them if you use the recipe! Happy Eating!

I have a recipe request of all of you - if anyone has a good potato soup recipe, I will love you forever if you share it with me (LOL)! Any recipe requests from me???

END OF THE WEEK & WEEKEND WRAP-UP

Last week totally got away from me. After Tuesday, it just seemed like there was no time left in the day by the time I got home each afternoon. Hopefully this week will be a little calmer & I will have a little more time to blog. Here is a rundown of what we did over the weekend.

1. Phone problems: I came home Friday to discover we had no phone service (landline). We don't use our home phone often, most everyone calls us on our cell phones now, and that is what we use most too. But, I do still get some calls on the home phone, so I decided I needed to report the problem. After going through several steps on an automated system, it finally said my problem was logged in the system and it would be restored by Sept. 22, and then the automated system cut me off. I couldn' t believe it would take almost 2 weeks, so I decided to call back and try to talk to a human. After going through several minutes of automation again, I finally pushed enough buttons to get to a live human being. She mistook my concern of it taking 2 weeks to restore service as that I needed it immediately. I explained that we didn't need someone to come tonight, but my concern was that I would continue to rack up charges on a line we could not use. She then understood and explained that after 24 hours of no service (if it is their fault & it is in this case) credits automatically start going back on our bill. It was relatively pleasant phone call, and I was satisfied w/her answers. So, we can live w/no home serivice for a while.

2. Internet: I have also had intermittent problems with my internet service this weekend. Since my internet & phone service are through the same provider, I can only assume it is related to the problems above. Now, I don't think we can live without internet for 2 weeks. So, if the internet problems continue, I will be making another call to AT&T to whine & complain & throw a fit if necessary to get my internet back in full force. (but I will be patient & wait to see what happens w/it 1st) I guess if you don't see a blog from in a few days & no comments on your blogs, you can assume my internet is down again.

3. Birthday parties: We attended a birthday party on Saturday at my Hunter's aunt's house. Her 1st grandbabies, Hunter's cousins twin sons turned 1. (I forgot my camera, so I do not have pictures.) They are of course cute little boys. It was fun, but I am so glad my kids are bigger & we don't have the little kid birthday parties to attend as often. I'll try to get some pictures of them to share soon.

4. Hurricane Ike: Of course my prayers are with all of those in Texas who were affected by Ike. Ike affected our weather here in Arkansas again. We received tornadoes in several parts of the state, and high winds were again a result of remnants coming across AR. The rain didn't last as long for us this time (this was a blessing, as many places still have not recovered from the rains from Gustav). We lost power during the night and it came back on here around 10 am - a short lived outage for us. My sister lives in a town further west, and she lost power after Gustav & was out for several days; the school my nephews attend was out for 2 days that time due to no power. Her power is out again and she is receiving reports that it might be up to 3 days before it is restored; the boys will be out of school tomorrow for sure, and not sure about Tuesday yet. It seems crazy to think that 2 hurricanes could affect Arkansas, but it happened.

5. Chicken & Dumplings: Travis has been asking for chicken & dumplings for a while so last trip to the grocery store, I made sure to buy everything I would need to prepare them. Tonight for dinner that is what we had. My family loves chicken & dumplings, but only if they are homemade. I tried to take a short cut once & bought frozen dumplings, they knew immediately something was different & asked that I never make them that way again. So now I only make home made chicken & dumplings. I must say they are my favorite too. Chicken & dumplings are the ultimate comfort food for me - if I am sick, that is what I want; if I am sad, that is what I want. I had tried several recipes over the years, but was never happy with the taste. I wanted them to taste like my grandma's did. I finally combined & tweaked a few recipes and have come up with the ultimate recipe that tastes almost identical to how I remember my grandma's tasting. I am planning to do a recipe post soon, and will include this recipe as well as several other of our favorites.

That is about it for our weekend. I hope everyone had a great weekend, and dodged any damage from Ike. Share with me: what is your favorite comfort food? what did you do fun/exciting this weekend?

I hope everyone has a great week!