New Year - New Recipes - New Plans - New Herb Fun with Chicken and Dumplings

For the new year everyone tries to do Resolutions.  I resolve to do this or that and it becomes a set of impossible goals like lose 50 pounds or restrictions like I will never eat carbs again, things like this are too large, too difficult and are abandoned statistically by Feb. 1.

I long ago abandoned the idea of resolutions.  What I do instead is create a list of things I want to try for or do in the coming year.  Some can be a year long vocation others can be a one-off that I do when the timing, season or boredom create an opportunity. This year I created a list of 26 items.  Some are just silly like get a push scooter and ride it around town.  Others are a little adventuresome, like grow a plant you never have before, or largely adventuresome like take a hike in a famous place on your bucket list.  I decided I would share these with you during the year and get you to try them with me.  I will include photos of me on my scooter!

Additionally this year, I will be continuing the recipe theme that I started in 2018.  For this I will assign each month a theme and share a number of recipes from my massive archive to focus on that theme.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018.

The monthly themes this year will be:

Jan 2019 – Chicken and Dumplings (CDumpsJan)

Feb 2019 - Pasta Dishes

March 2019 - Edible Flowers

April 2019 - Cajun And Creole

May 2019 - Seafood Recipes

June 2019 - Vegetarian Dishes

July 2019 - Zucchini Recipes

August 2019 - National Mustard Day – mustard recipes

September 2019 - Quiche

October 2019 - Crock Pot meals

November 2019 - Pies

December 2019 - Mocktails

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the ()s to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2019 so you can find them all.

Since it is cold and raining and I am hibernating with a cup of tea I will share a great recipe for Chicken and Dumplings to get the year started.

Simple One-pot Chicken and Dumplings

Nothing beats homemade, slow-cooked chicken and dumplings for a stick-to-your-ribs meal perfect for cold winter weather. This one-pot classic comes from in the cookbook  Comfort Food Cookbook, published by Grit Magazine.

Dumpling Dough

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
1 Tbls lard or butter
1/2 cup ice water

Chicken Soup

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (about 4 pounds)
1 Tbls BYP Lemon Thyme Gourmet Salt or BYP Savory Salt Substitute
3-1/2 quarts water
1/2 small onion, chopped very fine
1 stalk celery, chopped very fine
1 carrot, chopped very fine
1/4 cup butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp BYP poultry seasoning

Directions:

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the lard until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in ice water until mixture forms a ball. Wrap the dough ball tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Remove skin from chicken breasts, thighs and back; leave skin on legs and wings. Season chicken pieces with seasoned salt/salt substitute and place in a large stockpot. Add water, onion, celery, carrot and butter. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to simmer. Cook for about 1-1/2 hours, or until meat falls off the bone. Remove chicken and strip the meat from the bones. Return chicken meat to the pot.

Remove dough ball from refrigerator. Pull off pieces of dough and roll into rough balls about 1 inch in diameter. Drop into the simmering broth for about 15 minutes, or until dumplings are cooked through. Add more water if necessary. Season broth with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning while dumplings are cooking.