January--Chicken-N-Dumplins'

           January--Chicken ‘N Dumplins

   January may be ice and snow, but it’s also chicken ‘n dumplins.  Chicken, one of the favorite foods of the nation, can be prepared in so many ways.  Once it was just Sunday dinner, and we were glad to have that.  Every woman could fry a chicken, now hardly anyone does. KFC  does it so easy and tasty.  Chicken wings are one of the most popular party dishes for the young crowd. 
   For easy, delicious, and inexpensive, you can’t beat chicken, gravy and some kind of dough.
   If time is an important factor in your meal preparation, the super market rotisserie chicken is a help.  Take as much chicken off the bone as you can, put the bones in a pot, add chopped celery and chopped onion and simmer . After an hour or so, strain and cool-chicken stock.  Chop onions, celery, potatoes and carrots and add to the stock, cook until almost tender.  Add the chicken meat, and you are half way there.
   Dumplings come in many forms, all wonderful.  Here is a basic recipe.
                                            Dumplings
4 Tblsp. Shortening
1 tsp. salt
Pinch of sugar                  1 1/2cups flour   ¼ tsp. baking soda
½ cup buttermilk              1 egg beaten
Combine dry ingredients,  with a fork, cut in shortening.  Combine egg
And buttermilk, add to dry ingredients.  Mix well, form into 2 balls and
Chill. 
    For drop dumplings, drop  small tablespoonfuls into boiling chicken and vegies, cover with a lid.  Keep heat on low.  Don’t take lid off for l5 minutes; test dumplings with a toothpick for doneness, may need to cook a little longer (Size of dumplings).  That’s it.

If you have made 2 balls of dough and used only one, roll second ball out thin.  Cut into 1 inch square pieces, freeze individually.  The next time you cook chicken drop these into the boiling stew, cover with lid, cook for 15 minutes.  This is called slick dumplings.  This is what you get at Cracker Barrel that is so delicious.
        If you prefer to cook your chicken you can start with as little as 2 or 3 chicken thighs. Add 1 or 2 bay leaves to chicken.  When chicken is done, debone, add chopped vegies, cook until vegies are almost tender. Add dumpling mixture and follow top recipe. 
   There is another chicken and dumpling recipe.  My Grandma McDonald
always did it this way.  She stewed the chicken, added no vegies, made a gravy; combine flour and milk, (amount changes with amount of chicken cooked).  Add flour and milk, (no lumps) to chicken broth. Now you have chicken and gravy. 
   Then you make little biscuits.  They must be cut little to absorb the gravy.  I have the inner piece of a donut cutter that I use.  You can use Bisquick (just add milk) or any biscuit recipe.  Canned biscuits cut into pieces would work.  Bake the biscuits in the oven, then add to the chicken and gravy. 
   The thing you must watch for is: if you make chicken and gravy, then add the dough, lid and simmer for 15 minutes, the chicken may stick to the bottom of the pan.  The first recipe without gravy, was nice and brothy and did not stick to the bottom of the pan when dumplings were cooking.

   Then there is the case of chicken pot pie.  I was blown over with KFC flaky potpie.  But have not been able to duplicate it.  January has a ways to go, and I am working on it.
   In the good ’ole days we raised our chickens, dressed them, and sometimes froze our own.  Probably some  taste has been lost in our progress.  Buy the best chicken you can find, it will be worth it.   
   If you want something different, try Chicken Wings.
                             Chicken Wings
1 bag frozen chicken wings
1 pound light brown sugar
5 ounces teriyaki sauce
Little minced garlic
Combine and spread over wings. Bake at 400 until done.  Delicious!

    Correction: In December blog the Pistachio Crinkle Cookie Recipe
was incomplete.  “Where’s the Flour?”  Add 1 ½ cups flour to recipe and
it should be fine.  Sorry about that mistake.