2011 – Page 7 – a hippie with a minivan

Chicken and Dumpling soup

I had never had, or heard of Chicken and Dumpling soup until a few years ago when I was watching a show on the food network that made it look so good. It looked exactly like comfort food even though I hated soup.

Yes, not very long ago, I hated all soups.

There is something about being able to drink my food that didn’t appeal to me and honestly most of the soups that I had in my memory were not the best. It is not that I wanted to hate soup, I actually wanted the opposite, I knew it was easy to make, inexpensive and that I could probably like the taste if I made it myself… so I started making a few…

This is one of the first soups I made and to this day it is still a favourite in the household, especially with the kids.

It all starts with a chicken…

Chicken and dumpling soup is always a second meal for me… what I mean by that is that I will roast a chicken and use about half of it for super the night before in something like club sandwiches. I then strip off the rest of the meat and put it aside, and then store the bones and the juices from the roast chicken until the next day. One chicken, two meals. I might look like a lot of work and a lot of step but it really isn’t… it is actually an easy meal to make and each of the steps takes just a few minutes to prepare and the result is well worth it!

In the morning I start on the stock…

No measuring needed…

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pot.
Chop an onion in quarters (no need to peel them) and throw them in
Add a few green onions if you have them also
Cut a head of garlic into two pieces horizontally and throw it in (again no peeling needed)
Break a few stalk of celery in half and throw those in
Same thing with a few carrots
Sprinkle a bit of coarse salt, freshly ground pepper and a bit of poultry seasoning. (sage, thyme, marjoram)
Let the veggies cook and caramelize a bit. It adds depth to the stock.

Add the chicken bones and then about 16 cups of water… or enough to cover everything.

Let simmer for a few hours until reduced by almost half.

You will end up with a flavourful and rich and flavourful stock. Strain, and set aside.

About an hour before starting the soup, it is time to make the dumplings.

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 green onions (chopped finely)
1 cup buttermilk (or milk with 1 tsp of lemon juice) *I use almond milk
2 eggs

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and onions together in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the sour milk and eggs. Add the wet mixture to the dry and fold in slowly until just incorporated being very careful not to overmix. It will be lumpy and that is perfectly fine.

Place in the fridge for an hour.

To make the soup…

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
2 carrots, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1/4 cup flour
Chopped roasted chicken (about 2 cups… or half chicken)
chicken broth (recipe above)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper

In a large pot, heat oil and butter. Add the veggies and cook until softened.

Add the flour and let cook for a few minutes

Cup by cup add the broth. After about 5 cups are added, start waiting a bit between each next addition and add the garlic powder, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add the rest of the broth and adjust the seasonings to taste. Add the chicken and let simmer for about 5 min.

The soup should be flavourful and slightly thick and creamy.

While the soup is simmering, take the dumpling batter out of the fridge. It should resemble a thick pancake batter.

Using two tablespoons (or an ice cream scoop) quickly add spoonfuls of the dumpling mix to the soup. (You want to go as fast as possible)

Then quickly cover and simmer for another 10-15 minutes… don’t uncover when cooking!

(the dumplings will rise to the top and will both boil and stream at the same time)

(the result is a very light and fluffy dumpling)

And that is it! it is ready to serve and be enjoyed…

I have to say… It is so hard to take pictures of this soup.. it might not look that appealing on camera but it is the ultimate comfort food, full of flavour, full of goodness and the whole family loves it.

One of those days…

If it were not for NaBloPoMo I would not be posting right now.

I am sick. It’s not fair for a mom to be sick. Who takes care of us? We have things to do, we have people to tend to, we have meals to make. My head feels like a watermelon that is about to explode. Heavy and stuffed to the brim…

But my day went on as usual… breakfast, cleaning up, starting stock for supper, hanging out with the kids, lunch, doing other misc. things in the kitchen, watching a movie, making supper etc…

At this moment, I am ready to be done. I finally finished making super and it is in the end stages simmering on the stove. Chicken and dumplings, ultimate comfort food and great sick food…

Of course being right before supper it means that it is the witching hour when kids are getting tired and hungry and everything is getting on their nerves… especially their siblings so I gave them the look (not my proudest moment) and asked them to go do something in the computer room so that I could have a bit of quiet and they went and did just that.

Luckily Willa also fell asleep about 45 min ago so I can sit for a few minutes trying to keep my head from exploding while waiting for Simon to get home…

As moms we should be exempt from colds…

It’s not fair to be sick and be a mom at the same time…

A few of Willa's favourites…

One of the things that occupied Willa at the hospital was the iPad.

She can turn it on, unlock it, swipe the pages until she finds her favourite page, open apps, change them etc., but something that would keep her attention when she was not in the mood to play was music videos…

She loves music, she sings and dances but when she was stuck in bed, not able to move, it was something that was almost always guaranteed to put a smile on her face. And still now as a part of our evening routine she loves to relax while watching a few of these right before bed…

So I thought that I should share some of her favourites… maybe your music loving kids (or yourself) will enjoy these too… (more…)

Falafel with Taratoor sauce

I remember the first time I had Falafel. I was in high school and working at a veterinarian’s office for the summer and on my lunch break I would go to a little family run place called “Café Joe” that was a few blocks away. They made the most amazing Falafel from scratch and I remember just loving the texture and taste. It was crispy and fried but tasted fresh and light. When I stopped working there and went back to school I would go out of my way to visit at times until one day I went by and they had sold the restaurant. When I left my mom’s and headed into my own place, I would buy those dry mixes to make falafel at home but it was never the same. It tasted… well.. processed and from a box mix. However, a few years ago I found this recipe and have never looked back. This is the good stuff… This is it.

This recipe calls for dried chickpeas… you really need to use dried chickpeas. Canned chickpeas just won’t work… the reason? not because it is snobbish, but because the mix is actually made with uncooked soaked chickpeas. Cooking them (or using canned) will not result in the right texture or flavour. The down side to that is that you do have to think ahead.

So… for the Falafel…

2 cups dried Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans (soaked for 12-24 hours)
1 medium onion
2 -3 garlic cloves
2 -3 slices bread
2 tbsp parsley
1/3 red pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes *optional
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
50 ml water
1/2 tsp baking powder
125 ml water
vegetable oil ( for deep-frying)

When your chickpeas have soaked long enough, drain and put in the food processor. Add onion, garlic, bread, parsley, and red sweet pepper. and process until mealy. Move to a bowl (or use the pulse mode on processor) and Add spices, flour, 2 tsp baking powder and water and mix well.

In a small dish mix the remaining baking powder and water. Dip your hands in the water and form balls of the chickpea mixture the size of walnuts.

Deep fry in oil at medium high heat until golden brown.

Crispy on the outside and soft and fresh tasting on the inside

Serve on warm pita bread with Taratoor sauce (recipe below) and any other toppings you might enjoy (parsley, tomato, pickled turnips etc)…

For the Taratoor Sauce

3/4 cup tahini
1 garlic clove, crushed
Juice of 1 – 1 1/2 lemons
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp finely chopped parsley

In a deep bowl beat the tahini with the crushed garlic and lemon juice until creamy. Add water bit by bit, beating well after each addition. If using blender / food processor put all the ingredients in and process until creamy. Add salt and parsley and stir. Taste and adjust. The sauce should have some tang to it not too lemony.

Yumm….

Meal plan for the week

I keep on meaning to add this as a weekly post as every Saturday I sit down and plan our weekly meals before going grocery shopping…

For inspiration I ask the family what they feel like eating, I look at Foodgawker, check out the weekly specials, look at my own Recipe page or look over my meal ideas document on my computer. (I should share that one day 🙂 ) After the list is done, I make my grocery list and buy all that I need for the week… (you can read more about my process here)

So, here is my Menu plan for this week (I’ll be adding a few recipes this week also)