Chicken and Dumplings For The Win

Lucas and his snowball.

We’ve lived in South Carolina seven years now and even though it’s cliché to say how fast the time has gone by, time has flown by!  I was reading in Genesis today and it's noted that Jacob worked for Laban seven years and to him (Jacob) it seemed like only days. The older I get, the more that rings true in my life.  (Genesis 29:20)  However, no matter how long we have lived here, I am still surprised by the South’s reaction to snow. 

During our drive home from Michigan we encountered more snow than usual.  We were still able to make forward progress, even if it was a little slow.  That is until we hit Asheville, NC.  The Smokey Mountains are called that because they have pockets of fog which entwine the landscape. It's really very lovely, however, this particular evening it had become treacherous freezing fog. A highway interchange that on its best days is known for its congestion, turned into an utter log jam when it became glazed with the freezing fog. Black ice had caused numerous cars to slide off the road way which didn’t instill the greatest confidence when fellow travelers watched it happen.

I witnessed a car just come to a complete stop in the middle of the road in the opposite lane.  The truck beside it went ahead and stopped too, which led to a mile of backups, all because they weren’t sure how to drive in slick conditions.  I understand that ice is the great equalizer and that even the heaviest vehicle with awesome tires is no match for the slick stuff when you're driving too fast; but, to stop in the middle of the road without pulling out of the lane of traffic is ridiculous.

 My husband navigated through the nightmare with great skill.  I won’t elaborate as to his methods because I don’t need my insurance rates to rise anymore.   Short story long, we made it home a little more than thirteen hours after we set off. For comparison, the ride up only took eleven hours.

The snow and cold seemed to follow us back and later that week we were gifted the treat of a Southern Snow Day.  These are the times everything shuts down because of the mere possibility of snow. The snow that was predicted to fall overnight was a little late, it did eventually began snowing around 10am the next morning. 

The kids were ecstatic and it didn’t take long for a few inches to accumulate.  The rest of the day was spent refilling hot chocolates and making sure the wet clothes were cycled repeatedly through the dryer. 

Cold days like that call for comfort food.  Well, to be fair, most of my days call for comfort food.  I am a culinary artist and butter is my medium. Quite often flour goes into the butter and becomes something glorious.  That day it was Chicken and Dumplings and Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies. 

The Chocolate Chip cookies were your basic recipe.  I had to improvise a little by using mini chocolate chips over a regular size chip.  The result was more chocolate per bite since the little bits allowed them to more evenly distribute in the dough.

I hadn’t made Chicken and Dumplings in ages and my family was happy to see it again. The pot was emptied in record time; and the snow actually lasted longer than the cookies!

Hopefully you’ll get a chance to try this out on a day you need some extra love.   

A hug in a bowl.

Annie’s Chicken and Dumplings

3# bone in and skin on chicken thighs

1 medium onion diced (1 cup)

2 large carrots sliced thin (3/4 cup)

2 Large stalks celery—with tops (3/4 cup)

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp butter

4-6 cups chicken broth

Salt and pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp poultry seasoning

½ tsp ground thyme

½ tsp allspice

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 2/3 cups all-purpose baking mix

2/3 cup milk

1 tbsp melted butter, cooled

Preheat oven to 350

On a large baking sheet arrange chicken thighs. Pat them dry with a paper towel.

Baked Chicken Thighs 

In a small dish combine 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of pepper in addition to the garlic powder, onion powder, poultry seasoning, thyme and allspice. Evenly sprinkle over the top of the chicken and bake 45 min-1hr until chicken is cooked and the skin is crispy.  Let it cool and shred the chicken off the bone. Feel free to snack on the chicken skin like a pork rind.

In a large pot melt the butter.

Add the veggies and garlic and cook until they start to get tender. 

Add flour and stir. Let it cook for a few minutes. 

Add the chicken broth. Stir, stir, stir.

Add the shredded chicken and let it simmer.  You want it thicker than soup but not as thick as chili. Like a stew.

In a medium bowl, combine the baking mix, milk and melted butter. Drop rounded spoonfuls on top of the gravy and put the lid on. Let it simmer for 10 minutes until the dumplings are cooked through. 

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Perfectly Imperfect and Grateful For It

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s caught up in the whirlwind that is the five weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Coming off of my tumultuous Thanksgiving, I am determined not to let stress get the best of me. 



My Loves.

What stress you ask? The stress of wanting to make the holiday’s perfect.  I know I am not the only person who wants to make things special for my kids, or my husband, or my friends.  We all have the desire to express to those we love how special they are to us.

In honor of Christmas, and the meaning of Christmas to me as a Christian, I am determined to celebrate my imperfect moments as much as the perfect ones.  After all, Jesus being born to a teenager, in a barn is not a story of perfection.  It’s a story of humility, grace and love.   

My sweeties asked to do a gingerbread house.  The past few years, it got put on the back burner since it entails a little work and requires the house to sit on the counter as decoration. I also need to set aside my control tendencies and let them do it "their way". 

Kids do not know the difference between a decoration and food.  Almost as soon as the house was erected, it was picked clean.  It still sits on my counter and they still ask to eat it. 



After.

Before.

My Christmas tree now leans to the right.  When it went up on Thanksgiving evening, it was straight, tall and beautiful.  It’s still beautiful after a sibling wrestling event sent it crashing to the floor.  The fact that it’s loaded with delicate ornaments makes it cumbersome to try and straighten. 

 My red bows are askew and the ribbon is not quite even, but to me it’s still beautiful.  I’m glad no one cut their toes on the broken shards of ornament bulbs.  It turned into a learning experience as Natalie learned to get off someone’s back when they’re done giving piggy back rides and Lucas learned not to fling her off in frustration.  I’m glad the tree was there to break her fall. 

 

Christmas is also a time for Christmas pageants at church.  My kids were in two this year.   The first was put on by our special needs community, Special Friends.  The playwright and lead character is Sydney and she has Down syndrome.  She is amazing, courageous and determined.   I am so proud that my children were all eager to step in and help. 

Natalie and I seated at the table.

While sitting in the green room before the play began, I looked at this room of people that the world would call imperfect and see how beautiful they are.  They all have hopes and dreams.  They have friends and purpose.  They are deeply loved by God. 



 

Lucas as "Grunpy"




 

I’m not sure how those three stories blend together, except that maybe what could have been major stress bombs, (messy kitchens, wrecked trees and an extra Christmas play) turned into beautiful moments of sharing time with each other while celebrating the beauty of imperfection. 

 

(Oh, I did manage to glue poor Lucas's hat to his head and in the process had to cut a little hair to get it off. He probably won't celebrate that.)

 



I scream, you scream, we all scream for VACATION!!!

This is Cocoa Beach.

Sitting on the beach since
no one wanted to listen
to me talk about being
safe in the waves.

Vacation! Who loves it? I loved it as a girl.  I got to just show up; pack my bag and get in the car.  Now, as a mother……..(long, pregnant pause…)…I need a vacation from the vacation.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love my family.  We had an awesome time.  We got to see family we haven’t seen for 12 years and made memories that will last a lifetime. 

But…someone has to pull the show together.  Someone has to plan the meals, do the laundry and try to create some semblance of a schedule.  Every morning I got asked: what are we doing today.  If I didn’t have an answer, it was noon (with half the day gone) before some whisp of a plan was put before the committee for approval. 

You know what’s difficult? When in the middle of glorious vacation your teenager acts like one.  I have the exception to the rule when it comes to a teenager.  He is sweet, kind, loves his siblings and pretty easy going; except when he’s forced to go to Legoland or I won’t let him hold a scorpion. 

There were more toppings
than ice cream on this
sundae. 

It was a success as vacations go and I wouldn’t change a thing..well, maybe one thing that happened on Wednesday; other than that, awesome.  We had the best Mexican food ever! I held a tarantula and an alligator.  I got to see my sweet sister and we made it to the outskirts of Disney..the Downtown Disney. 

I learned that in the humid Florida climate, one should choose practical capris over a cute sundress.  It cuts down on the chaffing…(anyone feel my pain? It’s a real thing.) 

When you're outnumbered at the pool,
someone gets tossed into the water!

I wish most that I had brought my Kurig down with us since the coffee that I brought was horrible.  Don’t get the creamer flavored with natural flavors…my palate is used to preservatives apparently.  It did nothing to help the swill I was drinking. 

Sibling Love!

These are all first world problems.  I am grateful and thankful to have these irritants.  Praise God for his blessings and mercy that’s new each morning. 

The run up to vacation was just as exciting.  A dear friend of mine and I were able to take part in a Skype interview with a casting agent to possibly be on a new Food Network Church Cooking Competition.  As I type this, I am still waiting patiently to hear the verdict the network execs have given. (OMG, is this really my life? Can a dream really come true? Of course silly, God is in the miracle business.) (Love how I can talk to myself while blogging and the parentheses make it legit.)

Anyway..thank you for  hanging out with me for a few minutes.  Don’t forget to dream big dreams.  Did you know God’s big enough? That He is more than able to help us through anything because He loves us?

 Ephesians 3:20-21New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.