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“Comfort & Joy” Chicken & Dumplings

Gran Jan sporting her White Lily apron!

Chicken & Dumplings = A warm, comfort food, and one I love to make on a cold winter’s day. Good rich broth, delicious chicken, and delightful dumplings! The recipe is here, with pictures below if you’d like to check them out! I hope you make some soon. (Be sure to refer to the recipe often, the pictures are just to help, but don’t cover every step.)

Stock Ingredients: Water, chicken, onion, celery, seasoning
(Better than Bouillon), butter, and salt and pepper.
Refer to recipe for exact amounts.

Dumplings:
3 Cups White-Lily self-rising flour
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/2 Cup of Crisco shortening
2/3 Cup of buttermilk

Once you get your dumplings made, divide the dough into two portions. It just makes it easier to roll out and handle. Dumplings are tougher than biscuits. Don’t be afraid to work the dough! It needs to hold up in the boiling broth.

Roll into two thin sheets and let the dough dry while your chicken is cooking.

Cut the dumplings into strips. I have a dough cutter tool I bought from Williams Sonoma. You can use a knife or a pizza cutter just as easily. I like to make the dumplings about 1″ x 3″ wide/long, but you do you.

This is a happy sight! It’s good for some of the flour to stick to the dumplings. This helps your broth thicken a bit. (That’s my fancy dough cutter.)

These two ingredients are keepers! You will stir the cream of chicken soup into the strained hot broth after you’ve removed the cooked chicken, but before you add the dumplings in.

The half & half is added at the very end. It makes a wonderful rich broth even better!

We like a mixture of both white and dark meat chicken. Just be sure to use “skin-on, bone-in” chicken for your broth. Remove it to a plate to cool and cut in bite-size pieces (discarding skin and bones).

After you’ve strained the broth and stirred in the cream of chicken soup, allowing it to mix well, it’s time to drop the dumplings into the hot boiling broth. I drop them in one or two at a time, stir very gently with a wooden spoon, and then let them cook about 20 minutes.

You’re almost there now!

Turn the heat off when the dumplings are done. When down to a simmer, add in the cup of half & half, then add the cut-up chicken.

Let everything rest for a half hour or more to a pot of COMFORT & JOY!

Gran Jan

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Delicious Meatloaf Recipe!

My tried and true recipe for MEATLOAF is a family favorite and really is delicious. I use a broiler pan to bake the meatloaf, and I believe it makes all the difference (fat drips out). [Be sure to spray both the top and bottom of the broiler pan with Pam for easy cleanup.] This is a great recipe that my youngest son Jonathan really likes.  His wife makes it for him now, and she’s a good cook. So sweet! This Southern woman knows it is especially good with side dishes of mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas and homemade biscuits. And steamed cabbage, yes that’s a favorite side of mine too. My recipe for homemade biscuits is right here.

MORTON MEATLOAF
INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 lbs. ground beef 
  • 3 eggs, beaten well
  • 1 medium onion diced (I cook the onion BEFORE I mix it in w/the ground beef.) I do this by placing the diced onion and a splash of canola oil or olive oil in a bowl and heating in the microwave for 3 – 4 minutes
  • ½ cup ketchup – or a tad more to preference, plus some extra to cover the top!
  • 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, finely crushed (I put the crackers in a zip-loc bag and use my rolling pin to crush the crackers.)
  • 1 package of Lipton onion soup mix
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • PREPARATION:
  • 1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • 2.  Use broiler pan and spray both top and bottom pieces with Pam.
  • 3.  In large bowl:
                                  mix ground beef and beaten eggs
                                  add microwaved onions
                                  add ketchup
                                  stir in crushed Ritz cracker crumbs
                                  mix in the package of Lipton onion soup 
                                  salt & pepper to taste
  • 4.  Mix all ingredients well and form into a rectangular loaf and place on the broiler pan.
  • 5. Squirt 😊 ketchup over the top of the meatloaf.
  • 6. Bake through for 1 full hour. I use a meat thermometer and make sure the internal temp is 160 degrees.
  • Let the meatloaf sit/rest 5-10 minutes before slicing. I will sometimes return the meatloaf to a warm oven while I get the side dishes ready.
    Transfer to a serving platter before slicing.Happy Meatloaf Making!
    Gran Jan
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