Comfort food!

When I was growing up we almost never ate meals as a family. It was just my sisters and my mom and I, and because I was the baby, sometimes it was just mom and I. Mom worked a lot as a catering manager and when an event was going on, she was there. Luckily, I learned pretty early how to take care of myself. So, thanks to canned food and frozen meals I was good to go. I never faulted my mom for not being able to sit and eat with us. I understood that she was working so that we could eat at all. She never left us hanging, either the cupboards and freezer were stocked or she made us something special to eat while she was gone.

The other night I didn't know what to fix for dinner and was ultimately sick of the same ol' same ol' so I pulled one out: Chicken and dumplings. Major comfort food. That much more comforting as I make it for my family knowing that my mom used to make it for me and us when she was here.

Before I got married my mom made me this recipe book and asked everyone who attended my bridal shower to bring a recipe. It wasn't a super-duper fancy cookbook, it was a scrapbook turned cookbook- a product of my mother's uncreative but very loving hands. It is now one of my most prized possessions as I use it to prepare meals as a mother myself. In it she placed a couple of her staples but no chicken and dumplings. I was forced to improvise. I have always been pretty observant and my mom, a good teacher, so it worked.

Here is the "recipe" I used:

Chicken and Dumplings

3 ribs of celery, chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp chicken bouillon
1-2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
32 oz chicken broth
1 bay leaf
3 good-sized potatoes, diced into 3/4 inch chunks
3 good-sized carrots, sliced into 1/2 inch disks
Bisquick (or you can make your own dumpling mix, super easy)

Take a standard pot (like cooking soup- pot) filled 2/3 with water. Add celery, onion, chicken bouillon, chicken (frozen, thawed, whatever), chicken broth and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer for a while until chicken is tender and no longer pink inside. Skim top for chicken fat and discard as needed. Take chicken out on cutting board. Add potatoes and carrots. While the potatoes and carrots cook, shred chicken. Put chicken back in pot. Mix Bisquick or other dumpling mix. Spoon dough into pot enough for about 6 dumplings (they will expand a lot). Cook for 10 minutes uncovered and then 10 minutes covered. Done! You can serve the food right away and then put more dumplings in to cook while you are eating. Yum-o!

As I was trying to savor every bite of my chicken and dumplings (after I finally got to eat, you know how it is with kids) I said to my husband "where has this been all my life?" To which he replied, "we never had to make it because your mom always made it for us."

I hope I made her proud.