***My sweet grandmother, GrannyRene, recently came to stay with us, and we had so much fun! We got into the kitchen and cooked up a storm...Chicken & Dumplings, Steamed Cabbage, Collard Greens w/Ham...just to name a few of her specialties. Growing up, she made Chicken & Dumplings often. It has always been a favorite of mine...just the smell of it cooking brings back so many wonderful memories. I've made her Chicken & Dumplings before, but I really wanted GrannyRene to teach me how first-hand. She has several tricks that make them really special! She even wrote down all the recipes for me. I've included a scan of those too. In my opinion, you can't beat a hand-written recipe lovingly written by the cook!
There are so many ways that you can make Chicken & Dumplings (with herbs, onions, etc.), however, GrannyRene's simple recipe is packed with flavor and will always be my favorite! The flavor in this dish will surprise you, considering the short ingredient list. It's perfect on a cool fall evening, and it is the ultimate comfort food!***
Chicken & Dumplings
- GrannyRene's Original Recipe
Ingredients:
1 (2 lb.) whole, boiler chicken
1 can cream of mushroom soup (you can also use cream of chicken soup instead)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (you can also use cream of chicken soup instead)
2 Qts. water
1/2 cup flour
1 (12 oz) package of frozen dumplings
Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
Cut chicken up into desired pieces. Wash and remove excess fat and skin.
Put chicken in a heavy pot and cook in 2 quarts of water until fully cooked and tender. Remove from broth and let cool. Remove meat from bone, tearing into bite-sized pieces.
Add cream of mushroom soup to chicken broth. Season with salt and pepper. Let broth come to a boil.
Take the dumplings and break into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle dumplings with all-purpose flour until they are covered well (see above photo). Add dumplings to the chicken broth. Turn heat down to medium-low and cook until dumplings are done (The flour on the dumplings will help to thicken the broth). Add the bite-sized chicken pieces to make your meal complete!
Steamed Cabbage
- GrannyRene's Recipe
Ingredients:
1 medium cabbage
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup water
Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
To prepare cabbage for cooking, remove first 2-3 outer leaves of cabbage. Cut into four quarters. Remove the center stem of each quarter (see photo below). Wash and drain on paper towels.
Take outer half of each quarter of cabbage and cut into small strips (see photo below).
Place 1 cup water in a large pot and heat over medium-high heat. Put cabbage strips in pot; add olive oil and cook about 20 minutes.
Cut up the remaining cabbage and add to the pot (see below). Cook about 10 minutes longer. By cooking some of the cabbage longer than the rest, you will end up with a nice mixture of soft and crunchy cabbage.
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