Chicken and Dumplings

Two weeks ago we invited my brother and his fiancee over for dinner. It was a work night, so I was hoping for something relatively fast to put together. I also had a hankering for chicken noodle soup but also had an extra tube of Pillsbury biscuits in our fridge that I wanted to use. So... I went with chicken and dumplings.

To be clear, I'm not sure I've ever eaten chicken and dumplings, which in turn means I certainly haven't ever made them before. I googled for recipes and found a bunch that had various features I liked, but none that really were amazing or fit my desires. So I pieced some ideas together and came up with my own version. (When you have some time, google chicken and dumpling images. There are some very bland, monotoned looking photos out there, people!)

Without further adieu, the recipe
Chicken and Dumplings
{source: multiple, but ultimately me}
Makes ~8 servings

Ingredients
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts [I used 4 breasts]
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper
2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, chopped
4 celery stalks, diced
5 carrots, chopped
3 c. chicken stock
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (reduced or no sodium, if you can find it)
3 c. water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 T fresh thyme
1 can of corn, drained + rinsed (low sodium, if you can find it)
1 can of green beans, drained + rinsed (low sodium, if you can find it)
1 small tube refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/4 c. chopped parsley

Before I cooked the chicken, I prepped all of the veggies. If you are a master-dicer, you can probably just do this as the chicken cooks.
To cook the chicken, to a hot skillet (next time I would just do this in a soup pot) I added ~1 T. olive oil. Once the olive oil was hot, I added the chicken breasts and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Once the chicken was browned on one side (~4 minutes), I flipped them over and allowed them to cook another 4 minutes, until juices run clear. I removed the chicken from the skillet set on a plate, covered with foil and allowed to cool. Once cool, shred the chicken by fork or by hand.
Then I started on the stew portion. I poured the pan juices from the chicken into a soup pot, added the onion, carrots and celery to the pot and cooked over medium heat until the veggies were tender. Next I stirred in the bay leaves, chicken stock, condensed chicken soup, water, bouillon cubes and thyme. Allow the mixture to come to a boil. Add chicken, canned veggies (drained and rinsed) and chopped parsley, stir to combine.

I simmered the stew for a few minutes while I prepped the "dumplings." This was seriously the easiest part: open the tube of biscuits (there were 10 biscuits in the tube I used). Separate the biscuits and cut into quarters. Give the stew one final stir *before* adding the dumplings. [At this point, if the stew is thicker than you would like it, add more water or chicken broth.]

Add the dumplings to the stew, they should sit on top of the stew. From what I've read, don't stir once the dumplings have been added [this may cause the dumplings to dissolve]. Instead, gently submerge the dumplings, reduce heat to low, cover the pot and allow to simmer for ~7 minutes or until dumplings are no longer doughy.
Serve and enjoy!!

{I forgot to take a picture of the finished product at dinner, so this is from lunch the next day. By the way, this makes for great left overs!!}

Oh - and the nutritional breakdown isn't that bad either. Okay, it's high in sodium. I did use low or no sodium where I could (condensed soup and canned veggies); unfortunately those choices are not reflected in the table below.Last thing: I am contributing this recipe to Jen's cookbook. I'm late (a week + 1 day past the deadline), but am hopeful she will still accept it. :)

Mary's salad

My friend Mary {pictured in the Cheese Class post} gave me this delicious salad recipe. She said it is similar to one her mom makes and kind of like the Spring Roll Salad I made in January.

Mary's changes are noted by an * and the ingredient used, mutual changes are noted by an * and teal font and my changes are listed in brackets and teal next to the ingredient/instruction.

Mary's Salad
(Source: My friend Mary)

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
7 tablespoons fresh lime juice [I used lemon juice]
5 tablespoons fish sauce [so sad! I only had ~2 T of fish sauce in the bottle, so that was all I was able to use]
6 tablespoons rice vinegar *I used plain white vinegar*
3/4 cup cilantro leaves, shredded (stems reserved separately), about 1/2 bunch cilantro
3 tablespoons sugar [I used closer to 1 T]
2 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped [I used one serrano and one poblano pepper, I wish I had used 2 serrano]
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon grated wasabi, optional *omitted*
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
4 cups very thinly sliced cabbage [I just used a bag of cabbage coleslaw]
3 cups julienned carrots *omitted*
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, shredded
1/4 cup fresh Thai basil leaves, shredded *omitted*
2 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1/4 cup finely chopped roasted salted peanuts *omitted*
*(Vegetables I added: snow/sugar snap peas sliced lengthwise, 1 red bell pepper sliced very thinly, 1 cucumber cut into matchsticks)
Crispy Shallots, recipe follows *omitted*

Place the chicken breasts in a medium saucepan and add enough water just to cover. Add 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce [I had to skip this part due to minimal fish sauce on hand], 1 tablespoon of the rice vinegar and the reserved cilantro stems and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the chicken to sit in the poaching liquid for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the liquid and allow it to cool completely. Transfer the chicken to an airtight container and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours and up to overnight. [I skipped the refrigeration portion of this step]

In a non-reactive bowl combine the remaining lime juice, fish sauce, rice vinegar, the sugar, chiles, garlic, red pepper, and wasabi, if using, and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

In a large bowl combine the cilantro leaves, onion, cabbage, carrots, mint leaves, and Thai basil leaves and toss to combine. Add 1/3 of the lime-chile mixture and toss. Let stand for 10 minutes, refrigerated, before serving.

Divide the salad evenly among 4 plates. Thinly slice the chicken breasts against the grain and divide evenly among the top of the salads. Garnish with the scallions, peanuts and crispy shallots and serve immediately, with the remaining lime-chile sauce on the side for dressing salads, to taste. *Instead of slicing the chicken, I shredded it into the same size as the sliced veggies. I found it to be too chewy and dry when it was just sliced. I mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl and added some of the dressing, tossed, tasted and ended up saving about 1/2 cup of the dressing.

[I made rice noodles for Rich's portion. He is not a huge lettuce/cabbage fan, so I figured he would prefer his to be on a bed of noodles. Though I have yet to perfect the art of making the rice noodles, he said it turned out okay.]

Mary's final advice was, "It tastes even better after you let it sit for a few hours in the fridge!" She is very right about that. I brought it to lunch the next day and it was even more flavorful!! [I might have been a little skimpy on the dressing the first time around, too. I would be a bit more generous the next time I make this... and there will be a next time!]

Thai Style Ginger-Chicken-Broccoli Wrap

This was a fun, fast recipe I tried a couple of weeks ago. Yum!

Thai Style Ginger-Chicken-Broccoli Wraps
(Source: Fitness Magazine, May 2009)
Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients
12 oz. skinless boneless chicken-breast strips [I just used regular chicken breast, cut into strips]
1/4 t garlic salt [we don't have garlic salt so I used garlic powder + salt]
1/8 t black pepper
Nonstick cooking spray
2 c. packaged broccoli slaw
1/2 t. ground ginger
3 T. creamy peanut butter
1 T. reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 t. minced garlic [I used 1 t.]
3 10" whole-wheat tortillas, warmed

Sprinkle chicken strips w/ garlic, salt and pepper [I also added red pepper flakes]. Coat a skillet w/ cooking spray. Add chicken; cook over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove from pan, keep warm. [I didn't remove it from the pan... whoops. I just kept it in there and continued w/ the recipe].

Add broccoli slaw and 1/4 t. of ground ginger to skillet. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes, or until vegetables are crunchy crisp.

In a small saucepan, combine peanut butter, 2 T. water, soy sauce, minced garlic and the remaining ginger. Heat over low heat until smooth, whisking constantly. [Again I didn't follow directions - and didn't whisk constantly. I'm not sure if it is because I used natural peanut butter or because the peanut butter got too hot, or that I just wanted a thinner consistency for the sauce, but I ended up adding a lot more water, closer to 1/3 c. and extra soy sauce. I also added red pepper flakes, black pepper and cayenne. Oh! And I doubled the ginger amount. We wanted a more flavorful sauce, I guess.]

To assemble, spread tortillas w/ peanut sauce, top w/ chicken strips and vegetable mixture. Roll up each tortilla securing w/ a toothpick. Cut in half, serve immediately. [This is what I actually did for assembly: heat tortilla in microwave for ~15-20 seconds, add chicken & broccoli mixture, top w/ peanut sauce (~2 T), wrap, eat]

Nutrition facts per serving: 191 calories, 18 g. protein, 16g. carbohydrate, 6 g. fat (1 g. saturated), 2 g. fiber

They were good, simple and fast!! I ended up with about a cup of extra peanut butter sauce, but used that in subsequent things. Plus I was glad I had thinned it out as much as I did. I wanted a sauce, not a spread. Rich had one 10" wrap and that was filling enough for him. I had two 8" wraps. [One really would have been enough, but I still had the second one and was very happy with that decision.] I was left with one additional serving of the chicken/broccoli mixture and brought that to lunch. [Clearly I'm wasn't very good at portioning the recommended 6 servings, but oh well.]