Chicken and Vegetable Dumpling Soup

I will use the term "soup" very lightly in this recipe because this delicious and hearty meal turns out much closer to a stew. It is thick and packed with various vegetables and flavor. I have never had chicken and vegetable dumpling soup before now but it sure was delicious.

My biggest complaint about this particular recipe is the sodium content. It turned out WAY too salty for my tastes. I would strongly recommend only using low sodium based chicken broth or cutting out some of the added salt altogether. I will definitely do so next time.

And don't be freaked out by the long ingredient list. These are basic ingredients, nothing weird or hard to find, and it comes together surprisingly quick. Plus, it makes a LOT. I think it could easily serve more than 6.

This lovely soup that is perfect for fall and the picture are courtesy of Mel's Kitchen Cafe and can be found at this site here: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/02/chicken-and-vegetable-dumpling-soup.html

CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE DUMPLING SOUP

From My Kitchen Café

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*Serves 6

Chicken and Broth:
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
2-3 chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)

Vegetables:
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 large carrots (6-7 baby carrots), chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas

Dumplings:
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme or sage
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil

In a large pot, boil the chicken broth, water and chicken breasts until the chicken is cooked through and tender (about 15 minutes). Remove the chicken from the pot, reserving the broth in the pot, and shred the chicken with two forks. Set the chicken aside and keep the broth warm on the stove.

While the chicken is boiling, in a large skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the celery, carrots and onions. Saute for about 6-7 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the vegetables to the hot broth in the pot after the chicken has been removed. Add salt, thyme and pepper to the vegetable/broth mixture and stir to combine. Heat the soup to a simmer.

In a small bowl, blend ½ cup cold water and 1/4 cup flour with a wire whisk until smooth. Whisking vigorously, slowly add the flour mixture into the hot vegetables and broth and whisk until well combined. Add ½ cup frozen peas and the reserved chicken and cook, stirring gently for one minute.

For the dumplings, in a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, milk and oil. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined (don't overmix, it is ok if there are a few dry spots of flour here and there).

Heat the soup to boiling and drop teaspoonful amounts (the dumplings should be fairly small, they'll expand while cooking) of dumpling dough into the boiling soup, covering the entire surface of the soup (don't make more than one layer of dumplings). Reduce the heat to simmering, cover and let the dumplings cook for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid of the pot while the dumplings cook.

When the dumplings have cooked fully, remove the lid and gently stir the dumplings to break them apart. Serve.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos Verde

Slow Cooker meals are really a must in this day and age of rush and go. This dish was really easy to put together. I was a little disappointed though because there was so much beautiful and delicious looking sauce in the crockpot and you only utilize it in a very small portion. And then the chicken ended up tasting far less flavorful than I was expecting. It was good, but not amazing. If you are looking for a solid slow cooker recipe than this is a good one but I wouldn't use it to plan on "wow-ing" guests.

The picture and recipe are courtesy of Real Mom Kitchen and can be found at this site here: http://realmomkitchen.com/6924/slow-cooker-chicken-tacos-verde/

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos Verde

From Real Mom Kitchen

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• 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 (16 oz.) jar of salsa verde
• 1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• shredded cheese
• guacamole
• pico de gallo or fresh salsa
• tortilla shells

1. Place chicken in the bowl of a slow cooker. Top chicken with the diced green chiles, cumin, onion and garlic. The pour the salsa over the chicken.
2. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Remove chicken from pot and shred.  Mix in enough of the juice leftover in the slow cooker to make the meat moist.
4. Spoon chicken into tortillas and top with shredded cheese, guacamole and pico de gallo.

Recipe adapted from No Fuss Fabulous

Jay's Signature Pizza Crust

I posted a while ago about Breadsticks and pizza dough recipe that I got from Our Best Bites that was pretty good. I have to say though, this recipe is much better. It is very tasty and bakes up beautifully. And my favorite part is that it doesn't taste so yeasty. It is so easy to make and makes 1 GIANT pizza crust. If you are interested in only 1 good sized pizza I would cut this recipe in half.

The picture is of a Roasted Vegetable & Ham Pizza Roll I made with this crust recipe. I will post about that recipe in a few days. :-)

The recipe is courtesy of Allrecipes.com and can be found at this site here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jays-signature-pizza-crust/detail.aspx

JAY’S SIGNATURE PIZZA CRUST

From Allrecipes.com

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·         2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

·         1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

·         1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         2 tablespoons olive oil (I usually use half oil, half applesauce)

·         3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1.      In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

2.      Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

3.      Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

4.      Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.

5.      Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Flatbread

If you want one of the easiest side dishes in the entire world, especially good to pair with soup, this is it. All you need is some of these:

Source: here

One of these:

Source: here

And one of these:

Source: here

All you do is roll out the biscuits as thin as you can get them. Place on the griddle and heat for 30 seconds on each side. They really go fast so watch carefully. The biscuits will fluff as they cook so don't worry about rolling them really thin. You can top them with cheese, honey butter, or just serve on the side of soup. It really is that easy.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

I need to hurry and get this recipe in while we still have a few days in the 70s. Grilled corn on the cob is one of my favorite things in the world. It tastes so much different than boiled corn on the cob that it is worth the additional effort. And it really is so very easy.

All you have to do is:

1) Husk your corn and remove all the little strings.
2) Place corn in the sink and let soak under water for at least 30 minutes.
3) Season as desired. You can rub it down with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper or get really fancy and use parsley and parmesan. Just use whatever sounds good.
4) Wrap in heavy duty aluminum foil or double wrap in normal foil.
5) Place on the top rack of a preheated barbecue grill. This is great because you can still cook your meats and everything on the bottom rack of the grill while your corn sits happily on top, cooking away!
6) Cook for 15-20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes.
7) Carefully unwrap as the corn will be hot and you don't want a face full of steam!

Picture is courtesy of this site here: http://s3.hubimg.com/u/2242926_f520.jpg

Ricotta Gnocchi

GNOCCHI

Pronunciations sounds like: NYAH-key
Official pronunciation: nókee
Plural Noun
Definition: Italian dumplings: in Italian cooking, dumplings made of potato, semolina, or flour, usually boiled and served with soup or a sauce.
Source: http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+gnocchi&qpvt=define%3a+gnocchi&FORM=DTPDIA

I have never had gnocchi before I made this dish and, honestly, I didn't even look up what it was exactly. But it sounded really good and the picture looked tasty so I thought, "Let's try it!"

I really enjoyed this dish. It is definitely different and you may be surprised by the texture. My husband was a bit turned off by the fact that the dumplings are really soft and he felt like he was eating raw dough... I thought of them as really fat noodles and it didn't bother me. The taste was really great - rich and flavorful. We will be repeating this recipe again. 

The recipe below is my adapted recipe. If you want to view the original recipe you may do so at this site here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/ricotta-gnocchi/detail.aspx. The picture is located here: http://wynolapizzaexpress.com/Recipes/ricotta_gnocchi.jpg

RICOTTA GNOCCHI

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

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Ingredients

Gnocchi:

• 1 (8 ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½  teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed

Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil (I used half oil, half applesauce)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 dash crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. dried basil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 – ½ shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Stir together the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan Cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a large bowl until evenly combined. Mix in 1 cup of flour. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough. (Dough should be just a little sticky.)
2. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, and roll into 1/2-inch-thick ropes on a floured surface. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces, and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
3. Heat olive oil (and applesauce if you use it) in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic, and cook until softened and fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in diced tomatoes and red pepper flakes; bring to a low boil over medium-high heat, and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in basil and balsamic vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. (I didn’t add any extra pepper.)
4. While sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Drop the gnocchi in the pot, being careful to not splash the hot water on yourself. Once you have all the gnocchi in, stir gently one time. Boil the gnocchi until they float to the surface, 1 to 2 minutes, then drain.
5. To assemble the dish, stir the mozzarella cheese into the sauce and allow the heat of the sauce to soften, but try to not melt the cheese. Place gnocchi into a serving bowl, and spoon sauce over the top. We also like to stir the gnocchi with the sauce in a large bowl to get a more even sauce distribution.

Tuscan Chicken Simmer

Okay, take a minute to look at this recipe. Six ingredients, three directions... are there any questions? Is it good? OHHHHH YES!!!! And this is coming from the girl that doesn't like tomatoes.... This recipe was so easy and delicious. We especially loved the sauce. We will be repeating this in our house!

I made a few minor changes to our dish. After cooking the tomatoes I took a fork and popped each of them. I then flattened them out and stirred them around. This gave the sauce a distinct red tint and tomato flavor while the tomato skins became more like sun-dried tomatoes. My mom made this dish as well and absolutely loved how the tomatoes popped when she put a bite into her mouth. Whatever your preference may be you can't really go wrong.

I also cooked the chicken as indicated but then I cut it into bit sized pieces for better distribution.

The recipe and picture are courtesy of Kraft Recipes and can be found at this site here: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/tuscan-chicken-simmer-111677.aspx

TUSCAN CHICKEN SIMMER

From Kraft Recipes

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4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup pesto
2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup KRAFT Finely Shredded Italian Five Cheese Blend

HEAT large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cover. Cook 5 to 7 min. on each side or until done (165ºF). Remove chicken from skillet; cover to keep warm.

ADD cream cheese, water, pesto and tomatoes to skillet. Cook, uncovered, on medium heat 2 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

RETURN chicken to skillet. Cook and stir 1 min. or until chicken is coated and heated through. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Serve over pasta or with pasta on the side.