Homemade Chicken and Dumplings -- A Frugal Stick-to-Your-Bones Supper

 

As a native of Eastern Oregon where there are four distinct seasons, I learned to change up my menus as the weather changed. Fresh salads and fancy sandwiches at springtime, grilled meat and watermelon in the summer, light soups and casseroles in fall, and thick stews with crusty bread in winter. We knew it was time to change seasons by the way things smelled---even when fall was ending and the bite of winter was coming, we could smell the snow in the air.

The South (we are in Arkansas now) likes to play the "let's change up everything with the seasons" game too---only nothing is distinct and there are no signs of a new season coming. I've been here seven years and I still can't read the clouds. We just roll with it day to day and pretend winter is real. Sometimes December is mostly 40s and 50s, other times it's 70s and even 80s.

Still, my kids must have a little northener left in them because they've been requesting chicken and dumplings for weeks now. According to my seven year old, I've not made this family favorite since the night we decorated Christmas sugar cookies---in 2018. She's probably not wrong. I just haven't been feeling it---the whole "do the exciting new season stuff"---but I'm determined to try harder. Especially in a crazy year like 2020 has been, a bit of normalcy is important. These are the things families are made of---the memories and traditions and faith that binds us together.

So tonight I made this hearty, stick-to-your-bones meal in a pot and everyone cheered. I fell asleep while the chicken was cooking but it was perfectly tender. I thought I dumped too much thyme in, but it was fantastic. I thought I went too fast on the veggies and feared I'd undercooked the carrots, but they were just right. Apparently, I've still got the knack. Here's roughly how I made it---I hope your family enjoys chicken and dumplings as much as we do.

Homemade Chicken and Dumplings (12 servings, 8 hours)

1 whole chicken
up to 3 quarts poultry broth (I used turkey broth from our Thanksgiving carcass)
6 bay leaves
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
onion to taste (I used 2 TB dried onions, you could use up to 1 whole, if you like)
thyme, garlic, salt to taste

4 c. flour

8 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

2 c. water

Put the chicken in a large soup pot (mine is 14 qt.), and add all the broth. Add water until it covers to about an inch above the chicken. Add the bay leaves and a few teaspoons of salt. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 6 hours. 

After about 6 hours, remove the chicken from the pot. (I use a small handled strainer to scoop it out whole but always need to fish out the wings with a slotted spoon!) Make sure to use a slotted spoon to get out any bones. Then set your chicken aside to cool and keep the broth hot on the lowest setting, covered. The chicken will take 30-45 minutes to cool. Once it's cooled, pull the meat off the bones and put it back into the broth in small pieces. Be careful to feel for any small bones. Then cut up your vegetables and add them to the broth, along with the thyme and garlic. Taste to see if you want to add more salt. I end up adding quite a bit to get it just right. Finally, turn your pot back up to a higher setting to get the broth boiling again.

While the broth is heating back up, mix up the dumplings by combining the flour, baking powder and salt, then stir in the water. Use a spoon for this---you want the batter to look lumpy. Once the broth is boiling rapidly, drop spoonfuls of the batter into the boiling broth. The dumplings will cook quickly and rise to the top when they're done. Just keep dropping them in until you've got all the batter in there. It will look crowded but they'll figure it out. Ha!

I served ours with zucchini bread tonight (yay for summer harvest preservation!) but you could also do biscuits, rolls, or just eat it as a one-pot meal. Yum!

Looking For Persimmons in NW Arkansas -- The Homemaking Party

 

Good Morning Friends! How's everyone holding up? We're all doing well. Jamie is still working from home (going on nine months now!) but, other than that, the big things in life have been relatively normal. We've just gone on holiday break so I'm hoping for a lot more time to read, write, and create over these next couple months. We shall see...

Last year on my birthday (October 23) we discovered a persimmon tree near our property. Do you know about the South's legend of the persimmon seed? Well you're about to be educated! This season we got back to it a little late but we did happen to spy a couple fruit left on the very bare branches!

We started by shaking the tree real hard---one fell down. Then I grabbed the stick from Selah and went after the other one. It was a team effort but we managed to snag those last two.

The legend says one can tell what kind of winter is coming by slicing open the seed of a persimmon and seeing what shape is inside.

Here's Liam's (10) explanation: "So if you find a persimmon, this is what to do: so wash and dry the seeds. Then cut it open. If it's a fork, you will have a warm winter; if a spoon, lots of snow; if a knife, a cold winter."

We cut open these three seeds and saved the rest so the kids could try to grow one in our yard. The general consensus was that the majority of these are spoons. 

Kynthia (9) drew this diagram of the steps to making it to the inside of the seed. She came up with this idea so she wouldn't have to ask me how to spell everything---ha! Very smart!

Here is Avalon's (11) journal entry: "Me, my siblings, and Mom all found two persimmons, and nine seeds and the majority of the seeds were spoons. Hopefully the legend is true!"

Brenna (7) is really really hoping for some cold weather and snow this year. Me too!

Thanks for stopping by The Homemaking Party! I'm excited to see what everyone has got to share!

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The Fabulous Party

We Must Pray for Mercy

By now most everyone has heard of the terrible destruction and loss of life and property due to the fires going on mainly in the Pacific Coast states. Add to that the realities and unrealities of Covid, the extreme weather events, the rioting and fear-mongering in big cities and small cities alike, and the laughable "news media" and we have ourselves a lot to pray about.

I wonder if we're really praying the right prayers though?

It seems like a given that we'd pray God would defeat the enemy, restore order, bring peace, thwart the plans of the devil, etc. Surely a loving God doesn't want us to face all this crazy. Surely He's on His way to save us. Surely He's just letting the devil have his way for a time but all will be well before long. 

Or maybe not?

What if this is judgement? (Pick your chin up off the floor---yes, I really said that.)

In Amos 4, God recounts corrections He gave to the children of Israel, trying to turn their hearts back to Him. Over and over again He says, "Yet you have not returned". Read this:

“Also I gave you cleanness of teeth (hunger) in all your cities,

And lack of bread in all your places;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the Lord.

 

“I also withheld rain from you,

When there were still three months to the harvest.

I made it rain on one city,

I withheld rain from another city.

One part was rained upon,

And where it did not rain the part withered.

 

So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water,

But they were not satisfied;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the Lord.

 

“I blasted you with blight and mildew.

When your gardens increased,

Your vineyards,

Your fig trees,

And your olive trees,

The locust devoured them;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the Lord.

 

“I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt;

Your young men I killed with a sword,

Along with your captive horses;

I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the Lord.

 

“I overthrew some of you,

As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the Lord.

 

“Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel;

Because I will do this to you,

Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

Listen, God isn't messing around. I was accused of being heartless this morning on Facebook when I used an example of a burnt out Oregon town to call the lukewarm to preparedness. Theories abound about the source of the west coast fires, but what is so evident to me is that God is giving us up to our own destruction. He's allowing us to feel pain that He may have even sent Himself so we will return to Him---yet, we have not returned.

If that last line of the Amos passage sounds sorta kitschy bad guy to you, be assured---God is no comic book character. Prepare to meet your God. Are you ready?

Many Christians have been caught off guard by the persecution that has gone on in recent months. Many, many more are still deluded that it couldn't happen to their church, their town. I mean, it's California... No, friends, it's Christians. Are you ready?

Maybe our prayers need to be for mercy. I was out in Oregon last week for several days and the smoke was bad. The fear was bad. I posted a "Pray for Oregon" meme and began writing a big thing about praying for the state and yadda yadda... I had to delete what I'd written because I couldn't bring myself to ask God to "vanquish all the fiery darts of the enemy." Because I knew. I knew it wasn't the enemy who allowed this. It was God. Instead, I asked for mercy for just a little longer. That He'd delay His judgement for the sake of the remnant and in the hope that even just a few more souls would turn to Him when pushed to the extreme.

With all the lawlessness and apathy Christians have bred in this nation, we have no right to be praying against judgement with some kind of haughty name it and claim it sort of attitude, casting out evil and declaring and decreeing all over the place. For crying out loud... If we are actually going to be so bold as to approach God on this matter, we'd better be humbly and fervently pleading for mercy. Amos 5 repeatedly states, "Seek Me and live; Seek the Lord and live; Seek good and not evil, that you may live". Everything is different now. Western Christianity as we know it is gasping its last breath. There's no time for denominational disputes and petty picking apart of Scripture. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Come to Him in humble repentance and make your requests known to Him. Plead with Him for mercy. Plead with Him to be set on a straight path. Don't be caught up in the "feel good Jesus movement". Our God is a Lamb---He's also a Lion. He's a jealous God and He will have no other idols before Him. We must pray for mercy.