Chicken 'n Dumplins

{ That's how you say it so that's how you spell it. }

My grandma Forga used to make chicken 'n dumplins, and I liked them OK. I felt compelled to try my hand an making them, so I gave it a shot on Saturday. Though not exactly for the first time...

A few months ago, I made white-trash chicken 'n dumplins. The main ingredients were cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, and canned biscuits. We ate it, and I was nauseous for the next 3 days. I rarely feel nauseous, and never for that long. I literally thought I was pregnant. I literally went out, bought a pregnancy test, and took the test while Josh prayed in the hallway. 

{ TMI? Probably so. }

Anyway, point is, it was a bad deal. This time, I made the C&D from scratch, using an easy recipe I found online.

I used my favorite new method for cooking chicken. I learned it from a chicken enchilada post over at The Way the Cookie Crumbles.

I put my new plate with handles to good use, as a holding area for the dumplins.

I thought the finished product was alright. Josh wasn't thrilled. "It's just so... chicken-flavored," he said. (Chicken is not his favorite.) Whatever, I'm in it for the dumplins baby.

Drop Biscuits

This recipe is a gem because it's so easy, so convenient, and so impressive.

I mean, aren't you impressed? By easy I mean you get all the glory of homemade biscuits from scratch, without the hassle of rolling or cutting. By convenient I mean they freeze beautifully. I popped these two out of the freezer and baked them all by themselves. Just for me. I like them with honey or grape jelly. 

Drop Biscuits
(adapted from The Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook)

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup cold butter
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or 1 cup milk)
• 1/4 cup whipping cream

Prep

• In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add buttermilk and whipping cream all at once. Using a fork, stir just until moistened.

• Drop dough by spoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. (You have to use the parchment paper or they won't do right.) Bake in a 450° oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Remove biscuits from baking sheet and serve immediately.

~

If freezing, freeze the dropped dough overnight on a baking sheet covered with plastic wrap. Then, transfer the frozen biscuits to a plastic freezer bag the next day. Increase bake time to 15 minutes (or until golden) for frozen biscuits.

The original recipe says it makes 12 biscuits, but I make mine small, so it's more like 24. One of my small biscuits is approximately 150 calories.

Cast Iron Kills It

I love to cook with my cast iron skillet. I like cast iron's rustic charm, and the fact that it can go from the stove-top to the oven, even when the oven is set to "broil". This simple, healthy, and delicious asparagus frittata recipe (from Simply Recipes) makes good use of cast iron's special capabilities.

I started making my own pie crusts pretty recently, and I've been using the crusts in cast iron skillet dishes. I've made two Southern Living pies (apple and pecan) that call for the use of a skillet in place of a conventional pie dish, and a dill-icious skillet chicken potpie from Country Living. For the sweet pies I used a crust recipe that calls for white flour and a mixture of butter and shortening for the fat. For the savory pie I used a similar crust recipe that calls for a mixture of white and whole wheat flours. Both recipes (plus detailed crust-handling instructions) can be found in my beloved baking resource, Country Baking.

And now, a visual journey through the making of the pecan pie.




My skillet awaits. (It's waiting for my pie crust dough to chill in the fridge so I can roll it out.)



The crust. It's not wanting to stay together around the edges. Maybe I didn't add enough ice water?



It was a bit of a rough ride, but we made it into the bottom of the skillet.



This is why it's important to plan your baking adventures ahead of time and read the recipe the night before. It might call for something wacky, like "1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature". I have no idea how long it took for the melted butter to re-harden, but it ain't my problem 'cause I just let it sit overnight. (You like how I did the butter in a tiny cast iron skillet?)



My little baby before hitting the oven.



And after.

This is a weird recipe because it doesn't call for Karo. Josh was totally pissed when he found out about that. He is the ultimate pecan pie purist. We'll see how we like it. We're taking it to my mom's for dinner later this evening.

So the moral of the story is this: Just because a recipe calls for a store-bought pie crust, that doesn't mean you can't make your own.

I made the following changes to Country Living's chicken potpie recipe: I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1/4 cup of heavy cream, and 1 cup of chicken broth.

Perfect Squash Casserole

This might be my favorite "southern food" recipe. 

I made this dish for the Vines family reunion one year, and it was GONE!

Squash Casserole
(from "Taste of the South" magazine)

Ingredients

12 cups (4 lbs) yellow squash, sliced {the summer kind}
1 cup onion, chopped
2/3 cup salted butter, divided
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

Prep

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large pot over high heat boil squash in enough water to cover until fork-tender, approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat, drain well. Return to pot.
• In a small skillet over medium heat saute onion in 1/3 cup butter until onion is translucent. Pour over squash.
• Add sugar, salt, pepper, and egg to squash. Stir gently to combine.
• Pour mixture into lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Top with crushed crackers. Melt remaining 1/3 cup butter and drizzle over crushed crackers. Bake 1 hour or until golden brown.
• Serves 12-16. {I happen to think it serves more like 8.}
• 1/8 of recipe = 270 calories

IMPORTANT TIPS:

• It is important to drain the squash very well before adding it back to the pot, so that you don't dilute the deliciousness with excess water. What I do is pour the cooked squash into a colander, and then just let it sit there for half an hour or more, pressing it with a fork every so often. That way, a lot of the water will simply evaporate away.
• This dish does not keep particularly well (the Ritz cracker crust turns soggy in the fridge), so make half the recipe if you are cooking for 3-4 or less. I like to use an 8x8 glass baking dish when I make a half-batch.