Leghorn Stew...aka...Chicken and Dumplings

Since I was little this was the dish I asked for over and over again.  Of course Mom never made it often enough for my taste so guess what I learned to make on my own early in life?  Yep, chicken and dumplings.  This may just be my all time favorite food.  It's even how I met my husband!  I was in the Air Force and lived in the dorms.  One night I got to talking about chicken and dumplings with some friends and before I knew what happened we were cooking up my recipe on the backyard grill since there was no kitchen.  There must have been a dozen people eating it, my future husband among them.

Now, I have tasted only a couple of recipes that rival mine for flavor but it's not a dish often served outside the home either.  My recipe is based largely on the bisquick recipe.  Actually, it is the bisquick recipe with some minor changes.  Why mess up a good thing right?  Except I make my own bisquick mix and I make my own stock.  I also add more pepper.  Yesterday was the first time I made it with chicken we raised.  It happened to be a leghorn rooster out of the bunch mentioned a few posts back.  Since I'm such a nice person I will share my recipe with you.  It's really more of a method since I measure out very little.

Trisha's Chicken and Dumplings

Prepare your stock (I make a large amount since I feed seven. Usually a stock pot filled at least halfway)

Use a whole chicken (not necessary for smaller families).  My stock is then seasoned with plenty of pepper.  Be generous.

I use about 6 cups of the bisquick mix I make (6 cups flour, 3 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp salt and 1 cup shortening) and I don't measure the milk I add but you're looking for a consistency similar to pie crust or biscuits or somewhere in between.  Really sticky doughs tend to be gooey and that's just gross.

Heat your stock to boiling and reduce to a simmer.  Drop mix into stock by tablespoons full.  It's fun for my family to gather around the dough bowl and grab chunks and just break them off and put them in.  Usually there are two or three of us at least.  Be sure to throw a little dough at one of the kids as well.  Also, dump the remaining crumbs in the pot as this helps create a thick, gravy-like consistency.

Once all your dough is in the stock give it a good stir to ensure all the dough balls are covered and to create the thicker consistency.  Then cover and wait at least ten minutes.  Uncover, add pre-cooked chicken pieces, stir and wait another ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Adding the chicken at the end  prevents it from sticking to the bottom. 

The only time I ever mess this recipe up is when i try to remember my homemade bisquick recipe instead of looking it up.  Also, bisquick is actually sweetened so using real bisquick does lead to a different flavor.

Happy Father's Day

In loving memory:

Thomas E. Owens

Dec. 27, 1949-Jan. 1, 2012

I love you and miss you every day.

Some Things I have Learned...

Since this life is new to me I thought I would add some of my newfound knowledge:

1.  Farms need cats.  This is not optional.  I opted out and now I have mice in the garage that occasionally get into the house and eat the fruit from the basket.  Usually one bite of something on the bottom of the basket.  This week, as a deterrent I bought cantaloupe.  Let's see them take a bite out of that!  BTW, we got a kitten last week.  She already killed a bird.

2.  The outdoor guardsman (aka Smokey the Pitbull) will bark to alert us of anything entering the yard/pens as well as anything leaving them, including foraging chickens and they forage a lot.

3.  A loud fan placed in your bedroom at night because the a/c went out will drown out the sound of the roosters in the morning. Yeah!  Slept all the way to 6:45!  Except when I woke up briefly at 5am because it was 84 degrees inside.  FYI, having a field of dirt next to your house requires changing your a/c filter more than once a month.

4.  (Adults only) Smaller breed duck males have a difficult time breeding with larger breed females.  But their little breeding conversation is cute.  Daisy looks all sheepish but she's not!

5.  Roosters will teach their young.  I watched as Culpepper (our "lead" rooster) stood at the corner of the brooder with all the chicks gathered round as he chatted away in chicken language.  I wondered if he was plotting something, you know, because he's evil.

6.  Culpepper is evil.  He may have to go.

7.  Scorpion stings hurt but it doesn't last long.

8.  Rabbits are not as difficult to catch as I imagined.  Especially when the dog scares them stiff, literally.

9.  Red bell peppers take a long time to turn red.  A really long time. Like, forever.  Seriously.

10.  Animals will sometimes escape a pen only to turn around and try to get back in.  Also, they won't remember how they got out.

Weather, Plumbing and Mowing, Oh my!

Since my husband works nights anything we need his help with has to happen in the morning when he gets home.  The day we planned to slaughter the chickens my husband came home and started up the weedeater.  As he was weedeating around the house he hit a pvc pipe at the corner disrupting our main water line and sending water spewing high into the air and across the yard.  Needless to say we did not get the chickens slaughtered that morning.  The next morning was spent fixing the plumbing issue which took all of ten minutes.  As soon as he finished, God sneezed.  This is what I tell my kids when we get a heavy rainshower that lasts less than 30 minutes.  We put the two roosters back with the other chickens.  Our window of opportunity was gone.  I guess this is something I may need to learn how to do without him.  I'm just not sure I can stomach the parts that he does.  Sometimes we do what we have to though.  There have been many things I have done throughout my lifetime that others have told me they could ot stomach.  The truth is, I couldn't always stomach them either.  I just did it anyway.  Sometimes I did it with a bucket next to me, but I did it. 

 Ga 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

The sunrise as seen from my back door.

It's That Time Again...

During the spring I bought about 18 chickens total.  Six we have eaten.  Two drowned in the duck's water (I won't make that mistake again) and ten are still with us.  There are also another dozen males that came with a duck order but they are still tiny.  Of the ten fairly mature birds I think we have at least five roosters, possibly six.  They are noisy and starting to fight.  So, with much trepidation we have singled out two that are large enough for eating and will be slaughtering early this week.  There are two more that will likely be added.  I am really hoping it goes faster and easier than before but even if it doesn't I am looking forward to some chicken dinner.