Chicken Stuffed Dumplings

I found a version of this recipe several years ago. I've since modified it so that it suits my tastes better. This is one of my favorite recipes when I want something that is warm and very filling. I always double the recipe because it reheats very well. It makes a good dinner and lunch for the following day!

The preparation for this recipe is somewhat time consuming and I recommend using a mini chopper for the celery and chicken. I think the effort is worth it, but if you are in a hurry, this most likely will not be the recipe for you. I use canned chicken broth that has no msg and is low in sodium. I don't have many choices for the cream of chicken and mushroom, unfortunately. The soups make this recipe somewhat salty, so I advise against adding any salt.

Chicken Stuffed Dumplings (Printable PDF Version)
1 can chicken broth (12 or 14.5 oz. It doesn't matter)
1 can cream of chicken and mushroom soup
1 medium sized chicken breast
Onion (to taste)
1 T oil (olive or vegetable)
1 T celery, chopped
1/2 t parsley
1 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 t sugar
1 T shortening
6-8 T water

Pour the contents of the cans of soup into a pot and start to heat it up on a low heat. This will need to simmer later, but I've had best results slowly warming it from the start since cream of chicken and mushroom is very thick compared to the broth. Remember to stir it occasionally.

Chop up your onion. I like white onions and I used maybe 1/5 of an onion for this. (Note: I add half of the onions to the soup mixture and half to the chicken. How you distribute it is up to you!)

Cut the chicken into small pieces while the pan heats up. Pour the oil in, add the onions and chicken. Cook until the chicken is done. Once the chicken is cooked, let it cool for a few minutes.

Meanwhile...

Chop up the celery. A tablespoon of celery (post chopping) is approximately half a stalk of celery. Having a bit more isn't going to hurt the recipe.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and sugar. Cut the shortening in with a fork. This amount of shortening isn't enough to make the flour crumbly, cutting it in just distributes it better than mixing it in with the water.

Slowly mix in the water until you have a soft dough that isn't too sticky. Sometimes I have to use more water, sometimes I have to use less. I fill a glass with water and add tablespoons of water at a time to the flour mixture. Set this aside for the moment.

When your chicken has cooled to a nice warm temperature, place it into the chopper and chop it into chicken crumbles.

In another bowl, mix together to chicken crumbles, celery, and parsley. At this point, turn up the temperature of the soups and bring it to a simmer.

Take a small chunk of the dough and flatten it with your hands. Place a scoop of chicken crumbles onto the center of the flattened piece of dough.

Close the dough into a bundle by wrapping and pinching the sides together. You can take the dough, roll it out, and cut it into pieces if you want.

The amount of chicken filled dumplings you will have depends on how big you make them. Mine always vary in size, which is fine. If you have any extra chicken crumbles, add them to the soup mixture.

Place all of the dumplings into the simmering soup mixture. Simmer the dumplings for 15-20 minutes. Stir this occasionally and carefully. I usually end up with at least one dumpling that opens up.

I suggest making mashed potatoes while the dumplings cook. The soup gravy goes very well with garlic and cheese mashed potatoes, if that interests you.

The dumplings will plump up while cooking. When they are finished cooking, let everything cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Barb's Shepard's Pie

This is a recipe that I mostly made up a few years ago and I now consider it to be my version of shepard's pie. I've never had actual shepard's pie, but I've read recipes for it. From what I can tell I added an ingredient or two and flipped it upside down.

It doesn't look too amazing, but it is very good. Most ingredients are added "to taste". I'm not positive how much I usually add of those so I'll just estimate. Feel free to adjust it to your tastes! I also make this in the easiest ways possible, which means I use instant potatoes for the mashed potatoes and Bisquick for the biscuits! The order of making the layers will vary depending on how you make the potatoes and biscuits. This also reheats very well so be sure to refrigerate any leftovers.

Barb's Shepard's Pie

1/4 onion, chopped
1 lb ground beef
Salt & Pepper to taste
4 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 T garlic powder
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 lb bag of frozen diced veggies (I recommend a bag with carrots, corn, and peas)
8 biscuits

Chop the onion and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Brown the meat with the onion, salt, and pepper.

Make your mashed potatoes. Stir in the garlic powder. Adding cheese to the mashed potatoes is also delicious!

Start baking your biscuits. You want to only cook them halfway. If you skip this step, the final baking step will take a very long time and the bottom of the biscuits will remain gooey.

Once the meat is browned, stir in the cream of mushroom soup and Worcestershire sauce.

Also add the frozen veggies and warm them in the meat mixture. This helps reduce the baking time.

In a 13" x 9" baking dish or pan, spread the mashed potatoes into a nice and even layer.

Next spread all of the veggie and meat mixture on top of the potatoes.

By this time the biscuits should be half baked, so place those on top of the meat and veggies.

Bake this in the oven for at least 15 minutes or until it starts to bubble.

Enjoy!

Drawing - Week of July 8, 2012

Didn't draw much this week. I will claim the food related post from earlier today makes up for that. I have some new silk flowers to draw. They are sunflowers and daisies. Flowers with many petals are very difficult to draw. I don't like most of my attempts so far. Here is the only picture I feel like sharing this week. It even includes a Kat!

One of Kat's favorite sleeping places is behind my drawing board, which is usually leaning against the wall.

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

I saw a cake similar to this several years ago. Instead of looking up instructions on how to properly make the cake, I just made it. This is definitely one of the messier cakes that I've made, but it was a lot of fun to make!

The cake consists of two layers of chocolate cake, a layer of vanilla ice cream, and chocolate frosting in the expected locations. The version of the cake that influenced this messy cake was decorated like an Oreo cookie, so I kept that as a decorating guideline. Instead of "Oreo" I wrote "Happy Birthday" since it was for a birthday.

If you plan to make this, here are some tips: Make the cake at the location where the cake will be served; it will melt during a 20 minute car ride in the summer. Try to freeze the ice cream layer in a circle cake pan lined with wax paper so it has the proper shape. Be sure to rearrange the contents of your freezer before assembling any of the cake pieces. You can use any combination of flavors to make this cake; I'm guessing cookies and cream ice cream would be amazing!

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
Two round cakes
1/2 gallon ice cream
One batch of frosting

Make your frosting.

Soften your ice cream. I'm assuming it isn't necessary to mix up the ice cream in a mixer, but it sure was fun. Such a lovely texture!

Place the bottom layer of the cake on whatever you plan to serve the cake on. Spread a layer of frosting around the sides of the cake. Either cover the entire top of the cake or just enough so the cake doesn't show under the ice cream.

Spread a layer of ice cream on the cake. (Or, if you followed the tip, place the layer of ice cream on the cake.) Place the incomplete cake in the freezer.

Place the top layer of cake on some paper towels. Spread a nice layer of frosting on top. Decorate however you want to decorate it.

Remove the bottom of the cake from the freezer and carefully place the top layer of the cake on top. Spread a layer of frosting around the sides of the top layer of cake.

Keep frozen until you are ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Note: The frosting that I used was the new Wilton Decorator's Frosting with 3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder added.


Used to create this cake: Food Network 9-In. Round Cake Pan. I love the Food Network pans from Kohls!

Drawing - Week of July 1, 2012

I plan on drawing regularly now. I'm not horrible at it and the only way I can improve is with practice. Unfortunately, I don't have much motivation to draw anymore. When I was taking the drawing course, I had homework assignments and people to critique my drawings. Now I have no pressure to get a drawing finished and no one to show it to. My current idea is to post what I draw every week on Friday or Saturday. That will provide me with some sort of motivation and also (maybe) someone to show it to.

I like to draw flowers, so I drew a lily and a rose this week using charcoal on drawing paper. I still don't like to draw roses. I will probably torture myself with roses until I think they look good. I also want more silk flowers to draw...

The photo quality isn't too good, sorry about that. I will eventually get a decent camera. Until then, I only have my cell phone. I also should have cleaned up the drawing a bit more. Charcoal smudges a lot.