Happy Easter!
This recipe rocks. Comfort food all the way and even better the next day packed up in a tupper for work.
Be sure to follow the directions on dumpling making exactly - this is not a newbie-friendly technique but it's easy if you follow the directions below.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 (10.75 ounce) can reduced fat cream of "whatever" soup - I like mushroom
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth (low-fat, low sodium works fine too)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium chopped onion
- 3 stalks chopped celery
- 1/2 a small bag of chopped baby carrots (or 3 large chopped)
- 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
- 1 teaspoon herb blend (I like herbs de Provence)
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
DIRECTIONS
- In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, stir together the cream soup, chicken broth, and milk. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
-
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken
strips, onion and celery. Cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink, and
onions are tender, it's ok if the chicken is still raw inside, this will keep it moist in the stew as it continues to cook.
- Transfer the chicken mixture to the soup pot, and mix well. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes. Season with herbs and black pepper.
-
To Make Dumplings: In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking
powder and salt. In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of milk and 2
tablespoons of oil. Pour into the dry ingredients, stirring just until
moistened. Make sure the dough is sticky and wet, they will be dense and gross if it's not really sticky. Add more milk if you have to.
-
Drop tablespoonfuls of the dumpling mixture into simmering chicken
stew. Cover pot tightly, and bring to a boil. Simmer for another 15 minutes - without peeking! Keep the top on and let the steam do it's magic. The dumplings will get big and fluffy (baking powder chemistry!).
- Ladle into bowls, and serve hot.
So I got this new co-worker/supervisor type recently. Her name is Paige and she's from Texas.
Paige and her husband stayed the night last night at our department director's house while her moving van made it's way up from Dallas.
She had her little schnauzer dog with her and dressed in a pink sweater. Our department director's 8 year old daughter said, "here girl" to the dog and Paige said "he's a boy dog".
The daughter then said, "why is he wearing a pink sweater?" and Paige said "Because he's gay" and went back to sipping her glass of merlot and watching Talladega Nights.
I think we're gonna get along just fine.
This link will take you to a video of 200 people who all "froze" simultaneously for 5 minutes in Grand Central Station in New York City for a performance art installation. It is just amazing. Thank you to my dear cousin Todd for sending this to me on a rainy Friday morning. I hope you enjoy this:
http://www.maniacworld.com/frozen-in-grand-central-station.html
I'm shocked that no one took advantage of the pick-pocket opportunity that is so very obvious.
Here is Prince Harry coming home from his media -leaked military tour of duty. There are two curious things about this photo captured moment.
Don't the royals (especially those this high up on the food chain) have, at the snap of their fingers, dozens of "people" who carry their luggage? And don't most, if not all, westernized military units on the planet require you to wear your hair very short and in fact go ahead and take the liberty of cutting it for you once a week or so?
And finally, keeping in mind that Harry is, in fact, His Royal Highness Henry Charles Albert David (Mountbatten-Windsor), Prince of Wales, can you spot the oddity in this photo captured moment? (aside from the bad teeth) Hint: Taxation WITH representation ain't so hot either.
Here is an UPDATE! Thanks to the eagle eye of my friend Beth Waters:
From Slate.com (sorry I can't disable the hyperlinks for some reason):
Prince Harry returned to London on Saturday, after a 10-week deployment to Afghanistan with the Household Cavalry of the British army. Photographs of the young royal showed him dressed in desert fatigues with a healthy mop of red hair—an unusual sight for Americans accustomed to military buzz cuts. Don't British soldiers have to cut their hair, too?
Only if their commander says so. Unlike American male recruits, for whom the buzz cut is part of the initiation into the service, the British Ministry of Defence leaves coiffure decisions up to individual regiment leaders. Most require new recruits to report with neatly groomed hair of modest length; they'll even go so far as to prohibit cuts shorter than about 1 centimeter. For example, the Army Training Regiment in Lichfield manual for recruits (PDF) mandates that "the closest permissible haircut is a No 3," a clipper that leaves about 3/8 of an inch of hair. It specifically prohibits "skinheads." Women are generally required to keep their hair in a net or bun, as they are in the United States.
The differing standards are representative of the British army's organization, which emphasizes loyalty to one's regiment in addition to the army as a whole. Unlike the U.S. commanders, whose "Army of one" approach emphasizes uniformity among service members, the Minister of Defence tolerates a little bit of panache.
