Dark Day Chicken and Sorta' Dumplings

I'm not going to whine about being sooo busy, or sooo sick or (fill in the blank)_______that I haven't been able to blog lately...truth is I've been too unorganized and lazy!  I've got tons of posts in draft form that hopefully I'll get *cleaned up* and posted in the coming weeks.  In the meantime I'm being forced (because I said I would) to post my Dark Days Challenge entries.  A couple new twists to the Challenge are: Soups and One Pot Meals,  Valentine's Day Sweets, a Vegetarian Meal and a Breakfast.  So today's entry:

Chicken and Failed Dumplings A' La Lynda Lou

Take a chicken (an ornery old bastard that wouldn't quit bothering the hens) and dress him out.  Throw him in the crockpot and add about 1/2 a cup of dehydrated garden veggie trimmings.  My trimmings include celery, onion, shallots, carrots, parsnips, parsley and leeks.  Add about a quart of chicken stock...the stuff I made last May out of the poor old hens that went menopausal (sure glad I'm not a chicken).  Set the crockpot on low: that's because it's 4:30 a.m. and I have to get off to work to heat up pre-packaged, processed yuck for the little kiddies at the elementary school (seriously folks...I'm slowing changing the menu: jicama, local citrus, salad bar, etc.) and this chicken is going to cook all day.

Mean Old Rooster

Rooster with dehydrated veggies

After getting home from work take the chicken out of the crockpot and pick off all of the meat...nice big chunks...strain out the veggies and pour the chicken lick'r into a Le Creuset Dutch Oven.  Steam a couple fresh dug new potatoes, one of my fresh dug GIANT carrots, celery and a just pulled leek.  Put about a cup of lick'r in a blender add about 3 tablespoons of fresh ground flour and blast it...then pour the mixture into the Dutch oven... Let it thicken, add the steamed veggies and chicken.   Mix up some fresh ground flour, cornmeal, sage, parsley and baking powder with some soured cream... drop big old spoonfuls onto the bubbling pot...put the lid on and after a few minutes you will see/hear the dough running down the sides of the pot!  Take the lid off pop it in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes...your dumplings are now a chicken pot pie crust and it looks like a mess. It takes more than one pot...but oh well: IT'S DELICIOUS!!!!!!

Nice Juicy Chicken







Fresh Veggies From the Winter Garden:
Leeks, shallots, carrot, sage, celery and parsley



Cornmeal Grown by Us and Sold to Ridgecut Grist Mill



Grinding Wheat in My Mill

Mixing up the wheat and cornmeal

Getting the Dumplings Going

Bubbling Goodness

Dumplings...Looks Like Too Much

Oops!  Gonna' Eat It Anyway!

DELICIOUS!



Had Enough Flour Left to Bake a Couple Loaves of Bread