It all started with a chicken...

Roasted Chicken

One day last week I thought it would be a great idea to roast a chicken. The weather was nice and cool and the kids always eat a roasted chicken real well. I was at the grocery store and bought a chicken. It was a 3 pounder but, get this, it cost me around $8???!!! Yes, it was organic, free range, no antibiotics or hormones, but still that is a lot for a small chicken. I figured though that I would be sure to make 2 meals out of it so could therefore justify the expense!

So have you ever made something and it turned out so delicious but you knew that because of all of the crazy components involved in the meal you would NEVER be able to recreate it? That's what happened here. First of all for dinner on Wednesday night I roasted the chicken. I roasted it my standard way...lost of garlic, butter to brown the skin, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and half a lemon inside the cavity. I always roast this chicken in a large, heavy casserole dish because I love how moist the bird is when it is done. Anyway that with a salad was dinner on Wednesday. Chicken Stock Cooking

I saved all of the bones, drippings and the leftover meat and let them sit in the fridge over night. In the morning I took the bones out and threw them into a pot with the drippings, celery, onion, onion tops, parsley, and white pepper. I let this just barely simmer all day. Around dinner time I strained the stock and put the cleaned stock back on the stove and added the left over meat (cut into small pieces) and, now here is where it gets loopy, I had made stuffed eggplant during the week and had a bunch of leftover lentil stuffing so I tossed that into the pot as well. The smell of this soup cooking was out of this world. You had the lemony smell from the roasted chicken, cinnamon from the lentil mixture, and the wonderful savory smells from the stock that I made. To top it all off I made some dumplings to go in the pot. This soup was amazing but I will probably never be able or want to make it again. Next time it will be a bunch of different leftovers used in the pot!

Pot Full of Chicken Soup with Dumplings!

Dumpling Recipe

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1 egg beaten
2 Tbsp melted butter
2/3 cups milk

Directions: Sift the dry ingredients together and the beaten egg, melted butter and milk. Stir gently until dry ingredients are just moist. Drop by teaspoon into the boiling soup pot and caver and cook for about 18 minutes. They should be nice, light and fluffy!

What a Great Bowl of Soup!

At least I can justify the $8 chicken now!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com