Val's chicken n dumpling stew

Ripstick Boy loves to cook....on his own terms.
That means, he gets the urge to cook and go into the kitchen and cooks.
Sometimes, I am lucky and he gets the urge while I'm in the kitchen....like the other day.

He came in while I was making his favorite....Chicken and Dumpling Stew. (recipe below)  Don't know WHY it looks grey...must be the lighting.  Yuck.  Anyhoo, it tastes great.



 he steps up and asks if he can help so of course, I let him.

Be warned, I don't really measure ANYTHING in this....

Val's Chicken and Dumpling Stew:

*total of about 10 cups chicken stock
*4 cups shredded or diced cooked chicken
* OR take a 3 pound chicken and make stock out of it. Reserve the stock, shred the chicken and add back into the pot. (This is how I actually do it)

1 small onion diced
4 stalks celery diced
4 carrots cubed
1 tsp minced garlic (from a jar) Or mince a fresh clove
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf

2 cups bisquick and enough milk to make dumplings.

Saute onions and celery til soft, add carrots and garlic and stir for a few minutes. Don't brown the garlic. Add the bay leaf and seasonings. Stir for about 5 minutes.

Then add to the stock and chicken and bring to a boil momentarily. Turn down, cover and simmer until carrots are just tender. Before going to the next step, taste and adjust seasonings.

Then:

Take 2 cups bisquik and enough milk to bind, stir together to make a dough.
Drop by large spoonfuls (I use a smallish cookie dough scoop.) Make enough to completely cover the top of the stew.
Cover and let cook on medium low about 10 minutes. DO NOT BOIL or the dumplings will break down. They will rise and get large. You can check by using a toothpick until you figure out what they 'look like' when done.

When you serve, dip down and get the soup and a dumpling. We rarely have leftovers, but when we do, its even better!


Then, the next morning, he decided to cook breakfast.

Look what he made......yum!



He insisted we all try it, of course!

Those little bits are BACON!

After a while, I VERY CAUTIOUSLY asked if he would like me to make him an apron. To my surprise, he said "sure."

Off to the fabric store we went.....looking for something cool. ( No offense, but cool is difficult to find in Hancocks.)

In the end, he managed to find some fabric by Robert Kaufmann and I made him this apron...which is reversible.



He promptly put it on, went downstairs and made everyone a milkshake!