Sunday Chicken Times 2

It has been such a busy week! A trip to Kirksville meant not enough naps for the kids. Josey went home with Cooper on Friday after the funeral for some boy time & the Mizzou Homecoming game.

Gracie stayed w/ me & played at Auntie Ginger's work while I had a craft show on Saturday. She was asleep in the car less than 10 min after we left Kirksville.

It is Sunday night & has been a busy day. We have started a Sunday morning tradition of breakfast w/ Cooper's family, followed by trying to find a pumpkin patch to run the kids (btw, pumpkin patches should be open in the mornings on the Sunday before Halloween!). We opted for the local grocery store & I saw in the ads they had whole chickens on sale.

I picked up 2 of them - I pulled out my trusty Ultimate Southern Living cookbook for a baked chicken recipe. What I found was a baked chicken and a bonus - a Country Style Chicken & Dumplings.

The story behind chicken & dumplings - Cooper's Grandma Jessie made the BEST ever chicken & dumplings & Cooper has been dying to find her recipe. No one in the family has it - it was one of those recipes that Grandma Jessie just made -there wasn't a recipe.

I decided to cook both of them so I could have some extra cooked chicken in the freezer PLUS stock back up on my chicken stock in the freezer.

The first recipe is for a Crispy Herbed Chicken - I slow cooked it in the bean pot in the oven.

Crispy Herbed Chicken
Prep 25 min
Cook 1 hour & 5 min (Bean Pot 2 hrs give or take)

1/3 c chopped onion
1/3 c scraped, diced carrot ( I put the carrot & onion into the Ninja processor)
1/3 c diced celery
1 Tb chopped fresh parsley
3 Tb dry white wine
1 (3-3.5lb) chicken, boiler-fryer
1/4 c butter, melted
2 tsp chopped fresh basil
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Combine first 5 ingredients, toss gently. Set aside. Removed giblets & neck from chicken; reserve for another use (or not!) Rinse chicken, pat dry with paper towels. Lightly stuff body cavity with reserved vegetable mixture. If desired, tie the ends of the legs together with heavy string. Lift wingtips up & over back of chicken.

Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack in shallow roasting pan. Combine butter & next 5 ingredients. Brush chicken with butter mixture. Roast at 375 degrees for 1 hr or until meat thermometer inserted in thigh reads 180 degrees. Place chicken on serving platter, garnish if desired.

Bean Pot: since I am using my bean pot, I am not looking for a pretty chicken. This chicken filled the bean pot (it was closer to 5 lbs). I cooked it at 375 for 1 hr with lid on, then 350 for another hour w/ lid off. I did use a couple tablespoons of Tastefully Simple's Roasted Garlic infused Olive oil in the bottom of the bean pot - just because!

NOTE from cookbook: The key to this crispy skinned chicken is to baste it well with a butter mixture before it goes in the oven, but not al all during roasting.


Now - for the Chicken & Dumplings

1 (3-3.5 lb) boiler-fryer
2 qts water
1 carrot, halved (I tossed them in the ninja food processor)
1 celery stalk, halved
1 med onion, quartered
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 c shortening

Combine first 7 ingredients in a dutch oven. Bring to boil; cover & reduce heat and simmer 1 hr or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken and veggies from broth, discarding vegs & reserving broth in dutch oven. Skim fat from broth, if desired. Reserve and set aside 2/3 c broth. Let chicken cool. Skin, bone & coarsely chop chicken, return to broth.

Combine flour, baking powder, and 1 tsp salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Add reserved 2/3 c broth, stirring with a fork just until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, knead lightly 1-2 minutes. Roll dough into 1/8" thickness, cut dough into 2" squares or 2 x 3/4" strips.

Bring broth mixture in Dutch oven to a boil. Drop in dumplings one at a time into boiling broth. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25-30 min.

Yield 6 servings
per serving: Calories 395, Fat 16.2g, Chol 79mg, Sodium 857mg

I think it needed a bit more seasoning. Not sure if I should have added a boullion cube, some garlic, more salt... Next time gonna spice it up!