Wah huh. Pause for impact. Though I'm not currently sportin' a sequin jump suite or growing obscenely large side burns...I am Elvis. At least today. Um...at least the early years "golden boy" Elvis and not the "larger than life late 70's" Elvis. No I'm not making fried pickle sandwiches or diamond studded google eyed sunglasses either. Ah google eyes. Those where swanky-cool. Actually I just wanted to make a healthy version of the Southern chicken and dumplings. Thus my thoughts of Elvis...and the way he used to sing that song "In The Early Morning Rain". As a random fact, that song was the only song that my son Face would fall asleep to as a baby. I heard it a lot. So hello to Elvis comfort food...minus the chicken and healthy on the dumplings. Ace won't eat chicken. He calls it "humiliated yard bird". He does however adore cooked carrots. It may be a little on the obsessive side of adoration of the carrots. So...this is my answer to chicken-less dumplings. We also love pumpkin. What we came up with was a winner around here. Ingredients:
2 cups carrots, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1T minced garlic
1 T basil infused olive oil
2 tsp poultry seasoning (or 1/2 tsp each:thyme, sage, pepper, and salt)
3 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock if you aren't vegetarian)
In a 2 Quart Dutch oven with a lid, saute the vegetables in the oil until tender. Add the vegetable stock and the seasoning. Bring to a boil.
For Dumplings:1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup instant oatmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup mashed cooked pumpkin (I used fresh, but canned will work)
1/2 cup cold water
Combine first 5 ingredients. Add the pumpkin and cold water and mix, just until combined.
Drop by rounded Tablespoon on top of the boiling vegetable mixture. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook 15-20 minutes, until dumplings are cooked through. Serve hot.
There you go. Very low fat, whole grain and vegetarian. Be impressed.
I am so making that with my turkey carcass. BTW, what is Ace's name for good ol' Tom Turkey?---lisa
ReplyDeleteI AM impressed! I can also almost smell this bubbling away on the stove and it makes my mouth water. Common sense tells me that the instant oatmeal in the dumplings should be regular, right? peaches and cream just wouldn't cut it...
ReplyDeleteThis may be a dumb question (and don't say that there are no dumb questions, just dumb people that ask questions!), but how does the veggie thing need to boil for a certain amount of time before putting the dumpling droplets in? Or just drop the dumpling droppings after it reaches a full boil? Kindly advise.
ReplyDeleteTom Turkey. Ace won't eat those either...it reminds him of an old cannibal joke, you know the one where one cannibal is sitting next to another cannibal and says, "I don't like my mother in law." Then the other one says, "well, push her aside and have some potatoes..." My BIL works in a mortuary and says turkey smells the same as people in the crematory. Ruined Ace forever on having a holiday turkey.
ReplyDeleteMLE, regular instant oatmeal. Yes, and simmer those veggies until tender and then add the dumplings, just so you're sure everything will be cooked through. Great question!! Promise. Love you!!