27. Cook my way through Paula Deen’s cookbook, “The Lady and Sons Cookbook”

Chicken and Dumplins.


Don't you feel better just reading those words? Total comfort food.

It's winter, snow was predicted for last night:

(correct prediction)

and I wanted some real food to have around for the weekend, so last night I tackled Paula's chicken and dumplins recipe.

Earlier in the week I was reading over the recipe and saw this:
Gulp. I'd never cut up a whole chicken before -- heck, I'd never even purchased a whole raw chicken before.

I got a tip from a friend that Whole Foods was having a sale on free range whole chickens, so I picked one up. Feeling like a very legitimate cook.

So then last night, I had to look up how to properly cut up a chicken, so I watched this video:



Deep breath, and here we go:


The before.....



And after.....
Let's just say, I think my chicken had more bones than Mr. Pampered Chef's did. Either that or his knife is amazing and slices through bone like it's butter. Or he just cracked a bunch of joints so quickly I didn't notice.

At one point I saw what I think is bone marrow.....eeesh. It was a little bit of a gross process, but worth it.

After this it was pretty smooth sailing --- threw a bunch of stuff in a pot and let it do its thing:






I don't know why it just now occurred to me to start doing videos on the blog instead of photos. So I don't claim to be destined for the Food Network, but here is some commentary:





Now would be a good time to let you know that I got some AMAZING Christmas presents this year -- I had asked for a food processor and when I opened it and it was from my sister, I wondered what on earth my parents were going to give me, because I kind of expected them to be the ones to give me the big ticket item I was asking for.....so I was blown away when I got a Kitchenaid stand mixer. I've been using the food processor this week and it has already changed my life (I'm not joking). I have yet to use the Kitchenaid, but I have no doubts I will use it soon. In the mean time it looks realllll purrrty sitting on my counter.


Ok so after everything cooked, I had to pick the chicken, then throw it back in the pot to cook the dumplins. Given that it was Friday at about 6pm and I was a bit braindead from the week, I read "cut into 1 inch strips" as the width the dumplins should be and made them really long. Next time I'll make them smaller (and OH H-YES there will be a next time).

So, final step:



I then ate a bowl full and shared some with my sister. If you're wondering if it's any good -- it is probably one of, if not THE best things I've ever made. Delicious. Next time I might add some carrots or other vegetables to make it even more hearty. But the flavor....amazing. Thank you Paula Deen.

Recipe here