It's Hard To Find Good Help These Days....

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

I took a small break from the blog during the holidays, and by break I mean, I didn't write anything, but I have continued to cook.  We had a bit of snow recently (finally!) and with the snow and cold weather comes the need for something to be cooking in a pot.  I flipped through my Cook's Country and Dakota Chicken and Dumpling Soup caught my eye immediately.  Of course they also called it Knoephla Soup (good luck with that)....I could never pass off a dinner called 'Knoephla Soup' to my family (mostly because I can't pronounce it) so, chicken and dumplings it is.

The Batter

The hardest part of this soup, had to be the dumpling part.  Not the mixing of the dumpling batter, or that it had complicated ingredients, just moving the batter from the bowl and eventually to getting it in the pot.  The more I wrestled with the baggie and batter, the more frustrated I got and the bigger mess I was making. Ryan happened to walk through the kitchen right as I was struggling to put the batter in the ziplock for the 19th time.  He must have quickly assessed the situation, my look of helplessness, the mess I was making, and took off like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  Unfortunately for him, we had already made eye contact.  Reluctantly, he came back (after screaming his name for 10 minutes he realized I was not going to stop).  First I held the bag and Ryan poured....after two spills, pouring at the speed of 95 year old man, and some impatient quips from me...we switched jobs.  Ryan held and I poured.  After I got some on Ryan, he almost dropped the bag, and a couple of looks from him that seemed to say 'Not so easy now is it?'....we successfully got the baggie loaded with batter.

I was moving on to the next step when I heard Ryan say, "Oh wow."  It wasn't an excited OH WOW!....It was a heavily laden with sarcasm, oh wow.  That's when he showed me this...

To be fair, I never claimed to be perfect....

Tell me my hands don't look
a little chubby...

Ryan was through with me, but I wasn't through with him.  He was over me and that soup and more specifically, that batter.  I explained that all I needed was him to take a picture of the way you had to 'cut' the dumplings as you squeeze the baggie.  Easy enough, right?  Maybe if someone else was steering this ship....  Poor Ryan.  The first few pictures were a little blurry, then he was taking it at an angle that showed how messy of a cook I actually am.  I started to get a cramp in my hand from all the squeezing and I had to take a break. The next set of pictures he took was at an angle that made my hands look fat.....  That was it for him.  I didn't see him again until dinner time.

The soup turned out perfectly.  It was super yummy the next day too...  I highly recommend this recipe.  Ryan does not, but for reasons that have nothing to do with the taste of the soup.

The Ingredients

Cook's Country Oct/Nov 2012