Every cook does it.

They just won’t admit it.

Every cooks cheats on occasion.

Some use canned spaghetti sauce.

“I can take this jar of Ragu and make it taste exactly like what my mother used to make!

Of course you can, IF YOUR MOTHER USED RAGU!!!

Some use Velveeta when they make their mac and cheese.

“This takes just like cheddar cheese!

No…NO, IT DOES NOT!

Or there was the time someone actually tried to convince me that stevia tastes just like honey.

Yeah, THAT stevia.

You know, the grotesque stuff made from a plant that only some psychotic hippie ever thought about first sucking on.

The stuff that tastes like gasoline mixed with saccharine.

So, a couple of weeks ago, my husband told me that he had a terrible craving for chicken and dumplings. I just sighed when he said that.

Honestly, chicken and dumplings is not one of my favorite foods to make. It just never seems to come out right for me.

So I decided to cheat.

I bought frozen dumplings. The instructions were so easy:

“1. Boil water.

2. Place dumplings in boiling water for ten minutes.

3. Drain and rinse.

4. Mince chicken and add to chicken stock.

5. Bring to a low heat and add dumplings.

6. Ready in ten minutes.

7. Serves six.”

It seemed so easy as I opened up the packs of frozen dumplings and added them to the boiling water. Slowly I broke them apart with a spoon and watched the timer go.

At the same time, I had created a large pot of chicken stock and added the chopped chicken to it. A very low heat caused it to lightly simmer.

At the ten minute mark, I drained the dumplings and rinsed them. They look well…like dumplings…

I added them to the chicken broth and turned the heat down as low as I could and kept stirring regularly. Ten minutes later, it was done.

At least according to the directions…

I turned off the flame and removed the pan from the burner. Grabbing a couple of bowls, I quickly made the salad to go with them dumplings.

THAT is when disaster struck.

I went to scoop out some of the dumplings on a plate to server and realized that they had dissolved completely.

Not just clumped together.

Completely dissolved.

As I needed to make something for dinner, I quickly microwaved a couple of dinners and ate with the hub.

Then, it came time to clean the pot with the remains of the dumplings in it.

The dumplings had completely hardened.

Not just goopy but completely hardened.

Even the spoon was stuck in the pot.

I had to use a paint scraper to clean the pot.

BUT I got it cleaned!

NOW LET’S DO IT RIGHT!!!

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:

2 lbs. chicken meat with bones and skin

2 cups all purpose flour

1 egg

Garlic, ground

Pepper

Salt

1 tsp. baking powder

• In a large pot, bring two gallons of water to a simmer.
• Add the chicken and simmer for approximately one hour.
• Remove the chicken and allow to cool.
• Debone the chicken and remove the skin.
• Roughly chop the meat and set aside.
• Sift the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl.
• Whip the egg and add to the flour mixture.
• Add one cup of the chicken broth to the mixture and mix thoroughly.
• Knead the dough on and roll into several tubes.
• Add the meat to the broth and bring to a low simmer.
• Add spices to taste.
• Roll out the dough tubes and cut into 1 1/2 inch sections.
• Drop the dumplings into the broth and simmer for ten minutes.
• Serves six.
• ENJOY!!!