I am normally a huge fan of desserts. Starting any meal with a dessert is truly living. But I live in a world where the reality is we cannot always have our cake and eat it too. So I substitute with some amazing comfort foods that warm my family’s belly’s as well as their hearts; The Chad loved to eat this favorite while growing up on air force bases. It’s a fairly inexpensive and goes the mile type of meal, sure to have plenty of leftovers, and let’s be honest….the leftovers are ALWAYS better the next day.
4-6 chicken breasts, cooked, diced and or shredded
1 & 1/2 c of Kirkland Organic Mixed vegetables (potatoes, corn, green beans, carrots, celery), I like frozen, you can just toss them in and forget about it.
Organic Chicken broth (generally about 3-4 cups depending on how many people you are feeding)
Cream of Chicken soup is the shortcut way, I like to mix some heavy cream with my homemade Organic Chicken Broth.
Salt and pepper to flavor
1 bay leaf
For the Dumplings:
2 1/2 c Bisquick (I like to scratch bake my biscuits as opposed to using Bisquick, the choice is yours)
2/3 c. milk
In a large pot, dutch oven, crock pot, or Cuisinart Multi-Cooker like mine, simmer chicken, broth, vegetables, until vegetables are tender maybe an hour or more depending on how much flavor you want your vegetables to absorb. I personally slow cook my chicken overnight to have them fall apart and shred on their own into the pot.
Slowly add cream of chicken (or cream) and stir gently ever careful not to boil. Add bay leaf and let simmer for 20 minutes, skim out the leaf before the dumplings. While simmering mix the Bisquick and milk until a dough forms and slowly drop into soup mixture, cover and let cook for 10 minutes or until dough rises like bread and biscuits form. Remove from heat and ladle out into a bowl, serve with butter and pepper.
What you will need to start with is chicken. As little as one pound of chicken should do it and you can have it as a mixture of ground chicken breast and chicken thighs. Call me sexist but I love some really good thighs; tender, juicy, and full of amazing flavor. Your local butcher can also assist you in this as he might be doing the majority of the work for you. However, if you happen to have a meat grinder at home, voila, you can accomplish this at home on your own. The butcher will be more than happy to grind this for you upon your request, they are one of the least utilized experts in stores. If you can wrangle a butcher they will share with you a great deal of secrets, if you befriend one, well then you have additional added benefits.
Lightly sprinkle the seasonings across the top of the meat, leave some aside as you will begin to turn the meat and sprinkle alternately so that all of your chicken is evenly coated. Continue to do this until all of your meat is thoroughly covered and mixed together. Feel free to continue to mix if need be to ensure all of your chicken is clad in these warm spices. Once you have encased all of the meat in the chorizo seasoning mix, place in a separate container to be refrigerated overnight. Your seasonings will begin to soak in and enhance the chicken for that authentic chorizo taste. You can roll into a ball and wrap with saran wrap, butcher paper, freezer paper, or place in Tupperware. After sitting at least overnight, we prefer a solid 24 hours, your chicken chorizo is ready to serve up.
Frying up my chorizo and scrambling some egg whites I wanted a carb. Knowing full well I was headed tot he gym for some weights and cardio I wanted to prep my body for the nutrients needed to sustain 90 minutes of intense exercise. I opted for some sweet potatoes. None like the sweet potatoes we have all been accustomed to at Thanksgiving dinners. You see those are called a yam, we however, interchangeably use the term sweet potatoes because they taste sweet. Sweet potatoes can have a hannah white, pale flesh and are loaded in vitamin A, biotin, vitamin C, they help regulate your blood sugar and are a healthy carbohydrate because of the amount of fiber and your body will thank you for all the anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal properties. I digress on the health aspect. The sweet potatoes and chorizo might be a meal to scoff, but please leave the guffaws until after you whet your palette with this sweet and spicy fall dish. Better yet, have it any time of the year if you happen to have a local butcher who would be kind enough to whip up a batch of chicken chorizo for you.
After shredding I tossed them into a large frying pan that had been coated with coconut oil. Another super food I absolutely adore that you can use for anything and everything. Smoothies, baking, frying, or if you are like me a shot all by itself, but I am a fan of coconut so I don’t mind the taste or the smell I have found it to really accentuate my cooking on all levels when used properly.
Quite alright, we can save the Ayn Rand style debate for another day.
With all this being said, please take a moment to check out what we are doing on Kickstarter. It’s a quick blip. We are doing what we love. I love God. I love people. I love to serve. I love to cook. I love my family and by golly I am going to do STUFF! So help us do some stuff. We are already seeing support. I watched Facebook explode when I posted this. Sadly I felt a bit of shame at first.