In which I am Still Sick and Mopey, but well fed.

I am home sick again today. I am feeling very sorry for myself and having a big ole “pitiful Pearl” kind of day. My head and nose are all congested, I have a fever and a headache, my throat hurts and I even have pink eye in one eye.  I cannot get warm. I just took the kids to school, they had breakfast at home and then more breakfast at school. My kids love breakfast.  I hate to be sick because I can tell that I am short tempered with them and I don’t enjoy their antics as I would normally.  I give them extra hugs as I leave. I always feel guilty if I am at home and yet still send them to class.

Yesterday I did end up making chicken and dumplings.

First I roasted 3 split bone in chicken breasts on a bed of veggies (425 degrees, 40 minutes until internal temp is 160). The vegetables were just whatever I had;a few ribs of celery, a bulb of fennel, carrots, a few cloves of garlic, an onion. I rubbed the chicken breasts with olive oil, kosher salt, pepper and herbs de Provence. (If you have ever wondered if herbs de Provence are worth buying rather than just plain poultry seasoning, the answer is yes.) This isn’t very pretty – that’s OK because it is all being made into other things.

I tented the pan with foil and let it rest to reabsorb the juices.

Then I shredded the meat off the bone of all three breasts. One breast’s worth (that sounds weird) I set aside.  The others I put into a ziplock to use for other stuff. And yes, I did eat up the super salty crispy lovely skin of just the one piece.  I’m only  human!

Then I took a little can of biscuits, and rolled each biscuit into a log shape then cut each one into 4 pieces, I seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Into a soup pot I added:

1 can cream of chicken soup,

1 can of water,

1 can of milk,

1 can of chicken broth

1 can peas and carrots

I stirred until mixed and then brought it up to a simmer. I dropped the dough into the soup, put on a lid and let it simmer until all the dumplings rose to the surface – about 20 minutes.

This was really awesome, and I really do think that chicken soup does help you feel better when you have a cold!

In case anyone wonders - the chicken bones, skin and veggies went back into a soup pot with 6 cups of water and simmered for 2 hours, then strained to make broth. The other two chicken breasts will be turned into enchiladas verdes and BBQ chicken to go on top of baked potatoes. It is a chicken-y kind of week for us (but honestly these huge breasts were $1 each!)