Chicken and Fresh Wheat Dumplings

Since I started milling my own flour, my kitchen has taken on a whole new life. I’m more apt to create items from scratch rather then using store bought. I love how healthy my food tastes and the best part is I can mill what I want, when I want and I don’t have a bunch of flour stored in the pantry. My kitchen is rather small and does not have a lot of storage space anyway.

When I was a kid, I loved my mom’s chicken and dumplings. She would make the dumplings with Bisquick and I remember how yummy and fluffy they came out. I’d eat the dumplings over the chicken any day of the week so the more she made, the happier I was.

So, naturally I set out to make dumplings from scratch. I looked a lot of recipes on line and came up with one of my own that combined the best parts of these recipes and added a “Lorifying” touch.

I did not use Bisquick. I milled my own hard white wheat grain I purchased at Whole Foods. I found that using the wheat flour gave my dumplings much more flavor then Bisquick ever did.

CHICKEN INGREDIENTS:
3 slices bacon
1 red onion, diced
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast, sliced into thirds
3 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1 (15.25 ounce) can corn,drained and rinsed
3 cups half-and-half
1 clove garlic, diced

DUMPLING INGREDIENTS:
2 cups freshly milled wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder if not self-rising
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp parsley flakes

DIRECTIONS:
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Crumble and set aside; reserve bacon drippings in skillet.

Add garlic, onion and chicken to bacon drippings and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in chicken broth; season with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.

Stir in corn, and simmer all together for 15 minutes.

Pour in half-and-half (I used fat free half and half) and bring to a boil; add crumbled bacon.

In a medium bowl, combine the dumpling ingredients and mix well (dough should be thick).

Drop tablespoon sizes of dough into boiling mixture; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes uncovered, then another 10 minutes covered.Don’t forget… dumpling dough expands quite a bit so be sure to space them apart. (Note: Do not stir while simmering, or dumplings will break apart). Serve hot.

This turned out great! The dumplings were fluffy and flavorful. Cutting into them you can see the wheat color and texture. It added a lot to the dish. The chicken moist and delicious. The sauce thickened up nicely and was amazing. And it tasted great over the dumplings. The corn added a nice sweetness to the chicken and all flavors blended well. My husband said (and this is a direct quote) “You can make this anytime you want to.” He was in chicken heaven. And he ate two enormous dumplings too.

As I said previously, the wheat flour made all the difference in the world. Between the healthier flour and the fat free half and half, this was a  healthier version of my moms classic. A great dumpling for sure!

Chicken recipe courtesy of AllRecipes

 

 

About Lori's Culinary Creations

My name is Lori and I currently live in Utah with my wonderful husband Mark. I have two step daughters and four grand kids.  Mark and I love mountain life and spend our spare time riding in the canyons on our Harley, taking in all the beauty and exploring all Utah has to offer. We live with four cats, an African Grey parrot who rules the roost. 

My blog, "Lori's Culinary Creations" is dedicated to my adventures (and mis-adventures) in the kitchen. I share recipes both new and old, cooking tips, reviews of gadgets used in the kitchen and also family friendly and Christian products. I love to cook and love to try new products, gadgets, cookware and small appliances. My husband said we need a bigger kitchen with all the "toys" I've accumulated.

I believe life should be experienced and with that experience comes adventure and discovery. I take that philosophy into the kitchen. I enjoy creating new recipes, trying out other recipes especially recipes from other cultures and ethnic groups. I believe your plate should be filled with the flavorful foods God provides us with and your taste buds should be doing the "happy dance" every day.

Grain Mill Wagon Experience: I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to join the Grain Mill Challenge. It gave me a chance to cook “outside the box” and try new recipes and learn more about whole grain. My comfort level with baking increased as I tried breads, muffins and even dumplings from scratch for the first time. I found that using fresh flour from whole grain gave my culinary creations more flavor, a fresher taste and is a lot more nutritious for my husband and myself. My husband even signed me up for a Whole Grains class to support me on this new endeavor and I learned about the uncommon grains such as buckwheat and millet. I now grind my own flour and corn meal for everything and am amazed at the ease of the process and the quick clean up. I love my WonderMill and have a list of recipes I’m going to try over the next few months.

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