Down-Home Recipe with a Twist: Chicken and Dumplings

When you have a good recipe, you just gotta share. [And remember, in my book, good = easy, yummy and relatively cheap.] I hope you enjoy this old favorite dish. What's the twist? Instead of hand-rolled pastry or even canned biscuits for dumplings, this version uses flour tortillas. How cool is that?

I'm making this dish right now for my family and to share with my parents tonight. And because I love all y'all blogging buddies and FOBs (Friends of Bloggers), I've got photos to go along with the recipe.

BTW, when you cook, serve or eat these delicious critters, so you'll know, the proper pronunciation and definition reads like this: n. dump-lin; a thing of marvel and delight; a rib-sticking delicious mainstay of southern cooks; good for what ails ya; better 'n chicken soup for a cold.

Chicken & Dumplings

1 whole chicken or large pack of thighs

1 small onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 clove garlic {or if you're lazy like me, one pkg. frozen cooking veggies and

a heaping tablespoon of garlic powder}

salt and black pepper to taste (lots of pepper is good in this!)

1 bay leaf and a pinch of thyme, optional
2 cans chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
3 cups of milk
6 large flour tortillas cut in 3x3 squares

In large pot, boil chicken until very tender, close to 2 hours with seasoning. Cool and refrigerate overnight. This allows the disgusting fat to congeal on top, which can then be scraped off.

Return pot to low heat for about 30 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and de-skin/de-bone. Tear into small chunks and set aside. Add in canned broth, soup and milk. Bring to a boil.

Drop tortillas (dumplings) in a handful at a time to keep from sticking together. Cover and simmer on very low for 15 minutes. Stir in chicken chunks and simmer for 15 more minutes. Serve and enjoy!

And here's the visual on today's recipe:

Chicken fat to skim. Eww!

Veggies added to stock.











Chicken cooling to de-bone/de-skin.

Tortillas to add to stock.

All ya need now is a spoon. Dig in!

Strange Growth

*Picture of an old oak tree in my yard with magnolia sprouting inside.*

I've been thinking lately about what brings about growth in a person. Forced change in circumstances and traumatic events come to mind first as factors which cause us to become different. Even though both situations are negative in most cases, the results can be positive.

Example: Your spouse becomes somewhat disabled by illness or accident. This sad happening might force you to drop full time work for part time in order to be home and giving care to your loved one. In the process of all this radical change, you somehow eke out the time to begin freelancing while you're at home. And maybe this leads to a lucrative, fulfilling career change, or germinates an innate talent you weren't sure you had before. See what I mean?

The "forced" change in circumstance can come about through a job layoff, a relocation for work, care giving scenarios, a sudden inheritance of extra responsibilities, or a relationship which entails way more sacrifice than you ever expected. But just because the change suddenly fell on your head out of the blue doesn't mean it can't have positive fallout.

Most people experience growth through adversity some time in their lives. It's how you see it -- with what kind of perspective and expectations -- that makes all the difference in how things turn out.

Then there are the good things that bring growth, like unexpected connections made through networking, a sudden blossoming of a latent talent/ability, more leisure time to pursue dreams, a windfall into your gasping checking account, even a suggestion from someone on some new direction or dream you might find appealing.

However personal growth happens, I think if we see it with positive eyes, we'll be a lot more pleased with the result than if we had to be drug kicking, screaming and moaning all the way to our new destination.

Can you think of a time when a change came into your life? Did you accept it, deal with it, and make the best of things...or not?

*My morning shadow on the wall. What is the light shining through my chest? Could it be change/growth glowing within?*

October 12, 2008 Weekly Forecast

Aren't these gorgeous? I can't decide if the roses have been tinkered with using bright pigment-filled water to grow them, or if they've been doctored in photo shop, or some other mad scientist procedure. Whatever caused them to appear in the jpeg as they do, I like the final product.

As far as I can tell, I've got a good week ahead and everyone I care about is doing well, or at least holding their own. There are no odious chores hanging over my head, nothing to dread, and the sky's the limit on what I want to accomplish. Now, we all know Life has a way of throwing big fat monkey wrenches into the cogs of our plans, but for right now, it's clear skies ahead.

Looking at these beyond-bright flowers and trying to figure out if they are some sort of rare but real hybrid, or if they've been manipulated in some way, made me think on this:

How much of what I see and hear (especially from "reliable" sources such as the mainstream media), do I take at face value?

I'm a pretty skeptical person who loves to research and haunt snopes.com, so I don't think I'm too gullible, but I'd love to see your answers to the question. So feel free to express those opinions. And if you have examples or links to articles on the topic; all the better.

Hope your Sunday and week ahead are everything you hope for. I'll be dropping by your blog homes, so have the coffee pot and chat ready!

Spotlight On...

On Saturdays here at Gumbo Writer's place, we [wait, there is no "we," so why did I address myself in the third person?] highlight a great blog, a nice person, a nifty place on the Net, or some current event. Since everyone's tired of hearing about the presidential campaign and the troubled financial market, how about sharing some blog love with...{drumroll noise insertion here}...Amie over at Written Expressions ---> http://written-expressions.blogspot.com/

Why, you ask? Well, the blog is very easy on the eyes, not all crazy-fied like mine. It's a nice read and the blog mistress speaks clearly so even I can understand. :) The posts I've read so far are positive in slant and have some really good writing suggestions. But, most of all, you should visit because of this, in the author's own words under the post, "Don't Make me Beg": "Okay, help a sister out. I recently added the "Follow This Blog" gadget to my page, and now it's taunting me with its lack of followers."

Who could refuse such an honest, heartfelt plea?

The blogger's straightforward request has me thinking. What's the best way you've found to draw a loyal readership to your blog home? And do you prefer the Follow function or the Blog Roll thingy?

Happy Saturday to y'all. I'm writing this Friday night after my usual raffle-ticket-selling-at-the-football-game stint, and before I have to be at mandatory work day at the school's baseball field. Woohoo, a double header of fun for the Mom! ;)

I'll leave you, my wonderful bloggy friends, with a picture that made me smile in real life vs. that funky smiley icon that I overuse and which probably gets on peoples' nerves:

Feel free to add a caption to mine -- "I wuv hangin' out with fwiends."

Seven Quirks a'Quackin'

Author Jenny James http://authorjennijames.blogspot.com/tagged me as one of her bloggy friends to post seven quirks or random things about myself. Hmmm, so many choices, so little space! I'll just type the first seven that come to mind...a dangerous proposition this early in the morning~

1. I love coffee so much, I'm a little suspicious of those who don't drink it, or at least hot tea.
2. To my kids' eternal embarassment, I'm prone to donning strange costumes and showing up in public places where they might be. {See Wolfie costume at the bottom of this post--> http://angie-ledbetter.blogspot.com/2008/10/athletic-supporter.html }
3. I put pepper on cantaloupe.
4. I make up stories about people I see while driving. Complete stories. With many intricate details. Two of my three kids do this too. :)
5. Here's a real shocker -- I love to cook and eat.
6. The title of my newest manuscript is Word Thief.
7. I sleep with the cover pulled over my exposed ear. Eww, and I grind my teeth too. Oh, and I snore sometimes. And I love the rain-on-a-tin-roof noise of my sound machine. And I always sleep with the ceiling fan on. But at least I'm not a cover hog.

Since I just tagged others this week for a game of What's on Page 56, you get a pass. But I *would* love to hear some of your weirdest personal quirks...especially if someone in your family finds them particularly odious or strange. Spill the beans, I promise not to laugh. Well, I promise not to laugh real loud.

Great Escapes Made Easy

Thursdays are reserved for chatting about different things, so today, I'd like to get feedback from fellow bloggers on what they do to maintain their mental health...ya know...the ways they find to get off the spinning hamster wheel of life for awhile.

We all need time away from our daily routine, chores, work, projects, ruts. Without those opportunities, we can lose perspective, risk becoming burnt out, and maybe completely drain our bodily and spiritual battery reserves dry. Then we're no good to anyone.

Here are a few things I do to recharge:

• Go to a movie in the middle of the day.
• Read a few chapters of an absorbing book.
• Listen to music which has the power to transport me.
• Take a whole day off. If I can't physically leave home, I unplug the phones (including the cell), and just "be" for the day. The day might include visiting with a friend, taking in a museum or local site, sneaking in a good long nap, taking pictures around town, or hanging out at a bookstore/cafe.
• Spend time with a favorite hobby. Or try on a new one for size. I've recently been enjoying creating Treated Text. *More on that later, but for the moment, you can gaze upon an example below.* LOL
• Make concrete plans for a longer, bigger escape -- as in, outside my zip code for several days -- sometime in the near future.
• Count my blessings and list the things I'm grateful for. [I'm putting in a plug for our Year of Gratitude (YOG) blog here since it's befitting. We invite you to visit and check out the thoughts of four women writer friends on the benefits of an attitude of gratitude! http://barbaraquinnyearofgratitude.blogspot.com/]

I'd love to hear your ideas on cheap/free, easy, accessible ways to relax. C'mon, don't be shy! Hope the rest of your day is stress free and wonderful!

More Wednesday Writing Tips

I love reading what other writers and editors have to say about the writing life and improving your craft. I especially enjoy posts and articles which give me an inside look into the successful processes someone else uses.

Browsing the always-nifty posts at Amy Sue Nathan's blog yesterday, I found just such a juicy nugget, which I asked and got permission to borrow in order to share with you. If you get the opportunity, you'll find good writerly stuffs over at Amy's place. Here's an example:

Amy writes, "When you write a scene, you use building blocks of characters, dialog, time, place, emotion. You pick and choose and use them carefully (we hope). But does the scene hold up if you remove one element? Or does the whole thing fall apart?" More here titled Literary Jenga---> http://amysuenathan.com/?p=401

Do you find you constantly leave out the same important element from your work, or add extra components which make it wobbly or bulky? I get overly-wordy sometimes, but I blame that on my Italian heritage and the Cajun culture that surrounds me. When I find these "tic words" or whole paragraphs (or lines/stanzas in a poem) which can easily be deleted without negative impact to the bigger work, it makes me feel like this:

How 'bout you?

Politically Incorrect Cartoon & A Recipe

"I was depressed last night so I called Lifeline. Got a call center in Pakistan. Told them I was suicidal. They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck." {Thanks for the email forward, Trudy!}

Coffee factoid of the week: If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

Now, from Gumbo Writer to you via friend Oren, here's the promised recipe! *Oren's disclaimers: "Here is the White Chocolate Bread Pudding stuff. It is from Palace Cafe' in N.O. I have just about got it adapted for the dutch oven. [Not a healthy recipe.] Enjoy."*

WHITE CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

4 oz. French bread (I use hot dog or hamburger buns. Seems to do ok.)
1 ½ cups Half & Half
½ cup heavy cream or whipping cream
1 whole egg
4 egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces white chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter custard cups or baking dish. Cut trimmed bread into chunks. Place on baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Heat Half & Half and cream over low heat until hot but not boiling. Beat together the egg, yolks, and sugar. Off heat, whisk a few tablespoons of the cream mixture into the egg mixture to warm it. Whisk eggs into the cream, and then stir in the vanilla.

Scrape melted chocolate into cream mixture and whisk into it. It will blend after a few minutes.

Line baking dish or cups with bread. Pour custard into dish and let bread absorb it. Place dish in an ovenproof pan large enough to hold it comfortably. Surround dish with boiling water and bake until set; when a knife inserted comes out clean. This should take about 35–40 minutes. Should be served warm.

White Chocolate Sauce
¾ cup heavy cream
4 ounces white chocolate – melted

Heat cream until almost boiling. Whisk it into the melted chocolate until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Hey, maybe if Garfield had a serving of Oren's bread pudding, he (Garfield) wouldn't be quite so grumpy in the morning. *grin*

Since today's post began with a cute animal-related item, here's one to finish with. The writer in me is coming up with some crazy captions! Can you think of one?

I've Been Tagged, and It's Not Even Hunting Season!

Alyssa Goodnight http://alyssagoodnight.blogspot.com/ tagged me to complete the quasi-book/writing-related challenge described below, so here goes:

Having calmed considerably, Olm pulled his truck over to the side of the road and stared out at the bayou that ran parallel to the road. Down those murky waters, through the sloughs and channels, across the flats, down into the darkest parts of the Atchafalaya, where the cypress trees grew so thick their branches seemed conjoined, sat his two aces -- in the hole. He considered the wild game, snakes, and alligators that populated the swamp. There was always the chance the children might wind up as a meal before the ceremony time. [From friend Deborah LeBlanc's just- released book, Water Witch, Dorchester Publishing.]

The rules are as follows: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal/blog along with these instructions. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the closest. Tag five other people to do the same.

Hmm, who am I gonna tag from randomly scrolling through my Rockin' Blog roll?

Travis

Joanne

Terri

Jim (Suldog)

Wendy

Now, wasn't that more fun than a barrel of monkeys? And what are YOU reading right now?

Week Ahead: Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Thunderstorms

Another week officially begins today. Last week was a busy one with kids' stuff like homecoming, booster band club meetings, editing work, and doing fun stuff with friends. The "chance of thunderstorms" forecast for this week pertains to some grunt work I need to do around the house, as well as the actual weather conditions hovering over Baton Rouge.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the annual Louisiana Book Festival, so I'll post pics & notes from some awesome poets and authors Wednesday. Which reminds me, if any of you writerly type folks have short stories, poetry, etc. to submit to a fine literary e-zine, why not consider The Rose & Thorn? We're open to reading again. http://www.theroseandthornezine.com/

I'll be sharing a delicious recipe from friend Oren this week too. *Warning: get your drool bib ready now!*

Until then, I'll leave you with a post I made to our Year of Gratitude blog (YOG blog) yesterday on finding balance in your life: http://barbaraquinnyearofgratitude.blogspot.com/2008/10/searching-for-balance-by-angie.html Hope you enjoy.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Ooops! I missed awarding the prize to the blogger with the best plot scenario to go with the cemetery bus photo I posted on Monday.

To rectify my slovenly ways, I've decided to give the cyber prize to several of you. And since Saturdays are "Spotlight on..." days, you can share the bright glow of blog accomplishment:

Joanne said...It's the whole, abstract "life's a journey" theme.

Janna Qualman said...She knew the bus ride was significant, for it represented her transportation between two lives. The destination awaiting her, the cemetery, meant the end of one life, the beginning of another. She’d say goodbye to the woman she used to be, there, at the small headstone engraved with her given name. And there she’d take on her new name, embrace her new self, begin the new life she had no choice but to live...

Melissa Marsh said...It was a strange place to do a business deal, a bus on the way to a cemetery, but business deals like this weren't done in normal places. No outdoor cafes, no shopping malls, no parking lots. But a bus to the cemetery...that was the perfect place for this deal.

The Paper Whisperer said...Yes, it was true, the Nation's economy had hit an all time low forcing even the grim reaper into a moonlighting gig just to make ends meet. However, the strain of his second job was killing him. Being the savvy businessman that he was, he devised a plan that would allow him to kill two birds with one stone. He contacted the city's transportation department, where he presented his killer idea. "You are 'dead on' with that brilliant idea," exclaimed the Superintendent of Transportation. Mrs. Reaper, on the other hand, was not so happy. She was tired of Mr. Reaper working such long hours. At the end of his shift on the first night he grabbed a bouquet of flowers from a lonely grave. If nothing else, he knew he could always kill Mrs. Reaper with kindness.

Now...if someone can show me how to export or otherwise send the nifty little trophy to the winners, I'll be eternally grateful!

Athletic Supporter

Okay, when you read today's blog entry title, which came to mind?

That's a little T.G.I.F. treat for all you bloggers and friends of bloggers out there! Since I reserve Fridays for "Family Life & Stuff" posts, today it's all about being a team supporter. My sons' high school homecoming game is tonight, so everyone's excited. And, yeah, I'll be hawking $1 raffle ticket chances on $500 or a flat screen TV, but it'll still be fun.

I *may* even put on the Wolfie! costume. My kids will be sooooooooo so so so pleased. LOL. {See last photo. Note lovely expression. Sorry you can't see the humongous wolf slippers on my feet and gigantor green & white clappers!}

Speaking of football, if you haven't had the full tailgating experience (we do it for high school and college games here), you have no idea of the fun you're missing. LSU fans (Geaux Tigers!) have the reputation of being the #1 tailgating enthusiasts, so rather than explain it, here are a few pics from last weekend's game, courtesy of local talk radio station WJBO 1150 AM ~~

See all those purple and gold shirts filling the stadium? Imagine them all 10-24 hours before kickoff covering every square inch of the LSU campus, cooking, eating, drinking and making merry. Now you have a more accurate mental picture of true athletic supporters. If you want even more tailgating photos, surf here: http://www.wjbo.com/cc-common/gallery/globalphotos.html?section=lsu

As for me, I'm minor league with my thrown-together mascot costumes. But, durn, it's still a hoot, and worth every Saturday morning case of "wolf throat" I get from screaming at the games. Go Wolves!

*Man, wish I didn't care so much about what other people think of me.* ;o)