I’ve heard often
how many people find it difficult to make this filling comfort food. I personally never made this meal while my
husband as alive. But when financially
tough times began to loom, I had to hunt through the pantry and freezer trying
to make the most of out what little I could find. This recipe is one I consider inexpensive
and very easy for a meal that some consider a staple.
The
quantities below make enough to feed 4.
If you have a full time job, this meal isn’t something you are going to
want to plan to make after work. You are
better off cooking this on a day when you’ve got some time. Not that the actually working time to make
this meal takes long, but cooking the chicken takes a while.
What You
Need:
6 qt. pot with lidColander
4 chicken thighs (removing skin lowers fat content without losing taste)
Salt and white pepper (you can use black pepper if you don’t have white)
½ onion (used in boiling water for flavor only so you don’t need to chop)
8 cups water
Poultry Seasoning
Chicken Bouillon cubes
Biscuit Mix (like Bisquick)
Corn Starch
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
Cooking:
Add water to your pot with 8 cubes chicken bouillon. Bring the water to a boil.
While waiting for water to boil, salt and pepper both sides of chicken thighs and set aside
Add chicken, onion and about 4 tsp. poultry seasoning to boiling water.
Cook until chicken falls off the bone.
Put a colander inside a large pot or bowl and dump contents of pot with cooked chicken into colander in order to reserve all the cooking liquid.
Take the chicken out of the colander and place in a bowl or on a cutting board. Let cool until you can touch it with your hands.
Put strained liquid back in to original cooking pot and bring to a boil.
In separate bowl or gravy shaker, combine 3 tbsp. corn starch and 1 tsp. water and mix until smooth. Slowly add to boiling liquid to slightly thicken. Reduce heat so that your thickened liquid is not rapidly boiling.
Once chicken has cooled enough to touch, pull apart chicken into smaller than bit-size pieces (you may choose to cut some of the chicken), making sure there are no remaining pieces of bone.
Put the pulled, bone-free chicken back into the cooking pot.
Add 1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables.
Bring to a slow boil for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combined 1 cup biscuit mix with 6 tbsp. milk or water (trust me, if you are out of milk, water does work just fine). If you have some dried parsely flakes, add a tablespoon to the biscuit mix.
Drop your biscuit mix by teaspoons onto top of chicken/vegetable mixture in your pot. Cover and simmer between 20 and 25 minutes, turning dumplings over once.
Ladle into bowls and enjoy!
