Random Recipe: Chicken & Dumplings

I made this last Monday on a blustery spring day. It's so tasty and easy! I really love chicken pot pie, but it always takes too long and makes a mess. This is close enough for me to be happy and it only takes 1 cutting board, 1 knife, 1 bowl, some spoons, and 1 pot! What I also love about this is that you don't have to prep everything. While the butter is melting you can chop, while you are bringing everything to a boil you can cut your chicken, while the chicken is cooking you can make your dumplings, and while your dumplings are cooking you can cleanup! It makes just enough for the three of us for dinner so you might want to double it if you have a bigger family. I haven't tried doubling it so if it doesn't work it's not my fault! Please read the whole recipe before beginning.

• Melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat in a large dutch oven
• Coarsely chop 1 medium onion & 5 carrots. Place in pan. Add 1/2 teaspoon dried OR 1 teaspoon fresh thyme. Cook until onion is translucent
• Whisk in 1/4 cup all purpose flour for a minute (this allows the flour to cook a little)
• Whisk in 1 3/4 cups chicken stock/broth and bring to a boil
• Add about 3 chicken breasts or thighs cut into bite size pieces, cover and reduce to simmer
• In a small bowl stir together 3/4 cup all purpose flour, 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder, & 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Add 1/2 cup milk and stir only until incorporated, it will be very sticky!
• When chicken is cooked stir in about 1 cup frozen vegetables (I used corn and green beans). If you want to use fresh you would probably want to add them with the chicken.
• Drop dumpling mixture on top of chicken mixture using two spoons (scoop it onto one spoon and use the other to push it off). I wanted small dumplings so I used tiny kid's spoons (the tiny ones in the IKEA set). Just make a nice topping leaving space in between because they will puff up. I only ended up using half of the dumpling mixture so I put the other half onto wax paper on a baking sheet and put them in the freezer until they were hard and then into a freezer bag. I'm hoping that next time I can just plop them in frozen and have one less step!
  

Hello?? Spring? Is it really you?

Silly baby! That's a calculator, not a phone! Anyway, I'm excited again and hoping that I'm not going to be disappointed again! It looks, smells, feels, and sounds like spring. Please don't leave! I hate it when it gets warm and all of the snow melts and then it comes back. Very depressing! Mackenzie and I went and bought seeds yesterday and started our tomatoes. Once they start growing I will put some pics up. I think she will be more interested next year. She doesn't really care right now. She just wanted to run!

IKEA anyone?

A few weeks ago Dan had a day off and we decided an outing was needed and went on one with our friends/neighbors. We somehow decided IKEA, followed by MOA. Of course 30 minutes after we got to IKEA a blizzard began, so we just waited and walked around the mall all day. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. It was so much fun. We used to go there all the time "back in the day" when there was just two of us...and gas was cheaper. Pictured above are our IKEA finds. Of course everything was for the punkin'! We had been looking for a chair for her for awhile and finally found one we could afford! I can't believe they try to charge you $79 for the ones at Target. This one was $29 and the cover comes off so you can wash it! We also found the miniature set of utensils. They were in the play section, but the tag said they were tested food safe and stainless steel. They were only $5. I had seen a set in a children's catalog that was just 1 fork, 1 knife, and 1 spoon for i think $20! This one is 4 of each and came with it's own little tray. No more plastic! The only plastic we have left is sippy cups, which are bpa free. We are working on drinking out of a glass...fun, fun! The third thing we bought was a tent. As you can see it's quite roomy. You can fit a bunch of pillows, a punkin', a puppy, and a daddy in it! And, you can take it down and roll it up somewhat easily. Of course it was bigger when we got it home than in the store. Oh well. I had been wanting to find or make some sort of place that she could go. I was planning to make a cardboard playhouse after being inspired by this one: http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/cardboard-playhouse-plans.html (love this site, look around!). I of course wasn't going to stick to the plan and was going to make a much more extravagant version. I never got around to getting boxes, but while trying to find boxes on the internet I came across this awesome product which has plans for all kinds of cardboard things http://www.mrmcgroovys.com/t-how-to.aspx (this site also tells you how to get the boxes). Then I thought maybe I would make one from fabric and found a free pattern on the boy scout website. Then we went to IKEA and I saw this and realized that I didn't really have time to make one right now so we bought it. I am glad we did because she's really not as into it as I thought she would be and I think I would have been a little sad if I would have made it and she didn't play in it. Especially since it would have taken me a long time to do it. So, anyway, the new plan is to maybe make a cardboard one when she is a little older and she can help paint it or something. I think we need to get out more. That was like a mini vacation, with souvenirs and everything!

Boy or Girl? Shower Gift

My cousin is having a baby! She is due April 16th, which is not too far away, and had a shower March 8th. I couldn't go because of a baptism so I gave her her gift early when she was in the area for a birthday party. My cousin and I grew up together. She is 1 month and 2 days older than I am. I am originally from Hackensack, which is a small town about an hour north of Brainerd. After my family moved to the "cities" she started calling me a citiot (city + idiot). Here's the funny thing about the gift I gave her and me being the city girl. She grew up in the country with cows, chickens, etc. She used to help kill and clean the chickens. But when I told her I was doing cloth diapers before I had Mackenzie she said she could never do it because the poop part was too gross! So you can kill chickens but you can't rinse poo in the toilet! Who's the wuss now?! Anyway, she became pregnant and started to change her mind about the whole cloth diaper thing once she realized how many diapers babies use and how expensive it is and she also told me she didn't want the chemicals on the baby. So of course I was excited! But when she told me she was going to register for diapers at Target I began to worry a little. So I decided to get her started with her shower gift: 12 premium unbleached infant prefolds, 2 snappi fasteners, 1 bummis super whisper wrap, and 1 recycled wool soaker made by none other than her dear cousin. I think it's so cute all together. I can't believe how tiny they are! I wish someone would have bought me diapers...

My baby is a rock star!

Check out that hair! She was meant to be in an 80's hair band! This is usually what it looks like in the morning. I don't know what I'm going to do with it when it gets longer. It's going to be a mess!