First of November Soup

Nothing is better when the temperature starts to drop than homemade soup. Or chili. But today it's soup. Chicken and dumplings to be exact. My Mom used to make them all the time. But I don't want to make my own noodles or boil the chicken. I'm using German Spaetzle Egg Noodles and roasting the chicken. It made the house smell like Thanksgiving. I can't wait for Thanksgiving, especially the mashed potatoes. Yummmmm.

So after two days of dealing with inventory at work, Halloween , getting ready to go to New York and just everyday life. We're making muffins, bread and soup. The muffins and bread will be another day. Plus I have to email someone about the bread. I had to have messed something up cause it just didn't turn out right. My take on Chicken and Dumplings.

First the chicken. Roasted not boiled. Heavily salt and pepper the skin. You're not eating it anyways. J

Separate the skin from the chicken so you can shove your herb rub in between. Make sure to rub your chicken down with olive oil so it won't dry out.

Of course before you start pulling and stripping the skin off, please let it cool. Your fingers will thank you later. But you can start on your soup while you're waiting.

Water, bouillon cubes, peas, corn, celery and carrots.

Chicken is cooled off. Time to shred and put it in with the veggies.

Now is when you'll want to toss in your spaetzle noodles.

You could even make this without the chicken or veggies. I used the same herbs in the broth that I used to rub the chicken with. Now its time for the dumplings. Bisquick and milk, it's that simple. These are my favorite part. I just would like the tops to be a bit more stiff.

Just plop em' right in.

Serve to your patiently waiting family.

Chicken and dumplings

4-chicken leg quarters (bone in, skin on)

6-cups water

6-bouillon cubes

1 tsp-parsley

1 tsp-garlic pepper

1 tsp-onion powder

1 tsp-rubbed sage

1 tsp-poultry seasoning

1 small bag frozen corn

1 small bag frozen peas

4 stalks celery

½ bag of baby cut carrots

1 bag German long Spaetzle noodles

2/3 cup milk

2 1/ 2 cup Bisquick

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine herbs in small bowl. Separate chicken skin gently rub with herb mixture. Salt and pepper skin and rub with olive oil. Place chicken on baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour. In large stockpot combine water and bouillon cubes along with left over herb mixture and ¼ cup of chicken drippings. Add in all your veggies when liquid comes to a boil. Pull skin off of cool chicken and cut into small chunks and place into soup. Cook at med heat for 15-20 minutes, or until your veggies are cooked. Add spaetzle noodles and cook 15 more minutes. Make your dumplings while cooking noodles. In a small bowl mix together bisquick and milk. Drop by the spoon full onto soup. Cook for 10 minutes. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes. Serve warm.

 

And at the end of it all this is what you end up with