Bringing "Home" to Family (and Friends, too)

Continuing my efforts to cook every night for my family is not so easy with Jeremy out of town. Savannah and I couldn't care less about eating dinner and Emery will eat ANYTHING, so why not just give him good ole PB&J each night? Well, the reason is simple actually. I really want to provide my family, whoever is at the dinner table, with a nutritious home cooked meal. There is something about that meal, lovingly made with moms own hands, filling the kitchen with warm, mouthwatering aromas, that appeals to me. That is what makes me think of "home".

Yesterday I had planned to make a big batch of chicken salad to eat over the next few days, but around lunch time I remembered a friend of ours who was having some tests run in Atlanta. His wife would be taking him which left his mom (who is visiting from out of town) with their son who just started kindergarten on Tuesday. I thought it would be a nice gesture to make a meal for their family so Velvet wouldn't have to fix dinner when they got home from a long day in the city.

I decided not to make the chicken salad, even though it is sooooo good, because Joey is just like Jeremy. A Southern boy, through and through, and I thought I might get the same comments from him that I hear at home..."I don't want to eat that. There is fruit in with the meat". (roll eyes and shake head here).

It left this Midwestern girl in quite a quandary. The only meal I can fix, confident in it's "down home" appeal, is a rather tasty roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots, and yeast rolls. Makes my husband drool everytime. But I didn't have a roast...I had chicken. What to do, what to do???

So I started digging through some homestyle cookbooks, looking in the index under "chicken". I decided on something that I have been wanting to learn how to make for some time, but have been too intimidated to try: chicken and dumplings.

I had never heard of them until about 10 years ago when I was working part time at the Blue Willow Inn. They have a southern style buffet that brings people from all over the country. I instantly fell in love with their dumplings and would take them home with me after my Friday night shift.

The recipe seemed simple enough, but I was apprehensive about making the dough. As a general rule, if I am reading a recipe and it calls for anything with yeast or a candy thermometer, or bringing water to a certain temperature, I just simply throw it out. Too complicated. But this dough recipe was only flour, milk, and oil. No rising. No tepid water. No kneading. It could be doable.

As I began boiling the water, I called my mom's friend Mellie (writer of the recipe) just to be sure it was, in fact, as easy as it sounded. She gave me some advice and I felt good about trying out a new meal on my friends.

All afternoon the kitchen smelled great! Not only did I end up making some truly wonderful chicken and dumplings, I also made a batch of butter beans, a carrot cake with cream cheese icing, and a gallon of sweet tea. And on the way to their house I stopped by a road side stand and bought some fresh red tomatoes that Emery could NOT stop eating! :)

Hopefully my motivation is not short lived. If it is, Jeremy will be so sorry he was out of town this week and missed it! Tee Hee!!!