The Best Chicken and Dumplings and a New Witch

Bev is very sick.  She is truly in a fight for her life.  I hardly hear from her because she is too weak to even think about using the computer.  Her niece keeps me updated on her condition which continues to be grim. After a weak of not hearing from Bev, she mustered up enough energy to send me a one sentence email.  It said:  cook something really good and eat it for me.  So sad!  Two months ago, I made Bev's recipe for chicken and dumplings for the first time.  It is comfort food at it's best.  I gave a lot of it away and keep getting requests from neighbors to make it again.  So, thinking of Bev, I give you this recipe in case you missed it the first time.  I only wish I lived near her so I could feed some of this to her myself.

Place whole chicken in a heavy pot. Add 1/2 a cup of butter.  Add bay leaves and salt and pepper.

Dice about 4 stalks of celery with their tops.

Fill the pot to cover the chicken.  Bring it to a boil and then turn it down to a low simmer and cover the pot.  Let it cook for 1-1/2 to 2 hours depending on the size of your chicken.

Remove the chicken and set aside to cool a bit. Add a tub or 2 of Knorr's concentrated chicken stock to enrich it.

The chicken should be falling off the bone.

You can tell when the chicken is done if your puppy starts to hover.

Mama...I think the chicken is ready.

Pour 3/4 cup of water into a bowl.  Add1/2 cup of oil, 2 beaten eggs, 1 tsp. of salt and some cracked black pepper.  Whisk this together and stir in 3 cups of flour just until combined.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.

Roll it to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut it into 1/2 inch strips and them 4 inch pieces.

Bring the stock to a low boil and drop the strips into it.

After a couple minutes turn it back down to a low simmer, pull the chicken from the carcass and shred it and add it to the stock.  Add some fresh parsley.  Make sure to accidentally drop a few pieces on the floor for your puppy.

I pack it into bell jars to give it to friends.

I just know if I could give Bev a bowl of this it would make her feel a bit better.  Please get better Bev!  I miss you so much!

Though I am selling off most of my witch collection, I still look for rare pieces on ebay all the time.  This is a VERY rare piece and when I saw it, I immediately bought it.  This is an antique Norwegian fireplace damper pull.  I have always wanted one and only came across one other in all my years of collecting.

You can see it is quite large and very heavy.

I want to find the perfect house with the perfect fireplace where I can hang this.

This lady deserves to fly in just the right spot!