Chicken and Dumplings

The other night we were craving comfort food. We had just returned home from a weekend with my mom... funny how visiting your mom can make you crave things you ate growing up. After tossing around a few ideas we settled on homemade chicken and dumplings. In an effort to keep it easy, quick, and healthy, we used boneless skinless chicken breasts, whole wheat flour in the dumplings, and some veggies and herbs from our garden (post coming on this project soon!). I baked the dumplings like biscuits, then added them to the chicken soup before serving to keep them from becoming too dense or soggy. The batch made enough for dinner and lunch the next day for both us.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
1 shallot
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup baby carrots
1 cup Swiss chard
1 Tbsp fresh sage
salt and pepper
Parsley for garnish

Dumplings:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter, cut
1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

In large pot, cook shallots with olive oil until they start to become translucent. Add chicken and cook until browned on all sides. Add chicken stock, scraping along bottom.

Add the carrots and bring to a boil. Add chard and sage and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, or until carrots are tender and chicken is cooked through.

While soup is simmering, make the dumplings. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Then blend in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (your hands work best). Stir in buttermilk until you have a thick batter. Spoon the batter into 6 mounds on the baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Spoon soup into bowl and place dumpling on top. Top with parsley and enjoy!

Banana Pecan Whole Wheat Pancakes

We are so excited for the holidays this year! The house has been decorated since Thanksgiving, and on Saturday we went to get our Christmas tree. We rented a ZipCar and drove to a local tree farm to cut down our own tree, something I haven't done since I was a kid. Our tree is definitely the prettiest tree I've ever had (not that I'm biased) and it brings such a cozy feeling to our apartment.

Sunday morning I woke up early and was in the mood to make something yummy, healthy, but sweet (shocking, I know). Banana bread sounded perfect, but I was too impatient to wait an hour for it to bake. So I decided on banana pecan pancakes, with whole wheat flour and flax seed. Let me tell you, these little gems were so delicious and very satisfying. Best of all, we froze the leftovers so we can enjoy them any day of the week.

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
1 cup skim milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chopped pecans
serve with chopped pecans, sliced banana and maple syrup

Directions:

In small bowl, combine flour, flax seed, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, mash the banana then add the egg, milk and vanilla and mix well. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in pecans.

Heat a skillet and spray with non-stick spray. Pour 1/4 cup of batter per pancake and let cook until small bubbles form. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Top with more pecans, sliced banana and maple syrup.