....... that the blog has had a bit of a makeover! I thought it was time to have a new look - but I can't claim any credit, as I simply used one of the ready made layouts from Typepad. I will have to reset my default font ..... I think I have the instructions written down in my notebook where I keep a note of things I might need again - it's all a bit technical for me!
After the disappointment of the chicken soup and dumplings last week, I decided to make my own version for dinner tonight. I started by frying some chicken thighs in a large saucepan
and once the fat came out .......
..... I added 3 onions, which I had blitzed in the processor, using the grater attachment
I let this cook for a while, then added about 6 large carrots which I had also blitzed
I put the lid on and let the vegetables sweat, to bring out their flavour. Then I added about 125g of long grain rice
I added boiling water until the consistency of the soup looked ok (remembering to allow for the rice swelling) and left it to simmer until the rice was cooked
Later I shredded the chicken (having removed the skin) and put it back in the soup. Then it was time to make the dumplings. OK, I admit it - I cheated and used a packet mix ..........
....... but I did add fresh herbs - basil, thyme and sage
Once the dumplings were made, I added them carefully to the soup, so that they sat on top
Twenty minutes later they looked like this
A delicious bowl of chicken soup and fresh herb dumplings - a quick, easy and economical dinner
The soup was even more economical to make than usual, as when I did the shopping this morning, I got the carrots half price - why? Because there was a date on the label saying they had to be displayed until today and eaten by Thursday ...... ridiculous!!
I also got chantenay carrots (delicious roasted)
sweet peppers
and chillies
It is so annoying to see vegetables with these use by labels ....... the peppers and chillies will need to be used fairly soon (although I could freeze the chillies), but the carrots will keep for weeks.
To finish, the knitting update. Last night I made up the sheep tea cosy, and had fun adding the curls!
I put it on our everyday teapot for the photo, but when Malcolm came home, he got the posh teapot out - it filled the cosy out better!