chicken and dumplings

I know that I have posted of making Chicken and Dumplings before, but I haven't actually given a recipe. That is about to change! Even if the recipe will only be utilized by my kids after they leave home, that in itself is reason enough to write it out.

This is a much requested dish at our home and one that is very versatile. The 'Chicken' can be seitan, tofu, beans or extra vegetables. The biscuit mix is a variation of Simply Heavenly's Biscuit Mix. 

The broth in this 'stew' uses my VA Chicken-Style Broth Mix and water. 

Really a very simple and easy recipe (maybe because I've made it so often), the only heads-up would be to take care to have enough broth before you add the biscuit mix - it can be deceptive; you think there is too much broth, but by the time the biscuits are done they have soaked up a lot of it. 

Oh, and we LOVE the biscuit part of the dish, so this recipe has enough to satisfy any biscuit-lover.  

Cost Breakdown

oil, celery, onion, carrot, garlic: $2

seitan: $2

broth mix, spices and herbs: $.50

biscuit mix: $2

milk: $1

Total to make 5 servings:

$7.50

vine and dine + cassoulette

The final dish for Tami's Vine and Dine from Bryanna Clark Grogan's fabulous new cookbook, World Vegan Feast, is Cassoulette. This meal is a veganized version of the original French dish, which uses beans along with a variety of fatty meats. Bryanna uses vegan sausage, carrots, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes to achieve an equally complex and flavorful dish. I had no technical problems with the recipe and the flavors were great. Although the ingredients list is a bit long, as Bryanna put it, the recipe is easy to prepare. 

As for the wine, I'll hand it over to David, but I want to insert my two cents first. I did not think our wine added anything to the meal. By itself, it was a nice mellow wine, but with the meal, it was just okay. Unlike the few other times we have paired wine with food, this time it didn't enhance the flavors of the meal. I was beginning to think that wine always added or complemented the meal - until now. With this one, David and I didn't really see eye to eye. Wine disagreement!

The wine I chose to pair with the Cassoulette was the 2010 Orleans Hill California Organic Syrah.  This was a full bodied wine with a little earthiness and just a hint of pepper.  A little on the sweet side, until your pallet adjusts, but it worked quite well with the Cassoulette which enhanced the peppery flavor of the wine.