Thanks for the comments!

I want to thank two sweet ladies for their kind comments on my last post. You are my very first "commenters" on my new blog! Thanks, Mary Jane, for the welcome and sweet comment about my Maggie. You can visit Mary Jane's beautiful blog, The Beehive Cottage, here. By the way, little Maggie is a sweetie. She has the cutest expressions and she is always up to something. You can just see that little smile of hers can't you?














Another sweet comment was sent my way by Rebecca over at A Gathering of Thoughts. She asked for my Chicken and Dumplin' recipe, and I'm happy to post it! I got this recipe several years ago from a little publication that our insurance company puts out, however, I have tweaked it and made it my own.

Chicken & Dumplings

8 cups cold water
4 chicken leg quarters
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
Black pepper to taste

Dumplings
2 tablespoons shortening (I use coconut oil instead)
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup ice water

Rinse chicken in cool water. Place the 8 cups of water, chicken, and salt in a heavy 4-quart saucepan. Bring to a slow boil, then simmer, covered, 45 minutes to 1 hour, until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from broth, reserving broth. Cool chicken, remove from bones, and cut or tear into bite-size pieces. Return broth to a boil, add thyme, sage, and pepper.

While broth is cooking, make dumplings. Cut shortening into flour. Remove 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture and stir into the 1/2 cup ice water. Add water to flour mixture, stirring with a fork until all dry ingredients are moistened. Turn half of the dough onto a floured board.





Roll dough to a thin sheet, about 1/8" thick. Cut into 1" x 2" strips.



Drop strips into boiling broth, not stirring. Repeat with remaining dough. When all dumplings are added, reduce heat to a simmer, and gently stir in chicken. Cover and simmer 12-15 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.

These are great when warmed up the next day too!