Chicken Dumpling Soup

Happy Monday friends!

Welcome to the new work out week. Hope that first day back went well for you.

Tonight I decided to make the family some chicken dumpling soup...something that they've never had before. Ha! I heard this from the six year old, "What's a dumpling?" and then shortly after a teeny, tiny bite..."I don't like dumplings! They're icky!"

Well, she did NOT know what she was talking about because they were absolutely wonderful!!

Daddy Rainmaker had some, I had some...and my husband is taking some to work for lunch tomorrow... And the kids who copied her...the 4 and 2 year-old...well, that just left more dumplings for the rest of us to eat. Dumplings will not be going to waste at this house!

Here's a nice little close-up...

I simply don't know why I didn't make dumplings sooner...
Here's my big batch soup recipe that I use:
ten cups of water
10 teaspoons of chicken bouillon (or 3 T and 1 t)
1 cup of onions
2 cups of celery
2 cups of carrots
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
after I put the water and bullion in, I turn it on high and begin cutting everything up. Once it starts to boil, I turn it down to medium until I've put all the chopped stuff in the pot. Then, while it's on medium, I mix up the dumpling mixture:
2 cups of whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
3 T of parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of thyme

I mix that well and then:
I mixed 1/4 cup of olive oil (or oil of your choice or less oil)
and 3/4 cup of milk (you could probably get away with no milk and just water)

Oh, then I add three cups of cooked chicken
(now, if you don't want to add meat...maybe try a favorite bean?)

Then, I turn it up to high..
Once it starts boiling, I use a Tablespoon and spoon the dumpling mixture into the soup. After it's all in, I put a top on the soup and turn it down to between low and medium and let simmer for about 12 minutes.

After that, it was ready to eat.

This is the base soup recipe I use for all of my soups. If it's not dumplings I add, it's home made egg noodles, or rice, or lentils, or garbanzo beans, or corn, barley...you can add just about anything. And then, what I do is stick the leftovers in a crock pot. Then, a few hours before lunch the next day, I turn the crock pot on, and soup is ready for lunch.
(however, I don't put a top on the soup if I put other things in it)

I did want to add that, I generally don't eat this soup because of the chicken bouillon in it. I see it as being a processed food. However, until I can find a different way of making it, I cook it this way.

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Well, I made it to the gym tonight running against a northerly wind and in freshly fallen snow that felt like a run at the beach. Hm..Hey Sunshine, see I can imagine I'm some place warm too. Ha!

Got in a terrific 60 minute leg work-out. It felt great! Got in some abs and then some push-ups. two sets of 15 girl style and two sets of 15 boy style.

My weight fluctuated up again to 6.8 pounds loss in four weeks.

I think I've been eating more than I probably should. I made some more carob peanut butter bars. But I notice that with the additional calories, I get more breastmilk. I want to make sure I get in enough calories for Mr. Lovely so I'm tending to err on the side of more rather than less. I think it is affecting my weight loss. So, perhaps after this week, I may look into getting some FenuGreek which helps to produce more milk flow.

However, I'm still eating clean, with no sugar or white flour.

Well, I hope you all have a good one!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama