Gluten-free Chicken & Dumplings
Yesterday I wasn’t feeling so hot. I thought it was just cramps at first. Then, the tickle in my throat started, followed by coughing. I drank some warm water with honey and rosemary essential oil mixed in before bed in the hopes that the rosemary oil would help clear my body of whatever it is that is causing this and that the rest would help me feel better by morning. Nix on any of that really working the way I thought it would. I woke up with my throat sore from all the coughing I did yesterday. So I drank more of my concoction and followed it with a smoothie, to which I added brewer’s yeast for some extra B vitamins.
I felt okay at work except for some bouts of tiredness after breaks just because my body wanted to keep resting. Now I have a productive cough. Yay. *insert sarcasm here* I drank some more of my concoction when I got home. I meant to climb into bed, but I did errands after work and the mental “to do” list kicked in. Go figure. No rest for the weary, right?
This sickness just is strange for me. I used to be able to figure out what I had from my symptoms because I got sick so often. Now, it’s been so long since I’ve been sick I have no idea what this is.
The constant snow today hasn’t helped either. I dislike snow. Even though I was indoor at work, all the guests I helped had to make comments about it still snowing. Doing those errands in the snow was putting a strain on my patience, too. No one in Louisville knew how to drive in snow and it seems a lot of people in this area of Cincinnati don’t either.
I know, I’m ranting. Sorry. I’ll stop.
Since I’m sick and it’s snowing I ditched tonight’s menu of stir fry for tomorrow night’s dinner of leftover Gluten-free Chicken & Dumplings. I made a large batch about 2 weeks ago. We didn’t eat it the day I cooked it since my husband had dinner reservations for us out on the town. He was worried when he got home and smelled all the food I fixed that day thinking I forgot about going out to dinner. Because of the hurry to get to dinner, I forgot to take pictures of it before I stored it. Some in the fridge and some in the freezer.
This was my first time making Chicken & Dumplings gluten-free. I looked at several recipes online and chose the recipe with the easiest part for the dumplings. I know there are people who prefer drop dumplings, dumplings you roll into balls, and dumplings you roll out and cut in strips. I like drop dumplings. That’s how I remember the dish being made when I grew up. It’s also easier. I like easy these days.
I used up the last of my homemade chicken stock and watered it down a bit. I added leftover chicken I had in the freezer that I chopped up and fresh thyme. I let that simmer for a few hours. Then I added in chopped onions and sliced carrots and celery. I let that simmer until the carrots were tender and dropped in the gluten-free dumplings.
I had low expectations of the dumplings. I think that’s my key to really enjoying something altered to gluten-free. Keep my expectations low. So, I was rather surprised when they didn’t taste grainy or “off” at all. They tasted like denser regular dumplings. I took some to work with me for dinner one night and one of my co-workers, who was also taking his dinner break, asked me what I had because it smelled good. The “gluten-free” part of the dish launched an entire conversation about gluten, sushi, and REAL Mexican food. He’s from California and we both lamented the fact that you can’t get real Mexican food out here.
Anyway. Leftover Gluten-Free Chicken & Dumplings for dinner tonight. I better get that on the stove. It’s getting late!
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