I've made the following recipe for Chicken and Dumplings a couple dozen times in my Le Creuset dutch oven and it turns out fabulous. Don't skip the sherry! Your family will adore you! Be careful of the salt if you don't use low sodium. I use Swanson's low sodium. Also, I never have to add the extra two teaspoons of oil in step one for the second batch of thighs because there is enough fat in the pan. Here is the video if you'd like to watch,...it's from Cook's Illustrated America's test kitchen: http://www.americastestkitchentv.com/cookstv/preview/default.asp?req=1&station=mainChannel&video=s6/chickenanddumplings Don't use low-fat or fat-free milk in this recipe. Start the dumpling dough only when you're ready to top the stew with the dumplings. INGREDIENTS Stew 5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs 4 teaspoons vegetable oil 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick) 4 carrots , peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick 2 ribs celery , sliced 1/4 inch thick 1 large onion , minced 6 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour 1/4 cup dry sherry 4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1/4 cup whole milk 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves 2 bay leaves 1 cup frozen green peas 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves Dumplings 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon table salt 1 cup whole milk 3 tablespoons reserved chicken fat (or unsalted butter) INSTRUCTIONS 1. For the Stew: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the chicken and cook until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the browned skin. Pour off the chicken fat and reserve. Return the pot to medium-high heat and repeat with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and the remaining chicken. Pour off and reserve any chicken fat. 2. Add the butter to the Dutch oven and melt over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the flour. Whisk in the sherry, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, milk, thyme, and bay leaves. Nestle the chicken, with any accumulated juices, into the pot. Cover and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, about 1 hour. 3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Discard the bay leaves. Allow the sauce to settle for a few minutes, then skim the fat from the surface using a wide spoon. Shred the chicken, discarding the bones, then return it to the stew. 4. For the Dumplings: Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Microwave the milk and fat in a microwave-safe bowl on high until just warm (do not over-heat), about 1 minute. Stir the warmed milk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until incorporated and smooth. 5. Return the stew to a simmer, stir in the peas and parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Following the photos below, drop golf-ball-sized dumplings over the top of the stew, about 1/4 inch apart (you should have about 18 dumplings). Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve. TECHNIQUE Getting it Right: Adding the Dumplings 1. Gather a golf-ball-sized portion of the dumpling batter onto a soup spoon, then push the dumpling onto the stew using a second spoon. 2. Cover the stew with the dumplings, leaving about 1/4 inch between each. 3. When fully cooked, the dumplings will have doubled in size.

Oh yea! It's a rutabaga! I have recently discovered it because it was the cheapest vegetable in the store. I use it in stir fries but it tastes much better when bakes. I slice it up thinly with some potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion; sautee in a bit of butter. Cube some old bread and mix with the sauteed veggies. Place them evenly in a deep dish for baking. Whip an egg or two, milk, mustard, ground pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg together; pour the mixture all over the bread/veggies then sprinkle some shredded cheese and some chopped green onion/parsley. Bake @ 350 for 30 min and voila, bread pudding! I sometimes mix the cheese in with the whole thing to make it a richer dish. Even my fussy husband and little man love it. :Al

That is a lot of changes. Congrats on the new kitchen. That can often be stressful. I still cook for an army even though it is just the two of us. But it is often planned since i have the 'while i'm at it' attitude. When making a lovely beef stew last weekend i made a veg stock at the same time on the back burner using the veg cuttings. I always make more of everything with plans for the freezer or for another dish later on. I'm making a fish stew tonight and is not a big production as i have a pint of fish/shrimp stock frozen, smoked corn from summer harvest, salmon and scallops, wild caught. Cod we caught. Being Sunday i will start the miropoix from scratch with a nice fresh leek. A small packet of sliced tomatoes frozen from the garden. Cherry tomatoes freeze well and stay loose in zip-locks so just a few can be taken out at a time. Nice for a fritatta. I still often buy bulk veg for the lower pricing and usually have a plan. Like red peppers. I use fresh but will roast, then freeze in a flat-pack method so i can just take out a few slices and re-seal. A whole avocado is too much for the two of us so i often also make a dressing with the other half but more than one purchased often gets over-ripe. They freeze ok if all the air is out of the zip-lock...i add lime juice. I do use the food-saver system for many garden produce. Air is the enemy in the freezer so it works great for that. I felt terribly/embarrassingly domestic when i bought it but does make a huge difference in the quality of frozen foods. No going back. String beans i like fresh. Every harvest from my garden i try blanching and freezing but we never eat them. They go in the juicer or the blender throughout the winter. As plllog mentioned, paying attention to quantity while shopping...so many things are by weight. DH does most of the shopping, (with my list). When i say 12 grapes i mean it, lol. I like the dark skinned really black big seedless. I use them for a few special salads. They freeze nice but i don't really need that big bag. He has learned to shop by weight. We eat a ton of greens. Kale, collards, chard. After cooking...even while plating for our meal, i stuff the leftovers in waiting quarter pint containers. Top with a bit of water and into the freezer for later soups. I must have 20 1/4 pints of greens and beans in stock or water in the freezer that i can pick and choose for a very quick chowder or soup. I even put my chili in the 1/4 pints to make a richer tomato/veggie soup. (most in qrt containers for immediate heating after a 1/2 in the sink to thaw just enough to get into the pot). Two appliances i appreciate for quick healthy eating is my juicer and my blender. The Blendtec blender and the Breville juicer. Clean easily and go in the dishwasher if i want a quick cleaning. Great for morning juices and blending soups. and so many other things....i juice my kale and collard stems with lemon and ginger, celery, carrots and beets...

My cardiologist agrees with Floral, it's the saturated fat and not the cholesterol in foods that does the damage. I have grass fed beef, of course, but only eat it about twice a month. We also raise our own chickens and I like fish so eat that at least weekly. We have beans at least 4 times a week and a green salad with our supper daily and have meat free days at least 3 times a week. It's easier with all those beans, LOL. We don't eat lunch. Breakfast most days is oatmeal drizzled with about a tablespoon of maple syrup, one egg maybe on Sunday. I don't like fruit but I eat more vegetables than anyone I know, mostly steamed or raw. I don't like lamb and seldom eat pork because I don't like that very much either, I'm picky. I've lost weight, given up salt and butter, exercise daily. I refuse to drink soy milk, it's vile, but I've never eaten cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, ice cream, etc., because I just don't like it. I drink one glass of skim milk with that breakfast oatmeal because the doc says I need the calcium for my osteopenia, turns out that osteoporosis is also one my genetic traits. (sigh) Cholesterol still above 300, so I took the statins. Cholesterol came down about 100 points but my "bad" cholesterol was still about a 5:1 ratio to the good stuff. Now I'm on a statin AND an injectable, which has my total cholesterol down to 91. My total cholesterol started at 510. It turns out that some of us have something called "familial hyperlipidemia" and no matter how much exercise you get or what you eat or how much weight you lose, your liver just keeps making more. Your liver actually manufactures about 80% of your body's cholesterol, only the other 20% is dietary. It sure makes "What's For Dinner" a lot less fun. Annie