Gather the family around – it’s soup night! Down with small portions of flavorless, diet broth. Let’s eat hearty, delicious, comfort food and get our bellies filled! Let the stress of the world roll off you with every soothing spoonful of this soup. Bless your tummy with the gelatin-rich broth. Be soothed by the aroma of roasted meats and old English herbs. This is a heart warmer and a body healer. Comfy Cozy Chicken Dumpling Soup can be found on pages 94-95 of the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook.
Comfy Cozy Chicken Dumpling Soup
Description
Gather the family around - it's soup night! Down with small portions of flavorless, diet broth. Let's eat hearty, delicious, comfort food and get our bellies filled! Let the stress of the world roll off you with every soothing spoonful of this soup. Bless your tummy with the gelatin-rich broth. Be soothed by the aroma of roasted meats and old English herbs. This is a heart warmer and a body healer. Comfy Cozy Chicken Dumpling Soup can be found on pages 94-95 of the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook.
Ingredients
For the Dumpling Dough:
For the Soup:
For the Dumpling Broth:
Instructions
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Make the dumpling dough. Place 1 cup of the broth in a blender. Add the oat fiber and Gluccie, and turn the blender on for 10 seconds, just to disperse the powders and avoid later problematic lumps. Turn blender off. Add all other dumpling ingredients except the baking powder and the remaining broth, then turn blender on again on the lowest possible speed for a full minute. Let the blender rest a full minute, then add ¼ cup more broth and blend for another full minute on the lowest setting. Let blender rest again for 2 minutes. Finally, add the last ¼ cup broth and blend for a final full minute on low speed. During the last 15 seconds, drop in the baking powder and make sure it gets dispersed.
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Transfer the dumpling dough to a bowl, put in the fridge, and let sit while you begin making the soup. (Or you can make the dumpling dough earlier in the day, or the day before, and let it sit covered in the fridge.)
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Make the soup. Put the chicken broth plus the water in a large soup pot along with all the veggies, and seasonings. Bring to a swift boil, cover, and simmer on medium-low heat until the veggies are almost tender, about 10 minutes, then turn heat to the lowest setting and add diced, precooked chicken.
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Finish the dumplings. Dig teaspoon-size balls out of the dough. Place each between your palms and roll to form a compact ball; roll without your fingers touching the balls. You should have 30 to 35 dumpling balls.
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Put the dumpling broth ingredients in a blender and blend well. Transfer to a large saucepan and bring to a quick boil over high heat. Reduce the heat enough to tame the liquid to a gentle boil (but not a simmer). Use a spoon to carefully lower the dumplings into the saucepan, then quickly cover the saucepan and do not lift the lid for 10 minutes. The dumplings will steam to perfection.
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Carefully add the dumplings and remaining liquid to the soup pot. Avoid actively stirring at this point or you will break up the dumplings.
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Turn off the heat and add the cream. Move the pot carefully around with a few swirls by the handles to get the liquids blended, or ever so carefully give a slow, gentle stir. Taste and adjust the seasonings to “own it.”
Note
Recipe Notes
Recipe Notes....If you love dumplings and think that now you are trying to reclaim your health and trim they are banished from your life, then THINK AGAIN! And please don’t be intimidated by the idea of making dumplings from scratch, there’s nothing too complicated here. It does look a bit overwhelming at first but once you’ve made this soup once or twice it will feel like a cinch.
While these dumplings are not healthy tasting, they are very healthy for you. It took us weeks of crazy Mad Scientist experiments to finally come up with a batch of dumplings that we wanted to nestle in our tummies and not throw against the kitchen wall. They plump in the soup broth… they actually plump! Oh, the joy! Enjoy the goodness and turn an old, unhealthy favorite meal into a health renewer… the comfy cozy way.
NOTE: These dumplings are very delicate, with 1½ cups broth in the dough. This is the way we prefer them, but if you would like a firmer, less delicate dumpling, then use only 1¼ cups broth. For a more foodie, puristy version of this soup, you can cook a whole chicken in the soup pot earlier in the day. Add 2 quarts plus 3 cups water and the chicken. Add 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, bring to a boil, and then cover and simmer long and slow until the chicken is tender.
This takes more time, but fills the house with a nostalgic aroma. Remember to remove any scum that bubbles up on the top of your liquid. When done, remove the chicken and set aside. You’ll return some of the meat to the soup.
