I'm sorry, the study on antioxidant supplements was published in AMA's Archives of Internal Medicine which apparently felt compelled to include an editorial by Kristine Yaffe who sounded that cautionary note quoted above. Dr. Yaffe was not the lead researcher.

Both articles are linked below.

d'S'

Here is a link that might be useful: Beta Carotene Supplementation

Nope. Gardening HAS changed the way I go gaga over my own produce or anything that I did not have to pay for! The strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries were there before we were and I still jumped up and down as though I had sowed them.
What makes me eat more fruits/veggies is, firstly, being a vegetarian. Although, that is not enough because I could totally live on rice and toast every day. Secondly, it was all the work my boyfriend did as research assistant and editorial assistant on a friend's book, the Definitive Guide to Cancer, 2nd edition, although it is in no way a true second edition, it is a whole, new book. Suddenly, little miss eats half a bite of food became I'm eating five fruits and five veggies a day! Hey, I ain't no fool!
Here is a paste of some of the basics that I posted on the other forum I post to:
She said that through her research, the multiple veggies/fruits a day is good for helping to avoid a recurrence of cancer, not sure if she said it was to help prevent...but I'll go look. Okay, it says 5-7 veggie servings a day and 2-3 fruit servings a day. Some of the specifically studied veggies and fruits that were found to offer preventative qualities are onions, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, spinach, olive oil and soy as well as the spice tumeric. Also, "one serving" is:
raw leafy green veggies= 1 cup
raw non-leafy= 1/2 cup
cooked veggies= 1/2 cup
fresh veggie juice= 1/2 cup
one medium fruit
cut fresh fruit= 1/2 cup
berries= 1 cup
100% fruit juice= 4 ounces
dried fruit= 1/4 cup

You always seem to come up with something interesting here!! I should say that, as a result of the veggie/fruit info, I am way more interested in planting more of my own produce next year, especially since the research showed that eating organic and avoiding preservatives helps, too.

Rock on!

I'm afraid it's too early to say, Digit, since this was my first year to grow vegetables.

I wasn't able to pull up the articles in those links in your first post, so I'm not sure what that research showed. From things I have read in the past, I believe that most of the research that indicates the benefits of particular vitamins or minerals has been done with "real food", and I'm not sure the research has proven that the benefits of taking supplements are equivalent. Kind of like the difference between eating an apple or applesauce. The more processed a food is, the less nutrition it contains. Granted I still take a multi-vitamin as sort of an insurance policy to fill in whatever nutritional gaps I may have, but I don't believe it is a replacement for eating healthy.

My diet was better years ago (pre-children) when I was working in cardiac rehab. Seeing what happened to people that smoked, didn't exercise, ate poorly, etc. was a good motivator. Unfortunately, my eating habits were healthy to the point of annoying all those around me, LOL. I think my attitude towards food and nutrition has mellowed a bit over the years, and there is certainly room for improvement. Plus, the fact that I know I am responsible for creating healthy habits in my children, makes me conscious of the choices I am making.

Bonnie

"my eating habits were healthy to the point of annoying all those around me"
Bonnie, that makes me laugh!! I always annoy everyone with my happy and healthy habits. We just visited my family (ma pa bro sis-in-law) and they were all so awful. Store bought muffins, ice cream, fried this and that. Okay, they were not awful, but each time I turned down something I would not be caught dead eating, they would look at me funny. What happened?? I am not totally crazy, there is heart disease in my family and cancer and strokes, so why would I eat junk and watch TV when I can walk with a spring in my step and feel good the few times I do eat yummy and homemade treats?
Ahh, I agree with the idea of making healthy choices.

Wow! What happened to that article?!? Now you are going to start questioning digitS' cognitive functions!

Well, here's the story from Science Daily!

One thing that I wanted to share is the information of how my "capacity" has changed over the years. Sometime after I passed 40 I realized that it wasn't necessary for me to feel hunger in order to be able to sit down and "pack it away." Up until that time, I generally ate until satiated when I was hungry and only a little if I wasn't hungry. Then something went wrong with my "Let's Eat!" switch - I can consume a very full meal without one good reason to do so!

Additionally and not so long ago, I decided that since fruits and veggies were so good for me - I should be able to eat as much of them as I wanted. Weeeelll, I think that's not necessarily a good idea either. After behaving this way for a year or 2, I discovered that I was really eating a LOT OF FOOD!!

Maybe it was good food but my diet wasn't sufficiently low-calorie to allow for these "skills" in consumption. I began to really put on weight. Shucks . . .

Now, I resist snacking and indulge myself with a wonderful variety of fruits and veggies but in reasonable amounts at meals. At least, that's what I'm really trying to do.

digitS'

I am about to honker down on a huge bowl of garden swiss chard and crispy pork. The pork probably spoils the whole healthy part. But its better than in years past.

We made a roasted veggie plate the other day with beets and carrots that I'm leaving out there because its, like, mid-september weather here with 70º days and 35º nights, and it was one of the better things I've ever eaten.

"5-7 veggie servings a day and 2-3 fruit servings a day"

That's the part that kills me. It sounds so daunting that I don't even try to live that way. I'm not sure how I can really fit 7-10 servings (I'm combining the veggies and fruits here) into my meals every day. Unless I become a vegetarian, that is. The food pyramid has become this incredibly complicated thing now, too, and I think it just makes more people give up.

OK, I just looked at the food pyramid website. How can I really fit 3 cups of veggies AND 2 cups of fruit into my diet every day? If I drink a V-8, how much does that count for?

Well, J tells us that 1/2 cup of fresh veggie juice = one serving, Steve.

Maybe we can think of it this way:

breakfast:
1/2 cup orange juice
one banana

lunch:
1 cup of tossed green salad
1/2 cup cooked carrots

afternoon snack:
1/2 cup fresh veggie juice

dinner:
1/2 cup niblet corn
1/2 cup green beans

You're done . . . Anything else is just gravy . . . uh, make that tomato sauce. Of course you can have 1/2 cup berries on your frozen for dessert!

David, bacon makes everything better. It's DW's downfall. But, I like butter too. Don't even pick it up at the store . . . use margarine. So, instead of taking 2 slices of bacon with my green beans, I get 2 teaspoons of margarine or salad dressing. I've cut the calories by 30 - 50%. Probably deserve a sprinkle of slivered almonds or sesame seeds.

Starches are my downfall. Ate at least a dozen Club crackers on the road today. Heck, I could have had 4 slices of bacon with my greens tonight . . .

digitS'
Cooookies!

I know what you mean, Steve! It would be a lot easier to meet those requirements with the kids, if those numbers were reversed: 5 - 7 fruits, and 2-3 veggies. If I was just feeding myself I could probably achieve that goal, but I have a "meat and potatoes" husband, and kids that will eat most any fruit, but usually have to be bribed or threatened to eat their vegetables. That's one of the reasons I wanted to start a vegetable garden. I thought if they were involved in growing it, maybe it would be easier to get them to eat it. It worked a little bit. They ate cucumbers, green beans and carrots out of the garden without too much complaint. We'll see if I can expand their horizons a little more next year.

Bonnie

Digit, I think we were posted at the same time. If we are going to admit our downfalls, I'd have to say mine is ice cream. With my first two children, I had gestational diabetes, and wasn't allowed any sweets, which seemed horribly unfair BTW. Anyway, I had to settle for sugar free ice cream ... yuck! I could easily get by without bread or potato chips, but if I had to give up ice cream permanently, I would be pretty grumpy about it.

Bonnie

(3 seconds difference in posts, Bonnie!)

Maybe sauces would help with the kids . . . lots of wonderful sauces and some of them are not just empty calories.

Salsa sauce with the meat . . . I use sour cream and melted cheese mixed 50-50. It's good on broccoli. Lemon juice with the butter on the cooked carrots. I use chicken broth instead of water for cooking veggies. I know, it's all so simple it's stupid.

I'm not much of a cook anymore. So, left to my own devices, I go for easy-peasy.

digitS'

Or is that minutes . . . got to get some sleep.

Long drive today even with the Club crackers.

d'S'

My weakness is Spicy Nacho Doritos. I went a couple of weeks without having any but then had to have them again. I love to make dessert but don't like to eat it, so it's really bad for my roommates; about the time one of them decides to cut back is the same time I get the urge to bake something really rich and decadent.

We ate a lot more salad when we had fresh lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. Bacon only when we get the urge for BLTs or are cooking green beans so only a few times a year. Pork only when one roomie is gone (she loves bacon and ham, but will eat no other pork - I don't get it)

None of us can eat tolerate much fried food so we rarely get fast food. Although fried okra and fried green tomatoes are sooooo good and definitely a weakness.

Smoothies are good, lots of fruit, some fat-free plain or vanilla yogurt, sweetened with honey and wheat-germ added.

Ah, crispy pork isn't bacon. Crispy pork is done by taking some piece of regular pork that has some fat but not too much, like a shoulder, and cutting it into 3/4" cubes. Salt it, a bit of oil in the pot to get it going, low heat, and start frying it. Yesterday, I started with about 3 lbs of meat, and it took about two hours, coming in for an occasional stir and de-glazing. It shrinks down to almost nothing. Poor off the fat, drain on paper towel, and what's left is crunchy, crispy pork thats deep golden brown. Occasionally we do this in the oven, but frying, I think, works better.

The first time I had this, the person serving it up then did something with the meat to soften if up a bit, and mixed honey, hot chili powder, and sesame seeds as a coating.

Looking over this, it sounds just awful. But if you can imagine the brown crust on a pork chop intensified, then thats what this tastes like.

That's closer to what I imagined crispy pork to be, since I do something similar. I tend to use boneless pork ribs. Cook them slow first, which removes some of the fat, pour off fat and then fry up the result. I don't do it too often, because it's probably not the best thing for us, but it's really popular with the whole family.

We eat almost vegetarian in the summer, and lots of it is raw so since nobody is in the mood for hot food on a hot day. So, lots of raw corn, orach salads, raw beans and peas, tomatoes. The summer squash gets sauteed.

In the winter, we go back to beef, potato, carrot, barley stews, shepherd's pie, winter squash, stewed tomatoes and such. And some of that crispy crunchy pork.

Well I have to admit that our diets are not that greatest. I love cereal. For years when I was single I would eat a big bowl for breakfast and a big bowl for dinner. Now I only have it for dinner occasionally. We try to cook a real meal once or twice a week, hopefully something we can get a couple of leftover meals out of. But we just don't do it right often enough.

But... gardening has improved the diet during the harvest months for sure. We ate lots of tomatos, had salads from the garden, a few sides of Swiss Chard, eggplant and zucchini, a couple of squashes and of course potatoes.

Next year I just need to extend the season and the growing area of the items that we really enjoyed. And do a better job on the winter squash. We only got a few. I'm not sure if that was due to late start or not enough water maybe.

Cnetter, don't forget the Bean & Ham soup! I just put a big batch in the slow cooker. I make some type of soup or stew about once a week during the winter. They're even better the next day for lunch.

Bonnie

Oh gosh! Yes! How could I forget? Or split pea and ham.

I haven't had breakfast yet - you folks are really making me hungry!

And giving me good ideas for supper too!

Crispy pork looks a lot like side pork to me. I hope no one offers a recipe for scrapple . ..

I'm not much of a salad eater. Now whatcha can do is take a couple slices of bacon and a nice head of leaf lettuce that's gone a little mature. Fry the bacon and drop those lettuce leaves right into the pan . . . hey, I thought this was about healthy eating!

This may be part of my weight-gain problem a few years ago - cooked veggies with calories added.

When I was young it was, "here's an apple, do you wanna eat it or not?" I didn't even know that I liked apples until I got old enuf to peel the skin off. Like apple pies - knew that.

Here's another easy kid idea: A peeled chopped apple cooks in just a moment in the microwave. Makes a delightful little dessert with raisins and a splash of cream . . .

Cereal for dinner? Well, I just had 2 nice ripe persimmons on the side with my corn meal mush - spoonful of honey stirred in. And then there are these Club crackers that somebody needs to finish.

I do that big pot of stew or soup or a casserole once a week and then head for Dad's. I'm pretty good at 1 pot meals.

d'S'

Here's my secret for the one pot meals (seems like I've said this before but it's not much of a secret): start with broth!

We had chicken the other night and did a little de-boning. Pile of bones - throw them in the garbage? Nope! They went on foil in a shallow pan and under the broiler. Stirred once and they are browned nicely. Into a pot of water with an onion that I had to cut a bad spot off of and one of my "weird" giant carrots. Actually, I grated most of the carrot for another veggie dish and only tossed the "weird" of a couple in with the bones. Also, I had the core of a cabbage - that went in. Now, here was where I wished IÂd grown celery root this year  darn it!

Ninety minutes of boiling, put some Mrs. Dash & seasoning salt along there somewhere, and I had chicken broth. A couple sandwich bags of it (in a larger freezer bag) are in the freezer waiting for my next go at the stove.

digitS'

I just thought of another winter time food that I like to make, pot pies - chicken, or steak & potato. That's a good one pot meal, Digit!

It's pot luck night at my son's school tonight, so I'm off to make some homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. Do the raisins count towards my fruit servings?

Bonnie

There we go posting at the same time again, Digit. Here's another broth idea. Throw a whole chicken in the slow cooker with lots of seasoning on it - a little olive oil, lemon juice, lots of dried basil, oregano, sage, thyme, paprika, salt and pepper. When it's done, pull out the chicken, the broth is already made for you. Just pour it into a container and freeze it for another meal.

Gotta go,
Bonnie

I botched cooking some cornish hens the other day (forgot to brush out the insides) so I made broth as well using huge garden carrots, onion, and garlic, all sorta split in half. I use a stock pot and put it on low, and just barely bring it to a simmer, which can take a couple of hours, and then turn it off - it stays warm overnight. There is something that seems to get lost if I boil it too long.

Anyway, we've been getting into risotto - and there is no comparison between home made broth and store broth. We use the Lundberg Arborio rice - its actually a lot easier to make than the recipes make it seem.

I'd like to know how to make pot pies, Bonnie. Of course with my addiction to starch, I'm inclined to eat the crust and throw away any pie filling . . .

How does one go about it? Seems it must be almost just diced stew ingredients. Yes, no?

1/4 cup of raisins = 1/2 cup of fresh fruit = 1 serving. Of course, you've got to get 1/4 cup of raisins in whatever they are allowing in the way of coookies! One may need to scrunch down on the sugar and shortening.

Rice & noodles are a part of my "accidental survivalist strategy," David. We have one or the other every day and since there is more than one variety of each - we've got a couple of cupboards full. I bet rice & noodles alone would last us for several weeks, minimum.

d'S'

Here is a link that might be useful: Pyramid

"I'd like to know how to make pot pies, Bonnie. "

I'm not Bonnie, but I've made pot pies in the past (not for a long time, but it was a staple when I was single and broke).

If you want to make the pie crusts from scratch, feel free, but if you're lazy, you can buy frozen pie crusts.

I would just create a relatively thick stew of whatever was onhand and leftover. I'd pour it into the pie crust (I used the frozen ones). If I wanted an "open face" pie, I'd just pop it in the oven.

If I wanted it covered, I'd use another pie crust. I think there were two sizes, so I'd buy the larger size for the pie and the smaller one for the top. Any overhang got put in the oven to crisp (or, let's face it, just popped in the mouth).

Digit, check out this thread from the cooking forum for info on pot pies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Meat pies

When I've made meat pies, I only put a crust on the top, like my Mom did.

If I tried it on the bottom too, my family sure wouldn't mind. Crust is their favourite part.

Which reminds me - anyone else like pasties?

BP, making the crust is easy peasy but I do have a problem sometimes with eating too much of the dough - you just can't successfully reroll what has been trimmed . . . really!

So it looks like the meat & potatoes are already cooked and the veggies can be fresh or frozen. The gravy is made separately and poured over the other ingredients.

I doubt if I'd feel it necessary to go out of my way to find a specialty thickening (as per that thread). Corn starch makes a reasonably good gravy using broth alone but the drippings, wheat flour roux, broth/milk in the skillet route isn't tuff. Just had a strange thought - I use tapioca in my rhubarb pies. Don't suppose it would have any sweetness without sugar . . . sounds odd but it might have an appropriate texture.

Pasties, Cnetter? Mom would sometimes make fruit turnovers with the left-over dough (if there was any left over ;o). Grandpa's family migrated from the south of England but they all had Scottish surnames . . . I'm not sure why that happened but think it may have had something to do with the Industrial Revolution. It may explain why she didn't make pasties and instead claimed to have lived on oatmeal as a kid.

Come to think about it, I just had oatmeal and an apple for breakfast. May be something in the genes.

Hah! I found a MINCE meat pie with tapioca googling! Guess that makes sense.

digitS'

I love(d) pasties!! I'm an on again off again vegetarian and have been that way since I was a kid. When we would go to Ye Old King's Head for fish and chips, I would suffer the horribleness of having to choose if I wanted pasty or fish. they had the best fish/chips ever, so much so that the queen had named it the best pub in America. But, oh, they also had the best pasties and shep pie ever. Years later, the tea shop started serving small meat pies from the Head, oh, and they were so good!!
My favourite thing is to use the smart ground (fake ground beef) and add worchestershire sauce, peas and onion...sometimes a bit of carrot. It helps to use olive oil or butter, to make it meatier.
I'm no longer sure what this has to do with gardening, except that all these winter diets remind me of the provencal way of eating what is in season, such as having fruits during summer etc.
Now, digit, when you say mince meat pie, do you mean the sweet kind my gramma used to have to buy specifically for me (the only one who ate it) or is it the kind that really has meat in it?
And, sticking to our holiday schedule, we just ordered our fresh, free range, organic turkey from whole foods. Oh, yeah!!! There is a bag of pommegranites on the counter and today I am going into town to pick up some fuyu persimmons...or whatever they call the ones you can eat like an apple. That is my winter fruit diet.

No . . . I found a couple chicken stew recipes with tapioca. This doesn't seem to be a pot pie so much as a fresh veggie stew with biscuits but it uses tapioca to coat the veggies with sauce.

There are hundreds of thousands of recipes for chicken pot pie with cream of chicken soup - simple.

(I was just out in the carport refrigerator and there are 2 bags of yellow delicious apples in there and our parsnips. Mmmmmmm, that smelled so good! :o)

digitS'

I find the idea of mince meat without the meat rather odd but certainly have enjoyed eating those pies as well.

I've bought Nonesuch mincemeat and mixed it with diced roast beef for a pie filling, just as Mom did. You can also stretch it a bit with a chopped yellow delicious apple. Wonder if a parsnip . . . oh, stop it!

d'S'

If I add too much barley to a crock pot stew it sure thickens it up, especially if leftovers are reheated another day. I'm thinking that could make a good meat pie.

I make a green tomato mincemeat that's completely vegetarian and tastes much like Nonesuch, only better (IMNSHO). My mom made some kind of cake thing called "maids of honor" with mincemeat.

My mom and sister both make good pasties, with meat and root vegetables in them.

The recipe I use for Chicken Pot Pie uses regular flour for thickening the sauce. It comes from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. Like Cnetter, I usually just do a top crust, but it would be yummy with a bottom one too.

Here it is:

Deep Dish Chicken Pie

Pastry crust
3 medium leeks or 1 large onion, chopped
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
3/4 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (or sub 1/2 tspn sage, 1/2 tspn thyme)
1/4 tspn black pepper
1/4 tspn salt
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup half-n-half, or milk
2 1/2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
1 cup frozen peas
1 beaten egg

In a large saucepan cook leeks (or onions), mushrooms, celery, and sweet pepper in butter over medium heat until vegetables are tender. Stir in flour, poultry seasoning, pepper and salt. Add broth and half-n-half. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in chicken and peas. Pour into a 2 Qt. baking dish. Top with pastry crust. Brush crust with egg. Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Note: I usually just use a 10 oz. package of frozen peas and carrots, and omit the mushrooms, since no one but me will eat them. If you had fresh vegetables they would work just as well, though you would probably have to saute the carrots or they may still be crunchy.

This is a good use for your homemade broth.

Bonnie

Thanks Bonnie, looks scrumptious!

Right now, I'm using some beef broth to make split pea soup with a beef hot dog, tiny carrots and shallots. Needed to use up those tiny carrots.

Barley would be an idea, Cnetter. I noticed one pot pie recipe with rice while I was looking around.

I thought nonesuch meant nonpareil, as in having no equal . . . Remember the Royal Nonesuch in Huckleberry Finn? The Duke and the King behaved so badly that they ran them out of town on a rail . . . or was that later?

digitS'

Mmmm, yes Bonnie that does look yummy. Steve would love that - I think I'll have to make it.

JC - I'm a mince pie lover too. The kind without the meat. Although I've never had it with meat, so I can't say I dislike it. In fact, Digit, your idea with the beef and apples sounds pretty darn good!

And speaking of tapioca, last night after dinner I had a real sweet tooth craving, so I made a pot of tapioca pudding. My favorite! For some reason when I was a kid I called it "pussycat soup". Anyway, I ate half last night and Steve ate the rest! Slurp, slurp.

And finally, I plan on an off topic post next week on the most delicious use of turkey leftovers. Turkey and corn pudding - a crockpot recipe. Digit, I think this will be right up your alley!

okay, last "garden" post of the day...gee, I'm here a lot lately!!
This one is for Alice and all the others out there who could live on cereal...

Here is a link that might be useful: cereal for dinner

So true JC!! I tend to like "healthy" cereals for breakfast, but am prone to eat Applejacks or Cocoa Puffs for dinner.

Yikes!

apple slices
peanut butter
crushed breakfast cereal, nuts or granola

Spread peanut butter on apple slices, dip in cereal, nuts or granola

d'S'

In a tall glass or large mug, layer granola, yogurt and fruit (canned is fine). Eat with a spoon.

d'S'

Digit, that thread was mostly relating to making ahead and freezing, hence the Freezer-Flo. Personally I make mine with leftovers. I sautee onion, celery and carrot, make a roux, when it's the right color add wine and broth, leftover potatoes and whatever beef or chicken is left. Here's a favorite from scratch recipe that uses puff pastry woven into a lattice for the top crust. Definitely not low-fat since it's from Paula Deen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lady & Sons Chicken Pot Pie

Thanks Dafy,

I suspect we have some excellent cooks on RMG.

DW & I were talking about pot pies this morning and she said that I could use cream. Cream sounded a bit outrageous until I realized that cream of chicken soup would, obviously, have cream in it. But, Paula Deen uses 1 quart of heavy cream!! Oh, it would probably be lovely . . . the richness of butter fat makes me happy. That much cream with only a little over a pint of veggies . . . well, it might not be considered a "garden" recipe, however.

The sheets of frozen puff pastry must be a commercial product.

I'll make pot pie for Sunday dinner and let y'all know how it turned out. Dad's not the best to try things on since he will claim everything is "very good" just to be kind but I'll consider it from a critical perspective. Dad will also put everything that comes to hand in anything he makes and considers that culinary artistry.

digitS'

It's a garden recipe since you can grow potatoes, carrots, peas, onions. I also have a chicken & dumplings recipe that the family loves with the same veggies. I don't make it very often since then it wouldn't be a special dish. It was my favorite growing up and what I always asked for for my birthday dinner. I've added necessities like garlic, sage, and rosemary that aren't in the list of ingredients and tend to do what your dad does Digit - sprinkle of this, dash of that, handful of those. You could even thicken it up a little more and put in a crust and voila - pot pie :-) I can post the recipe if anyone would like it.

It would probably be good with your parsnips, but my favorite for those is roasted with potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, salt and pepper, and little bits of butter. The vinegar gets sweet and caramelizes and is sooo good, especially with balsamic chicken. Can you tell we like balsamic around here?

Well all this talk of pot pies inspired me to... buy 2 Marie Callendar frozen pot pies last night. I know, hall of shame for me!

But can I redeem myself by saying I'm making sauerkraut and spareribs on Saturday? I'm using potatoes from the garden.

And Digit, I don't know about those exotic peanut butter and granola combos. But then I thought my mom's idea for peanut butter on a Ritz with pickle was weird until I tasted it.

Dafy, I'd love the recipe for chicken and dumplings. We love dumplings here!!

Aliceg8 - Marie Callendar's is pretty good. I grew up on Swanson Pot Pies (with enough pepper it wasn't too bad)

Here's the recipe as I copied it down (can't remember from where - guess I need more fruits, veggies & fish in my diet right Digit?). I usually just use this as a guide and put however many veggies I feel like (usually more taters & carrots) I'll note changes in parenthesis

Chicken & Dumplings

2-1/2 to 3 lbs chicken thighs (can also use a whole chicken)
5 c water
4 red potatoes cut in sixths (I like yellow taters since they're not as waxy but still hold together)
3 carrots, cut in sixths (can use baby carrots)
2 celery stalks, cut in sixths
1 onion, cut in eighths
10 oz frozen peas (or fresh added right before adding dumplings)
S&P to taste
(I add garlic powder, a couple of bay leaves, fresh or dried rosemary, sage, lemon thyme (or poultry seasoning) to taste since I think it's a little bland with just salt and pepper)

In a large stockpot cover chicken with 5 c of water, (I add seasonings at this point); cover and boil on medium heat until tender, about 50-60 mins. Skim fat (optional (-:). Remove chicken, let sit until cool enough to handle. Remove skin and shred chicken. Return to broth. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook 20 mins.

(*note - fresh herbs can be finely chopped, or left whole and removed before adding dumplings)

Dumplings
1-1/2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp butter (I use margarine)
3/4 c milk
1/4 fresh parsley (optional)

Sift flour, baking powder & salt, cut in butter/margarine. Stir in milk and parsley.

Drop into hot stew. Cook uncovered 10 mins, then cover and cook 8-10 mins until dumplings are done.

Hope you like it. Even with 5 of us, there is enough for leftovers, just add more water to thin the broth some, heat to a boil and make more dumplings.

There you go, Dafy, a significant number of veggies and other than what's on those chicken thighs - not a drop of fat.

I must confess to sometimes putting spoonfuls of Bisquick dough in my broth. Then I just spoon out the dumplings and they are most important part of dinner. The broth goes thru the colander and I can either cook some veggies in it or freeze it for later. It's no longer clear but . . .

The fresh taste of parsley in the dumplings - need to try that sometime.

Now, I am going to find it "disturbing" if David tells us how he can cook dumplings with his crispy pork . . .

digitS'

Dafy, thanks for posting the recipe! I have never made chicken and dumplings, but the recipe does seem similar to the pot pie. I'm just now getting the hang of making an edible pie crust though, so I'm nervous that if I try to make dumplings, I'll end up serving globs of paste to my family. How big do make the dumplings? Do you have to shape them, or just spoon them in?

Bonnie

I forgot that I usually sub a couple of cups of white wine for a couple of cups of water (so the total is 5 cups)

Bonnie - if you can find Shirley Corriher's book Cookwise, there is a whole section on pie crusts, and what makes them either tender or flaky, or both tender and flaky. That was always my nemisis until I got it, and there is a fantastic recipe in there for "Touch of Grace Biscuits".

Over on the cooking forum there is a post on a "fool-proof" pie dough that uses vodka that I really want to try. I remember a long time ago with quiche a friend told me he sprinkled some flour on the bottom crust before adding the egg to help keep it from getting soggy.

For the dumplings, the dough is very wet so they're just dropped by the spoonful into the stew. The bigger the spoon the fewer the dumplings, so I usually just use a regular cereal spoon so there are lots of dumplings. That's my favorite part

Digit, Bisquick is basically flour, baking powder, salt, and you could always mix crispy pork into the dumplings :-)

jen

Here is a link that might be useful: Foolproof Pie Dough

Hah, Digit!! I admit to Bisquick dumplings as well. I love Bisquick in fact -even raw! These are foolproof Bonnie, if you want something super easy.

Dafy, I remember Swanson pot pies from childhood too. "Cheap & cheerful" would describe them I guess! Thanks for the Chicken & Dumpling recipe. It sounds like such a nice recipe to make on a cold winter Saturday.

Alright, guys! I thought this thread was supposed to be about a BETTER diet. Pot pies, and Bisquick, and dumplings, oh, my! (DonÂt start sending me hate mailÂI think theyÂre good too!) But I think IÂm gonna start a thread for veggie recipes. I know a lot of good ones have come up around here within the last few months, and it would be kind of nice to have them all in the same place so I can find them when I want them.

Watch for CedricÂs Casserole, coming soon to a thread near you!

Skybird

P.S. When I was a kid my mother used to skim the chicken fat off when she made soup, and spread it on bread like butter and eat it. It was good (since all the flavor is in the fat)-----and I havenÂt had it in 40 years! Digit, donÂt you DARE even think of trying that!