Welcome to the New Year’s Eve M/M Writers’ Progressive Dinner!

It hardly seems like a year has gone by since my last New Year’s Eve Post. I’ve had a fabulous time. I’ve made friends and gotten fit, and I’ve been to five conventions. I had a blast. Next year, I’m using more time to reconnect with my muses. I’m taking time to rebuild my career. I’ll be creating more and traveling less, because I have a hefty schedule and a lot of unfinished projects that are crying out for my time…

I’ll let you know more about that later, but for now, I want to share a recipe with you that I believe is something Birdie Tripplehorn from My Cowboy Homecoming would have put on the table for her growing boys in happier times, before she lost the plot and moved into her own little delusional world.

I’m calling it Birdie Tripplehorn’s Pantry Chicken and Dumplings. I cooked this a lot when my kids were growing up. They adore the dish and it takes no time. I can make it from pantry staples and frozen chicken breasts whenever the mood strikes, unlike real deal Chicken and Dumplings, southern style, which I’ve never really mastered. Serve this along with a simple salad or some steamed vegetables for a complete meal.

Here you go, my main dish recipe! Don’t forget to check out the contest rules and the menu below, visit and comment at everyone’s blogs. As writers, we know your time is precious, and we love that you follow our books, our blogs, and our newsletters. We couldn’t do it without you!

So here’s a comfort classic right from my cupboard to yours!

Birdie Tripplehorn’s Pantry Chicken and Dumplings

2 T. olive oil

1 T. butter

8 Boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup diced onions

3 tablespoons tomato paste

10 oz. pkg. frozen veg mix; diced carrots and peas

2 cans Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom soup

32 oz. low sodium Chicken stock

1 bay leaf

 for the dumplings:

4 cups Bisquick baking mix

1 1/3 cups milk

Cooking directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottom Dutch oven.
2. Add butter and let it foam out.
3. Lightly salt and pepper chicken breasts on both sides.
4. Brown chicken breasts on both sides in butter and oil.
5. Remove Chicken breasts to a plate and cover.
6. Add onions, scraping up any brown bits. Sauté until translucent.
7. Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes until it starts to smell rich and sweet.
8. Add veg mix, stir 3 minutes or until thawed.
9. Whisk together soup and stock and add to pot, along with bay leaf.
10. Add chicken back to pot with any accumulated juices and cover; bring to a low boil.
11. While you’re bringing the soup/chicken mix back to a boil, make dumplings according to package directions, which means–pretty much–add milk to baking mix and stir until just moistened like drop biscuits. This is a large amount of dumplings, but if Birdie’s boys were anything like my little tribe, they had to have some dumpling with each bite of chicken! Halve it, if you like fewer dumplings.
12. Remove the bay leaf at this time; it’s easier to find it now. With the chicken stew at a low boil, drop biscuit mixture into gravy, one spoonful at a time on top of chicken. (Do this by dipping the spoon into the hot gravy, and then into the biscuit mix each time.) This might look like a mess. It probably will. It will, however, according to my kids, taste really good when it has finished cooking.
13. Cook at a very low boil uncovered for ten minutes.
14. Cover and cook for ten minutes more.

Serves eight (or six with hearty appetites.)

One lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Eddie, Grime Doesn’t Pay! (I’ll even mail it internationally if that applies.) Winners will be chosen on Jan 6th…

For clickable links to all blog posts, go to: http://www.zamaxfield.com/new-years-eve-progressive-dinner/