Thought for Food

I'm back with yet another recipe! It's been a while since I posed one, so I figured I'd give everyone a new little yummy to make at home! Again, I repeat my disclaimer about how much food I make at a time...I'm feeding three people (me and two grown men) with room for leftovers for BJ's lunches, so I make a pretty good amount! This is a dish that I previously knew as "Chicken-over-Biscuit", because that's what it was always called on my high school lunch menus. It was my favorite meal in school, I never missed a Chicken-over-Biscuit day, and sadly, I hadn't had it since well before graduation. During one of my domestic fits one night, I decided to recreate my favorite school lunch (and pray that it tasted as good when I made it!). So, here's how I did it!

Chicken and sauce -
6 cups water
1 C heavy cream
3 Tbsp chicken stock/bouillon
3 Tbsp corn starch, disolved in warm water to form a paste
2 large whole chicken breasts (about 1 lb)
1 C fresh celery, finely chopped
1 C fresh carrots, finely chopped
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 medium bay leaf
Seasonings to taste

Biscuits -
2 C Martha White self-rising flour
1/4 C Crisco shortening
3/4 C milk

For chicken and sauce -
Put water in a large pot with vegetables, chicken, bay leaf, stock and seasonings. Set heat to medium high and boil until chicken is done throughout. Remove chicken and bay leaf and reduce heat to low, leaving the rest to simmer. Add dry onion soup mix and stir in thoroughly. Once chicken is cool to touch, cut into small pieces, half-bite-sized (if that makes any sense). Add chicken back to mixture and keep temperature and simmer. Add cornstarch paste slowly, stirring as you add it. Add heavy cream the same way. Let mixture simmer to thicken, stirring occasionally.

While the chicken and sauce are thickening, it's a good time to work on those biscuits! This is the recipe I got off the back of the Martha White flour package, and they are delicious

For the biscuits -
Heat oven to 450 degrees. In large bowl, cut shortening into flour mixture until mix resembles course crumbs. With a fork, stir in enough milk to form a soft dough, or until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. On lightly floured surface, knead just until smooth. Roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness; cut with floured 2-inch round cutter, or pull and gently pat mounds of dough into rough biscuits. Place biscuits, lightly touching, on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Yields about 8-10 biscuits.

By the time the biscuits are done, the chicken and sauce should have thickened up beautifully, and by then - you're ready to eat! Get your plate, open up a biscuit on it, and use a ladle to pour the chicken sauce over the steaming biscuit! Heaven, I tell ya!
Mom also filled me in on a little something - this dish is actually called "Chicken a la King". I had no idea, but mom knew because the night I made this from scratch, she had the same thing, courtesy of Stouffer's!
On a healthy note, the way I made this, the only salt I used was in the chicken stock and in the dry onion soup mix. My seasonings were garlic powder, black pepper, a touch of smoked paprika, and some no-salt substitute, which is all natural (we buy it from the Amish market in Kentucky) and contains onion, turmeric, garlic, lemon, carrot, citric acid, and chili powder. It's yummy, and healthy - I love it! It smells like an everything bagel, if that tells you anything!
Also, if you wanna have your dinner the way I had mine - have a nice glass of iced tea with it! One of the best things about the South is the All-You-Can-Drink policy where tea is concerned! Of course, we always had tea at home, too, but I'm to the point now that I'd rather have tea and water than anything! Occasionally some juice, but I like my tea a little more! And since I live with BJ, who is sugar-sensitive, our tea is only LIGHTLY sweetened. When we make a gallon, we might (and I stress the word MIGHT) use 2/3 C of sugar.
Well, that's all I have for now! I'll make sure to keep everyone posted on all my adventures, culinary or otherwise!