A Finish and a Start

We got a break in the rain yesterday, which was very nice. We might have a few days with a lot less rain. We're driving up to Yakima, Washington, next Tuesday, taking our truck camper up to where it was manufactured to have some work done on it. I only mention this because we're hoping for some decent weather. We're going either way, but it's always a nicer drive when we're not fighting the standing water, wind, and darkness. Fingers crossed.

The kitties took advantage of the improvement in the weather and went on two short adventures outside. You can see by their arched backs they aren't happy with the cooler temps and wetness under their paws.

Inside, I was stitching away at my quilt binding, while simultaneously using the quilt to stay warm. (It works!) I was nearly to the third corner when I got started, and so it was only about another hour before I'd turned all four corners.

And then, it was only a few more minutes before it was finished. Yay! It's the last quilt in my previous stack of quilt sandwiches...the ones that were sandwiched before I broke my shoulder. 

This was my goal for November's

and so I'll link up at the finishing party at month's end.

Okay, so the next quilt I'll be quilting will come from the new stack.

As I work through a stack of quilt sandwiches, I usually try to choose one for quilting each month. I've chosen them for the season they represent, or else for the time they will take. I've decided to quilt this stack based on when they were started, taking the oldest projects first. The next one will be Appalachian Memories...fourth one from the bottom of that stack.

Already I'm looking at fillers and border ideas for the quilting. It will probably be a while before I get to it, but the circling and thinking about it helps me to prepare. Also, I need to decide on the thread color and make sure I have everything I need in the quantity I will need it.

As for the present, it's time to get started on my next challenge quilt. The prompt for this quilt will be "Feelings/Emotions." I thought of a few ideas, but then came up with a winner. I'm working from a photograph Mike took many years ago, and I'll be doing a collage technique. These start by tracing the photo onto some transparencies. This one is large enough that I had to tape several together. Then I pinned it to the photo to hold it in place.

I had that part done several days ago, but I've been dragging my feet getting started on this. The collage quilts can be complicated, difficult, and time-consuming. Usually, once I get started, they take over my life and I have a hard time walking away from them at the end of the day. This one will be a challenge in color value because the values are very close. Also, it's hard to decide how much detail to include. Too much, and it becomes very difficult to do with lots of tiny pieces. Too little, and too much is lost in the translation from photo to fabric. In this case, I'd started numbering the colors for identification, but then I bagged that effort. With so many shades, it lost its capacity to be helpful.

Okay, so once I had the pattern traced out, I got started on it. I started with the part that had me most worried, and that part is working out. You only get a peek of this project. Assuming I finish it, you'll see it when it's revealed on February 1st. (We'll be on the road again by then.)

For dinner last night, I re-worked a slow-cooker recipe to make it a Dutch oven recipe. It wasn't a big deal to do it that way, and so I'm glad I gave it a try. This is Old-Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings. It was comfort food for our rainy weather.

It's a really good recipe for chicken and dumplings from one of the Cook's Illustrated cookbooks. My gripe about this is that it required too many pans to make it properly. Sometimes, a recipe just isn't right for a slow cooker. In this case, the chicken and veggies were browned in a skillet. Then, they were moved to the slow cooker. At the end, the cookbook recipe engaged in some wishful thinking by having you turn the heat to high and then add the raw dumpling batter so that the dumplings could cook in the slow cooker. Well. This never worked for me, and my slow cooker cooks hot on the high setting. So, I've always moved the whole thing back to my Dutch oven to finish the dumplings there. Altogether that's three dirty cooking vessels for one dish. I don't know about you, but I think of a slow cooker as a time saver, and this definitely didn't save me any time. 

So...I decided to do the whole thing in the Dutch oven from the get-go. I browned the chicken and the veggies, added the rest of the ingredients, and then put it in the oven set a 225°F for the afternoon. Then, I took it from the oven and put it on the slow top to finish off the dumplings. It worked great, with just one dirty pot. Here's how I did it:

Old-Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings

adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution

serves 6

For the Stew:

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed

salt and pepper

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, minced

2 celery ribs, sliced 1/4" thick

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dry sherry

4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus extra as needed

4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick

2 bay leaves

1 cup frozen peas

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

For the Dumplings:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole milk

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

For the stew:  Dry chicken with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.  Heat one tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Brown half of chicken lightly on both sides, 5-8 minutes; transfer to bowl.  Repeat with 1 tablespoon more oil and remaining chicken; transfer to a bowl.

Heat remaining tablespoon oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add onions, celery, garlic, tomato paste, and thyme, and cook until vegetables are softened and lightly browned, 8-10 minutes.  Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in sherry, scraping up any browned bits.  Whisk in 1 cup broth, smoothing out any lumps.

Stir remaining 3 1/2 cups broth, carrots, and bay leaves into Dutch oven.  Nestle browned chicken with any accumulated juice into vegetable and broth mixture.  Cover and cook in the oven until chicken is tender, about 5-6 hours.

Transfer chicken to cutting board, let cool slightly, then shred into bite-sized pieces.  Let stew settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using a large spoon.  Discard bay leaves.

Stir shredded chicken, peas, and parsley into stew, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  (Adjust stew consistency with additional hot broth as needed.)  Cover and cook until simmering.

For the dumplings:  Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl.  Microwave milk and butter together until warm (do not overheat), about 1 minute, then whisk to melt butter.  Stir milk mixture into flour mixture until just incorporated and smooth.

Drop golf ball-sized dumplings on top of simmering stew (an ice cream scoop works well for this purpose), leaving about 1/4-inch between each dumpling (you should have about 9-10 dumplings).  Cover and cook until dumplings have doubled in size, 25-35 minutes.  Serve.

* * * * *

Okay, so now that the challenge quilt is started, it will take over. There's nothing else on the calendar today, and so I can just work on it to my heart's content. I'm hoping to get well along by the end of the day.