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6/10/11 10:42 A

Old Fashioned Chicken Soup with Mini Dumplings

Soup
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup each chopped onions, chopped celery, chopped carrots
1 stp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried majoram
6 cups chicken broth
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup chipped celery leaves
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp each of salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lbs or 680g) *TIP - save money, remove the skin yourself (it takes seconds to do).

Dumplings
1 cup 1% or 2% milk
1 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cream of wheat cereal (not instant)

Heat olive oil in large, non stick soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots and garlic. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in thyme and majoram and cook 30 more seconds. Add broth, tomatoes, celery leaves, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil, add chicken thighs. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 30 minutes.

While soup is simmering, make dumplings. Combine milk, butter and salt in a medium nonstick pot and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to low. Stir in Cream of Wheat. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Using 1 tsp or so of "dough" for each dumpling, form 24 1-inch dumplings, using your hands to roll dumplings into little balls, as if you were making meatballs (put a drop of olive oil on your hands so the dough doesn't stick.) Place dumplings on a plate and cover with plastic wrap until soup is ready to serve.

When soup is ready, remove chicken thighs from pot, cut meat from bone and chip into bite-sized pieces. Discard bones and return meat to pot. Remove bay leaves. Place 4 dumplings in each serving bowl and ladle hot soup over top.

Makes 6 servings

Nutrition:
223 Calories
8.8 g of fat
17g Protein
17g Carbohydrate
2.3g Fiber