John and I are on this new kick.  It’s called being healthy, eating right, and trying to make sure that we’re both here for a long, long time.  I know, right?  Who knew?  The hard part is the fact that the food that I oh so love the most is the stuff I should avoid eating as often.  You know, potatoes, cheese, ice cream, chocolate, … potatoes.  Oh my god I love potatoes.  My mouth is salivating just typing this out.

Anyway…

So the other night I decided to hell with it all for the night, I’m making my Bacon Chicken Dumpling Soup.  Yeah, you read that right.  Bacon, chicken, and dumplings… as soup.  Is your mouth watering yet?  I have been making this amazing stuff for years now and every time I make it I find new things to add and new twists to come up with.  I’ve adapted some ways to make it a bit healthier over the years and every person who has ever eaten it falls into a happy coma afterwards.

I warn you.  This stuff is a-ddic-tive, for real.  It also smells so amazing when it’s done cooking that you can’t help but burn the crap out of your mouth trying to wait for it to cool down, but still having to take a few small bites… over, and over, and over, until it’s well… gone.  Those second degree burns in your throat will heal eventually, right?

LET’S DO THIS!!

Here is an overview of what you’ll need.  Add some, leave some out, change it up, do whatever, but here is an overview!  Next time I’m adding some celery in it.  Mmm, mmm y’all!

Step One:  Fry that turkey bacon.  Fry it good.  Vegetarians:  Now is the time to substitute this for Morningstar Farms’ veggie bacon.  Good stuff and does the same thing but it’s meat free!  When the bacon (or wonderful veggie bacon) is done crisping and frying, crumble it up and set it aside.

Step Two:  Peel and chop up the baking potatoes, chop up the chicken breast into manageable pieces, and slice up those red onions.  If need be add a bit of olive oil in the bottom of your stock pot, but add all of these things together and cook for 15 minutes on medium to medium-high heat.  Stir occasionally to keep from sticking to the bottom.  Sometimes I pour a little bit of excess low sodium vegetable broth in there to give it a bit of juice to suck up.  Vegetarians:  Switch up the chicken for Morningstar Farms’ chicken strips.  If you do this I would throw them in the mix frozen to make sure you have a little bit of extra time to let them cook and they don’t get mushy.

Step Three:  While that’s cooking cut the corn off of your corn-on-the-cob and prepare your baby carrots.  This is also the time to mince your garlic and choose if you want to add any more vegetables to the pot.

Step Four:  Add the low-sodium vegetable broth to the mix, stir in the minced garlic and poultry season.  Season with salt and pepper if needed and any other seasonings you’re interested in and stir well.  Mix in the carrots and corn, stir well, and cook for 15 more minutes.

Step Five:  While that’s cooking, combine biscuit mix together with some skim milk and set aside.

Step Six:  After the 15 minutes is up, add the fat free half and half to the pot and the crumbled bacon.  Stir well (this will be the last time that you get to stir this so get a good stir in!) and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer while you scoop spoonfuls of biscuit mix on top of the entire mixture.  Let biscuits simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes put a lid on the pot and simmer the top of the biscuits for 10 more minutes.  Remember!!  No more stirring after you place the biscuits in otherwise it’ll break them up and ruin the delicious gooeyness!  Take off heat, scoop into a bowl, and try not to burn the crap out of yourself.

Nutritional Information:

This will serve six people and put them all in a coma for the night.  Caloriecount.com rates this recipe, as described above, as an A- rating for a meal, listing it as:

Low in saturated fat

High in niacin

High in selenium

Very high in vitamin A

High in vitamin B6

Calories:  472 // Fat:  6.9g // Protein:  46.4g // Carbohydrates:  51.6g // Fiber:  5.5g