$10 for Two Dinners - Grilled Chicken and Chicken Dumplings

This is a new routine that I have been doing for cheap dinners for the family. The chicken and dumplings recipe is from my very country Ex-mother-in-law.

Finished Product w/ pepper on top

I purchased two whole chickens for under $10.00. I should have taken a picture, but the total came to $8.94. We added a few veggies for the grilled chicken on our first meal, and it all came in under $10.00

I'm going to save people a lot of money over their life time by posting this video. It's how to cut your own chicken...I did the math and it comes to about $26.00/hour that you can save for your time. This is one of the best videos on Youtube for learning how to cut your own chicken. It's only 4:23 minutes, and cutting a whole chicken while watching it was very helpful the first few times.

The first dinner I grilled two chickens to feed the family. This was to make sure that we had leftovers to use for the chicken and dumplings. I'd like to say a special thanks to Pioneer Woman Cooks Ree Drummond for the great pictorials of her recipes. I liked the idea so much, I'll be using her technique.

A large stockpot and 4 quarts ( 1 gallon ) of warm water.

1 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon  per Quart of water

Add your chicken necks, backs, and any other scraps to the chicken stock

Cook the chicken until done on a simmer.

Okay, when a recipe says simmer it means just barely boiling. Bring it to a boil, then keep knocking it down a few notches on the dial until it is just barely making bubbles. All of this is happening while I'm grilling the chicken outside. Cook the chicken until it is done - around 30-45 minutes.

After the stock is done, I like to refrigerate it and save it for tomorrow night. Pull the chicken out of the stock and refrigerate them too.

Clean the leftover grilled chicken, remove the skin, and put in a baggie.

The next day, I'll pick and clean the chicken stock scraps since they are cool. 


DAY TWO: Bring the stock back to a boil. Collect a cup of warm stock to use for the dumplings.

Here is the cleaned chicken from the night before ready to be added to the stock. Be sure to clean the backs for any meat that can be added to the dumplings.

The skin shouldn't be used in the finished product, but be sure to use it for the stock....it's flavor!

One cup of flour for the dumplings. Don't be scared because this is real easy!

Make a flour volcano with the flour on a cutting board.

Add enough warm stock to make the "lava" in the volcano. Don't worry about how much liquid to add because you really want to have too much to start. We are going for a certain texture of the dumplings.

Mix it up and make a dough. It should feel a bit softer than playdough. Add more flour until you get the right consistency.

Spread it out very thin!

I placed a dollar near the cutting board for a comparison shot. Cut the dough with a butter knife.

To give you an idea of how thick.

Bring the stock w/ the chicken to a rolling boil before adding the raw dumplings.

Add the raw dumplings one at a time, then reduce to a simmer.

Notice that it took an hour and the drop in the liquid level in the pot.

Sample the dumpling to make sure that they don't have a "doughy" feel...you'll know it if they aren't done yet.

My plate!

Row's new favorite soup!

If you really wanna go Southern, serve with a loaf of white bread to "sop up the juices".

Enjoy!

Comments or questions are always welcome.