Chicken, dumplings, and no lice.

     I owe my sister big time. Yesterday I was at work when I got the call. "Beastie had head lice. You need to come get them NAO!!!!!11!!" So I give my boss and the charge nurse a heads up and head out the door. Pick up the kids, buy lice treatment, pick up clothes, head to mom's so I can quarantine my own house, bathe and treat kids, find NO evidence of head lice. AAARRRRGGGHHH WARGLEGARBLE!!1!!1. WFT!?
    Anyway, the kids aren't welcome back to daycare until tomorrow so I needed a sitter. Thankfully I have an awesome sister who stepped up and spent her day off with my little ankle biters. Hence the reason I owe her big. And usually when I owe her, I pay her back with food.
    We're going grocery shopping tomorrow, but in the meantime I wanted to make her a nice dinner. I had the remains of a rotisserie chicken in the fridge so I knew what I would make. Chicken and dumplings is my favorite way to use up leftover chicken, using left overs to make a whole new meal.
Tonight's version was chock full of veggies. Carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, and mushrooms. After picking what meat I could off the bones, I tossed the bones, fat and skin in some water for a quick hard boil, to make a fast stock. The veg, meat, stock, and extra broth simmered, then I dropped in the dumplings which were pancake mix with a bit of poultry seasoning. Simmer 10 minutes or so 'till the dumplings are nicely plumped. I made myself a veggie version using veggie stock and a little Kitchen Bouquet. Then we all dug in and were left a little sad when our bowls were empty.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cake

   Despite my grand aspirations, this weekend was woefully wanting in motivation.  Case in point, the strawberries and rhubarb languishing in my fridge.  They were purchased last weekend in a hunger induced binge at the market.  They were bought with the intention of making a pie.  But pie is work, there's all that soft handling, the chilling the rolling, making sure it's the right size, etc.  Screw that, I'm a lazy hoar this weekend. So I went in search of something else to make.
   Enter the Strawberry Rhubarb Cake.  A google search found me this recipe.  Buuuut, true to form, I did not have quite the ingredients needed.  No oranges to zest, but some dried lemon zest.  No heavy cream, so I used skim milk plus an extra egg yolk.  Beastie (child number 1, 5 year old boy)  helped to grease the pan, a job he found most entertaining, and took 10 times longer than necessary.
  I'm sorry, I don't have any pics to share this time, my camera is missing and I'm too busy inhaling this cake (a la' mode with strawberry ice cream) to be bothered to look for it.