Cooking With Cola

CRACKER BARREL Old Country Store, a restaurant for lunch and dinner menus offer local Homestyle with quality ingredients prepared from scratch throughout the day.

You'll find everything you love about country cooking, and some items that might surprise you. Their cooks countries have added new things they know you'll like. And of course you can always find old favorites like meatloaf, chicken dumplings n 'Roast Beef and lots of tasty vegetables in the country menu.

Among the most popular items are: Fried Chicken Livers, Hickory Smoked BBQ pork, grilled pork chops, fried or grilled chicken fillet, beans n 'Greens (one cup of pinto beans and turnip served with onion relish & Muffins maize) as well as their famous Half Pound Hamburger Steak, Sugar Ham, Beef Stew and household farm raised catfish fillet (fried or grilled spicy).

>>> And now, here's their most popular meals of all - Cracker Barrel Chicken and Dumplings Recipe complete meal:

- Chicken & Dumplings Cracker Barrel -

> Chicken and Broth:

3 quarts water

January 3 to 4 pound chicken cut

1 1 / 2 tsp teaspoon salt

1 small onion, sliced

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and quartered

1 bay leaf

4-6 whole parsley leaves

1 tsp tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1 tablespoon lemon juice

> Dumplings:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 1 / 4 c. teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons tablespoons milk

1. Bring water to boil in large saucepan. Add chicken, 1 c. teaspoon salt, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf and parsley in the pan. Reduce heat and simmer and cook the chicken, uncovered, for 2 hours. The liquid will reduce by about one third.

2. When the chicken is cooked, remove from pan and set aside. Strain the broth to remove all the vegetables and floating waste. You only want the stock and chicken, then throw the rest of.

3. quarts Pour 1 1 / 2 (6 cups) of stock in the pan (keep the leftover stock, if any, for another recipe: it can be frozen). You can also use a small pot or large saucepan to that effect. Add coarsely ground pepper, remaining teaspoon 1 / 2 salt and lemon juice, then reheat the stock over medium heat while preparing the meatballs.

4. For dumplings, combine flour, baking powder, 1 1 / 4 c. teaspoon salt and milk in medium bowl. Stir until smooth, then let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of about 1 / 2 inch.

5. Cut squares of dough into 1 / 2 inch and place each square in the hot broth. Use all the dough. The first pellets swell and then slowly shrink as they partially dissolve to thicken the broth in a white sauce. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until thickened. Stir often.

6. While the stock is thickening, the chicken becomes cool enough to handle. Tear all the meat off the bones and skin. Cut the chicken into bite-size or slightly larger than bite-size pieces and drop them into the pot. Discard skin and bones. Continue to simmer the chicken and dumplings for another 5-10 minutes, but do not stir too vigorously or the chicken will be less and the fall of another. You want big chunks of chicken in the end.

7. When the sauce has reached desired consistency, ladle four portions onto plates and serve hot. Serve with your choice of steamed vegetables, if desired.

- Country Cracker Barrel cornbread dressing -

2 / 3 cup chopped onion

2 cups chopped celery

2 quarts.