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Chicken Soup for the Soul: Food and Love + Recipe

About The Book

101 Stories Celebrating Special Times with Family and Friends… and Recipes Too!
Food is an expression of love — both the romantic kind and the comforting kind between family and friends. With its savory, sweet, and sometimes spicy stories, this delightful collection will sprinkle in laughs, warm hearts of readers, and stir up memories that certain aromas and tastes always bring. Readers will relish the stories on how love and food together played a flavorful part in life. Some recipes included too!
I am a big fan of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. I love that they are made up of short stories that you can quickly read one or two. I often find myself getting so wrapped up in the inspiring stories of others that I can’t put them down! A major bonus with these books is that there is one (or more) for everyone. From kids to adults, cat lovers to football fans there is a book for you.

My thoughts

It’s no secret that I love the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and the newest addition is no surprise. Food and Love has quickly become my second favorite book behind Chicken Soup for the Soul: New Moms. Most of my childhood is filled with memories of cooking and baking with my mother in the kitchen and I felt right at home as I took the journey from Becoming a Cook to The Sweetness of Life.  The fact that most of the stories contained the recipes along with their heartfelt stories is an added bonus.  I just acquired 80 more recipes to add to my arsenal!

Chicken & Dumplings from page 200

Stew Ingredients
2 1/2 pounds chicken thighs or legs without skin
5 cups chicken broth
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 medium onion, cut into eights
1 (10 oz) package frozen peas
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1/2 cups of cold water

Dumpling Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

Directions
Place chicken, broth and bay leaves in a 5 qt. dutch oven. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken from broth; allow chicken to cool enough to handle.

Rove chicken from the bones and cut into chunks. Then return to broth.

Add next eight ingredients. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, combine flour, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk, dried rosemary and parsley.

Thoroughly mix cornstarch with cold water and add it to the pot. Bring it to a boil until stew thickens just a bit (about 2 minutes) then turn heat back to simmer.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls into simmering stew. They will sink to the bottom. Cook covered for 15 minutes. As the dumplings cook they rise to the top. To make sure the dumplings are fully cooked, a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Buy It

You can pick up your own copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Food & Love at various retailers, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

*Thank you to the Chicken Soup for the Soul review network for sending me a copy to review & giveaway. This however did not influence my thoughts or opinions and the above review is my own.*

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23 COMMENTS

  • Shirley

    I like all the pastas in small towns of Italy. They are cheap and delicious.

  • Gladys Parker

    My grandmother’s huge Thanksgiving feast/gatherings!
    Gladys P
    sps1113 at yahoo dot com

  • DebbyM

    I love when my grandmother would make her homemade kolachi (slovak nut roll). I now bake it for my family.

    Thanks,
    DebbyM

  • Krystle

    My grandma baking me chocolate chip cookies

  • Gina H.

    My favorite memory is eating Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandparents & my Grandma’s homemade pumpkin pie!

  • tamar

    I love thanksgiving dinner with my family. my mom makes an amazing turkey.

  • Julie Lynn Bickham

    My favorite memory as a child is my papa making pancakes with corn in them. Not something you hear of.

  • Kim

    I remember going to the melting pot with my 2 best friends and stuffing our faces with everything amazing even though there was no more room left in our stomachs. We joked about saving o unbutton our pants to relieve the pressure and that we might grow up after eating all that–after a 40 minute drive home, I dropped off my best friend at her house to only get. Call 5 minutes later that she didn’t ake it to the bathroom and threw up all over her kitchen floor.

  • jennifer

    My favorite food memory my first date with my now bf (4 years!) eating a crazy cookie with ice cream on it from BJ’s (Pazooki!)

  • Wendi

    Always waiting to get to my grandmas ….Cabbage Rolls were what we waited for every holiday! Even the smell would just intice us! Mmmmmmmmm

  • Ashley Montgomery

    My favorite memory is helping my mawmaw out in the kitchen. I would beg and plead until she would give in, lol.

  • Renee

    Christmas dinners with the family all together once a year – turkey with all the trimmings of course! Thanks so much!

  • Christine W

    I remember the first time that I tried to make bread from scratch. Everything went well, and I was even able to do the braid. Then it had to rise again. I woke up the next morning to the smell of bread baking in the oven. My mom had baked my bread. I was disappointed that I did not get to do the baking and be able to say that I did the whole thing. My mom was so excited about me doing such a great job that I couldn’t be mad at her. We just shared the accomplishment of making homemade bread from scratch.

  • Rita Spratlen

    We used to have big family dinners. Now almost all of them are gone. Big spaghetti dinners. We would all play cards. Great uncles and great grandparents and grandparents. Good old memories.

  • penny hyde

    Sunday dinners after church with my brother/sister and their families at my folks. i am the baby and they both were adults with their own fams while I was growing up. This was so special.

  • jen wexler

    my favorite memory is my wedding which involves awesome food and cake

  • Georgiana

    Summertime strawberry picking and making fresh strawberry shortcake

  • Renata

    Turkey mashed potatoes sweet potatoes cranberries pumpkin pie!

  • Christine Beasley

    the family times when we helped with the canning of fruits and vegetables for the year. The fun and cameraderie at the time as well as how much better the food tasted later than store bought equivalents. We hated when we ran out of home canned/frozen and had to buy commercial canned before the new harvest came in. Fortunately it was rare.

  • Carolyn Ann Colley (Griffith, Smith)

    I’m from a big family I have 3 sisters & 3 brothers, on Sunday’s mom always fixed fried chicken, I have never had fried chicken as good as her’s was, I’ve tried, I can’t do it. Everybody ate at the same time, today it’s not that way, we all have our jobs, or what ever, too busy for family.

  • Jen P

    i will always remember all of the amazing food we ate on our honeymoon in Italy!

  • Pamela James

    I love the Thankgiving meals we have with all the familty gathered together.

  • Maureen

    At Christmas my younger siblings and I would make a warm batch of cookies for Santa right after we came home from Mid-Night mass.