Simple Goodness: Healthy Chicken and Dumpling Soup

Ever since I had my gallbladder removed a few months ago, I've had to improvise my way of cooking , especially on those days my intestines just can't handle all that new bile (a very common post-operative symptom). This is why I tend to cook with a lot less butter and try to focus on how to make things healthy, but still flavorful and preservative-free. Anyway, this chicken soup is easy on the tummy, but still pleasing to the taste buds. The spices I use are great flavor-enhancers and the soup itself is loaded with vegetables and chicken breast, what could possibly be healthier? Ok, maybe it would be healthier without the chicken, but I don't get full without meat...this is why I'm not a vegetarian. It's pretty easy to make, and the secret is probably the timing, how long everything cooks, especially the veggies. Nothing ruins a soup more than over-cooked vegetables and a watery broth for a base...oh yeah, and the spices, there needs to be just enough, but not so much that you can't taste the natural taste of all the other ingredients. So here's what I did:

I measured! Yay! And...

Measured 7 cups of water to boil in a good sized pot. Then I added all the tasty stuff: 3 TBSP Chicken Bouillon Powder (I've used the boxed organic chicken broths, and they work great, but I ran out :). Here are the spices that I threw in the pot of brothy water:

3/4 TSP black pepper
1 tsp Onion powder
1/2 TBSP Basil
1 TBSP Fine herbs (basically, a bled of parsley, green onion, cheruil, and tarragon)
1/2 TBSP Herb de Provence

Then I added 1 1/2 TBSP flour; it might seem like an odd ingredient, but I really don't care much for a watery broth in my soups, this helps to give it more texture without making the soup thick like gravy, because that's not good either.

I let all these spices cook in the broth over a medium flame for about 5 minutes, just to bring out their individual flavors, then I added 1 pound of cut-up boneless skinless chicken breast. (If you are a vegetarian, you could add 1 can of plain tomato sauce instead of chicken and veggie instead of chicken broth for a light vegetable soup.)

While I let the chicken cook over a medium flame for about 15 minutes, with a cover, I diced up all my veggies which amounted to: 1 1/2 cups carrots, 1 cup celery, 1 whole squash, 1 whole zucchini (both medium-sized). Then I added JUST the carrots and celery to the soup, cooking it on a medium-low flame for another 15 minutes. When they were almost done cooking, I added the zucchini and squash, along with the dumplings--making sure the flame was at the second to last lowest setting possible, because it's very easy to over-cook those last veggies. Oh, and here's the recipe for the dumplings:

1 Cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 Cup nonfat milk
1 1/2 TBSP canola oil
1/4 tsp salt-free garlic and herb spice

Most dumpling recipes call for butter or even shortening, but those are very heavy, definitely not easy to digest. Canola oil is much lighter AND healthier, and you honestly can't tell the difference.

P.S. Isn't the bowl in the picture so cute? I bought it at a store called Marukai when I visited my family in Los Angeles this past winter break, it's one of my favorite stores.

P.S.S. When I had a break during my little kitchen session, I decided to pay my guinea pigs a visit, so I headed to the back room and fed them each some carrots and celery. The guinea in this picture is Yoshi, the baby of the family. He's a little camera shy and you can definitely see it here :):