Chicken on the Fly (FNCE Bound Picnic)

A warm southern meal after crossing the Virginia line was a delicious second time around to our roasting chicken and vegetables served Wednesday.

The inspiration was from Rachael Ray in her "Make this, then this" column. 

Creamed Chicken & Biscuits

(Serves 2)

Dice chicken and roasted vegetables. 
1 cup roasted chicken, diced
3/4 cup roasted winter vegetables (carrots, parsnips, potatoes, fennel and scallions), diced
1/3 cup frozen green peas

In a non-stick pan, melt buttery spread.  Whisk in flour.  Whisk for 1 minute.
1 tablespoon Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Slowly whisk in stock.  Simmer until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes.
3/4 cup low sodium chicken stock

Add chicken, vegetables and peas.  Bring to a simmer;  season with Mrs. Dash.
Mrs. Dash

Stir in milk.  Simmer. 
1/4 cup evaporated skim milk 

At this point, I cooled the creamed chicken overnight in a shallow glass container.

This morning, I preheated a thermos with boiling water.  I heated the creamed chicken and vegetable mixture on stove-top, emptied the thermos of boiling water, and filled it with the creamed chicken.  This was hot and perfect for our rainy day picnic.

We served our creamed chicken with a cut biscuit, baked from frozen this morning!

Dessert was a delicious Plum and Ginger Crumble.  I had a bowl of local plums on my counter I needed to use and the recipe from French & Grace's book fit the bill.  I made my own Gingersnaps-that recipe I'll post at a later time.  The hardest part of the preparation was peeling the tiny plums.  (My husband and I are both seniors with dental concerns)  The plums peeled easily after immersed in boiling water for 1 minute, plunged in cold water for another minute, and peeled.  This was worth the effort!

Plum and Ginger Crumble

(Serves 8)

 

Cut peeled plums in quarters.  Mix with sugar and scrapings from vanilla bean.
12 plums
1 tablespoon sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped

Combine remaining sugar, gingersnaps, ginger, flour, buttery spread and almonds in a food processor.  Pulse to combine.
1 tablespoon sugar
6 gingersnaps
1 tablespoon ground ginger
3/4 cup & 1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour
4 tablespoon Earth Balance Buttery Spread
2 tablespoon ground almonds

Place plums in a greased baking dish.  I use a 8 inch oval baking dish greased with an olive oil spray.
Top with crumb topping.

Bake at 350 F. for 40 minutes.