The Comfort of Procrastination

In my mind, I am not a procrastinator who conceives of ways to avoid doing a task or the job at hand. I honestly and truly believe that I get things done, move on to the next task and do not get easily distracted. Well it appears that the mental fantasy is far from the truth.

The truth has finally seeped into my head and it is whispering that I am just a more subtle stealth version of a procrastinator. The normal delay that keeps me from having a spotless house, clean laundry that is put away and planning for a bathroom remodel have all been completed. It seems that studying has created a great procrastinator of me.

I am not remember my days in college when I learned to set aside time a week ahead of time or finished a term paper two weeks early. It was not because I was a go getter, but because all nighters had really horrible physical impacts on me. Turns out No-Doze will just make my body twitch and heart race for days. I just never realized that I set fake dates to ensure that my procrastination was in check. It gave me a false sense of security of being comfortably in control.

Now I am studying again almost a decade later from the last time I took a licensing exam. I realized that my lack of motivation is just the comfortable blanket I forgot I had owned. I have dedicated four days to studying and managed to do four loads of laundry, made two dishes that will make up lunch and dinner for the week, gone grocery shopping, scrubbed my bathroom, had brunch with the girlies, a birthday party dinner, street hockey practice and watched a football game. Most of these I would normally have to do kicking and screaming. Thank goodness I gave myself four days to learn 245 pages of information, which is read and outlined in only two days.

The one thing I will not procrastinate on is cooking good comfort food. As an adult, I have truly come to see cooking as an art form that is more than just about eating food. It is a way to project, protect or change your mood and outlook. As I delay the art of studying once again, I decided that I wanted to make one of my all time favorite dishes that is just pure comfort.

I knew I must make Chicken and Dumplings, and the quick version was just not going to be acceptable since I had studying to avoid. My mind was adamant that it needed to have a chicken put in hot water and boiled with seasonings. Then my own reason demanded that it also be as low in fat as possible which added an hour and two extra steps to the process.

This strong desire for Chicken and Dumplings may come from years and years of having it for Sunday dinner when it is cold outside. With fall coming on, but vegetables still available this is the perfect time to enjoy a nice creamy soup with fluffy cloud like dumplings. I always try to focus my cravings to the appropriate season, because it is just silly to have a hot bowl of chili in the middle of July. I really do love seasonal comfort foods, but have learned to adjust the recipes to lower the fat and calories and increase vegetables and fiber. Sometimes I have great successes and other times I have miserable failures.

Today was a huge success and pushed me to study a bit longer instead of cleaning my kitchen up from my cooking mess

Chicken and Dumplings
Half of One Chicken, skin removed
• Water to cover the chicken
• Handful of Garlic Cloves, slightly crushed
• Salt, a bunch to taste
• Poultry Seasoning ,to taste
• Pepper.
• Three Carrots, diced
• Three Celery Stalks, diced
• Medium Onion, diced
• Medium Yellow Squash, peeled and diced
• 2 ½ cups Bisquick
• 2/3 cups Skim Milk
• Fresh Parsley or Chives, chopped – optional

1. In a stock pot, place chicken in bottom, add in poultry seasoning, garlic cloves, salt and pepper.
2. Cover with Water and boil for approximately 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
3. Remove chicken from water.
4. In separate bowl, strain the broth and let cool and fat rise to the top.
5. While the broth cools, add the diced vegetables into the pot with a cooking spray and sauté until they start to soften.
6. Remove chicken in nice size pieces from bones and remove any excess fat.
7. Add chicken to pan and turn heat off.
8. When broth is cool, remove the fat that is on the top.
9. Add broth back into the stock pot and cook on low heat for an hour uncovered, which will allow the broth to reduce a bit.
10. As soup gets to a taste you enjoy, bring broth to a boil
11. In a mixing bowl combine Bisquick, salt, pepper, optional parsley or chives, and milk.
12. When combined, make loose balls the size of a donut hole, and then drop into the boiling water.
13. Cook uncovered on low heat for ten minutes.
14. Add top and continue cooking for an additional ten minutes.

Procrastinate, Serve and Enjoy.