I gave Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman a call and asked them to take us on a trip back into the blog logs to find a belly warming dish from a past Cozy Food Friday. 

They set The WayBack Machine for two years ago

Friday, February 13, 2015

Check out the post with a perfect cold weather meal they found for us!

It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

Today I'm featuring a recipe from the cozy mystery 

LADLE TO THE GRAVE

Book 4 in the Soup Lover's Mystery series

by

Connie Archer

By the Spoonful is Snowflake, Vermont’s most popular soup shop, but owner Lucky Jamieson doesn’t have any time to enjoy her success—she’s too busy trying to keep a lid on false accusations against her loved ones… 

It’s almost May, and some of the local ladies have organized a pagan celebration in the woods to welcome spring. But the evening goes terribly wrong when one of the attendees winds up dead, apparently poisoned by an herbal concoction prepared by Lucky’s grandfather, Jack.

Lucky’s sure her grandfather could not have made such a tragic mistake. But before she can clear him of suspicion, her best friend, Sophie, is diverted from planning her wedding to By the Spoonful chef Sage DuBois when she finds a dead man floating in the creek on her property. Now it’s up to Lucky to get both Sophie and Jack out of hot water before a killer stirs up more trouble…

Recipes included!

LADLE TO THE GRAVE 

Today's recipe is

Chicken Pot Pie Soup With Dumplings

Ingredients

1 large or 2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts

4 cups chicken broth or bouillon

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

4 celery sticks, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups frozen peas

1/4 cup half-and-half (or milk)

(Lisa's note: salt and pepper)

Chop chicken breasts into small, bite-size pieces.

Add to large pot with chicken broth, carrots, celery, and onions.

Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes or until carrots and celery are tender. 

Add peas and cook 1 minute more. 

Add half-and-half or milk, and stir.

(Lisa's note: salt and pepper to taste) 

Prepare dumplings and reheat soup, dropping dough into bubbling soup and cover. 

Cook 10 - 15 minutes more until dumplings are cooked. 

Serves 4 

Dumplings

Ingredients

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons cooking oil

In a bowl, mix flour, parsley, baking powder, thyme, and salt. 

Mix milk and oil separately and pour into flour mixture. 

Stir with a fork until combined.

Drop small amounts of sticky mixture into bubbling soup (as mentioned above).

Cover and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes until dumplings are cooked (or until toothpick comes out clean). 

Serves 4

NOTE: All images are from Google Images and Pinterest. 

Your soup may vary in appearance.

My stomach has been growling the whole time I've been typing up this post! 

📕📖📘📚📙📖📗

Mr. Peabody and Sherman picked out the perfect recipe to travel back to. 

My stomach is growling again!

I hope you all enjoy this hearty, tasty soup!

📕📖📘📚📙📖📗

MY REVIEW

(From February 21, 2015)

Connie Archer’s Soup Lovers Mystery series is one of my favorites. I always look forward to a new book in this series and couldn’t wait to get my hands on LADLE TO THE GRAVE. I was not disappointed.

The story wasted no time getting started, with the victim dying within the first few pages. Naturally, I figured the rest of the book would be devoted to finding out what happened, and it was. But that death in the beginning was just the start to an amazing, head spinning ride.

Lucky, her grandfather Jack, and the Spoonful had so much going on in this book! Jack is a possible suspect in the death, though not by something he did intentionally, Sophia and Sage have their wedding coming up, Lucky is trying to help Jack, and Sophia and Sage and finds herself in yet another mysterious situation! I don’t know how author Connie Archer kept everything straight!

I was so proud of myself for guessing “whodunit”. But in the middle of patting myself on the back as I read, I found I was dead wrong.

Have tissues ready around page 146 with issues dealing with Lucky’s grandfather Jack. Jack is my favorite character in this series, and I have to tell you, my heart was breaking! I am not ashamed to admit that I cried like a baby!

LADLE TO THE GRAVE was just as wonderful as the first three books in this series. No, wait. Scratch that.  LADLE TO THE GRAVE was even MORE wonderful than the first three titles.  And I look forward to many more installments to come.

As if the wonderful story telling isn’t enough, Ms. Archer also includes yummy recipes!

If you already love this series, you’re not going to be disappointed. If you haven’t read this series, please do! You will fall in love with the characters, the location, and with author Connie Archer herself!

I have no doubt you will indeed love this series.

It has a forever place on my top favorite series list.

 

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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