For What Ails You

Today is all about things that'll cure what ails you

And if these dishes don't make you feel better, nothing will. It smells so good already

Doesn't it smell good? I'm treating Bobby to one of his favorites, chicken and dumplings

God, that's good, Mama. Then Bobby's gonna take care of his mama, y'all, with his apple and walnut salad

Because the doctor said an apple a day will keep him away

And for dessert, I don't know that it's got any medicinal value for it, except it'll make you feel so good you think you real well

We're talking about orange blossoms. I feel better already. Yes, cheers. So, Bobby, look at us today, son

Mm-hmm. In our purples. I was channeling you. You look so pretty in your purple

Thank you. So do you. You know what we're doing today? Today's recipes are all about what ails you

We're cooking food that's going to make us sick? No. No. Food that's going to make us feel better

Comfort food. And you know chicken stock, they say, really does have medicinal value to it

So I'm going to make us some chicken and dumplings. Well, let's get started

I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say you'd like for me to chop this celery

Well, you know what? You'd be right on it. And here's the sad part. It's going to take you about two seconds because I want it in pretty big pieces

Okay. I can handle that. Okay. And while you're doing that, son, I'm going to take our chicken and I'm just going to cut it into these scissors

What kind of bird is that? It's just a fryer, about a three and a half pound fryer

And when you're making chicken and dumplings, you want to use bone-in chicken, and you certainly want to use the skin, because that's where all your flavor is, yes

Did you know not to throw this stuff away on the celery? Oh, I never, never throw that away

That is what they call the nutrient superhighway. That's where all the goods for you are in the celery

And it's so beautiful. And it's pretty. I love the leaves in it, and it's got so much flavor

All right, now what we're going to do, son, is add about eight cups of water

Okay. All right, so, Bobby, we're going to add two heaping tablespoons of a granulated chicken bouillon

And a bay leaf. Yes, and a bay leaf. I'm going to add some salt and some pepper to this

So we're going to put this lid on here. We're going to bring our chicken to a bowl

and then we're going to turn it down, and we're going to simmer it for about 45 minutes to an hour

Now, Bobby, let's get started on something sweet, son. This probably doesn't have any medicinal value at all

but people love these little things. What are we making? We're making orange blossoms

Oh, yeah. We are going to start with a yellow cake mix

We're going to add a small package of vanilla pudding. And that's going to make our little blossoms so moist, son

All right. And we're going to add three-fourths a cup of water and three-fourths a cup of oil

What kind of oil is that? Vegetable. And if you would... How many eggs

Faux. So I will start. And if you would, Bobby, break our eggs into this

We want to make sure that each egg is okay. All right

You have chickens. Yes. So you have the fresh eggs as you can get

Yes. And let me tell you something. No roosters in my yard, y'all

All hens? No roosters are allowed to our house. You know what I learned

I know. You know what I learned? Is that you don't have to refrigerate those eggs

No. Like, if you have fresh eggs straight from the chicken, that there's a natural coating on it that keeps them from having to be refrigerated

Right. I can leave my eggs out on my counter for up to 30 days

And so my eggs are always ready for cakes and pies. I know where I'm going to start getting my eggs from

That's right, honey. About half, right? About a tablespoon. And you do want these all the same size so they'll cook at the same time

When you were a little boy and you were sick, what do you remember

You used to do potato soup, and I loved it. That's what I made for you and Jamie all the time

And the beef vegetable was one of my favorites. You used to do oyster stew that I loved so much

Yes. that I think was just heavy cream, butter, and oysters, if I remember correctly

Right Is that basically what it was That when my genes were coming from the Husky Department Milk Milk I used mainly milk We could not afford heavy cream in those days Bobby

So this looks pretty good. All right, now I'm just trying to make sure they're all kind of even

Fill them in. Yeah. So we've got our oven on 350, y'all, about 10 or 12 minutes

So in the oven it goes. And today, Bobby and I are in the kitchen fixing things that make you feel better

Coming up, we're making dumplings. This is sort of like a southern matzo ball

Yes. Exactly. Bobby treats me to one of his tastiest recipes. What we're going to do is create a really nice, fresh, just kind of like a summer salad

And later, we're adding the finishing touches to our orange blossoms. Now, if that don't make you happy

Absolutely. You can't get happy. Is that chicken ready

Yes. Hey, y'all. I'm in here in the kitchen today with my youngest son, Bobby

And today is all about preparing foods that fixes what ails you

It smells so good already. Doesn't it smell good? and we all know that that wonderful, rich chicken broth

it tastes good and it's good for you. So, Bobby, what we want to do, son, is just kind of disjoint this. Okay

So you can start to cool it off just a little bit. And while you're doing that, I'll make us some dumplings

Now, to richen up our broth, I'm going to bring this back to a bowl

Okay. And a wonderful little can of cream of condensed chicken soup

will help just increase the flavor of our stock. I know what I would do with this chicken skin

What do you want me to do with it? Well, actually, I dispose of it

I can't believe it. Well, you've got to cook with it. Oh, you mean while you're cooking it, you want it there

because you're going to get all the flavor out of it anyhow. But the only time that I ever eat chicken skin, y'all, is on my fried chicken

In fact, Bobby, when you were a little boy, we had a Winn-Dixie

I remember. Right around the corner from us. And in their delicatessen, they served up fried chicken skins

Wait, I don't remember that. You would go in and buy bags of fried chicken skin

I would? No. You would? A customer. You would feed it to me? Yes, I did

This was also when, let me tell you something else. I am guilty. My mama used to not like to go to the grocery store by herself

Here's how she would get me to go with her. She would say, son, if you'll go to the grocery store with me, I'll buy you a jar of olives

It would always be a big jar, and I still to this day love green olives. It's one of my favorite things

And olives were, they were not in our budget. No, they were expensive

We would ring up an empty jar at the end of the grocery trip because I would drink every bit of the juice and eat every big green olive in that jar

And then I would wonder why I had a pounding headache when I got into the car. It was such a treat for you

It was a treat. It still is. Because I just... But I don't drink the juice anymore, except in my martinis

A dirty martini. Love it. I just added a half a stick of butter to our broth

Just a half stick? Yes, just a half a stick. Are we going light today? We're lightening this up

This is going to be so good. Like you said, this is a treat. Here's what I don't know how to do

I've never perfected the whole dumpling making thing. I don't know how to do that. Well, we're making easy dumplings today

This is sort of like a southern matzo ball. Yes. Exactly. Exactly

All right, so now while that's boiling. Oh, that chicken's hot. I'm going to start with two cups of all-purpose flour

Now I'm going to add four teaspoons of baking powder. Bobby, why don't we let our chicken cool down just a little bit more

And while that's cooling, if you would mince up these green onions right here

I love how my mom asked me to do things while she's in the act of doing it

This is how it's been my whole life. I'm not a good trainer. I'm going to add one teaspoon of salt

And you know why not. Let's do a little bit of pepper, too. All right, I'm going to add about a fourth of a teaspoon of nutmeg

Just the green down to about right here? No, honey, all of it. And that nutmeg will give it such a delicate little hint of flavor

Okay, we'll go to the next nut. And now I'm going to add just a little pinch of cayenne, Bobby

Oh, good. A little kick. I'm going to add three-fourths a cup of milk

My mama has always been a caretaker Like if you don feel good you get this or you like I said you get oyster stew or you get potato soup That what I would get when I was a kid

In fact, I was sick... I'm going to add just a squirt more milk. I was sick just a few weeks ago, and my mama showed up at my house to take care of me

Didn't you? When my children were little, I was at the doctor every time he opened his doors

because I was so afraid something was going to happen to y'all

Oh, were you really? Well, let me tell you this. We used to go to visit Dr. Sweat

so he would have the stethoscope on my chest while he was smoking Pall Malls

I remember it. I remember it. I think both of y'all might have been smoking

It was a different... I think maybe I was smoking. It was a different day and age, y'all

All right, I'm dropping these beautiful drop dumplings down into that hot broth

This chicken is cool enough for me to start tearing, so I'm tearing it up. Okay. We'll add our chicken very last thing, Bobby

Okay. We're going to give them plenty of room to have that nice, yum, hot bass

Well, I feel better already. How long do they take? Oh, they'll take about 15 or 20 minutes

We'll put the lid on them. Y'all, you never want to stir your dumplings because it'll tear them up

You shake, shake, shake. If I stuck a big old spoon down there, I'd tear those beauties all up

and that's the last thing I want to do is tear my dumpling up

You know what else she used to do to me? I loved eggs so much

I could eat them every day. When Jamie and I were little kids, Mama would hide things in our eggs

What would you hide in our eggs, Mama? Oh, you would have it. Scrambled eggs. We used to get scrambled eggs with, oh, I don't know

Brains and eggs. She thought it was going to make us smarter. Yeah

Pig brains. My kids are so stupid that if they eat pig brains, maybe they'll be smarter

I tried to feed them to your daddy on a regular basis. Did you slide a bite

No, he didn't like them either. So listen, while y'all are gone, I'm just going to give him a pants down spanking for talking about his mother like that

And we'll see y'all back in a minute. Coming up, it's Bobby's turn to cure what ails you

This is yum. With his apple walnut salad. And later, my orange blossoms leave Bobby speechless

Yum, I know. Today is all about things that'll cure what ails you

And Bobby and I are making some things that really, if you're feeling puny, will make you feel so good

Like our chicken and dumplings and Bobby's fixing to make us an apple salad

Because the doctor said an apple a day will keep him away, right

You got to cure what ails you. I can do an apple, y'all. You've got something that cures what ails you

I've got something that'll help you keep from getting sick. Okay, that's great

You want to help me with it? No. I'm going to finish. I'm going to be finishing up our dumplings

I just want to show y'all. Oh, that looks so good. Look there

That looks perfect. Isn't that beautiful? And now I am going to just lay our chicken on top of those dumplings

I'm going to spread those around in there just like that, this beautiful tender chicken

Mm-hmm. They're good. Mm-hmm. Isn't that yummy, son? Now, I'm going to add a little bit more pepper

because I just love the way it looks in this dish. So, Sonny Boy, what can I do

Here's what you can do. I'm making the apple salad, and the start for it is I'm going to make a nice, light little dressing

Okay. Light sour cream and low-fat Greek yogurt, like a quarter cup of each

Okay. A little bit of lemon juice, maybe two tablespoons. Okay. While y'all was gone, I did not spank Bobby

That's because you can't. He apologized to me, and he said, Mama, you raised me so good, and you were so kind

Here's what really happened. Isn't that what you said? Here's what really happened. She tried and she couldn't do it

I defended myself. All right, if you would toast those walnuts for me

I remember that day I went to get y'all with a paddle and y'all took it out of my hands

Oh, my God. That was the day it was over. That's because that was a giant oak paddle. You got me with it a few times and then I just learned I didn't want it no more

So I had to learn how to keep you from doing it. They snatched my paddle out of my hands. My hands got quick

And they ran with it and I just got so tickled. I said, oh, to heck with it

You're getting me with that lemon juice, son. How many nuts do you want

I don't know. Maybe a quarter cup, half cup? I don't know, just a bunch of them. Okay, so

And I am going to add to this one and a half teaspoons of a mild curry powder

Okay. Whisk, whisk, whisk. All right. So I'm just going to toast those up

And by toasting those y they going to really bring out the nutty flavor I see you got some dried cranberries Cranberries I adore those There a little pinch of salt in there What we going to do is create a really nice fresh

Oh, that's good and tart and tingly. This is kind of like a summer salad. I'm just going to continue to work a little bit on this parsley

Those dumplings I got, they're right pretty, y'all. I don't know if parsley will make them any prettier, but we're going to try

What we're looking at here is we've got celery, apples, walnuts, cranberries, low-fat Greek yogurt

This is really, really good for you. You've got proteins in the nuts

They're heart-healthy. The apples are full of fiber. We're going to put this over a bed of baby arugula

So this is a really nice salad. I adore arugula, Bobby. I do, too, and it's like the best for you, too

This is like your daily dose of vitamins. I'm adding to this about a quarter cup of dried cranberries

Are your nuts toasted? Yes. Bring your nuts over here. Wow. Look at this

Yum. Just looks so good, Bobby. Yes, it does. All right, so what do you say

Oh. Let's dig in. Yes. Look at that, darling. That looks great

I don't know what to try first. Well, I know what I'm going to try first. Mmm

Oh, my God. Oh, that arugula. Funny, you went for the apples out, I went for the soup

Mmm. Ooh. Those walnuts were still warm. But I don't think it's as good as this

I love the curry with the arugula. Almost makes me wish I was sick

God, that's good, Mama. Coming up, Bobby and I have the perfect topping for orange blossoms

That makes them doubly delicious. Doubly delicious. The next thing that we're going to finish up here

I don't know that it's got any medicinal value for it, except it'll make you feel so good you think you real well

If you make it with love, it's got medicinal value. Yes. Well, why don't you get those orange blossoms out of the oven, son

And I'm going to make a glaze that we're going to dip in them, y'all. and this glaze is so simple

I'm going to use three cups. Ooh, watch out, it's hot. Of powdered sugar

Son, you can just pop them out onto this rack and if you've got some that's ornery

you can just take that knife and run around there. All right, here we go, moment of truth

Okay. Let's see if the muffins are ornery. Uh-oh. You got some ornery

It's hot. Isn't that burning you? Well, I'm... Let's pull this out of the oven. I know it, but my hands are pretty tough

All right, now to make our glaze, y'all, I'm going to use half a cup of thawed orange juice concentrate

Three tablespoons of water. Three tablespoons of melted butter. And our glaze is just that simple

Now, I like to double-dip mine, y'all. So, imagine that one, too. Surprise

That makes them doubly delicious. Doubly delicious. By using the orange juice concentrate, y'all, it makes it real, real tart

You know what would be good, too, that you could do? Would be to zest you some fresh orange right on top

You absolutely could garnish them that way. All right, so that's the second pass for these

Yummy. When little Matthew comes in, he'll say, Gee-gee, gee-gee, gee-gee. Because he can't say guinea

And he knows that I have got him something good to eat

You know what else he can't say? He can't say Uncle Bobby. No, that's kind of a mouthful for him

Uggeby. Uggeby. Uggeby. Oh, how cute. No, Uggeby. That's generally how he starts it, because I'm doing something aggravating

Now, see how pretty those are. Beautiful. Now, if that don't make you happy

Absolutely. You can't get happy. No. So, Bobby, I hope that all of our friends out there certainly enjoyed the recipes that we did today

if they don't make you feel better physically, they'll make you feel better mentally

I feel better already. Yes, cheers. Cheers. Best dishes in love, y'all

Be jealous starting right now. Mm-hmm