Chicken and Dumplings
Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, (with skin & bones)
1 carrot cut in 2″ chunks
2 stalks of celery cut in 2″ chunks
1 medium onion, quartered
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans of chicken broth
Water (to cook chicken in)
2 cups Bisquick™
2/3 cup water
Put the chicken breasts, carrot, celery, onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, and bay leaf in a large sauce pan/Dutch oven, and then add enough water to cover 1/2 of the chicken.
Simmer about 45 minutes to an hour until chicken is tender. Remove chicken breasts to a plate and strain the broth twice, and discard vegetables.
Pour broth back into your big pot/Dutch oven, then de-bone and shred that tender chicken. Place chicken to the side while you prep the broth and make dumplings.
Add cream of chicken soup, chicken bouillon, and chicken stock to your broth. Simmer for about 5 minutes, then taste. You will probably need to re-season it; the better and richer the broth, the better your finished dish! Use any of the following to re-season: garlic powder, chicken bouillon, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.
When you get the broth tasting the way you want, turn the heat up to a rolling simmer.
While your broth heats up, in a medium sized bowl (this sure does use a lot of dishes, eh?), stir Bisquick mixture and 2/3 cup of water together until a soft dough is formed (if the dough is too sticky, add more mix, and if it’s too dry, add more water). The more moisture in the middle means the fluffier the dumplings.
Roll out the dough until it’s about a half-inch thick and use a pizza cutter to cut it into one-inch squares. As soon as the broth is at a low soft boil, drop in 1/3 of the dumplings and put on the lid.
Simmer WITHOUT OPENING THE LID for about 5 minutes, then turn the dumplings over to cook other side. Replace lid and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Pull a dumpling out and cut it in half to see if it’s cooked all the way through (they will resemble little fluffy clouds floating in a slurry of sunshine) and not doughy. If it’s not cooked, simmer for another couple of minutes.
When they are cooked, remove them from broth using a slotted spoon, and cook the next 1/3 of the dumplings. Repeat this until all dumplings are cooked.
When all your dumplings are cooked (cut one open to see), reduce heat to low, and add in the dumplings and all that delicious chicken you de-boned. Cover, and simmer for another few minutes, then serve.
If you find that you need more broth, just add more water and re-season as noted above.