Chicken and Dumplings

Who doesn't love chicken and dumplings? Well no one I know anyway! This chicken and dumplings is a little lighter version, a couple less calories and uses lots of vegetables...

Here is the ingredients, prepped and ready to go

Almost any soup or stew you ever make starts with these three, chopped onion, carrots and celery...
When you chop the celery always include the leaves from the top. They really add a lot of flavor, okay?

Put the cubed nice chicken in the fry pan in 1 tablespoon of oil and salt and pepper it good and fry, over medium heat until browned...


and yes I do use this same pan a lot....

Put a tablespoon of oil in the bottom of a heavy saucepan and put in the celery and onion and carrots and garlic, cook over medium heat until about halfway done,




and yes this too is my go to pan, I love it so much, and yes I do have more pans,

see, and I use them too, if I was a millionaire I would buy a set of Le Creuset pans in 'caribbean blue' they are the most beautiful pans in the whole world.






ok back to business

add the potatoes and then add the chicken stock
and boil until potatoes are done and the chicken stock is reduced...

Then add the cooked chicken....

and the mushrooms and peas,

add a can of cream of mushroom soup or cream of celery or cream of chicken, it helps give the soup some extra flavor....

taste and salt and pepper if needed, also add the 1/2 teaspoon of sage


mix the cream with the cornstarch and then add also
stirring until slightly thickened...

Now for the dumplings,

there are just a few ingredients
flour
salt
baking powder
milk
and butter

measure the flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl..

warm the milk and butter up in the microwave just until melted, but not hot, this is a very important step to making light and fluffy dumplings and not hockey pucs....

drop by golf ball size teaspoons onto the simmering soup.



put the lid on tight and don't pick it back up for 20 minutes.....I know it is hard....but you have to be patient, you don't want to ruin dinner.

Ladle out into your favorite bowls and sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and ENJOY!

Chicken and Dumplings

2 whole skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut in bite size pieces

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1/2 onion chopped

1 clove of garlic

1 cup of chopped potato

1/2 teaspoon of ground sage

2 tablespoons of oil

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

32 oz of chicken stock

2 tablespoon of cornstarch

1 cup of heavy cream

Saute chicken and 1 tablespoon of oil in a fry pan over medium heat until done and set aside...

In a heavy bottom sauce pan, in 1 tablespoon of oil saute onion, carrots, and celery and garlic until half done, add chopped potatoe and chicken stock, and bring to a boil and boil until potatoes are done about 20 minutes...add soup and mushrooms and peas bring back to a boil and season to taste....mix the cornstarch in the cream, until disolved and then stir into the soup, heat again to a simmer, soup will slightly thicken...

then make the dumplings (it is important to wait until now to make the dumplings, if made to early they will toughen)

Dumplings

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup of milk

mix flour, baking powder and salt together, then warm (not hot) the butter and milk, add to the flour mixture stirring with a wooden spoon, until incorporated, and smooth, the dough will be wettish. (ok moist)

While stew is simmering drop by golf ball size spoonfulls and reduce heat until low and cover tightly and simmer for 20 minutes....

                                                         

 There are many variations you can do making this, use the vegetables that you like and leave

out the ones you don't...you can use roasted chicken that you get at the grocery store, that saves time...you can use reduced salt and low sodium chicken stock as well as campbells soup. You can use half and half or non dairy creamer like coffee mate instead of  cream, make it your own!                  

Cheers to Happy  !!