Yesterday, because it felt a little like Fall might be arriving, I made Chicken & Herbed Dumplings, the easy way.
So without further delay, here's what you'll need:
1 fully cooked chicken
1 small bag baby carrots
3 medium russet potatoes
1 medium yellow onion
1 "celery heart"
2 cans chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
Jiffy or Bisquick baking mix
Milk
fresh herbs
Start by removing the chicken from the bones. Now you can cook one up yourself, but I went for easy & used a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Once you've got the chicken removed, dice it up - being sure to remove any pieces of skin, fat, gristle etc. Unless you're Jack Sprat's wife, in which case you can leave in the fat.
Dice up the veggies - leave the skin on the potatoes! Celery can be rough cut across the rib, no need to cut them lengthwise unless that's your thing. Follow with the onions and finally the baby carrots. These can be cut in half, or in thirds. The size of the dice here is all dependent upon how you like it - big or small or somewhere in between - whatever floats your boat, or in this case, your dumplings.
Place the veggies on top of the chicken as you cut them up. Pour in both cans of chicken broth and add enough water to not quite cover everything. Contrary to what we've all been told, for.... well forever, you don't need THAT much liquid to successfully cook stuff (pasta, veggies etc).
Place on the stove and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until all the veggies are cooked through. Add in the can of cream of chicken soup, mix well. Allow to return to a boil, then reduce heat so that it's still bubbling but not vigorously boiling.
You'll now have enough liquid that you can only see the veggies & chicken if you actually stir and lift them with a spoon.
While this is happening, mix up the baking mix and milk according to the package directions for dumplings. Before adding the milk however, add some herbs - I had fresh basil & rosemary but you can use whatever you like. If you have rosemary that's fresh, a little goes a LONG way.
If you're unsure about how much milk to use, dumpling "batter" should be about the consistency of drop biscuits - firm but not so firm that you could roll it flat and it should easily scoop up with a spoon. I used about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of baking mix, about two tablespoon or so of fresh herbs and enough milk to hold it all together. Don't worry if you see small lumps of dry baking mix - it'll all be just fine in the end, I promise.
Drop the dumpling batter by soup spoonful on top of the bubbling soup mix until you've either used all the batter or there's no room left. It's ok if they're really packed in there. In fact, the more crowded it is, in my opinion, the better - the dumplings tend to get bits from the soup stuck to the bottom of them which is always a good thing!
Allow this to simmer, covered for a few minutes. The dumplings are done (and not soggy inside) when they look glossy but not raw on top and there's barely any of the broth bubbling up between the dumplings. You can double check by carefully inserting a fork into a dumpling and gently prying it open - it should look just like a cooked biscuit on the inside.
Use caution when serving as this will be EXTREMELY hot - particularly when serving to children whom you've starved all day long. They'll dive into this and burn the bejesus out of their mouths if you don't let it cool before telling them it's dinner time.
What? No salt & pepper added? Nope. This has a nice mild flavor and the cream of chicken soup adds some salt. However, I offer both at the table so that everyone can make it just how they like it.
This meal has received not only the "LD Picky Eater" seal of approval, but it also a "mom that smells REALLY good" honorable mention.
So the next time you're faced with the first cool, cloudy and nearly rainy day of fall, make some. Be sure to starve your children all day long, or at least let them THINK you've starved them .... They'll come back for seconds!
