Quick and Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Yesterday, RT and I flew to Georgia to visit my mother for awhile. Out of our seven siblings (of which I’m the median one) - five were there. My sister-in-law, Vicki, made a HUGE pot of chicken and dumplings. I love chicken and dumplings. It’s the ultimate comfort food, and it’s really good for you. Here’s an easy recipe for homemade chicken and dumplings.

You’ll need:

1 can refrigerated biscuit dough (If you really like dumplings, you can use 2 cans. It just depends on how much you’re making. There’s no hard and fast rule here. Vicki made such a huge pot of chicken and dumplings, she probably used five or more cans!)

chicken (a package or two of boneless chicken or a whole chicken. I usually make sure there's some dark meat in the mix because it adds so much more flavor)

chicken stock (one or two cans of chicken broth)

salt, pepper, poultry seasoning

1 onion

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 cup plain flour

Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add the chopped onion, grated carrot and finely chopped celery to the water. (If you happen to have bell peppers - green, yellow, or red - you can chop some of that finely to add color and flavor). Season to taste with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Simmer until the chicken is well cooked. Remove the chicken from the pot and let the chicken cool. Leave the vegetables in the pot with the liquid. Once the chicken is cool, remove the meat from the bone and cut or tear into bite size pieces. Set the chicken aside.

Place the flour in a small bowl. Open the can of biscuits and cut/break each biscuit into about 8 pieces. Put the pieces into the flour and coat well. The flour is what thickens the liquid. So use it generously.

Bring the reserved liquid to a boil. Add additional chicken stock, if desired. It depends on how much chicken and dumplings you are making. Sometimes I add a drop or two of yellow food coloring to make it “prettier.”

Once it is at a rolling boil, drop the biscuit pieces into the liquid one at a time. Stir gently to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Make sure each biscuit piece is well coated with flour before dropping it into the liquid. After it has simmered for awhile, add the chicken back to the liquid, and it’s ready to serve. Prepare a salad or vegetable, and you’ve got a perfect meal.