Chicken and Dumplings Soup

I have been inspired by this unusually cold weather (and the fact that my mom came to visit me this weekend and I made this for her) to write about Chicken and Dumpling Soup. Just saying the name makes my mouth water. This is my favorite soup and I make it year round but it is great to warm you up after a long, cold day. Grant can tell you that when I make this I eat so much I feel like I'm going to explode, but it is well worth it. I must warn you that the dumplings I make are not so traditional. If you go to a restaurant and order chicken and dumplings, the dumplings are hard little doughy masses that make me want to puke just by looking at them.  Why most people actually like those kind of dumplings is beyond me. The dumplings in this recipe are light and airy and delicious. This recipe is actually from my mom. She has been making this since before I was born.  I am hoping that with this blog my brother, who's best cooking skills only involve making mac and cheese, can make this recipe because he gets oh so very jealous when I tell him I've made this for dinner.



SOUP INGREDIENTS:

3-4 chicken breasts, depending on much you want in the soup

A small bag of baby carrots, fresh

1 can of green beans

A jar of better that bouillon  (this can be hard to find, not all stores carry it, but if they do it will be with the other broth makers like the cubes and such. If you cannot find it then get what you usually get to add to water to make chicken broth, any of the normal ones will work)

1 Bay Leaf

Rosemary

Basil

Salt and Pepper

Garlic Powder


DUMPLING INGREDIENTS:

2 cps of Pioneer Biscuit Mix (DO NOT GET BISQUICK. EWW!)

2/3 cp of milk

1 tsp of paprika



PROCEDURE:

1. Fill a stock pot a little more than half full with water and bring to boil.  Add chicken (frozen or thawed) to boiling water. Add salt, pepper, rosemary, basil, garlic powder, and the bay leaf.  I usually just add a few shakes of each of those, and a little more salt. Cover and boil for 30 minutes if the chicken is frozen, 20 if thawed.
2. Add cut or whole carrots as many you would like (about 3/4 of a small bag). Recover and boil for 10 minutes
3. Carefully remove chicken from water and cut into small cubes, cutting off any remaining fat, and put back into the water.
4. Drain all liquid from green beans then add to soup.  Add 2-3 tablespoons of better than bouillon and stir well. Recover and boil for 5 more minutes.
5. In a medium bowl mix together dumpling ingredients. They should look like bread dough when done properly, kind of stringy and sticky. Drop by spoonfuls into boiling soup, cover, and boil for 5 minutes.
6. Ladle soup into bowls giving each 1-2 dumplings. Be very careful it will be very hot. Serve.

Time: About 1 hour.

Servings: 4 + leftover soup (if any dumplings are left in the soup scoop them out and throw them out. Always make new dumplings when reheating the soup or you can add noodles or rice.)