Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 whole organic chicken
4 ribs celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 bay leaves
4 cups chicken broth
2 t house seasoning 
(House Seasoning = 1 cup salt, 1/4 c black pepper, 1/4 c garlic powder mixed together)

4 c flour
2 t salt
ice 

Directions:
Place the chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, chicken broth and house seasoning in a Dutch Oven or large pot. Add 4 quarts of water or enough to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and let cool. Remove 1 cup broth from the pot and set aside. Add 6 ice cubes to the broth. Then remove skin and bones from chicken and discard. If you want to use a slotted spoon and remove any large chunks of celery or onion and the bay leaves, now is the time to do it. Cut up chicken into small pieces and place back in the pot of broth. 

Mix flour and salt together in a mixing bowl and mound together. Beginning at the center of the mound, drizzle about half of iced broth over the flour. Using a wooden spoon, and moving from the center to the sides of the bowl, gradually incorporate more of the iced broth until dough forms a ball. 

Dust a good amount of flour onto a clean work surface. Roll out the dough (it should be firm), working from the center to 1/8 inch thick. Let the dough rest for several minutes.

*Add the cream of chicken soup to the pot with the chicken and simmer gently over medium-low heat.

Cut the dough into 1 inch pieces. Pull a piece in half and drop the halves into the simmering soup. Repeat. Do not stir the chicken once the dumplings have been added. Gently move the pot in a circular motion so the dumplings become submerged and cook evenly. Cook until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy, 6-8 minutes. 

If you like your soup to be thicker, stir 2 T corn starch into 1/4 c cold water and then add to soup and stir. Soup will thicken as it heats.

To serve, ladle chicken, gravy and dumplings into warm bowls. 

Serves 6-8

*If you love dumplings, but are gluten free, click HERE for my GF Recipe.