Sunday, October 24, 2010

Let's Eat Blog Hop ~ Chicken and Dumplings

Welcome to my corner of the "Let's Eat Blog Hop"
organized by my dear friend, Amy, in the land down under.
If you found me by way of Rhona's blog, welcome!!!
And if you're just starting with my blog, be sure to check out
the link at the end of my post to see what Karen is cooking up.
From there you can continue traveling around our planet to see
what the rest of my blog friends are serving.


My entry is coming to you from Chandler, Arizona
and I'm featuring one of my family's favorites:

Chicken and Dumplings

It's a very basic chicken soup with fluffy biscuits on top and is also known as the meal that is a sure fire way to get our daughter, Carrie to come for dinner! It works every time.

The ingredients are simple. For the soup portion of this dish I use carrots, celery, onion, chicken breast, chicken broth, Italian seasonings {combination of oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, rosemary and sage}, salt, and pepper. For the dumplings I use a Bisquick baking mix and make the dumplings as listed on the side of the box. You can also use a basic dumpling recipe found here. Oh, and a little olive oil for sauteing the veggies, and some milk for mixing the dumplings.

Here's how I do it: I prepare this in a certain order... Heat the olive oil in a large pot while you chop one medium sized onion. Saute the onion in the olive oil while you chop the celery (I used 5 stalks of celery, plus the smaller inside stalks with leaves). Add the celery to the pot and saute while you chop the carrots...then add the carrots to the pot. I cover the pot and let this simmer while I cut the chicken breast pieces into bite-sized pieces. I use about a pound and a half of chicken for this recipe. When I'm ready to add the chicken, I scoot the veggies to one side...

Ick. Raw chicken really grosses me out.

Cover the pan and let this simmer for a few minutes, stir, put the cover back on and continue cooking until all of the chicken pieces are white - about 5-10 minutes. It should look like this:
Now add 8 cups of chicken broth - or if you're me, you do 8 cups of water and 6 chicken bouillon cubes. Also add a generous sprinkling of Italian seasoning at this point, and you can add some salt and pepper if you like. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce the heat. Simmer until close to the time you are going to eat. This varies for me. I've done as little as 30 minutes on nights that we're in a hurry, or an hour and a half on this occasion because I had a little extra time.

Oh, hi. Cheers!

Ok, now it's time for the dumplings. If you are using Bisquick or a similar baking mix, I use three cups of Bisquick and one cup of milk. {Or if you don't have access to a baking mix like this, use this recipe instead.} Mix it together and drop it by big spoonfuls on top of the soup. Please note: you want your soup to be hot enough that there's a slow boil - not rolling bubbles if that makes sense. If your soup is boiling too aggressively, it will pull the dumplings down and they won't cook up nice and fluffy.

Yum. My mouth is watering.

Now cover the pan and leave it covered for 10 minutes.

Then, uncover the pan and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle some black pepper on top and you're ready to serve.

~clink~
To us!

This girl loves chicken and dumplings.

Now, it's a well known and understood fact that Doug is the king of our household. It's also a well known and understood fact the Carrie always gets dibs on chicken and dumpling leftovers.

♥ ♥ ♥

So there you have it. I hope you'll give it a try!
And now, head on over to Karen's blog where she's cooking
up something yummy for our"Let's Eat" blog hop!

Oh, and if you use the dumpling recipe from the link above, you
may need to convert the measurements by using this site
here.

Bon appetit!

30 comments:

Ruth said...

What a fantastic recipe! I love the photos of you and Carrie, as well. Happy blog hopping!

debs14 said...

I'm hoping the glass of wine while waiting for it to cook is part of the recipe! This looks great, I've never thought of adding dumplings to soup, although they often appear on top of beef casserole in our household. I will definitely be giving this a try, thanks for sharing.

helena said...

yum - I understand why Carrie visits whenever this is on offer.

Amy said...

Here's cheers to you too :-) I'm raising my glass of wine as we speak.

Deb, this is just an awesome post and I love how Carrie is in on the act as well ... we all have to have our secret dish that gets the kids don't we?
Thank you my friend for taking the time to share this special dish with us!

Diane said...

now this look very yummy and very healthy :)

scrappyjacky said...

A great recipe,Deb....it looks like such a warm,comforting meal....perfect for the winter.I've only ever added dumplings to casseroles....so this is something new to try.

Anne said...

Thanks for the recipe all the way to England from Arizona. This sounds the perfect dish for winter nights here in cold UK.

Miriam said...

this looks wonderful and has gone to the top of my list!
gorgeous photos, thanks so much for the recipe.:)

traci said...

that looks so yummy deb. i am grocery shopping tomorrow. will be getting those ingredients. thanks for sharing.

Sian said...

Your gorgeous photos make this look very tempting indeed! And that great pic of you enjoying a glass made it feel like we really were sitting in your kitchen enjoying a friendly supper. Lovely!

Anonymous said...

YUM! I haven't had Chicken and Dumplings since I was a little kid. What a great reminder, putting it on the "to make" list. Cheers!

alexa said...

Looks lovely, and very pretty photos.

Becky said...

Yummy! That looks just like something Hugh and I would really enjoy - and Ben when he is back from uni. Will definitely be having a go at this :)

Tracy said...

Wow, that looks delicious, I love dumplings, but never try them

humel said...

Oh, this looks lovely :-) And what a bonus to get a photo of you! xx

Anonymous said...

I haven't made chicken and dumplings for years, but your great photos make me realize it's time to have it again. Thanks for the recipe!

Jennifer Grace said...

This looks delicious. I make something similar but I never sautee the veggies first, I shall try this next time. I stick italian herbs in my dumplings too, yum yum. This blog hop is really making my mouth water! xx

Abi said...

mmmh that looks so good! thanks for sharing! xxx

Faith Hope and Cherrytea said...

WOnderful recipe! yummmm..
thx for posting & hopping with the blog today! and for visitng & chatting at FHC! glad to have your visit :)

MarleneMAZ said...

What a cool idea to have a food blog hop! Love all of your photos and directions, love the one of you with the glass of wine:)

furrypig said...

So glad you posted this recipe Deb as hubby was just saying he fancied something with dumplings! I have never cooked dumplings but now I have a recipe thanks xxx

Beverly said...

great comfort food and that is pure contentment on Carrie's face :)

Mom said...

It's dark and rainy here today in sunny California so these dumplings look even more devine! I've got to make these! Where did you get the recipe? Certainly not one I passed down to you!!! xo

emhowl said...

Those photos are so enticing. I shouldn't be reading this at past midnight.

Maria Ontiveros said...

This looks fantastic! And easy enough to actually try.
Rinda

Liberty :) said...

mmm looks lovely!!! great snaps too!

Unknown said...

YUM! My mouth is totally watering just looking at these pictures! Can't wait for you to make it again! :)

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

Geez, all that talent and you cook too? You kill me Deb!!

Cheryl said...

MMM that looks just what my Gary would love will have a go next week me thinks. Thanks for sharing x

vee said...

i have never made this but have always wanted to. your pics (especially the one of daughter eating it, she looks like she's in heaven) and recipe have inspired me to try it. my family loves chicken so im sure it will b a hit! i will let u know how it turns out! thanks for the info!!!!!

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