New Recipe: Chicken & Dumplings

For those of you who are not soccer fans (which probably includes all my readers), here's a recipe I tried out, modified slightly and taste-tested tonight.

Chicken & Dumplings
1 box of chicken stock (whatever that measurement is--two cans worth--low sodium tastes best, and chicken broth isn't the same as chicken stock).  I also added a couple cups of water to it, too.
A large package of fresh boneless, skinless chicken thighs (not frozen)--I think there were 12 in this package.

Get a medium/large stock pot and pour in the chicken stock.  Get it near boiling on medium and then reduce to simmer.

Throw a tablespoon of butter into a large fry pan.  Start browning the chicken.

Put some thyme, pepper, tumeric (just a smidge), and garlic into the stock pot.  Then throw in some more stuff--I used some frozen carrots for the dinner, but you can use fresh, along with onion (I used dry), and any other veggies you want (like celery, if you like that sort of thing.  I might have used peas, had I thought about it at the time).  You could probably put some potatoes in there, too, though you'll have to make sure it cooks long enough so you don't end up with bony potatoes, or parboil them before tossing them in.

Pull the chicken out of the pan and let them cool for a couple minutes.  Then, using two forks, tear it into bite-size pieces and put it into the stock pot.

Then take a couple tablespoons of flour and add some water to it, and add it to the soup to add a little thickener to it.  Then put in 1/2 to 3/4 cup of whole milk or half and half.  Let it simmer while you make the dumplings.

Dumplings!  I used Bisquick, but you can make them however you please.  2-1/4 c. mix and 2/3 c. milk.  Mix together with a fork.  When the soup is at a good simmer, drop blobs of the dumplings into the soup and let them cook through--about 15 minutes or so.

Serve.  YUM!  We had five people eating and there was some leftover, so I'd say it serves 6-8, depending on how much each person eats.  Or rather, there were 6-8 servings, but if everyone wants seconds, you better have a back up plan.  Or add more potatoes.

Leftovers for lunch tomorrow!