Homemade Chicken and Dumplin's

Bubbly warm goodness still in the pot!

Nothing screams comfort food like Hot Chicken and Dumplings! There's been so much crazy weather lately that I got to feeling a little under the weather. I got this great idea from my Dear Hubby who asked for soup for his sore throat. This recipe for chicken and dumplings is not your "traditional" C&D. I was expecting a pretty creamy white sauce with tons of black pepper to "flavor"... This recipe calls for apple juice and waaay less pepper.. More my style.. a little sweet ;)

So heres what you do:... oh wait.. you probably need a grocery list first huh?..

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, chopped (add more...can never have too much garlic!)
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
29 oz chicken broth (thats 2 of those 14 1/2 oz cans apparently)
10 3/4 oz  mushroom soup (1 can i think)
chicken ( i just use 1 breast and shred it but the recipe calls for 4 pounds. of skinned pieces)
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup water
2 tbs cornstarch

Dumplings
 2 cups baking mix
2/3 cup milk

Ok.. now heres what you do:

Heat a dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium high heat and add your chopped onion and garlic. Saute 5 minutes
Stir in Apple juice and the next 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil. (this is a good place to add any extra ingredients too... like carrots or celery...)

(to save time I cook my chicken seperately and shred it, then add it to the mixture... but the recipe says to do the following:)

Add chicken pieces. bring to boil. cover. reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes until chix are tender.
Remove chix from cooking liquid. place in bowl and chill 15 minutes
remove chicken from bones and cut into bite sized pieces. add to pan. stir in peas.
(anothing thing i dont do is take the chicken out and chill it.. why do you think you are supposed to? does it make the chicken taste better?........ I add most all my ingredients  in and let it boil for 15 minutes or so.. whenever it starts to smell done....  its done)

combine water and corn starch and stir into mixture. stir well..

Dumplings:
Combine baking mix and milk. drop the dough into the chicken mixture to form about 16 dumplings. bring to simmer. cook 20 minutes. stir occasionally.  caver and cook for 10 minutes or until  the dumplings are done.
(you can also use those biscuits that come in the cans.. pop one can open and tear the biscuits in half, throw them in the pot and cook. I dont see the point in boiling or simmering for another 30 minutes after your soup has boiled and simmered for 40 minutes.. it makes for mushy veggies...the dumplings dont need to cook all that long.. maybe 10 minues or so.. )

Makes about 8 - 1 1/2 cup servings and 2 dumplings..

This recipe can be tweaked here and there.. if you follow my guidlines you can cut your cooking time for this in half... well i havent timed it... but sheesh! thats alot of simmering and waiting and ... blablabla...

Actually now that I have gone back and read that.. it looks like 2 different recipes mushed together.. Sorry! I just had alot of notes.. besides, it saves you the trouble of trial and error. :) Happy cooking!