Chicken 'N Dumplings
Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 cup apple juice or cider
6 cups chicken broth
8 skinless-boneless chicken thighs
freshly ground salt and pepper
1/2 cup cream
DUMPLINGS: I use Bisquick and simply follow their directions on the box for dumplings. There is gluten free bisquick which is perfect for my grandchildren, Analisa and Paige.
Directions
Melt butter and add olive oil to stock pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes.
Add diced carrots and celery; sauté until onions are golden brown, about 3-5 minutes more. Stir in thyme and cumin.
Add apple cider and chicken broth stirring until well blended. Add chicken and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil. Cover pot and simmer for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through, reaching an internal temp of 165ºF.
Remove chicken from pot and shred. Add shredded chicken back to the pot, long with the cream and stir until blended.
Make Bisquik dumpling dough according to package directions.
Drop tablespoons of dumpling dough into the simmering pot and cook according to the Bisquick dumpling directions. When dumplings are fully cooked, spoon dumplings and soup mixture into bowls and serve.
Ellena's Notes
When Natalie was in high school and on the golf team, I often had a chicken and dumplings dinner waiting for her and friends when they got home from a cold 18-hole round. Then one Saturday she called and asked for my recipe. I said there is no recipe you just boil a chicken and make it! Thus, our rendition of a formal recipe. You decide if it is more perfect on a snowy, winter day or a blustery spring/fall drizzling day. This makes quite a bit of soup, so Natalie (the “freezer queen” I call her) froze the soup (before dumplings) in portions the size for one meal for her family. Once she added cooked noodles to make chicken noodle soup, and the next time, she added rice. Although dumplings is her favorite, Analisa and Paige agree with her that the rice was their next favorite.
