My Chicken and Dumplings



Dave with Katelyn the evening of her Senior Prom
2009



Dave and Katelyn absolutely LOVE to eat chicken and dumplings at the Cracker Barrel. It was a favorite stopping site as we traveled to Michigan, Wyoming, Arizona, and California. These restaurants are all over the US Highways and offer terrific comfort foods for their guests. So as I always do, I really wanted to try my hand at my own chicken and dumplings. So here goes!

My Chicken and Dumplings:

2 lbs of chicken breasts - boneless, skinless cut into 1 inch chunks

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp Mrs. Dash

1 large onion sliced

1 lb of carrots diced

4 stalks of celery thinly sliced

4 cups of chicken stock (4 cups of water and 2 tbsp of Knorr Chicken broth in powder)

Gravy Thickener: 1/2 flour mixed with 1 cup of water - shaken until there are no lumps

Dumplings:

2 cups Bisquick

1 cup milk

Add olive oil to dutch oven or pressure cooker or large stew pot. Heat up 1/2 the olive oil and add chunked chicken and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash (original) and garlic powder over raw meat in pot. Saute until lightly brown and turn until all sides have been browned. Remove and place into a bowl add the remaining olive oil to the heated pot and add the sliced onions, celery and carrots. Saute until onions are transparent. Return the chicken to the pot and cover with stock. Cover the pressure cooker, dutch oven or stew pot and cook for at least 30 minutes in the pressure cooker and 45 minutes in dutch oven or stew pot.

Using a Chinese wire mesh skimmer, remove the chicken and vegetables from the liquid and set aside. Make the dumplings mixture and set next to the stew pot. Bring the liquid in the pot up to a boil and add the gravy thickener stirring constantly until thick. Allow the gravy to gently boil for about 1 minute. Take a deep spoon or a cookie scoop and scoop out the dumpling mixture into the boiling gravy. Each ball will float to the top of the gently boiling gravy. Keep adding until all have be placed into the gravy pot. Cover for about 3-5 minutes until the balls are light and fluffy. Again, use the Chinese wire mesh skimmer to gently remove the dumplings onto a plate.

I make mashed potatoes for this dish. So to assemble place the chicken and mashed potatoes on the plate and ladle with gravy. Then place 2-4 dumplings on top of the chicken mixture and place another small amount of gravy of that and serve hot.