Food Friday - Chicken and Dumplings

Some recipes are just all time favorites, aren't they?  Now, I know that people have different opinions of what "Chicken and Dumplings" are - some say noodles and some say biscuits.  We are more the biscuit kind of people.  Do you know what is kinda funny?  Growing up, both Darryl and I had the same family tradition for birthdays and that is that the birthday kid got to pick the family meal on their day.  Guess what both Darryl and I picked growing up?  Chicken and Dumplings!  Is that destiny or what?????

Chicken and Dumplings
adapted from Betty Crocker

This recipe really is perfect as it is but I do a few things to doctor it up.  One, I very seldom have a whole chicken in the freezer so I use chicken tenders or chicken breasts instead.  Because of that, I add a few chicken bouillon cubes to the water to give it "stock" flavor.  We also like corn in our chicken "soup" so about 30 minutes before I'm going to add the biscuits, I add a bag of frozen corn.  Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

1 cup-up whole chicken  (3 to 3 1/2 pounds)
2 medium stalks celery, cut up (about 1 cup)
1 medium carrot, sliced (1/2 cup)
1 small onion, sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons parsley flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
5 cups of water
2 1/2 cups Original Bisquick mix
2/3 cup milk

Directions:
1. Remove and discard excess fat from chicken.  In  4-quart Dutch oven, place chicken.  Add celery, carrot, onion, parsley, salt, pepper and water.  Cover; heat to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer about 2 hours or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest part is cut to the bone.

2. Remove chicken and vegetables from Dutch oven. De bone chicken and reserve meat.  Skim 1/2 cup fat from broth; reserve.  Transfer broth to large bowl; reserve 4 cups.

3.  In Dutch oven, heat reserved 1/2 cup fat over low heat.  Stir in 1/2 cup of fat over low heat.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the Bisquick mix.  Cook and stir until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat.  Stir in reserved 4 cups broth.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 1 minutes.  Add chicken and vegetables; reduce heat to low.  Heat about 20 minutes or until hot.

4. In medium bowl, stir remaining 2 cups Bisquick mix and the milk with wire whisk or fork until soft dough forms.  Drop dough by spoonfuls onto hot chicken mixture.  Cook uncovered over low heat 10 minutes.  Cover and cook 10 minutes longer.

Ok, honestly - I totally skip numbers 2 and 3 - that is way too much work especially when I don't use a whole chicken.  I just add the biscuits to the top 20 minutes before I want to serve dinner and cook 10 minutes uncovered/10 minutes covered.  :-)  So I guess it is the cheaters version LOL