Chicken an Dumplin's

I have my good friend Mary to thank for this recipe. I changed it a little, but the dumplings are her grandmothers recipe, and they are amazing. I had been looking around on the internet and found some other recipes that looked complicated and fussy. These where so simple and yet still tasted wonderful.

I usually clean my chicken of fat and such before I cook with it but not here, that helps flavor the broth, esp since I don't start with a whole chicken, I cheat with just the breasts.

5 large chicken breasts

3 large carrots, cut in half

3 stalks celery, cut in half

1 large onion, cut in quarters

4 chicken bouillon cubes

10 c. water

1 family size can cream of chicken soup

2 c. flour, plus more for dusting

Combine the chicken breasts, carrots, celery, onions, chicken cubes, and water in a large stock pot. Simmer until the chicken is just tender. Remove from heat and strain, reserving the cooking liquid. 

Place the chicken an vegetables in the fridge to cool down.

Simmer the chicken stock on medium-low for about and hour to reduce it a bit.  Taste at this point, if it's good leave it alone, if it tastes weak add chicken bouillon cubes, one at a time, until it taste right.

In a separate bowl combine the flour and just enough of the chicken stock to make a dough, leaving it slightly on the sticky side.  Dust it quite heavily with flour and place between wax paper. Roll out to less than 1/4 inch thickness, but not too thin. Cut into strips, about 3/4 inch wide but 1 1/2 inches long.

Meanwhile combine the chicken stock and cream of chicken soup, whisking until smooth. Add the dumplings, stirring as going so they don't stick together. 

Take the chicken and vegetables from the fridge, chop up the carrots, celery, and onion into pieces and add to the dumpling and sauce. Shred the chicken and add to the pan. Continue cooking until heated through and serve.

You can also add some peas to yours if you wish though I'm not sure how traditional that is. If using frozen, I recommend putting them in a bowl covered with water and cooking them in the microwave until bright green and then adding them after the chicken.