Cheating Chicken N Dumplings
You will need:
-1 Stick Butter
-1 Tablespoon Garlic (minced)
-2 large cans Chicken Broth (49.5oz each)
-1 already cooked Rotisserie Chicken (mine weighed about 2lbs)
-1 Tablespoon Oregano
-1 Tablespoon Basil
-1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
-1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Salt
-2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
-1 Box Jiffy Baking Mix
-2/3 Cup Milk
(In the Picture we are missing the Milk and Cream of Chicken Soup)
Now, in a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add in the minced garlic (you can use more than a tablespoon if you prefer). Saute the garlic for about 1 minute or until it is nice and tender. Then, add in both the cans of chicken broth and the cans of cream of chicken soup. Stir. Once those are mixed, you can add all of the spices (oregano, basil, garlic powder, and garlic salt). Place the lid on the pot and simmer. Now it's time to attack the bird. Get all of the meat off the bird that you can (white and dark). ~For extra flavor I usually throw in the leg bones and the larger peices of skin into the pot with the broth (don't worry we'll get all of it out before we even add the dumplings) ~ As you pull the meat off the bones, you don't need to chop it with a knife, just use your fingers, but shred it as best you can (it doesn't have to be perfect).
Once you have all the chicken shredded, you can set it aside and start on the dumplings. Now, I like the Jiffy mix, but you can certainly use whatever mix you prefer. The recipe on the back of the box makes 'drop dumplings'. Now, if your anything like me or G, we don't really care to much for drop dumplings (it's just something about the little balls of gooey dough that doesn't sit well with us) Soooooo, I have created a solution. Make the dumplings as the box directs, but instead of just balling up the dough and dropping it into the boiling broth.... roll it out (genius right?) Now, it can get a bit tricky because the dough is really sticky (ha). So all you need to do is have a couple of cups of flour on hand. Sprinkle some flour over the counter top and dump out the dough. You'll need to pretty much coat the ball of dough with flour (and maybe your rolling pin to) because otherwise, when you try to roll it out, all of the dough will stick to your rolling pin. You want to roll the dough thin, but not tooooo thin (if it's to thin, the dumplings will get soggy instead of firm). You want them about 1/8 of an inch thick. Then, when your ready, cut the dumplings into neat little squares with your pizza cutter (who'd of thunk it?)
Now, your practically finished! First, you need to fish out the bones and peices of skin out of the broth. This is best done with a small, hand held strainer (like this one from OXO) or a slotted spoon. Once you've fished all the yucky stuff out, your free to dump in the chicken that you shredded earlier. At this point, you're going to want to bring your broth to a boil. Once it's boiling, you can add the dumplings one at a time. G took this picture of me unexpectantly dropping in the dumplings to our soup ...
Once all the dumplings are in, turn the soup down to low or simmer, cover, and let them cook for about 8-10 minutes (you don't cook these as long as drop dumplings). ~The dumplings are done when some of them begin to settle down to the bottom instead of floating on top of the broth.~ And then, VOILA ~~~~~ You have cheated your way through Chicken N Dumplings!
Looks yummy right?! Well, it is yummy! And the best part is, what once would've taken you an entire day to cook, only takes about an hour! (your welcome) ;) Well, I suppose that's about it for now, take care fellow bloggers!!
xoxoMommyBeexoxo
