Recipes: Chicken'n'Dumplins

So I've had a lot of people ask me for the recipes that go along with my Menu Planner, so I've decided to share them on here!

Now, be warned: I am NOT a professional cook by any stretch of the imagination. I just know what my family likes, and I try to stick in as many vegetables as I can possibly get away with. I'm a big fan of Deceptively Delicious :)

Anyway, here's my debut recipe! My version of one of my favorite Southern dishes (I'm also a big fan of Grits!)
For Chicken'n'Dumplins, you will need:
~ 1 frozen Chicken breast
~ 1 Onion
~ a bunch of carrots (I used about 5)
~ a lot of celery (I used about 5)
~ Frozen Corn and Peas
~ Chicken Boullion (I prefer McCormick's cubes)
~ Flour, Water, Salt, Pepper, Sage, and Parsley
~ Bisquick and Milk (or a biscuit dough recipe of your choice)

First, I do what I do most of the time when I cook - I grab a completely frozen chicken breast out of the deep-freeze and I stick it in a pan with a lid on low heat. Completely frozen because it's easiest, no thawing or defrosting, and no having icky-chicken-hands when my 2year old suddenly decides to go after a knife or something :) It'll be completely cooked in about an hour, and ready to add to the rest of the meal. For this recipe, I just added a bit of water in the pan for steam (maybe 1/4 cup), but no spices or anything. This one is simple.

Once the chicken has started, I chop up my vegetables and add them to my wok (my biggest pan available) - about 5 things of celery, 5 carrots, an onion, some frozen corn, and lots of frozen peas. 

I added about 5 cups of water on med-high heat, and 2 McCormick Chicken Boullion cubes (1cube for each 2cups of water), Salt & Pepper to taste, and some Sage and Parsley. I like the McCormick boullion because it contains no MSG, and it's all vegetable flavoring, so no questionable meat by-products.

Once the meat is all cooked, I take it off the heat to cool, and then chop it into smaller cubes. Another option is to pull it apart with 2 forks, but cubes are faster. :)




Add the chopped meat to the cooking vegetables and broth, and then prepare a thickener. I use flour in a Tupperware quick-shake container, and then mix it with water. About 1/2 cup of flour, and then add water to about 1 cup of thickener. Shake, shake, shake! :) Then pour it into the pan and stir.

While the thickener is doing its thing, make the dough for the dumplings. If you want to keep it simple, just mix some Bisquick (from Betty Crocker in the baking aisle) with milk, or if you want the tastier version, mix up some baking-powder biscuit dough. Once your dough is ready, drop it by spoonfuls into the pan. They don't have to be pretty, because either way, they'll be delicious.

That's it! Just cover and let simmer for another 10-20 minutes for the biscuits to bake, and then you're done :)

My wok doesn't have a lid, so I use a baking sheet. It's pretty ghetto, but it does the trick:

Once it's all done, serve it up and enjoy :)