Chicken and Dumplings

Photo courtesy of Google Images

Holy heck.  How did so many months pass by without a blog update?  I blame it on work, a vegetarian Lent season and lots and lots of Jimi's baseball games, where Abe is the coach and therefore doesn't come home until well after dinnertime.  I do apologize (well, to the 2 of you who missed me.  Muah!  I love ya).

I got a request from a lady on the parenting message board that I practically live on.  She wanted a homemade and easy chicken and dumpling recipe to replace the store bought she had been using.  I've never made one and was pretty sure that Abe and Jimi hadn't eaten it, so what an adventure for all of us.  So, I went to my mainstay, Food Network (Rachel Ray) and found one that Abe deemed so worthy of company.  Jimi LOVED it.  I mean, loooooved it.  I think he might have licked the plate before putting it in the sink that night.

It's got a cheat- store bought biscuit dough.  I know, real foodies would scoff at using a boxed biscuit mix.  So, for those of you with tons of time on your hands, go knock yourself out your favorite biscuit dough recipe.  The rest of us will do fine with with Jiffy Mix.  It's not like real foodies are reading this blog anyway.

I plan on busting this out for my mom's 80th birthday dinner with the family.  

Chicken and Dumplings

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 russet potato, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced or thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 rib celery, diced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 tablespoons flour, a handful
1 quart chicken broth or stock
1 small box biscuit mix
1/2 cup warm water
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup frozen green peas

Dice tenders into bite size pieces and set aside.

Place a large pot on stove over medium high heat. Add oil, butter, vegetables and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season mixture with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Stir broth or stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir.

Place biscuit mix in a bowl. Combine with 1/2 cup warm water and parsley. Drop tablespoonfuls of prepared mix into the pot, spacing dumplings evenly. Cover pot tightly and reduce heat to medium low. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to thicken sauce a bit. Stir peas into the pan, remove chicken and dumplings from heat and serve in shallow bowls.