Chicken & Dumplings

Mom used to make this for us all the time growing up. I was always daunted by how long it took and seemingly all the steps involved. Apparently I've evolved from my Hamburger Helper days cause tonight when I made it, I realized that it really wasn't all that bad (how long it took). Anyhow, I don't know where she got the recipe - but it is my favorite and I thought I'd share it in case anyone needed some inspiration for some yummy autumn dinners!

Chicken Base Ingredients:
Quartered chicken
3 Stalks Celery
1 Onion
5 Carrots
2 C. Peas (frozen is my preference)
Chicken broth/stock or boulion cubes
corn starch or flour for thickening the sauce

Boil the chicken, celery, onion, carrots and peas in the broth. Cook for 20-30 minutes - until the carrots are done. Thicken with a cornstarch/water mixture. (Use your favorite gravy thickening method - there's a lot of soup stuff so don't be surprised that you use a lot. I am still in shock over how long this step took me. I don't make gravy very often and was a little out of practice.)

Dumpling ingredients:
Mix together:
1 C. flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg

add 1/2 C. milk and 2 Tbls. melted butter.
Beat with a fork but be careful to not overwork!
Drop spoonfuls of dumpling batter into the stew being sure to dip your spoon into gravy each time you add a dumpling. Cover and cook for 15 minutes without lifting the cover.

mmmmmm!