Chicken N Dumplings

• 1 whole chicken cut up (fryer cut)
• 2-4 T butter
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 t thyme
• 1/4 t tumeric
• 1/2 C chopped celery (I used 3 stalks)
• 1/2 C chopped carrots (I like lots of veggies, so mine measured close to 1 C)
• 1 whole mdm onion chopped
• 1/2 C apple cider (different i know... but go with it)
• 6 C low sodium  chicken broth
• 1/2 C heavy cream

Dumplings

• 1 1/2 C half and half
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 C yellow cornmeal (i just used regular cornmeal)
• 1 T (heaping) Baking powder
• 1 T kosher salt (i used reg salt)
• salt as needed
• 2 T fresh minced parsley for garnish at end

(This is how I did it... a little different from the original directions)

1. In a large pan melt butter at med-high heat. salt and pepper both sides of a chicken piece and dredge both sides in flour. Place in pan repeat for all chicken pieces (I had to do it in 2 batches).   Just brown both sides... DON'T cook all the way... maybe 5 minutes per side... if that? then remove to a clean plate.
2. In the same pan, (after chicken is removed) add celery, carrots, onion.  cook 3-4 minutes then add tumeric and thyme.  
3. This is where I trans  fered everything to my stock pot ( You could just begin there... but i didn't.)Then pour in chicken broth and apple cider. stir and add chicken.  cover and simmer  (SIMMER) (i forgot to turn my heat down :) for about 20 minutes.
4. While that is simmering make the dumplings :) Sift together all the dry ingredients into a bowl, then add half and half and stir till combined (i had to add extra flour).

Back to the "soup"

1. pull out chicken pieces and use forks to get meat off and shred.  put chicken back into pot and add the heavy cream. SMILE and stir :)
2. drop tablespoons of dumpling dough into the pot. add minced parsley then cover pot and simmer for 15 minutes.  check flavor and add salt if needed. remove from heat for 10 minutes before serving.

REVIEW

This Recipe got 5 Stars from just about everyone in our family!(out of 5 ;)  SERIOUSLY the BEST chicken n dumplings I have ever had or made! it looked a little questionable during part of the process (green chicken???) but go with it.  It's all good , and i mean ALL GOOD in the end.

After dishing up for 2 adults and 3 kiddlets, we only managed to eat about 1/3 -just under 1/2 of it. It said the serving size was about 8... We would DEFINITELY get 2-3 meals from this... OR it would be one of those really yummy filling ones to share with another family :)

the recipe says prep time and cooking time all together was 45 minutes.... I on the other hand took nearly 2 hours! this being my first time making it i can see how i could probably get it down to 1- 1 1/2, but i must say it was well worth it! definitely worth a 2 times a month meal :)  I think I will be dreaming about this tonight!

Acknowledgement

I found this recipe at www.ThePioneerWoman.com She has some really great tips and recipes here. I really suggest you check it out!