Mmm Mmm Mondays #6

Dinner done, dishes done, sweet pea's bath done, sweet pea to bed done, toys cleaned up done. I finally have a chance to sit down and write this weeks Mmm Mmm Monday post. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but here it was freezing today, and we even had a little bit of snow. Nothing too crazy, but it was a nice dusting. Sweet pea liked looking out the window as it was coming down. Here are a few pics that I snapped this afternoon while it was coming down pretty hard.

As we were looking at the snow I thought to myself, "self what should we make for dinner tonight since it is so cold outside?" and my self replied "Oh definitely some kind of comfort food and something warm". So after some thinking I chose to make Chicken and Dumplings.

Now, my aunt really makes the best chicken and dumplings, but I think mine come in at a pretty close second. I was always intimidated by hers and knew for sure that they would be so hard to make, but I was pleasantly wrong. Once I tried, and with a little bit of help and encouragement from my aunt, I finally made them on my own. I was very proud of myself the first time I made them and even more proud to show my hubby what I had accomplished. I felt like a true southern cook at that moment (even thought I still have a long way to go)!

So without further ado, here is my recipe for Chicken and Dumplings.

Chicken and Dumplings

You will need:

1 medium sized whole chicken or 3 good sized breasts

1 tbsp butter

2 cups bisquick

2/3 milk

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cold water

8 oz chicken broth (1 can)

salt and pepper to taste

Season your chicken with salt and pepper, and then place into boiling water. If you are using a whole chicken it will need to cook for approximately 1 hour or until chicken can be easily pulled away from the bone. If you are using chicken breasts they typically cook for about 30 mins, but cook time will vary depending on the size of breasts your using.

While your chicken is boiling, you can put together your dumpling mixture and thickening agent. First, place bisquick and milk in a bowl and stir until fully mixed.

You should end up with a dough mixture like this.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth.

Once your chicken is done, remove it from the water and let it cool. If there is still a lot of water left in the pot you may want to pour some out until its only about less than 1/2 way full. If not your soup will be too runny. I unfortunately had this happen tonight, but they still turned out OK. Once your chicken is cool, shred and then return to the pot.

You will then add your butter, salt and pepper and stir.

Once you've added those ingredients you add in your chicken broth. I said to use one can for measurement reasons, but your can really use as much as you want according to your taste, but just be careful not to use too much or your soup will become too liquidity.

Once you have added your broth go ahead and stir in the flour mixture that you made earlier and return to a boil.

Let soup boil for about a minute or so and then drop tsp of your baking mix into the boiling mixture. Repeat this process until all dumplings have been dropped.

Reduce heat to simmer and cook uncovered for 10 mins. I always turn my dumplings after about 5 minutes so they get really good and cooked. Cover and then continue cooking for about 10 more minutes. Once they are done, they should look something like this.

Serve them up with your favorite side of choice (biscuit, green beans, etc...) and ENJOY! I decided to skip the side item tonight to save my calories for the large bowl of cookies and ice cream that I just indulged in. YUM!

Hubby's rating: 5

I hope if you decide to try this recipe you will come back and let me know how you liked it, or if you have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. It's gonna be a cold one again tomorrow, so I foresee some leftovers in my future. Hope you all have a good night and stay warm out there. Goodnight!!

Linking up to:

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays