Starting something new.

This seems to be my theme the past few months. My daughter, Olivia started all day kindergarten in September. At the same time I went back to college full time to finish up my prerequisites to get into the nursing program at a local college. Now I'm blogging about my life and most especially my favorite domestic duty, cooking. I will share some recipes that have been my family's favorites and as I try new ones that are a hit I'll pass those on as well.



Tonight we had a family favorite, chicken and dumplings, but I changed it up a little and it was a huge success! Enjoy!



Homestyle Chunky Chicken & Dumplings



*1 Whole Chicken w/skin

*1 Whole medium white onion cut in two

*1/2 lb carrots peeled and sliced into bite size chunks

*1 carton sliced portabello mushrooms (optional) this was my new feature

*4 stalks celery cut down middle then sliced up coarsely

*2-3 gloves garlic, crushed

*2 tbsps fresh parsley, chopped

*2 bay leaves

*1/2 tsp onion powder

*1/2 tsp black pepper (I used a 1/4 tsp and did not feel it was enough.)

*At least 2 qts chicken broth (you will need enough to cover the chicken once you put it in your stock pot, you could make up difference with water)

*3 cans store bought refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, qaurtered (You can make your own biscuit dough but that is way too much work for me!) Keep refrigerated until just ready for this step.



Add chicken broth to stock pot large enough to hold whole chicken. Bring liquid to boil while washing chicken inside and out. Remember to remove innards and discard. Place chicken in hot liquid adding more liquid to cover if needed. Add bay leaves, parsley, black pepper, onion halves, onion powder, and crushed garlic. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat immediately to medium; simmer for 1 hour.



Remove chicken from the broth and set aside to cool. Add carrots and celery to broth and cook until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully skin and debone chicken in large bite size chunks and set aside.



Once the carrots are tendder it's time to add the dumplings. Get one can of biscuits at a time from the fridge. Cut each biscuit into four pieces. Once you have cut all the biscuits from all the cans start adding them to your pot. This is a delicate process. Add 3 or 4 at a time and keep moving them around, pushing them under the liquid until they are all added. They will really puff up at first and you will think there is not enough room but they will cook down and it will be fine, just be patient.



Now add the chicken back in and the mushrooms and cook for an additional 10 minutes. This is a great hearty meal for cold winter months!