Chicken and Dumplings

I love this recipe, I have been making a version of this since I was a sophmore in high school.  This is one of the first meals I really enjoyed making.  Reminds me of my grandma :)

The Dumplings:
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of buttermilk or milk
1/3 to 1/2 cup of butter or shortening

The Soup:
1 whole chicken
4 carrots
1/2 onion
3 stalks of celery
1 clove of garlic
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of sage (optional)
1/4 cup of parsley (optional)
4 to 6 chicken bullion cubes
water enough to fill the pot
chicken broth left over from boiling the chicken


In a large stock pot boil whole chicken until there is no pink left. Remove chicken from pot. Strain the water the chicken was boiling in and return to stock pot. Cut up carrots, celery, parsley, onion and garlic add to the broth in the stock pot. Add sage, bay leaves and salt & pepper to taste. Return stock pot to stove heat on low to medium heat. Remove all meat from the bones, roughly chop or shred the bone free chicken and add the meat to the broth and veggies. Add enough water to fill the vessel you are cooking in, then add chicken broth bullion cubes to taste, probably 4 depending on the vessel and whether or not you use the broth the chicken was cooking in, if you do not use a whole chicken and broth from cooking a whole chicken you will likely need more chicken bullion cubes for flavor. Cook until carrots are soft enough to eat.

Meanwhile mix together flour, baking powder, salt in a medium to small mixing bowl. thoroughly cut in butter or shortening. Then add milk and mix. After ingredients are combined kneed it a couple of times into a big ball of dough. About ten minutes before you are ready to serve add in the dumplings. Pinch small bits of dough and gently press into small lil balls about the size of malt balls, quarter size, try not to over work it. then toss em into the soup at a medium boil. Make sure there is enough liquid to support the dough, you don't want them to be too crowded. Occasional stir the soup while you are adding in dumpling to make sure they are all cooking and not sticking together. let the dumplings cook for about 8 minutes. Serve it up!