Adventures in the kitchen!!

This isn't a cooking site but I did say I wanted to have adventures!  To me, cooking is an adventure because I have no idea what I'm doing and it's fun/new!  I've had a craving for chicken and dumplings and I LOVE the ones at Cracker Barrel.  I know it's a chain but that place is yummy!  So the first thing I did was Google "Easy Chicken and Dumplings" because every recipe I use has to have easy in the title.  Let's just establish that right now, OK?  Here's the recipe from Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1-32 ounce can of chicken broth
4-skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed
1-onion chopped
1/2-16 oz. bag of baby carrots
2-stalks of celery
1-bay leaf (I didn't have this so I left it out.)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 1/4-cup of baking mix (like Bisquick)
2/3-cup of milk

Prep time:  15 minutes
Cook time:  30 minutes
Ready in:  45 minutes

I started with the chicken broth from Kroger and a pack of already chopped onions.  I hate chopping onions!  I put them both into my large soup pot.  

 Then I chopped some chicken.  Organic, Kroger, Simple Truth chicken.  You can feel good about buying it because Organic means that they chickens run around free and go to school, prom, etc. before they become the chicken you buy at the grocery store.

 Then I chopped up some carrots and celery.  I added more celery (3 extra stalks) because I love celery!  I added the chicken, and veggies to the pot and let it come to a boil.  I then reduced the heat and covered the pot. It boiled for about 23 minutes.

 I chopped up all of the remaining celery and put it with some carrots for healthy work snacks. 

            I measured out 2 1/4 cups of Kroger baking mix.


                                          

And...wait for it...put it in a bowl!


                             
                                         

 Then I mixed it up with 2/3 cup of milk until it was pasty. I had a hard time taking a picture at this time because my hands were covered in dough.  After mixing it, I plopped golf ball size dough balls into the pot and covered it with the lid.

After 10 minutes it looked like this...

                                                   

Not QUITE done.  But after 5 more minutes it was perfect!  Then I spooned it into a bowl for pretty picture taking purposes!

                                                   

YAY!!!

So, this is more like a soup with dumplings that will soak it up.  The Cracker Barrel dumplings are much more dumplingesque which is a cool word that I just made up.  But this is a quick and easy dinner that was very tasty!  The thing I loved most is that you don't have to watch anything.  No stirring!  Yes...I'm that lazy!  Here's something I forgot to mention.  I believe that I left a tiny piece of plastic on the chicken and ingested it.  I suspect this because I pulled a piece of plastic out of my mouth and realized that there was probably more that I already ate.  The horror!  Does that digest?  Sigh.  Watch out for the plastic!

The actual directions for the recipe are below.  Good luck and stay houndy!

Em

Directions

1. Combine chicken broth, chicken breast cubes, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaf, salt, and pepper in a large pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Mix baking mix and milk in a bowl until dough is sticky; drop golf ball-sized pieces of dough into the soup. Cover pot and cook until dumplings are cooked through, about 10 minutes.