List of ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts
2 stalks celery
2-3 yellow onions
3 Tbsp real butter
2 cans SWANSONS chicken broth
1/4 cup dried parsley
"dashes" of rosemary, basil
salt and pepper
chicken bouillon
1 box Bisquick (will need milk to make dumplins)
Broth:
2-3 chicken breasts (depending on size)
Cover chicken with water and add 1 bouillon cube. Boil until they are almost done, but still barely pink in the middle. I just keep checking them after about 7 minutes. They will continue to cook in the slow cooker without getting tough from being overcooked. Reserve some of this broth in which you have boiled the chicken.
While these are boiling, turn on the slow cooker and fill it with 2 cans SWANSON's chicken broth (The Swanson's brand tastes sooo much better than store brand). Also add a huge palmful of dried parsley (probably 1/4 cup), a small dash of rosemary, dash of basil, and about a tsp of black pepper. Just use what you have here on the spices. Fresh basil and parsley are even better.
Chop 3 stalks of celery and 2 med-large onions. In a skillet place 3 Tablespoons of butter (or the fake stuff if that's all you have-bleh) and saute the celery and onions until they are very tender but NOT browned. If you brown them or the butter, it will change the flavor of the broth, and not for the better. However, the onions don't really get much softer in the slow cooker, so I try to make sure that they are really tender before adding them to the broth. The trick is to be patient and not saute them on too high a temperature.
Shred the chicken breasts with a serrated knife. I just place it at a 45 deg angle and pull to shred. Add to the broth. Look at how much liquid you have in your crockpot, keeping in mind that very little will evaporate in the slow cooker. Also, remember that your dumplins are going to soak up some of the liquid. Personally, I don't like super soupy chicken and dumplins, so I only add a small amount of my reserved broth. If you add too much, it will have a less intense flavor and you will need to add some bouillon or salt and pepper to jazz it up and make it taste less like dinner at the nursing home.
Let it stay in the slow cooker on HI for at least 3 hours or LOW for at least 5. In a hurry, I have let it simmer on the stove for about 30-45 min and put it in the slow cooker for an hour or two while I was gone. Close the lid and leave it closed until time to add the dumplins. No need to stir.
Dumplins:
I use the biscuit/dumplings recipe on the Bisquick box to make one batch. That's all there is to it. Frozen dumplings or biscuit dough dumplings do not compare. I make them after I get the broth going. Roll them out pretty thin and cut them into about 1 inch rectangles. Then place them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, cover with a dish towel (to keep them from drying out) and put them in the refrigerator. Add them 30 minutes before you are ready to eat. They take about this long to cook, and the slow cooker needs to be simmering to cook them properly, so don't keep lifting the lid to check on the broth/stir it or it will cool and you'll end up with gooey dumplins. (Again...from experience!)
Good luck! I hope I haven't forgotten anything too important. Enjoy!
