Chicken and Dumplings

Hmmmm.... What to have for dinner when you didn't plan ahead!?! I wasn't thinking until this morning that we didn't have any meat defrosted. I have been blog stalking at Sisters Cafe (one of my FAVORITE food blogs... go check them out!) They posted last year (O.K.... so that was only 4 days ago ;-)...I couldn't resist) a recipe for chicken and dumplings. I had Costco canned chicken, so I decided to adapt the recipe and make it for dinner. It was super fast, easy AND delicious. I do think it would taste better with chicken not from a can, but in a pinch it works! I was also out of Poultry Seasoning, so I made up my own! The dumplings were flavorful, light and airy. I hope you enjoy my version... we all did :-)

Chicken and Dumplings

3 (12.5 oz) cans chicken chunks (or 3 C diced, cooked chicken)

1/2 C butter

1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth (afterthought... If I were to make this again with canned chicken, I would use the juice from the chicken as part of the broth, but would not add the extra salt)

1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of chicken soup

Dumplings:

2 C flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp poultry seasoning (1/4 tsp each of rosemary, marjoram, sage, thyme and a dash of nutmeg)

1 tsp celery seeds

1 C milk

1/4 C vegetable oil

Spread chicken evenly in a 9 X 13 pan. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over med high heat. Add the flour and cook for a couple of minutes to cook out the "raw" taste of the flour. Add the chicken broth and cook, stirring frequently until it is thickened. Stir in the cream of chicken soup until it is smooth and pour over the chicken. In a medium bowl, combine dry dumpling ingredients. Add the milk and oil all at once and stir just until it is combined. I used a medium (# 40) scoop to drop the dough onto the gravy. I yielded 18 dumplings. Bake uncovered at 425* for 25 minutes.