Chicken and Dumpling Soup

This week sent us spiraling into the dead of winter in the Northern MN/WI area.  We got over a foot of snow, then the temps plummeted down to 4 degrees overnight, and that looks like where it's going to stay for now. Winter has come early, and it's shaping up to be as cold and snowy as last year, so its time to make the best of it and acclimate to the chilly season. Last night we went back and forth on going out for dinner, as we do a lot on a weekend nights. It was a long week at work, and having someone set a beer and a plate full of cooked food in front of us sounded divine. ( And doing the dishes) But since it's newly crazy cold, and we had all the makings for some great soup, we decided to stay in the warm house and cook ourselves.

Chicken and Dumpling Soup:

-1 pound cooked chicken, cut into small cubes ( A great way to use  a rotisserie chicken)

-6 cups chicken broth

-1 cup diced celery

-1 cup peas

-1 cup diced carrots

-1 medium onion, diced

-1 T. pepper

-1 t. marjoram

-2 T. garlic

-1 t. garlic powder

-2 T. olive oil

-1/4 cups parsley

-1 T. chives

-2 bay leaves

-1 t. sage, ground

- cup egg noodles

Dumplings: 

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-1 T. salt

-2 t. baking powder

-1 cup milk

-3 T. butter, melted and slightly cooled 

Directions: 

In a stock pot warm olive oil over medium heat. Add  bay leaves, garlic, celery, carrots and onion and simmer until softened, 10 minutes. Add cooked chicken, peas, pepper, marjoram, garlic powder, parsley and sage and stir until combined, then add chicken broth and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 10 minutes, checking often. Add noodles right before adding dumplings.

For dumplings,  in a small bowl, stir half of chives, flour, salt and baking powder until combined. Add milk and butter and stir with a fork until combined, batter will be lumpy. Drop 1 T. of batter onto soup ( I  use a drop scoop) cover and cook another 10 minutes until dumplings are cooked through.

As you can see, a few servings didn't even make it to their first photo op. Such an easy and yummy soup, that makes you not even mind doing the dishes. I've used turkey before too, making this a great recipe for after Thanksgiving, which is rapidly approaching.

So good! When we used to have this when I was growing up, we'd always  make extra dumplings on the side for leftovers, because someone would always eat them off the soup, leaving just the soup behind.... OK, it was me..... But once you taste these dumplings, you won't judge!