Chicken and Dumplings

Modified from Rachael Ray and Robin Miller [the soup and first dumplings are Rachael's while the second dumplings are Robin's]

Soup:

1 1/2 lbs chicken

1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp butter

1 large potato, peeled and diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 rib celery, diced

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

1 tsp poultry seasoning

2 tbsp flour

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup green peas

Dumplings 1:

1 small box biscuit mix

1/2 cup warm water

parsley

Dumplings 2:

2/3 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 tsp dried sage

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup buttermilk [or 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and the remainder regular milk]

1 tbsp oil

Dice tenders into bite size pieces and set aside. Wash hands.

Place a large pot on the stove over medium heat. Add oil, butter, veggies and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season mixture with salt, pepper and poultry seasonings. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Add stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir.

You can do either dumpling recipe here - I like the first and Ray likes the second, so we are alternating. In either case put dry ingredients in a bowl and combine. Add in wet and mix until just combined (this should be pretty thick). Then drop dumplings by the spoonful into the soup. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to thicken sauce a bit. Stir peas into the pan, remove chicken and dumplings from heat and serve.

Serves 4.