Chicken and Dumplings

Taken from The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook. This is total comfort food for me! It reminds me of Cracker Barrel. It takes a little work, but on a cold night, it's awesome. Usually, I cook a whole chicken ahead of time in a crock pot, then debone and use part of the meat. It saves a little time and definitely cuts down on cost because I can get two meals from the cooked whole chicken instead of using chicken breasts.

2 t. salt
6 chicken breasts
2 T. oil
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
2 large stalks celery, sliced
1 med. onion, chopped
1 c. plus 2 T. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. chopped fresh rosemary (or 1/2 t. dried)
1 1/2 c. milk
1 large egg
2 c. water
2 c. chicken broth (or bouillon)
1/4 t. pepper
1 small package frozen peas

Sprinkle 1/2 t. salt on chicken breasts. In dutch oven, heat oil. Brown chicken breasts. Add remaining 1 T. oil to pan. Stir in carrots, celery, and onion; cook till veggies are brown and tender, about 10 minutes. While veggies are cooking, prepare dumplings.

In medium bowl, stir together 1 c. flour, baking powder, 1/2 t. salt, and rosemary. In a cup, mix 1/2 c. milk with egg with a fork. Stir into flour mixture just until blended.

Chop chicken and return to dutch oven. Add water, broth, pepper and remaining 1 t. salt. Heat till boiling. Drop in dumpling dough by rounded tablespoons on top of chicken and veggies to make 12 dumplings. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, carefull remove dumplings, veggies, and chicken to another bowl. Keep the broth in the dutch oven.

In small bowl, stir in remaining 2 T. flour with remaining 1 c. milk and mix till blended. Stir into broth mixture.. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly, until sauce has thickened slightly...about 1 minute. Add peas and heat through. Return chicken, veggies, dumplings to dutch oven and heat through. Makes 6 main dish servings.