Kicked Up Chicken and Dumplings

When Lee told me he was making chicken and dumplings, I threw a bit of a fit.  I've never been a big chicken soup fan, and for some reason in my head dumplings are the same thing as biscuits and gravy which I really do hate.  

Luckily, Lee proved me wrong with this amazing version. 

Perfect broth, perfect dumplings, perfect chicken. 

After last week’s beer brined chicken, he’s obsessed so we picked up a whole cut up fryer at the store and he prepared that recipe.  Then he added just a little spice to the dumplings.  By the way, if the dumplings were called really thick noodles, I probably wouldn’t have had any problem at all. 

The combo resulted in a soup that was heavenly with just a little spice to it. It definitely wasn’t melt your face off spicy, but just enough so you knew that you weren’t dealing with your typical salt and pepper blend. 

This was the very perfect soup for curling up on the couch with a big fluffy sweater kind of day and eating it felt like getting a great big soupy hug. 

Do yourself a favor and make this before the winter’s up. 

Kicked Up Chicken and Dumplings

Items for Beer-Brined Chicken

1 quart chicken broth

1 chicken bouillon cube

Salt and pepper

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp sage

1 tsp onion powder

3 cups self-rising flour

1/3 cup shortening

2 tsp butter

1 cup 2% milk

1. Make the Beer-Brined Chicken.
2. Let the chicken cool and shred the meat into bite size pieces, you can put in a little of the skin, but not too much or leave out the skin completely.
3. Pour the chicken broth in a Dutch Oven and add chicken, bouillon and a dash of salt and pepper, bring to a simmer. 
4. In another bowl mix pepper, thyme, sage, onion powder, and 1 tsp salt.
5. Add flour and cut in shortening, butter and 1/4 tsp of salt.  Use a pastry cutter to get it all good and crumbly.  Stir in milk. 
6. Turn out dough on a floured surface and roll to 1/8 inch. 
7. Cut into 1-inch square pieces.
8. Drop dumplings into simmering broth, just a couple at a time. 
9. Cover and simmer 25 minutes, stirring gently a few times throughout.
10. Garnish with parsley or cilantro. 

 What's your favorite comfy sweater food?