(repost)

Here in the South there are certain comfort foods that you just know you will get during cold or rainy weather. Most people think chicken noodle soup, while here, I think chicken and dumplings or a nice chicken and rice. Oh yeah! So good. It is literally hot as all get out down here but today was such a rainy and downright dreary day, I was like, "chicken and dumplings, why yes, I shall!"

When I first started cooking for taste (yes, there was a time, I just threw things together and hoped for the best but alas I have moved on and actually care about the way my food tastes), I took the easy way out when it came to chicken and dumplings. You can go all semi homemade and used canned buttermilk biscuits cut into quarters or you can get your hands (and kitchen, and clothing, and floor) dirty.  I like homemade because everything is better when its homemade and you and your family is worth the extra effort, right?

As messy and hard as it may seem, homemade dumplings are literally soooo easy.

So, let's start shall we?

You will need:

1 large boiling pot of water

2 maggi chicken bouillon cubes

3 cups of all purpose flour

1 stick of room temperature butter or margarine

1 1/2 cup of milk

1 Family Size can of cream of chicken soup

Cut/shredded chicken breasts

(I deboned a grilled whole chicken I had leftover from yesterday)

In large bowl, pour in your flour and add your butter. Using your hands begin mixing the butter by squeezing it...this begins to make "crumbs".  You want to use your hands. Just squeeze until the butter is all crumbly in the flour.  Make a hole in the center of the crumbly flour mixture.  Slowly begin pouring in your milk.

Add only 1/2 of the milk into the hole then take the flour and cover the milk as if you want to bury it.  Pat down and then bring in the sides. If it is still too crumbly, make another hole, add more milk....bring the flour sides over it just like before and pat down until it begins to form a dough, knead.

*This is also how you make biscuits but using self-rising flour*

Once the dough forms, form into a ball. Lightly flour the ball and place in between two sheets of wax paper or on a lightly floured surface. Roll out until even and the desired thickness of your dumplings.

Cut into squares.  I like large dumplings and my kids literally love TONS of dumplings. This makes A LOT of  dumplings so you can always place in a freezer bag and freeze any excess until next time.

Now on to the goodness.

In a pot, boil the water and add in your maggi cubes.  Once boils, stir to make sure the cubes have dissolved and the seasoning they produce is even. Add in your sliced cooked chicken and while still boiling...drop in your dumplings.

Stir regularly. 

Dumplings will float when they are getting close to done. Once the dumplings float, reduce the heat to low and cook (stirring occasionally) for 20 minutes.

Add in your cream of chicken soup and stir until your soup is nice and creamy. Remove from heat.

And there ya go! Nice, creamy, and heartily easy chicken and dumplings. There were no leftovers from this pot. It was enough to feed myself, 4 children ages 9-14 and a friend who came over for dinner. And two kids had seconds!