Chicken & Dumpling Soup

There is actually snow on the ground in Virginia. Tuesday the weather forecasters were calling for 2-5" of snow overnight. The city started shutting down at about 1:00pm. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. I mean, they were already calling off school for the next day, night classes at universities were cancelled, even the military bases were closing early. All at the threat of snow. Only in the south, right?

Well, when we woke up yesterday morning, there was a good bit of snow on the ground. Maybe right at 2". Enough for Hermione to play in, and enough for a pot of homemade soup to be a necessity. I love chicken and dumplings, and remembered that I used to order chicken & dumpling soup all the time at Atlanta Bread Company (anyone else remember that place?). 

This soup was so good. It tasted just like my usual chicken & dumplings, but the lighter broth was just what I was looking for tonight. I bought a whole chicken to cook, instead of just using chopped chicken breasts, just so I could make homemade stock. The broth was perfect. It had so much flavor and I had exactly enough to make the soup. It was also super easy to make. I just let the chicken & stock simmer while I tidied around the apartment. I usually make dumplings from scratch, but Graham prefers dumplings made from canned biscuits, so this time I just used those.

This soup was so good, and I'm glad it made a ton, so I have plenty leftover. The snow may be melting, but it's still pretty cold outside =)

Chicken & Dumpling Soup

(Recipe adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken (about 4ish lbs); or just 1 lb. of boneless chicken breasts
• 4 T. of butter (or olive oil)
• 1 medium onion; chopped. 
• 5 carrots; peeled and thinly sliced
• 5 stalks of celery; thinly sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic; minced
• 8 cups of chicken stock
• 1 7.5 oz can of biscuits (NOT the flaky ones); chopped into 1/2" pieces
• 1 bay leaf
• pinch of turmeric (for color)
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. If you're making your own stock, put the chicken in a large stock pot & add enough water to cover the chicken. To flavor the stock, add ingredients & bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for an hour. Remove the chicken & let cool, strain the stock to remove the solids & set aside. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces once cooled.  
• 1 T. of kosher salt
• 1 carrot, chopped in half
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped in half
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 head of garlic, chopped sliced in half
2. Melt butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat. When butter is completely melted, add the carrots, celery, onion & garlic, and cook until tender; about 10 minutes. 
3. Add the chicken stock, bay leaf & turmeric. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. 
4. Stir in the chopped chicken & the chopped biscuits (I cut each biscuit into four strips, and then cut each strip into 4 pieces). Cover and let simmer; about 10 minutes, or until the "dumplings" have firmed up.