Fall Challenge #14- Healthy Chicken & Dumplings

In the continuation of my fall cooking challenge, I decided to take on chicken and dumplings, completely homemade. This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but it isn't that difficult and it is SO delicious! It is really healthy, too, relative to most chicken & dumpling recipes you come across. I've been sick all week, so it was a great warm comfort food that I didn't feel bad about eating!

Chicken and Dumplings
Recipe source here
Ingredients:
Stew
3 large stalks celery, chopped 
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp. chopped garlic
Two 14-oz. cans (about 3 1/2 cups) fat-free chicken broth
12 oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breasts
3 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 dried bay leaf
One 10.75-oz. can 98% fat-free cream of chicken condensed soup
2 cups frozen peas 

Dumplings
1 1/2 cups Bisquick Heart Smart baking mix
2/3 cup fat-free milk
1/8 tsp. each salt and black pepper


Directions:
To make the stew, bring a very large pot sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat on the stove. Add celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. Stirring often, cook until veggies have slightly softened, 6 - 8 minutes.

To the pot, add chicken broth, chicken breasts, mushrooms, thyme, and pepper. Add bay leaf and 2 cups of water. Stir well.

Cover pot and bring contents to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and let simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes. Carefully remove chicken and transfer to a large bowl. Re-cover the pot, and let contents continue to simmer.

Once cool enough to handle, shred chicken with two forks -- one to hold the chicken in place and the other to scrape across the meat and shred it. 

Add shredded chicken to the pot, along with condensed soup and frozen peas. Stir thoroughly and raise heat to medium low; return stew to a simmer.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine dumpling ingredients. Gently mix just until a soft dough forms; don't overmix.

Once stew is simmering, add dough in heaping tablespoons to form about 16 individual dumplings; add the dough slowly and evenly so dumplings don't stick together. Cook until dumplings are firm, 10 - 12 minutes, gently turning them over about halfway through cook time.

Remove bay leaf, and serve it up!

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

Simmering veggies...

With chicken & mushrooms added in,waiting for it to boil

Chicken shredding!

Making the dough

After adding chicken back in, before putting the dough on

Don't worry, the dough will actually cook like this

Yum! Look at that deliciousness!

And voila!

*Note: I didn't have a bay leaf, so I sub'ed oregano. It still tasted delicious, so don't worry if you have to do the same.