Food that "hugs you", not "mugs you".

This time of year always brings out the "Comfort Food" side of me.  Potatoes, meat, onions, thick breads... all things warm and wonderful.  I am also always trying to find quick, inexpensive recipes (I like my cooking like me.  Easy and cheap.)  that don't involve a lot of pre-packaged foods for my kids.  (Not that I won't slap a chicky nugget down, now.)  I "re-discovered" (i.e. - walked to the fridge and thought "Gah!  What am I going to do with all this left over chicken?  If I make one more friggin' quesadilla, I am going to BRAIN someone!  Oh, wait...) an oldie but goodie recently and thought I would share... in case you were interested.  In other words... slow blog day ya'll.  :)

Chicken and Dumplings Slut-Style (Oh, they are so very, VERY easy!)

*I would like to start out by saying I don't really measure anything.  I just taste as I go and add where needed.  This recipe is VERY forgiving.*

Ingredients:

A couple of big handfuls (more or less) of shredded chicken.  You can use leftover "whatever" chicken.
2 cups Self-Rising (or not) flour
A little salt
milk
1/2 a large yellow onion
3 or 4 good sized carrots
2 or 3 big stalks of celery
2 or 3 tablespoons of Vegetable shortening
At least one box or 2 cans of chicken stock.  I like Better Than Bullion.  You can usually find the Chicken, Beef, and Ham bases in regular grocery stores.  No MSG and they have low sodium versions, too!

Cooking Instructions:

Bring the stock to a steady simmer and add shredded chicken and thin-ish sliced onion, celery and carrots  until the veggies are soft (about 20 minutes) .  Make sure there is enough stock to cover everything and then some.  Those dumpling will be on the absorbent side.
While everything is bubbling away , mix flour, a little salt (you don't need much) and a couple of good sized spoonfuls of vegetable shortening together with a fork.  This is where dumpling preference comes into play.  If you use self-rising flour, your dumplings will be more biscuit like.  If you use plain flour they will be more noodley.  Both are quite tasty and kid approved.   Add small amounts of milk to the mixture until you get a stiff and slightly sticky ball of dough.  Make sure you have enough liquid bubbling away before you add the dumplings.  Add more water, if you have to.  Nothing worse than a dry dumpling, you know?
Coat your hand in flour and pat out patties of dough about the size and thickness of your palm and lay them, sides touching, on top of the chicken-y deliciousness.  Cover and cook for another 10 minutes or so.  You will know the dish is done when you pull open a dumpling and the inside is dry.

Scoop, serve, and sit back to receive your praise.

This eats nice, makes a shit-ton, and reheats great.  Your kids won't even notice that they are eating fresh carrots, either, if they aren't in to that sort of thing...

This is the Biscuit Dumpling version.  

Cause I am always trying to find ways to get more biscuits in my diet...

Now it's your turn.  Post a recipe in my comments section below or e-mail it to me at dontchewonthedinnertable@gmail.com and I will post them for everyone to see and enjoy.  Help a girl out here... I need some new material!  :)