Chicken and Dumpling Soup

You may or may not know that my mom had surgery yesterday to remove the breast cancer the doctors found. My sister and I came back for the procedure. It was a long morning. Fortunately, everything went well and my mom will find out in a week if they got it all out!

Since my mom needs to recover I thought that I would help make meals ahead of time so that all my parents had to do was warm them up. My parents, especially my mom, don't eat a lot to begin with so it was hard to find a balance of too much food versus not enough. Yesterday, I made Broccoli Quinoa Casserole which I made before and can be found here. Thanks to the help of my wonderful Aunt Jackie, today I made chicken and dumpling soup (something I know my dad wanted because my grandma used to make it).

Now, my aunt asked me if I had any questions about the recipe. I said 'no' because I thought I didn't. Well, it is just like me to say that because I always end up having a million questions when I actually start doing things. So, the way I cooked it may not be the right way, but when I started cooking it was 9 am here and my aunt lives in San Francisco. She would not have been happy to be getting a phone call from me so early. :)

**I also doubled this recipe, but I'm giving the smaller version

What you will need:
Soup

• 1 soup chicken (I used a package with white and dark meat)
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon
• 3 1/2 quarts water
• 2 onions
• 2 sprigs dill (optional)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 carrots (I would recommend just getting a bundle unless you don't like carrots)
• 3 celery stalks
• 3 sprigs parsley (I put a lot in my soup)
• 1 tsp lemon pepper salt
• 1-2 bay leaves

Dumplings

• 2/3 cup Farina (cream of wheat NOT instant) - I accidentally bought cream of rice and it works just the same!
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• salt
• 1-2 eggs (beat ahead of adding it together with cooled broth or water)

Directions:

1. Clean chicken thoroughly. I left everything on the bone to cut up later.
2. Add chicken, water, carrots, onions, and bouillon to the 3 quarts of water in a large pot.
   
   
   
3. Bring water to a boil and then cook over medium heat for an hour.
4. While the broth is cooking start making the dumplings
5. Mix the farina, flour, baking powder, salt, and eggs together. Place in fridge for 20-30 minutes.
6. I took the chicken out of the broth and let it cool for a few minutes. Then I removed the skin and removed it from the bone. I then shredded the chicken with my hands.
   
   
7. I then cut up the celery, parsley, and dill.
   
   
8. I added the chicken, celery, parsley, dill, salt, lemon pepper salt, and bay leaves to the mixture.
9. I took out the dumpling mixture and dropped 1/2 tsp balls into the broth. The dumplings expand, so don't worry if they look super small.
   
   
10. Cover and cook for an additional hour or until the chicken is tender. 
11. Taste and correct seasonings as needed.
12. Enjoy!