Crock pot Chicken and Dumplings

I love my crock pot. A lot. It is a wonderful thing.
With that being said, let me show you how I make chicken and dumplings in the crock pot

Here is the link where I got the idea, however I tweaked it a bit.

http://www.polishthestars.com/2011/11/slow-cooker-chicken-dumplings.html

Remember that chicken we cooked the other day?

http://grassngracefarm.blogspot.com/2013/03/whole-chickens-for-beginners.html

Chop it up and put it in the crock pot.

 

Add some of that stock you made too (enough to cover the chicken)

Next we are going to make our own cream of chicken soup

 http://www.milehimama.com/how-to-make-cream-of-chicken-soup/

You will need: 1 cup chicken stock, 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup flour, and 1/4 cup butter

Melt the butter and whisk in flour.

Add stock and milk. Stir on medium heat for about 3 minutes. If it doesn't thicken up enough add some more flour. 

Add your homemade cream of chicken soup to your crock pot of chicken and broth.

Stir, cover, and let cook on high for few hours (or low for the day)

About 1.5 hours before dinner we need to add the dumpling dough

 Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening. Stir in milk.

Take bite size bits of dough and drop them into the crock pot

Once all the dough is in stir, cover, and cook on high for an hour

(you can also add whatever seasonings you like here)

After an hour it is dinner time!

 

 I hope you try this recipe and let me know what you think! It is a favorite here.

Whole Chickens for Beginners!

A lot of people are asking:

How do I cook a whole chicken?!

With our prepackaged, plastic wrapped, grocery store chicken breast, or precooked ready to eat rotisserie chicken, buying straight from the farm can be intimidating!

Have no fear! I have rounded up some recipes, tips, and ideas to help you venture into the wonderful world of whole chickens and the endless possibilities they have!

Not all of us have been shown how to cook whole chickens. The days of standing in the kitchen with Grandma and Mom having recipes passed down are long gone for most of us.


Easiest way to cook a whole chicken: The Crock-pot

I wake up in the morning and start the coffee pot (this is important!). Then I grab my crock-pot and put about 3-4 inches of water in the bottom, take the chicken out of the freezer and plop it in. Set the crock-pot on low and stick the lid on. Grab my cup of coffee and start the day.

When dinner time is looming close I take the chicken out and set it in a big bowl to cool off. Once I can handle it without scalding my fingers I get another bowl out and separate all the meat from the skin and bones. Don't throw out the scraps!! Use them to make a delicious bone broth!

My lazy broth involves throwing all the chicken bones and skin back in the crock-pot and filling it with enough water to cover everything by an inch or so. Sometimes i throw veggie scraps in. Sometimes I don't. Leave the crock-pot on low overnight and whenever you get around to it the next day strain the scraps from the liquid and you have your own healthy homemade broth!

Wellness Mama has a great blog about all the benefits of bone broth here:

http://wellnessmama.com/5888/how-to-make-bone-broth-tutorial/



Well I am short on time today, stay tuned and I will be posting some of our tried and true chicken recipes!

Please comment and let me know what you want to know! What are your questions?