Chicken and Dumplings - GLUTEN FREE!

Chicken and Dumplings - GLUTEN FREE!!

Ok, this is my husband's FAVORITE recipe so he was so excited that I was going to "bring it back" into the food rotation. I read a bunch of chicken and dumpling recipes but decided I would try this one first. It is by Paula Deen so you know it is going to taste good! I switched it up to be gluten free...we had this (it made a lot) for at least 3 meals and no one complained that they had to have it too many times!
It does take a while. You might want to save this for a weekend! Make the Cream of chicken soup first and then the house seasonings (you will see links to both of these below). After that it should all go rather quickly!

Ingredients:
1 (2.5lb) chicken, cut into pieces (I used 3 large chicken breasts because it's what I had - to save more time you could get a rotisserie chicken (make sure it is gluten free) from the deli at the grocery store)
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 chicken bouillon cubes (I used 2 tablespoons Better than Bouillon chicken base)
       --the conversion chart for the Better than Bouillon shows that 2 teaspoons equals 1 cube
1 teaspoon of Paula's  House Seasoning
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of celery or chicken soup) - this is NOT Gluten free so I made my own - see recipe Cream of Chicken Soup...from scratch
2 Quarts Chicken Stock
2 Quarts Water

Dumplings:
2 cups all purpose flour (I used C4C Flour)
1 teaspoon salt
Ice Water

Directions:
Place the chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon and House Seasoning in a large pot. Add 4 quarts of water (I used 2 quarts of water and 2 quarts of Low Sodium Chicken Stock since I was using chicken breasts - you could do 4 quarts of stock if you like) and bring to a simmer of medium heat. Simmer the chicken until it is tender and the juices run clear, about 40 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and, when it is cool enough to handle remove the skin and separate the meat from the bones (I only had to shred the chicken breasts). Return the chicken meat to the pot and keep warm over low heat.

To prepare the dumplings:  Mix the flour with the salt and mound together in a mixing bowl. Beginning at the center of the mound, drizzle a small amount of ice water over the flour. Using your fingers, and moving from the center to the sides of the bowl, gradually incorporate about 3/4 cup of ice water, knead dough and form it into a ball. I found the dough to be very sticky.

Dust flour onto your working surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough, working from center to 1/8 inch thick. Let the dough relax for several minutes. Spray your fingers with pam to keep it from sticking.

Add the cream of celery or chicken soup (gluten free version here-Cream of Chicken Soup...from scratch) to the pot with the chicken and simmer gently over medium - low heat. ***

Cut the dough into 1 inch pieces. (I used a pizza cutter) Pull a piece in half and drop the halves into the simmering soup. Repeat. Do not sir the chicken once the dumplings have been added. Gently move the pot in a circular motion so the dumplings become submerged and cook evenly. Cook until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy. About 3-5 minutes.

C4C Flour is amazing!!!

***If the soup is too thin, it can be thickened before the dumplings are added. Simply mix together 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 1/4 cup water and then whisk the mixture into the stew. ***