Like grandma's chicken 'n dumplings

Tonight's dinner was made not only because Mom chose it from my slow cooker recipes cookbook but also because I have a carry-in at work tomorrow in honor of Black History month. I figured I would try making it tonight so I knew if it was good or not before making it for my coworkers. The verdict is in, and it is tasty!

Meal: Like grandma's chicken 'n dumplings

Review: VERY tasty! I used chicken thighs for the meat but of course you can use whatever chicken you want. For this meal I bought thighs with the bone because that was all the store had, so it took a little time cutting the meat off the bone; however, if you are lucky enough to find the meat off the bone it will save you some time in cutting it into bite-sized portions. I also would recommend doubling the amount of meat it suggests. The recipe makes 4 to 6 servings but considering how it requires an entire roll of biscuits the chicken was barely noticeable. I also used reduced fat cream of chicken and cream of mushroom so that makes it a little healthier. If you want to add a bit of color to it, adding peas or carrots would be a nice addition. Finally, I would say if you replace the biscuits with noodles it makes a very homey, slightly thick chicken and noodle soup for that cold, dreary winter day.

Recipe:

• 2 cups cooked chicken
• 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted (that just means do not add water to it in case you did not know)
• 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 2 soup cans water (just use the cans of soup you have, duh silly! hehe)
• 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits)

First cut your chicken into bite-sized pieces. It is up to you if you want to keep the skin or not. I did because the skin is where the flavor is but it really does not matter because the whole meal has enough chicken flavor already with the cream of chicken and the chicken bouillon granules. Once you finish cutting the chicken, cook it. This part should not take too long. Next, mix all the ingredients except the biscuits into the crock-pot. Cut your biscuits into quarters and gently stir into the mixture. Doing simple math, eight biscuits into four pieces should give you a total of 32 pieces! Finally, cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours.

Again, you might want to halve the biscuit amount and double the chicken amount but that is completely up to you. Also, when you are slow cooking, you want to be sure not to lift the lid. I know it is tempting especially once the smell starts to build. You might be tempted to take a peak and stir it as well, but lifting the lid releases the heat and actually causes it to take a little longer to cook. Just relax, keep yourself occupied and let it cook on its own!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and it certainly will be something I cook again.