Recipe(tried): Mama's Chicken and Dumplings (roaster oven)

It was a cooler, rainy day on Monday so I decided to make one of my mother's famous "comfort foods." I made chicken and dumplings. We also had carrot sticks with ranch dip, fresh cherries, sweet tea with lemon, and raspberry Jello with low-fat topping.

MAMA'S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

4-6 fryer breasts, with skin and bones attached
black pepper, seasoned salt, poultry seasoning
2-3 onions, chopped
3-4 ribs celery, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup of baby carrots
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 gallon water
1 large can cream of chicken soup
2 pkgs. frozen dumplings

I used the AROMA Roaster, similar to the NESCO Roaster, to fix the chicken in. Spray the roaster with Pam. Put the chicken breasts in the roaster and sprinkle with black pepper, seasoned salt, and poultry seasoning. Put the onions, celery, bell pepper, parsley, garlic, and carrots in the roaster. Put the chicken bouillon cubes and the gallon of water in the roaster. Let cook on 300 for 4-5 hours, adding more water if needed.

Check to make sure that chicken breasts are done. If they are, remove the chicken breasts and put in a bowl. Set the bowl in the refrigerator. If the chicken breasts are not done, cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Add the cream of chicken soup to the broth.
Allow the broth and vegetables to simmer at 200 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. At the end of this time, strain the broth and discard the vegetables. Set the broth in the refrigerator for an hour or two to let the fat come to the top of the broth. Remove the fat from the top and put the chicken broth into a large pot.

Heat the chicken broth to boiling. Add frozen dumplings that have been broken into thirds one at a time. When all of the dumplings are in the pot, reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir every 10 minutes to make sure that the mixture isn't sticking. Cook for 30-40 minutes.

Right before the dumplings are done, remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Discard skin and bones. Put the white meat in a bowl. When all of the chicken has been skinned and boned, put about 3 cups of shredded chicken into the pot with the dumplings. Sprinkle with a little bit of black pepper and heat through.

Put the rest of the chicken into a freezer bag. With this chicken, you can make chicken salad.

Serve the dumplings with the broth in soup bowls.

This is southern comfort food at its finest!