Cracker Barrel Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken & Broth
1 3-4 pound chicken, cut up
3 qts water
1.5 tsp salt
1 small onion, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and quartered
1 bay leaf
4-6 whole parsley leaves
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
Chicken stock (if not cooking a whole bird)

Dumplings
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1.25 tsp salt
1 cup plus 2 tbsp milk

1. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the chicken, 1 tsp of salt, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf and parsley to the pot. Reduce heat to simmer and cook the chicken, uncovered, for two hours. The liquid will reduce by about a third.

2. When the chicken has cooked, remove it from the pot and set it aside. Strain the stock to remove all the veggies and such. Keep the stock and the chicken.

3. Pour 6 cups of the stock back into the pot (keep leftover stock for another recipe, it can be frozen). If you started this recipe w/o the stock, add in store bought instead. Add pepper, remaining salt, and lemon juice. Reheat the stock over medium heat while preparing the dumplings.

4. For the dumplings, combine flour, baking powder, salt and milk in a medium bowl. Stir well until smooth. Let dough rest for 5-10 minutes. Roll dough onto a floured surface until 1/4 inch thick (originial recipe says 1/2 inch, we found that too thick).

5. Cut the dough into 1/2 inch squares and drop each square into the simmering stock. Use all the dough. Dumplings will first swell and then slowly shrink as they partially dissolve to thicken the stock into a white gravy. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until thick. Stir often. If you started with pre-cooked chicken, it can go in now too.

6. While the stock is thickening, the chicken will have become cool enough to handle. Tear all the meat into bitesized peices. Discard skin and bones. Simmer another 5-10 minutes.

7. When gravy has reached desired consistency, serve hot with veggies (if desired).

*We both really liked this one. Ate up every last bit of the leftovers.