Momma's Chicken-n-dumplings

Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 (12 ounce) can biscuits
• 1 -2 stalk celery
• 1 whole onion
• salt & pepper

Recipe

• 1 about an hour before you want to eat, start cooking your chicken in a potful of water. i usually cut up a whole onion and celery stalk, and boil it in there as well as some salt & pepper, however much you like. if you're pressed for time, you can boil it on high but i believe cooking it on medium for awhile gets more of the flavor and juices "stirred up". after the chicken is cooked through, remove it from what is now your chicken broth and set aside to cool (sometimes i stick mine in the freezer so it cools faster). turn the broth up on high to prepare your dumplings. i vary between tearing the biscuits into fourths and cutting them into fourths, whichever you prefer. when the biscuits are divided into fourths, it does make big dumplings so if you prefer smaller you can tear each piece in half again.
• 2 once you've gotten your biscuits divided up, drop a few into the boiling broth at a time. the first time i made this, i did them all at once and it make biscuit glue! when the biscuits/dumplings begin to look plump and sort of darker in color, remove them with a slotted spoon into a bowl. while each batch of dumplings is boiling you can begin tearing your chicken apart. i usually cut off all the good chicken, then shred it by hand. not shred into tiny, miniscule pieces, but bite size. add the chicken to the bowl you put your dumplings into.
• 3 when you have all of your chicken and dumplings in one bowl, you can pour some of the broth over it. this serves to reheat the ingredients as well as put some flavor on them! my family likes for me to scoop the onions and celery out of the broth, this is a personal preference, not a must.