Who doesn’t love a delicious chicken soup in the fall and winter months? Use this recipe to save money and have a flavorful, mostly homemade chicken and dumplings. We use a store-bought roasted chicken and a tube of biscuit dough to save time, and fresh vegetables add lots of flavor and nutrition.
Ingredients
1 whole roasted chicken
1 tube biscuit dough (brand doesn’t matter)
2 C Chopped carrots
2 C Chopped onions
2 C Chopped celery
1 C Chopped mushrooms
1 can chickpeas
1 can whole kernel corn (not creamed)
1 head chopped garlic (yes I use a lot)
2 Tbs cooking oil (your choice)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 quart chicken stock (optional and only needed if you think it’s too thick)
Instructions
Remove meat from the chicken, and set aside. You’ll only need about half of it for the soup (which is more like a stew), so you can chop some, and save some to serve with the stew if you like. Place bones, skin, 1/2 of the carrots, celery, garlic and onions in large stock pot and cover with water. Simmer covered for 1-2 hours or more. Honestly, simmer it as long as you like – a minimum of 1 hour is needed to pull flavor from the bones and skin, but if you want to make something closer to a bone broth, simmer for 4-6 hours, checking water level to make sure everything stays covered. Ann Musico talked about bone broth’s benefits in Fall of 2016 (www.learningtangent.com/fall-2016-homeschooling-high-school).
Strain the broth and throw out the chunks.
Saute the onions and mushrooms in the oil or butter until soft, and add half of the chicken meat plus everything else except the seasonings. Bring it up to a simmer, then taste. Add seasonings little by little, stirring it in, and tasting as you go. Once it tastes the way you like, bring it to a boil. Then cut the biscuit dough into quarters, roll into balls and drop one at a time into the soup. Cover, boil for about 5 minutes, then test a dumpling. It should be cooked through, if not, boil for another minute or so.
Serve hot and freeze leftovers.
Serves 4-6.
Learning Tangent is Gail’s brainchild. When it all goes down, she has to get the magazine out the door and on its way to subscribers. She has four kids, of whom she and her husband David homeschool two. She enjoys a wide range of activities including weaving, photography, writing, is a musician (both a teacher & performer), calligrapher, and is an avid sci-fi- & fantasy reader. You’ll generally find her busy doing whatever it is she wants to on a given day.
