My Chicken and Dumplings are a true comfort food. As a bonus, each flavorful serving contains less than 250 calories and 5 grams of fat. It doesn’t get much better than that! If you don’t have the time to start this recipe from scratch use commercially prepared chicken stock and a rotisserie chicken. Flat dumplings can sometimes be found in the frozen bread section of the grocery store. Of course, if you take these shortcuts the nutritional values will change.

1 3 to 4 pound whole chicken
2 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1 tsp pepper, divided
1 small leek, well washed
3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 cup diced onion, about 1 small
1 cup sliced carrots, about 3 medium
1 cup sliced celery, about 3 medium stalks
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 cup whole kernel corn, frozen
1/2 cup peas, frozen
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1. Dice all the veggies, reserving all the trimmings except any hairy dried roots. Set the veggies aside.
2. In a large Dutch oven, cover the chicken with cold water and add 1 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, the fresh herbs, and the vegetable trimmings and cleaned leek. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer one hour.
3. Remove the chicken. Allow the chicken to cool until comfortable to handle, then separate the meat from the skin and bones. Shred the chicken meatMorgan12 into bite sized pieces and refrigerate. Discard the skin but return the bones to the pot and simmer another hour or up to 3 more.
4. Strain the broth into another large pot or bowl and discard all the solids. Cool and refrigerate the strained broth to allow the fat to rise to the top, preferably overnight.
5. Skim the fat from the cooled broth and discard. Again refrigerate 1 cup of the broth. Transfer 8 to 10 cups of the remaining broth back into the Dutch oven, reserving any remaining broth. If you don’t have at least 8 cups of broth supplement it with commercial broth or water.
6. Add the diced onion, carrots, and celery to the large pot of broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the veggies are tender.
7. While the vegetables are cooking prepare the dumplings.
8. In a large bowl, make a well in the self-rising flour. Drizzle in the cold broth while stirring to form a stiff dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and invert the bowl over the dough. Allow the dough to rest 10 minutes. Return any remaining broth to the pot.
9. Roll the dough out to 1/8″ thickness on the floured surface. Using a pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut the dough into 1″ by 2″ strips and allow to rest a few minutes longer.
10. Return the chicken to the pot along with the remaining 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, parsley, peas and corn and bring to a strong simmer but do not boil.
11. Working with a few of the dumplings at a time, drop the noodles vertically into the broth in a random pattern to prevent them from overlapping and sticking together. Occasionally push all of the dumplings down into the broth with the back of a large spoon.
12. When all of the dumplings have been added reduce the heat, cover, and simmer another 25 minutes, gently stirring from time to time.
13. As desired, adjust the amount of broth in the pot with some of the extra reserved broth and heat through before serving.

Servings: 8