Chicken & Dumplings

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
6 cups chicken broth
spices (See note)
3-4 potatoes
1 tbsp butter
2 cups baking mix (bisquick, I am lazy)
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cold water
frozen veggies

In a large pot over medium heat, simmer chicken in 6 cups broth until no longer pink. I had no chicken broth, so I used onion broth (I would normally add onion, but I had none of those either and been to the store twice today already, boo).








Remove chicken, cool and shred.














Hack up some potatoes and throw them in way before any other vegetables - they not only take longer to cook, but everyone loves a nice soft potato that's soaked up all the juices from a stew. Yummo.









I have a lot of spices, and the last time I made this it wasn't exactly bland, but not as spicy as I would have liked, so I added a bunch of spices just because I wanted some heat and flavor - jerk spice, cayenne, thyme, sage, oregano, allspice. I'm sure you can add whatever spices suit you when you're making it :)





Return shredded chicken to pot, add chopped potatoes and stir in butter. Cook until chicken reaches desired tenderness, 15 to 60 minutes. (I went with about 45 today)









In a bowl, stir together baking mix and milk until smooth. In a separate bowl, stir together flour and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth. Stir flour mixture into stew; bring stew to a rolling boil. Add vegetables - I would normally use celery and onion too, but like I said, I wasn't going to the store again today. I liked my little combo of carrots, peas and corn anyway.

Drop baking mix mixture by tablespoonfuls into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes. Then cover and cook 10 minutes more. (Sneak a spatula under the dumplings to prevent chicken from sticking to the bottom of the pot - this is something I'm bad at.)









Voila! It was good, but in retrospect, I probably didn't need jerk and cayenne - very spicy this time around! But seriously, I'd rather have a little too much spice than too little, wouldn't you?