Chicken & Dumplins + Girls Night Out= Good Eats & Great Times

One of our family traditions at Christmas Times is to have Girls Night Out.  Girls in our bunch is defined by 13 years and older.  Now, the young ladies in our families really look forward to turning 13.  My daughter, Sierra, turns 13 on January 30th, so close but so far.  Her aunts wanted to make an exception, but her two older sisters said absolutely NOT.  The had to wait and they made her wait.

Each year the agenda varies, but there are a few things that always happen- an ornament exchange, great food, lots of laughs, and great fun.  For the past couple of years, my Aunt Sherri and her daughter, Stephanie, have hosted us at there home.  We all come together for a sleepover and movies or whatever strikes our fancy.

A favorite food of the whole family is chicken and dumplins.  No matter the size of the pots, the pot will be empty.  So, below is a recipe that is our family favorite.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 tsp Poultry seasoning
2 tsp Fresh Sage (dried is fine if you do not have fresh, reduce to 1 tsp)
Salt and pepper to taste
Biscuit dough (recipe below)

Place chicken in a large stock pot or dutch oven.  Cover with water to about 3 inches above the bird.
Boil until chicken easily pulls of the bone- about 1hr- 1 1/2 hrs.
Remove chicken from pot and let cool.  Pull chicken from bone and discard the skin and bones.
These steps can be done in advance and let cool in the refrigerator or freeze the shredded chicken and broth in freezer until you are ready to cook.




Once the chickens is shredded return to the pot and bring to a rolling boil on high heat.  Once boiling rapidly, drop the biscuit dough in by the spoonfuls, how large of dumplins depends on your family preference.  After adding the dough, dump the contents left in the bowl of dough into the pot.  Reduce heat to low and cover.  Boil for 10 minutes, do not lift the lid and remove from heat after 10 minutes.

Serve once cool enough to handle.

Biscuit Dough:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp of baking powder
5 tbsp of butter or Crisco
1 cup of buttermilk

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter until there are small pea-size bits of butter.  Stir in milk.  If you don't have buttermilk, you can add 1 tsp of vinegar to one cup milk.
The dough will be very wet.  Now for dumplins, sprinkle a liberal amount of flour over the top- not more.  Now pinch off pieces about the size of a large marble.  The extra flour keeps the dough from sticking to your fingers and adds lose flour to the broth that will thicken it.