A Halloween Tradition

Since I can remember, Chicken and Dumplings has been one of my favorites. We had it only a few times a year growing up, but now that I have my own family, we make it about once a month. Especially in winter. At some point, when I was between five and seven years old, we were having it on Halloween before going trick-or-treating, and I observed, "It's a tradition!" Apparently, it was on the menu on Halloween the previous year, and so that made it a tradition...

Well, all those years later, and now it is a bona fide tradition for our family on Halloween. It is filling, warm, and hearty, which can come in handy when Halloween turns out to be a chilly (or snowy!) one. We had warm weather this year, but that didn't make any difference. We still enjoyed our Chicken and Dumplings and then made our way out to go trick-or-treating.

Here's the recipe: 

2-3 chicken breasts, bone in

1 onion, cut into strips or coarsely diced

6-7 stalks of celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

5-6 carrots cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 T Spike seasoning

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

Dumpling mixture (do not mix until chicken and veggies are almost cooked!)

2 c. bisquick

2/3 c. milk

Fill dutch oven pan about 1/2 full of water, add the chicken breasts, spike seasoning, salt, pepper, and sliced onions and cover with lid.  Cook on the stove top over medium heat for 20 minutes.  Remove the chicken breasts from the pan, then add carrots and celery and continue to cook over medium heat.

Remove as much chicken as possible from the bones and cut into bite-size pieces.  Once you have all of the chicken off the bones, put chicken back in the pot.  Make sure the water level is a little bit above the veggies and chicken and has returned to boiling before mixing the dumpling mixture .  Quickly make the dumpling mixture and drop spoonfuls onto the surface of the stew and reduce heat to low.  Cook uncovered 10 minutes.  Cover and cook 10 minutes longer.  Don't peek once you cover the pot! 

Total cooking time is around 40 minutes.  Prep time around 20-30 minutes. Serves 4-5

P.S. Dish up as soon as it's done--and then wait a little bit.  It is H-O-T when it first comes out.  I am always over-eager to eat and then end up burning my tongue and not being able to enjoy it as much! :)