Happy Friday everyone!!! I have a special comfort food recipe today that will make your house smell amazing! As soon as I smelled the onion, carrots, and celery cooking together in the pot I knew I was going to like this chicken and dumpling soup, but you don’t necessarily need to use all these vegetables to make a chicken and dumplings stew.

CHEAPER VERSION OF CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

The truth is that you can make chicken and dumplings with just four basic ingredients: chicken broth, chicken, Bisquick, and milk. If you are on a tighter budget you can skip all of the steps with vegetables and you will still have a chicken and dumpling soup. I know because I used to make it that way. We weren’t making much money the first year of our marriage and this was a practical meal that was filling and that my husband loved so I made it several times. I would just heat up the broth, toss in the chicken and let it cook in the broth, and then dump spoonfuls of the Bisquick dough into the broth. My husband loved it. Truly, if you are on a tight budget this is a recipe to add to your collection.

If you can afford it, though, the vegetables give off such a wonderful smell as they are cooking and it fills your home and makes this comfort food all the more appealing. The added vegetables give the stew more of a chicken pot pie taste, it adds more substance to the recipe and, of course, it is healthier. Now that I am trying to lose weight I love this version of chicken and dumplings. One serving is worth 8 WW Points+, for those who are counting.

Here is what you need:

2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 lb. skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
3 1/2 c. reduced-sodium chicken broth (learn how to make your own broth here)
1 (1/2 lb.) baking potato
1/4 c. green beans
1 c. frozen green peas
1 2/3 c. reduced-fat all-purpose baking mix (I used Heart Healthy Bisquick)
2/3 c. fat-free milk
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

Here is what you do:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in large pot. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink, about 6 minutes. While the chicken is cooking chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Once the chicken is cooked move it to another plate or bowl.

Then toss the carrots, onion, celery into the pot and cook until the vegetables start to soften, about 5 minutes.

2. While the vegetables are cooking, peel and cut the potato into cubes.

Then add the potato and broth and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the potato is almost tender, about 10 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, cut up the green beans into 1-inch pieces.

Add the green beans and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Return the chicken to the pot and add the peas.

4. Meanwhile, begin to the prepare the dumplings. Stir together the baking mix, milk, sage and pepper in a medium bowl until it becomes doughy.

Once the soup has returned back to a low boil you can drop small rounded tablespoonfuls into the soup.

5. Simmer uncovered about 10 minutes. Then let it cook covered for another 10 minutes. Dumplings will double in size and should not be doughy on the inside.

One serving is 1 cup of the soup with 1 dumpling.
One serving is worth 8 Weight Watcher Points+.

This recipe was adapted from a recipe in the “One Pot Meals: 160 Fast, Fresh, and No-Fuss Recipes” cookbook.