HEARTY CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS SOUTHERN STYLE EASY!!

Steps:

• 1. {Be sure to clean the chicken well and remove any extra fat before cooking.} This step is how to cook your chicken with a pressure cooker. If you don't have a pressure cooker or don't want to use one, a regular soup pot will work fine. See below for cooking the chicken in a soup pot. OH! And be sure to read all of these steps before getting started please! If you are using a pressure cooker {which I prefer}, add the chicken and season it the way you like. Add in enough water to just cover the chicken and place your lid and make sure it's secure. Turn your stove on high and bring your cooker to a good steam and reduce heat to medium-medium low and cook for 15 minutes max. The pressure regulator should be rocking steadily. After 15 minutes, remove from heat and allow the cooker to cool--this can take about 30 minutes. If you are pressed for time, you can run cold water along the top and one side of pot to cool. If you have a new-er cooker, you should have a safety release that will drop when the steam is out. DO NOT open the lid until all of the steam has been released. Remove the chicken and place into a casserole dish with a lid to maintain heat until next step.
• 2. If you are using a soup pot, doing the same as step 1, add enough water to cover your chicken and add 1 cup more. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for approximately 20-30 minutes or until no longer pink and juices run clear and internal temp is 170º Remove cooked chicken to a covered dish and see step 3!
• 3. Okay, now that you have your chicken cooked and is now inside a covered dish...and this is the really hard part--trying NOT to eat it all before you are finished cooking! **A slight interruption for a very important announcement--I don't use the pressure cooker after the chicken is cooked. I use a non-stick soup pot to fix the rest of the meal so that the dumplings won't stick. (I found out the hard way on this step--a HUGE mess to clean up!) Now, back to your regularly scheduled program, er recipe; in your soup pot either pour in your liquid from the cooker or if you used the soup pot, just leave it there and bring the liquid back to a boil. You should have at least 2 cups in the pot, if you don't have at least that much, add in enough chicken broth to make it 2 cups. Dump in your can of soup and both packages of chicken gravy. (You may be wondering why 2 packages...? Because one would be very lonely and also because two gives it the awesome flavor that will make you very happy. So trust me, you won't be unhappy!!!) Stir with a whisk until completely combined. If it looks too thick, you can add some water or more broth until it appears to be more soupy rather than gravy-like.
• 4. [NOTE: DO NOT TAKE the dumplings out of the freezer until you are ready to use them! Otherwise they thaw out and become a doughy mess and are IMPOSSIBLE to pull apart! {insert eye roll} PS: I use a butter knife to separate the dumplings] Once you have a nice soupy consistency in your pot, begin dropping in your Mary B's frozen dumpling strips one at a time and breaking each one into threes. Now, I use a whole package in my recipe but that's only because I am feeding a troop who love dumplings. If you'd rather not have so much dumpling, you can scale back on them and only use half of the package. It's all up to you! Once you have used all of the dumplings you plan to use, check the sauce. If it looks too thick or not enough, you can add more broth or water to the pot. Just don't add too much, you want it to be a good balance of sauce, dumplings and chicken. At this point, I like to add more salt to the pot since the dumplings are very bland. If I had to measure--which I don't, but if I did, then it would be approximately around 1 tablespoon give or take. Allow to boil for about 5 more minutes and then reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer for about 45 minutes. This is the part where you'll be happy that your chicken is in a covered dish! Why didn't I fix the chicken while the dumplings are cooking you ask? Because the broth from the chicken wouldn't be cooking the dumplings silly!
• 5. Once you have finished cooking the dumplings, you can now add in the chicken. Stir well and let the chicken just fall apart. It should be stringy looking. I like to do a taste test at this point to check for seasoning to see if I should add anymore salt and/or pepper. Allow to simmer another 10 minutes or so and serve! I don't serve my dumplings over anything but I know some people like to serve it over rice. Whatever floats your boat!! Enjoy and share this with your friends, family and even your foes...you may gain a newfound friendship!