Texas Rancher Chicken N Dumplings Food

BETTER THAN CRACKER BARREL® CHICKEN 'N DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Place chicken and 1 pinch salt in a large pot; cover with water. Bring to a boil, skimming any scum off the surface with a slotted spoon. Add lemon, celery, onion, and carrots. Simmer broth over medium heat until chicken starts to fall off the bone, about 1 hour.
• Discard lemon. Remove chicken from the pot; let cool.
• Place flour, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Ladle in 2 to 3 scoops of hot broth. Mix in flour with a spoon until dough comes together into a ball.
• Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead carefully until smooth. Roll out into a large rectangle; cut into small rectangular dumplings.
• Drop dumplings one at a time into the simmering broth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 30 minutes.
• Bone chicken and chop into pieces. Add to the pot; cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.

RANCH CHICKEN TENDERS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place butter in 9x13-inch baking dish and let melt in the preheating oven.
• Slice chicken breast against the grain into thin strips.
• Place ranch dressing mix in a small bowl. Whisk egg and milk together in a second bowl. Place bread crumbs in a third bowl.
• Dredge each chicken strip in ranch dressing mix, then coat in egg mixture and cover with bread crumbs; arrange in the prepared baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Gently turn chicken pieces over and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 165 degrees F (74 degrees C), about 15 minutes longer.
• Allow to rest 5 minutes before serving.

THE BEST CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• In a shallow bowl, mix 1/2 cup flour, salt and pepper. Add chicken, 1 piece at a time, and toss to coat; shake off excess. In a 6-qt. stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown chicken in batches on all sides; remove from pan., Add onion, carrots and celery to same pan; cook and stir 6-8 minutes or until onion is tender. Add garlic; cook and stir 1 minute longer. Stir in 1/4 cup flour until blended. Gradually add stock, stirring constantly. Stir in wine, sugar, bay leaves and peppercorns. Return chicken to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 20-25 minutes or until chicken juices run clear., For dumplings, in a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk milk and melted butter until blended. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moistened (do not overmix). Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet; set aside., Remove chicken from stockpot; cool slightly. Discard bay leaves and skim fat from soup. Remove skin and bones from chicken and discard. Using 2 forks, coarsely shred meat into 1- to 1-1/2-in. pieces; return to soup. Cook, covered, on high until mixture reaches a simmer., Drop dumplings on top of simmering soup, a few at a time. Reduce heat to low; cook, covered, 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of dumplings comes out clean (do not lift cover while simmering). Gently stir in cream, parsley and thyme. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

TEXAS STYLE CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Stew chicken in a large pot, barely covered with water and chicken broth.
• Add seasonings.
• Make dumplings while chicken is cooking.
• Combine all ingredients, adding enough flour to make a soft dough.
• Roll out on floured board, cut dough in strips about 1X2 inches.
• Remove chicken from from broth.
• Combine ingredients for gravy together in a saucepan.
• Heat until thickened and add to chicken liquid.
• Drop in dumplings while boiling and cook covered 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add chicken and serve with cranberry sauce.

OLD-FASHIONED CHICKEN "N" DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• For the chicken: In a large pot, cover the chicken with water and add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil and let simmer until cooked through, about 40 minutes. Let cool, then remove the chicken meat from the bones. Add the shredded chicken back to the broth and reserve.
• For the dumplings: Add the flour, baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt to a mixing bowl and mix well. Add the milk and egg and mix well with a fork. Bring the reserved chicken broth to a simmer. Drop the dough into the broth by the spoonful and simmer, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes. Add some roux and cook until the broth has thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the chicken "n" dumplings covered with gravy.

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• For the chicken: Melt the butter in a pot over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. In 2 batches, brown the chicken on both sides and remove to a clean plate.
• In the same pot, add the diced carrots, celery and onions. Stir and cook for 3 to 4 minutes over medium-low heat. Stir in the ground thyme and turmeric, then pour in the chicken broth. Stir to combine, then add the browned chicken. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.
• For the dumplings: While the chicken is simmering, make the dough for the dumplings. Sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a bowl, then add 1 1/2 cups of the half-and-half, stirring gently to combine. Set aside.
• Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside on a plate. Use 2 forks to remove the chicken from the bones. Shred the chicken, then add it back to the pot. Mix together the remaining 1/2 cup half-and-half and flour, then add it to the pot and stir to combine.
• Drop tablespoons of dumpling dough into the simmering pot. Add the minced parsley if using. Cover the pot and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Check the seasoning; add salt if needed. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

TEXAS RANCHER CHICKEN -N- DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Place the washed whole raw chicken in a large pot, if you are using a whole chicken cover it with water. If you are using a package of chicken breast meat, cut into cubes raw, and pour about 6-8 cups of water over it. I don't really measure this out, but the liquid should be about halfway in your pot.
• Chop up one leek, white part only (or one medium sized onion alternatively). Add to the pot along with the chicken stock cubes and all of the dry spices, I really use about a pinch of each spice, but you should add to suit your own taste.
• On a medium heat, boil the Chicken and leek with spices until the chicken is totally cooked through. If you are using a whole chicken this will be around 1 hour, adding more water when necessary. If using cut up pieces it will be about 30 minutes.
• If using a whole chicken remove it from the broth and place in a separate bowl at this stage. You will now remove all the skin and bones from the chicken and disgard them, and put only the meat of the chicken back into the broth, you may want to let it cool a bit before handling it. If I am using a whole chicken I usually just put the breast and wing meat back into my dumplings, and save all of the dark meat for chicken salad sandwiches (different recipe). If you are using already cut up chicken for this recipe, you can simply proceed to the next step.
• Add fresh chopped celery and carrots and continue boiling with chicken. If you are using frozen vegetables, add them now and boil for about 10 minutes in the broth.
• Add cream of chicken soup and stir well, you may need to add more water, if it has boiled down a great deal. You may add as many or as few vegetables as you like. For me it depends on what I have on hand, the onion or leek is very important, but you can add any other vegies to suit your own taste. I have found that using the frozen mixed vegetables and frozen green beans turns out really yummy, and is much easier than cutting up all the celery and carrots. Either way it turns out nicely even without any extra vegies.
• Check the consistancy of your broth. It should be thick and soupy, but you want enough liquid in there to cook your dumplings properly, so add more water to suit, I usually don't need to at this stage.
• Dumplings:.
• Combine all dry ingredients in bowl, mix together well with a whisk.
• Add margarine spread and mix well with the whisk until it is combined well with the dry mixture and is crumbly.
• Add milk a little bit at a time pressing with a fork on the side until well mixed.
• You should now be able to handle the dough with your hands, you may need a little more or less milk.
• Quickly press the dough together with your hands creating a nice ball if it is too sticky dust with a bit of flour. Don't handle the dough very long, the less you handle it the lighter and fluffier your dumplings will be.
• Pinch off balls of the dough, loosely squeeze with your fingers and plop into the boiling soup. Your dumplings should be a bit smaller than a ping pong ball. Dumplings should completely dive into the soup getting totally covered with liquid then pop back up sitting on the top of the soup while cooking.
• Boil the dumplings UNCOVERED for 15 minutes in the chicken vegie broth. I repeat -- do not cover the pot while cooking the dumplings or they will end up soggy in the middle.
• Dumplings should be biscuit like in the center when done. Enjoy!

GRANDMA'S SOUTHERN-STYLE CHICKEN N' DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Put the chicken and the veggies (if using) in a large stockpot. Cover completely with water. Bring to a quick boil, then continue cooking chicken for one hour. When done, remove chicken to large bowl to cool. Strain broth to remove leftover veggies or other particles. Return broth to stockpot.
• Once chicken is cool, remove skin, then cut chicken into bite sized pieces. (At this point I divide the chicken pieces in half, and freeze half for use in another meal).
• Add chicken pieces (approx. 2 1/2 cups) back into chicken broth. Heat the chicken and broth back up to boiling. Add bouillon cubes, salt and pepper (to taste).
• While chicken is coming to a boil, make the dumplings. In a large bowl, using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the shortening and salt into the cup of flour, until shortening is the size of small peas. Add 1/2 cup HOT water and 1/2 cup, plus 2 Tablespoons of flour to the mixture. Stir and work the mixture until a soft dough ball forms (firm enough to roll out). Divide dough into 3 equal sized balls, then let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
• Generously flour a work surface. Roll each dough ball out (one at a time), sprinkling with flour (if necessary) to keep dough from sticking to work surface. Roll out to about the size of a large pie crust (roll out thin). Cut dough into strips about an inch wide using a pizza cutter or knife. Repeat process for remaining dough balls.
• Drop dumplings a couple at a time into hot boiling chicken/broth mixture until all have been added to pot; add butter, and continue cooking.
• Make a slurry by mixing 1/4 cup water with 2 large Tablespoons flour. Stir well to combine, then add to soup pot, and stir well. (this helps to thicken broth a bit). Cook an additional 10 minutes on high to fully cook dumplings. Taste test broth, and add additional salt and pepper, if desired. Ladle hot soup into bowls, serve, and enjoy (especially with crusty french bread on the side!)

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Dice tenders into bite size pieces and set aside. Wash hands.
• Place a large pot on stove over medium high heat. Add oil, butter, vegetables and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season mixture with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Stir broth or stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir.
• Place biscuit mix in a bowl. Combine with 1/2 cup warm water and parsley. Drop tablespoonfuls of prepared mix into the pot, spacing dumplings evenly. Cover pot tightly and reduce heat to medium low. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to thicken sauce a bit. Stir peas into the pan, remove chicken and dumplings from heat and serve in shallow bowls.

RANCH CHICKEN TENDERS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray.
• In small bowl, mix 1/3 cup ranch dressing and the basil. In large resealable food-storage plastic bag, place bread crumbs. Dip chicken into ranch dressing mixture. Place chicken in bread crumb bag; seal and shake to coat. Place chicken on cookie sheet.
• Bake 15 to 20 minutes, turning once, until chicken is no longer pink in center and bread crumbs are golden brown. Serve with additional ranch dressing.

TEXAN RANCH CHICKEN CASSEROLE

Steps:

• In a large skillet coated with cooking spray, saute the onion, celery and peppers in oil until crisp-tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the chicken, soups, tomatoes and chili powder., Line the bottom of a 3-qt. baking dish with half of the tortilla strips; top with half of the chicken mixture and 1 cup cheese. Repeat layers. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly.

TEXAS RANCH CHICKEN CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat, saute onion, green pepper and red pepper in oil until tender. Add garlic and saute an additional minute. Stir in chicken, soups, tomatoes and chili powder.
• Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with half of the tortilla strips.
• Top with half of the chicken mixture and 1 cup of cheese. Repeat layers.
• Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.