Pinned it... Chicken & Dumplings

For the next installment of Pinned It, I bring you, Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings!  Fall is right around the corner and I love me a good hearty soup to warm with in the evenings.  But with work, teaching lessons, and a toddler I don't have a whole lot of time to whip everything up from scratch.  So a while ago, I stumbled upon this gem of a pin...

Mmm, looks tasty, doesn't it??  I've made this a couple of times now, and it is getting better and better each time.  I like the pin itself because of its utter simplicity.  No huge long story before you get to the recipe, no pictures of every. single. step.  I mean, pictures of difficult steps can be helpful, but sometimes it gets to be too much and it actually makes it harder to follow because you're constantly scrolling.  Anyway... this one is compact enough that I can display the ingredient list and all the instructions at the same time on my tablet to sit on the counter next to me while I'm cooking.  Makes it SO convenient.  Also, should have bought the tablet a LONG time ago.  But that's another story...

I followed this recipe pretty closely, with 2 adjustments.  First, I didn't us canned Cream of Chicken soup.  I hate the stuff.  I found a recipe on pinterest (where else?!) for a Cream of Something soup mix to replace all those Cream-of-Something soups in recipes.  So I use one recipe of that instead of one can.  Also, I put in some peeled, cubed potatoes to make it more like the "Slippery Chicken Pot Pie" that we love so dearly in this neck of the woods.  Basically, it's chicken & dumplings with potatoes it in.  The potatoes make it so much better.  They were always my favorite part growing up.

Now here's the thing - I'm not a huge fan of how these 'dumplings' turn out.  Maybe it's because I'm used to the homemade 'noodles' from our chicken pot pie.  But those take a LOT of work.  The biscuits are SO much easier.  But they're too thick that they wind up gooey inside.  So I'm working on a method of cutting them length-wise as well as into pie-shaped pieces.  I haven't perfected it yet, but like I said, it's getting closer.

Overall though, we really like this recipe.  I personally think it comes of a bit saltier than I prefer - definitely more salty than a homemade version would.  Probably due to the bouillon in the Cream-of-Something soup (which still has a heck of a lot less sodium than a store-bough cream soup).  Hubby doesn't seem to mind, but he grew up putting salt on EVERYTHING, while I grew up putting salt on practically nothing.  So our tastes differ there.

Final Verdict: it's taking some refining but we do enjoy this one on occasion.  I don't get asked to make it on a weekly basis, but it satisfies my pot-pie craving in the dead of winter, so that's good enough for me!