Fail: Chicken & Dumplins

nternet recipes are a good starting point for a lot of the dishes I prepare, almost exclusively with the assumption that my adjustments will make them better. However, some ideas are so conceptually flawed that all the corrections in the world can't make enough difference to save the dish.

The facts are these: I used leftovers from a veggie tray at work. It included broccoli. Broccoli should never go in a slow cooker - EVER. Cooking chicken for 5 hours on high is just too long; no matter how big the pieces, they WILL dry out. Drop biscuits go in the oven, not the crock pot. The steaming process, done correctly, would have required more liquid than this dish provided, with more steam than the pot could hold.

Finally, and most crushingly, chicken & dumplins is comfort food. It should feel velvety and lush, not mushy and wet. I need to get Mom's recipe and try this one again; I know now that vegetables go on the side, not in the main dish. The dumplins should cook down in the stock and let off some of their starch, adding body to the liquid. And finally, and most disappointingly, I don't think this is a dish that goes in the crock pot.

For the record:

Chicken & Dumplins (from the internet)

8 new potatoes, scrubbed and halved
2 C crudites (celery, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli?)
8 oz. button mushrooms, halved
5 chicken breasts, sliced into planks
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 C chicken stock
1 t kosher salt
1 T dried tarragon
1 C frozen peas
2 C baking mix (I used Jiffy, but Bisquick is also great)
3/4 C milk

Add potatoes, vegetables, mushrooms and chicken to crock. In a medium bowl, combine soup, stock, salt and tarragon; pour into crock. Cover and cook on HIGH for 5 hours or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in peas. Mix together baking mix and milk, and spoon individual dumplins into boiling liquid. Tilt lid on crock to allow for dumplins to rise without all the steam escaping. Talk to your cats about what a disappointing life you've led to this point while dining on a bowl of this slop.