New Recipe: Chicken & Dumplings Casserole

I've declared it Comfort Food Week at my house! Fall is HERE and I love it. I've been wanting to cook and eat some good comfort food. I enjoyed summer cooking, enjoyed finding good things to eat that didn't make me want to anchor myself to the couch. But comfort food season is here and this week I'm going a little crazy.

I've got three new recipes to try on my menu this week (four if you count the no-bake dessert I'm taking to my mother-in-law's on Saturday)...I'm feeling a little ambitious! Monday night I tried this Chicken & Dumplings Casserole from The Country Cook. I've seen several variations of this casserole but this one in particular I noticed last week and it looked like a good weeknight meal. I'm a big fan of chicken & dumplings but have never made them from scratch myself (though I enjoy eating it when others take the time). This casserole was a good substitute. SO yummy! I'm excited that I decided to try it.  

This picture really doesn't do it justice at all.

Chicken & Dumplings Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 ribs of celery, chopped
• 3 cups cooked chicken (shredded or cubed)
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 cup milk (2% or higher)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, melt your butter then add your chopped onion and celery. Cook until the veggies are soft (this took at least 10 minutes for me). You can season your veggies with salt & pepper if you like.
3. Pour the veggies and all that glorious butter into your casserole dish and spread it around so it covers the bottom. Layer your chicken on top of the veggie/butter mixture (season with salt & pepper if you so desire).
4. In a mixing bowl combine your self-rising flour and milk then pour it over the chicken layer. Do not stir!
5. In the same mixing bowl (you could use a new one but why?), mix your Cream of Chicken soup and chicken broth. At this point you can season this with salt & pepper too. Pour that mixture on top of everything in the casserole dish. Again - do not stir!
6. Pop your uncovered dish into the oven to bake for 40-45 minutes or until your casserole is set. (As Brandie - The Country Cook - notes, everyone's oven is different. This took about 45-50 minutes in my oven).
7. You could finish this with a sprinkle of parsley if you want to make it pretty. I was too hungry and too excited to eat this to remember parsley.

Recipe Source: The Country Cook (She has great step-by-step photos of this dish and some good suggestions along with a plug for the cookbook she got it from. Also, her site is loaded with great recipes.)

Notes/Suggestions:

• You can use a rotisserie chicken for the chicken in this dish, usually I would. But the store where I prefer to buy them was out so I bought a package of chicken breasts (I think there were 5 in there), boiled them in seasoned water, then trimmed & cubed them when they were cooled a little. Typically I'm not a fan of boiled chicken but it totally worked here. Next time, I'd maybe use Brandie's tip for shredding the chicken in my stand mixer.
• A stick of butter is a lot of butter to me. Usually I'd cut it down but I was worried it may affect the dumplings layer so I used the whole stick. This dish was super so I don't know that when I make it in the future if I'd mess with the butter. Plus, I love butter.
• See THIS POST about the lower sodium ingredients I use (says the girl who just admitted she loves butter). I did use the low-sodium chicken broth I have on hand but had to buy regular Cream of Chicken soup (the store was out of the healthy request stuff). It was delicious as is but I think next time I'll use the healthy request just to make myself feel a bit better about that stick of butter).
• I cooked & chopped my chicken the night before and also the celery & onions. Since this dish takes 40-45 minutes to bake, I wanted to be able to put it together as quick as possible. The early prep made it much more week-night friendly.
• Husband & I really enjoyed this dish (and it heated wonderfully the next day for my lunch!). Grant, not so much. But he's weird about casseroles. Husband isn't a fan of celery in things and I'm not a fan of onions but neither of us minded our less-than-favorite veggies in this dish. It had great flavor.

Enjoy!