[CatheyJ]

I made this tonight.. and I am in Texas.. I KNOW what you mean.. anything below 80 is winter.. LOL BTW I LOVE my crockpot! This recipe is not like what you think of with Southern dumplings, its closer to a pot pie than traditional dumplings.. anyway, its good!

Irish Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
3 chicken breast halves ( cut into bite size pieces)
1 yellow onion, diced
1 celery stalk, sliced
2 to 6 cups chicken stock
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 springs marjoram
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup frozen or fresh peas

DUMPLINGS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk
¼ chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions:
1 combine flour and salt in a resealable plastic bag. Add chicken to the bag, several pieces at a time, and shake to coat completely.

2. Heat a large saute? pan over medium high heat and add 2 tbsp of the oil. Add the chicken and cook, turning until brown on all sides. Place chicken in stone cooker.

3. Add onion and celery to the remaining flour in the bag and shake to coat. Set the saute pan over meduim-high heat and add the remaining oil. Add onion and celery and saute? for 10-15minutes, until browned, stirring frequently. Gradually add the stock, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook 10-15 minutes, until the sauce is somewhat thickened, stirring frequently. Stir in carrots, marjoram, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over chicken.

4 Cover and cook on low for 3 ½ hours, then on high for 30 minutes before dropping in the dumplings.

5 To prepare dumplings: combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir to blend. Bring butter and milk to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Drizzle into the dry ingredients and mix well. This will be a fairly dry dough.

6 Using a large spoon or your hands, form dough into small flattish rounds. Add peas to the slow cooker and mix well. Place dumplings on top of the stew.

7 Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes, our until a toothpick inserted in a dumpling comes out clean. Remove and discard marjoram.

8 Spoon stew into shallow bowls, dividing chicken and dumplings evenly. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately