In the Kitchen: Chicken N' Dumplings

I was completely stumped this week for a dinner meal.  I needed to go to the grocery but didn't feel like going that day.  I searched my freezer and found chicken breasts, premade pastry, and frozen peas....yep, it was chicken pastry night.

Some parts of the world call these chicken n' dumplings - whatever you prefer they are delicious.  I like to keep pre-made flat dumplings available because you can use them to make Asian pork dumplings or ravioli or for this meal the Southern inspired dish.  I'd like to preface this by saying, nothing compares to a homemade dumpling so if you have the flour, the water, and the extra few minutes they are worth effort.  I however was making dinner for R and didn't have a ton of time.

Ingredients:
1 package of chicken breasts (you can really use the parts you like, I prefer light meat)
1/2 package of flat pre-made dumplings (I use Annie's Old Fashioned brand)
3 small bay leaves
S & P
1 small package of frozen peas
1 can of cream of celery (this is what I had but cream of chicken would probably be preferred)
2 containers of fat free, low sodium chicken broth (I use Swansons)

Bring a pot filled with the chicken broth to a boil.  Add the bay leaves, and S& P.  Place the chicken breasts in the pot and bring back to a slow boil, cover with a lid.  Cook chicken for 30-45 minutes.  Take the chicken out of the broth when it is cooked and place on a plate to cool.  Bring the broth back to a boil.   Add the dumplings about 6 at a time ( I break my dumplings up) and add more when the broth returns to a boil.  Dumplings take about 8 minutes to cook through.  Add a little water if necessary as the broth will have reduced some.  Add the cream of celery (or chicken) soup and stir.  Take two forks and shred the chicken before adding back to the pot.  Check the broth to make sure it doesn't need S&P, the soup could make it too salty so be cautious.  Add frozen peas at the end, they should only need about 3-5 minutes to heat through.  Remove bay leaves.  Place the lid on the pot and take it off the heat.  Let it sit about 20 minutes before serving.

It isn't exactly my grandma's recipe but it was very good and yielded lots of food for the meal and leftovers.  I'd definitely make this way again.