Lauren'S Chicken And Buttermilk Dumplings - cooking recipe

Ingredients

SOUP
2 -3 lbs chicken breasts (or small whole chicken)
1 teaspoon salt
1 large onion
4 stalks celery, with leafy tops
4 carrots
1 garlic clove (optional)
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (optional)
DUMPLINGS
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces buttermilk
4 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation

Rinse chicken. Place in wide stock pot with salt and enough water to cover (3\" in mine). Bring to a boil, then immediately turn down to a gently rolling simmer. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes (30 minutes for whole chicken). Remove chicken, cover with foil and place in fridge so that it will cool down as quickly as possible. Reserve broth.
While chicken is cooking, wash and slice veggies and prepare dumpling dough.
Check whether chicken is cooled enough to de-bone. When it is, proceed to step 4 BEFORE starting the deboning.
Strain the broth and skim any fat from the top; pour broth back into same wide stock pot. Add in veggies (including celery leafs), bouillon and seasoning. Gently simmer (no longer than 10 minutes!) while you debone and shred the chicken (discard skin).
Add shredded chicken to the pot.
Drop spoonfuls of dumpling dough into the pot (easier with two spoons), not too big because they'll almost double in size as they cook. Slightly increase heat to a more vigorous simmer (not a full rolling boil). Simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes. As the dumplings get closer to being cooked, they'll float up.