Chicken corn soup with dumplings

I want to start out by saying, I've sorry it's took so long to put up this post. Weekends are always busy for me, and I've had Dr. appointments the last two days. Now that I have a free second, I'm going to try to get this all written out.

So, we started out learning how to cook a chicken in a crock pot; then we learned how to make chicken stock in a crock pot, and lastly I am going to show you how I make chicken corn soup in a crock pot, using the chicken that we made and the stock that we made.

First you want to gather all of your ingredients. You're gonna need:

Chicken (I used most of the chicken that I had made the other day, but not all of it. If you like lots of chicken, throw it all it!)
2 - 16oz bags of frozen corn
1 - 16oz bag of frozen carrots (or more if you want to; I like the sliced frozen carrots)
chicken stock (I don't really measure, but I use probably 6 cups)
water (I usually use about the same amount of water as I do chicken stock. Maybe a little less)
seasonings (I use garlic and onion powder, creole seasoning, salt and pepper)

Anyone who is used to cooking in a crock pot, knows that there aren't really any rules. The above ingredients are really, just a guideline. You can do whatever you want to it. Add celery, or whatever veggies you want. Make as much or as little as you want. This is just how I like to do it.

Throw the chicken, and veggies in the crock pot and then add your chicken stock and water. Don't fill it all the way to the top, cause you're gonna need the room for your dumplings. I don't add the seasonings now, because I like to taste it, and tasting cold, unseasoned chicken stock is pretty gross! If you are cooking this for a dinner, turn it on low; for lunch, put it on high. Cook it until it's nice and hot. High 3-4 hours; Low 6-8 hours. Add the seasonings an hour two into cooking.

About 45 minutes before you want to serve it, make up the dumpling mix. For that, you'll need

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
chives (I use the freeze dried ones, and just dump in whatever I want)
6 tablespoons of butter, melted
1/2 cup milk

(FYI, for a full pot, I like to double the dumplings recipe. My whole family dies over them, so I make a bunch so everyone gets.)

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add butter and milk and mix. Drop by tablespoons in the HOT soup. Stir it around a bit. Put lid back on and cook for another half hour. These dumplings are very light and airy, and oh so good.

In hindsight, I should have taken more pictures, I suppose. But I was cooking this for a Sunday after church lunch, so was rushing around cleaning my home while this was cooking, and didn't really have the time to be taking pictures. But, here's a picture after half of it had already been eaten.

My family LOVES this soup. In fact, while eating it, I hear lots of "Mmm's" "This is so good's" and even the occasional "Ashley, you could open a restaurant." I'll admit, this makes me beam from ear to ear, and even brings a tear to my eye. It feels good to be appreciated. It's even better when you love cooking for your family.

This crock of soup fed 4 adults (with 2 FULL bowls, each), 5 children, and 2 BIG servings of leftovers for packed lunches the next day. The BEST part? This whole meal cost me about $9. Cha-ching.