Damn, I'm good. (And humble)

I've been trying to get Chicken & Dumplings right for months now. And I've finally done it.
I started off making my own chicken stock. I had roasted a chicken for Monday's dinner and saved the carcass. I put that and an onion, bay leaves, fresh parsley and rosemary, some Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute and water into the crock pot yesterday morning on high. I let that simmer away until about 3:30.

After straining it into a big stock pot, I got this lovely golden stock. I then made the dumplings, which are so easy:

1 cup flour
1 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 T shortening
1/2 c milk

Mix the dry ingredients and then cut in shortening. Add the milk to make a stiff dough. Roll out on a floured surface until 1/4" thick, cut into 1" squares. Bring the stock to a boil and add the dumplings one a time to prevent clumping. Let them boil for about 10-15 minutes.
I then added the leftover chicken meat, minus the skin and a bag of thawed peas & carrots. I dissolved about 2 T cornstarch in a cup of low fat milk and added this to the pot. I turned the heat down and let this simmer away until nice and thick.

This is the hearty, thick, uber-yummy Chicken & Dumplings that we had the pleasure of devouring last night. In fact, I had to keep myself from eating the leftovers for breakfast this morning.
From now on, I'm making my own stock. It truly made all the difference in the world and was so easy to just throw in the crock pot. I'm sure that if I freeze it, I can just pop out a couple cups and make a smaller batch of Chicken & Dumplings in no time.
Which on a single digit temperature day- like today- would be an awesome way to warm up. Of course, last night Dad gave me the wonderful idea of making Pork & Dumplings, using ham stock. Mmm, I've getting hungry all over again.