Chicken Dumpling Soup

I LOVE chicken or turkey dumpling soup, and I've experimented with so many recipes over the years. I've never found one that's easier or turned out better than my mom's, however, and I've probably asked her for the dumpling ingredients half a dozen times over the years. Now I'm finally documenting it, so I'll have it when I need it again.

Ingredients for soup:

• 2-3 carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 medium onion
• Half of a red bell pepper
• 10 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups cooked chicken, in bite-size pieces
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Chop and saute the carrots, celery, onion and pepper with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt on medium-high heat until softened a bit. Add the stock, chicken, thyme, rosemary, sage, bay leaves and more salt and pepper and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or more. At this point, remove the bay leaves.

Ingredients for dumplings:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Milk (see below)

To make the dumplings, combine the flour, eggs, baking soda and salt, then add milk until a stiff dough forms. Drop into soup by the spoonful, raise the heat a bit, cover and cook for 15 minutes before serving. Salt and pepper to taste.