Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings

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• 1 1/3 cloves Garlic
• 2/3 each Onion
• 2 ribs Celery
• 5 1/4 oz Carrots
• 2/3 each Chicken breast
• 2/3 each Bay leaves
• 2/3 tsp Dried basil
• 2/3 tsp Dried thyme
• As needed Black pepper
• 2 2/3 cups Water
• 2/3 tsp + 1/3 tsp Salt
• 1 cup Flour
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Dried parsley
• 4 tablespoons Salted butter
• 1/2 tsp Sugar
• 1/2 cup Milk

1. Mince the garlic, dice the onion, and slice the carrots and celery into small pieces. Add the garlic, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, basil, thyme, chicken breast, water, and some freshly cracked pepper to a slow cooker. Stir to combine and then cook on high for four hours or low for eight hours.
2. After cooking for four hours on high or eight hours on low, remove the chicken from the broth and place it on a cutting board (if you cooked on low heat, turn it to high now). Use two forks to shred the chicken. Return the chicken to the pot and stir in 1 tsp of salt to the soup. Keep the slow cooker covered as much as possible during this process to retain heat and maintain the temperature.
3. Allow the soup to continue to cook on high while you mix the dumpling batter. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, parsley, and sugar. Mix well. Add butter in small chunks and cut it in or work it in with your hands until the mixture resembles damp sand. Add the milk and stir until a very soft paste-like mixture forms.
4. Remove the lid from the slow cooker and drop the dumpling batter into the soup by the heaping spoonful. Return the lid to the slow cooker and allow the dumplings to steam for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes they should have fluffed and expanded from the heat. Although they may look moist on the outside, they will be light and fluffy on the inside. Serve hot.