Chicken Soup with Dumplings

For the Soup:
1 Whole Chicken
Salt and Pepper
Bay leaves
4 Carrots, sliced
3 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 onion, finely chopped

Put the whole chicken in a big pot and cover with cold water. Add 1/2 Tablespoon salt, a couple of bay leaves, and lots of black pepper. Bring this to a boil, then turn down, cover and gently boil for a couple of hours.

Carefully remove the chicken from the soup pot and put on a plate. The chicken will most likely be falling apart, thats okay, just use a slotted spoon to get any small bones and bay leaves out of the soup pot. Let the chicken cool slightly so you can easily take the meat off the bone. If you want to, you can skim the fat off the soup too. Today, I choose not to do that.  Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't.

At this point, our dog, Lexi becomes my best friend.  She can no longer see or hear, but she can still smell, and this is the point she makes her way into the kitchen in hopes that i will drop a few peices of chicken on the floor while taking the meat off the bone.

Once you have taken all of the meat off the bone, discard the bones and skin and put the meat back into the soup pot.

Add in the sliced carrots, celery, and chopped onion. Put the cover back on and let simmer for another couple of hours.  Give it a taste test, and if it needs more salt, I like to add some season salt.

Just before you are ready to serve the soup, make the dumplings.

In a small bowl, beat together 3 or 4 eggs until well beaten, add in salt and pepper to taste, and then add in the flour about 1/3 cup at a time, beating well with a spoon or fork. You will need in total about 1 cup of flour give or take to get to the right consistensy.  It should be like a thick, paste like substance. When you've got it right, then add in about 1 spoonful of fresh chives finley chopped. Using a spoon, take a spoonful of the dumpling mixture and drop into the soup, until you have used it all.  Cover and cook for about 15 minutes or so.

Ladel into bowls and top with parsley, and serve with bread (Love my carbs)!  This is my favorite go to recipe when I have a cold which I do today.  If you don't like dumplings, then you could add in noodles towards the end of the cooking time.