Chicken Dumping Soup

Me: Do you know or have handy the recipe for your chicken dumping soup? (Due to a long-ago unfortunate typo, this recipe has always been called that by Michelle, who am I to argue?)

Michelle: It's something like this: Bring a pot of salted water and a pot of chicken stock to a boil (The salted water one can be smaller, but the chicken stock one is going to hold all of your soup and should be bigger) -- I usually put these on the stove first and then make the dumpling dough. We also usually add a can of cream of chicken to the stock to boost the flavor of it, but it's not necessary. I've also added sliced carrots to the stock.
Dumplings: Whisk 6 eggs, a tsp of salt and a cup of milk together, add flour until the dough is sticky (It should be thick but some should still drip off if you were to hold a spoonful upside-down.) Once both liquids come to a boil, reduce the stock to a simmer and drop spoonfuls of dumpling dough into the boiling salted water. (I use two spoons for this, one to scoop dough and one to scrape it off into the water) Once the dumplings float (make sure they aren't stuck to the bottom of the pot, which sometimes happens) scoop them out of the water with a slotted spoon and drop them into the chicken stock. Repeat until all of the dumpling dough is used up.

This recipe makes a lot of soup, so if it's just Jason eating it, you might want to cut it in half. Feel free to call with questions...

Me: So the only things that end up in the soup are the chicken stock and the dumplings? And you've occasionally added veggies? Is that right?  (for the record, I added carrots and celery)

Michelle: Yes

Me: Any idea how much chicken stock you boil?

Michelle: Hmmm, not really. Any guess as to how much one of the boxes you get in the store holds? It's around two of those, so maybe 6 cups? You could always add it (The boiling water cooks the dumplings, so if the broth dips below a simmer when you add new broth, it won't really matter.)

Me (Later on): The dumplings are supposed to look like hideous malformed blobs, right?

Michelle: Yep!

Me: Ok, just checking.

Michelle: It's pretty hard to mess this recipe up. The only way that I've heard is when my mom first made it, she didn't know about the water step, so she just threw the dough into chicken broth and they didn't really cook. I've made it a million times, and while some batches are better than others, they've all been edible.

Me (worried about getting sick after taking care of J): I did it! And it's pretty damn good too. I am kinda impressed with myself. Thanks for the recipe! I will let you know if I need you and Todd to make it for me on Friday. :)

Michelle: You got it!