Easy Chicken Noodle/Dumpling Soup

6 cups chicken stock (broth)
1 large cooked diced potato
3/4 cup cooked chicken *
1/4 tsp celery salt (or one sliced rib celery and salt)
1/2 - 1 tsp onion powder
2-4 dashes pepper
about 1/4 tsp chili powder (adds a nice extra kick of flavor)
1-2 cups frozen mixed veggies (can also use fresh)
cooked pasta (your choice) - or dumpling dough (recipe below)
3-4 Tbs flour to thicken soup (optional)

*Hint: I buy one of those whole rotisserie chickens at the grocery store, take all the meat off, and freeze it in about 1 cup amounts. That way I have yummy cooked chicken for recipes like this. Plus, it also makes for some delicious stock.

Simmer veggies in broth and seasonings, about 10 - 15 min, or until veggies are cooked (it will be longer if you decide to use uncooked potatoes). If you like to thicken the soup a bit, this is a good time to whisk in the flour paste. Add the bite sized chicken, and simmer about 10 min. Add the pasta as you serve. (I usually don't keep the pasta in the soup, only because I feel it makes the pasta kinda soggy. Plus, that way everyone can decide how much pasta they want in their soup.)
If you want dumplings instead of pasta, add the dough into your boiling soup just before you're ready to eat (follow instructions below).

Dumplings:

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp pepper
1 egg
1 Tbs melted butter
1/3 cup milk

Mix ingredients to a moist, stiff batter. Drop by small teaspoons into boiling liquid. Cook covered for about 15 - 20 min (depends on the size of your dumplings). I recommend keeping the dough drops small, because they expand, and I like to fit the dumplings on my spoon, and not have to cut them up.

Soup yields about 5-6 servings.

(Recipe and photos courtesy of Pirijo Silver)