Weight Watchers Chicken & Dumplings

Val's Version
(Denver, CO)

Being healthy isn't easy. Truthfully, it's rather challenging. It's a life choice. A life change. It comes with many benefits and can definitely prolong your life and therefore happiness of those who need you, but for those of us who are less disciplined, there are many sacrifices. Some may think the complete opposite, but let's be honest … sometimes it's much easier to do away with the fuss, the thinking, the counting, the planning and the contemplating. Sometimes it's much easier to just go with the quick and easy drive thru lane. THAT, I hardly ever do anymore, but it is much simpler. 

Time for something new. Time to satisfy Juliemybestfriends request and hit up the Weight Watchers recipe book. Even though this title has WW in it, who doesn't love the sound, smell and site of chicken and dumplings?? You can make this fattening - believe me - but pulling out the low sodium and fat free ingredients can be just as fulfilling. 

Speaking of filling … look at my eyes. They are filled with water. I truly despise chopping onions. Pluses and minuses.

Toss the chicken, seasonings, liquids and liquid producing veggie into the pot. Set the temperature according to how much time you have and let the crock pot do all the work.

Well, until you have to add the biscuits. There's just something about biscuits that make me giddy. They come in so many shapes and sizes. So many flavors and textures. I don't care how gluten free I try to be, I will never give up biscuits. 

Cut up da biscuits and toss 'em in with the almost perfected meal. Have your favorite sou chef give it a quick stir. The chicken will shred all on it's own when you stir. 

Boomchakalaka!!! An incredible meal that won't completely rest on your thighs!

Weight Watchers Chicken & Dumplings

(Imitation by Design, 8 WW Points)

Ingredients:

20 oz chicken breast (about 3 large breasts) 

1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped 

1 (10.75 oz) can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup

1 (10.75 oz) can 98% fat free cream of celery soup

2 c chicken broth- 99% fat free, reduced sodium

5 canned buttermilk biscuits

Optional Seasonings: pepper, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, parsley

Directions:

Remove visible fat from chicken breasts and place in crock pot. Sprinkle with pepper, garlic powder and poultry seasoning. Add onions, soups and broth. Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8.

At this point the chicken is super tender so you can just use your fork to break the breasts up into smaller pieces or let it cook a little while longer and they'll shred when you stir.

Flatten biscuits with your fingers and cut them into small strips. Drop biscuit pieces into broth and continue to cook on high for 20-30 more minutes or until cooked through. Sprinkle individual servings with parsley if desired.

Jen's Version

(Acworth, GA)

We recently had a reader reach out and request that we make something "healthy" but specifically "low sodium" and "weight watchers friendly" so that she could try something from our blog. I'm very "quote happy" today. Okay, the reader was our aunt, but she's a trusted blog follower, and we listen to our followers. And that was a fair request. So make your requests people! Go ahead. I dare you to request something like a burger with krispy kreme donut buns, because we will do it!

I was nervous about this one, but I'm gonna tell you right now, this was the bomb! The bomb!

Oh yeah - did I mention this was a crock pot meal? I mean, the more good ones I have in stock, the better! 

I dumped all my chicken in and seasoned first. I actually had quite a few low sodium seasonings on hand, so I used those. And some pepper of course.

My lovely shadow...

This just looks warm and cuddly. 

I didn't capture the biscuit process, but it was simple enough. Just cut em up and pop em in until they cook for 20-30 minutes. 

I enjoyed mine with hot sauce and a salad and it was perfect! A new healthy, too busy to cook a big meal to add to my queue! A special thanks to Julie for inspiring the meal :)

Weight Watchers Chicken & Dumplings
(Imitation by Design, 8 WW Points)

Ingredients:

20 oz chicken breast (about 3 large breasts)
1 medium onion, chopped 
1 (10.75 oz) can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 oz) can 98% fat free cream of celery soup
2 c chicken broth- 99% fat free, reduced sodium
5 canned buttermilk biscuits
Optional Seasonings: pepper, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, parsley

Directions:

Remove visible fat from chicken breasts and place in crock pot. Sprinkle with pepper, garlic powder and poultry seasoning. Add onions, soups and broth. Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8.

At this point the chicken is super tender so you can just use your fork to break the breasts up into smaller pieces or you can remove them and shred them. I like to leave them in decent sized chunks because they will break up more whenever your stir them.

Flatten biscuits with your fingers and cut them into small strips. I used the smaller "junior" sized biscuits and cut them into 8 pieces. Drop biscuit pieces into broth and continue to cook on high for 20-30 more minutes or until cooked through. Sprinkle individual servings with parsley if desired.