Chicken Dumpling Soup

This was a recipe I picked up while working at Stacker Cafe - you may see a trend developing here (a lot of what I learned about cooking can be contributed to my time working alongside Phyllis at Stacker). Phyllis made this soup fairly often and I absolutely loved it. What's not to love about chicken dumpling soup, right? Anyway, I made it once at the restaurant and brought a couple samples home for the family to try. My dad was a big fan immediately and I have continued making it because once your biggest critic is won over, it'd be stupid to take it out of your repertoire.

4 quarts water
4 cups cooked chicken, picked or sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 small onion, diced
2 Tbsp chicken base
Lawry's seasoning salt, salt and pepper to taste

Dumplings
3 eggs, beaten
3-1/2 egg shells of milk
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

In a Dutch oven, bring the water to a boil. Add the vegetables and chicken and return to boil. Add the chicken base, salts and pepper and cook until veggies are tender. Mix the dumpling ingredients together and knead into a ball. While the soup is boiling, drop 1/2 tsp. portions of the dumpling dough into the pot. Cook a few minutes longer. Remove from heat and serve.