• Make the roux by heating the oil and butter in a pot and then sprinkling the flour on top.Whisk together until fully absorbed and turns golden.Take off heat and set aside while combining other ingredients.
• Chop all vegetables and in a Dutch Oven or large pot, saute' the vegetables in 2 Tbls Olive Oil and 2 Tbls Butter until soft.Best to cook carrots and celery first and then add onions.Add all the other ingredients to the pot including the roux;stir well and bring to a boil.Turn down heat to low and let simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the soup thickens..If broth is too this cornstarch in a little water and then added to sauce will thicken a bit.Watch that it doesnt burn so stir every 4 to 5 minutes…Remove bay leaves before serving..It feezes well and would be really good on top odf a baked potato, or you could add some yellow cooked potatoes to the finished soup.

• Trim and wash celery and add with chopped onion in a large pot.Fill pot to cover chicken..At this point add 2 teaspoons salt.More can be added lated to taste along with black pepper,according to your taste.Bring to a slow boil or simmer for around 45 minutes to an hour until chicken is tender and falls off the bone…Remove chicken from pot and cool..Put broth in frig so the fat can easily be skimmed off the top.This could take several hours or the next day to make dumplings to add to the pot…Remove fat from chicken and chop into bite size pieces.Skim solid fat from pot and set aside.Some of this will go into flour and buttermilk mixture for the dumplings…Bring broth to a rolling boil befor adding cut dumplings

Dumplings

• Put flour into a large mixing bowl,and add chicken fat ,crisco and buttermilk…use hands or stir until dough forms….add enough dough so that is is not sticky..place on floured board or countertop and rollout thin rolling from inside out.Make sure dough does not stick to counter or rolling pin.Now cut out with knife or much better with pizza cutter..Cut dumplings to 3 to 4 inch thin strips and add to boiling broth….Roll out more dough and continue adding to broth…The broth will thicken the more dumplings you add to the broth…You can always make more dumplings to the pot if needed and add chicken broth if it becomes to thick…Cook until dumplings are done…Test one or two…20 minutes should be enough for all dumplings to cook..Stir mixture as you add dumplings careful not to break those already in pot.Also stir so not to have ones of the bottom stick or burn…At this point add chopped chicken and taste. Salt and pepper can now be added according to your taste..I usually add a teaspoon of,Better Than Bouillon, to the pot for added chicken flavor..This is when you can add extra chicken broth to pot if it becomes to thick…Enjoy for a few days and then go on a diet..