I do the chicken and dumplings from Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine. (Chicken and dumplings with a tarte tatin for my wife's birthday every year!)

Very straightforward and easy, one pot and no need for nasty tinned soup...

They use a whole chicken cut up, so proportionately, I'd say you're looking at 4-6 breasts, depending on the size. I might cut them in half if they're big.

Bring 1 qt of water or chicken stock to boil in a dutch oven or casserole. Add 3 carrots (halved), 2 lg stalks of celery (cut into thirds), one onion (peeled and quartered), a bay leaf, and a sprig of rosemary. Return to the boil and then add your chicken, piece by piece so that you keep the boil going. cover, turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and then continue simmering until the chicken is tender. I often use an old cock bird, so this might need another 30 minutes, but with US supermarket chicken, you probably don't need much more, if any, time at all. Ease tablespoons of dumpling batter (see below) into the boiling water so they rest on top of the chicken, cover and simmer for 18 minutes longer.

Dumplings: stir the dry ingredients together (1 cup flour, 1/2 t salt, 2 t baking powder and some finely chopped parsley) then mix in 1/3 c milk and 1 1/2 T melted butter to make a stiff batter.

Here is a Southern Living quick recipe that uses the cream of chicken soup (we call it cream o'crap) if you don't wnat to go to the store
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001951477

Nice recipe Allycakes, but she's using boneless skinless so I don't think she ought to cook them a couple of hours.

Thank you everyone!

These soups sound very good! Do you think a can of cream of chicken soup can be subbed for a can of chicken stock for a easy tasty way to thicken up the soup? I've never had cream of chicken ,but i'm trying to avoid buying cream/milk as well.

one of my all time favs. Simply poach the chicken breasts in enough stock to cover. Once cooked through, fork shred and return to pot with small dice of carrots and celery and potato (I use sweet potato more often than not). Then bring to a boil and cook an additional 20 mintes until veggies are soft. The spoon the dumpling dough (yu can get this from the bisquick box or any decent cook book, cover and cook til done. Yu can also make cheese dumplings and use as well. super easy, really delicous and warming on a cold night.

Chicken and dumplings is easier than you think typically I would dice up your chicken and brown it in the pot you want to use, you then to maximize flavor remove the chicken and add chopped carrots, celery, yellow or white onion, and garlic and let it brown in that same pan. I then deglaze that with a little white wine to get all the good bits off the bottom of the pan. Add your chicken back to into the pot and top it off with chicken stock, couple bay leaves, salt and pepper and any herbs to your liking(parsley, thyme etc) I then cover that and allow it to cook for an hour or two until the chicken starts is fork tender. Now its dumpling time! Some people opt for the easy way out and use raw biscuit dough that you can buy in the store or get a box mix but i prefer if you have a little extra time(super easy) to make them from scratch all it is is a basic dough:

2cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1tsp salt
2eggs
1cup buttermilk or regular milk
(i usually save some of the fat that you skim off the top of the broth during cooking and replace some of the milk with it to add some extra flavor-optional)
add liquid ingredients to dry and form little balls and drop them into your soup when they float there done!
enjoy! Hope this helps!

It's not a dish I make, but while you wait for answers, you might look at this. Southern Cooking mag ought to know chicken and dumplings:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001553058