Mom's Chicken Noodle Soup with Dumplings

Nothing says comfort like my mom's chicken noodle soup with dumplings!  This has been and always will be one of my favorite recipes, and I have it cooking in the crockpot right now.  The house smells wonderful!
You need the following:

one fat whole chicken
cream of chicken soup
carrots
one package extra wide noodles
seasonings:   salt, sage, sweet basil, oregano, thyme, garlic powder (just a little), celery salt

For the dumplings:
1 1/2 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. shortening
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

I like to start cooking the chicken in the morning using my crock pot, but you can cook it over the stove if you want.  Rinse chicken off and place in pot and season as desired.  I use all the seasonings listed above.  Add water up to about 2/3 of the height of the chicken, and cover to cook for about 4 to 5 hours in the crock pot.  Chicken is done when it falls off the bone.  Chop carrots.  I usually end up with about 1/2 cup chopped baby carrots.  When chicken is done, remove from broth to debone.  Add chopped carrots to broth and return the chicken meat to the pot as well, shredded to bite size portions.  Add cream of chicken soup and cook till carrots are tender; I usually let it go for about an hour.

About 30 minutes before serving time, thoroughly mix all ingredients for the dumplings.  Add noodles to the crock pot.  Your soup should have about 3 cups liquid at this point, and if not, add boiling water to compensate.  Drop dumpling dough by spoonfuls into soup; cover and let cook for 10 to 20 minutes.

Warning:  lifting the lid during cooking will guaranty your family will be ravenous by supper!