Cure for the common cold? - Chicken and Dumplings

I wish I knew one. This wasn't it though. I haven't been sick in well over a year... which I guess is kind of nice since I interact with so many people throughout the day... I always thought I was invincable, couldn't get sick... even if you were hacking up a cough next to me... but guess something happened within the past few days... I got sick. Sigh. But, the timing was perfect... just in time for the weekend to recover and not miss a (clinic) beat. I'll admit.. I believe in herbal remedies. I try and stray away from traditional medicines as much as I can... just so my body doesn't get used to them. Don't get me wrong, I believe in medicine, but I just don't want to take it for every little thing. So, for colds, normally, I believe in taking a bunch of vitamins, and echinachea, they probably don't do much.. but I don't care, it's been working for the past few years.. my sickness usually doesn't become too out of control... *knocks on wood* Anyway, I wanted to make a hearty feel good soup.. and decided to make some chicken and dumplings. I'd say, the soup aspect of it was wonderful, the dumplings? ... needs a bit of work.. but we'll save that for a day where I actually care how my foods taste....

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/chicken-and-dumplings/

What went wrong?
- Note: I like my soups thick.. not watery... hence my love for stew... I know my soup looks a whole lot thicker than the original recipe..
- 2% milk will not bind the dumplings like half and half... I believe... I didn't read that disclaimer until after I made it... I realized my dough was just not forming...

The soup was good, I didn't actually care for the apple cider to be in the soup, I tasted the apple flavor right before the cream was added... but the flavor went away after the cream... it's kind of nice how things balance out so easily. The soup held me over for the day, was good enough for me to do my typical weekend things.... but... then I started heading downhill.... and... 5 days into my cold.. I've had to take my afternoon off... to truly recover to take care of my patients the rest of the week.. and then head down to my 3rd year retreat at Asilomar... and then head back in time to catch the Superbowl at a local bar..... what a week!