Back to the Beginning with Chicken and Dumplings

I can't believe it was nine years ago this month that I joined the Yankee-Belle Cafe. Ruthy, aka The Yank, and Missy, aka The Belle, decided to add to the menu by offering up Tuesdays with the Texan. And that very first recipe I shared is still one of my favorites. 

Good old fashioned chicken and dumplings are one of my family's favorites when the weather turns cool. Comfort food to the max. My girls' great-grandmother taught me how to make them, which means I learned from the best. Many of Lois's recipes are forever woven into the fabric of my family.

The first thing we need to do is make our chicken stock, which will also provide us with the chicken half of our chicken and dumplings. So, in a large Dutch oven or stock pot, add one chicken (or whatever type of chicken meat you might have on hand), two or three carrots cut into thirds, a couple stalks of celery, one onion, quartered, some salt and pepper. I like to skin my chicken so there isn't as much fat in the broth, but that's a personal preference.

Add three quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Allow to cool for a little while before removing chicken and vegetables. Strain broth, discarding solids.

Once the bird is cool enough to touch, remove the meat from the bone and chop into bite-size pieces. For the most part, the veggies don't make it into the soup, however I like to smash the carrots into tiny pieces and add those.

Return broth to Dutch oven, along with the chicken, and bring to boiling. 

While you're waiting for the broth to boil, prepare your dumplings.

Combine:

• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tsp. vegetable or canola oil 
• Approx. 1 1/2-1 3/4 cups self-rising flour (if the mixture seems too sticky, add more flour in small amounts)

Turn dough onto a floured surface and kneed a handful of times.

From here, it's up to your personal preference. Some like their dumplings big, others like them small. I like a bite of dumpling in every spoonful. My sons want as few dumplings as possible. Personally, I think that's just wrong, but they're brats.

You can roll out the dough and cut it into pieces. That's too much work for me so I flatten a portion of dough on a cutting board, slice into strips, then cut the dumplings into the boiling broth mixture with a scrapper or knife. Remember, you can add as many or as few as you like.

Once you've added your dumplings, reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Then get ready for a bowlful of pleasure. 

Now, if you find making the dumplings intimidating, here's a secret shortcut Greatmom sometimes used--canned biscuits. Simply break or cut them into pieces and drop into the boiling broth. Easy-peasy.

A lot has changed in the last nine years. But one thing that will never change is our love of family and food. Good food that stirs fond memories and continues generation after generation.

What's family favorite dish that has been passed down through the generations at your house?

Award-winning author Mindy Obenhaus is passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. She lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, two sassy pups, countless cattle, deer and the occasional coyote, mountain lion or snake. When she's not writing, she enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, cooking and watching copious amounts of the Hallmark Channel. Learn more at mindyobenhaus.com

Pot Roast and Soup from Leftovers

Jan here, with another soup recipe!

We had a lovely autumn! Do you remember those days of colorful leaves, gorgeous sunshine, and cool, crisp air?

Well, it seems that autumn has left already and winter has moved in for the duration. The weather doesn't seem to know that it's still October!

The birds are going through their food like crazy in this cold weather (it was 17° Thursday morning when I took Sam for his walk) and the snow just keeps falling. Much like during Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter, we have a storm, then a few days break - or a twelve-hour break - and then another storm front moves through. 

Thankfully, the amount of snow has been light...up until the weekend. We got a total of about 5" from Saturday night to Sunday night. And then last night, the temperatures plummeted. As of this writing, the forecast is for -2° overnight. I'll update with the actual temps in the comments below!

But this is what really makes it look like winter:

To remind you, here's what that view normally looks like:

Am I dreading a long, dark winter? Not at all!

It may be a long winter, but it will be one filled with cozy nights by the fire, good books to read, and dogs who are learning - finally - that sitting next to a person for pets and ear rubs is the next best thing to heaven.

It's also the best weather for homemade soup! This is one of our favorites!

You need to make pot roast, first. I make mine in the slow cooker.

Easy recipe:

Pot Roast

ingredients:

one 3-5 pound bone-in chuck roast

4-5 potatoes

2-3 carrots

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon basil

1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes

bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

2-4 cups beef broth (preferably home made bone broth)

Adjust all the quantities to fit your family!

Brown the chuck roast on both sides, then place it in your slow cooker. Add the peeled and cut up potatoes and carrots, and the onion. Add the herbs, then pour the broth over all.

Cook on low for at least 8 hours, up to 12 hours.

After dinner, pull out the leftover meat, remove the bones and as much fat as possible. Add the leftover vegetables and broth and refrigerate up to five days, or freeze until you're ready to make soup.

No leftover meat or vegetables? No problem. Glean as many bits of beef as you can from the bones and use those and the broth for your soup.

TIP - if you're planning to freeze your leftovers, refrigerate them overnight first. After the leftovers have cooled, you can easily remove any remaining fat before you put them in the freezer.

Leftover Pot Roast Soup

ingredients:

Leftover meat, broth, and vegetables from your pot roast dinner

Other vegetables you like in your soup - we add green beans (canned, fresh, or frozen)

Additional potatoes or carrots, if needed

Additional beef broth as needed

This is what the leftover pot roast looks like after being in the fridge for a few days.

The first thing to do is to remove the fat. This step is so easy because beef fat is solid when it is cold. 

Look at that fabulous dark brown broth! That's what browning your chuck roast before cooking it in the slow cooker does. That broth is rich, flavorful, nutritious, and full of gelatin.

Next, cut the potatoes and carrots into smaller chunks if you wish, add any additional vegetables you want to use, additional broth if necessary, and heat.

Bring the soup to boiling, then let it simmer for 10 to 20 minutes, or until all your vegetables are cooked.

I like to serve this with fresh bread or biscuits, and a bowl of applesauce for dessert is always welcome. :-)

We may be in the middle of wintry weather now, but the prairies are known for rapidly changing weather. We could move back into autumn before winter comes to stay - or the cold temperatures may be here for the duration. We'll just have to wait and see!

Meanwhile, two of my books released last week!!!

Links to purchase either book are on my website: www.JanDrexler.com 

How is the weather where you live? Cold and snowy? Or are you still enjoying the fall temperatures?

Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.

Stroganoff Soup

Jan here with a delicious recipe!

But first, let's head out to Custer State Park. We went on a beautiful Friday afternoon, and the sun...Oh! The sun was showing off!

Over the next couple months the sun will be heading down toward the southern horizon, and we can already see a HUGE difference from last summer!

Something about that angle brings out the rich colors of autumn...

And the shadows make the smallest details stand out...

Even the turkey's wattle shines!

The prairie dogs love these golden days.

But while we were in the park, the weather changed.

The sun was still making shadows, but everything became softer with the clouds moving in from the southeast.

And then yesterday, this happened!

Perfect weather for soup, don't you think?

This was a new recipe for us, and it is definitely a keeper!

Stroganoff Soup

The original recipe for this soup is from a blog called "Belly Full" The original sounded delicious, but I made a few changes (of course!)

ingredients:

2 Tablespoon butter

2 - 3 cups beef diced into bite-size pieces (a tender cut like round steak or sirloin is best)

1 cup mushrooms (optional - I didn't use them because I didn't have any)

1/4 cup diced onion

2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

4 cups beef stock

1 cup water

1 teaspoon beef bouillon or bouillon cube

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 cups small size pasta, like small shells

1/2 cup sour cream

2 Tablespoons flour

In a large pot (I used my 8 quart stock pot,) melt the butter, then brown the beef. Once the beef is browned on all sides (can still be pink in the middle,) add the mushrooms, onion, and garlic. Cook on medium heat until the onions are soft and the garlic is fragrant. (Yum!)

Add the beef stock a bit at a time, stirring the bits off the bottom of the pot as you go. Add the water, bouillon, Worcestershire sauce and pepper, and bring to a boil.

Add the pasta, return the soup to a boil, and cook on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, or until the pasta is done.

Meanwhile, whisk the sour cream and flour together in a small bowl or two-cup measuring cup. Add some broth, about 1/4 cup at a time, and whisk into the mixture until you have about 1 1/2 to 2 cups liquid with no lumps.

When the pasta is cooked, add the sour cream mixture to the pot and stir a minute or so until the soup thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This was so good! I can't wait to make it again!

Are you heading into soup weather yet?

Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.

Winter Vegetable Soup with Garlic Twist Bread Revisited

Jan here, talking about losing things.

NOT losing my marbles...although it feels a little bit like I am some days! But losing things that I thought I had. That I knew where they MUST be.

I'm not alone in this, am I?

We've been in our new house for just over a year, and last week I finally unpacked the last couple boxes. I knew what was in those boxes - one of them had my mom's old cookbooks and a few other things like that. And it was one of those "few other things" that I was looking for.

A bread cookbook that I got several years ago when I bought my Bosch mixer...but it wasn't there! That was, literally, the last place I looked. How can something just disappear?

*sigh*

Then I remembered that I had shared this recipe from that cookbook here at the Cafe many years ago - almost eight! - so I thought I'd share it again so we could all enjoy it!

This post also includes my own Winter Vegetable Soup, adapted from Nourishing Traditions, one of my go-to cookbooks. Here's the link, in case you're interested: Nourishing Traditions

A few days ago, I couldn't imagine making this soup. We were at the end of more than a week of 95°+ temperatures...but then the weather changed. SUDDENLY it's feeling awfully fallish!

Maybe not quite that fallish - it will take a few more weeks for the aspens to don their golden cloaks. But the deer and bison are gathering into their winter herds, the birds are returning from the far north on their way south, and I'm putting on a jacket when I take Sam for his morning walks.

Here’s my updated version of this delicious soup:

Winter Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

2 medium sized turnips, chopped

3 parsnips, chopped

3 carrots, chopped
2 medium potatoes, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 ½ quarts stock – chicken or vegetable

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon dried thyme, or one sprig fresh thyme

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup heavy cream

2 cups kale

1 Tablespoon each, butter and olive oil

In a large soup pot (I use an 8-quart pot), melt the butter. Add your turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, carrots and onions.

Cook on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After the 30 minutes, add your stock, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and cayenne. Bring it all to a boil, and then reduce it to a simmer and cook for an additional 30 minutes or so until the vegetables are soft.

When your veggies are nice and soft, it’s time for the blender. (If you used fresh thyme, remove the sprig now.)

If you have one of those handy immersion blenders, this is the time to put it through its paces. Just stick it in the pot and blend until the soup is smooth.

If you don’t have one of those, put the soup – about a quart at a time – in a big blender and blend away. As each part gets done, put the blended soup in a large bowl and do the next batch until the whole pot of soup is nice and smooth. Then return it to the soup pot and put it back on the stove on medium heat.

While the soup is coming back up to temperature, tear the kale into 1-inch pieces.

Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet until melted. Add the kale and stir to coat. Add salt to taste. Cook at medium heat, stirring, about 3 minutes. Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low, and let the kale steam for about 5-7 minutes, or until soft.

While the kale is cooking, add the cream to your soup and let it heat slowly. You don’t want to heat it too quickly or let the soup boil or the cream will break.

Serve the soup in bowls with a nice dollop of kale for a garnish.

Now, soup for dinner begs to have bread on the side, and the fresher the better.

For this yummy Garlic Twist Bread you need:

one loaf of bread dough

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon dried Basil

Since I make my bread six loaves at a time*, it’s easy to use one lump of dough for this recipe…

*2020 note - I no longer make six loaves at a time. Remember, we're empty nesters now!

OR, you can buy a loaf of frozen bread dough from the grocery store…

The main thing is to have bread dough ready to go.

On a baking pan (greased or lined with baking parchment), spread your dough out into a rectangle, about 9 inches by 12 inches.

On this rectangle, spread 2 Tablespoons softened butter. 

In a bowl, mix together 2 teaspoons minced garlic, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, ¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 teaspoon dried basil.

Spread this mixture evenly over your dough.

Now, roll up your rectangle from the side, jelly-roll style.

Next, cut the roll up the middle.

If you don’t have a pair of kitchen shears, buy one. They’re way too handy not to own a pair.

Oh! When you’re cutting, stop just before you get to the end!

Now, carefully twist the two halves of the roll around each other. This isn’t as easy as it looks, but it works.

Warning: you’re going to make a mess. Just put any spilled filling back on top of your bread.

Brush the top of the loaf with an egg beaten with a tablespoon of water, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. (This step isn’t crucial to the recipe, but it sure makes the loaf look professional!)

Let it rise for about 20-30 minutes, and then bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until nicely browned on top.

Now, doesn’t that look like a great cold-weather meal?

Back to my lost cookbook - I've given up trying to find it. Maybe I loaned it to somebody, or maybe it slipped into the trash when I wasn't looking one time...

But I know where to get a new one! My friend Martha Greene wrote the cookbook, and sells it on her website: Built From Scratch Life The original cookbook that I lost has been revised and updated, but my favorite bread recipe (Best Bread) is still included! Here's that link: Make It Special

Have you ever "misplaced" a favorite cookbook? 

Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.

Southwest Chicken Soup AND a Book Birthday

Yes, I'm celebrating because the last book in my Rocky Mountain Heroes series releases today!

Learning to trust can be the greatest adventure.

She’s always played it safe…Can he reach her guarded heart?

Ready to open his camp for young cancer patients, Daniel Stephens must impress foundation overseer Blythe McDonald to ensure she approves funding for next year. But the cautious former cancer patient was once let down by a similar program, and she’ll leave no stone unturned in her evaluation. Can he convince her his camp is worthy of the money…and that he’s worthy of her love?

I love this story so much. When God first laid it on my heart, I didn't think I could write it. But you know how God is, He likes to get His way. The good news is that He always equips us. He graciously put people in my life just when I needed them.

But enough about that, because I'm on a deadline. It's also cool again, which means I can not only make soup, I can do it in the CrockPot. And when you're short on time, that's a win-win.

Another wonderful thing about this Southwest Chicken Soup is that it's low-fat. Score one for the old waistline!

Here's what you'll need:

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 3 this time)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 
• 1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I used the petite diced)
• 1 - 10 oz can Ro-tel diced tomatoes with green chilies (they have original, mild and spicier varieties; I use original, but it you want the flavor but not the spice, use the mild)
• 3 cups chicken broth (I prefer the low-sodium variety)
• 1 - 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1-2 cups frozen corn

Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a CrockPot or slow cooker.

Sprinkle with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.

Add tomatoes, Ro-tel, chicken broth, black beans tomato paste, onion and bell pepper.

Stir, trying not to disturb the chicken.

Cover and cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours.

See, I told you it was easy. Now you have the rest of the day to write.

Approximately and hour to an hour and a half before cooking is done, stir in the frozen corn.

You could add it at the beginning, if you prefer, but I like a little crunch to my corn.

When cooking time is up, remove chicken breasts and shred the meat.

Return meat to slow cooker, stir and serve.

Yum! My tummy is happy.

Now it's time to chat. Has God ever given you a task you felt ill-equipped for? Did you throw up your hands or forge ahead, holding lightly to His hand?

Three time Carol Award finalist Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more a mindyobenhaus.com.