New Life On A Homestead » From Scratch Recipes

Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

Kendra at New Life On A Homestead — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:11:52 +0000

Made this for dinner last night, and thought you might like the recipe! It might look like a lot of work, but really it doesn’t take that long to prepare. A delicious, hearty, cool weather meal!

Enjoy!

Chicken and Dumplings

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces

2 ribs of celery, sliced (I had some frozen that I tossed in)

4 carrots, peeled and sliced (I just threw in a can of carrots toward the end of the cooking time, since I didn’t have fresh)

1 med. onion, diced

1 (14 1/2 oz) can chicken broth (I used homemade broth I’d canned up)

2 Tbsp dried parsley

2 tsp chicken bouillon granules (I used chicken base, w/out MSG)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

water

Dumplings

2 cups flour ( I used all purpose, white. Haven’t tried whole wheat yet)

4 tsp baking powder (I used 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 3 tsp cream of tartar as a substitute to avoid the aluminum in baking powder)

1 tsp salt

3/4 c. milk

4 Tbsp oil

In a dutch oven, combine the chicken pieces, celery, carrots, onion, broth, parsley, bouillon, salt and pepper, and add enough water to cover.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat, and cover to simmer for about 2 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken pieces; allow them to cool. Then, remove any skin and bones, and shred the chicken up. Return the chicken to the pot.

Add more salt and pepper, to taste. (Jerry thought it needed even more salt.)

Return the soup to a simmer.

In a mixing bowl, combine the dumpling ingredients, and mix well to form a stiff dough. (It’ll be very thick and stiff.)

Drop by Tablespoonfuls into simmering soup. Cover and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes more. Best if served immediately.

Apple Pie Spice Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

Kendra at New Life On A Homestead — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:10:26 +0000

Oh my goodness.

Seriously, I’ve eaten a dozen of these things in the last four hours. No joke.

They’re the perfect chewy cookie. Not too hard, not too soft. Just right with a glass of milk.

People, I’m telling you right now. You MUST make these cookies for Thanksgiving. You just have to. Everyone will love you for them.

Please note that I am using freshly ground whole wheat (hard red, though I think hard white or soft white would be just as good). I’m sure the taste will vary a bit depending on which type of flour you use, but I think even all-purpose flour may work okay with this recipe. Maybe. If you try it… please let me know how it turns out!

Apple Pie Spice Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

Makes approx. 35 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder; OR 1/2 tsp baking soda plus 1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 c. shortening

1/4 c. butter, softened to room temp

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp apple pie spice**

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

2 cups whole wheat flour

Topping

2 tsp white sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

**Apple Pie Spice

1/4 c cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ground ginger

Mix together and store in an airtight container.

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the flour (not including the topping). Mix together very well.

Stir in the flour until thoroughly combined.

Shape the dough into walnut sized balls, and place them about 2 in. apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Use a fork to slightly flatten each cookie.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping, and sprinkle over each cookie.

Bake at 375* for 8-10 minutes. They might look slightly undercooked, but they’ll be perfect once they cool. Transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

I beg you. Make these. After his first cookie tonight, my husband said to me, “Please don’t tell me you’re making these to take to somebody else!” Nope, not this time. But I can’t guarantee they’ll make it through the night!

Creamy Italian Dressing Recipe

Kendra at New Life On A Homestead — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 02:48:48 +0000

For the past year and a half, the only salad dressing I’ve made has been Italian Dressing- which I love. But the other night, I felt like something creamy. I didn’t have the ingredients I would need to make a ranch dressing, but I did have just the right stuff for this Creamy Italian Dressing. I found the recipe in my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and we all have really enjoyed it.

Creamy Italian Dressing

Makes 1 cup

3/4 c. mayonnaise (I use homemade)

1/4 c. sour cream

2 tsp white vinegar

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1-2 Tbsp milk (optional)

Mix all ingredients together, adding milk to desired consistency, if desired. Cover and store in a glass container for up to two weeks.

Super easy. Enjoy!

Our First Sukkot, & Learning To Cook Over An Open Fire (Recipes)

Kendra at New Life On A Homestead — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:20:51 +0000

For the past few days, we have been celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot) with other believers. Over the weekend, we camped and enjoyed good food and fellowship. You can see a picture of our tent above.

Here’s the view from our tent entrance. This was the main eating/gathering area. To our right and left are more tents. There were five other families besides us. With a lot of kids.

This was our first year celebrating Sukkot. We didn’t really know anyone except for the family who invited us, but we were quickly received with a warm welcome. The children all took to each other as if they’d been friends for years. (Here they are playing Ring Around The Rosie in our tent.) And the men had our tent up in 2 minutes flat.

Every evening we had somewhat of a potluck. I planned on taking full advantage of the open fire, and came prepared with my cast iron dutch ovens and skillet. I’ve been wanting to practice cooking over hot coals, and this was the perfect opportunity.

The first night I made dessert, a peach cobbler. I was SO afraid I’d burn it, or it wouldn’t cook all the way through, or something would go wrong and my contribution to the meal would be an embarrassment.

I was relieved when I uncovered my dish to find a delicious, fully cooked, unburnt cobbler. Perfection.

My grandpa shared with me this recipe from his old Boy Scout days, though it must be a very popular one ’cause I found it in the Lodge Camp Dutch Oven cookbook as well!

Campfire Peach Cobbler

2 (29 oz) cans sliced peaches, in syrup

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 stick butter

Cinnamon (to taste)

Place your dutch oven over a 2″ deep bed of hot coals (or about 15 hot charcoal briquettes), a couple of feet away from the fire itself.

Spray the dutch oven inside, and on the lid, with a non-stick spray.

Pour the peaches in first, then dump the cake mix on top of them; just dump it right out of the box onto the peaches. I promise, it’ll be okay.

Cut the butter into slivers, and place them evenly on top of the cake mix. Then sprinkle it all with cinnamon.

Put the lid on the dutch oven, and put several hot coals on top of the lid, spacing them evenly.

Rotate the entire dutch oven about a 1/4 of a turn every 15 minutes or so, for even cooking. Turn the lid as well, in the opposite direction from the way you turned the oven. In about 45 minutes it should be ready to enjoy!

I learned that first night the importance of having two very handy tools for dutch oven cooking: a lid lifter (which I did have) and a fireplace shovel (which I did not have).

Let me tell you, it’s tricky trying to collect hot coals to put on the lid of your dutch oven if you don’t have a shovel. I ended up raking them into an empty peaches can with a stick, and then quickly dumping them onto the lid. Can you say HOT?! Keep this in mind the next time you go camping, and be sure to bring along a small shovel from your fireplace tools!

The next night was a Chili cook-off. Since we already had plenty of chili to go around, I made cornbread in the skillet. I just followed the recipe on the back of the bag of cornmeal, doubled…

Campfire Cornbread

2 large eggs

2 2/3 cups milk

1/2 c. vegetable oil

4 cups self-rising corn meal mix

Spray a 12″ cast iron skillet with a non-stick spray; do the same with a fitted lid.

Make a ring of rocks a foot or two away from the direct flame, to place your skillet on. Fill the center of the rocks with a couple of inches of hot coals. You want to rest the skillet on the rocks, over the coals, and not directly on the coals.

Let the prepared skillet preheat over the coals while you mix all of the ingredients together.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in milk, oil, and corn meal mix until smooth. Pour into heated skillet and cover.

*Side note: doubling the original recipe ended up being a little too much for my 12″ skillet, so I removed about 1 cup of the batter to avoid spilling over.

Place several coals around the top of the lid. Rotate the skillet about 1/4 of a turn every 5-10 minutes or so. It took about 25-30 minutes to cook through.

Once again, I breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out well!! Yes! Open-fire cooking success.

Oh yeah, see that black handle cover on my skillet in the picture above? Definitely a good thing to have.

Okay, so back to celebrating Sukkot…

We really enjoyed camping. Having a baby along was a little challenging at times, especially at night. It got cold, and I just couldn’t bare the thought of Elias getting chilly, so I laid him on my chest in the sleeping bag with me. Of course, I couldn’t sleep a wink with him there… but he stayed snuggled and warm, so that’s what mattered!

Jada and some of her new friends made a fort to play in (or maybe it was a Sukkah!).

Titus enjoyed playing with spiders. And no, it’s not on his face He also had fun playing soccer with his daddy, riding a bike, and eating, eating, eating.

One of the more experienced campers brought a kids’ table and coloring supplies. Genius. Xia was in scribbling heaven.

All of the kids helped decorate a Sukkah, and then they put on a cute little play for the parents to enjoy.

Evenings were great. It was such a blessing to sit around a campfire after all of the kids were asleep in the tents, and read Scripture and share what has been on our hearts lately.

We wished we could stay longer, but Jerry had work the first of the week (a blessing for sure!), so we came back home and set up camp in our front yard.

Yesterday, I did a little more campfire cooking here at home. Jerry found some rocks and made a fire pit for us to enjoy. I made something Jerry calls a Hobo Dinner. My grandpa also shared this recipe with me, though I’m not sure I did it right…

You take ground beef, and form it into hamburger patties. Then you put sliced onions and potatoes on either side of the meat. Wrap it in foil, creating a pocket for them to cook in.

Place your foil packets over hot coals, flipping them halfway through cooking time. I cooked mine for an hour, and they were kinda burnt, so keep an eye on them.

When they are done it’ll look something like this. A yummy pocket of delicious flame kissed meat and ‘taters. Next time, I’ll spray the foil with non-stick spray, and not cut the potatoes so thin.

So, there you have it! Some open fire cooking tips, and a glimpse into our first Sukkot.

If you celebrated Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) this year, or if you have experience cooking over an open flame, I’d love to hear your thoughts!!

Of course, all comments are welcome

Homemade Maple Flavored Syrup Recipe

Kendra at New Life On A Homestead — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:01:09 +0000

I forgot to share a while back that I finally got around to trying a homemade maple syrup recipe.

No, it’s not the real stuff… but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper without the added preservatives or high fructose corn syrup found in store bought imitation stuff, and still tastes amazing on pancakes. So, until I learn how to tap a maple tree, this is how it goes down in our house!

There are several recipes out there, but here’s the one I made:

Homemade Maple Flavored Syrup

Yields 2 cups

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1-2 cups brown sugar (more for extra thickness)

1 Tbsp maple flavored extract

In a med. saucepan over med-high heat, combine the water and the sugars; bring to boil. Reduce heat to med-low and stir in the maple flavoring. Simmer for an additional 3-4 minutes.

Will thicken after cooling. Store in a glass jar in the fridge. Yum.

If you have a favorite homemade maple syrup recipe, I’d love to know how you make it!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Kendra at New Life On A Homestead — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:11:06 +0000

Oh yum! I just tried this pizza from Tammy’s Recipes, and it was SO delicious!! You have to try it.

I used my homemade BBQ sauce. I also cooked mine in a cast iron pizza pan. Perfection.

BBQ Pizza

Yields 2

Ingredients

For the (thin) crust:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
3 to 3 1/2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour (I used hard red wheat with 4 tsp vital wheat gluten added)
1 tablespoon dry yeast

For the toppings:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
Butter, for greasing the sheets
16 ounces (4 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup (or more!) fresh chopped cilantro

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken breasts in a baking dish and coat with BBQ sauce, using about 1/2 a cup of the sauce. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a bit; slice chicken thinly and set aside. Reserve extra sauce from the dish for serving, if desired.

2. To make pizza crust, combine water, salt, and oil in a medium-size mixing bowl. Add a cup of the flour, then stir in the yeast and another cup of flour. Add enough remaining flour to make a dough and knead for 5-10 minutes, adding flour as needed to make a smooth, elastic dough.

*To make this dough in the bread machine: Add crust ingredients in the order listed and select the DOUGH cycle. Use dough when cycle is complete, or, remove dough after it is formed (and stop the dough cycle from finishing the rising time).

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide pizza dough in half. Liberally butter two baking sheets (11×15-inch or 13×18-inch). Spread dough onto the sheets. (If dough is too thick to spread, you can use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle and then place on the sheet.)

4. Spread 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce over each crust. Spread half of the mozzarella cheese over each pizza, followed by the sliced chicken breast and red onions. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

5. Bake pizzas at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes — until toppings are browned and crust is lightly browned on the bottom. Cut pizza into squares and serve with fresh cilantro and extra bbq sauce from the chicken dish, if desired.

This is our new favorite lunch! What’s your favorite way to make a pizza?

New Life On A Homestead » From Scratch Recipes

Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

Related Posts:

Apple Pie Spice Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

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Creamy Italian Dressing Recipe

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Our First Sukkot, & Learning To Cook Over An Open Fire (Recipes)

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Homemade Maple Flavored Syrup Recipe

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BBQ Chicken Pizza

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