CHICKEN AND DUMPLING SOUP

Half a small onion

One stalk celery

1 tablespoons olive oil

2 48-oz. chicken broth

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon ground thyme

1 teaspoon ground onion powder

1 large clove garlic

1 teaspoon pepper

Salt to taste

One long carrot

One small to medium yellow potato (optional)

1/3 of a 12-oz. bag of Egg Noodles (Optional)

1 rotisserie chicken (meat pulled off)

I stop at the store on the way home from work and pick up a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken to make this quicker and easier. You can precook your whole chicken in the crock pot or bake it in the oven as long is it is cooked and pulled off the bones prior to making the soup. Always use a whole chicken so you get a combination of dark and light meat for flavor.

Pre-cut all ingredients prior to assembling. Cut onion and celery into small pieces. Cut carrot and potato and set aside. In a large stockpot cook onion and celery in 1 tablespoon olive oil until onion is slightly translucent.  Add chicken broth and seasoning and bring to boil. Add carrot and potato to boiling water. Cook for 10 minutes; meanwhile pull chicken from bones (or wash dishes) until timer dings. Add chicken and cook at a medium boil for 10 minutes. While it is cooking, make dumplings (see below.) If choosing to add noodles, do this right before adding the dumplings to the water.

DUMPLINGS

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3  tablespoons parsley flakes

1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaf

1 Cup milk

6 tablespoons canola oil

In a medium mixing bowl, add all ingredients and stir until just combined. Make dumplings to size (small like a marble or large like golf ball.) Hint: wear rubber gloves to form dumplings to help with the sticky mess that normally happens on your hands. Add dumplings to boiling soup mixture, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean.

Remove soup from heat

POTATO SALAD

This is for a large batch and includes instructions for prep and assembly while camping.

INGREDIENTS

10 Medium Sized Potatoes

4 or 5 Hard Boiled Eggs

1 Small White Onion, Chopped

1 Cup Kraft Real Mayonnaise

1/4 Cup Miracle Whip

2 Tablespoons Buttermilk Ranch

1 1/2 Tablespoons Yellow Mustard

1 Large dill or hot pickle (about 1/4 cup), Chopped

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Prep for Camping:

Cut potatoes in quarters and boil until just done (do not boil until mushy). Drain, let cool, and place in the refrigerator. You can chop potatoes into bites size pieces when completely cool or cut right before ready to eat.

Mix the remainder of the ingredients (minus the eggs) into a small bowl with a lid. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To assemble, cut potatoes and eggs and mix all ingredients together.

Buttermilk Cake

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

½ cup butter, softened but not melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 egg whites

In a bowl combine flower, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/8 teaspoon of the salt. Add buttermilk, butter, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl. Beat on medium to high speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Add egg whites and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping sides of bowl (if your mixer seems to strain or bog down, shift to high speed.)

CAKE: Pour into 2 greased and floured 9x1 ½” round baking pan (pan should be no more than half full). Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 -35 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Loosen sides. Remove from pans and cool thoroughly before frosting.

CUPCAKES: fill no more than half full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-23 minutes or till toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

From Better Homes Cookbook. Just so good that I had to share.

Taco Pizza

Make dough by using bread machine, make it yourself, or use a store bought pizza dough.

Pizza Sauce for two pizzas

14.5 ounce can fire roasted stewed tomatoes

12 ounce can tomato paste

1 teaspoon olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 small yellow onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup water

In a medium size sauce pan, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil for about five minutes. Add all other ingredients stir, cover and cook on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once done, set aside. You will have some sauce left over when making only one pizza. Tomato sauce will freeze very well for another day.

Pizza Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1.5 lbs hamburger

1 package taco seasoning

1 16 ounce can no-fat refried beans, heated in microwave for about one minute

1 medium to large tomato, chopped.

3 ounce chopped black olives

1 small red onion, chopped

2-3 cups shredded Mexican cheese

1/2 head iceberg lettuce, chopped

About 4-5 handfuls of corn chips, crushed

Sour cream (optional)

Salsa (optional)

Directions

While dough is rising and sauce is cooking, cook beef with taco seasoning, set aside. Chop all other ingredients and set aside. Heat refried beans and set aside. Once all ingredients are ready, roll pizza dough out to fit the size of your pan. I make a large batch of pizza dough, roll it out to about 1/3 of an inch and then place my pan over the dough and cut around the edge to make an evenly round pie that fits my pan exactly. Brush entire dough surface with olive oil. The rest of the dough can be made into another pizza or kneaded into a ball and set aside to allow another rise (more on this at the end of this recipe.) Once dough is on pan, spread an even amount of sauce over dough (you will have sauce left over for another pizza if only making one pizza.) Spread the warmed refried beans over sauce. Sprinkle an even amount of cheese over entire surface of pizza, sprinkle top with seasoned hamburger, onions, olives, and chopped tomatoes. Bake pie at 400 degrees for approximately 25-30 minutes. Check it after 15-20 to see if the crust is browning and the ingredients in the middle are cooking (just keep in mind what a pizza looks like in a restaurant to judge doneness.) The crust edges should be a golden brown and the middle of the pizza should be very hot. When pizza is done cooking, remove from oven and immediately slide pizza onto a cutting board. Cut pizza slices to desired size. Sprinkle top of pizza with several handfuls of crushed corn chips or Doritos. The chips are a judgment call on your part. Sprinkle the lettuce and serve with optional sour cream and salsa.

Optional Left-Over dough: cut three shallow cuts into top, brush entire top with olive oil, lightly sprinkle with garlic powder and italian seasoning. Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until bread sounds hollow when tapped and is a golden brown.

Simple Crock Pot Roast

Any type of roast will work, even the cheap pieces of meat. I like pepper, so the rub may be too peppery for some people. Just reduce the amount of pepper used if you are not a pepper fan. The rub amount in this recipe is for a small to medium roast. If you have a large roast, just double the spice ingredients.


Ingredients


1 Roast - any size that will fit in your crock-pot
1 1/2 cups beef broth (use two cups broth for larger roast)
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed rosemary
1 teaspoon sage


Directions
Trim excess fat from roast. Place roast and broth in crock-pot. In a small bowl, combine all spice ingredients. Rub top and sides of roast with rub. Follow cooking temperatures below. Once roast is done cooking, the broth can be poured into a sauce pan to make delicious gravy.


You can also add whole medium size potatoes that have been washed and stabbed with a forked into the broth. Do not cut into small pieces or the potatoes will be mushy after 8 hour of cooking.


Crock-pot settings:


1. If starting crock pot early a.m., (before work for instance) turn crock-pot on medium heat and allow roast to cook a minimum of 8.5 hours or more.


2. If starting roast mid-morning, turn crock-pot on high for one hour then reduce heat to medium and cook for 8.5 hours or more.

Pasta & Chicken (or Kielbasa)

This is a quick and easy recipe for those busy days.

Ingredients

1/2 package to 3/4 package Penne Pasta

2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into bite-size pieces (or left over cooked chicken about 2 cups chopped)

1 Kielbasa can be substituted for the chicken.

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon minced onion

Optional items can be added:

1 medium tomato, cut into bite size pieces

4 medium mushrooms, chopped into slices

1/4 cup yellow zucchini, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons crushed basil or Italian herbs, or herbs de province.

Directions

Sauté onion and bell peppers until onion is just translucent. Add minced garlic, salt, pepper, and minced onion and cook 3 minutes more (the mushrooms, and yellow zucchini can be added at this point.)  Add cooked chicken (or Kielbasa) and cook until warm (approximately 3-5 minutes.) The optional chopped tomatoes should be added during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile Cook pasta according to package directions and drain water.

Combine the 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbs. Stir until combined.

In a large bowl, combine pasta, chicken mixture and olive oil mixture. Toss to coat and serve.

Pozole

A soup you can find in cans in the Hispanic section of the store. This recipe is very good, especially on a cold day.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds pork loin

2 medium onions, chopped

8 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon oregano leaves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 quarts chicken broth

 1  7-oz can green chilies

2, 1-lb cans hominy or garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

Optional

Sour cream

Green onions

Directions

Remove all fat from pork loin and cut into bite size pieces. In a large stock pot, combine pork, onion, garlic, chili powder, oregano, pepper and 1 cup of the broth. Bring to boil, cover and simmer rapidly on medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover pan and stir often on medium high heat until broth is gone, meat is streaked with brown and drippings are richly brown. Add 1 cup broth and stir drippings from pan. Add remainder of broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until meat is tender. Add green chilies and hominy, cook for about 15 minutes.