Random Recipe! Chicken and Dumplings

My father had his own variant of Grandmother's Chicken Soup. I have modified it. I'm sure my daughter will modify mine when she starts making it for her children. I like that it has so many colors in it. Red onion, yellow squash, orange carrots... mouthful of rainbow.

The Soup
2 cartons Chicken Broth
3 Telma Chicken low salt consumme cubes (These can usually be found in the Jewish section of the grocery. It's like bullion cubes.)
2 large Carrots
1 large Leek
1/2 Red Onion
1 large Yellow Squash
1 Celery Heart (take just the tender inside stalks and leafy stalks)
1 Tbsp slivered Ginger
1 Tbsp minced Garlic
1 sprig fresh Rosemary
3 Bay leaves
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning blend
3 boneless skinless Chicken breast halves
3 Tbsp Italian Dressing
2 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Sazon Completa (The green cap spice stuff)

 Dice chicken into small bite sized pieces. Chop all veg into small pieces.

 See the celery heart? Chop everything, including the leaves into bits like the rest.

 That green leafy thing is a leek. It's part of the onion family. I just slice it leaves and all at 1/2 inch sections. Those little cubes are diced squash.

Toss everything - broth, spices, herbs, veg, telma cubes and chicken into the crock pot. Set it on med/hi (or just hi depending on your crock pot) and walk away for 5-8 hours.

The Dumplings
2 c All purpose flour
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Adobo crillollo (spanish garlic salt)
2 eggs
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbsp water

*** Note: I've tried every kind of flour on the shelf and the one that works the best is straight All Purpose flour. Don't add whole wheat to this unless you are willing to let the noodles cook for twice as long. It's like brown rice vs white rice. White is more tender. 

Mix all dry ingredients into a bowl and make a well. A well is a large dent or hole in the center of your dry ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients and stir until a chunky furry bowl of flakes happens. Knead the dough with your hands on a lightly floured board until you get a nice smooth ball. If the dough is still too dry, add water by the teaspoonful until you get a nice smooth dough. If the dough is sticky,  add a little more flour to your board and knead it in.

Break the dough into 3 balls. Roll each on a well floured surface. Dough should be 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.

Slice the dough into noodles. Pops always liked his wide and a little long.

The noodles should be nicely coated with flour. This thickens the soup as it cooks.

Drop the noodles into the soup one at a time, stirring to distribute them. Go back, roll & cut the next batch and toss them in too. Once all your noodles are in the pot, cover it and let it cook for another hour. First day soup is pretty awesome. Second day soup is even better. 

 Nom nom nommity!

Hyaaah! Ninja Bunny Bag time!

I spent a bit of time thinking. It's going to take both sewing classes to finish the bunny bags. That's cool, tho. We have the time, so let's do it!

What do you need?

1.) 16 inches of plain cotton fabric that is at least 24" wide. Any color you like. If you MUST have a print, try one that won't overtake the project or look sideways when it gets cut.  Feel free to look in remnants bins in the store.

*** It's better to have too much than not enough. I have bought fabric where the cut is not straight and it throws my whole measurement out of whack. This is why 16 inches rather than 13 for the project. If your fabric is 36 inches wide, you can get away with a 12 inch length of fabric as we'll harvest the strap piece from the width.

2.) Pins! I prefer the quilting pins because they're longer and have that little bubble on the top. The fabric does not care. Whatever straight pins you have will be fine.

3.) Chalk or a washable marker. If you are using dark fabric, chalk is the only way to go.

4.) Iron


What to cut?

*** Before you cut the fabric wash it and iron it flat. There is sizing in the fabric (it's a starch) and there could be shrinkage. 

We will be needing the fabric cut into 2 bits. The bag - which will be cut to 10 inches x 24 inches. And a strap which will be 3 inches x 10 inches.

Lay the fabric out flat and check to see if you have a good straight cut on the top or the bottom of the fabric. The sides have machined areas called selvages, sometimes they have information from the mill that makes the fabric printed into the fabric. The sides are almost always straight. The top and bottom is where the errors can occur.

Click to make photo bigger

Measure out your area and use chalk to make marks to cut along. I use a long wooden stick to make sure my edge is straight when I am chalking my lines. Remember the adage - measure twice, cut once. 

It's cut, now what?

Lay your fabric FACE DOWN. You want the wrong side up.Get out your iron. Fold the fabric in 1/4 inch along the longest sides of your pieces. Iron the fold flat. Fold it again, iron it again. You will be doing this on both long sides of both of the pieces. If you are not comfortable using an iron, call for Mom or Dad. If you think they'd want to supervise - call for Mom or Dad.

Click to make the photo bigger

*** The folding your fabric edges over twice is how we keep the raw edge of fabric from shredding once it's sewn. Ironing just makes the fabric behave until you can get it pinned.

Pin along the edges across the fold, not down it. I showed you my "rule of thumb" in class for how to gauge pin spacing.  The pins are supposed to hold your fold in place until we sew that sucker down.

Now we look at the top and bottom of the two pattern pieces. Fold those in 1/4 inch, iron them and pin them. These only need to be folded and ironed once before pinning.

If you have ANY questions or worries, call me. My phone number will be posted on the FB page. I am available 24 hours a day. (Seriously, I don't sleep like a normal person)

****Thrifty notes
I'm poor so I'm always looking for ways to pinch a penny till the indian screams. Joanns Fabrics usually has some kind of coupon online that can be used to shave some money off the fabric purchase. It's better to buy in store than online as they have a 2 yard minimum for online purchases. Keep an eye out on the remnants bin at Walmart. Sometimes you can get lucky. Right now there are scads of Halloween fabric sales, so cotton fabric will not be very expensive. Luna LOVES black & goth fabrics, so this is my best time for fabric shopping for her. :)

See you Friday!

Pizza Time!

Today in class we made pizza. Yay! As I mentioned, Pizza is not the healthiest of food options. We can tweak it a little to make it better... but it's still not best. :) Yummy, tho.

Pizza dough -
1 packet Yeast
1 tbsp Sugar
1 c Warm/Hot Water

In the bowl of your electric mixer, dump the yeast and the sugar then add the hot water. Walk away for about 5 - 10 minutes. When you come back it should look a little like this:

Add to this bubbly goo:
1/4c ground flax seed
1 c whole wheat flour
1 1/4c all purpose or bread flour
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp Adobo Crillollo or Garlic Salt
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

And mix with your dough hook (or just the beater blade if that's all you have) until it forms a ball.
Lightly dust your work surface with flour and knead the dough until it becomes a smooth ball. Put your dough ball into a greased bowl and coat lightly with oil. Cover with a wet paper towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Toss the dough onto your floured board and knead it gently, then put it back in the bowl - covered for another 30 minutes.

Separate your dough ball into 3 pieces. Roll out your dough in a roughly circular shape. It will be twice the thickness that you roll out after cooking. Place the dough on your Pizza pan before adding sauce and toppings. It really does make life easier.

I use herbed tomato paste instead of tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce. I like the thickness and sweetness of it. One small tin of tomato paste will be enough for 3 pizzas. Unless you really really like tomato paste, then maybe open two of em.

Spread sauce over raw dough. Spice to desired levels. Add cheese and toppings then bake for 17-20 minutes at 350.

Dim Sum Recipe

Sauce:
1 c Soy Sauce
1/4 c OJ Concentrate
1 Tbsp Minced Ginger Root

Mix all ingredients and allow them to sit for at least an hour.

Wrappers:
2.5 c Flour ( we used 1/2 white wheat and 1/2 bread flour, but all purpose will do just fine)
1 c almost boiling water

If you are blending flours, mix them together before adding water. Drizzle water into flour and stir until the dough starts pulling together. Knead until you have a soft dough ball. Place in ziplock bag and let rest for at least 15 minutes. The dough can rest for at least 2 hours. It should be as soft as your earlobe when you squeeze the bag.

***NOTE**** Our dough today was crazy tough. I messed up the water amount somehow. We still had dough, but your dough from THIS recipe will me much softer and delicate than what we were working with.


Filling:
1 pound ground pork
1 medium carrot - grated finely
2 scallions - diced small
1 tsp Chinese Five Spice
2 Tbsp Shortening (crisco)

Mix all filling ingredients in a bowl. Make sure you don't have any brown blobs of five spice hiding in the meat. It should all look the same.

Assembly:
Break off chunks of dough that are about the size of a walnut and roll them into a 3" diameter circle. Fill with the meat mixture and seal the dumplings.

Cooking:

Steam 6 dumplings at a time for 12 minutes until done. They should be firm in the middle when you poke them with a careful finger. Steam burns hurt, people. Be careful. Cut the first dumpling to be sure it is cooked all the way through and adjust your timing to suit your needs.

Serve:
Pour some sauce over your lovely cooked dumplings and chow down. I suggest steamed broccoli on the side to make a well balanced healthy meal.

Easy Cesar Chicken Breast

Remember that staples list? Mhmm. Here's where it's important. This recipe calls for only 4 items.

What's important is learning how to cook chicken without annihilating it. Undercooked chicken is very bad. Most meat needs an interior temp of 160 degrees to kill off any bacteria. Bacteria is what makes you sick. Meat thermometers are not expensive. There is another way to test, if you don't have a thermometer.

Make a fist with your thumb covering your index finger's big middle knuckle. The thumb should be flat and you should be using light pressure to make the fist. Not a tight "Hulk smash!" fist, but some pressure in there. Poke the meaty part that bumps up next to the base of your thumb. Does your poking finger bounce a little when you jab that meaty spot? That's what boneless chicken breast will feel like when it is finished cooking. Chicken should rest a little after cooking. It will keep cooking for the next few minutes once you take the meat from the oven. Give your chicken about 5 minutes, then cut into it. If you see pink - toss that sucker back in the oven, and make your fist a wee bit tighter next time. You can use a spoon or a fork to poke the chicken, rather than your darling digit. In the same way it's not fun to burn yourself on hot meat, it's not fun to stab yourself hard in the hand with a fork. Be gentle, smart and safe. 

Cesar Chicken Breast - Recipe

2 Boneless Chicken Breast Halves

1 t Adobo Crillolo

1 T Sazon Complete

2 T Ken's Cesar Salad Dressing

Foil

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Trim and rinse your chicken breasts. Lay them on a sheet of foil that has been placed on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Sprinkle the tops with your dry seasonings, then drizzle the Cesar Salad dressing over the spice. Fold the foil up and seal the edges to make one foil package. Does it have to be perfect? Nope. Just try to keep from making holes in the foil. You're going to want those drippings later. Cook for 20-25 minutes depending on the size of your chicken breasts. When you take the chicken out of the oven carefully open the foil, not wanting to get burned by the steam that will be released. Poke your chicken in the thickest part. Feel almost right? Yay! Seal the foil back up and let it sit. Still not too sure? Cut into it. A touch pinkish? Close the foil and let the interior heat finish the job. More than a touch pink? Stick it back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so. 

There are lovely drippings caught up under your chicken. Waste not, grasshopper. If I am going to serve the chicken diced (in a pasta salad or green salad, for example) or sliced (in a hot pocket or pita sandwich) then make sure to toss the cut chicken in the juices and let it sit for at least 10 minutes to soak up all that goodness. Otherwise, you can use this juice in place of water in rice or couscous as a lovely side dish or make a gravy with a little bit of flour/water roux.

Garibaldi cookies - Recipe

My mom was crazy hooked on these cookies for a while, then they stopped being sold. *gasp* I found a recipe. They were called Sunshine Raisin Cookies or something like that. I like this basic recipe because it does teach a couple of really good to know lessons.

1. Raisins must be chopped before cooking. If not, they swell and become crunchy tick things that don't stick to anything and fall out of what you're eating. I run mine through an electric mini chopper until they barely start to make a ball.

2. Raisins might be tough in your cooking unless you hit them with a bit of hot water. This works for any dried fruit, really. Craisins? Yep, them too. I use a Tablespoon of hot water per cup of chopped dried fruit. How hot? Stick your finger in it. If you say "Wow, that's hot!" then it's hot enough. If you scream and need ice - that's too hot, silly biscuit. :) Boiling water and skin are not a good combination. Like, ever.

3. Raisins and apricots are high in iron. There may be times that this is a good thing for you. Girls, when you hit 13 or so, ask your mama. She'll splain it. Boys, this isn't so much a tip for y'all.

4. Butter vs Margarine vs Shortening - Each has their own benefit. When a recipe asks for butter, you can't always substitute margarine.. The difference is in the fat content. Margarine has a lot of water in it, butter does not. It's better to substitute shortening for butter, rather than margarine.

5. What the heck is "cutting in butter"? You slice butter or toss smallish chunks of shortening or margarine into your dry (flour) mixture and use two knives slicing across each other in an X pattern - blade to blade - to chop your fat into eensy teensy bits. Toss them around in the flour as you cut to coat them in the flour so the bits don't stick to each other. It's only butter, you don't have to use sharp knives. If your fat starts to get mushy, toss the bowl into the fridge for about 10 minutes then come back for it and keep cutting.Why do this at all? It creates a finer more layered texture to the finished product.

Well, enough of that. Let's get to the recipe. I found this recipe on the King Arthur Baking site, then modified it slightly.

Garibaldi Biscuits

1/3 C White Flour

2/3 C Whole Wheat Flour

1 T Powdered Sugar

1 t Baking Powder

1/4 t Salt

6 T cold butter

1 T Frozen OJ Concentrate

4 T Cold Water

1 T Molasses

1/4 t Almond Extract

1 1/2 c Chopped Raisins (or mixed dried fruit)

1 1/2 T Hot Water

Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl. Chop dried fruit and mix in the hot water. Let it sit. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like crumbly sand. Add molasses, OJ concentrate, almond extract and cold water. Mix until it begins to form a lump. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about a half hour or so. When your dough has become firm, roll it out on a board that is lightly dusted with flour. Make a rough rectangle shape that is about 1/8th of an inch thick. Spread the raisins on half of your rectangle. Is it gonna be pretty? Nope. Are they going to be a little chunky in places? Yep. Fold the un-raisined dough over the raisined dough. Roll it out again ending with a slab that is between 1/8th and 1/4 of an inch thick. Tthe edges are going to be janky. That's totally ok. You can fold those bits up and roll em flat into the rest of your dough. Some raisins may pop through the dough. That's cool, don't sweat it.

Cut the dough into squares or rectangles and toss em on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.

 

Some notes on this recipe:
Why the OJ Concentrate? It helps develop the flavor of the Whole Wheat Flour.
Why the Molasses? This gives the dough a darker appearance and a touch of sweetness.
Why the Almond extract? I prefer it to vanilla and it gives baked treats a unspecified yumminess.

One Basic Dough Recipe

This recipe is the one I use for Pizza dough, Hot Pockets and Pita Bread.

Dough V1
1 packet Yeast
1 cup Warm Water (above room temp but not too hot to stick a finger into)
1 tsp Molasses
1 tsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Oil
2.5 cups Flour + more for kneading
Spray Oil

Put yeast packet into mixer bowl. Add molasses, sugar and warm water. Stir it in three circles with a spoon. Walk away for 5 minutes.

If you see brownish foamy stuff in your bowl when you come back, it's ON! This is the yeast "proofing", which means that your yeast is doing as it should. If the yeast does NOT get foamy, your water was too hot or too cold.

Dump the flour into your mixing bowl on top of the yeasty foam. This is where you choose which flours you want to use or if you want to throw a bit of herbs into the dough to make it prettier and add some flavor.  Mix on low until combined while drizzling the oil into your dough.

***Mixers have a special attachment for making dough. It's called a dough hook. It makes things easier, but if you don't have one it's ok. Your bread won't be mad at you.

Scrape your dough onto a floured work surface. Make sure to have enough flour to cover the entire area you expect to use but not too much as it will dry out your dough. Knead the dough with the heels of your hands until it has become smooth and springy. This is another finesse area. Too much kneading will wreck your dough. Push the dough away from you with firm but not Hulk pressure, then flip it on the board, turning the dough 90 degrees. Do it again. And again. And some more. Until your dough has become a springy ball of happy. 

Place your dough ball in a bowl that is at least 3 times the size of your dough ball. Spray oil to coat the bowl first, then spray your dough as well. Cover with a moist paper towel and let it rise for about 45 minutes. The dough should double in size.

Once the dough has risen, it's time to make what you want with it.