I gave Celia and Charlie a cup of milk this morning with their breakfast. A little while later Celia comes up to me and says, "Mommy, there's something wrong with this milk, it's going to make me throw up." I started to laugh at her and asked Andy to try the milk (He's our official taster of things that might have turned bad). He said the milk wasn't bad, it just needed to be used today or tomorrow. So voila, Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings. It was a perfect homestye soup for this rainy, cloudy Sunday. It also used up the rest of the chicken that we grilled last night. Thanks to my Mama for helping me figure out the homemade dumplings. I had only made them with Bisquick up until now. They ended up being really easy to make.
Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings
Ingredients for Soup:
2 Cups Cooked, Chopped, Chicken
2 Carrots
1 Small Yellow Onion
1 Green Pepper
1 TBSP Garlic
6 Cups Water
1 Tsp Salt
1. Chop carrots, onion, and green pepper.
2. Put chicken, carrots, onion and green pepper in a large soup pot. Add garlic, water and salt.
3. Cook on high so soup will boil. Cook until carrots are finished and onions are translucent.
4. Start to add spoon size dumplings to soup. Let soup continue boiling. After the last dumpling is dropped in the pot, cover and cook for 7 to 8 more minutes. Dumplings will plump up and expand.
Ingredients for Dumplings:
2 Cups Flour
1 1/4 Cups Milk
1 Egg
Pinch of Salt
Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. This will be a wet dough. After finished mixing, drop into soup pot by spoonfuls
It's funny how weekends are supposed to be filled with relaxing downtime, but they often end up being busier, but more fun, than the work week! We've had an exciting weekend hanging out with friends and family! In fact, some of them are still hanging out in our kitchen. We also got to eat out at some really great restaurants. But don't worry What's for Leftovers readers, I still managed to squeeze in a couple of new recipes. This one is a variation of a recipe I read in a Guideposts a while back. It's called a Finnish Pancake. I told Celia and Charlie it was a 'GIANT' pancake. No matter what you call it, it's delicious. After you finish baking it, make sure you let it completely cool. This gives the inside time to settle. Top with fried apples and powdered sugar for a breakfast treat or a great dessert!
Fried Apples
Ingredients:
8 Medium Apples
1/4 Cup Honey
2 TBSP Butter
1/2 Cup Water
Pinch of Salt
1. Spray a large frying pan.
2. Peel Apples. Cut into large slices and put into frying pan.
3. Add honey, butter, water and salt.
4. Cook on high heat until water has evaporated. While cooking, stir frequently so apples don't burn. Lower heat and continue cooking until apples are soft and smell like apple pie filling.
Finnish Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 Cup Pancake Mix
2 1/2 Cups Milk
4 Eggs
1/4 Cup Honey
4 TBSP Butter
Powdered Sugar
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray a 10"-11" round baking pan or skillet with PAM.
3. Pour pancake mix, milk, eggs, honey and butter into a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into baking pan.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Top should be golden brown when 'Finnished'.
5. Let cool completely. After slicing, top with powdered sugar and fried apples.
Aaahhh, for the first time in a very long time, we have a calm, uneventful weekend planned. I am so excited! I can't wait for Andy, Celia, Charlie and I to hang out and do laundry. You know you're getting older when doing laundry excites you more than going out on a weekend! We started our weekend off with a family dinner of pork loin leftovers. I am happy to say that after making my Pecan Pork Cakes and adding some pork to our baked beans, we are finished with the leftover pork and will be on to new leftover recipes. But first, the recipe for Pecan Pork Cakes. They are delicious! These are very similar to Crab Cakes, but with a sweeter taste and a smoother texture. I topped them with a tangy sauce; the recipe for it will follow the Pecan Pork Cakes' recipe. Hopefully your weekend will be as relaxing and productive as I'm planning on ours being!
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Pecan Pork Cakes
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups Chopped Pork
1/4 Cup Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Pecan Meal*
1/8 Cup Bread Crumbs
2 Eggs
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tsp Ground Mustard
1/4 Tsp Pepper
1 Pinch of Sugar
Grind chopped pork loin and cream cheese in food processor until smooth. Pour into a separate bowl. Add pecan meal, bread crumbs, and eggs. Mix thoroughly. Add spices and mix again. Heat oil in a frying pan. Form pork into 2" to 2 1/2" patties. Drop patties into oil and fry until golden brown. Flip and fry the other side until both sides are golden brown. Place on a plate with a paper towel, so the oil can drain off. This recipe makes roughly 7 cakes.
*If you do not have pecan meal, simply grind pecans up in your food processor until finely chopped.
Dipping Sauce
Ingedients:
1/8 Cup BBQ Sauce
1/8 Cups Sweet n' Sour Sauce
2 Packs of Soy Sauce (the kind you get with Chinese take-out)
1/2 TBSP Honey
Whisk all ingredients together. Serve with your Pecan Pork Cakes.
We are blessed with wonderful neighbors. We live in a quiet, little neighborhood and we have become good friends with the neighbors on all our sides and across the street. So, the other day on our snow day, our neighbor Marty brought us a bag of groceries because they were going out of town. I love when people give us food. It's always different from what I would buy and gives me new ideas for recipes. In the bag was half a cucumber. Normally I would just cut it up because Celia loves to eat cucumber slices, but instead I made a sweet bean salad with it. The good thing about this salad is that it tastes better the second day after marinating in the fridge overnight.
Sweet Bean Salad
Ingredients:
1/2 Large Green Pepper Chopped
1 Large Cucumber Chopped
15 Baby Carrots Chopped
1/4 to 1/2 Cup Onion Chopped (add more, if you like onions a lot)
1 Can of Beans (I used small white ones)
2 TBSP Sugar
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 TBSP Rice Wine Vinegar
Salt
Pepper
In a large bowl, mix together green peppers, cucumbers, carrots, onions and beans. In a separate bowl make dressing. Whisk together sugar, olive oil, and vinegar. Pour over veggie mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. I was very generous with both.
Happy Super Bowl Day! We are having our neighbors over tonight to watch the big game. So, I've been working on some snacks for us to eat. Of course one of my main ingredients is leftovers! I turned the dollar rolls from my birthday into bread dippers for our spinach dip. They are really tasty and easy to eat so you can still pay attention to the game. They're also a leftover you can make into a new dish! If you have any of these leftover, turn them into breadcrumbs by throwing them into your food processor or cut them up into croutons for your salads. In not so recent news, Kurt Warner has decided to retire from football at age 38. I guess he decided he was too old to undergo another season of being chased down by guys like DeMarcus Ware. As a Rams fan, I would like to take this opportunity to say farewell to Kurt, who took our rams to two Super Bowls and won one. Look on the bright side Kurt, at least you can 'pass' these wonderful snacks out for Super Bowls to come!
Dinner Roll Dippers
Ingredients:
Dollar Rolls
Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
Salt
Italian Seasoning
Cut each dollar roll into four circular slices. Coat a large frying pan with a thick (1/4" to 1/3") layer of oil and heat up. Place bread in frying pan after oil is heated. Fry side of bread until crispy and light brown, then flip. Right after flipping, season cooked side with a little salt, garlic powder and Italian seasoning. When sprinkling Italian seasoning, roll it between your fingers a little, so it crushes and is finer. Take out of pan when other side is toasted. Cover a large plate with a paper towel for olive oil to drain on. Place finished toasted rolls on plate and season other side. Let cool and enjoy with dip.
