Another Saturday Night.......

I have come to enjoy Saturday nights in my kitchen!  Wow how times have changes!  When we are young, we want to be out on the town.  As for me, I cherish time at home.  It allows time to create dishes and master some of my standards in the kitchen.  As the today began to come to an end, I  wondered what to have for dinner.  Whenever I begin a plan, I think about leftovers and how to use them.

It is amazing to think about how much food goes to waste in our world, it begins with each of us in our own homes to reduce this from happening.  According to the NRDC, Americans put 40% of their food into landfills. (http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-ip.pdf). This is a staggering figure!  There is good news though, with planning, you can do your part to reduce this in your home. Tonight's menu was to use food in my refrigerator so it does not go to waste.  I used a basic recipe for vegetable beef soup and let my creativity kick in!  As you work through my recipe, add and subtract the kind of vegetables to assist you in your endeavors to use your leftovers.

Do keep in mind the four day throw away rule, for more information visit http://www.4daythrowaway.org.  Remember, when in doubt, throw it out!

Vegetable beef soup Aspen Style

1 lb beef steak cut in cubes
1/8 c flour
1/2c wine to deglaze pan
2 tbs. butter
1 medium onion chopped
4 medium carrots, sliced
3 small potatoes scrubbed and chopped
3cups beef broth
3 cups water
1 qt tomato sauce
1/2 c barley
2 cups Kale


Directions:
1.  Melt butter in stock pot, sauté onions, carrots and potatoes.
2.  In a medium skillet, heat 2tbs.  Canola oil.  Toss cubed beef in 1/8 flour, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. black pepper.  Put floured meat in skillet.  Cook until meat has just a little pink.  
3.  Remove meat from pan, add to the vegetables.  Pour in beef broth ( I like to use beef base, it is less expensive and goes a long way) and water to this mixture.
4.  Deglaze the meat pan with wine.  Stir in wine just as you would for gravy.  You could use water for this process.  The wine enhances the beef flavor so it is not required to use wine.  Add this to the soup mixture.
5.  Add the tomato sauce and barley. Bring soup to complete boil stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to medium and cook for at least a half hour.  For more tender meat, cook longer.

*This would be a good slow cook soup.  

1.  Toss meat in flour, salt and pepper

2.  Chop onions, cut in half, and then in threes

3.  Cook floured meat in canola oil.

4.  Slice Carrots, I do not peel my carrots, I just scrub them so they are very clean.

5.  This is what pan looks like after I deglazed it, most of the meat drippings are gone and add lovely flavor to the soup.

Kale adds lots of vitamins and minerals along with color!

Everything stirred in the stock pot together, the aroma fills the air with a beautiful smell that says soups on!

Add your favorite sandwich and perhaps a nice glass of wine and you are ready to indulge!

Fall is the beginning of crisp cold weather and in a way, it is sad as summer is gone, but there is so much to love about fall!  The whole landscape is colorful and it beckons the cry for comfort food.  Soup is such a creative way to be healthy while staying on a budget.  It adds to family gatherings or quiet evenings at home.

I am mindful that Nebraska gives us lovely seasons and I am reminded of one of my favorite bible verses, Ecclesiastes 3:1 to everything there is a season.  Enjoy yourself right where you are and add delightful foods to the experience and you will have memories for a lifetime to share with your family and for generations to come.

Beautiful Nebraska in the Fall!

Fall and Winter, It's In the Air!

 

My favorite time of the year is fall, the colors, crisp mornings that fill you with life when you go outside.  Best of all, time for soup!  There are so many things you can do with soup and they are healthy and of course, left overs galore!  One thing I had never had before I married my husband was Chicken and Dumplings.  I have mastered this through the years and it is truly a comfort food.  I love to add a lot of vegetables to it and we double the amount of dumplings because they are just the best ever.  Add a fall dessert like apple crisp and you have a meal.  Here is my favorite recipe:

 

Chicken and Dumplings

 

Ingredients:

Soup

2 tbs. butter

1 medium onion chopped

1 stalk celery chopped

2 small potatoes chopped

1 16 ounce frozen mixed vegetables

2 medium chicken breasts chopped (un-cooked)

4 cups water

4 cups chicken broth ( chicken base works well, read directions for amount)

1 tsp. sea salt or regular table salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Dumplings

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbs. dried parsley

1 tsp. dried oregano

3 tbs. canola oil

3/4 cup milk

 

 

Directions:  Soup

In large stock pot, sauté onion and celery in butter until vegetables are translucent in color.  Add frozen vegetables and chicken breast, water and chicken broth.  Cover pot, stir occasionally until vegetables tender and chicken is no longer pink.  While the chicken and vegetable mixture is cooking, you can then put together the dumplings. 

 

Dumplings:

 

Whisk milk and oil together in a small bowl.  In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and herbs together.  Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the milk and oil mixture into the flour.  It will be crumbly.  Shape the dough into tablespoon sizes and place on top of the soup mixture ( you will want the soup mixture to be almost to boiling, small bubbles rising to the top).  When all of the dumplings are placed on top, cover and simmer ( keep it at a gentle boil) for 10 to 12 minutes.  Do not lift the lid.  To check for doneness, place toothpick in center of dumpling and if it comes out clean, the dumplings are ready.

 

At this point, take a cooking sheet and place a cooling rack on the sheet.  Carefully take the dumplings out and place on cookie sheet with a slotted spoon.  Mix 1/4 cup flour with 1/2 cup milk until no lumps, bring the soup mixture to a light boil and add the flour and milk mixture, cook until desired thickness (If you like more of a soup consistency you may skip this part of the recipe).  When the soup is thickened, serve up in bowls and add the dumplings on top. 

 

**I always double the dumpling recipe as we like a lot of dumplings. 

 

Sauté celery and onions 

Add Potato

Cook to release the flavors of the vegetables

Add frozen vegetables and chopped chicken breast

Add water and chicken broth

Flour, Parsley, Baking Powder, Salt and Oregeno

Milk and Oil

Flour Mixture Combined

Well in middle of flour mixture and milk and oil poured into the well.

Mix dumplings, will look crumbly

Form into tablespoon, slotted spoon works well to put into broth

After you place on top of broth, put lid on top and cook.

Checking for doneness

Dumplings are done.

Place dumplings on cooling rack while you thicken soup



Soup

 

 



Chicken and Dumplings Ready to eat!

 

Soup is a great way to add lots of vegetables to your diet and just the right portion of protein.  I enjoy using the vegetables that have been leftover and are waiting to be used before they get to old and I have to toss them out.  If you are like me, the name of the game is nothing goes to waste!  As I was thinking about soup, I found this great YouTube that brings all of this together.  Happy fall and winter and try some soup!