preciouspeas

We were preparing food for our potluck fellowship dinner tonight at church.  I thought I'd share this favorite recipe of ours with you.

Chicken and Dumplings

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders
1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 tablespoons butter
1 russet potato, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced or thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 rib celery, diced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1/3 palm full
2 tablespoons flour, a handful
1 quart chicken broth or stock, canned or paper container,

1 cup frozen green peas

Dumplings:

1 c flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vinegar

shake of salt and pepper

3/4 c milk

Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Dice tenders into bite size pieces and set aside. Wash hands.

Place a large pot on stove over medium high heat. Add oil, butter, vegetables and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season mixture with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Stir broth or stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir.

Mix biscuit mix in a bowl.  Drop tablespoonfuls of prepared mix into the pot, spacing dumplings evenly. Cover pot tightly and reduce heat to medium low. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to thicken sauce a bit. Stir peas into the pan, remove chicken and dumplings from heat and serve in shallow bowls.

We had a wonderful day of school, exploring God's creation today during our nature study.  The Juggler found us an interesting specimen to observe today in the backyard.  We were looking for our friend the toad that hangs out in our garden, but instead she came across this. . . . . .

Green Lynx Spider

God, in His infinite wisdom, created an amazing spider to rid us of those pesky insects that destroy our crops.  The spider's only downfall, that we could discover, was that he also eats honey bees which are beneficial to all of us.  For what would our world be without honey!

I hope your day was wonderful!

Blessings,
Michelle

Fresh Blueberry Pie was just what we needed to accompany our Corn Chowder tonight for the potluck at church.  Summertime is by far the best time for a slice of pie, iced tea and potlucks!

So I tied on my apron and went to Warm Pie, Happy Home and began making the doubled pie crust.  Split the dough in half and put one side in the fridge for the topping.

Add in the blueberry mixture which includes:

6 cups fresh blueberries

3/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup flour

Mix all those together in a bowl, pour into the pie crust and top with 1/4 TBSP lemon juice and 1 TBSP Butter.

For the top crust, use a star shaped cookie cutter to make the design.  Pinch the bottom and top crusts together and flute the edges. Cover pie edge with foil to prevent too much browning.

Cool for two hours before eating, so the juices have a chance to firm up. When you are ready to slice and serve, you can warm your slice up in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Don't forget a dollop of Vanilla Ice-Cream!

You'd think that I'd planted 20 Roma Tomato plants or something with the multitudes of tomatoes we are picking.  But, really, we only have 2 plants.  Last week I canned 8 jars of spaghetti sauce and yesterday I got 3 jars of salsa canned.  It's amazing that all this started from one small 4 x 4' square garden. With the heat of the southern, summer sun, we aren't getting much of anything else.

It seems as if my energy level has been draining since we've been done doing school.  I just can't seem to get motivated to do much of anything productive.  Anyone else having that problem?  Maybe, it's the heat, which is slowly creeping up into the high 90's again.

Here is by far the best salsa recipe I've used.  It doesn't have any catchy name, so feel free to leave me name suggestions in a comment.

_____________________ Salsa

• 8 - 12 Roma Tomatoes
• 1 Green Pepper
• 1 Medium Red Onion
• 1 Jalapeno Pepper (optional)
• 1 - 2 cloves Garlic
• 1/2 c fresh Cilantro
• 1 TBSP Lime Juice
• 1 tsp Salt

Grind vegetables altogether in a food processor, then add in the lime juice and salt.  The longer the salsa sits, the hotter it gets!

Blessings,

Michelle

My sister (the aunt that "rocks" according to my girls) sent me an assortment of Numi Tea.  I tried the  "Bushman's Brew - Honeybush" and it was very good.  The best thing about these teas is the fact that you can steep them for a long time and they don't get bitter.  My sister also tells me that you can use the tea bag over a second time (but the flavor might not be as strong).  Be sure to check out the site and enjoy some tea!

Today was a day for baking.  As you can see I got quite a bit accomplished.  I needed to make two loaves of wheat bread because the girls are eating through it so quickly.  I think they are asking for more sandwiches lately. 

I also made some blueberry muffins (no, blueberries were not on sale, but I had a craving for them).  Here is the the recipe:

The Best Blueberry Muffins

6 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups plus 2 TBSP flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 large egg

2 large egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 c blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375; butter large or small muffin tins, and set aside.  In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add egg, egg yolks, and vanilla; mix until well combined.  Reduce speed to low; alternate adding reserved flour mixture and milk to mixer, beginning and ending with flour.  Remove bowl from mixer; gently fold in berries by hand.  Divide batter among muffin tins; sprinkle generously with sugar.  Bake until light golden, about 45 minutes for large muffins, about 30 minutes for small muffins.  Cool in pan 15 minutes.  Remove from pan; transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.

Anytime I can make Sloppy Joe's for my DH, he is in hog heaven!  I thought I would share the recipe with you.  I need to credit The Duggar Family for the recipe.  Michelle Duggar has some really wonderful recipes on her website.

Sloppy Joe's

1 lbs. ground beef

1/2 c. ketchup

1/2 c. barbeque sauce

2 tsp. liquid smoke

1/2 pouch of dried onion soup mix

Brown the ground beef in a skillet.  Pour the cooked meat into a crockpot, and add in the remaining ingredients.  Cook on low for a couple of hours.  Serve on hamburger buns.  Enjoy!

We have found a great recipe for whole wheat bread that my girls LOVE!  It's from The Family Homestead .  Be sure to check out all of Crystal's other great recipes.  Thanks Crystal for making my girls happy with homemade bread!