Easy, fast, good, dumplings...

Not like the Chinese or Japanese dumplings you might be thinking of, I'm talking about European soup style dumplings. They are so SO easy to make. Super cheap, I'd be willing to say that you have EVERYTHING you need to make them in your home right now.


You can make them in a matter of minutes. Here's what you do.

Put some stock in a wide pot on the stove, leave it to simmer(I'm impatient and crank my stove to high, then adjust it to a simmer once it's boiled)

Then, get a bowl, mix 1 cup of flour(Sprouted would be best), 2 teaspoons Baking power, and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt.

Break an egg into a 1 cup measuring cup and fill the rest of the way with milk, mix into the flour mixture, if it's so dry you can't even mix it add a little more milk, if it's too wet add more flour, you want this to be as stiff as possible for the best dumplings.

Now all you have to do is throw little spoonfuls of the dough into the simmering water, making sure not to crowd the pot, put the lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes.

You are done, easy stuff right?

These taste best when eaten right after they are made.

The best part about this recipe is that it is SO diverse, you can add whatever you want to the dumplings for flavor(Think cheese, or green onions) if you add your extras before you add the liquids it will incorporate easier.

You could use gravy instead of stock for a heartier meal.

And the stock doesn't have to be plain, throw some meat and veggies in there, now you've got a real soup, and it didn't take that long did it?

As a side note, the ones in the picture I made by putting the dough in a ziploc bag and squeezing out the dough, snipping off little gobs at a time. When you make them by spooning them out they look so much more rustic!


Shared at:

Real food Wednesday @ Cheeseslave(Jan 6)

Quinoa Salad(My way)

When I used to work up at the heli-skiing lodge, the pastry chef would make an amazing rice salad almost every thursday for "T-goodie"(Tea time, same idea) and I LOVED IT. I would eat the left overs for lunch and snacks and any time that I could get away with it really. It was wonderful.

So when I was at home, I needed to fill my thursday gap. I needed my own salad, and I was(Still am really) on a big quinoa kick so I decided to make something similar, but with my favorite new grain!

So here it is Quinoa Salad, the way I like it:

What you will need:

1 small red pepper
1 small cucumber(Or a quarter of a full long english cucumber)
1 quarter of a small red onion
3/4 cup of crumbled Feta Cheese
2 tbs olive oil
4 or 5 cups of cooked and cooled quinoa(I'll let you know how I cook it in a moment)
salt and pepper


So, I cook quinoa at a 1:2 ratio of quinoa to water, and just cook it up the same as I do rice. For extra "More better" quinoa, use stock instead of water, more nourishing and more flavor!

Next dice up your peppers, quarter your cucumber and then slice it thinly(but not paper thin) then slice your quarter of an onion REALLY thin. Toss all of this in a bowl with the feta cheese, on top of the quinoa, dump your olive oil on that and toss it around, then salt and pepper to taste.

It tastes best when you can leave it in the fridge for an hour or 2 after, but eat it right away if you want.

AND, if you are participating in Kimi's No sugar challenge next week, you can just omit the peppers(If I'm wrong about the cucumbers let me know), and you have your breakfast lunch and dinner for the next week... Or you could eat something else once and a while, but it's great for lunch and an one plate dinner.

Enjoy!

Shared at:

Pennywise Platter Thursday(Oct 1) @ The Nourishing Gourmet
Food Roots(Oct 1) @ Nourishing Days
Fight Back Fridays(Oct 2) @ Food Renegade
Real Food Wednesday(Sept 30)

Farmers Shepherds Pie!

I love LOVE love Shepherds pie. It's great. Mostly because I love mashed potatoes. I would live on mashed potatoes alone if I could. But since that's not possible I eat things with mashed potatoes to seem normal to everyone else in society(I jest).

Since Rene and I have been trying to only buy our food(except for dairy) at the farmers market(They just don't have any dairy there) This shepherds pie was a little bit improvised... but it was still delicious.


Farmers Market Shepherds Pie:

4 Small carrots(Not those huge ones you get from the supermarket)
4 or 5 Small parsnips(Same for the parsnips as the carrots)
1/2 an onion
5 or 6 potatoes(You could use less, but like I said... mashed potatoes rock my world)
1 small packet of lamb(I forgot to look at how much was in it)
3 tbs cream cheese
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce(The only not nourishing thing in here, I can't help it I love it)
A splash of milk
Butter for frying(Olive oil works good too)
Salt and pepper for taste.

Tools:

1 pot with a lid to fit all your potatoes in with some head space for boiling
1 frying pan
1 square Pyrex glass dish or something to it's equivalent
1 spatula(Just something to move around your cooking vegetables)
1 fork



You can peel your vegetables if you want. I don't. Now dice then all into small small cubes except the potatoes, dice your potatoes into approx 2 cm cubes(Smaller if you want them to cook faster) put in a pot and cover with water, set to boil.

In a frying pan set at medium to medium low, fry up your onions in the butter until they are translucent, then add in your carrots and parsnips fry them for a little it(I only fried mine very briefly, we like ours still crunchy when we eat them) then add in your lamb and fry it up till it's cooked then add in your worcestershire sauce and enough salt and pepper so that you are happy. Then dump in into your Pyrex dish.

While this is happening watch your potatoes, once they start to boil, turn the heat down to medium high and offset(I'll take a picture of this later) the lid so that the steam can still get out. Let it simmer like this for 20 minutes or so, then check your potatoes with a fork to see if they are done, they should be soft and slide right off the fork after you've stabbed them.

Once they are done drain your potatoes and mash the crap out of 'em. Add a little bit of milk so that your potatoes are smooth(that is the KEY to the best mashed potatoes ever) then add in your cream cheese and salt and pepper to taste. You can always add more cream cheese if you want. I tend to add quite a bit some people don't really like it all that much.

Now spread your potatoes on top of your meat.

All you have to do now is bake that puppy(Not your puppy, the pie silly) in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350.

Oh wait, then you dig in a enjoy!


Hope you liked it.




This recipe was shared at:

Food Roots
Penny Wise Platter @ Nourishing Gourmet

Hello world...

went out and applied for jobs today. Sent out 4 whole resumes into the world. Everyone can cross their fingers for me. I need a bloody job.

All the jobs I applied for were at clothing stores... This is a new job for me. I've done tons of customer service jobs before, but never a clothing shop.

Anyways.

I've started so lacto-fermenting. We are going to have radishes in a few days. I'm drooling just thinking about it. MmmmMm. I've also started putting some life back into my sourdough starters. AND I'm making broth. All this in the last few hours to be honest.

I'm excited to start eating some good food again. I'm tired and irritable right now and I don't like it at all. I know part of it is because I'm not sleeping right(there is no existing schedule anymore)but part of it is because we have been eating out and when we eat at home it's not great food. Oh just thinking about all the good food I will be eating soon makes me tummy happy with me.


In other news, Rene is going to try washing his hair with baking soda and vinegar. He's hoping it will help with is dandruff I don't see why it wouldn't. It's SO much cheaper than shampoo too. We bought a box of baking soda for less than a dollar.(Mind you it's not the aluminum free kind, we tried but it was like 10 dollars for about half a cup of it.... not really plausible for us.) So anyways I'm very excited that he's on the bandwagon with me. He kinda started today. Since he's got really short hair. I doubt he's going to have to much trouble with the whole thing.(Lucky guy)

Alright. That's all I got for now.