Baking Powder Biscuits

One of the first things we were taught to make in Grade 8 Home-Ec. A great, versatile standard. If you add a little extra milk, (on purpose or by accident) to make a stickier dough, you can either drop them onto the top of a bubbling stew to make dumplings, or drop them onto a greased cookie sheet for "drop biscuits". Add cheese and bacon! Add chopped green onion or chives! Add sugar and bake in round "cakes" to make scones! You can even use the baking powder biscuit as a pizza crust in a pinch. Perfect with soup or stew for dinner, or for breakfast, hot and fresh with jam or to hold an egg and ham sandwich.

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 cup of butter or hard margarine

3/4 to 1 cup milk

Lightly grease a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 375*F.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender. If you don't have a pastry blender, you can use a couple of knives to cut at the butter, or just use your fingers, kind of squishing the flour and butter together until the butter is broken up into little flour covered pieces and the mixture sort of resembles oatmeal.

Add the milk- start with 3/4 cup, and add a bit more if needed, gently folding it into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until it holds together. (*if you use whole wheat flour, it will take more milk than with white flour) Dough should be in a lump together but not sticky. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently roll out to 2 inch thickness. Either cut into circles (or hearts, or shamrocks or Christmas trees...) and place on prepared baking sheet. You can gently gather the scraps together and recut it. OR (as I usually do) just cut the rolled dough into 12 squares and place on cookie sheet. 

Bake for 15-25 minutes, until biscuits are risen and golden brown.

If you add too much dough and it's quite sticky, just drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, dividing it into 12 mounds. Bake as indicated until risen and nicely browned.

VARIATIONS: 

To make dumplings for stew, add 1 cup to 1  1/4 cups milk to make a soft, sticky dough. Drop by Tablespoons onto hot stew. Cover and let the stew simmer for 15-25 minutes until the tops of the dumplings are firm to the touch. To make dumplings in the Slow Cooker, cover the top of the slow cooker (under the lid) with a clean tea towel. This keeps the condensing steam from dripping back onto the dumplings which keeps them from getting cooked properly on top.

Cheese Biscuits: Add 3/4 to 1 cup of grated cheese with the flour, either before or after you cut in the butter.

Cheese and Bacon Biscuits: Add 3/4 cup of grated cheese and 1/2 cup of cooked, chopped bacon before you add the milk.

Cheese, Bacon and Onion Biscuits: Add 3/4 cup of grated cheese, 1/2 cup of cooked, chopped bacon and 1/3 cup of chopped green onion before you add the milk.

Easy Scones: Add 1/2 cup of sugar to the flour mixture, and increase the butter to 1/4 cup. Divide the dough in half, after the milk is mixed in, and shape it into two 6 inch circles. Score the circles with a knife, cutting each into 6ths. Brush the tops and sides with a little milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake as directed for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Italian Style Bean Soup

Company's Coming Slow Cooker (1998) Recipes' "Beef Minestrone" soup revamped. It's now a vegetable and bean soup with Italian seasoning. Use OXO beef bouillon (make sure "wheat protein" is NOT listed in the ingredients) to keep it Gluten-free. A quick, hearty, satisfying soup.


1- 796 ml (19 oz) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1- 398 ml (14 z) can kidney or mixed beans with liquid
2 cups water
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup finely sliced carrots
2 cups diced potato
1 cup diced zucchini
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 teaspoons OXO* bouillon powder
1/2 teaspoon salt/ to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper/ to taste

Combine all ingredients in large pot. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered 15-20 minutes until vegetables are cooked. Serve with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Serves 4

*read the ingredients. To make Gluten-Free soup, make sure "wheat protein" is not listed as an ingredient. OXO bouillon powder should be good, but always check the ingredients first.

Cabbage Borscht

At Thomas' request. The recipe I "use" is in The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, but as I was looking at it the other day I realized that if one followed this recipe verbatim it has the potential to become a pot of bones with a lump of onion and a whole cooked cabbage... so I'll write it out the way I make it. It's one of those "start with what you've got, and see where you end up" kind of recipes. So... let's see where we end up.


You will need: soup bones and/ or beef bouillon, a large onion, a small green cabbage, 4 or 5 medium potatoes, fresh dill or dried dill weed, fresh or dried parsley, a bay leaf, a can of condensed tomato soup, cream/whole milk/condensed milk. *Leftover roast beef is a good add-in option. I frequently make this soup with bouillon and add leftover beef at the end, with the tomato soup.

If you're starting with soup bones, put them in a large pot and cover with cold water. Simmer for 3 hours; Remove bones and strain the broth into a large bowl.

Finely chop the onion, and grate, shred or finely chop the cabbage (as for making Cole slaw). Clean and/or peel the potatoes, then dice them.

Put onion, cabbage and potatoes into the large pot. Add the beef broth and measure in enough water to cover, OR just cover with water. For every cup of water you use, add 1 teaspoon of beef bouillon. Add the dill, parsley and bay leaf.

Cook until the vegetables are tender.

Add the tomato soup. If you have quite a large pot full, (if your cabbage was bigger than mine or something) you may have to add two cans of soup. Let it simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavours. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Just before serving, add cream/milk/condensed milk (1-2 cups) OR have the cream available for each person to add as much or as little as they like.

Sausage Soup

Copied from a recipe of Grandma Friesen's into my recipe box, it was called "Mother's Best Soup" in her book. This is our "potato, carrot, sausage, bean" soup. A family favourite, and always good on a cold winter day. It's not a terribly "exact" recipe, as I use my recipe as a guideline, but I'll do my best to give you some amounts so it tastes good for you too. It tastes very good without the cream, so can be served dairy free if desired. If you have issues with dairy, serve it with the cream on the side, allowing everyone to add it as they like.


4 small potatoes (figure 1 small potato per person)
4 large carrots (again, about 1 carrot per person)
Half a package of farmer sausage
Water
1 medium onion, finely chopped, or 1 tablespoon onion powder
2 bay leaves
1 piece of whole anise seed (or 1/4 teaspoon anise extract)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried savoury, or 3 pieces of fresh summer savoury (in herb/plant form)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can kidney beans, drained (large or small can doesn't matter)
cream*

Cut potatoes, carrots and sausage into small cubes/ pieces. Put in large pot together with onion and spices/ seasoning. Cover with cold water, then bring to a boil. Simmer together until vegetables are soft and sausage is cooked. (let it simmer for at least half an hour)

10 minutes before serving, add kidney beans, and check for seasoning (adding salt and pepper if needed)

Immediately before serving, stir in enough cream (or canned milk) to give the broth a creamy look.

Serve with fresh buns and cheese for the full Mennonite experience.

And enjoy.

Should serve 4-6

*To keep it dairy free, put the cream on the table rather than adding it directly to the soup. Let everyone add it to their bowl after the soup is served.

Coconut Beef Curry

"This slow-cooker stew is perfect for family meals yet fancy enough for entertaining. Red curry paste is popular in Indian and Thai dishes and can be found in the Asian food section of the supermarket. If you can't find it, use curry powder instead. Serve with hot cooked couscous or basmati rice." So saith the intro to this amazing beef dish that I found in a Beef marketing pamphlet in the meat section at my grocery store. Try it. It's a little bit different, and just slightly exotic.

1 tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable/ canola oil
2 lb (1 kg) beef simmering steak (e.g. Cross Rib, Blade or Top Blade- although any beef roast or steak will do, including stewing beef)
2 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons (30 ml) paprika
1 tablespoon (15 ml) ground cumin
2 teaspoons (10 ml) red curry paste (or 1 Tbsp/ 15 ml curry powder)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped (you could leave the peel on to add a bit of fibre)
1 lb (500 g) baby carrots, peeled (or regular carrots peeled and cut into chunks)
1 can (14 oz/ 398 ml) coconut milk (not sweet coconut cream)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) tomato paste
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
1/2 cup (125 ml) dried apricots, sliced
toasted silvered almonds or chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat in large nonstick skillet. In batches, cook beef strips for 2 to 3 minutes or until browned. Add onions, garlic, paprika, cumin, curry paste and cinnamon; saute for 2 minutes or until fragrant.

2. Transfer mixture to 14- 24 cup (3.5 -6 L) slow cooker; stir in potatoes, carrots, coconut milk, tomato paste, salt and 1/2 cup (125 ml) water.


3. Cook, covered, on low for 8 to 10 hours or high for 4 to 6 hours or until bubbling and vegetables are tender. Stir in apricots; cook for 15 minutes. Serve sprinkled with almonds or cilantro if desired.