Hearty White Bean Soup

Last week Ron and I went to Lake Barkley State Park in Kentucky.  We had lunch at their lodge, and everything was delicious.  One of the soups was a white bean soup.  Yesterday I tried to recreate it - with excellent results.

Hearty White Bean Soup

3 medium carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
fresh herbs (basic, parsley rosemary), chopped finely
3-4 quarts chicken stock
1 lb. dried beans (I like navy beans, but any white bean can be used.  You can also substitute canned beans)
optional: leftover ham (cubed)

Follow package directions to rinse and soak beans overnight.

In large soup pan, heat EVOO.  Add the carrots, celery and onion.  Saute until onions are translucent.  Add the chicken stock, salt/pepper, herbs, beans and ham (if desired).  Bring to a simmer and cook until the beans are tender, approximately one hour.

If the soup is too thick, you can add more chicken stock.  This recipe makes a lot.  We eat some of it at the time.  Then I put the rest in 1-quart containers and freeze for quick meals later.

I served this with a grilled cheese sandwich - and it was delicious!

Lisette's Apple Dumplings (made with Mountain Dew)

Lisette is my niece who currently teaches the children of missionaries in Kenya. She has an easy and delicious recipe for apple dumplings. Here's how she makes them:

Lisette’s Apple Dumplings

2 large apples

2 cans (10-ounce) crescent rolls

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

1 12-ounce can Mountain Dew

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with Pam.

Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside (cut out the seeds, of course).

Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Then pour the Mountain Dew over them. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the oven until golden brown.

Quick and Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Yesterday, RT and I flew to Georgia to visit my mother for awhile. Out of our seven siblings (of which I’m the median one) - five were there. My sister-in-law, Vicki, made a HUGE pot of chicken and dumplings. I love chicken and dumplings. It’s the ultimate comfort food, and it’s really good for you. Here’s an easy recipe for homemade chicken and dumplings.

You’ll need:

1 can refrigerated biscuit dough (If you really like dumplings, you can use 2 cans. It just depends on how much you’re making. There’s no hard and fast rule here. Vicki made such a huge pot of chicken and dumplings, she probably used five or more cans!)

chicken (a package or two of boneless chicken or a whole chicken. I usually make sure there's some dark meat in the mix because it adds so much more flavor)

chicken stock (one or two cans of chicken broth)

salt, pepper, poultry seasoning

1 onion

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 cup plain flour

Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add the chopped onion, grated carrot and finely chopped celery to the water. (If you happen to have bell peppers - green, yellow, or red - you can chop some of that finely to add color and flavor). Season to taste with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Simmer until the chicken is well cooked. Remove the chicken from the pot and let the chicken cool. Leave the vegetables in the pot with the liquid. Once the chicken is cool, remove the meat from the bone and cut or tear into bite size pieces. Set the chicken aside.

Place the flour in a small bowl. Open the can of biscuits and cut/break each biscuit into about 8 pieces. Put the pieces into the flour and coat well. The flour is what thickens the liquid. So use it generously.

Bring the reserved liquid to a boil. Add additional chicken stock, if desired. It depends on how much chicken and dumplings you are making. Sometimes I add a drop or two of yellow food coloring to make it “prettier.”

Once it is at a rolling boil, drop the biscuit pieces into the liquid one at a time. Stir gently to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Make sure each biscuit piece is well coated with flour before dropping it into the liquid. After it has simmered for awhile, add the chicken back to the liquid, and it’s ready to serve. Prepare a salad or vegetable, and you’ve got a perfect meal.

Fresh Apple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe is one that my mother-in-law has made for years, and it’s my daughter’s AND my son-in-law’s favorite. As my daughter says, “It is OH SO GOOD!” Not too difficult to make - and delicious and moist.

FRESH APPLE CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups oil

1 cup nuts, chopped finely

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1 tsp. soda

3 eggs

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. baking powder

3 cups apples (peeled, chopped finely)

Preheat over to 350. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans with Crisco and flour. (I always line the pans with waxed paper, too).

Combine sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla. Beat well. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar/eggs mixture. Finally add the apples and nuts. Mix well.

Pour into the cake pans and cook for approx. 30 minutes. You can also make this in a bundt pan and cook for an hour. (My daughter’s note: “It is the icing that is so good and you get less icing if you use a bundt pan).

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick butter

1 cup finely chopped nuts

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 box powdered sugar

Let the cream cheese and butter soften. Add the vanilla. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until well mixed. Add the nuts.

Once the cake layers have cooled, spread the frosting on them - one layer at time. VOILA! Delicious!

Ruth's Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwiches

This is my mother’s recipe for cucumber/cream cheese sandwiches. She cuts these into circles or other shapes for special occasions - like a wedding reception, a luncheon, a bridal or baby shower. Everytime I’ve made them, people have asked for the recipe. They’re light-tasting and really REALLY good.

RUTH'S CUCUMBER & CREAM CHEESE SANDWICHES

2 (3 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese

2 Tablespoons grated onion

2 Tablespoons sour cream

2 medium cucumbers (peeled, grated and drained)

salt and white pepper to taste

bread slices

green food coloring (optional - just a drop or two to make the mixture a very pale green)

Combine all ingredients (except the bread slices) to make the filling. Stir until smooth. Cut thin slices of bread into the desired shapes and Spread with the filling and top with another slice of bread. I usually spread the mixture on the bread first and make a sandwich - and then use a cookie cutter or knife to cut it into shapes. Most of the time I cut off the crusts and then slice diagonally to make two triangles. These sandwiches look very pretty, too.

The mix yields about two cups of filling. How many sandwiches that makes depends on how much filling you put in each sandwich.

Easy Carrot Salad

Since February is Heart Month, I had to prepare a healthy dish to take to a club potluck luncheon.  Here's what I ended up making:

EASY CARROT SALAD

1 pkg. lemon jello
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, drained (reserve liquid)
3 large carrots, shredded

Make the jello according to package directions using the liquid from the can of pineapple for part of the liquid.  Place in the refrigerator until set.  Mix in the pineapple and carrots.  Return to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight until firmly set.

Shredding the carrots is the hardest part of this recipe - but I used my food processor and it was done in seconds.  Quick and easy - and delicious!  And doesn't it look bright and colorful in my pretty chicken dish?

Zero Points Soup

I adapted this recipe from one shared at a WW meeting. One serving of this soup (1 cup) has ZERO Weight Watchers points! It is nutritious, delicious and VERY simple to make.

5-ounce package of fresh baby spinach, chopped
10-ounce pkg. grated (matchstick) carrots
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 quarts vegetable broth
1 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Red pepper flakes (1/4 tsp – 2 tsp depending on how spicy you like it)

Dump all the ingredients in a large soup pot, bring to a boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and enjoy. This makes a very large pot of soup. A great vegetarian dish.