Bread Stuffing

Before beginning this recipe (or any recipe) please read it completely, so you can gather all the ingredients together.  There is lots of chopping - the vegetables can be cut up the night before and stored in the fridge. The measurement for the vegetables were done after I chopped and put them into the pan. If you have a little more or less, it won't make too much difference

1 3/4 Bread loaves cut into cubes (can be stale bread)

Put bread cubed into a very large bowl.

In large fry pan or sauce pan saute the following until carrots are medium tender:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (if using salted, decrease added salt by 1/4 tsp)
1 1/4 cup minced sweet onion (1 medium)
1 1/4 cup minced celery (3 medium stalks)
1 1/4 cup minced carrot (3 medium)
1 cup minced mushrooms (8 med)
Add to mixture, during cooking:

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt (decrease if using salted butter or margerine)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
3 Tbsp chicken soup mix (bulk), (or 3 bullion cubes)
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 cup water
Remove from heat, to help cool down the mixture add:

5 ice cubes (1/2 cup water) 

When cooled down enough (you don't want to cook the egg) add:

4 large eggs, beaten (x-large okay too)
Stir mixture well, it will not look very pretty, and will be very strong to taste. 

Pour mixture over bread cubes and start combining.  The easiest way to do it is with your hands.  When you are just about finished,

Add (this is optional):

1 cup chopped up cranberries (1 cup chopped = 1 cup whole berries)

If you add the cranberries too early, the stuffing will turn pink - not very appetising (unless you want pink stuffing).  Add them just at the end, and mix gently. The cranberries give the stuffing a nice taste, but you don't have to add them if you don't like cranberries.

Your bread stuffing is complete.  Now you can use it to stuff a turkey, or chicken or even pork (you can substitute the cranberries for bits of apple when stuffing pork), or bake it in a pan and slice it.

Please ENJOY!

Pumpkin Pie

Shown above, Pecan Crunch Pumpkin  Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Crustless Pecan Crunch Pumpkin Pie. I used the recipe x 2 (each done separately).

Adding the ingredients which included:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar (I mix the first 2 ingredients together)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
16 oz pureed pumpkin (one can or 2 cups)
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

Adding the evaporated milk

The pumpkin pie filling ready to pour into the pie plates.  I put the pie plates in the oven, and filled the uncooked pie crusts with batter.  I had too much pumpkin pie filling left over, so I just poured that into a greased pie plate and placed into the same oven.

This is the finished Pumpkin Pie.

This is the Pecan Crunch Pumpkin Pie.  The only differnce is that a topping of 1/3 cup chopped pecans, 1/3 packed brown sugar and 1 Tbsp butter were mixed together to resemble a coarse meal and then spread over the Pumpkin pie and put back into the oven for the last 10 minutes of baking time.

Here is a piece of the crustless Pumpkin Pie, essentially it is like a custard, with a bit of whipped cream - very yummy, so now go and ENJOY!

Spaetzle and Beef Goulash

Beef Goulash is beef chunks browned and cooked until tender.

 Use any kind of Beef cut (or pork if you prefer); cut the meat into cubes.  The meat I used was partially frozen, it is easier to cut into uniform pieces. Any cut of meat is okay, a chuck steak works very well as it has a good flavour and you can brown the meat and finish cooking it in a slow cooker, or simmer in a pot on the stove until meat is tender.

I mixed 1/3 cup flour, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and some chili powder together and dredged the meat pieces.

I only put 1 tbsp of oil in my fry pan and then added the meat pieces and browned them on med high.

I added water to the pan with the meat and scrapped up all the bits, the flour that was coating will help thicken the sauce.  Since I didn't leave myself very much time to get supper on the table, I had to short cut.  I added some Beef Soup powder to the liquid. You could use beef broth instead of water. 

I then put the whole mixture into a smaller sauce pan and simmered the meat until tender.  To thicken the sauce, I added a little water to the remaining flour in the dredging bowl and then added it to the cooked meat. It thickened the liquid to make a nice gravy.

Making Spaetzle:

1 cup flour

1 cup wheatlets

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

3/4-1 cup milk.

Mix dry together in a flood processor, then add the wet and let food processor mix until it thickens a bit.  The dough should not be runny, nor too thick.

Spaetzle is a southern German noodle.  Most recipes only call for flour, but our family has been putting wheatlets inthe dough.  It gives it texture, and is very filling.  I have a Spaetzle maker (noodle press) but there are other methods to make the noodle.  (This is where you will have to do your own search on-line to discover them)

Into a pot of salted boiling water I press the Spaetzle slowly.  They cook for 3 minutes and then remove from pot and drain.

I put the noodles into a bowl and mix in parmesan cheese.  On this occasion I made a double batch.  One bowl didn't contain any parmesan; this was so I could sprinkle on sugar/cinnamon and have breakfast.

Wheatlet are cream of wheat uncooked.

Lots of gravy is nice with Spaetzle, serve it with colourful vegetables and then you must ENJOY!

Orange Muffins

These muffins were so fast to make,  I was surprised at how easy it was.  Preheat the oven to 400.

Create the batter like this:  In one bowl mix together:

2 cups flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp finely shredded orange peel

In another small bowl whisk together:

1 egg

3/4 cup of milk

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup oil

Add the wet to the dry and stir gently until just moistened (you may still have some lumps - that is okay).

In the greased muffin tins add the batter. This should make 12 regular sized muffins.  I made mini muffins so they would cook faster.

Out of the oven after 12 minutes

A nice colour, texture and taste, most impressive.  The next time I make these I will add chopped cranberries; it should be a nice contrast to the orange, I'm sure I will ENJOY!