Give Thanks In All Things

Honey Mustard Sauce

I want to share a quick recipe and then I'm walking away from the computer for the rest of the week. Our house is full of (grown) children and grandchildren home for the holiday. Busy days around here!

Jessica was the first to get here. (She is already back at her home—it's a revolving door here this week.) I made a simple dinner that night. Baked chicken, sweet potatoes and green beans. The baked chicken looked so plain that I thought surely I could dress it up a little bit. I did a quick search for honey mustard and found a simple recipe and then tweaked it to use the ingredients I had on hand. 

Oh my goodness. This is seriously good stuff! It was delicious drizzled over the chicken. We think it would be fantastic as a salad dressing (I'm thinking grilled chicken salad.) Make our favorite homemade chicken fingers and use the sauce for dipping. And during Thanksgiving week, you might need it to spread on those sandwiches made from leftover turkey.

HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup dijon mustard

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Whisk all ingredients together. Will keep for a couple of weeks stored in the refrigerator...if it lasts that long.

I have so much to be thankful for. Ages ago, I kept a gratitude journal—"write down five things each day that you are grateful for." Some days it was easy to list five. Other days I had a hard time finding five. Then I figured out that my world was made up of mostly small things. That's where I found the treasure. 

I learned I had to be aware. I had to actively look for the "grateful" things. A tree in flaming fall colors. The smell of bacon frying. The sound of a rooster crowing in the early morning. Looking at this old journal I see that "clean sheets" are listed more than one time. I began to look forward to finding my five things each day and writing them down. I loved those few minutes at the end of the day when I got still and quiet and picked up the journal. After a while I stopped writing the list, but the habit of seeking out and taking note of the little things has remained.

This morning I pulled out that old journal and have read list after list. Yes. So much to be grateful for. Maybe this is the season to start the written journal again. 

Jingle Jangle Ginger

We had afternoon guests this week. They were just here for a couple of hours mid-afternoon. There was no need for a meal. But being born and raised in the South, it was unthinkable for me not to have something to offer when they got here. Southern hospitality and all that. So cookies and coffee it was. And that was perfect. And enough.

These ginger cookies have been favorites in our family for years. It isn't a true Christmas recipe, but to me it feels like a winter recipe. Although I would be delighted to eat them on the Fourth of July!

These cookies are made with shortening. That means they are sturdy cookies that can be packed and shipped if you need to send them. I mailed them to Italy when Jessica was doing her study abroad. Can you imagine how much they had bounced around during that international trip? And they were all in one piece when she received them. (I did put a layer of crumpled wax paper in the bottom of the container and of the top of the cookies to cushion them.)

Here are my ginger cookie tips:

• You can mix the dry ingredients together a day or two before you make the dough. Then it doesn't feel like such a big undertaking to make these. Pulling out all the spices and measuring them takes several minutes.

• You don't need to refrigerate the dough before you bake them, but I have found that the dough is a little easier to scoop up after it sits for a few minutes. Just go wash the mixer bowl and spatula while it rests.

• Use the pre-cut parchment sheets to line pans for easy clean-up. One sheet per pan will get you through the entire recipe. You don't need a new sheet of paper every time you put a pan in the oven.

• Using a 1-inch cookie scoop makes beautiful cookies that are of uniform size. Sometimes I will use my finger to "pack" the dough into the scoop to make sure it's full. The scoop really speeds things up.

The recipe makes 120 cookies. That's 10 dozen! Plenty of cookies to enjoy. Plenty of cookies to share. Perfect with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk.

I am convinced (no actual proof) that these cookies keep better and longer when stored in a metal tin. Years ago seems like we just had tins around, left from bought treats. Now I have to seek them out and this is the time of year to buy them. Dollar stores have them right now on the Christmas aisle.  I did see some at the store that were metal with a plastic "window" in the lid. I'm sticking to my all-metal theory and I skipped those.

One day I'd like to find some that are not seasonal. But at the moment, these will have to do. I gave some away last week—BEFORE Thanksgiving—and no one seemed to mind that the tin said Merry Christmas.

GINGER COOKIES

4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses (I used Grandma's Molasses Original)
3/4 cups sugar (for rolling)

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on LOW speed for 30 seconds. Add the 2 cups sugar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.

Beat in eggs and molasses until combined. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can with the mixer. (My KitchenAid handled all the flour.) Stir in any remaining flour mixture by hand.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in the 3/4 cp sugar. (A 1-inch cookie scoop makes this easy.) Place 1-1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. (In my pans that is 5 rows of cookies, 4 to a row.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 9 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned and tops are puffed. DO NOT OVERBAKE. (Try the first pan at 8 minutes and then decide if 9 minutes is better.)

Cook on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to wire rack and let cool. (I just put them on paper towels on the counter to cool.) 

Makes about 120 cookies

Handmade = Slow Made

Pattern: Little Tern, by Tin Can Knits

Yarn: Fiberspates Vivacious DK, colorway Crocus

Needles: size 7

It's done! Ready to wrap up this new baby who is loved before she is born. My knitting friends have oohed and ahhed and properly admired this blanket. We knitters love to see what the other knitters have made. But there are others who would look at this and wonder "Why on earth would you spend the time to do this? You know you could buy one." Yes, people really say things like this. And yes, there are beautiful blankets out there to buy. No argument there. But I wanted this baby to have a blanket made by her grandmother, just like I've made them for the other granddaughters.

As I worked and worked on this blanket for the new baby due soon after Christmas, I thought about why we make things by hand. There are certainly beautiful baby blankets for sale. But a blanket made by hand is more than a blanket. It's an expression of love. Love that you can hold in your hands. And this blanket is likely to be around much longer than I will. Many years from now maybe someone will wrap this blanket around a baby from another generation and maybe...just maybe...remember the maker.

There is something in the human spirit that calls us to make things. In this age of digital this and virtual that, "making" can seem an out-of-date concept. Years from now our every thought and every activity may be in our permanent digital footprint (scary thought) but none of those can be wrapped around a baby.

My dad was also a maker. He loved woodworking and in his retirement years, he started making toys. We treasure these toys he made for our daughters. We have two daughters—one blonde, one brunette. He made them each a rocking horse—one blonde, one brunette. Besides having building skills, he also had a sense of humor. Now it's his great-grandchildren who ride the range on these horses. These horses have rocked a million miles. 

Poppy (that was his grandfather name) died many years before they were born, but all three granddaughters know him through his toys. Handmade connections. Little bits of my dad's work are scattered around our house. Pulled down to play with when our grandchildren come to visit. There are hundreds of wooden cars out there somewhere because he made them by the dozens for us to use as birthday gifts for all the kid parties my girls attended when they were little. 

But if you are a maker, I think you would do this even if there weren't specific people to receive the work. As a friend of mine said, "Makers gotta make." Makers love to create. To do things with their hands. It's how we are wired.

To borrow a quote from this new book, Making a Life by Melanie Falick:

We make in order to slow down. To connect with others. To express ideas and emotions, feel competent, create something tangible and long-lasting.

So if you are not a maker, how do you do slow? "Making" is a built-in slow for many of us. Others embrace "slow food" or "slow living." Here's your challenge for this week...the week before Thanksgiving week when things can get a little crazy if you are cooking or hosting or traveling. Do something slow this week. It doesn't have to be a handcraft. And it certainly doesn't have to be everything we do. Keep it simple. Aim for a slow moment now and then. You might find you like it.

Turn off the TV. Lay down the phone. Listen to the quiet. Handwrite a note or card and mail it. Sip a cup of tea. Look at the stars. Pull out a jigsaw puzzle. Spend a lot of time in the car? Turn off the radio. Take two minutes and sit out on the front steps and breathe. Find your slow minutes. It's worth it.

Bread For The Holidays

It's that time of year again. I don't bake bread anymore year round. But I love to make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last week I mixed up the starter as I get ready for baking season. The first batch of bread was good as always—one loaf eaten and two loaves stashed in the freezer. And this morning I stirred up another batch. Some of these early loaves will go to the church freezer. When folks go to visit homebound members they can take a loaf to give.

I've used this recipe for decades. It is not hard to bake. The hands-on time is not too much. Making the rising time fit into your schedule can be the tricky part. But if you spend a little time thinking about it, it will work. Daughter Jessica who works full-time has baked this bread for years. Maybe it could be a weekend baking project for you. 

King Arthur Bread Flout

First, use the right flour. This recipe specifies "bread flour." There IS a difference in flours. I now use King Arthur Bread Flour, but other brands also work. The difference is in the protein content. Bread flour has the highest protein content of the flours and that's what gives the good texture to the loaf.

White Lily All-Purpose Flour

The flours I grew up with, like White Lily and Martha White and my mother's favorite Red Band, are made with soft wheat. Back in the day, southerners baked biscuits more often than yeast breads and the lower protein content in soft wheat flour made light, tender biscuits.

King Arthur All-Purpose

If I am baking other yeast bread recipes, like cinnamon rolls and homemade dinner rolls, that call for all-purpose flour I will use King Arthur All-Purpose. The soft wheat flours do not work well here. I know this from experience. It was a happy day when I figured out why we were having problems. I know there are other brands of hard wheat flours, but my store mostly stocks the southern soft wheat flours, so I stick with King Arthur when I need a hard wheat choice.

It takes five days to make the starter. I mixed mine up on a Thursday. Let it sit out for four days. I added yeast on a Monday, day #4, let it sit for 24 hours and then mixed my first bread on Tuesday. I even stuck a post-it on my starter to remind me when to add the yeast. I'm getting forgetful as the years go by. Either that, or I'm busier than I used to be.

My favorite storage container for the starter is a Cool Whip bowl. The lid of this plastic bowl is flexible and I cut in X into the top so the starter can breath. Other friends use a jar and leave the lid loose. (I think if I used a jar I would punch a few holes in the top like we used to do when catching lightening bugs.) The starter will pop the top off if it's tightly covered. It has happened.

Find the spot in your house that is the "rising spot." I put my dough on the kitchen counter with the under-the-counter lights turned on. Yes, I leave them on all night if the bread is rising at night. If I get in a hurry, I'll move the bowl closer to the lights. Make sure you don't turn the toaster oven on at this point! That's too much of a good thing. 

If your house is cooler, the bread should still rise, but it might take longer. If I need to play around with my times and I need my bread to rise slower to fit my schedule, I'll put it on the kitchen island away from the lights. This is the kind of thing you have to figure out for yourself in your own house. 

Pre-measured feeding ingredients.

Here are some other tips:

*I am on the go now doing grandmother things, so sometimes Daddy-O is the one feeding the starter. I mix up bags of pre-measured sugar and potato flakes. He can dump this into the starter along with a cup of water. This makes it much easier for whichever of us feeds it. I use snack-size baggies for the feeding mix, then put all of them into a gallon-size zip bag for storage.

*See the recipe at the top of this photo? That's the same recipe I've used for over 20 years. I had it laminated all those years ago because I used it so often. It's the only recipe I've used enough to warrant a permanent copy but this has been great.

*I find it faster to mix the dough if I use a wire whisk when I stir in the first 3 cups of flour. Blends in a jiffy. Then I switch to a heavy spoon for the last 3 cups..

*Because I have one, I use a kitchen scale to weigh my dough when I divide it. Each portion of dough weighs about a pound. That way my three loaves are the same size. For many years in my "before I owned a kitchen scale" life, I eye-balled the thirds. And I was usually close. If one loaf was a little bigger, one lucky person just got a little more bread.

*The bread freezes beautifully. I can fit two loaves snugly in a gallon ziplock freezer bag. Then when I give it, I'll put a single loaf in a bread bag. If you get most of the air out of the freezer bag, it will keep quite a while. I think that because there is a little oil in this recipe, it holds better than more traditional yeast breads that dry out so quickly. FYI, I always date the bags going into the freezer so that I can use the older ones first.

*Just like there are choices of all-purpose flour, you have multiple options of yeast. For THIS recipe, I have always used an envelope of Fleishmann's ActiveDry Yeast Original. I have not tried the others, like RapidRise or bread machine instant yeast. Maybe they all will work but I don't know. I stick with the one I've always used.

*Last tip....take your rings off before you knead the dough. No need to be washing dough out of your rings.

I have shared the starter with friends and I get reports back that they made the dough by this recipe and then after loaf bread, they also made dinner rolls, cheese bread and cinnamon bread. I am such a creature of habit that I keep making basic loaves. But maybe this will be the year I venture out and get more creative.

SOURDOUGH BREAD

1 cup starter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups warm water
6 or more cups bread flour (use the extra to flour the surface for kneading) 

Mix the bread ingredients. (I use a wire whisk to mix in the first 3 cups, then use a sturdy spoon for the rest.) Place in a large bowl, sprayed with PAM. Lightly spray the dough with PAM. Cover with plastic wrap. Let stand and rise at least 8 hours.

Punch down dough. Knead on floured board about 10 times. Divide into 3 parts. Spray three 8-inch loaf pans with PAM. Shape dough and place in pans. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let stand and rise until pans are full, about 5 to 6 hours.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until brown and bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Whole wheat bread: Use 2 cups whole wheat flour and 4 cups bread flour.

To feed starter: Remove 1 cup for baking (or discard) and feed with 1/3 cup sugar, 3 tbsp. instant potato flakes and 1 cup warm water. Mix well and let stand 8-12 hours. Then refrigerate. Store in plastic container with slits cut in lid. Feed every 3-7 days.

To make starter:  Double the feeding recipe. Put in a glass or plastic container, loosely covered. Let set out on counter for 4 days. Then add 1 envelope dry yeast. (Not Rapid Rise) Let stand another 24 hours. Use 1 cup for first batch of bread or store in refrigerator for up to 7 days.

This bread freezes beautifully. It makes a great gift.

PS...If any of you local readers want starter, I'm happy to share.

Easy Chicken & Dumplings

I cooked four chicken breasts last week. The kind with skin and bones because that's the kind that was on sale. And it really isn't hard to pull the meat off the bone when it's done. While I was waiting for the chicken to cool in the broth (Cooling in the broth will make it more tender than taking it out of the broth to cool) I asked Daddy-O what he wanted me to make with the chicken. Actually I was expecting a "doesn't matter to me" answer. But he immediately said "Chicken and dumplings!" Since I have left him at home a lot lately while I've traveled I figured he deserved to have what he wanted.

Plus, I know a secret that makes this a quick, easy dish. I have tried making homemade dumpling more than once but this shortcut method makes dumplings that taste like my favorites from childhood. Okay...let's be honest. This recipe is way better than my homemade attempts. I know that Sarah, our cook, made hers from scratch but I never mastered doing it the way she did. We grew up eating dumplings that were cut into strips and cooked in the broth resulting in a dumpling that has a nice bite to it. A little bit chewy. In other parts of the country I hear that dumplings are light and fluffy and float on top of the broth. This is not that kind.

If you just read "our cook" and thought I grew up in a life of luxury, think again. Back when many moms were stay-at-home mothers, my mother worked. And we had a lady who stayed with us, did the laundry and cooked the meals so that Mother could earn extra money for the family. Sarah and my mother both knew how to stretch a dollar. We thought chicken and dumplings was a treat. And it was. But it was also a budget stretcher. After I was grown Mother told me that we had this dish on a regular basis because a package of chicken backs cost 25-cents and a couple of packages would make a pot full of dumplings. I had no clue until I was grown that anyone in our house thought about "making ends meet." 

Years ago I happened to see a QVC kitchen show and the host David made his version of chicken and dumplings. If I'm correct he is from our neighboring state in a city less than two hours from here. His dumplings were the same kind I grew up with. Maybe it's a regional thing.

I'll give you the basics of what he did. You can adjust amounts to make it work with what you had. This particular night, I used half of my cooked chicken (the rest became chicken salad) and almost a quart of broth. I could have added some water to make more if I had needed more liquid. And I used a small can of biscuits. A 5-count can. When he made it on air, he used store-bought broth. That works fine, too. I've done that many times.

Remember, this is more of a "how to" recipe than a precisely measured recipe. It's based on the notes I took as I watched the TV kitchen demonstration. Funny thing is that I have no clue what product David was selling!

DAVID'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

1 quart chicken broth or 32-oz box of low-sodium broth

2 cups water

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces

1 (10-count) can of biscuits (cheap store brand or flaky biscuits both work)

Taste broth and adjust seasoning. I like a good amount of black pepper in mine.

Heat broth and water to boiling. Add chicken. (Or you can add the cooked chicken after the dumplings are done. Works either way.)

While broth heats, roll out biscuits on a heavily floured surface as thin as possible. (The extra flour on the strips will thicken the broth.) I roll them, flip them over, roll again and continue until they are very thin.

Cut into strips with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Drop strips, a few at a time, into boiling broth and cook until done. Maybe 8-10 minutes. Taste one to see if it's done. 

As I said, I cooked bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts this time and used the broth from cooking them. I always add a good shake or two of Lawry's Seasoning Salt when I cook chicken, so the broth only needed pepper to finish the dumplings.

If you don't own a rolling pin, use a smooth sided drinking glass. A wine bottle (label removed) will also work. The biscuits are small so your "roller" doesn't have to be as long as an actual rolling pin. Don't have those either? Look around your kitchen for something else that might work. I'm not sure that patting them out with your hand will get them thin enough.

This is a great cold weather dish. And it's simple enough for a weeknight supper if your chicken is already cooked. To make clean up a little easier, use a sheet of waxed paper to roll out the biscuits in the flour. If you wipe your counter with a damp cloth first and put the paper down on the damp counter, the paper won't slide around as much.