A yummy recipe

This is one of our all-time favorite recipes.  A genuine old family recipe.  I got this from my MIL.  Before that, I had never tasted (or heard, actually) of ham dumplings.  It sounds a little weird, but believe me, they are so yummy.  I usually have some left over ham from the holidays tucked away in the freezer, and a cold wintery night makes me hungry for these.  I don't know, maybe every body but me is still a little burned out on ham.  Personally, I think that these are so good that even if you are burned out, you will still absolutely love these.  :)

Step 1: Mix 3 cups of flour 

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Cut in 1/2 c shortening

Make sure you get a little help :)

Add 3/4 c milk

1 egg

Don't overstir.  The dough should be pretty stiff.  

Roll out with plenty of flour.  Yes, my rolling pen has sharpie on it.  That is the art work of my 4 year old.  I am sure more of his art work will show up in the future.  Keep an eye out.  ;)

I roll it out to be thick, but not really thick.  <--I hope you understand what that means, lol.

Cut into squares, or whatever shape you choose.  I obviously don't take too much time or care about uniformity....

Make sure your ham broth is boiling nicely.  This is about to get yummy!

Make sure your dumplings are well coated with flour.  I usually add some extra.

Let your children help you drop them in the boiling broth.  *important, this can burn hands if you drop them in and the broth splashes.  Just make sure to gently put them in...speaking from experience here...

Put a lid on it, turn the heat down and let slowly simmer for about 30 minutes.  *important, don't take the lid off or the dumplings will fall....speaking from experience here....again....

Add your ham.  And add seasonings.  Personally, I don't think I could cook without Serendipty.  It just adds that extra flavor that makes every body rave about whatever I just cooked.  I use it on/in everything.  I ran out recently, and substituted with Lawry's, (and I know that Pioneer Woman uses Lawrys....whatever....she would go crazy over Serendipity, I am pretty certain) and it is definitely not even comparable.

Mix 3/4 c milk and 1 Tbs. flour and add it to the broth/dumplings.  Mixing it in a cup before hand makes so that there are no nasty flour lumps.  I hate flour lumps.

This picture makes me hungry. 

Serve up in your best dishes and enjoy!  :)

It's a new year!

2011.  What will it hold?  I have lots of thoughts swirling around in my head, not really sure I would call them resolutions, more like goals.  I love having goals, but I tend to be an impatient person when it comes to progress.  Especially when I have big goals.  Which I have for this year.  I'm sure my goals are pretty much like everyone else's haha, but they are things that are going to take a new, conscience effort on my part to achieve.  

Number one on my list is being more consistent with my personal Bible study.  Last year was spotty at best in this area, more like nonexistent if I'm really being honest.  Which I'm ashamed to admit.  I have learned though that I don't do well without a book or some sort of outline of what to study.  I need some direction.  I'm not one of those people that can open the Bible and pick out something to study.  I don't know, maybe it's because I'm lazy and need to work on those skills.  Also related, I want to be more intentional with my kids too.  It's all to easy for me to slide along and rely on the church for my kids spiritual welfare.  Another thing I'm ashamed to admit.  Not sure why, but it seems like these things are the easiest to put on the back burner in our busy lives.  I am headed to the book store here soon (as soon as I can dig up my coupons!!!) and I'm going to find a book on a certain subject that I know needs some serious work in my life.  

Next on the list: debt.  Such an ugly word.  We are your typical American couple, and we do have credit cards, praise the Lord.  (Dave Ramsey is cringing right now.)  And we do have credit card debt.  But I wouldn't say that it is because of frivolous spending.  2009 wasn't the best year as far as income, so we used our credit cards for all the fun stuff, like clothes and other necessary evils.  Thankfully, God always provided for our basic needs and we never got behind on our bills.  2010 was way better, and since we learned some valuable lessons in 2009, we pretty much avoided adding to our debt.  So, 2011 is officially "Pay Off the Credit Cards" year.  Can you hear the excitement in my voice? Seriously, I am excited that hopefully these will be paid off, eve though it is going to take some serious effort.  I have a budget written out, and I have DH on board.  I really wouldn't consider my self a big spender, but who doesn't enjoy a little retail therapy every now and then??  I just pray that we would get a steady income this year!  (One, just one (!) of the many perks of owning your own business)  

I would say those two are the biggest things on my list. I do have other, more uninteresting ones, like keep my house cleaner, work out more, and stuff like that.  But mostly, I'm going to focus on the big ones.  I am looking forward to what God has in store for us this year, and I am excited about seeing how much our lives have changed at the start of 2012.