Chicken and dumplings

We've been experimenting with MSG. I know it has a bad reputation but I have since discovered that, like all "bad' foods, it's just misunderstood. MSG offers a flavor boost with less sodium than salt. It also has nutritents that salt doesn't offer and we can't get from many foods. There's a reason it's popular in Asian cooking but like soy it might now be something our bodies are used to. I'm sharing this because our chicken and dumplings were seasoned with MSG. If it makes you uncomfortable or you don't want to use it - use salt, no big deal. Just note it might take more salt than MSG.

Chicken and Dumplings
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pound package of frozen mixed veggies (we choose carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli)
water
1 1/2 tsp msg
2 1/4 cups baking mix (homemade unsalted, if not homemade omit msg for dumplings)
2/3 cup milk
3/4 tsp msg
Chop chicken into bite sized pieces. Add to dutch oven or equally sized pot. Fill pot halfway with water. Bring to boil, let simmer for up to an hour. Taste stock, if not very chickeny you can add 1 tsp or so of chicken bouillion. Add veggies and 1 1/2 tsp msg. Let simmer for an additional 30 minutes, adding water as necessary to keep pot half full. Make dumplings - add baking mix and msg to a large bowl. Add milk, slowly, until the dough just comes together. Drop by spoonfuls into soup until all the dough is used up. It's okay if the dumplings touch or crowd. Cook for 10-15 minutes and flip over the dumplings. Let cook an additional 10 minutes. Serve soup with 2-3 dumplings.

Orange and Walnut Scones

I finally took some time last night to play with the bisquick mix I made this past weekend. I started with making biscuits. The recipe is easy - 2 1/4 cups mix to 2/3 cups milk. I used my homemade yogurt because we are out of milk and I was feeling too lazy to make up a batch of powdered milk. The biscuits came out nicely. I don't roll out my biscuits so I let the dough stay sticky (bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes). The texture of the biscuits was probably the best I have ever made. They crumbled just a little bit but held up to buttering and adding honey. My only complaint is they were a little bland. Of course, that made them perfect for toppings but eating just a plan biscuit was boring. I think that comes from not adding salt and plain shortening to the mix.
However, this boring mix was the perfect vessel for making an amazing scone. I had gone on the bisquick site to get the biscuit recipe and there were a number of scone recipes. I took the basic information and created my own scone. The only difference with my recipe and the plain recipe is the addition of orange extract and walnuts. (I did add yogurt instead of heavy cream.) Feel free to change the recipe to suit your needs and your cupboards. I plan on playing with it lots more.

Orange Walnut Scones
2 cups baking mix
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1 teas orange extract
1/2 chopped walnuts
Combine baking mix and sugar. Make a well in the center. Add the yogurt and the egg. Mix well until the dry ingredients are wet, adding in the extract as you go. Mix in walnuts and stir to evenly incorporate them. Pat the dough into a large flat round (dust with additional mix to prevent sticking). Lay on baking sheet and pat flat (to about 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick). Cut into 8 wedges but do not seperate. Bake at 425 for 12 minutes.

Homemade Bisquick Mix

Making your own mixes opens up so many opportunities and makes it easier to cater to food allergies. This is a new experiment and I have not tried this gluten free but this week I hope to share things you can do with this mix. I have shared recipes in the past that use baking mix but this one simple recipe can open up so many doors.
Over time I will try for a gluten free variety and perhaps a Feingold version.
I will say that omitted the salt. We don't use salt at home and it seemed unnecessary.

Homemade Bisquick Mix
6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
Add dry ingredients to a large bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter or a fork until resembles crumbs. Use fingers to break up any large bits.

Pancake Mix and Baked Pancakes

I used to make pancake mix and then didn't for awhile which is how things are in our house - I go through cycles. The last pancake mix we had was Mama's Gluten Free Mix which was a great pancake mix. I had 2 bags of her almond blend to use up and thought replacing the pancake mix was a great way to do so. Mama's Gluten Free Almond Blend is the only gluten free flour I have used to make this pancake mix - this is not a gluten free recipe but can easily be altered.
If using gluten free flours - add 1-2 teaspoons of xanthum or guar gum (I use guar gum because it's half the cost of xanthum gum).
I have made this mix with soy milk powder and powdered milk - you can not tell the difference except in the mix its self (soy milk powder is softer than powdered milk).

Pancake mix
8 cup flour
2 cups milk powder
½ cup sugar
2 tb + 2 teas baking powder
4 teas baking soda
Mix together and store in an airtight container

To make pancakes:
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup water
1/3 cup oil or butter
2 ½ cups mix

This weekend, my son had his cousin spend the night. They wanted pancakes for breakfast and requested cinnamon to be added to the batter. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to use up some of the bananas in my freezer, especially since we are currently out of eggs. I freeze bananas in their peels so I don't have to really think about them. To peel them, I run them under hot water and remove the peels. Sometime the inside of the peel sticks to the banana and I use a knife to scrap it off. Because the bananas were frozen I stuck them in the microwave to thaw them after peeling.
So the recipe:
3 bananas
1 1/3 cups or so water
1/3 cup oil
2 1/2 cups mix
1 teas cinnamon
Mash the bananas, add 1 cup water and the oil. Mix in the pancake mix and cinnamon. Add remaining water a little at a time to make a pourable batter.
Now here comes the tricky part - I could not get the batter not to stick to my pan. To matter what I did the pancakes would not turn out. We were running out of time to eat breakfast before church so I turned the oven onto 400 degrees and poured the batter into a non-stick baking sheet that I rubbed with butter. About 10 minutes later I changed the oven to broil and let the top get a little golden. I'm not sure the broiling really made a difference.
Then I rubbed butter on the top before cutting into pancake sized squares. We ate them with peanut butter to find these were the best pancakes ever made. Each serving was perfectly cooked. I did slightly miss the crispy edge of fried pancakes but they were so good. So much so that my family asked me to continue baking them every time.

Yeast-free Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe was given to me by a friend. During that time, we were on a yeast free diet but this recipe has remained a favorite due to it's simplicity and the speed in which we get a hot cinnamony treat. The recipe calls for a baking mix. It works fine with any baking mix from gluten free to homemade to Bisquick. We've made it dairy free and with butter instead of the shortening. It's a great recipe that holds up to changes easily.
Omit the frosting and it's a not so sweet afterschool snack. You'll notice I didn't include a frosting recipe but mention it. That's because we rarely eat these with anything else. They are great with extra butter or dunked in cocoa.

Cinnamon Rolls
2 cups baking mix
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk
½ cup melted butter
1 cup sugar and ½ cup cinnamon combined
oven to 450. Grease 9x12 baking pan.
Cut shortening into mix. Add milk to make dough. Roll into ½ inch thick rectangle on a dusted surface. Baste with melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll tightly lengthwise into a long roll. Slice 1" thick and place in pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or until done.
If adding icing - do so while still warm so it melts.