I don’t reckon most cowboys in the Old West had ever heard of tortellini, and I’d bet my favorite western it was never eaten out on the range.  But I do know sausage and pasta has been a favorite through the ages, so here’s a soup I’ve made for my family many times over that I’d love to share with you.  Add some crusty bread or  garlic breadsticks for a delicious meal!

1 lb. Italian sausage

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 – 14 1/2 oz. cans beef broth

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup dry red wine

28 oz. can Roma tomatoes

1 cup sliced carrots

1/2 tsp. basil leaves

1/2 tsp. oregano

8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 pkg. tortellini, cheese or meat

1 green bell pepper

1 cup zucchini, sliced

Parmesan cheese

If sausage is in casing, remove.  Brown sausage in 5 qt. Dutch oven.  Remove from pan, reserve 1 Tb. drippings in pan.  Saute onion and garlic in drippings until tender.  Add next 8 ingredients, plus sausage.  Bring to boiling, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Stir in tortellini and green pepper.  Simmer until tortellini is cooked.  Add zucchini last 15 minutes.  Top with Parmesan cheese.

Note:  1 can of sliced carrots may be substituted.  Use the water in the can and omit the 1/2 cup of water listed.  Also, 3 cups of bow-tie or spiral pasta may be substituted.

At least I’m hoping that it’s better late than never.  A family emergency has had me in its grip for the last 48 hours and so I was supposed to post one of my most favorite recipes in the whole world today.  But up until this very moment, there’s not been an inch of time.  So bear with me if you please.

What I’m about to share with you is an old southern recipe for chicken and dumplings.  My mother was a southern bell (I still think the wrong side won the Civil war) and she used to make this meal often — and I loved each and every one of those meals.  So you ready?  Here we go.

The secret of wonderful chicken and dumplings is in the broth.  This was very well known to the Indians of old, who always had a pot of soup boiling day and evening.  But the broth is what makes chicken soup so nourishing — it’s also what gives chicken and dumplings its taste.  It can’t be manufactured with chemicals, though I suppose some would try.

Okay enough said.  This is called bone broth soup — an American Indian staple of the past.  Start with a chicken — a whole one — cut up or not — it doesn’t matter.  I use a crock pot to make my broth, but you can make it over the stove.  Wash chicken and put it in a pot and cover with filtered water.  Add 2 tbls. of vinegar and let sit for a little while — maybe 15-30 minutes — the vinegar helps to pull the nutrients out of the bones and into the soup.  Add celery (3 stalks) and carrots (3).  You can also use onionns, but I generally leave these out because we have cats and dogs that I feed this broth to sometimes and onions can be a little poisonous for them.

Bring to a boil and scrape off the form that rises to the top and then simmer this for about 24 hours.  (This is why I use a crock pot.)

It will make lots of broth.  I use what ever I need for the dumplings and freeze the rest in mason jars.

After cooking the broth, bone the chicken and throw away the bones and veggies.  Add broth (about 6-8 cups) in a large pot and add cut up chicken that you just cooked from the broth.  Add a couple of stalks of celery, onion and carrots — this time I use onions as I don’t usually feed this to my animals.  Add about 2 teaspoons of salt, about 2 teaspoons of Thyme and about 1 teaspoon of Sage.  Simmer.

In the meantime put 2 cups of whole grain (hopefully sprouted) flour – or unbleached white flour if you can’t find any other, but know that white flour isn’t very good for you —  in a pan and add 1 teaspoon salt, a little parsley and about 1-2 teaspoons of baking soda.  To this cut in 4 tablespoons of butter.  Add anywhere from 3/4 to 1 cup milk — just enough to hold it together. 

Drop teaspoon fulls of the dumpling mixture to the simmering broth and cover.  Let cook for 20 minutes without lifting the cover.

Serve in bowls.  Usually my family eats this up immediately and there’s always people asking for more.  Another southern tradition is to serve the chicken and dumplings over mashed potatoes.  Oh my gosh, is that good!

Hope you’ll enjoy and excuse this very late post.

Old fashioned in every way (except the healthier olive oil choice), you won’t be disappointed with this yummy no-fail recipe for the best pumpkin bread you’ve ever eaten.  Tip: If you use fresh nutmeg, cut the recommended amount in half.

Grandma’s Pumpkin Bread

4 cups sugar

1 cup virgin olive oil

1 large can pumpkin

Stir the above three ingredients together

Sift together and add:

5 cups flour

4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Chopped nuts, if desired

Mix well. Pour into greased bread pans.

3 large loaf pans: Bake at 350? for 1 hour 15 min

5 small loaf pans: Bake at 350? for approximately 1 hour

Serve warm and top with whipped cream.

Loaves will keep well if placed in plastic bags and stored in the refrigerator.

SAND SPRINGS TACO SOUP

This recipe that I lifted from a church cookbook was the winning chili in our family’s Super Bowl Chili Cook -off in 2008.  Tradition says the winner must take the “trophy” with him/her when they travel. So here she is at Wiamea Canyon, Kauai.

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef

1 envelope taco seasoning

1 1/2 cups water

1 can (15 3/4 ounces) mild chili beans

1 can (15 1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained

I can (15 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained  (I use the pintos with jalapenos.)

1 can (14 1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes

1 can (10 0unces) diced tomatoes and green chilis, undrained

1  can (4 ounces) chipped green chilis

SECRET INGREDIENT: 1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix

In a Dutch oven or large kettle, brown beef, drain. Add taco seasoning and mix well. Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or do the crockpot thing.

I’m also known to add a few chopped (jarred) jalapenos and a couple tablespoons of jalapeno juice. 

Enjoy!

Yields 6-8 servings,about 2 quarts.

I had a non-recipe beef stew I’ve made for years, but this past summer I came by a recipe that was so delicious I kicked the other method to the curb. It really is all about the gravy and personally I think the combination of browning the meat and the wine is the key.  As soon as the September weather arrived, I made this for dinner.  It’s a hit for the whole family.  So without further ado:

BEEF STEW

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 lbs stewing beef

1/4 cup oil.

Mix the flour, celery salt and pepper, dredge the beef in flour and brown in the oil in a stock/soup pot.

Add 1/4 cup chopped onion and 1 clove minced garlic and cook another five minutes. Then add the following ingredients and cook for 1 1/2 hours on low:

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp marjoram

3 cups beef broth

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup red wine.

After an hour and a half, add vegetables and cook until vegetables are tender.  I add 1 cup chopped cabbage, 2 large diced potatoes, 2 cups chopped carrots, and 1-2 cups chopped turnip.

Serve either with dumplings or our family favourite – fresh rolls.

2 medium onions chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 (4 ounce) cans chopped mild green chilies

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 (16 ounce) cans great northern beans, undrained

6 cups chicken stock or 6 cups canned chicken broth

4 cups chopped cooked chicken, to taste (Use canned chicken for speed)

Throw it all in a pot. Simmer until the onions and garlic are tender. Serve. I am alllllllllll about fast and easy. Add Cayenne pepper if you like some heat and a can of diced tomatoes if you’re not afraid to turn it a bit red.

Garnish with Monterey Jack cheese

Mary Connealy

Cowboys in the old West loved their homemade biscuits. Nothing completed a meal better and the lighter and fluffier the more they piled them on their plates. They even stuck some in their saddlebags to munch on later. Biscuits went with everything or just to eat by themselves, depending on the circumstances.

• 5 cups flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 pkg of yeast
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup oil

Add yeast to warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. Mix dry ingredients and add liquid ingredients to mixture. Mix well. At this point you can cover and store in fridge for up to 2 weeks and take out however much you desire when you want it. When you want to make biscuits, you don’t have to knead. Just roll on a floured surface, cut out the biscuits, plop in a pan, and set on top of a warm stove for about 10 minutes. They’ll rise a little there and a little more as they bake in a 375-400 degree oven. Cook for 10-15 minutes or when brown.

These will melt in your mouth! Nothing better with a big bowl of chili or stew.

Hello everyone.  I’m going to be out of town most of the day today on family business but thought I’d offer you this short post sharing some links I like to visit from time to time.  The first group is provides links to several sites that list cowboy slang and idioms along with definitons and usage.  The second is a group of links to cowboy recipes – I especially like the cowboy candy, but warning – it is not for those who shy away from spicy dishes!

Links to COWBOY WORDS & WISDOM

Western Slang & Phrases

Old Slang, Lingo, & Phrases 

Famous Cowboy Sayings of the Wild West and Modern Day

Cowboy Bob’s Dictionary

Cool Western Slang

Cowboy Quotes, Sayings and Wisdom

Links to COWBOY & TRAIL RECIPES 

Cowboy and Ranch Recipes

Old West Cookin’ 

Cowboys Recipes That’ll Put Hair on Your Chest 

Cowboy Cooking Trail Recipes 

Cowboy Candy Recipes!

I love stopping by Petticoats & Pistols in the role of guest blogger.  It’s always a fantastic experience for me.   Mainly because I like to think some of the amazing-ness of the lovely, talented Fillies will rub off on me.  (Hey, a gal can hope.)  I also enjoy focusing on one of my favorite topics/passion—all things Western, especially all things Old West.

I have no idea when my fascination with the Old West first started.  Unlike my husband’s side of the family, I have no direct connections to the area.  My family came from Scotland in the early 1700s (they were outcast Highlanders).  The Andersons settled in Virginia, migrated to Georgia and ultimately ended up in Jacksonville, Florida sometime in the latter part of the nineteenth century.  But that’s a whole ‘nother story that goes back to that outcast thing.

On the other hand, my husband’s family—the Halversons—came to this country much later.  They traveled directly from Norway and settled on the fertile Midwest prairie.  This was really just an interesting factoid to me until I signed on to write my latest Love Inspired Historical, HEARTLAND WEDDING: Book 2 in the AFTER THE STORM historical continuity series.  Waving to Vicki Bylin, one of the Fillies who wrote Book 3 in the series, KANSAS COURTSHIP, which will be out next month.  Valerie Hansen wrote the Book 1, HIGH PLAINS BRIDE, which came out last month.  Both books are fabulous!!!

But I digress.  One of the great things about HEARTLAND WEDDING is that it features a Norwegian Immigrant heroine.  Rebecca Gundersen is a cook at the local boarding house in High Plains, Kansas.  I loved researching Rebecca’s background because it afforded me the opportunity to explore my husband’s heritage as well.   

In my research, I came across many of the reasons why people left Norway.  I’m going to give you what I think are the top six.

1. The promise of fertile land.  This was true of many of the pioneers, but especially true of the majority of the emigrants from Norway.  These Scandinavians were mostly farmers.  Settling in the Great Plains made sense, especially the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.  This area was often called “New Norway” since over eighty percent of Norwegian immigration settled there.
2. Heavy promotion by emigration agents and newspapers.  These entities worked tirelessly to advertise the benefits of a new life in the United States.  The Norwegians liked what they heard and took a chance on the promise of a new life.
3. Railroad and mining companies promoted the stellar employment opportunities.  Jobs in American cities also offered more work at higher wages than was available in Norway at the time.  Are we seeing a pattern here?  Opportunity, opportunity, opportunity.
4. Handbooks were published and distributed throughout Europe, and especially Norway, praising the climate and stellar living conditions in the United States.
5. Political freedom and the opportunity to vote.  Although there wasn’t universal voting in the United States in the nineteenth century, the right to vote in Norway was only available to an elite minority of the population.  The majority of the Norwegians who came to the United States were not in the upper class.
6. Word of mouth, or rather letters sent to friends and families back home.  The sender often urged the receiver to join them in America. 

So, there you have it, the top reasons for Norwegian (and most other) immigration to the United States in the nineteenth century.  Aside from learning about the Norwegian’s motives, one my biggest pleasures throughout the research phase of this book was learning how to cook some of my husband’s favorite Norwegian dishes.  Most of Norway is above the Arctic Circle so of course these dishes are rather harder.  

Although I was bred on southern cooking, I took it upon myself to make a few of the easier Norwegian recipes in my own kitchen.  Unfortunately, I managed to fail more often than not.  I will never mastered Kumla, one of my husband’s favorites.  Essentially, Kumla is potato dumplings plopped into a boiling broth and cooked until the dumplings are cooked through the middle.  Not as easy as it sounds.  Here’s a typical recipe for Kumla:

 
Cover with water about 1/2 the depth of ham.
Boil from 2 – 3 hrs., or until tender and done.
Cook the ham in a large kettle with a lid.
When the ham is done, take out of the broth to be served later with the potato dumplings.

How you make the Dumplings:
Start preparing the dumplings about an hour before the ham is done.
5 cups grated and peeled raw potatoes
About 6 cups unsifted flour
9 tsp. baking powder, should be level

Taste the broth to see if it is salty- if not salty add 1 tsp. or a little more salt.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to the grated raw potatoes.
Stir together, should be like biscuit dough.

Take some of the dough the size of a small baseball, roll in flour to absorb some of the
stickiness, shape into round dumplings with your hands- drop into boiling ham broth.

Boil very gently for 1 hour, turning dumplings for more even cooking.
Do not put too many in kettle, allow some room to raise.  Use the cover when boiling dumplings.  Serve with lots of butter!

ENJOY!  If you dare.  Remember, most Norwegian recipes are very, uh…hardy.  This one more than others.

Thanks again, to all the Fillies for having me here.  I’m giving away three copies of HEARTLAND WEDDING.  Leave a comment and you’ll be entered in the drawing.

Renee Ryan is a multi-published author with Steeple Hill.  She writes for both Love Inspired and Love Inspired Historical.  Find out more about her upcoming releases at www.reneeryan.com

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Wildflower Junction today and left a comment. It was a pleasure to visit with you.

 I placed all of your names in my cowboy hat and drew out three:

Vickie McDonough

Julie Steele

Karyn Gerard

Please send your address to me at: SaintJohn@aol.com, and I’ll get your autographed book out to you!

And for the rest of you, I’m posting the recipe for the cake that’s in the picture with my critique group. A couple of you mentioned it, and it’s one of my favorites to make and serve. I got the recipe from a neighbor many years ago, and have made it regularly since. Enjoy!

The super easy recipe calls for a Bundt cake pan. I have a silicone Bundt pan now and LOVE it! You just stick it in the dishwater and when it’s dry, stuff it into a baggie and tuck it away. I also have silicone muffin pans. Best invention ever! No more rusted tin or scraped-up Teflon.

 Black Forest Cherry Cake

1 pkg (2 layer) chocolate cake mix (not pudding in the mix)

¼ cup olive or canola oil

3 eggs

2 cans (21 oz each) cherry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine oil and eggs with a wire whisk. Add one can of cherry pie filling and beat with electric mixer until batter is smooth.

Pour into sprayed 12 cup Bundt pan and bake 45 minutes or until done. Cool in pan about 20-25 minutes, then invert onto rack to finish cooling. If you use a silicone pan, you can cool a little longer and the cake won’t stick, then invert directly onto cake plate.

Heat the other can of cherry pie filling and pour over the top and into the center of the cake. Slice and serve with whipped topping.