Homemade Apple Dumplings

How To Make and Freeze Homemade Apple Dumplings

During the fall season, I look forward to going to our local fruit orchard and picking some fresh apples. Once I get back home, I like to get busy baking…first up, some freshly baked apple dumplings.

The following recipe was given to me by my great aunt about 15 years ago. When I make mine, I like to make double batches and freeze some for later use.

Freezing and Reheating Tips: You can freeze your completely baked dumplings by individually wrapping each one in plastic wrap. Once they are wrapped, place several of them into a zipper close freezer bag or plastic freezer container.

When you are ready to use them, defrost in the microwave on the defrost setting for 5 minutes. Then set your microwave on 75% power and reheat for 4 to 5 minutes or until they are heated through.

Apple Dumplings Recipe

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups water
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable shortening (not oil)
1/2 cup cold milk
6 to 7 small apples or 4 to 5 large apples
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Wash, peel and core your apples. I like to slice my apples into wedges, just like if I was making a homemade pie. Place into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

How to make the syrup: In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in 2 cups of water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until it has started to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the softened butter. Set syrup aside.

How to make dumpling dough: In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Once combined, cut in the vegetable shortening until your mixture becomes crumbly. Slowly stir in the cold milk until the dough is completely moistened. Using your hands, form the dough into a large ball. Roll out the dough on a floured dough board until it becomes a large rectangle. Once it is rolled out, cut dough into 6 to 8 squares. If your dough is a little sticky, add a little more flour.

How to make the apple filling: Add 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the slice apples. Gently stir by hand until they are well coated with the sugar mixture.

You will want to split of your filling according to how many dough squares you rolled out. In my case, I separate it into 6 to 8 portions. Place one portion of filling on the center of one of your dough squares and dot the top with a pat of butter. Moisten the edges of your dough and fold corners up to enclose your filling inside the dough.

Lightly spray a large rectangular baking dish with some nonstick cooking spray. Place your finished dumplings inside the baking dish. Using a ladle, spoon the syrup on top of all of the dumplings.

Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until they are done.

Shelly Hill is a mother, grandmother and wife living in South Central Pennsylvania who loves to cook and bake for her family and friends. You can visit Shelly online at http://my.tupperware.com/Ravish30 or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for additional free recipes.

Six Tips for Cooking for the Freezer

Placing finished meals in your freezer can save you time in the kitchen. It takes hardly any more time and only double your ingredients to have a time saving meal ready for the times when you just don’t have the energy or the time to start a meal fresh.

If you would like to start cooking for the freezer. Start with these six tips to help you get the most out of your freezer and maximize your efforts in the kitchen.

1. Freezing foods can alter the tastes of some spices such as garlic, pepper and cloves. When you first make your dishes in preparation for the freezer, season your food lightly before sealing it up.

2. Use both foil and plastic wrap to keep your food from getting freezer burned. If you are wrapping an item that you will place directly in the oven, such as a casserole, consider wrapping it first in aluminum foil and then either placing in a large freezer bag or wrapping in plastic. Use double layers of foil or heavy duty foil for maximum protection.

3. Don’t forget to label your foods so that months down the line you are not playing the guessing game. Use waterproof labels and/or ink so that your writing doesn’t get smudged.

4. Remember not all foods freeze well. Some that rank up there are mayonnaise, raw tomatoes, boiled potatoes, cottage and cream cheese. Get a list of non-freezer friendly foods. Go here for a list of foods that don’t freeze well

5. Some good things to freeze for emergencies are unfrosted cakes, cookie dough, and pie crusts. You never know when unexpected company might drop by. I often freeze my cake layers for the many birthdays that dot the year.

6. Make sure you remove as much air as possible from food items before placing them in the freezer. This will help keep your foods frost free.

With these tips and some delicious freezer friendly meals you’ll be getting out of the kitchen fast in no time.

O Quinn is a stay at home mom who loves cooking delicious meals but not living in the kitchen. Visit her at http://www.homemakingorganized.com and http://www.quick-easy-cooking.com

Slow Cooker – Pigs in a Blanket

Slow Cooker – Pigs In A Blanket Cabbage Rolls

When it comes to crock pot cooking (using a slow cooker), I enjoy using mine all year long. One of the recipes I enjoy making in it are Cabbage Rolls, which are also known as Pigs In A Blanket.

This recipe does take some preparation time, but is well worth your efforts.

To Prepare Cabbage: Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a rapid boil. Take the core out of each head of cabbage. Place head into boiling water, cover and cook for 5 minutes, remove from water immediately. With one head, start taking the leaves off, being careful not to tear them. They should be pliable, if not, place back into the water for an additional minute or two.

Cabbage Rolls

2 large heads cabbage
2 to 3 lbs. lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
6 cups cooked rice
1 hot pepper, finely diced
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 can tomato soup
1/2 can warm water

Fry the lean ground beef and chopped onion in a large skillet over medium heat until it’s not longer pink; drain grease. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked ground beef mixture with cooked rice, diced hot pepper, paprika and salt, set aside.

On a clean surface, such as a cutting board, place 2 to 3 tablespoons of meat mixture onto the center of the cabbage leaf. Overlap the sides of the leaf and roll. Repeat until your meat mixture is completely used up.

Place rolls into your slow cooker (crock pot) and pour the can of tomato soup over top along with a 1/2 can of warm water. Turn the dial to high heat, cover and slow cook them for 4 hours or until done.

If desired, you can freeze the left-overs for up to 6 months in your freezer as this recipe will make approximately 25 to 35 cabbage rolls.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly enjoys cooking and baking for her friends and family. You can visit Shelly online at http://my.tupperware.com/Ravish30 or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for additional free recipes.

Menu Planning to Reduce Stress

How Menu Planning Can Save You Time and Reduce Your Stress Level

By: Michelle Shaeffer

Busy moms spend a lot of time preparing nutritious and yummy meals for their families. It isn’t the cooking and assembling the meals that takes so long – planning the meals and shopping for the necessary ingredients can take more time than the actual cooking!

Does This Sound Familiar?

Have you ever started to cook dinner at the end of the day, then realized you don’t have all the ingredients you need on hand? At the last minute, you have to switch gears, and prepare a whole different meal. Or maybe you decide to run to the grocery story to buy that one thing. Maybe you even give up and decide to eat out instead.

In any case, the rest of your evening is off kilter, and you end up spending more time that you planned on feeding your family.

You can save time and reduce your stress level by planning and shopping for your menu ahead of time. Some families will plan meals a full month ahead. For others, it goes week by week.

An Easy Way to Start Meal Planning

The easiest way to start menu planning is to get a calendar with lots of room to write in every day. Write down what you will be eating every day in the calendar spaces for the next month. When you look at your daily menus all at once, you can make sure your family’s diet is well rounded, and they’re getting a good variety of healthy foods.

While you’re planning, think about which meals will create leftovers you can use the next day. Plan for leftovers and how to use them so they won’t go to waste sitting in your fridge.

You can save more time by planning for times to cook once and eat twice. For example, if you are cooking ground beef for one meal, make a note for yourself to cook extra, and then plan what you’ll use it for.

Are some of your evenings really rushed? Plan to make quick, nutritious meals on those days. For instance, if Tuesday nights are hectic because Johnny’s going to soccer and Suzie’s going to ballet, and you have 20 minutes to eat, plan a meal you can prepare and eat quickly. That way you won’t be tempted to eat out at the local fast food place, or make unhealthy choices.

Get input from the rest of the family when you’re planning meals for the month or the week. If they have a hand in deciding what to eat, there is a better chance they will eat it. Also, you can make sure everyone’s favorite meals are included.

Meal Planning Makes Grocery Shopping Easier Too

Meal planning makes grocery shopping easier too. You can build your shopping list from your menu. Write up a grocery list of everything you need to buy for the week ahead, or month ahead, depending on how often you shop.

When you plan your meals ahead of time, you can save time planning your meals, preparing your meals, and shopping for the ingredients. Instead of feeling stressed about the preparing the next meal, meal time can become the best part of your family’s day.

Work at home mom extraordinaire Michelle Shaeffer publishes The Muses Brainstorm, a weekly ezine with tips to help you balance, manage, and market your home based business. If you’re ready for inspirational guidance and bright ideas sign up free at www.thesmallbusinessmuse.com

How Menu Planning Saved Me Money

By: Alyssa Dees Avant

I have been menu planning since before I knew there was a catch phrase like “menu planning” for the idea. In the beginning, the reasons I planned were simple. I am a list maker, I am a planner and I was new to cooking so I thought I’d better have a plan or I was sure to fail at the new venture of mine, making home cooked meals for my new husband, who by the way loved to eat.

I caught on to cooking easy; after all, I had watched my mom cook for years and helped a bit here and there. The decision of what to make took a little more thought, and pleasing my husband even a little more effort, as he is a big eater and I cooked like my mom did, in small portions and thought 3 veggies for dinner was enough, not my husband, he wanted to know “Where’s the meat?” Now nightly our meal revolves around that “meat”.

Therefore, meal planning or menu planning was just about a necessity for me as a young newlywed because I had to be sure I had that all-important ingredient in every meal, meat to satisfy my hungry husband’s craving.

Now, if you haven’t checked the local grocery store’s meat section lately then you may not realize but meat can be quite pricey and we were on a tight budget as we still are and most families today can relate to. That’s where menu planning became yet another plus for me. Planning ahead helped me to be able to buy meat in larger quantities, or when it was on sale, and plan ahead its uses so that I’d have enough, but I’d save some cash at the same time.

In addition, I learned that I could alternate my meals in my menu plan to not only satisfy the husband’s cravings, but also keep my budget in check. With that handy list of meals I knew that my husband enjoyed I could quickly find enough for a week’s worth that would work within the amount of cash I had available. This became especially helpful when I seemed to have more month left than money.

So, if you deal with any of these issues, or maybe some that are similar then you could probably benefit from menu planning. It really is simple to get started and will save you time, energy, sanity and most importantly the green stuff we call cash!

Alyssa Dees Avant is a Christian author, blogger, podcaster, speaker, and business owner, when she is not speaking to audiences of young girls and their mothers, she is writing as a freelance and ghostwriter. Whether she is sharing her passion with girls on the topics of beauty, modesty, and etiquette or with their moms on time management and organizing Alyssa has a true passion for helping others. Visit her on the web at beautybydesignonline.com or organizedlifebydesign.com

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