Dumplings

To dress up a plain soup, you can add dumplings to the pot. The recipe is basically a drop biscuit that cooks in the soup, and changes the consistency of the soup into more of a stew. Dumplings and stew are delicious on a cold winter day.


Dumplings 

1½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
3 Tb. shortening
¾ cup milk

Prepare your soup and bring it to a boil. Turn it down to a low boil.

Mix dry ingredients well in a bowl. Cut in shortening. Stir in milk until evenly moist.

Drop dough by spoonfuls onto hot meat or vegetables in boiling stew. Do not drop directly into liquid. If you have enough veggies and meat in the soup, your dumplings will be fine and won't sink to the bottom through the broth.

Cook uncovered 10 minutes, making sure that the soup stays just barely at a boil. Cover pot; leave the cover on without lifting, and cook 10 minutes longer or until dumplings are fluffy.

 

Melinda's Note: I remember my mom making these when I was little. It always smelled so good, we wanted to take the lid off and see what was cooking, but we weren't allowed, because the lid had to stay on forever! I guess ten minutes is "forever" when you are six or seven. Mom probably had to tend the pot so we wouldn't ruin dinner. I now know that cooking it for 10 minutes with the lid on steams the dumplings, and cooks them properly. If you take the lid off, all the steam escapes, and they don't cook all the way.