Dun dun dun....dumplings.

Lets just say YUM! and... I'm FULL! Ok, I'll start at the beginning.

Wanton Wrappers:
2 c flour
1/2 tsp mixed into
1 egg
~1/3 c water
Mix (with chopsticks), knead and let sit for 30-60 minutes.

Then roll out thin, cut into circles. Then roll again thinner. Use FLOUR between the circles (unlike me).

Dumpling Filling (what I had in the fridge):
celery (wish I'd had cabbage or Chinese cabbage)
carrots
green onion (the growth from my impressive growing white onion)
diced game bird meat (can use ground pork, beef, shrimp, etc)

Chop ingredients finely (finer than mine)

Seasoning
pour over your veggie and meat mix:
2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 TBS sesame oil



filling, not fine enough but it worked


Then take each circle, put about 1/2-1 TBS of filling into each. Use water to dampen the edge of half of your circle and close to make your dumpling.

You can then pan fry (I used lard) or boil for about 3-5 minutes. My family liked both, I liked the fried best but others liked boiled the best.

Note: if your wrapper is ripped the filling won't escape in the oil like it will in the water.

For our side dish I took all the left over rice from our game bird bake and turned it into fried rice, which is basically where you heat up your rice with any extra veggies you want in there:

rice with veggies heating

Then when warm added 4 eggs in a hole in the rice and fried them, then mixed them in and then added some spinach (or lettuce). I based this off of my mother-in-law's chicken fried rice recipe, we love it.

picture of our dinner, really good

Very enjoyable meal. I can always tell my husband likes it when he has seconds then thirds.

I wish the dumplings aren't so time consuming, but they are fun to make. My 5 and 7 year old ended up making the bulk of them and I decided to give them artistic leeway so they could wrap them the easiest way for them.

Baking Game Birds

I wanted to do a quick post on what I made Thursday night's dinner: game birds. 

When my husband got our four wheeler it opened up a whole new world to him in regard to hunting birds. Before that he'd take small trips to find flocks of ptarmigan to shoot but there are spruce hen and ducks all around us out here.

Some of the guys on a local hunting excursion. I believe these are Grouse but I really don't remember.

In my daughter's shot gun club (Grouse Ridge Rangers) they sometimes have sponsored shoots out at the Falcon Ridge located out Point MacKenzie Rd. He sells chukars (chukar partridge) and pheasants for them to shoot and she brought home 2 of each last year.

My husband had asked if he was wasting his time since he's the only one who had cooked any of the meat so far (ptarmigan nuggets, YUM!) and so I told him to give me some recipes so I'd have an idea. My sister makes these for her family all the time, but I have ventured into this. He printed out 9 pages of recipes.

On Thursday I took about half of our game birds out of the freezer to cook so that we could try them all with the same cooking method and see what we like best. I made a duck, two pheasants, two chukars, and 3 spruce hen. I put rice on the bottom of the 9x13 pans and put a nice Chinese bbq sauce over them, added water to the rice and baked them at 350 for about 2 hours. The recipes I was looking at for game birds varied all over the place from cooking for 20 minutes to 4 hours, so I tried somewhere in between. I put them into the oven and left for 2 hours. When I came home they were cooked, a bit dry (should have added more water and covered tighter) and gobbled them up with the fam. Since there were so many my husband picked the meat off and I cooked the carcases overnight and made a broth (no fat!) and used the extra meat for fried rice and dumplings.

Baked Barbecued Game Birds:

(feeds ~4 people)
1 1/2 c. rice
2-3 birds whole, thawed

Marinade
1/4 c soy sauce
2 garlic cloves-minced
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp Five Spice powder (if you double the recipe, don't add quite as much spice)
2 TBS oil

Wash and dry birds. Mix marinade, rub birds inside and out, let stand for an hour (I didn't have time for this, still good).
Grease 9x13 casserole dish or a dutch oven, pour in rice. Add 3 cups of water, or a bit more if using foil or a loose lid to cover. Arrange birds on top, add more marinade to birds. Cover tightly.
Bake at 350 for ~2 hours. Add more marinade during the cooking if you have more. Check your rice and add water if needed.

Here's a link to my basic Roasted Chicken recipe. I use it for roosters, hens, meat chickens and game birds too. I almost like it better because the 5spice powder is so distinct, you have to be choosy on what recipes to use with the leftovers.

Enjoy.

pheasant pair, light meat, tastes like chicken, medium size closer to small chicken



chukar partradge, light meat, tastes like chicken, small in size




spruce hen (or grouse, not sure of difference) dark meat, tastes like chicken, small in size



Bows vs Guns

It has long been known in our home that there shall be no bows and arrows since guns are far superior. It was a bit of a disappointment at first because I had fond memories of trying to hit targets with our old bows in grade school. However, being taught how to use a firearm has been wonderfully empowering and given me a very nice sense of being able to defend my children, myself and my home...against bears, predators, or what have you. My husband knows, loves and keeps learning about guns. We don't really have a lot, but after you drag out that fear that you have been brainwashed with since a little child, you realize that guns are simply tools. After working with power tools this summer I learned you have to be CAREFUL with them, because just like guns they will kill you if you're not.

Today began a 4 part homeschooling class that they are letting me take with the kids. In class I hit a bulls-eye and it felt great. Granted, it was only 10 feet away, but it still felt great. Perhaps it's because it's quiet or perhaps because they had a comfy indoor range, but it was a blast to shoot. Perhaps it's that I have a chip on my shoulder now since a girlfriend of mine shot a moose...with her bow...out of her bedroom window. Seriously? She also throws her baby in the back pack and hikes over the frozen river and shoots rabbits. She's my hero.

With bows and arrows it extends your hunting season by quite a bit, you get more at the beginning and I believe more at the end. I've never wanted to hunt myself, I'm not the Sarah Palin type, not even a fan. I don't love a good hike. I don't love roughing it. But perhaps I might feel differently if it were a bow and arrow and I could shoot from the comfort of my home.  I'd love the attention meat!

she's so cute I can't stand it

Fabulous Borscht

I have never been a fan of borscht....until now. 

Recipe given to me by my wonderful pioneer woman neighbor. It uses many things from the northern climate's garden and any game meat you might be fortunate enough to have. It is extremely versatile and very simple to prepare, it does not require very many ingredients to make it delicious. It's perfect on any given Sunday in October. Invite your closest friends and make a double or triple batch...I promise you, your guests will be more than impressed. This is my go-to recipe this time of year.

Fabulous Borscht

2 lbs beef shanks, or chunk beef, or sausage, or hamburger browned in lard, bacon fat. (Could also use butter, coconut oil or olive oil.)
1-2 leeks or onions chunked - add to beef
1 c ham, or pork shoulder, or ham hock, or bacon, or kielbasa - add
~3 carrots - add
2 lbs(ish) beets peeled chunked - add if uncooked...if cooked or canned add later (can use homemade pickled beets if need be, that's what I typically use)
new potatoes or chunked potatoes, optional
~2 1/2 qts water
2 bay leaves
8 pepper corn
4 sprigs parsley or dried ~1T
1/4 t pepper
1T salt (adjust to liking)
1/4 c white vinegar
1 6oz can tomato paste
1/4 c fresh dill or some dried
1 small head cabbage
1 c sour cream

Garnish with:
fresh dill
more sour cream

Add ingredients in approximate order as listed. This recipe is so flexible, add more or less vegetables as listed, you will never know the difference.  We have friends who don't eat pork so when they're here I add other things, yesterday was turkey kielbasa and some turkey smoked sausage and that added some great flavor. I have also added leftover chicken, left over spaghetti sauce, leftover pieces of steak from kids plates when their eyes were bigger than their stomachs. I actually keep a "For Borscht" quart size bag in the freezer with bits and pieces of good meat that I don't want to throw to the dog. 

This is a great recipe to make soon after harvest in a very large pot. If you have leftovers it's perfect for freezing or eating the next day. (Like any good stew or soup, it's better the next day.)

Yesterday I tripled the batch in my large stock pot and it fed 8 adults and 11 children, most people had 2 bowls and I have two good sized containers of left overs in the fridge. 

I shamelessly stole this gorgeous photo from Food & Wine where they have their own recipe.

Fun day today.

Today was going to be a busy day. Then I decided to go to Anchorage because the busy day I had planned would not be busy enough.

Hubby left for his hunting trip around 9:30am, and the sun was shining. It has not shined for 31 days. I only know that because we broke a record of rain and everyone is talking about it and it almost drove me literally insane.

I had to get out of the house, BAD! I tried to get some peeps to go blueberry picking with me, but we're doing that tomorrow. So I loaded our 6 perfect angels into the van and we headed to the big city of Anchorage. We stopped at one of our favorite mouth watering holes, Donut King. The kids were beside themselves at "having" to pick out 2 donuts each.

I don't normally take the kids with me when I go all the way there. I like to shop in peace and so I usually leave some home with Papa while he's working and then a couple more at my mom's. But today I kept my munchkins in the van with me, ran a couple of errands, took them to Subway for dinner (where 2 of them now want to work) and then back out of the city.

I've wanted to go to Thunderbird Falls with them for quite some time. We have not gone at all since K was very little and I don't remember if we had any others yet. This, after all, was the place my husband proposed 14 + years ago....and we don't go there, we're not...how do you say? Outdoorsy people. Well, suffice to say, my kids aren't very "outdoorsy" either. At least not the 4 and 6-year-old girls. The others were great and had a blast....the 4-yr-old held my hand the whole time and cried most of the way to the look out "I wanna go back into the car!" and the 6-yr-old generally complained and whined and claimed that she would NOT go berry picking tomorrow. I obviously need to take them into the woods more often. Living with no trees on our property has made them very soft indeed. The 2-yr-old did wonderfully except those times where she was looking backwards and walking straight for the cliffs edge, but there were enough older siblings to save her life, fortunately. We got to the look out and it was very anti-climactic for the oldest 2, they thought they had been here and in a picture they were in front of a HUGE waterfall and this one was very small... That would be Multnomah Falls, WA in that picture. Poor kids, yes they were there when they were little and this clearly is not that same one.
This is also where while sitting peacefully fondly remembering old teenage memories that Fran told me that she had to pee. Great, no problem, there's an outhouse back at the PARKING LOT! I've only walked a good 1/2 mile with 6 small kids up and down and up and down a muddy mountain side in my hard plastic orthodics on my feet, we'll just jog straight back, no big deal. (I know, I'm such a whiner!) Needless to say, on the way back, I made a break for it when I realized there was no one around and she peed like a perfect princess by the tree off the side of the path and after that? "Oh mama! Look the sun is out!!! Mama, It's so pretty here!" See what a full bladder does to one's outlook on things?

On the way home we took the scenic route via the Old Glenn Hwy where I never allow myself to go because it adds an extra 15 beautiful exciting minutes to the drive...so worth it and the kids loved it.

We got home around 8:45, I realized I'm really unsure about my new house color and I'm now thinking about going back to green. K went out to milk the goats (she does morning and night) I got the others to do some of their other chores. Em was crying in the bathroom for the next hour with constipation (I know you needed to know that) and I decided not to worry about the house paint and to get on some cheese making since I had about 5 gallons of milk in the dairy fridge. I started around 9:30 with 2 gallons in one pot for our regular "farmers" cheese aka paneer, or any other variety of names for the cheese coagulated with vinegar that Stud usually makes and now the kids have gotten used to this cheese. The other pot was filled with one gallon for the squeaky cheese curds that I've been craving this week. The recipe takes 4 hours. I was in for the long haul.

Kids went to bed after finishing chores and having some of their ice cream that we made last week and I am finally finished with the cheese curds at 2am. They are beautiful and squeaky...I realized all the delicious cheese curds we have bought at the store made locally don't even have the squeak...which I guess really only comes that day or the day after. Very tasty...but I think I need to find a recipe that does not take that full 4 hours, that is really not worth the effort.

Something I did discover as I was waiting during one of the waiting stages was that that farmers cheese that we are used to eating now fries up like a dream. I knew this but hadn't tried it. I guess because of the way it's made it simply doesn't melt...so I heated some oil in the skillet and threw on a few chunks of the cheese we had been eating for our 2nd dinner after we got home. It was, how do you say? Out-of-this-world! Wow. I can't wait till Stud comes home so he can try too. That cheese recipe is so easy, now I know what a VERY yummy snack is...fry up some cheese baby and let's have a party! That will have to be our new appetizer when people come over...I even started dreaming about opening up a food booth with fried goat cheese kabobs *with no MSG added* for the fair....oh silly me. Aid could not get enough of them himself, and I even fried up a pickle to try with it, since my friend told me about eating one at a neighbors house. Pretty good mix of flavors if you ask me. Those southern-ers know a thing or three, about food.

I'm looking forward to my Rubbermaid totes full of caribou to come home with hubby in 10 days or so, but tonight he told me that the caribou herd is not near the town, so they will have to hike over to the other side of the island (only 14 miles) in order to find their game. I doubt we'll get as much as last year if that is the case, but I'll be thankful for some. And I guess the ptarmigan are plentiful there and they already got 4 today, so at least we'll have plenty of bird in the freezer this year.

I blew off the other 3 things that I had planned today, a play date for Fran down the street, a potluck with old friends who are up for a visit, and K's shotgun club where I'm now the brand new treasurer, but I'm glad we had our adventure. The kids were shocked with how much fun they had with me and with out papa (see he's the fun one, not me.) So I was pleased with myself and I think they were too. Life is more fun when Papa's home, but a few days are fun when he's gone too.