Month: October 2020

Pork Dumplings

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These dumplings are far from beautiful. Like pies and my prior attempts at pierogies, I am still bad a sealing foods. Don’t let these dumpling’s appearance fool you though, because these dumplings were very tasty! This recipe takes a while to make, so give yourself an hour of just prep time if you plan on making your own wrappers. You could also just by store wrappers and that will help a ton. Learn from my mistakes by taking the advice next. First, make sure your dough isn’t too sticky for your wrappers. If the dough tries to stick to your hand, add more flour. Finally, these will stick to the pan once all the liquid is out, so use a stiff spatula and scrape the bottom of the pan to get that nice crisp bottom. You could also steam them, but I don’t have a decent steamer basket, so this faux steaming will work for me. These dumplings are savory and have so much flavor. The soy dipping also helps even out the flavor and is necessary for this recipe. This recipe makes 20 dumplings or 3 adult servings.

Pork Dumplings Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

Wrappers

  • 1 1/2 Cups Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Warm Water
  • Rolling pin
  • Cling wrap

Filling

  • 1/2 lb Pork, ground
  • 1/2 Medium Onion, finely diced
  • 2 Garlic cloves, minced
  • Ginger paste
  • Sesame Oil
  • Mixing Bowl
  • Frying pan and Lid
  • Stiff Spatula
  • Soy sauce, for serving

Directions

Making Wrappers

1. Mix together in a bowl flour and water until the dough comes together. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough should not be sticky. Once dough is formed, wrap in cling wrap for 30 minutes to rest.

2. Once rested, turn out onto floured work surface. Divide into 20 balls and cover with cling wrap when not working with them. Roll out each ball into a 3 inch circle. Set aside on floured surface.

Making Pork Dumplings

  1. Mix together in a mixing bowl, pork, garlic, onion, ginger, and sesame oil.

2. In the center of your wrappers, add 1 Tbsp pork mixture. Fold in half and seal edges. Begin heating your frying pan over medium heat.

3. Once hot, add enough dumplings to fit in pan without touching. Add 1/3 cup water, and cover for 5 minutes and cook undisturbed. Remove the lid and cook until all the water disappears and the bottom of the pan begins to turn a dark brown. Remove from heat. Using spatula, free your dumplings from the pan, plate and serve.

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Tilapia Wrap with Coleslaw

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These wraps are great for dinner or leftover as a lunch. This fish filling tastes great warm or cold. The tilapia is pan cooked with spices so the flavor penetrates the fish. Peppers and onions add some bright flavor to the fish, and the coleslaw adds some much needed acidity, but also some cooling base, if you wanted to make your fish even spicier. To make your fish spicier, simply add a drop or two of hot sauce, some cayenne pepper powder, or some red pepper flakes. This recipe makes 4 full wraps. I used 12 inch tortillas, but if you use 8 inch, you could probably get 5 wraps total. Here is also a link to my coleslaw recipe if you’d like to make your own!

Tilapia Wrap with Coleslaw Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 2 Tilapia Fillets, thawed
  • 4 Flour Tortillas
  • 4 Cups Coleslaw
  • 1/3 bag frozen peppers and onions, about 6-7 Oz, thawed
  • 1 Tbsp Cumin
  • 1 Tbsp Chili Powder
  • 1/2 Tbsp Paprika
  • 1/2 Cup Water
  • 2 Tbsp Oil
  • Large Frying Pan

Directions

1.Heat pan over medium heat. Once hot add oil and tilapia. Sprinkle with half your spices, and cook for 3 minutes on your first side. Flip, sprinkle with remaining spices, and cook for another 3 minutes.

2. Break up your fish, add your water and peppers and onions and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5-10 or until most water evaporates off.

3. Split Tilapia filling evenly between 4 tortillas. Top with one cup of coleslaw each. Wrap your tortillas and serve.

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Homemade Coleslaw

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Like Potatoes, cabbage is also in season here now. Cabbage is a great vegetable because it can last up to 6 weeks in your fridge before beginning to go bad. Cabbage has a very similar flavor to a head lettuce, but it is used in so many more recipes than just lettuce. Cabbage is used is in stir fry, made into sides like coleslaw, made into sauces like kimchi, wrapped around food like stuffed cabbage, and as an ingredient in spring rolls. Cabbage is versatile and used across many ethnic groups.

Coleslaw is really easy to make, and the only thing that takes time is preparing the ingredients. Shredding cabbage can take some time at first, but you become faster with time. The ingredients can also be altered. I added a bit more of each, mayo and sour cream. This was very unnecessary, and I’ve adjusted my recipe to match. As for cabbage, I shredded about 4-5 cups for this recipe. I highly recommend using the full quantity of vinegar, and I also recommend letting is sit before serving. This allows the vinegar to penetrate better. This recipe makes 8 adult side servings.

Homemade Coleslaw Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 1/2 Medium Head of Cabbage, outer leaves removed, cored, and shredded
  • 1 1/2 Cups Mayo
  • 3/4 Cup Sour Cream
  • 1/4 Cup Apple Cider vinegar
  • Large Mixing Bowl

Directions

  1. Prepare your cabbage.

2. Add all your ingredients into your mixing bowl, and stir until everything is coated.

3. Refrigerated for 2-3 before serving.

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Freezer Shredded Potatoes

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Potatoes can be found easily this time of year. The other day, I posted about cubing and freezing potatoes, but this is another way of preserve potatoes. Shredded potatoes go well in casseroles, or fried as pancakes. These are also very easy to make and they take very little time to process and freeze. 8 medium potatoes will give you about half a gallon of shredded potatoes. I made 2 batches at once, and I froze each meal individually, since they freeze into a solid block.

Freezer Shredded Potatoes Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 4 Medium Potatoes, Cleaned
  • Shredder attachment for food processor/mixer, or Cheese grater
  • Dutch Oven
  • Large Bowl with Ice Water
  • Strainer
  • Freezer bag/Vacuum Seal bag

Directions

1.Clean your potatoes and shred using your shredder. In a dutch oven, fill 3/4 full with water and bring to a full boil. Prepare your Ice water.

2. Add the potatoes to the boiling water a handful at a time. Once added, boil for 1 minute. Strain and add to ice water.

3. Once cool, strain again, and let strain for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Transfer potatoes into a freezer bag/vacuum bag. Remove air from bag, label, and freeze. This is enough for one serving, if you want smaller servings, freeze separately.

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My Updates and Questions

Hey. I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve done a more casual and less scripted post. I guess that leads me to the questions I have. What do you think of the new format of my recipe posts? This is the second time I’ve altered the format for how I write these recipes in the last year. I’ve been moving more in the direction of how others do their recipe formatting. List the ingredients, and list each step with photos of that step. I also added the option to download the recipe as a recipe card. Is that helpful? Should I instead be formatting them as a whole page instead of 4×6 note card sized?

Lately, I’ve been trying to update some of my older posts a bit. I have so many more tags then a used to, and so I’ve begun adding newer tags to older posts. I’ve also been considering revisiting my older posts to remake them. My old phone had terrible photo quality, so many of my old posts were edited to remove the shake or grainy texture of the photos. I would really like to re-do many of them, but it will take some major time. Also, if I hear you like the format of these new posts, I will reformat older posts to fit the new style.

My plans for the blog are still moving forward. This week I got a tripod, so I’ll be trying that out on some older recipes. I will be posting the link to the YouTube once it’s up and I’ll be announcing it on every platform. I’m also thinking about holding off on Instagram for now. I don’t really know what to post, and when I do it’s not great engagement, which is understandable since it’s a completely different kind of website/app.

Projects right now are relatively slow around the house. We are preparing for hunting season and winter. The garlic was planted 3 weeks ago, and one of my garlic cloves sprouted after just a week, so it’s one of the few green things left in the yard. My peach tree has lost all it’s leaves overnight and we’ve had only two frosts so far this fall. My marigolds are still blooming in my raised beds, and though I’d like 2-3 more raised beds for next year, our priorities are elsewhere, so it’ll wait till the spring. Since we finished the master bedroom, no more flooring has come up or gone down. We are planning a yard sale for next summer though. Josh and I both have things we don’t need or use, so we plan a yard sale and a couple family picnics next summer since most family members haven’t seen the house since we moved in 15 months ago.

This virus has been pretty hard for us. We think we may have had it in May, but it’s impossible for us to know with all the testing being so limited where we are. With the second flu season coming, we are exposed to more people who are sick and it seems impossible to know who has it, and if you can even get it twice. When we were sick in May, we were mostly asymptomatic. I had a fever and a cough, and Josh didn’t even have that. However, when my mom got sick she was sick. And, this weekend I lost a Great-Great Uncle to the virus. He did have many existing issues and he’s been holding on for a while, but he got sick from a home nurse and that was it.

What a crazy time we live in. I wonder who will be looking back at our writings someday and what will they say or feel about this. It’s crazy in the U.S. right now, but at the same time, everyone is still just trying to live. For some, life has gone completely back to normal, while others are in a completely new situation and just trying to get their bearings. For some, their business is booming and has never done better, and for others their dream has been crush with lock downs and regulations they just can’t meet. Jobs, families, businesses, so many things affected. It stinks that so much bad is happening to so many people right now. However, I am very thankful for what I have. Things haven’t been easy with friends and family getting sick, being trapped inside with limited interactions with the world, and watching helplessly as we can just wait. But, we are thankful for what we do have. We are thankful for the changing seasons, for the warm days and the rain, for the food in our stomachs, and for the coming opportunity to once again fellowship with others when we are allowed to. Look forward to the future. Make goals and dream. Don’t stay in the sorrow of right now and instead look forward to the spring. This is just another season in life.

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