Author: Debbie

Alison Chino: German Butter Beans and Bread {Foodie Friday}

Our family moved to Germany in September, so we have once again found ourselves adjusting to cooking what we can find in a new country.

It feels as though I had just gotten used to the grocery stores in Scotland, but now I am wandering stores where all the packaging is in another language.

I was super excited to find large white beans, because I am a big fan of hearty bean soups. Black Eyed Peas and Petit Jean Ham used to be a regular at our house, as well as French Lentil Soup. But lately we are enjoying a tomato and spinach broth with these butter beans.

I love a good vegetarian dish that is hearty enough to be dinner for a house full of boys!

Enjoy!

German Butter Beans and Bread Alison Chino

German Butter Beans and Bread
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Ingredients
  1. 2 cups of cooked butter beans or 2 cans of any large white beans
  2. 2 cans of chopped tomatoes
  3. 1-2 large leeks, peeled and sliced
  4. 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
  5. 1 tablespoon tomato puree
  6. 12 ounces chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
  7. 1 teaspoon parsley
  8. 1 teaspoon oregano
  9. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  10. salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Pour the olive oil into a medium sized frying pan and heat gently. Add the leeks and garlic cloves and fry over a gentle heat for five minutes.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan along with about a cup of water. Cook for about 20 minutes. Add more water if needed. Serve hot with a splash of vinegar or tabasco sauce along with some crusty bread.
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/
 
We are finding that there is good bread in abundance here in Germany so I have not been making it as often, but here’s a recipe for a simple wheat bread that I have used for years.

Easy Homemade Whole Wheat Bread
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Ingredients
  1. 1 cup warm water (235 ml)
  2. 1 scant tablespoon yeast
  3. 1 tablespoon honey
  4. 1 teaspoon salt
  5. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  6. 1 3/4 cups plain white flour (150 grams)
  7. 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (150 grams)
Instructions
  1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.
  2. Add honey and salt.
  3. Combine flours in a separate bowl and mix loosely with a fork. Then stir into the yeast mixture and mix with a fork and hands until the dough comes together.
  4. Knead for about 5 minutes.
  5. Cover dough in oil and set aside, covered, to rise until doubled, for 45-60 minutes. (less if you set it near your simmering soup pot).
  6. Form dough into one large loaf or if you have a very fast baking tiny oven, form into three very small loaves. Place on parchment lined half sheet pan and allow to sit about 20 minutes.
  7. Cook at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until browned on top.
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/
 
 

 

Alison Chino is a born and bred Arkansan who recently moved to Germany from Scotland, where she is learning to walk everywhere and to live with tiny appliances. She loves hiking with her husband and kids on the weekends. She blogs at the Chino House and she’s pretty much obsessed with Instagram.

Celebrating 2017 {Link-Up}

Today we are linking up our favorite ways to celebrate the new year. Share your party foods and ideas. Do you have traditions you and your family always bring out when a new year rolls around? Goals? Resolutions? Intentions? Share those posts. As always, we are looking forward to what you have to say.

 



Merry Christmas {Dec. 25, 2016}

Merry Christmas from the ARWB Team! 

Fa La La La La, SWEET MERCY, it is already Christmas Day and a new year is right around the corner. I want to thank all of you who have jumped in and breathed life into this mission of gathering, growing and connecting here at Arkansas Women Bloggers yet again this year. Seven years ago when this little seed took root, we could have never known that it would become what it is today.

Our community continues to get stronger. Many new faces, many who have continually stepped up to make this a more beautiful, loving group, and many whose life season does not include blogging, but still are a part of this community. We welcome any and all that have a true heart for community and are willing to open up and help one another with true kindness and giving. That is what this Christmas season is about, right? And, we try to keep that going all year long.

Business is booming in the influencer world and those of you who choose to grow as a business in some way, 2017 is going to rock your world. More and more brands are looking to partner with influencers, and yes, there are more and more blogs and social media accounts established every single day. Remember, comparison is the thief of joy, there is room for everyone, so be open to the amazing. Let The Women Bloggers be your training wheels, helping you to learn and keep upright in this busy, ever-changing world, while helping you to refine your message and your goals.

I look back with gratitude for the Lord’s many blessings on my family and this community in the past year. And I look forward to another great year with you.

Remember to exhale, to seek the beauty, the peace and the love that this season is all about. And carry it in your heart all year long.

Stephanie, @TheParkWife

 

Jerusalem Greer: Ms. J’s Chicken and Dumplings {Foodie Friday}

I have only a few memories of my great-grandmother, Granny Mary. I remember sitting on her front screened in porch, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and drinking my first cup of coffee around age six (which meant I was really drinking milk with a little bit of coffee.) I remember walking down the street to the Five and Dime and buying a sun-hat, making sure to leave the tags on like Minnie Pearl, and I remember her Chicken-and-Dumplings. They were legendary. The dumplings thick, the soup silky, the chicken chunky.

I have done my best to recreate her recipe from memory, and my Paw (Granny’s) said I got awfully close, which is good enough for me. This recipe has now become a family favorite and my boys ask for it most in the winter months, when the wind is cold and the nights long. This is a large recipe—enough for twelve adults.

Note: You can use homemade or store-bought chicken stock, or a combination of both.

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Jerusalem Greer:

Jerusalem Greer:

Ingredients

    For the Broth

  • 15 cups of chicken stock
  • :
3 carrots, peeled, washed, and diced (optional)
  • 3 celery stalks, washed and thinly sliced

  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced

  • 1 tablespoon of salt

  • 4 pounds of boneless chicken breast (frozen or thawed)
    Dumplings
  • 6 cups of flour

  • 3 tablespoons of baking powder

  • 3 teaspoons of salt
  • 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
  • all-purpose flour
  • ice water

Instructions

    Broth
  1. Bring 15 cups broth to a boil.
  2. Add in carrots, celery, onion, salt and chicken breasts.
  3. Once the chicken breasts are fully cooked, pull them out, and set them aside to cool.

  4. Reduce broth to simmer and leave simmering while you make the dumplings.
    Dumplings
  1. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
  2. Next, cut in 1 cup of solid vegetable shortening (use either a pastry cutter or 2 table knives).

  3. Once the shortening has been cut in well, begin adding ice cold water, ½ cup at a time, into the mixture.( I use about 2 ¼ cup of iced water - sometimes I use more, sometimes I use less, depending on the humidity in the air).
  4. Your goal is to create a dough that is soft, smooth, and easy to roll out but is not leathery or mushy or grainy.
  5. Next, roll your dough out. These dumplings are Southern-style flat dumplings like we make in Arkansas, not the round fluffy “drop” dumplings that are common in the North.

  6. Roll out the dough, using a slightly floured rolling pin, to between 1/8-1/4-inch thickness.

  7. Next, using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into strips about 1 inch wide by 3 inches long.

  8. http://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/cutting-dumplings.jpg
  9. Bring your stock back to a rolling boil, and tear the cooked chicken breast into bite-size pieces (or shred using a stand-mixer,) then add the meat back to the liquid.
  10. Once that is done, begin adding the strips of dumpling dough into the stock.
  11. Once all the strips have been added, give the pot a good stir, and cover.
  12. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Check every few minutes, stirring gently, until the dumplings are tender and cooked through, about 15–20 minutes.

  13. Serve hot!
  14. Enjoy.


Notes

My good friend and baking mentor Lynn taught me this great kitchen tip: When rolling out dough, spread out a smooth kitchen towel on your counter (I prefer the flour sack variety) and cover it with a good dusting of flour. This will be your rolling surface, and after you are done, you can simply fold the towel up and take it outside to shake off the excess.

https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/jerusalem-greer-ms-js-chicken-dumplings-foodie-friday/

Photos by Judea Jackson Robinett

Jerusalem Jackson Greer is a writer, blogger, speaker and  Minister to Children, Youth, and Families at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Conway, Her first book A Homemade Year: The Blessings of Cooking, Crafting and Coming Together was published in 2013, and her second book, At Home in this Life, will be released spring of 2017. Jerusalem,  her husband Nathan, and their two boys Wylie and Miles live in rural Arkansas where they are attempting to live a slower version of modern life.  She blogs about all of this and more at jerusalemgreer.com.