stew and dumplings

this is my grandma's dumpling recipe i got a few years ago. one night while having supper at her house mike exclaimed, "you must make these dumplings!" i don't think they are spectacular or anything - i'm mean, they're just dumplings - but it's a good recipe with ingredients i always have on hand. and that's how i make my stew as well, i throw in whatever is in the fridge.

dumplings

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 2/3 cup milk

sift together dry ingredients (you don't have to sift, but i do, and they always turn out better.) mix wet ingredients. add dry to wet. spoon into servings on top of already cooked stew, bake altogether in oven at 350 for 18 min.

at this point, they weren't quite sticky enough so i added a touch more of milk.

baking is the important part - the stew doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot and the dumplings get cooked thoroughly.

i don't have a recipe for the stew, because well, i don't have one. this is one of the few meals i cheat with and use a boughten spice mix - i'm almost ashamed to admit that! but i do have a few tips; always add parsnips, they keep forever in the fridge and add a wonderful sweetness to the stew you just can't get out of anything else. and towards the end of cooking (before the dumplings) i thicken it up with the classic 2 tbsp of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water combo - sometimes even doubling that.