Vegetable Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings

This is a recipe that my husband picked out and is the most complicated one I have found—the dumplings had to cook for an additional hour after I got home.  I felt this somewhat defeated the purpose of having meals ready when I got home but to save time I made the dumpling recipe in advance.  When I got home I just added it and it turned out to be pretty nice. The next time I make this recipe I am going to play around with reducing the cook time and adding cooked beans to see if maybe I can get the squash to be less mushy.  If I can make it any better I will post it on here of course! 

The funny thing about this recipe is when I was on my way home from work, I called my husband (because he was already home) and asked him to add the dumplings.  My first red flag should have been when I asked him to scoop out six dollops of cornmeal mix into the Crockpot and he said, “What if I scoop out seven?”  I thought he was joking.  Anyway, I asked him to check the recipe because I was pretty sure the Crockpot needed to be turned to high and that was when he noticed the recipe called for the frozen green beans that I forgot to ask him to add.  I told him he would have to scoop out the dumplings to add the green beans and he said, “That’s going to be kind of difficult.”  I soon discovered that the dumplings had been slightly mixed in and were down inside the stew….  I was so angry and I about had an aneurysm trying to suppress it.  So, long story short, my first attempt at making this recipe didn’t go as planned.

Here is the rating we came up with for this recipe:

Rating:

8 = Taste (4 from each of us)

5 = Ingredient Availability

3 = Prep Time (about 15 minutes BUT I had to cook for additional time so I took off some points)

5 = Cost (CHEAP!)

21 out of 25 — Pretty good!

5 = Family Bonus—my children loved this recipe.  And that was without the dumplings!

Here is what we did with our extra time:  Parker rode his tricycle outside.  I raced Parker and pretended to lose.  I pulled weeds from my front yard.  Every day I notice more of these stupid, obnoxious white flowering plants.  I try to think of Emerson’s quote, “A weed is a plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered,” but I can’t get over it.  It disrupts my serenity to see my plush green lawn so violated! 

Vegetable Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings

Stew Ingredients

3 cups Butternut or Acorn Squash – peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes 

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms 

2—14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained 

1.5 cups Great Northern beans, rinsed and soaked overnight

1.5 cup water 

4 cloves garlic, minced 

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed 

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 

1—9 ounce package frozen Italian green beans or frozen cut green beans – HOLD OUT 

Dumpling Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour 

1/3 cup cornmeal 

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 

1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 egg 

2 tablespoons milk 

2 tablespoons cooking oil 

Paprika 

Directions:

1.       In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker, combine squash, mushrooms, undrained tomatoes, Great Northern beans, the water, garlic, Italian seasoning, and pepper.

2.       Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours.

3.       For dumplings: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, Parmesan cheese, parsley, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, milk, and oil. Add to the flour mixture; stir with a fork just until combined.

4.       If using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting. Stir frozen green beans into stew. Drop the dumpling dough into six mounds on top of the stew. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover and cook for 50 minutes more. (Do not lift lid while dumplings are cooking.)