Oh Green Beans

Picked a mess this AM

beautiful!

:-D

Gorgeous!

If you haven't tried my grandma's bean & potato soup (with dumplings), you have to check out the recipe I included in this article about snap beans: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1503/

(I've posted the recipe a couple of times, so you might have seen it before... or you might have a similar one that's been passed down in your family!)

Nice beans! What type(s) are you growing.
We like Kentucky Wonder pole beans. They seem to outperform everything else in the garden.

Yes Mermaid, they are Kentucky Wounder, and I will try that recipe Critter

What a nice looking trellis! Fantastic bean harvest there!!

Hope Grandma's soup goes over well! It's had good review from a couple of avowed soup haters... maybe it's the dumplings! Actually, I think it's just that the fresh green beans are so sweet & good.

I'll let you know how it taste , my wife was talking about how great dumplings taste when she was a girl and the restaurant just don't taste right, so I'll be working on the dumplings big time.

ZZsBabiez the trellis was made from some old 6' fence that I was given. I planed to put a board across the top and put a couple of bird housed on top,
but...................maybe next year

P.S. I moved here two years ago from Florida...so the Flamingo

This message was edited Aug 29, 2008 12:39 PM

I like the flamingo! noticed him first thing. :-)

Now, some folks make dumplings with baking powder, and they get all big and poofy. These aren't those kinda dumplings. These are more like.. like... fat noodles? gnocchi? I'm not sure, but they are tasty! I haven't seen anybody leave them in the bowl yet. My niece saves one for her last bite, just like I do. :-)

I love Kentucky Wonders and haven't grown them for awhile, so I'm envious. I did grow an Italian bush bean, but won't grow them again. Very disappointed. Provider bush is so much better and much longer production.
Critter---I am going to copy your recipe and try it with the yellow snaps I also grew and are still going. Sounds wonderful!
Beebonnet

I hope you enjoy it! We made a lot of it with purple snaps (both pole and bush) last year... :-)

Critter , I have to work on my dumplings , my Mom made the all the time, but mine...well
Yuch, but I will not give up.

Were your mom's dumplings really puffy and light and airy? Because that's not kind of the dumplings you'll get from my egg & flour recipe -- for the big poofy kind, you need a recipe with baking powder. The eggs do add some leavening, though, especially if you beat them until they're lemon-colored (the dumplings should swell a little while they cook). I'm mentioning that mostly because if you're expecting one thing and get a recipe for another, you'll make yourself crazy trying to get from A to B. LOL

What was "yuch" about them? If they were doughy in the middle, you either didn't add enough flour (more doesn't hurt -- just makes the dumpling a little denser), or you didn't cook them long enough. My dad makes the dough thick enough to roll into a "snake" so he can pinch off pieces. I like mine a little more tender than that, but it's better to err on the side of adding a little more flour than not enough.

I'm sorry you had trouble with them. I was hoping the photos would help... I hope I didn't miss an obvious tip or instruction! Dumplings are pretty simple, but even simple stuff doesn't always turn out right the first time... try them again, and LMK if I can help! :-)

I going to practice making them in just hot water until I get what I like.
My Mom made the type you roll out thin then cut into strips.
I may not have beaten the eggs correctly the dough did not hold together, so did not form a ball.

The dough has to form a ball, at least a loose and sticky one... that's not a matter of beating the eggs, it's a matter of how much flour you add... *runs to check recipe in article*

Maybe your eggs are are larger than mine (we generally get "large")... If your dough doesn't come together, add more flour. 1/4 cup per egg is an estimate. Depending on the size of the egg, humidity, etc., sometimes it can take a a tablespoon or two more than that. If in doubt, add more flour! :-)

I'll bet Paula Dean or somebody has a recipe for the roll-out kind of dumplings. I like the drop ones both because they're what I grew up with and because they're so easy.

I struggled with dumplings for years and one thing of great importance is that self rising flour will NOT work. Mine always fell apart if I added any oil or shortening or leavening. The light fluffy ones can be made with the cheapest canned biscuits cut up in small pieces. The roll out kind are more successful if your dough is stiff as for pasta. The chewy drop type is made with adding more water or milk to the roll out kind so you have a cross between dough and batter.

It amazes me that something so apparently simple can be so elusive. I think every Southern woman besides me can make good dumplings and biscuits in their sleep.

We always had the roll-out kind, which calls for a lot of butter or shortening, so they're much more fattening. The recipe, I think, looks something like this one: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Dumpling-Strips/Detail.aspx

I'm going to try yours, though, critter, when the green beans are ready. It looks good!

The drop dumplings are easier, I think, because the roll out ones are more like pie crust -- that takes a little practice to get them right. With drop dumplings, if you add too much flour or beat them too much, they might be a little more dense or a little less tender, but they will still be tasty (my mom likes them chewy -- she beats them hard on purpose).

If you're cutting calories, I suppose you could leave out the parmesan cheese, but there's really not that much of it per serving. Grandma never had parmesan cheese on the farm... that's my mom's addition to the recipe!