Stewin' Over Stews

6 to 8 squirrels, dressed
3 lbs. leftover pork
1/4 cup bacon grease
3/4 cup chopped Vidalla onion
1.5 cups chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped carrots
4 potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 cups fresh chopped okra
1 cup cooked white rice (or whatever you have)
1 stick of margarine (butter is better)
2 15oz or so cans whole kernel corn, or 4 cups fresh cut corn
2 15oz or so cans tomatoes
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Boil squirrels and pork, reserving broth. De-bone squirrels (and pork, if needed) and then chop all meat into small pieces.

In a skillet (what else?), fry onion in bacon grease until tender and carmelized (brownish); using part of the meat broth, cook celery, carrots, potatoes, and okra until tender.
Next, add in the meat, rice, butter, and remaining ingredients. You may need to add more broth or rice to get the thickness you want.

Add salt, garlic powder, and pepper to taste.

1 chicken, about 4 to 5 pounds, cut up
2 tablespoons bacon grease (or vegetable oil if you're cutting back)
1.5 cups water
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon paprika
8 to 10 small white onions, halved
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas, optional
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup diced turnip
2 cups diced potatoes
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
1/3 cup flour mixed with 1/2 cup cool water to form a paste
Salt and pepper to taste

Using a stewing pot, heat up your bacon grease and then brown chicken pieces on all sides. Add water, broth, garlic and paprika. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Add onions, peas (yuck), carrots, turnip, potatoes and corn; cover and simmer for another 35 to 45 minutes.

Stir in the flour and water mixture and continue cooking until stew is thickened, about 10 minutes or so. Serve over rice, if desired.

These ain't Northern dumplings, which are dropped into the soup, and they ain't quite Southern dumplings either - which are rolled out and cut into strips. By not dropping and not rolling out my dumpling dough, I've created non-partisan chicken and dumplings!

3 chicken breasts, skin & bones on (this gives you more white meat than if you stewed a whole chicken)
1 carrot cut half way then in thirds
2 stalks of celery cut the same way as the carrot
1 medium onion, quartered
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1 tablespoon salt
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
6 drops Tabasco sauce (you can't taste this and it doesn't make it hot, I promise, it just adds some yumminess to the flavor)
1/2 stick of real butter (you can leave this out, it just makes the broth richer)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of condensed chicken broth (you know, the kind of chicken broth you have to add water)
Water
2 cups Bisquick"
2/3 cup milk

Put the chicken breasts, carrot, celery, onion, peppercorns, salt, garlic, bay leaf, and six drops of Tabasco in a large sauce pan/Dutch oven, and then add water, enough to cover.

Simmer a couple of hours until chicken is tender. Remove chicken breasts to a plate and strain the broth twice; discard vegetables. Pour broth back into your big pot/Dutch oven, then de-bone that tender chicken and reserve it on the side while you make dumplings.

To the broth, add a half a stick real butter, cream of chicken soup, condensed chicken broth, plus one can of water. Taste and re-season broth (if it needs it) with salt and pepper. Turn the heat up and bring chicken broth to a rolling simmer.

While your broth heats up, mix together Bisquick and half of the milk in a smallish bowl (this sure does use a lot of dishes, eh?). Stir Bisquick mixture and add milk until a soft dough is formed. Take a spoonful of dough and roll it into a 1 to 1.5-inch ball shape. As soon as the broth is at a low soft boil drop in about 5-6 dough balls and put on the lid. (If the liquid is at a big fat rolling boil it'll break up the dumplings.) Simmer for 5 minutes - WITHOUT OPENING THE LID - and then use a slotted spoon to turn them over. Put the lid back on and cook the dumplings another 5 minutes (without opening the lid). They will resemble little fluffy clouds floating in a slurry of sunshine.

Next, either push the dumplings to the side of the pot, or remove them to a plate while you cook the remaining dumplings. If you push them to the side you risk breaking them up, I know this from experience!

Anyway, back to the recipe ... when all your dumplings are cooked, reduce heat to low and add the dumplings back to the broth - along with all that delicious chicken you de-boned a few minutes ago. Cover, set the table, holler for the kids to come and wash up, take the cornbread out of the oven, and then serve.

You cook this in your crock pot. I got this recipe from an online buddy, and she said, "Serve over rice or noodles."

2 slices of bacon -- chopped
2 pounds sirloin tip or round steak -- cut in 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cube beef bouillon, crushed
1 cup Burgundy wine (or any red wine or Night Train")
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms or 1 jar sliced mushrooms, drained

In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp; remove bacon and set aside. Dredge beef with flour and then brown on all sides in bacon grease.

Combine steak, bacon grease, cooked bacon, seasonings, bouillon, and Burgundy in crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until meat is tender.

Turn control on crock pot to high. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tablespoons water. Stir in meat mixture. Add in mushrooms; cook on high for 15 minutes.

1 skinned and dressed possum (don't use white if it's after Labor Day)
Salt and pepper
Lemon juice
2 or 3 small onions
1 1/4 cups stock or water
4 to 6 sweet potatoes
1 teaspoon flour
2 teaspoons butter

Soak the dressed possum in salted water for 12 hours. Wash 4 times in fresh cold water then parboil your possum for about 5 minutes. Drain and dry.

Rub the possum inside and out with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Place in a heavy heatproof casserole or Dutch oven and add the onions. Bring the stock or water to a boil and pour over the possum. Cover the pot tightly and cook in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Peel the sweet potatoes; turn the possum and place the sweet potatoes around it. Cook, covered, for 1 hour or longer until tender. Skim off the fat and let the possum brown, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.

While it is browning, combine flour with the butter making small balls. Drop them into the pot to thicken the gravy. Lift out the possum; place it on a hot platter and surround with sweet potatoes. Serve the gravy separately.

I don't eat liver. Eww. But if you do, then, well, here ya go.

1 lb. beef liver
6 slices bacon
3 med. potatoes
3 or 4 med. carrots
1/2 med. onion
1 c. diced celery
1/4 c. catsup

Cook bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towel. Cut liver in stewing size pieces. Dip in flour. Brown in fat, turning once. Place in stew pot. Cover with water and add all vegetables.

Cook until liver is tender and vegetables are done. Add catsup and crumbled bacon.

Season with salt and pepper. May be thickened with flour and water, if desired. Can also be fed to dog.

2 tbsp. bacon grease
2 lbs. lean pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 c. beer
1 1/2 to 2 c. beef broth
1 tsp. dried rosemary
8 to 10 sm. white onions, peeled
3 med. potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 carrots, scraped and quartered
2 pkgs. frozen brussels sprouts (optional)
Flour, doesn't matter what kind, mixed with small amount of water to make paste

Dredge pork in flour. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven, and brown the pork on all sides. Season with salt and pepper. Add the beer and 1/4 cup of the beef broth, and the rosemary, cover and simmer slowly for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (I haven't made this yet, but I bet the cooking time will be twice as long, probably up to three hours.)

During the cooking time, baste or turn the meat so the pork can really stew. If the liquid is cooking off too quickly, add a little more broth or beer.

When the pork is tender, add the onions, potatoes, carrots, and a cup of the broth. Stir all the ingredients, and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Ten minutes before you are ready to serve the stew you may wish to add the brussels sprouts.

Gradually add some flour paste to the stew, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens. Serves 4 to 6.