Pump-toad, it's not my recipe but one that Potpie posted on the Recipe Exchange Forum. It is delicious! My Mom's recipe is similar but she did not save beef bones, she used short ribs instead but always homemade noodles. Beef and Noodles like Grama used to make (Potpie) You need some good bones. Steak bones, rib bones, soup bones, and some good stewing meat. And, you need some good chuck roast to chunk into it too. In a big heavy bottomed pot, add the bones, two cloves of garlic, one or two bay leaves, a whole onion, not peeled but the root end cut clean, that has been cut into a three-way "X". You need to add a couple stalks of celery and some carrots too. Add some thyme if you like the flavor. Add no salt or pepper at this point. Cover and cook at a simmering, not a boil, for about 6 hours. Then, strain the broth off and save it. You can pick the meat off the bones and add it to the broth, or just throw all the bones and simmered gunk away. Then put the broth back into a clean heavy bottomed pot and add the good chuck meat cut into chunks about 1 inch by 1 inch. Simmer until the meat is tender, about three hours or so. *If you boil the meat, it will get tough. You can add a good quality beef boullion if you like to enchance the flavor and perk it up with the saltiness of the boullion. All of this can be done in advance and saved in the fridge. Everytime you have a standing rib or a bunch of steak or anything that produced lots of bones and scrap meat, save it or cook it into broth. Then, when you're ready to make the final dish, cook the chunky broth until it is just at a boil. Make homemade egg noodles. The recipe is simple. 2 cups of flour, 2 eggs, a pinch of salt, and I like to add a touch of melted butter to my noodles. You can do this really easy in a food processor. Just pulse them until they are holding together. If you need to add any liquid, then add a bit of water, but they should be pretty dry, not a wet dough. (If you want puffier noodles that are really light, then use self rising flour). Roll the noodles out on a floured surface and after you have a nice thin rectangle or whatever shape, roll it all up into a log roll like you would cinnamon buns. Then, using a really sharp knife cut down the center lengthwise from end to end and try to keep it together as best as possible. Then, cut from the end across the two long lenghts of noodle dough into the thickness you like. I like a 3/8 inch cut. Do that to the entire mess of dough. And toss it in the flour to keep it separated. Then, to the rolling boiled liquid and meat, add the noodles that have been shook loose from most of the flour, but keep lots of flour on them, as this flour will thicken the liquid for the Beef and Noodles. If you need more thickening, add some flour and water paste thinned out in the broth to the pot. For a good touch, add a nice splash of real sherry wine. It perks the flavor of the beef. Only salt and pepper AFTER you've made your broth and do it to taste, and do it AFTER you add any boullioin for flavor. You can degrease the broth if you like, but, leaving it in is okay in beef and noodles. This is a hearty dish and the fat adds lots of flavor and gets soaked up in the gravy and the noodles anyway. This is the way my grandmother taught me to make this, and she was from South Dakota. I have a good friend who is from Iowa and she makes her Beef and Noodles the same way, and a friend of Indiana makes her the same too. She adds more onions in hers than we do. The real way to serve them in our family is to make mashed potatoes and serve the beef and noodles over buttery mashed potatoes. (I come from a long line of hard working farmers from the cold who needed extra fat on their frame to make it through the hard winters!) Michelle

Deedles, I didn't think they were either, the fluffed up nicely, but were still substantial, and not like lead sinkers! SJG, rather then interlocking the sheets by a slight vertical offset, they were installed in a straight line with loose tiles to fill in the gaps. So instead of a seamless pattern I have a striped one. There are pics posted if you want to see. Autumn4, mine ended up kind of like gravy. I just kept stirring, and eventually decided it wasn't getting any thicker. I did use whole milk though. I figured since I took a pass on the canned soup I'd throw caution to the wind and live a little! I'm curious to hear how yours came out! We just finished the leftovers and it heated up very well. I wish my stomach was a little bigger, my mouth wants more.

Dumplings or "doughboys" 2 tbsp shortening 2 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 cup milk Rub shortening into the dry ingredients..Gradually add milk and mix lightly with a fork until it forms a soft dough...Drop by spoonfuls on top of stew being careful not to have the liquid higher than the veggies or meat....Cover tightly and do not peak for 12 to 15 min. I put a sprinkling of dried parsley in mine before adding the liquid...it is optional. These come out light and fluffy. one note* make sure your baking powder is fairly new as there is nothing more disheartening to make something this easy only to be a flop, or in other words gooey and chewy....not good lol. This goes for biscuits as well, most other things you won't notice that it doesn't act properly.

I learned to make a spaetzle thingy my dad always called a dumpling. Much the same as Linda's recipe only a bit more simple. Beat eggs like you would for scrambled eggs. A large pinch of parsley. Add flour until it forms a stiff dough... it should not run off the spoon. Must be exact in proportion... okay maybe not. About two eggs per person or three eggs per teenager. A splash of milk will make them more fluffy but I seldom have milk around. I like them thick and heavy. Extras keep in the fridge for a few days just fine... warm in a microwave or by putting hot soup on them. Unlike the other I never boil them in the soup... yucky slimey starchy things I don't like. I boil them like a noodle. Drop them from a wet teaspoon into boiling water. While spooning them into the boiling pot keep a small bowl of plain water... dip the spoon in the water between each scoop of dough and the dough won't stick to the spoon. We push them off the spoon with a finger. They are done when they float... fish them out with a slotted spoon. You will get all sizes and some fines. If making a large batch drain the whole pot into a collander. About half the size of an egg is the perfect size but the tiny fines eat well. Large ones may have to be cut with a knife to eat. This makes an all purpose "dumpling". At soup time put some in a bowl and ladle hot soup over top. A family favorite is to put chicken gravy over them. My youngest sister likes butter and parmeasan cheese on them. They are simple, filling, inexpensive. With chicken gravy they are the #1 family favorite and we always make them for my middle sister when she comes back to Michigan. We so enjoy them the chicken we cook to make gravy gets pushed aside and is eaten later. Lots of protein in the eggs so with a side of veggies this makes a complete hearty meal that will stick with you out in the cold. A common soup we make other then chicken is beef bones, a can/few tomatoes, celery sticks, carrot sticks, and some black pepper. Boil it all until it smells good and ladle over a bowl of dumplings. Being homemade it will take lots of salt... I seldom salt while cooking but pour it on at the table. : ) lyra