Dumplings & Dill Gravy

We had a special dinner on Saturday to celebrate Barbara coming up for her visit.  One of our favorite meals is homemade soup, dumplings and dill gravy.  Gerry got the recipe from her mother who received it on from her mother-in-law and it originally came from Bohemia.  I guess you could say it is a family recipe passed down from daughter to daughter and maybe to son this time. also.

Soup preparation

Gerry started off by making homemade noodles from scratch and they really set off the meal.  She prepares the noodles, cuts them into strips and then cooks them with the soup.  The soup has carrots, chuck roast, celery, cabbage, tomatoes and other secret ingredients mixed in to make it delicious.

She also makes homemade dumpling with another secret recipe and starts out from scratch on the dumplings.  The noodles are at the top of the table and beginnings of the dumplings on the bottom.  The table seats six adults, so you can get an idea of the size of the ingredients.

 Once the soup has been made, the dumplings go into a pot and are prepared.  At the same time, she makes the dill gravy that goes over the dumplings.  All of the above works takes the better part of one afternoon and morning.  It truly is a labor of love.

The dill gravy above is cooking on the stove and smells wonderful. Next to the gravy is some of the meat and cabbage taken from the soup.

 I almost didn't get a picture of the soup before it was all devoured, but when I went back for my 2nd bowl of soup, I noticed how much had disappeared.  You can get an idea of the size of the soup pot by seeing the ladle on the right. 

This is the 2nd batch of dumplings and they also were going fast.  We used the same soup bowl to place the dumpling in and then cut them into bite size pieces.  The dill gravy was spread over the dumplings and were fantastic.  I also went back for a 2nd helping of the dumpling, so I managed to fill myself up with the great food.

While I was making a pig of myself, others were doing the same.  There wasn't a lot of talking going on, just eating the great food.

Gerry and Cassie having their dill gravy.

Barbara said it was divine

I was too tired to move, but happy.

Cassie, Jack & Lexi joined us, along with Gerry's sister Darlene and bil Tom.  They had a 2 1/2 hour drive up from Annapolis and made it without hesitation to enjoy the meal with us.  Yes, it is that good.

We all gathered on the porch before the meal and had some adult drinks and a coke for Lexi.  The picture below has all of us in the picture except for Gerry.  Darlene and Tom are at the top, with me, Lexi & Jack.  Cassie has her back to the photo and Barbara is in the upper right top of the photo.

After dinner they played Boggle for a while and had a close game decided by one point.  I am not that much interested in these kinds of games so I sat this one out.

Around 10:45 PM everyone began getting ready to make their long drives back home.  For Cassie, Jack & Lexi it was a 30 minute drive, while Tom & Darlene had a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of them.  They wound up getting back to Annapolis around 1PM.  Tired, full and happy I hope.

That was our happy day, how was yours?