Turkey Gumbo and Tea Cakes

When you have a small grocery budget you head for the root cellar to create meals.  You hope you can be creative and that the meal will be delicious as well as nutritious.  When you grow your own garden produce in the summer, you can fill the pantry with the overflow and it can get you by when the money isn’t flowing.  I call myself the “Poor Farmers” cook.  I make something from almost nothing and I am always thanking God that I can feed my family by His provisions.

Canned goods are so handy.  One year we raised several turkeys and I processed them when it was time.  You can watch me cut up, grind, and can the meat on our fourth volume of Homesteading for Beginners DVD.  It is amazing what you can do in a small kitchen!  Actually, I have demonstrations on canning potatoes and canning the tomato sauce on our videos.  I just dump a few quart jars together and I have a meal in minutes!  When you can the meat you avoid the planning ahead part of meal preparation.  That is the part I have a hard time with.  I sit there about 30 minutes before dinner and I am just thinking about the meal.  There is no time for thawing meat and browning it in a skillet.  I can just run to the cellar, grab a jar of meat and scoop it into a pot to warm up with a few other ingredients.  Fantastic!  My meal can be on the table, piping hot,  in about 20 minutes.

If you do not have canned goods, you can plan ahead and use what ever meat you have in the freezer, fresh veggies, and make your own tomato sauce.  Here is my easy recipe…
Turkey Gumbo

  • 1 quart cooked, diced potatoes
  • 1 pound ground turkey (or other ground meat)
  • 1 quart tomato sauce
  • 4 cups veggies (frozen corn, peas, carrots, & green beans)
  • Season to taste (salt, pepper, and onion powder)

Brown meat and add tomato sauce.  Add diced potatoes.
I use my canned potatoes but you can peel and dice about
4 potatoes and cook them.  When using canned potatoes, you
need to drain and rinse them before adding them to the gumbo.

Stir in the veggies and seasonings.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Serve hot.

These Tea Cakes are an easy first cookie recipe for little children.  There is so few ingredients it can only be a success.  Little children love to roll the dough into balls with their hands and set them on a cookie sheet.  Pressing little wells and filling the cakes with jam is extra fun.  They are a tasty cookie for a tea party or just for dessert after any meal.  My girls started with these and by the time they were 7 years old, they were on their own baking them in the kitchen like young chefs!

Strawberry Tea Cakes

  • 2 1/4 c. flour
  • 1 c. butter softened
  • 1/2 brown sugar
  • Strawberry jam

Cream sugar and butter.  Add flour.  Form into balls and
arrange on a cookie sheet.  Press thumb into the center of
each ball of cookie dough.  Put a dab of jam into each well.
Bake at 350˚F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with your favorite tea.  Enjoy!

Download the recipe card.

Get a PDF version so you can print it and cut it out to add to your recipe deck.
Download

Keeper of the Homestead is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Related Posts

Toasted Custard

Sunday morning tradition: the toasted custard!!! I topped mine with cranberries which is my favorite! What is your Sunday morning

Read More »

1 thought on “Turkey Gumbo and Tea Cakes”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top
Share
Tweet
Pin
Email