Pioneer Day, Lumpy Dick and some Meandering Thoughts

Today, inspired by my mother-in-law, I decided we could celebrate pioneer day by having some Lumpy Dick.

Lumpy Dick is a pioneer recipe, apparently only seen commonly in Utah,  for hot cereal.  I have never had it.  I don't think I had even heard of it until after I married.  I had heard of Spotted Dick

And Bubble and Squeak




And Toad in the Hole

But I didn't even know exactly what they were until this morning (thanks Jen and google.)

I don't recall having heard of Lumpy Dick until I married my husband and pioneer day rolled around.  Then I heard something similar to what she posted on facebook this morning "I offered to make Lumpy Dick for breakfast and for the 43rd time in 43 three years, no one wanted me to make it. (lumpy cereal made out of whole wheat flour and milk)."  As far as I can tell she is not fond of hot cereal.  When she was a child her father would make a big pot of oatmeal when he woke up in the morning and by the time the rest of the family was out of bed it was colder lumpy oatmeal.  Not her favorite.  I think there might be some lingering feelings there.  But there might not.  She once told me she craved cream of wheat when expecting.  And I don't know what she usually eats for breakfast. And I would guess that she know how to make a mean bowl of oatmeal now that she would thoroughly* enjoy.  If I am wrong on any of these points feel free to correct me.  And I am not speaking ill of her, only of her father's lumpy oatmeal.  And I am not speaking ill of him.  There is something admirable when a man gets up early and makes breakfast for his entire family.  Way to go Grandpa Rulon.

Back to lumpy dick.  After seeing the post this morning I got to thinking that I didn't really know what lumpy dick was.  So I googled it.  I know Google is not an official verb, and my spell-checker doesn't like it.  But there is no more succinct way to describe what I did so there it is.  (I am aware that my description of my succinctness was far too verbose.  Forgive me.)

I learned a few things about lumpy dick from here and here and decided to write my own description; "A lightly sweetened, creamy hot cereal with a smattering of delightful miniature dumpling like bits scattered throughout. Often served with brown sugar, cinnamon and cold cream or milk. A true Mormon pioneer classic."  This was all done without ever have tasted or smelled or seen lumpy dick.  Hum.  I might be falling into some shady territory here.  Like Arthur Conan Doyle did. So I figured I ought to make some. 

I used a combination of the two recipes found above and halved it.

Lumpy Dick
The sugar is in red because I didn't add it this time but would probably try adding it next time.  I find that when I add the sugar while cooking the kids use far less than when we add it later.

• 2 cups of milk (I halved the recipe in case my family did not like it)
• 1/2 t salt
• pinch of ground nutmeg (freshly ground makes me fell like a gourmet cook even when making lumpy dick.  I love Penzeys)
• tablespoon of sugar
• Pat of butter (nice as an indicator to whether or not the milk is hot enough)

Heat the above ingredients  over the lowest temp on your stove until butter melts.  Meanwhile in a food processor or with a fork or pastry blender mix until small pieces (about the size of a grain of rice) form.  Add more flour if dough is gooey, not dry.

• 2/3 cup flour (use 1/2 cup if using white flour)
• 1/2 egg (beat and add about half to the flour)
• 1 teaspoon sugar (or not.  These might be more texture than flavor)

 If the butter is now melted turn the heat on the milk up and start sprinkling and stirring the flour bits into the milk, breaking up any larger chunks with your fingers.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir until thickened.  If you halved the recipe like me you can add a little of the hot thickened sauce to the egg and stir and then stir it into the lumpy dick so there is no waste.  The texture will be like tapioca pudding or cracked wheat cereal.

• brown sugar
• cinnamon

Mix to your liking.  Or don't mix and just sprinkle some of both on top of the cereal.

 This is my brown sugar and cinnamon mix.  I stirred it and a beautiful little swirl showed up.  So I tried to make the swirl better.  The curse of one who thinks any accident can be done better on purpose.  I think the first swirl was the best.  Oh well.  I sprinkled some white sugar in the canyons of the swirl and added the cinnamon sticks.  I like pretty things.

Behind the brown sugar is the milk we poured over it.  I was going to serve this with some cream I bought yesterday to make some strawberry cream frosting for Kiersten's birthday cake (shhhh.   don't tell her her birthday was last week), but the cream was sour.  It doesn't expire for a long time either.  So we went with evaporated milk.  I grew up with evaporated milk on my oatmeal.  I think it is a treat.  And that beautiful glass bottle the milk is in.  It's just like the one my mom served vinegar in while I was growing up.  I found it yesterday at Goodwill and couldn't resist it.  I probably broke some rule putting milk in it, but it is pretty.  I like pretty things.

In the foreground are my cheat sheets for pioneer stories over breakfast.  In the background are my kids smiles as they eagerly await their pioneer breakfast.  I like pretty things.

 Place the lumpy dick in a shallow bowl, pour cold milk, cream, half and half or evaporated milk over it.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Everyone liked it.  As in when I asked if they would like me to make it for breakfast again they all said yes.  I don't think it would win over crepes, but I do think it would all be eaten if I made the full (4 cups of milk) recipe.  As for me I thought it was good, better than oatmeal,about the same as cream of wheat or cream of rice cereal and not as good as cracked wheat cereal(my favorite hot cereal.)  It was more work and dirtied more dishes than the other hot cereals I make so I will probable save it for next pioneer day, unless it is specially requested. 

Todays lunch is leftover chicken salad in lettuce cups with peanut sauce.  Dinner is spinach steak salad with warm pan dressing.  Not very pioneery.  I know it's not a word.  Neither is pioneerish.  But you get the idea.


Thanks Grandma Deanna.  We would never have had such a fun and pretty pioneer morning without you.


 *  I always wondered about the difference between throughly and thoroughly.  Apparently the only difference is that throughly is archaic and no longer in common use.