I’m back

Hopefully…

Shortly after my last post I found out I had celiac disease, so it has been a year of figuring and refiguring what I can and can not eat.  I have found gluten in some of the sneakiest places (garlic powder, broth, just to name two).  From now on you can be assured that anything posted on this site will be gluten free.  If I use any flour, I will name which type (almond, potato, etc) and I will honestly have no idea how the recipe would work with regular flour.  Right now I am working on tweaking a recipe for lasagna made with zucchini for noodles.  There are recipes out there already, but i like to make things my own, so my research will continue.  Once I figure out how to make it less juicy and not add sodium (some of the suggestions have been to coat in salt and sweat as you do eggplant), I will publish it on here.

Hope to “see” you soon!

 

Chickpea & Tomato Salad with Mizuna

1   15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1   14.5oz can diced organic tomatoes in juice

1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese

2 cups mizuna

4 tablespoons romano basil vinaigrette

1.  Toss together chickpeas, and tomatoes in a bowl.

2.  Season with vinaigrette.  Toss chickpea mixture with vinaigrette, then stir in mizuna and feta.  Season with salt & pepper if desired.

Serves 2

Nutrition Information (per serving)

377 calories

Total Fat 12.1g

Sat Fat 4.7g

Cholest 22.2mg

Sodium 1,673.7mg

Carb 51.5g

Fiber 17.8g

Sugars 10g

Protein 19.5g

 

 

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Mashed Potatoes with Kale, Scallions, Cabbage, & Mushrooms

5 medium potatoes

1/2 c. butter

1/4 c. milk

1 shallot bulb (finely chopped)

1 bunch of kale (stemmed and chopped)

1/4 head of cabbage (coarsely chopped)

1 c. mushrooms (chopped)

salt & pepper

 

Cut up the potatoes in quarters and boil in water as if you were making mashed potatoes.  Drain water off of the potatoes.  Add half of butter and all the milk.  Mash together.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Keep warm on a low flame.

Melt the remaining butter over medium heat in a large deep sided skillet.  Add the shallots and saute until they begin to soften.  Add the kale and toss until soft and wilted but still bright in color (I had green and purple kale, so I can’t say “till bright green”).

Add the cabbage and mushrooms.  Cook until the cabbage is soft and the mushrooms start to wilt.  Mix the mashed potatoes into the kale/cabbage mixture.  Salt and pepper to taste.

 

Homemade Applesauce

Ok, so this doesn’t have any veggies in the recipe, but I thought I would share anyways.  I HATE store bought applesauce.  I have ever since I was a kid.  I have no idea what they do to the apples to make them so anemic that the applesauce looks white, but it just isn’t as flavorful as homemade applesauce and the sugar content is crazy.  The way I make my applesauce, there is no added sugar, preservatives, or things you can not pronounce.

Enjoy!

 

1.  Get a bunch of different varieties of apples from a local orchard or the Farmer’s Market.  This is key – the flavor is so much better when the varieties are mixed and you do not have to add any sugar because the apples are sweet enough.  This year I used Cortland, Jona Gold, Crispin, Golden Delicious, and Empire.

2.  Quarter, core, and peel the apples and fill a 6-quart slow cooker with the apple quarters.  Pour some cider (the real stuff from the cider mill or farmer) into the slow cooker to add a little liquid.  (I usually just eyeball it, but it is probably somewhere around 1/4 c.  Make sure the bottom of the crock has a shallow layer of liquid on it.)

3.  Cook on high for an hour.

4.  Turn down to low and cook another 2-3 hours.  The quarters will keep their shapes for the most part, so when you see that the bulk has diminished by about  third, stir the apples and they should all mush up into sauce.

5.  Add cinnamon to taste.  Let cool.  Pack it into freezer containers and freeze.  From my latest batch we have 3 containers in the freezer, one in the fridge, and we already performed quality control on a few bowls.

*At this point, if you are really feeling industrious, you can use the peels and cores to make apple jelly.  Or you can just put them in your compost pile.*

 

Macaroni and Cheese with Mushrooms and Kale

I made this awesome macaroni and cheese the other night.   The original recipe appears on pg 136 of the Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook.  It is a great cookbook if you can get your hands on it.

My Version

3/4 pound kale, stems cut from leaves

8oz egg noodles (I don’t like elbow macaroni)

3 tbsp olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

8oz pkg of fresh cremini, oyster & portabello mushrooms, halved and thinly sliced (available in Wegmans produce)

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp rubbed sage

1/4c. all-purpose flour

2 c. milk

1 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika

1 tsp. salt

6oz shredded cheddar cheese

60z asiago cheese (I bought a chunk and broke it apart)

2 tbsp  butter

1/2 c. Italian seasoned bread crumbs

In a large pot of  boiling salted water, cook the kale for 5 minutes.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the kale to a colander (keep the pot of cooking water at a boil).  Run the kale under cold water to stop the cooking and then drain and squeeze out any liquid.  Coarsely chop.

Add the egg noodles to the boiling kale-cooking water and cook according to package directions.  Drain.

Coarsely chop the mushrooms.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a 5-quart Dutch oven or other large, heavy bottomed pot, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until tender.  Add the mushrooms, thyme, and sage and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have wilted and released their juices, about 5 minutes.

Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes.  Add milk, paprika, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese until melted.  Add the noodles and kale and toss to coat.

Transfer the mixture to a 9×13-inch glass baking dish.

In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the bread crumbs and toss to coat.  Scatter the bread crumbs over the mac and cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the top is crunchy and golden brown.

Enjoy!

 

 

Braised Beet Greens

This is a really easy and yummy beet green recipe.  Enjoy!

Cut greens off of the beets about an inch or two above the beet.  Hold the greens and rip off the greens and any stems that come with the greens.  Discard the harder stems.

Chop up a medium onion.  Heat about a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over a medium flame.  Put onions in the frying pan and cook until onions are soft.  Put the greens in the frying pan and toss around in the butter.  Add about 1/4c. of vegetable stock and turn the flame down to medium low.  Cover the pan and let cook about 5 minutes.

Uncover the beet greens and let simmer until most of the liquid is gone.  Serve while warm with a little bit of balsamic vinegar sprinkle over the top.

 

Italian Flat Beans with Pine Nuts

So last week I got some Italian Flat beans in my CSA distribution.  I started nosing around my cook books and on the internet to find a recipe, but I didn’t find any that made me feel like trying them without tweaking them.  So, I came up with my own, which I was told tonight was a keeper.  🙂

3/4 lb Italian flat beans – ends snapped off and beans cut in two

2 red bell peppers, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

balsamic vinegar

pine nuts

extra virgin olive oil

 

Steam the beans for 8 minutes.  While the beans are steaming cook up the bell peppers in the extra virgin olive oil (once around in the pan) for about 2 minutes.  Add minced garlic and sautee for another minute.   Put into a bowl and set aside.

Once the beans are done, mix into pepper and garlic combination.  Mix well.  Add balsamic vinegar (eveball it to an amount you would like) and a handful of pine nuts.  Mix well again and serve.

Easy and yummy!!!

 

Adventures in Crock Pot Cooking – Chicken Cacciatore

I haven’t posted in a while.  It has been a busy couple of weeks.  We finished staining the deck, painting the house, and mom had a total reverse shoulder replacement with bone grafting.  Dinner has been healthy, but nothing really new and inspiring.  Now I am going back to work after a week of vacation and I have to figure out how to cook healthy meals while I am not home home and mom can not help out.  (My commute to work is about 1 1/2 hours each way.  Also, we are short handed, so I am taking on more responsibility which means less time to putter around with cooking.)

So, for my first crock pot creation this past weekend I made a chicken cacciatore -esque dish.  I served it over brown rice instead of pasta.  All the veggies and herbs are from my CSA except for the celery.  The recipe below was just a little too much for mom and I.

2 small-medium onions, sliced

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 rib of celery, chopped

2 – 40z boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 c. chicken stock

fresh basil

fresh oregano

fresh parsley

Arrange sliced onions on the bottom of the crock pot dish.  Put the chicken breast on top of the onions.  Place tomatoes, green peppers, and celery on top of the chicken.  Pour the chicken stock over the top.  Put fresh basil, oregano, and parsley sprigs on top.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

Mom and I both enjoyed this served over brown rice.