Need:
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 cups peeled and diced russet potatoes
1 1/2 cups dry red kidney beans, soaked until soft
1/2 cup sliced chorizo sausage
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
Seasoning to taste: red pepper flakes, Bacon Salt, ground black pepper, oregano and dried vegetable flakes.
Do: Combine in stockpot over high heat, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Allow to simmer until potatoes are fork-tender.
These oats come together in only a few minutes and are a really cost effective way to make sure you have a hot healthy breakfast all week!
Need:
1 cup steel cut oats
1 scant cup raisins, or other add-in of choice
1 cup milk
3 cups water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Do:
Combine ingredients in a lidded 2 quart casserole. Bake in 400 degree preheated oven for 45 minutes or longer to reach desired consistency. Be sure to remove from oven with some liquid still in dish as the oats will continue to cook after being removed.
Makes about 5-6 generous servings
Need:
3 pounds on bone chicken thighs, skinned and *mostly* trimmed
1 TBS dried minced onion
1 TBS Adobo seasoning
1 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
1 TBS chili powder
2 dried crushed chili peppers or 1 TBS crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
5 TBS apple cider vinegar
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
4 TBS honey
1 6 oz can tomato paste
3 cups chicken stock
Do:
In slow cooker, combine all ingredients thoroughly, then place chicken on bottom in single layer. Cook on low for 5 hours. Remove chicken, pull meat from bone and shred. Return to slow cooker and cook on high for one hour.
Need:
1 cup long grain white rice
1 cup sugar
4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk or other milk of choice
1 dash ground nutmeg
2 dashes ground cinnamon
Do:
Lightly spray cooker with nonstick spray. Combine all ingredients and cook on low until rice is soft and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 3-4 hours. Shut off cooker and allow to cool, liquid will continue to absorb so don’t leave on too long.
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb stew beef, in 1″ cubes
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp ground black pepper
Pan deglazer – see note below*
3-4 large Russett potatoes, cubed, skins on
3 small white onions, quartered
4 large carrots pealed sliced
5-6 large white mushrooms, sliced
5-6 cups beef broth
Heat oil in heavy bottomed large pot. At same time, combine flour, salt and pepper in deep bowl. Toss beef in flour mixture until completely coated. Sear beef in oil until brown on most sides, about 5 minutes. *Deglaze pan with 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce and choice of 1/4 cup of red wine, beer, coffee or broth; scrape bottom well. Add vegetables and cover with broth. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and allow to cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
My CSA has reached the end of its season and has left me with an abundance of root vegetables. The idea is store them for the winter…but I know I won’t last long. Last night was an “I need a comforting soup” kind of night. Here’s what I whipped up (in my current favorite kitchen tool: my pressure cooker)
Ingredients
2 pounds peeled and chopped carrots
1 pound peeled and chopped parsnip
1/4 cup minced white onion
6 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz coconut milk
1 tsp tamarind paste
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Just a disclaimer here – I don’t actually measure anything (well, the broth I did) so those are all approximations…especially the veggie weights, I suggest making this your own and adjusting however you like, just resist the urge to use more tamarind.
Combine carrots, parsnips, onion and broth in pressure cooker, bring to boil, and simmer under pressure for 30 minutes. (If you are doing this in a regular pot I suggest shredding the veggies and simmer for closer to an hour).
Release the pressure and using an immersion blender make sure there are no veggie chunks left. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Serve. (If I had had the patience, or the idea last night, I would have topped with crispy onions)
The DH and I recently went (actually, it was more than a month ago) apple picking at Carver Hill Orchards. I’ve been trying my hand at home preserving this year (jury’s still out) and decided to buy extra apples to “put up” this year. The lady at the farm stand was giddy when we asked for the half bushel bag – happy to have supported local farmers. We went early in the season so many of the good baking apples weren’t ready yet, but Cortland are pretty versatile, so we loaded up on those.
Originally I was going to preserve apple pie filling, but decided against it because I’ve made a whopping 1 apple pie in the 9 years I’ve been with my husband…seemed silly to store 7 quarts of apple pie filling when I couldn’t be sure I’d even use them. So I decided on apple sauce. It was *incredibly* easy to make and DH admits its the best he’s ever had (just humoring me? maybe.)
Ingredients
10 pounds apples
2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick*
6 TBS lemon juice
1 cup white sugar
Peel, core and quarter the apples. Load them into a deep pot and add remaining ingredients. Bring water to boil, reduce to medium heat and boil for 20-30 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and mash any remaining chunks of apple. Yielded about 3 quarts (though I chose to can 1/2 pints and refrigerate 1 quart)
*Lesson learned about the cinnamon stick: I thought I’d be clever and smash the cinnamon stick to “get more use” out of it. Guess who spent 30 minutes fishing bits of spice out of what felt like gallons of apple sauce.
I chose to use my pressure cooker to make the apple sauce since I was short on time. The one rule I follow strictly when using the 10 pound beast is the fill limit – 2/3 capacity including food and liquid. This meant that I had four apples hanging out that had already been peeled and cored…what to do? Dried apple rings!
Using my mandoline to ensure even slices I quickly cut the remaining apples into 1/4″ slices and laid them out in a single layer on several baking sheets. I set my oven to 200°, but if you have an efficient oven I’d reduce that to 175° – 180°. After 2 hours I flipped the apples (also, you may consider switching the sheets around if the bottom ones are drying faster than the top) and dried for 2 more hours. Yielded about 2 pints.
For a super sweet treat toss the rings in cinnamon sugar before they have fully cooled!
What better way to welcome the cooler weather and changing leaves than a hot buttered scone? How about a hot buttered butternut pecan scone.
Ingredients
2/3 cup puréed cooked butternut squash
1 room temperature egg, beaten
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
2 1/4 cups Pamela’s GF baking mix
1/4 cup millet flour
4 TBS vegetable shortening
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3 TBS milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a bowl combine the squash, egg, sugar, vanilla and spices.
Add flour to a stand mixer (or using pastry knife in a deep bowl) begin to add shortening one tablespoon at a time until mix crumbles. Add pecans. Slowly add in wet mixture until completely mixed in, but do not over mix. One tablespoon at a time add the milk until the dough forms a firm ball.
Roll handfuls of dough into small balls and then flatten on baking sheet. Mix will make 6 large or roughly 8 small scones.
Bake 15-17 minutes until centers spring back when lightly touched.
Real quick – 3 down. w00t!
Started 4th, 21 more to go to hit goal.
Brussels Sprouts in A Sausage and Tomato Reduction
Alright, hear me out on this – I know Brussels sprouts are a long time “kid rejected, mother disapproved” veggie, and yes, I know the flavors are complete opposites, but there is just something about the acidity of the tomato that works really well with the sweetness of the sprouts, I swear.
Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 TBS olive oil
2 ounces Andouille sausage, chopped
1 lb. Brussels sprouts
1 large tomato, about 1 cup
1 TBS oregano, fresh
1 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
First you need to “juice” the tomato. I cheated here by doing the following:
Cube your tomato and place it in a deep, microwave safe bowl. Toss it with 1 TBS of the olive oil, the sugar, salt, pepper and oregano. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Smash up the tomato and microwave for an additional 2-3 minutes. Using a fine strainer separate the juice from the skins and seeds (I kept the skins and used them as pizza sauce). I got about a cup of juice from this, you can always add water as needed.
Heat the remaining oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté garlic for 2 minutes. Add sausage and tomato juice, bring to boil. Add sprouts and reduce heat. Cover and allow to simmer until sprouts are tender, about 10 minutes. Return heat to medium, remove lid and allow remaining liquid (if any) to evaporate.