When Clark and I have leftovers we make a pizza out of them. It's a great way to get creative.
Sprouted Tortillas
left over meat, shredded (we usually use chicken)
left over vegetable (we've even used broccoli before, very good)
garlic
onions
seasonings
cheese (we love it with comte or cantal)
Basically throw whatever on a tortilla and broil the cheese. Fresh oregano is key!
For example, this what our pizza had on it tonight.
Sprouted tortilla with a thin layer of homemade mayonnaise (Clark had homemade salad dressing instead), sliced garlic, sliced onions, shredded chicken, chopped fresh oregano, thyme, cooked spinach. We covered with tons of kerrygold cheddar and broiled it.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Breakfast & Sandwiches
We just made a delicious breakfast I thought I'd share. When we cooked our oatmeal we threw in thick chunks of Fuji apples with the water as it boiled. We sweetened it with cinnamon and nutmeg. Today we fried it and drizzled it with Strauss Yogurt. Normally when I make fried oatmeal I put yogurt and applesauce on top with lots of cinnamon.
We also cut some apples up in thick rings and fried them in butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg (we're on a nutmeg kick right now).
Clark smashed up some cooked sweet potatoes, added some eggs, fried that and sprinkled cheese on top. (I thought it sounded disgusting, but it was actually really good)
Last week we made mayonnaise and tried it out on chicken salad sandwiches. Very good! Instead of celery and grapes we put in tons of green onions and thickly chopped up garlic. We added lots of rosemary and fresh oregano and put it on the Berlin bread. Very good!
We also cut some apples up in thick rings and fried them in butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg (we're on a nutmeg kick right now).
Clark smashed up some cooked sweet potatoes, added some eggs, fried that and sprinkled cheese on top. (I thought it sounded disgusting, but it was actually really good)
Last week we made mayonnaise and tried it out on chicken salad sandwiches. Very good! Instead of celery and grapes we put in tons of green onions and thickly chopped up garlic. We added lots of rosemary and fresh oregano and put it on the Berlin bread. Very good!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Stuff We Eat Around Here, Fall Edition
I wanted to share some of the stuff we've been eating.
Gelatin-rich stock: we save every bone in a bag in the freezer until we're ready to make stock. Cooked bones work best, imparting a rich flavor.
Butternut squash soup: the only conversion here is to use your own homemade gelatin-rich broth, and to add some cream at the end to the soup mixture, plus a dollop of sour cream on top.
Tacos: no lean ground beef here! I recommend sprouted corn tortillas, or some other sprouted grain tortilla, heated on a cast iron pan. Lots of real garlic and onion in the taco meat. Lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes or salsa, and full-fat cheese.
Steak: Try to get bone-in. Mike salts them with sea salt, then lets them sit covered on the counter for an hour before cooking. This allows the meat to come up to room temperature and makes for a juicy steak. We eat ours pretty rare - the outside is well-cooked, but not very far into the thickness of the meat.
Slow-cooked roasts: make sure they are bone-in and have a good layer of fat! I recommend enamel cast iron pots. You can brown on the stovetop, then transfer to the oven.
Greens: we use the Julia Child method of preparing spinach, kale, dandelion greens, or sweet potato greens. This involves blanching the greens, squeezing the water out, chopping them, then sauteeing them a little with butter. The blanching takes out some of the bitterness, and the butter helps you absorb the nutrients. Collards I treat specially, though, boiling them for a while with some ham hock or uncured bacon. They need more boiling than most other greens, they're so thick. Kale actually needs more than a blanch, too - boil for a few minutes.
Quiche: use the Julia Child recipe with your favorite crust (or no crust). There's really no reason to convert this Julia Child recipe! I'll find the page number and specific cookbook sometime. My favorite is leek.
Sweet potatoes: no need to add sugar - they're already sweet! Bake , steam, or boil and mix with butter and spices.
Green beans: sautee in olive oil, butter, or lard until they crinkle.
Tomato and avocado with olive oil and salt: mmm!
Apples! No cooking required.
Pinto beans for any meal, even breakfast: soak with a little vinegar (I use Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar) in a warm place overnight, rinse, then cook in the crockpot on low. Make "refried beans" - put some with their liquid in a small skillet with a bit of lard and maybe a spoonful of broth. Mash up a bit with a fork after they simmer, then add cheese.
Sauerkraut: Bubbie's is lacto-fermented, though they heat it up a little before canning it to kill some of the bacteria so it doesn't explode. That is, if you're too busy to make your own, as I have been.
Butterscotch Ice Cream
I know Weston A. Price was not a fan of sugar, but this ice cream is so good! I think all the cooked brown sugar, butter, and egg yolks give it a soft-sticky texture, compared to the usual texture of ice cream made with raw cream, which can be super-hard with ice crystals. Hey, it's got brown sugar, it's got minerals :) I asked Mike for a butterscotch-flavored ice cream, and he made up this fabulous recipe. Technically, it's not converted from anything, unless you count "I want the butterscotch sauce to be IN my ice cream!"
Ingredients:
4 tbsp. salted butter (I use pasteurized, since it will be cooked; I'm sure you could use unsalted)
1.5 c brown sugar
1 c cream (I use pasteurized, since it will be cooked)
pinch salt
some milk if it seems too thick (maybe 1/2 c)
4 egg yolks
2 c raw cream
2 tsp vanilla (or just a splash, whatever)
ice cream maker (or whatever method you normally use to make ice cream)
In a small metal pot that you've already heated, add the butter and brown sugar. Mix those with a spatula to incorporate. Add the 1 cup of cream and pinch of salt. Keep this at the lowest simmer you can where the mixture is still bubbling and foaming. Cook until sugars caramelize and it has a butterscotch flavor. The mixture will be thin. If it seems a little sticky, add the milk to thin. Remove from heat to cool a little. This is approximately the same recipe you can use to make a butterscotch sauce. It will thicken as it cools.
Next, scramble 4 egg yolks in a small bowl. Add the mixture to the egg yolks without letting the egg yolks curdle (tempering): add a small amount of the still-hot mixture to the egg yolks, mix, then keep doing that until it's all mixed. Put all of that back into the pot, and put it in the refrigerator to cool for a few hours.
Once the mixture is thoroughly chilled, stir in the one pint raw cream and the vanilla with a spatula. Taste the batter (keeping in mind that it will taste a little less sweet once it's frozen) and adjust ingredients to your taste. If you're going to use an ice cream maker, the mixture will receive additional stirring, so don't stir a lot at this point.
Churn the ice cream mixture in the ice cream maker. Put into containers and freeze to ripen.
This makes a pretty sweet-sticky ice cream. You could always add more raw cream to decrease the sweetness. Or try soured cream instead of uncultured raw cream. There's all kinds of flavorings you can add, too.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Chocolate
I'm not the biggest chocolate fan, but if you are going to eat it, this is the way to go! It's very delicious. This is a copy from an e-mail from a girl in my local chapter. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 T. Unsweetened, Organic Cocoa Powder
4 T. Virgin Coconut Oil (from WildernessFamilyNat urals.com)
3 T. Raw Honey
Just put ingredients in a blender and mix. I have that little Bullet
blender (as seen on TV), which is nice to contain the small amount of
ingredients.
You can use the chocolate as a warm sauce or you can pour it into a
mold and refrigerate it. I bought a miniature 12" chest of five
drawers at Michaels for $3.99 to use as a mold. I folded wax paper to
line each drawer and then poured the chocolate sauce into the drawers.
When the bars were set, I cut them into the small pieces that you saw.
Of course, you can probably buy real chocolate molds on eBay!
Most of you probably know the health benefits of these ingredients,
but here is some info anyway:
COCOA POWDER
One tablespoon of cocoa powder contains as many antioxidants as a cup
of green tea or a glass or red wine, according to Cornell University
researchers. Commercial chocolate is unhealthy because of the added
white sugar, the chemically-processe d oils, and the additives. Get
cocoa powder that is as close to being unsweetened, raw, organic, and
alkaline-free as possible.
Note: Do not add milk to make milk chocolate! Adding milk to the
chocolate cancels out the antioxidant effects, according to a study
published in the journal Nature. Researchers suggest that proteins in
the milk bind with the antioxidants, making them less easily absorbed
by the body.
COCONUT OIL
Lauric acid, the major fatty acid from the fat of the coconut, has
antiviral and antibacterial functions. Unprocessed coconut oil
contains no trans-fats and is a cholesterol- free food. Coconut oil is
also nature's richest source of MCTs, which raise the body's
metabolism, leading to weight loss.
RAW HONEY
Honey that is unheated still has its anti-bacterial, anti-viral
enzymes intact. Besides glucose and fructose, raw honey contains all
of the B-complex, A, C, D, E, and K vitamins, and trace minerals.
Ingredients:
4 T. Unsweetened, Organic Cocoa Powder
4 T. Virgin Coconut Oil (from WildernessFamilyNat urals.com)
3 T. Raw Honey
Just put ingredients in a blender and mix. I have that little Bullet
blender (as seen on TV), which is nice to contain the small amount of
ingredients.
You can use the chocolate as a warm sauce or you can pour it into a
mold and refrigerate it. I bought a miniature 12" chest of five
drawers at Michaels for $3.99 to use as a mold. I folded wax paper to
line each drawer and then poured the chocolate sauce into the drawers.
When the bars were set, I cut them into the small pieces that you saw.
Of course, you can probably buy real chocolate molds on eBay!
Most of you probably know the health benefits of these ingredients,
but here is some info anyway:
COCOA POWDER
One tablespoon of cocoa powder contains as many antioxidants as a cup
of green tea or a glass or red wine, according to Cornell University
researchers. Commercial chocolate is unhealthy because of the added
white sugar, the chemically-processe d oils, and the additives. Get
cocoa powder that is as close to being unsweetened, raw, organic, and
alkaline-free as possible.
Note: Do not add milk to make milk chocolate! Adding milk to the
chocolate cancels out the antioxidant effects, according to a study
published in the journal Nature. Researchers suggest that proteins in
the milk bind with the antioxidants, making them less easily absorbed
by the body.
COCONUT OIL
Lauric acid, the major fatty acid from the fat of the coconut, has
antiviral and antibacterial functions. Unprocessed coconut oil
contains no trans-fats and is a cholesterol- free food. Coconut oil is
also nature's richest source of MCTs, which raise the body's
metabolism, leading to weight loss.
RAW HONEY
Honey that is unheated still has its anti-bacterial, anti-viral
enzymes intact. Besides glucose and fructose, raw honey contains all
of the B-complex, A, C, D, E, and K vitamins, and trace minerals.
Labels:
Chocolate,
chocolate sauce,
dessert,
dessert sauce,
meat sauce,
snack
Liver Pate
This recipe is from this cookbook, the author has a blog here.
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh chicken livers
1/2 cup port wine
8 dried black Mission figs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
2 small shallots, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme / 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1. Rinse the livers under cold water, drain, and remove any white
strands. Pat dry with paper towels. Combine the livers and port in a
small salad bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Set a fine-mesh
sieve over a second bowl and pour the livers and marinade into the
sieve, reserving the marinade.
2. Wash the first bowl you used. Put the figs in the bowl, cover
with hot water, and let stand as you go on with the recipe.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium
heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, until
softened and fragrant. Add the livers, thyme, bay leaves, salt, and
pepper, and cook for 4 minutes, flipping the livers halfway through,
until the livers are browned on the outside, but still pink inside.
Add the reserved marinade, turn the heat up to medium-high, and cook
for 6 to 8 minutes, until most of the liquids have evaporated and the
livers are browned all over but still tender. Remove from heat,
discard the bay leaves, and let cool for 5 minutes.
4. Transfer the liver mixture to a food processor and process until
puréed. Add the remaining butter and pulse until smooth. Drain the
figs, pat dry with paper towels, cut in 1/4-inch pieces, and fold into
the liver mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5. Pack into two 1-cup glass jars, making sure there are no pockets
of air. Place a small piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface
of the terrine, close the jars tightly, and refrigerate for at least 6
hours, and preferably overnight.
6. Bring to just under room temperature and serve. The terrine will
keep for up to 4 days, chilled, its surface covered with plastic wrap.
Variations: The terrine can be made with other dried fruits,
especially prunes and apricots. You can include walnuts or hazelnuts
in addition to, or instead of, fruit. For a chunkier texture, reserve
a few of the cooked livers before you purée the mixture: chop them
roughly, and fold them in as you add the fruits or nuts.
My notes:
- You don't have to dice up the butter - cutting into chunks is fine
- I don't dice the shallots or garlic, just slice it, because it gets
puréed in the food processor anyway
- I haven't had any thyme (hardy har har) on hand, but it's good
without it
- I don't wash the bowl - I just mess up more bowls
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh chicken livers
1/2 cup port wine
8 dried black Mission figs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
2 small shallots, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme / 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1. Rinse the livers under cold water, drain, and remove any white
strands. Pat dry with paper towels. Combine the livers and port in a
small salad bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Set a fine-mesh
sieve over a second bowl and pour the livers and marinade into the
sieve, reserving the marinade.
2. Wash the first bowl you used. Put the figs in the bowl, cover
with hot water, and let stand as you go on with the recipe.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium
heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, until
softened and fragrant. Add the livers, thyme, bay leaves, salt, and
pepper, and cook for 4 minutes, flipping the livers halfway through,
until the livers are browned on the outside, but still pink inside.
Add the reserved marinade, turn the heat up to medium-high, and cook
for 6 to 8 minutes, until most of the liquids have evaporated and the
livers are browned all over but still tender. Remove from heat,
discard the bay leaves, and let cool for 5 minutes.
4. Transfer the liver mixture to a food processor and process until
puréed. Add the remaining butter and pulse until smooth. Drain the
figs, pat dry with paper towels, cut in 1/4-inch pieces, and fold into
the liver mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5. Pack into two 1-cup glass jars, making sure there are no pockets
of air. Place a small piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface
of the terrine, close the jars tightly, and refrigerate for at least 6
hours, and preferably overnight.
6. Bring to just under room temperature and serve. The terrine will
keep for up to 4 days, chilled, its surface covered with plastic wrap.
Variations: The terrine can be made with other dried fruits,
especially prunes and apricots. You can include walnuts or hazelnuts
in addition to, or instead of, fruit. For a chunkier texture, reserve
a few of the cooked livers before you purée the mixture: chop them
roughly, and fold them in as you add the fruits or nuts.
My notes:
- You don't have to dice up the butter - cutting into chunks is fine
- I don't dice the shallots or garlic, just slice it, because it gets
puréed in the food processor anyway
- I haven't had any thyme (hardy har har) on hand, but it's good
without it
- I don't wash the bowl - I just mess up more bowls
Labels:
appetizer,
Liver Pate,
snack
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