An Unquenchable Appetite for Slow Cooking

The title for this post came from me looking at my thesaurus for a better way to say, "I'm currently hooked on cooking in my slow-cooker" - passion, ardor, enthusiasm . . . appetite. When you read reviews on slow cookers, there's some people who absolutely do not like this style of cooking. And even in evaluating Slow Cooker cookbooks, which I'm glad for people's comments, there too, is a variety of viewpoints. Now I'll give you my two-cents-worth.

My new slow cooker

I had to get a new crockpot. My old one for years and years was a 4qt - probably Rival brand. I wanted a newer bigger one. I got a CrockPot brand. I love the larger oval sizes. That one's insert cracked - it's a fine line. I could have been using it without noticing . . . but then Monte washed it and noticed. I'm still planning on writing them, hoping for a new FREE insert. It probably cracked from my continual use of placing the insert in a cold spot when warm and then putting it back into the base and heating it too hot right away. Or could a frozen chicken (which I do a lot on high) cause it to crack when turned on to High to start the process quick? I'm going to be more careful about all that from now on.

I really am attracted to the brands that eliminate the sauteing step in another utensil - but it looks like they are all anodized aluminum (for non-stick). I stay away from aluminum. Breville has a new Fast Slow Cooker - both a slow cooker AND pressure cooker, but I don't see anywhere the specs on the insert being stainless steel. I bought a Hamilton Beach Set and Forget slow cooker, but returned it. Nice idea: probe insert hole and handle clasps for taking places and no spill. But no specs on what the lid is made out of for that no-spill feature. I cooked a meal. Ok, it's new, so new smells to cook off. The smell, and too, the taste in the food? Rubber! It should be silicone AND should say something! Anyway, I now have a Cuisinart and am really liking it. It has an extra setting - most have warm, low, and high - this one also has simmer. And too, when I wanted to switch from high to low or whatever, it would be like starting over in adjusting the time. The Cuisinart keeps the time you originally set and switching the temp level doesn't alter the time.

When you read all the Slow Cooker talk, you'll keep hearing: "It cooks hotter". They did change that feature from the old crockpots - worry over bacteria growth if too low temps. And as to that sauteing and/or browning extra step? It often does enhance the finished dish's flavor, but it's not always needed. The extra steps is what I read the complaints on for some cookbooks.

I almost bought a highly praised cookbook, but decided to read the reviews. One person commented on too many ingredients that were pre-packaged and canned. And then there's those people who want the ease of just dumping in already prepared ingredients with no extra steps . . . "An easy meal at the end of the day, isn't that why we're using a slow cooker?" Here's a picture of the cookbooks I settled on. If you were to choose one? Get the America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution. I've mentioned before my love of Cook's Illustrated recipes - I started getting the end of the year bound editions from the start (1993) and occasionally get the newest index for them all. This slow cooker cookbook is just another quality book from them. (A sidenote: I get seasonal emails from Christopher Kimball the Cook's Illustrated founder, editor, and host of America's Test Kitchen. He writes about the idyllic life in Vermont's countryside where he lives. Stories of family doings, farming, hunting . . . I like reading them. Almost the same slow life, warm feeling when reading farmer Wendell Berry's books.)

Slow Cooker cookbooks

Another reason for pulling out the slow cooker more and more is our pastured grass-fed meats. When the majority of our meat was elk I used the slow cooker a lot, or slow cooked in the oven. Grass-fed meats, without the fat marbling that grain feeding produces, need slower lower cooking temps - and the slow cooker is producing great tasting meals! These books even have some great dessert ideas I'm wanting to try too.

So far out of the Revolution book I've done several meals: like chicken thighs with the addition of chard near the end of cooking time for 30 minutes on high, and pork steaks with the addition of collard greens and black-eyed peas. These had you saute onion, celery, and garlic, etc, using some broth and/or wine to rinse out the pan. EVERYTHING has been awesome so far. And often there's suggestions for a side dish addition which we've really liked too. Like Polenta with an Italian-Style Pot Roast. None of the above meats were first browned - only sauteed initial veggies- and usually an umami, a savory taste, like a bit-o bacon or tomato paste.

What's cooking now? Chicken In A Pot. I sauted up chopped onion and garlic. Added 1 tsp of tomato paste and 1 Tb flour and used about 1/3-1/2 cup of wine (you could use some of that as broth) to clean the skillet into the slow cooker. Then set the whole chicken on top of that mixture, salt and pepper the chicken (from past whole chicken cooks, I also like to sprinkle on some garlic and onion powders). Oh . . . I guess I'm supposed to add some thyme and bay leaves, so I better go add those. This will cook on low for 4-6 hours. They always suggest cooking with the breast down for best moist flavor.

My old crock pot with a sage, bread-stuffed rolled flank steak

Shared with: Simple Lives Thursday, Chicken Chick, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, A Better Mom, Hearth and Soul Hop, The Gathering Spot, Homestead Barn Hop, Nourishing Treasures, Traditional Tuesday

Sausage Cheese Pie With Potato Crust

Sausage cheese potato crust quiche?

I made this wonderful comfort food dish for supper last night. I combined several ideas from Wardeh Harmon's Sourdough A to Z eBook, and a little Egg eBook she put together for this month's bonus gift. In the Sourdough book, it's most like her Cheese Pie recipe. In the Egg eBook it's a combination of a potato crust cheddar quiche and a sausage cheese pie. And then there's some of my additions . . . So what do I call it?

Sausage Cheese Pie With Potato Crust

Melt butter and stir in thin sliced potatoes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2-3 potatoes, scrubbed and sliced thin
3 Tb pastured butter, melt in the baking dish
Stir these together, spread about in dish and bake about 20 minutes while getting the rest of the ingredients ready.

Brown sausage, onion, and garlic

Brown 1 lb of sausage, mine is pastured pork breakfast sausage
with 1 chopped onion
add some minced garlic
1/2 Tb basil

Mix together
1/4 c milk
3/4 c sourdough, that's been fed within 12 hours
3 eggs
3/4 tsp sea salt

grate 1- 1 1/4 cup pastured cheddar cheese

Meat and cheese over potatoes, add sourdough

Add the browned sausage mixture on top of the cooked potatoes. Then add 3/4 cup grated cheese and pour the sourdough mixture on top of all. Bake for about 25 minutes, then add the rest of the cheese, and bake another 10 minutes. In all, bake about 30-40 minutes.

Next time I'm going to bake it in my cast iron skillet.

Seriously! EVERYTHING I've made from the A to Z eBook has been fabulous, and have become everyday eats. Like the English Muffins, Biscuits ... I've posted about the crackers and crepes. And now we regularly have sourdough waffles in a freezer bag for popping in the toaster. Cookies, chips, cakes . . . There's even gluten-free suggestions, for those needing that variety.

I used the last of last years potatoes I'd grown. I grew them in buckets. I'm giving up on that idea. Yesterday I researched growing potatoes again and have a plan. I've tried the large bucket method for several years. I think the temps fluctuate too much as too the moisture. They used to grow potatoes and oats up here years ago - before elk were moved in and became a nuisance! Knowing they grew here makes me not want to give up on them.

Elk in velvet from my kitchen window!

A funny story . . . Monte used to archery hunt for elk. We ate elk for 20 years. One year he'd not been seeing elk. I chuckled, and told him, "No, cuz they're in my potato bed, pulling up plants and munching away!"

Shared with: The Homestead Barn Hop, The Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Chile Rellenos Casserole

Chile Rellenos Casserole with Grass-Fed Beef

For starters, I had to google chili vs chile, cuz I've always written 'chili', as does my Mom. I think of 'Chile' as the country. And then there's the Red Hot Chili Peppers band. So what's the verdict? The Spanish word is 'chile'. 'Chili' is the American version, having gotten started from Chili con Carne.

Back to my Mom . . . she's made Chile Rellenos Casserole for years. It's thee best! I put it in my cookbook. Tho I have all her ingredients right, my instructions are too vague. But I'm going to mess you up some more in this post cuz I still didn't follow her instructions, which I recently asked for again.

We have company. I made the rellenos for supper, along with what our company always request and call, "Killer guacamole". But I wanted to add our great grass-fed ground beef. I googled chile rellenos and after 6 google pages . . . they were all made with milk and flour! I knew my mom used chicken broth and masa harina for the thickening. So I returned to her recipe and added the beef. I'll tell you her recipe, and too, tell you what I did, changing it.

My Mom's Chile Rellenos Casserole Ingredients

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1 27oz can whole green chilies
1lb grated cheese - like a mix, but moreso jack - I used pepper jack
7 large eggs
1 cup chicken broth
5 Tb Masa Harina
4 Tb parmesan
1/2 Tb baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

The chilies are opened out and make up 3 layers in a 9x13 baking dish with grated cheese between. Then the rest of the ingredients are mixed together and poured over the top. Bake until set, about 30-45 minutes.

Marinara Sauce
Simmered and put on top last 10-15 minutes of baking-
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped onion and garlic clove sauted in some olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp oregano

Browning grd beef and onion

NOW, what did I do? I started browning 1 lb of ground beef and added 1 onion chopped, eventually adding several minced garlic (I always add more than any recipe calls for!!!).

Now I don't use canned chilies. That would sure be darned easy!!!! But oh the taste . . . and the fragrance of the vehicle every late summer . . . when I get a bushel of chilies and have them roasted. Once home, I freeze about 3 chilies per little baggy - that's about the equivalent of 4oz of chilies. And don't remove the blackened skins. I remove those as I use them. So for this recipe? I had to slip the blackened skins and too the seeds of seven baggies of chilies!

Roasted Anaheim Chilies I freeze every Fall - removing skins and seeds

And then I start the layering of chilies and cheese. I added half of the browned meat in the middle layer. Then added a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the 1/2 of beef left in the pan to start cooking down to add at the end. I added 2 Tb of the masa to this mixture as well as my mom's suggested spices . . . Except I don't usually have marjoram, so added extra oregano (I find them rather similar).

Bottom layer of green chilies

Added 1/4-1/3 of the grated pepper jack cheese

Another chile and cheese layer with browned grd beef and onion

Added can of diced tomatoes to 1/2 of left beef mixture to cook down

Third layer of chilies and cheese. Added last of grd beef with tomato mixture to the top and more cheese

Whisked together eggs, 3 Tb Masa, 1 Cup chicken broth, salt and baking powder and poured over the rellenos layers

I added my Mom's parmesan cheese suggestion to the very top.

We had this heated up for lunch today and it was even better!

I have made my own fresh Masa. If requested, I could post the recipe. It's a soaking of corn kernels in pickling lime water all day or night, and then ground fine. It's usually left fresh for corn tortillas and tamales. I've not tried drying it. I just freeze it in small useful portions. If you've ever had fresh corn tortillas from fresh masa . . . to die for!!!!!!

Shared with: Frugally Sustainable, Food Renegade, Make Your Own Monday, Holistic Squid, Works for Me Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Thank Your Body Thursday, Tasty Traditions, Traditional Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesdays, Simple Lives Thursday, The Homestead Barnhop, Clever Chick Barn Hop

Stir-Fry Trout and Veggies

Monte just sent me the recipe he made (actually 'we') for supper. We have lots of fish in the freezer, caught by us, friends, and relatives (I'll occasionally buy something special from I Love Blue Sea). My favorite fish is Monte's pan fried recipe, but with so much fish, he thought he'd try stir-fry. So I looked for what veggies existed in the produce bins and pantry and got the veggies ready. Monte of coarse said "yeah" or "nay" as to the suggested choices.

Stie-Fry Fish and Veggies in cast-iron wok

January 2013 Stir Fried Trout

One 18-inch trout-
Fillet and remove bones and skin,
Cut into 3/4 inch wide strips along grain of meat.

Prepare vegetables for stir fry:
Slice:
1 onion
1 red pepper
About he same amount of :
Mushrooms
Yellow cauliflower
Kale.

In a cast iron stir fry pan add:
Olive oil and heat
Add fish and touch of salt
Season to taste with:
Ground pepper
Lemon peel
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Lightly fry fish turning carefully and often
Remove and set aside.

Add more olive oil and stir fry vegetables in stages
1st cauliflower
2nd onion, pepper and mushrooms
3rd kale
Season with Kirkland organic no-salt seasoning

Add trout back in and turn several times mixing well.

Serve and top with sprinkles of:

Grated Kerry Gold cheddar cheese
Feta cheese crumbles and
Fresh-squeezed lemon

Serve with glass of homemade ginger ale mixed with kombacha.

Comfort Food in Foil Packets

I made this dish the other night for supper and it's a keeper. Monte loved it and has eaten the leftover foil meal packets. It's easy. It could be a good camping meal, like in a campfire, or Monte thinks in a dutch oven.

Comfort Meal baked in foil packet

I don't know what to call it. It's not really hamburgers. It is a comfort food.

First I ripped off four squares of heavy duty foil.
Second, mix together the hamburger patty mixture and form into 4 patties -








1 lb of ground beef
1/2 cup cracker crumbs
1 egg
2-3 Tb lemon juice
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped pepper (green, red ...)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp each pepper, onion and garlic powders

Divide ingredients in midst of 4 heavy foil pieces

Then slice thin -
1 large onion
2 medium to large potatoes

2 carrots, cut in sticks
2-3 pieces bacon, cut up

Sealed foil packet meals

Divide these amongst the four foil pieces and seal well. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake at least 1 hour.

Beef and Bean Wedges ... or Pizza?

I just did a post on how to cook grass-fed beef. It is a different animal! The ground beef is AWESOME. Though a drier meat without the fat developed from feed lot grains (all genetically modified unless organic beef), the ground beef can be used in all recipes. For hamburgers I hate to adulterate too much since the beef flavor is exceptional, but they are drier, so I've started adding a few tablespoons of melted butter (organic or pastured) to a pound of meat.

Beef and Bean ... Pizza?

Last night I made up a recipe we liked. It's a keeper and a very easy quick meal.

BEEF AND BEAN WEDGES
1# of ground beef
1 15oz can of spiced beans (I used Annie's refried beans with green chilies)
1/2 cup Masa Harina
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper
Juice from 1 lime

Mix this together well, spread and press flat and even on a pizza pan 12-14". Bake at 375 degrees 15-20 minutes till beef no longer is pink. Sprinkle on 1/4#, about 1 cup, of pepper jack cheese and bake another few minutes. I wanted it to brown a bit, so broiled it. Then add some chopped green onion and tomatoes and serve. We ate it with a salad.


A recipe I found that gave me the idea probably used regular beans. When it suggested 'spiced', I thought of the refried beans I keep stocked for quick bean tostadas. The recipe also used a cup of a cornbread mix. I don't keep mixes in my pantry since I cook from scratch. So what to use . . . Sticking with the Mexican theme of the beans I decided on the Masa Harina. I suppose you could use cornmeal. Most mixes also include some flour and baking powder, and of coarse shortening. I bet fresh or frozen corn could be good too (tho it'll give off some liquid, maybe requiring a bit longer cooking. A dollop of homemade yogurt could be good on top when serving.

Shared at: Dandelion House, Six Sisters Stuff, Frugally Sustainable, Food Renegade, Simple Lives Thursday, Tasty Traditions, Real Food Wednesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Monday Mania

Cream of Roasted Mushroom Soup

Cream of Mushroom Soup, Salad, and Water Kefir Beverage

I got this fresh raw dairy cream and I started craving cream of mushroom soup. It is exceptional because of roasting the mushrooms and garlic cloves!

Roasted portabellas and garlic with butter and lemon juice ready to blend with broth

Cream of Roasted Mushroom Soup

1# of mushrooms - I use portabellas
1-2 Tb fresh lemon juice
4 garlic cloves - I usually use more, like double!
3 Tb butter
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 1/2 C chicken broth
1/2 C heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a baking dish layer the sliced mushrooms (I usually cut their stem to a fresh layer and wipe tops across a damp dishcloth or paper towel). Add the lemon juice, garlic, butter and light seasoning. Bake for about an hour till juice is thick and dark. Blend with some chicken broth till smooth. Heat with the rest of the chicken broth and add the cream, cooking only 5 more minutes without boiling.

Simmering chicken broth

I had roasted some chicken breasts the day before so to debone the meat for a chicken salad. And then cooked up the chicken bones for broth. I always cover them with plenty of water and add celery, carrot, and onion chunks, then a few whole cloves, some peppercorns, a Tb of apple cider vinegar (for getting more nutrients like calcium from the bones) and some salt. Bring to a boil and cook simmering all day. Then strain the broth. I always have some handy in the fridge and freeze whatever's left.



Posted at: Monday Mania, Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday

BLT Soup

BLT Soup

BLT sandwiches have always been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. And oh do I look forward to them come summer with fresh grown tomatoes!!!!! Well, the other night I craved this soup, and I had some tomatoes needing to get cooked.

BLT SOUP

4 slices thick bacon, or maybe 6 if regular bacon

You can fry this till crisp and crumble it back into the soup. But I typically cut the bacon into my soup pot with 1 Tb butter and let it start cooking while I chop

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped (my favorite is a poblano)

1 large stalk of celery, finely chopped

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 tomatoes, chopped (I used 3 smaller sized)

After the bacon was getting close to being cooked I'd start adding in the chopped ingredients one at a time. So I'd let the onion and pepper cook awhile with the bacon before adding the rest. Then add -

1 Qt chicken broth (mine is always homemade, as I'm always cooking up chicken and then the bones further). Simmer for about 10 minutes. With the bacon, I never add salt and pepper, but you do your own taste test.



Just before serving add some chopped romaine lettuce. You can add 1/2 C cream. I typically slice the lettuce (any kinds, including arugula, kale and spinach - whatever I've got handy) and put a helping in each soup bowl and pour the soup over, then serve with a dollop of homemade yogurt. That way, since we'll have it as a leftover, we'll add fresh lettuce the next time we eat it.



You could top it with some croutons.

Sauerkraut Stew

Sauerkraut, cauliflower, kale and kielbasa

Sauerkraut, potatoes, and kielbasa sausage has always been a family favorite food combination. Sometimes I'll saute up kielbasa cut in 1/2" slices to brown a bit and then add thin sliced onions and cabbage from our garden, kinda creating a fresh sauerkraut. This alone is great. I'll often add some chicken broth and thicken a bit. This is great over mashed potatoes. Sometimes instead of onions I'll use leeks - love leeks! Lately I'm adding kale and cauliflower. So that's what's pictured here.



Proportions?

1# sliced kielbasa, saute till golden.

Add:

1 thin sliced onion or chopped leak (make sure you cut the leek in half vertically and wash out all the dirt before chopping, and I like to use most of the green part too) - cook till they color.

Chopped kale, about 2 C - 4 large leaves (mine is frozen from last year's garden)

1/2 # cauliflower (mine is frozen from my garden)

Then add:

2 C sauerkraut, rinsed (I look for lowest sodium - usually fresh in refrigerator section)

2-4 C chicken broth, depending on how soupy you like it. I'll use the 4 cups broth if I add some potatoes.

Salt and pepper to taste - with the sauerkraut I never salt, unless adding potatoes needs extra flavoring.

We like to serve it with a dollop of homemade yogurt or sour cream.

Salmon, or Tuna, or Crab Cakes

Monte made salmon patties for supper. He often cooks fish patties for a quick meal. For years I've made tuna patties (it's in my cookbook) - very simple:



Simple tuna patties (or other canned fish)

6 oz can tuna

1 egg

some grated onion

season with dried parsley or herbs of your choice

Drop by large spoonful into heated oiled skillet

Cook on both sides till browned and done - about 4-6 minutes



Monte likes to add a bit of bread crumbs and mayonnaise to the above, using canned salmon. Here's what Monte did last night -

SALMON (CRAB) CAKES

2 6oz cans wild salmon

4 green onions, chopped fine

2 Tb bread crumbs (I always have these in a ziplock in the freezer from my homemade bread)

About 1 Tb fresh herbs like cilantro, basil, parsley, dill

Since we didn't have any Old Bay Seasoning - use 1 1/2 tsp - I googled the ingredients and sat them all on the counter and Monte took bits of each, grinding in the mortar&pestle: bay leaves, celery seeds, mustard seeds, paprika, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, red pepper flakes, and cardamom, and salt

1 egg

1/4 C mayonnaise

Mix this all together well and form into 4 flat, round, patties about 3" across. This time he lightly covered them with 1/4 C flour and browned them in olive oil in the skillet. This time too, he finished cooking them in the oven rather in the skillet - he was afraid the flour would burn.



Then he made a sauce which he's calling -

MONTE'S MOUNTAIN RANCH DRESSING

1/2 C mayo

1/2 C sour cream

1/2 lime squeezed to taste

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced cilantro

1/2 tsp ground chipotle seeds

1/2 tsp dill



The fresh herbs are in my greenhouse. When I buy fresh herbs from the grocery store I cut a bit off the bottom of the bunch and put them in a glass of water, leaving them on the counter. Like basil often turns brown in the refrigerator - they'll last awhile this way. If not using soon, freeze herbs in ice cubes.



After eating the above sauce, Monte's convinced it's close to a salad dressing he's raved about for years from Texas Red's in Red River, New Mexico - he did geology there right before we got married. So we had his sauce with the fish patties and on our salad.

Baked Cod with a Cream Sauce over Whole Grain Rice

I'd gotten cod and didn't know what I was going to do with it, so I googled cod recipes and liked the idea of this dish, at that moment (meaning my emotions and cravings vary ... duh!). This turned out to be a "comfort food" - which means it's a definite keeper I'll be making again.



I have a chapter in my cookbook called "Cooking Tips & Pantry Stocking". Cooking tips are favorite sections of books for me. I've always looked at lots of recipes when deciding what to make. I've learned a lot from this process. When you know your ingredients, you know what you can mess around with and formulate your own recipes.



I wish I could create a consistent weekly or monthly menu - I know someone who does. It could simplify life, but I'm so motivated (or I should say "mood-ivated") by creative impulse. One of my impulses or motivations is to eat as well at home as some gourmet restaurants.



All that said ... doesn't really apply here, other than introducing how I cooked the rice according to my cooking tip from my cookbook. I have rice in my pantry that'll cook in 15-20 minutes, but it's not our favorite, and Monte has asked me to just cook the whole grain or wild rice. That takes time, so forethought or planning. Here's what's from my cookbook and the easiest way to cook rice -

Oven cooking Whole Grain &/or Wild Rice

Place 3 C tap water in an oven-proof dish with

1 tsp salt and

1 C rice

(could add some olive oil or pat of butter if you want)

Bake in a 250 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours

If I've not thought ahead, I'll pressure cook it for 10 minutes.



Looking at what I wrote in my cookbook, I'm reminded of something we like: keeping already cooked rice and already cooked black beans in the refrigerator for a quick dish - mix the two together and sprinkle with parmesan. Monte likes to heat rice with milk and cinnamon for a snack.



Following this oven cooking rice idea in my book is how to make a white sauce, which is pretty much what I did for this cod sauce. A lot of recipes call for "cream of ... chicken or mushroom soup". I don't buy canned soup, so I needed to learn how to substitute this ingredient in recipes. Basically heat  1/4-1/3C oil or butter, adding the same amount of flour. Let this "roux" brown a bit and add 2C of chicken broth with seasoning to be the equivalent of the canned soup (add some cream or milk powder for the 'cream'). That flour/fat amount will thicken 3-4 Cups of liquid too, if not wanting something so thick. I make up this sauce a lot, adding canned tuna for eating over toast with some grated cheese - a family quick meal favorite. It's also a sauce for macaroni and cheese, or chicken divan, or scalloped potatoes ...

BAKED COD WITH CREAM SAUCE OVER RICE

Cook rice

In skillet saute a chopped onion,

1 C sliced fresh mushrooms,

and then some minced garlic in

2 Tb olive oil or butter till golden

Sprinkle in 2 Tb flour and stir in

Add 2 C of a cream and milk mixture

Sprinkle in some salt and pepper, and a pinch of dill

Then add 1/2# of shrimp, peeled and deveined

Pour this mixture over 1# cod arranged in baking dish

Sprinkle with some grated parmesan

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

Serve over the rice

Chicken Divan & Broccoli Stalk Coleslaw

Chicken Divan, Artisan Bread, Broccoli Stalk Coleslaw

We have had SO MUCH COMPANY!!!!!!! A friend emailed today asking how my hermit soul was doing?! This Velveteen House is turning into a retreat center. We've had investors and geologists overlapping with  visiting friends. Currently a couple who used to live here but are now in Florida are here. Tomorrow a family is coming to cut firewood and are bringing pizza for lunch.

I made chicken divan for supper tonight along with an artisan bread and a coleslaw made from the broccoli stocks I refrigerated when I harvested and froze all that broccoli. Did you know you can grate broccoli stalks for a coleslaw? When I don't want to slice stuff real fine for a slaw, I put chunks in the blender, cover to floating with water, pulse, so to keep it somewhat chunky and not pureed, then pour in strainer to drain off water. So I chunked the broccoli in batches, then some garden carrots and radishes, and then a batch of red onion. Mixed them all together in a large bowl and made up a sauce with homemade yogurt, mayo, a bit of sour cream we had left over with chives from baked potatoes the other night with guests when I baked meatloaf. Then just added some mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, and parsley.

Draining blended red onion - the EASY way!!

CHICKEN DIVAN

2 - 10oz packages of frozen broccoli or use fresh

2 C cooked chicken or turkey pieces

4 Tb oil

4 Tb flour

2 C chicken broth

1 egg

1 Tb lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 seeds cardamom

3 cloves

3/8 tsp whole cummin

12 peppercorns

18 coriander seeds

1/8 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp ground fenugreek

(Probably not in your typical grocery store. This is the spice that makes the curry flavor in curry spice. In fact, all the the ingredients from cinnamon down make up typical curry spice. I don't buy it, making up my own from scratch, grinding whole spices in a mortar & pestle or coffee grinder I have for spices. You could use a couple teaspoons of curry spice.)

1-2 C shredded cheese

a few slices old bread, blended to make crumbs



Arrange broccoli in a casserole dish and cook a few minutes in the microwave. Place chicken on top of the broccoli. Make a white sauce with the oil, flour, and broth - heating in microwave, stirring till thickening. Wisk egg in a little bowl and add some of the warm broth in with it, which prevents the egg from cooking, wisk, then wisk this mixture back into the heated white sauce (Most recipes just use a cream of chicken or mushroom soup can and add mayo. The white sauce and egg are creating this combo.) Add the spices and lemon juice - pour this over the chicken. Mix the bread crumbs with the grated cheese and sprinkle over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. We like the top to get browned.



Last night's was made in a larger casserole and I had 1 1/2# of broccoli and more chicken, so did a larger batch of everything. And I hardly measure anymore!



I love chicken divan. It took a long while for my kids to acquire a taste for it.

White Chili Chicken Soup; Chicken Broth & Roasted Green Chilies

White Chili Soup with Avacado

This soup is an all-time favorite!

Chicken Broth

Since I'd made the grilled "Dancing" chickens a couple nights ago and planned on a chicken left over, we'd put all the bones in a large pot and covered them with water. I always add a quartered onion with 3-4 whole cloves stuck in each onion piece, I cut off the leaf tops of celery I always keep in the fridge along with one of the older stalks cut up,  I look for the oldest carrot or two in the same fridge bin and cut up, then toss in some pepper corns and a tsp of salt. Simmer for at least an hour, then strain ... putting all in the compost. This is the way I make chicken broth all the time and freeze what's leftover. I like to freeze in pint sizes and whenever a recipe has a cream of ... something soup can, I make a white sauce of a couple TB of olive oil and WWflour in a sauce pan and stir in the thawed chicken broth till thickened. Because these bones and deboned chicken meat had been smoke-grilled, the soup flavor is even better ... and the chicken meat makes the best sandwiches ever too!

WHITE CHILI SOUP

3 16oz cans northern white beans

4 c cooked chicken

1 Tb olive oil

2 medium chopped onions

2 cloves minced garlic

2 4oz cans chopped green chilies

2 Tb ground cumin

6 c chicken broth

3 c  grated jack cheese

That's how my good friend Jeanie, who's moved away, gave it to me. Now I'll tell you what I do:

I usually use canned navy beans, but might at times cook the beans from scratch, which would probably be about 2 cups of dry beans. I prefer the smaller white beans. I usually cook up a whole chicken, both for the meat and the broth. Otherwise I use organic chicken broth. I usually have cooked chicken and turkey in the freezer from past meals, but in a bind, I've used canned chicken. I can't tell you the sizes, but I think I used three cans.

Roasted Green Chilies Frozen

Saute the chopped onion and garlic in the olive oil. I always add more garlic than recipes call for. Then add the chopped green chilies. We always have frozen roasted anaheim chilies in our freezer from the farmer's market. I get a bushel roasted and usually 3 chilies equals 4 ounces. I don't remove the blackened skin when freezing, but remove it when thawed and I'm readying to chop them (and don't like washing it off, as I think I'm washing away good flavor, but just run my fingers down the chili to remove the skin, stem end, and seeds, then I do have to wash my hands to remove it all from them!). And the cumin, I grind fresh. I rarely buy pre-ground spices, preferring their fresh ground flavor. My cute little wood mortar & pestle sits on my kitchen windowsill.

If I'm taking the soup somewhere, then I put the cheese in it too. At home, we grate cheese and put some in our soup bowls and ladle in the soup. From another chicken soup recipe, I fell in love with fresh avacado cut in chunks and added to the soup bowls. When we have guests (some guests having had it more than once - and they love it!) we typically set up meals buffet style on our island in the middle of the kitchen that the stove is a part of. So the soup pot stays on the stove and there'll be a wooden bowl with wooden tongs of grated cheese and a bowl of cut up avacados (with fresh squeezed lime juice to keep them from browning). Homemade bread and salad top off the meal.

Grilled Dancing Chickens

"Dancing Chickens" on beer cans - grilled

We had overnight guests and I did my beer-can grilled chicken. When I made it for guest Norwegians a couple years ago they all (5 of them) had to get their cameras to take a picture of them on the grill! Travis gave me this recipe and made it for us a few years ago, and I named them "Dancing Chickens". I always do an extra chicken for leftover sandwiches and soup - the bones make the greatest broth that I like to use for my white chili chicken soup (which I'll be making soon and posting the pics and recipe. We've got more company coming for supper tomorrow night, but she's bringing most of the meal, so I'll probably make it Wednesday. Tonight I'm cooking and freezing the last of my large zucchini as a soup, and I'll be posting it's recipe ... it's actually a bit hard to think of soup when the weather is abnormally hot and dry for this time of year, but gardens often dictate menus.)

My greenhouse sink

GRILLED BEER CAN CHICKEN

Start soaking, in the morning, various chunks of wood for providing great smoke flavor. Since this slow cooks a long time I use large wood chunks with some smaller. Usually I use Hickory, but sometimes mesquite.



Brine the chickens for at least 3 hours. I often put the frozen chicken in a bucket and pour the brine over, and let brine overnight in our cool to cold garage - if it's warm weather, I  brine them in a cooler. If the chickens are snug in the container, I think this brine can cover up to 3 chickens.



1 gallon water (1 qt hot first, for dissolving salt and sugar, the rest ice-water)

3/4 C salt

2/3 C sugar (Travis uses brown sugar)

1/2 C soy sauce

several tsps of herbs: thyme, rosemary, bay, pepper, onion and garlic powder

1/2- 1 C olive oil

Submerge with a plate with a weight for at least 3 hours.

Rinse

Initially we did this with just the beer cans holding up the chickens, then I found the wire can holder with legs, which helps it not be so tippy. Open the beer cans and pour off half of the beer - poke, with a can opener, two more holes in the can top. Put the can up into the rinsed chicken. Sqeeze lemon juice over the chickens and stuff the lemon half in the neck hole. Sprinkle a herb seasoning mix over the chickens.



Make sure the grill is preheated on high for 15 minutes. Put the drained soaked wood chips on one side of the grill and leave this side on high the entire cooking time. Turn the burners under the chickens to low and close the grill. You want the inner grill temp to stay around 300 degrees. I cook the majority of the time with the burners off under the chicken, so their grease drippings do not catch on fire. But when I open the grill for occasionally turning the birds I'll turn their burners to high until I close the lid, turning them to low a bit and then off again, leaving one wood chip burner on high the entire time.



1 chicken cooks in about 1 hour.

3 birds in about 2 hours, but I plan for 2 1/2 hours.

Last night I did 2 birds and planned on 2 hours. My propane tank emptied some time in the midst, so they probably would have been done in 1 1/2 hours.

Pull the done birds off the beer cans to a serving board and enjoy!



Brining is good to do with a lot of meats. Salt pulls moisture out and after a little while it equalizes pulling moisture back in. So you're seasoning the meat thru-ought and not just the surface.



Monte 'stir-fried' veggies and greens in our cast-iron wok, but with no seasoning (therefore no chinese seasoning, leaving it for us to put what we wanted on ours), for the side dish. I had an artisan bread loaf fresh from the oven, with pesto and chopped tomato and chives in it for putting on the bread. George had to have one slice with honey on it. I'd made a rhubarb crisp and the electric ice cream maker churned the fresh yogurt ice cream (recipes posted here earlier).



We had sourdough pancakes for breakfast. And let them try the kale smoothie I posted. We sent them off with sandwiches of the deboned yummy chicken from last night on homemade bread.



As I'm writing this it's clouding up! YEAH!!!!! We might get some rain. We've not had rain for 1 1/2 months!

Italian Meatloaf in Zucchini

volunteer squash at bottom - chipmunk planted sunflower

We are having the warmest September ever, and still no rain for over a month. Watering just doesn't compare with rain. I planted so many salady type seeds for fall to winter harvesting, but the ground is so dry from below, it's just immediately sucking away anything I contribute, so I'm not seeing many sprouted seedlings. And we did get a little frost - like a ghost frost that whipped about at ground level nipping at some things. I've got these volunteer squash I let grow at the kitchen garden's edge, and their leaves took the brunt of the frost, as did most of the zucchini leaves. Basil and beans, which are tender, are still going, as are the tomatoes. I've got most of the tomatoes covered now with a white 'floating row cover' material. You can see some of the material over the peppers in the garden picture.

So I think my zucchini season is over. I've got several large zucchini sitting on the counter for making a zucchini, potato, onions soup, which I'll eventually post. This soup tastes great over winter as I pull portions from the freezer.

Every year I say I'm going to batter and fry squash blossoms. But I still haven't. The flowers with long stems are male flowers. Those are the ones you'd harvest. The short stemmed flowers are the fruitful females.



This recipe is from AllRecipes.com. I get daily emails of recipes from them, giving me great ideas.

ITALIAN MEATLOAF IN ZUCCHINI BOATS

1 large zucchini

Cut in half and scoop out the seeds. Sprinkle these halves with 1 tsp garlic salt. I don't use garlic salt, just granulated garlic. I got to thinking that if you don't grow zucchini, you rarely find large zucchini in stores. This time, because of a smaller zucchini than they must use, I had enough meat mixture that I tried filling a halved pepper to see how it would work. It tasted great. So I think smaller zucchini and peppers can be used in the baking dish. Eggplant slices would be good too, I bet.



Saute 1 chopped onion in

1/4 C olive oil

Mix together -

1 pound ground beef (they use 1 1/2# and I never have)

2 eggs

1 1/2 C seasoned bread crumbs (I never buy bread crumbs, using my homemade bread, dried and ground in the blender, and season myself, so used 1 tsp of an Italian seasoning mixture)

1 tsp minced garlic

1 Tb dried basil

1/4 C grated carrot

1/3 C grated parmesan

add in the sauted onion, mixing all well and mound in the zuccnini



Pour a jarred spaghetti sauce over, covering the meat and letting drip over edges. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes till meat is cooked thru.

Sprinkle 1 C grated mozzarella cheese over all and return to the oven for another 5 minutes.

You can serve with more spaghetti sauce if you want.

These are great leftover!

Sedum turning from green to soon, a deep rust red

Ribs for Labor Day

Calendar Girl me never posted about Labor Day. I looked at my old blog where I did a lot of posts related to calendar days - the idea being that days have stories, mostly from history, some from our own family. Returning to these stories and memories on calendar days takes ordinary linear living into the EXTRAordinary cyclical, rhythmical living. Therefore bringing deeper meaning to our everydays. But Labor Day?

Labor Day is a day our country established as a time to remember that we labor, and it's a holiday from that labor. We tend to think of it as the ending of summer, school has started. We usually get our first frost soon after Labor Day and the hummingbirds leave right after Labor Day! It's typically a bar-b-q day.



We invited guests for Labor Day this year and grilled ribs, using my grandpa's barbecue sauce. I wanted to do ribs cuz I've not done them for a long time. Travis has taken over the traditional rib making for 4th of July at their place, and he makes a lot of this sauce. I usually have some of this sauce in my fridge. This recipe is in my cookbook, and I always quadruple it. I never buy barbecue sauce cuz this is the best!!!

SAUCE-PAINTED SPARERIBS

The Sauce:

1 C catsup

1/4 C lemon juice (fresh squeezed of course!)

2 Tb brown sugar

1 Tb soy sauce

1 Tb horseradish & mustard (half of each)

1 Tb grated onion

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp each: oregano, thyme (marjoram ...)

1 clove garlic, minced (more)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper



Simmer this mixture for at least 10 minutes. I use organic catsup, and an already mixed mixture of horseradish and mustard. I cut back on the sugar this time. The soy sauce I use is Bragg All Natural Liquid Aminos - nutritious and way less sodium.

How many ribs per person? We get 1 pound per person. We often get a mixture of country style, spareribs, and some times babybacks. This time Monte had me write next to the recipe that he liked the spareribs best.



We roast them initially in an open pan at 400 degrees for an hour. Then put some sauce on, cover and cook at 325 till almost tender - maybe 2 hours. Then we grill a short time brushing on more sauce to carmelize the sauce, flavoring them better, and watching close so they don't burn. Most barbecue sauces are very sweet and the sugar burns easy! Then we put them back into the pan covered, and into the still warm oven till ready to eat.



The pictured plate is an older cooking of ribs meal when we'd had scalloped potatoes. This day's meal consisted of a large salad from my garden. And I made a chopped tomato and fresh basil mixture for putting on my homemade Italian bread: bruchetta appetizer. Then had rhubarb custard pie and homemade yogurt ice cream for dessert (all posted here).