paleo zucchini bread

Paleo Zucchini Bread
 1.5 cups almond meal flour
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
0.5 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed dry (1 large zucchini)
Set aside.

3 eggs (I only had two, so I substituted 1/4 cup applesauce for one egg)
1 mashed banana (I had none so substituted more applesauce (1/2 cup))
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted.
Blend the wet ingredients, then add the zucchini. Then stir in the dry ingredients.

I separated into about 9 muffins. I greased the pan and put it in the oven at 375 for about 20minutes.
Let cool for 5minutes, then move to rack.

So, they taste kind of egg-y, either because I melted the oil in the microwave and then added my egg to the oil, so maybe the egg cooked a little before I put all the ingredients together. Definitely very soft on the inside. Nothing like a typical muffin texture. Sam ate one and enjoyed everything but the edges.  I'll pack them in our lunches this week!

Swiss Chard

It is summer CSA time again!
This past week I received:
strawberries
head of lettuce
bunch of chard
bunch of kale
bunch of radish
bunch of beets

My parents were visiting when we received the box and my mom was super excited to eat farm fresh veggies so early in the growing season. (They had lettuce growing in the garden in VT, but not much else). I prepared the beets by boiling in water, and sauteed the kale to share at lunch and dinner.

The radish is mostly uneaten. The berries were consumed within 2 days and I am working on the head of lettuce.  That leaves the chard. Here's what I did for lunch this week:

Swiss Chard Lasagna: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/swiss-chard-lasagna-recipe.html

I pretty much followed the recipe except I purchased a grated blend of asiago, parmesean, and romano and substituted 1% milk for heavy cream.

The recipe was easy and the lasagna was good. I ate it cold all week and the cheese flavor hid the chard flavor, so I think my husband might even eat it if he gave chard another try.

Parmesean Broccoli Balls

I have made this recipe three times now and believe it or not I have not recorded the process. This is unfortunate because I am making this recipe now based on my notes from my printed recipe card and the balls aren't turning out how I expected.
Let's start with the bones of the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/41116/parmesan-broccoli-balls/

This time I used:
1 large head of fresh broccoli
1/2 box of Trader Joes Cornbread Stuffing Mix
3/4 cup grated parmesan/Romano cheese
1 medium onion
5 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

I steamed the broccoli florets for 5 minutes in my basket steamer. That was perfect. I sauteed the onion with some butter and onion to brown them a little, which I think works well for this recipe. I melted the butter in a saucepan and then added it to the egg, after which I realized I might have cooked some of the egg, so next time add the butter to the large mix, maybe even after the egg has been stirred in. I mixed everything together and put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I made them into 1 inch balls and put 20 of them on a large baking sheet. They went into the oven at 350 degrees for 20minutes. That was pretty perfect for cooking them, but at this point I saw that my balls were falling apart! They also stuck to the pan. To the second half of my ingredients I added 2 more eggs to help with binding and put it back in the fridge for one hour.

I baked the second batch on parchment paper. This was a good idea. I feel that the second batch was a little too wet, so maybe use 6 or 7 eggs for the whole batch?

Thanksgiving bird

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving. My dad and I had to duke it out for which one of us was making the bird. He went to the store with my mom in the morning. Meanwhile, back at the condo I looked at the clock and realized that we had to start getting the bird ready for the oven... so I guess that meant my dad didn't want to make the bird this year.

We started with a fresh young, 15 pound turkey from Wegman's. Not the "Holiday" Turkey which is especially bred to have more white meat. That didn't seem right to me. I am weird and like the dark meat anyway. The night before we took out the bird. We put the neck in a pot of water with peppercorns, cloves, onions, celery, garlic slices (dried), bay leaf and salt. That boiled for 2-3 hours and then I don't know what happened because I went to sleep and my dad finished it off. I think he just put it in a bowl and then the fridge.

The goal was to put the bird in the oven in time for dinner at 2pm. We took it out of the fridge at 10:15. We removed the plastic piece keeping the legs together. We dried it off. We put butter all over the skin and under the skin. We put salt and pepper on the skin and in the cavity. We put rosemary under the skin and in the cavity. We put a sliced orange and onion in the cavity. Under the bird was celery and onion in the roasting bag with some flour. The bird went in the oven at 11:10am at 350 degrees.And there it sat for 1 hour, 2hour, 3 and one half to reach 160. OMG that took forever. The roasting bag said 2 to 2 and 3/4 hours for a stuffed bird. Maybe the bird was too cold to start? Or the bag instructions were misleading? We finally took it out to rest.

Then we put the squash, rolls, and the vegetables that Eileen and Chris had already roasted in the oven. After about 15minutes I bolused my insulin... which proceeded to leak so I needed a new cannula and I bolused myself again knowing that I was going to eat Thanksgiving anyway and would probably need the extra insulin.  Well about 45minutes later we ate and by then my sugar was in the pits, so I wolfed down my meal and didn't really get to enjoy any of it. And then my low sugar caused me to sweat like a marathoner running in 90 degree weather, which was unpleasant. All of the effort put into cooking and entertaining made me tired, so once the guests left I put my head down for a nap.  I woke up 3hours later with my sugar in the 300s. Oops and yuck. Hmmph. Not an easy day.

I also want to add here the cranberry recipe that I used. I boiled 1cup orange juice with orange zest (half a large orange) and pumpkin pie spice (about 1 tsp). I added fresh cranberries once boiling and cooked uncovered for another 10minutes until the cranberries were burst. I took it off the heat and stirred in 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup agave nectar. Then I cooled it and put it in the fridge. It tasted so good!

Week 3

A lot of the same this week:
Boston Bibb lettuce (I think)
Kale bunch (no Swiss Chard which Bert was excited about)
Plenty of summer squash
2 cucumbers
Red beets
1/2 pint of raspberries

Cream cheese pin wheels

For a party yesterday I made Cream Cheese Pin Wheels. Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Party-Pinwheels/Detail.aspx?soid=recs_recipe_seed

I used reduced fat cream cheese, black beans (low sodium and rinsed) instead of olives, no extra cheddar cheese, 3/4 of a red bell pepper diced, 2 green onions diced, cleaned/washed pre-cut celery sticks that I diced, shredded carrots that I diced into smaller pieces, 6 -10inch whole wheat tortillas, and all else as described in the recipe.

I think they still were a little salty, maybe that comes from the ranch packet I used? Could probably use cream cheese mixed with just chives or cilantro next time. Maybe a little heat to add another layer of flavor. I would make these again and I received a few compliments at the party.

Green Pizza take 3

We are making good progress with the box this week. We have about 1-2 servings of lettuce, 1 mini squash, and 1 cuke left. I prepped the Swiss chard for dinner by making Green Pizza.

I used
1/2 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch of Swiss Chard, washed, roughly chopped with stems removed
3/4 jar of pizza sauce
Shredded Mexican cheese
Some sugar

Bert doesn't like the sourness of Swiss Chard so I used a little sugar to sweeten the Chard, which really helped.

I sauteed the onion and garlic until tender, then added the wet/chopped leaves and covered for a few minutes. Once the leaves were wilted, I poured the sauce over the top and sprinkled with cheese. I put this in the oven at 400F for maybe 15minutes (tops), uncovered.

Served with chicken and rice. So yummy! Bert ate all of his, although somewhat gingerly. He said it wasn't bad.

A little cuke!

This week's box was a lot like last week's:
1 bunch beets
1 fennel bulb
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bag English peas
4 summer squash
1 head red leaf lettuce
1 bunch Arugula
And...1 small cucumber.

The creative thing we did tonight was buy some marinated steak tips and had them on whole wheat pita. I piled sauteed zucchini, lettuce, tomato and tzatziki sauce on mine. So delicious!

I roasted the beets and fennel in the oven for this week's lunch. I'll have that with cooked lentils and goat cheese over greens.

We went shopping first since the truck was late with the drop off. If I had known about the cucumber I might have planned to make my own cucumber sauce for the pita.

First CSA box of Summer 2015 and Swiss Chard bundles

We picked up our first CSA box of the season yesterday. We had a good haul considering the season is just starting:

1 bunch Arugula
6 golden beets
1 head of red leaf lettuce
1 fennel bulb
4 squash/zucchini
1 bag of English peas
1 bunch of Swiss Chard
1 pint of strawberries

Last night we had salmon with some of the squash and leftover potato salad. I boiled the beets and took them to work with Arugula, goat cheese, lentils, and olive oil/balsamic dressing. Yummy! I found crumbled goat cheese from Vermont which has the best flavor ever.

Tonight I made Swiss Chard bundles. I created my own recipe.

I prepared 4 servings of brown rice.
Used my Dutch oven to boil water. Cleaned the Swiss chard then dipped the leaves into the water for like 15 seconds before submerging in an ice bath.

I diced onion, garlic and browned them with ground turkey. I tossed in some of the small Swiss chard greens, salt and pepper, and then cut up a tomato for more color. I added the rice on top.

Now I had to prepare the leaves to make bundles. I cut out the tough stem and tried to dry the leaves between paper towels.

Finally I piled a serving spoon size scoop of the rice/turkey mix onto each leaf and rolled it like a burrito.  I put the bundles in the Dutch Oven where I was warming some pasta sauce. Put the lid on and simmered for maybe 25minutes? The whole recipe took 2hours. So exhausting and so many pots to clean.

Tasted good served with shredded cheese on top. Bert still isn't a fan of Swiss Chard (but he managed to finish his bundle after I added the cheese). Not a good recipe for a weeknight or if you are cooking solo. I probably only needed one cup of rice. Suggest starting the wrap at the end where the stem was so that you finish at the top of the leaf where there isn't a seam (so the rice mixture doesn't fall out).

Cinco de Mayo!

Tonight I made this enchilada casserole.  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Layered-Chicken-and-Black-Bean-Enchilada-Casserole/Detail.aspx?prop24=RD_RelatedRecipes

Probably took me an hour to prep. I bought chicken breasts, cubed those and seasoned with cumin and coriander. I also chopped up 1/2 onion and 2 large cloves of garlic and sauteed that with the chicken. Once that was done, I went back and diced the chicken into smaller pieces.

When making the layers, I used 4 corn tortillas for each layer. I bought Old El Paso Enchilada sauce and green chiles.

I think it is easier to mix the sour cream with the chicken mixture rather than adding it to the top of the cheese layer. That did not work out. I included the sour cream in the final layer rather than waiting to add it at the end.

This fit perfect into my 11x7 glass dish.

Baked Broccoli Balls

I first made this recipe for a christmas party, but unfortuantely I didn't write anything down!  I had a recipe but I am sure that I had made modifications. This is the recipe I used:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/parmesan-broccoli-balls/detail.aspx

When I made them today I used:
About 3 cups of broccoli. some fresh, some frozen cuts, steamed about 10minutes total
1/2 small-medium onion, steamed and finely chopped
3 crushed garlic cloves
4 eggs beaten
6 tbps butter melted in saucepan
1 box 6oz low sodium stove top chicken flavor
Some black pepper and ground peppercorn

To be accurate I did cook the frozen and fresh broccoli separately.
I used my hand chopper to cut the broccoli finely. I also used it to beat the eggs.
I did everything else as described in the recipe to prepare and mix the ingredients.
I used my largest glass bowl, covered it with a silicone lid and put it in the fridge.
I think I will bake them tomorrow.

I sliced my thumb open washing the chopper! :(

Beef Stroganoff

So I tried to make beef stroganoff last week, but I think I made too many substitutions. Some recipes for beef stroganoff include a can of cream of mushroom soup. I saw Rhee Drummond make a sauce from scratch for her green bean casserole instead of using a can of cream of mushroom so I thought I could do that too. I bought some stew beef cubed from Trader Joe's, mushrooms, milk, asparagus and egg noodles.

I started by browning the beef in my Dutch oven. I browned all sides in three small batches. Ultimately, once the beef made it to the plate it was tough. Bummer.

We cooked the vegetables in the small amount of beef fat that was left in the pan, then I added some butter, flour and then milk, 1%. I should have used some cream like Rhee did. My roux/gravy or whatever I was trying to make never thickened, or maybe it was because I was hungry at this point so we ate it as is. I feel like the dish took forever! Especially since I carefully browned the beef in small batches. I have never worked that slowly on a dish before.

So next time I should try the recipe with sour cream instead of cream of mushroom maybe?

Butternut squash chili

Tonight I made butternut squash chili. I got the idea from my sister-in-law, but that was last year and I didn't get a recipe, but I found this one:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Butternut-Squash-and-Turkey-Chili/Detail.aspx?soid=recs_recipe_seed

I cut up a sweet onion, two cloves of garlic and prepared a butternut squash. I only used half of a large squash, the rest is in the fridge.
I started the onion and garlic in oil, then added the squash. When the onion looked translucent, I started to add the tomatoes, beans (rinsed slightly), and green Chiles. I also defrosted some frozen corn in the microwave and added that instead of hominy. Then I added some cumin and chili powder. I simmered everything for 20minutes, but the squash was still a little hard, so turned up the heat for another 5 minutes. The squash was in 1inch chunks, so smaller chunks might have cooked faster.

I added some shredded cheese and sour cream on top. Served with the multigrain bread, since I have a lot leftover. Cornbread would also taste good with this.

Mussels with beer broth

Yesterday we tried making up a recipe for mussels. At least that is how I felt. Bert might have been working from a recipe. We cut up 1/2 a medium onion, 2 cloves of garlic and cooked those in some olive oil. Then we added 12oz Sam Adams Lager and 2 pounds of mussels. We used our Dutch oven for this one.

We purchased the mussels at Wegman's. They sent us home with mussels on ice. Bert washed each one and threw out about 3-4 for broken shells. Two pounds is about right for two entrees. You also want to throw out ones that are already open and won't close if you tap them.

The mussels sat in the beer for just a few minutes it seems like before they popped open. Bert sprinkled in some basil, I think the recipe called for parsley but we didn't have any. We served with Wegman's whole grain baguette. The mussel meat was good. I liked the bread. Tough to cut, but soft in the inside. The beer broth was too sour. Next time I want to try a white wine broth instead.

Potato Leek Soup

Our summer CSA may be over, but I am still cooking up recipes in the kitchen. Today was soup.

Potato Leek Soup
1 Leek, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 TBS butter and 1 TBS olive oil
8 TJ baby Dutch potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 cups milk, 1%
1 bunch kale, stems removed and cut into small pieces
Salt
Peppercorn
Thyme
4 pieces bacon, cooked, chopped
I sauteed the leek with the butter and oil blend in my Dutch oven. Then added the potato and enough stock to cover the potatoes. Simmered until potatoes were tender. Then I transferred to my little pitcher for my hand blender. I puréed most of the soup in two batches. Then added milk. I added salt, ground peppercorn and tasted....I didn't taste much. So, I decided to add some thyme, dried and fresh. And I still didn't taste much so I added the kale, and more salt and peppercorn.  Then I added the bacon. I let simmer for 15minutes.

Bert liked the soup. I still didn't taste much flavor, so added a bunch of pepper once I served it. The pepper helped some. We'll see how it reheats.

The cabbage did not reheat well at all.

Cabbage casserole

I had a GIANT head of cabbage in the fridge from two weeks ago, and finally I had an evening to prepare something.  I found a recipe for scalloped cabbage casserole on-line:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/beths-scalloped-cabbage/detail.aspx

I used 1/2 of the GIANT head of cabbage, used breadcrumbs instead of crackers and sprinkled paprika on top for color.  Bert liked it okay. I think it was kind of boring. I think that smaller pieces of cabbage might have worked better than chunks of cabbage. I think I needed to either drain the cabbage more or use more cheese in my roux. The final product was kind of runny. I sprinkled curry on mine which helped a little.

I served this with grilled pork chops.  I think some butternut squash would also taste good with these two items.

Butternut squash and kale soup

Have barely cooked all week so I still have a fridge full of food. On Wednesday I took the time to peel and chop a butternut squash. This was a good use of time. I was able to quickly prepare one serving for lunch on Friday and two servings for dinner on Friday by microwaving for 3 minutes then mashing with cinnamon.

The whole reason I prepared the squash was to make soup with the kale.

Butternut squash and kale soup
2 large tomatoes, cut into quarters,
1 leek, sliced in half lengthwise, almost to tip, but keep intact
1/4 onion, cut in half
6 garlic cloves whole,
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 4-5 pieces
Celery root, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Yukon potato
Olive oil for roasting
6-8 cups chicken stock
3 leaves crinkle kale, cut into small pieces
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed

I brushed a jelly roll pan with olive oil, added my vegetables and then add more oil to the vegetables and stirred it around. Maybe a real roasting pan would have been a better choice... easier to stir. Stir a couple times while cooking.

Vegetables roasted at 400degrees for 30minutes, until tender.

I put 5 cups chicken broth in my Dutch oven with the thyme and bay leaf. Brought to a boil.

Picked through the roasted vegetables. Put the onion, garlic without the peel, and tomato into my blender and blended until smooth.

The rest of the vegetables I transferred to the cutting board and sliced into smaller pieces. Maybe I should have roasted them as small pieces, so I didn't have to cut them again while hot. As it was I still had big chunks of vegetables.

I put everything in with the kale and stock, then added the beans. I then added a couple turns of the salt grinders and peppercorn grinder. My stock was low sodium, so not a lot of salt except for what I added.

I simmered this for 15 minutes.

Served hot with crusty French roll. Yum!

Bert liked the soup fine. I thought it was still kind of bland. In my second helping I added some curry powder, and that helped. I like curry flavor. Also need to figure out the right size for the vegetable cut.

Our last box!

I guess summer is over now that the Summer CSA has ended.
Our last box:
1 head of romaine lettuce
Bunch of kale
1 colored head of cauliflower
1 green pepper
1 medium onion
1 butternut squash
2 tomatoes
4 apples
2 pears
1 really giant head of cabbage
2 leeks
1 celeriac bulb

Unstuffed Cabbage

They gave me a giant head of cabbage, so I had plenty for another recipe.

Unstuffed Cabbage- makes about 6 servings
1 pound chicken sausage (apple chardonnay flavor)
1/2 onion chopped
14 oz can diced tomatoes
3oz tomato paste
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
5 cups shredded cabbage

In my large non-stick skillet I started by heating the sausage with the onion until the onion was a little soft. I cut the onion into half rings, because I wanted to match the size with the cabbage pieces. Next I added the tomatoes, vinegar, salt and pepper. Then I folded in the cabbage. I cooked that for about 10minutes.

I actually used red chili pepper flakes, which made the dish super spicy so I added a little sugar to try to balance the flavor.

This was okay. I served it with roasted potatoes (which I thought were a little burned). The dish was very spicy. The sausage was tasty. If I made it again I would leave out the red pepper flakes.

We ate this for leftovers a couple nights later. We served it with rice, which really improved the flavor.

Braised cabbage

Tonight we tried Braised cabbage. Recipe found here:
https://stillmansfarm.wordpress.com/

I didn't want to buy a 1/2 gallon of cider, so I bought a 12oz bottle of hard cider.
I didn't buy caraway seeds because Trader Joes didn't have them and I didn't want to stop at another store. I tried cumin instead.
I didn't buy fresh thyme either and used dried instead.
I added my last turnip with the apple. The apple wasn't a Granny Smith. I think it was a Cortland.
I shredded the cabbage by using my mandolin on the julienne setting. That worked really well. All of the skin on my hand is still intact!

Bert melted the butter, added the turnip for two minutes, then the apple for another two minutes, then the cider and spices, waited three minutes, then added the cabbage, covered and simmered for 9 minutes.

This all took about 20 minutes. We served this with roasted potatoes and chicken.
Overall, I am not a fan of cabbage. This dish was edible, and certainly an acceptable way to get rid of some cabbage. I think that it needed more apple flavor, so either I needed to use more cider or buy real cider.  I will try the leftovers tomorrow.