What Are Your Favorite Recipes Using Real Food?
For the first time in years, I'm cooking! Since I began my quest to eat real food and improve my health, I've been experimenting with a slow cooker. Every Sunday I make a pot of vegetables with either chicken or stew meat, and throw in rosemary or basil and other good stuff.
Clearly, I could use some new ideas.
What are you cooking? Post your recipes under the comment section and we'll add them to the blog.
A journey into the world of "real food" with Seattle-based journalist Rebecca Morris
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7 comments:
Tonight, we're cooking an oven roasted fresh free range chicken, fresh Kale (PCC) with shitake mushrooms and pumpkin seeds, and steamed rice.
A great way to get the bitter flavor out of kale is to soak and cook the kale in a vegetable or chicken stock, and then remove the stock and cook the kale the rest of the way through.
No matter what we end up eating, a great routine we're gotten into is to buy interesting and diversified spices from a spice store. Every so often, we bus into the Pike Place Market area, walk down to Market Spice, and stock up on what we've gotten low on, and try at least one new spice. For example, there is a great spice to add to olive oil as a dipping sauce for bread that comes from Israel.
Incidentally, last night we went out for my birthday dinner. Though the first courses were excellent and came in moderate (but neither huge nor meager portions), the entree's demi-glace was incredibly salty, bringing it to the edge of nearly unpalatable. I didn't even wish for dessert, because the salt made me hit satiation within a few bites. I now know to ask for my food without so much sodium.
There is nothing like cooking at home.
Golden Beets and Brussels sprouts:
Prep: 15 minutes
Total: 60-75 minutes
Ingredients:
* 2-3 golden beets (red beets will turn the rest of the ingredients bright red)
* 10 Brussels Sprouts
* 1 shallot, peeled and diced
* Olive Oil
* 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dry)
* 2 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted
* Salt and pepper to taste
The beets take the longest to cook so start them first. Either boil them in water in a small saucepan for 45 minutes, or roast them in the oven at 350°F for an hour fifteen minutes. Roasting will give you better flavor, but takes longer and uses a lot more energy (unless you are already cooking something in the oven). When done, set aside to cool for 10 minutes, peel and chop into 1 x 1/2 inch chunks.
While beets are cooking you may want to toast your almond slivers if you are starting with raw almonds. Just heat a skillet to medium high heat and put in the almonds. Stir frequently with a spatula. When the almonds begin to brown, remove from pan into a small bowl. Let cool, set aside.
Remove any outer leaves that look a bit ragged from the brussels sprouts. Bring a small saucepan half filled with water to a boil and parboil the brussels sprouts for 2-3 minutes. They should be almost all the way cooked through. (Test by cutting one in half.) Set aside for 5 minutes to cool, cut off any protruding tough stem on each sprout and cut each sprout in half.
In a medium sized skillet heat 1 Tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Add the shallot slices and cook until translucent, a few minutes. Add another tablespoon of olive oil and raise the heat to medium high. Add the sprouts and beets to the pan, along with the thyme and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 1 minute more, stirring. Remove from heat and serve. Can serve warm or at room temperature.
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Yum, wesa, I'm going to try the beets and sprouts.
For us, it will be oven-roasted chicken with rainbow chard and roasted root vegetables.
The chicken will be simple--seasoned with a bit of fresh rosemary and kosher salt, drizzled with a bit of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil, then roasted at a fairly high temperature.
The chard gets sauteed in just a touch of EV olive oil and a bit of garlic (don't burn the garlic!), then steamed the rest of the way--I throw in a handful of toasted pine nuts at the end.
The veggies--potatoes, onions, parsnips and maybe a few carrots--get cut into chunks, and tossed with olive oil and fresh herbs. I also separate the cloves of a head of garlic and toss them in as well--I love roasted garlic, but mostly on days when I DON'T have to teach! :-) I roast them next to the chicken (separate casserole dish).
I'm hungry.
Grilled pork loin roast (assuming we're done with the hail and snow, yes?). Season roast with salt to taste. Mash together rosemary, whole peppercorns, 1 garlic clove, lemon peel (optional, I know it's hard to find locally-grown lemons!) with a mortar and pestle; spread over roast. Grill over indirect heat until internal temp is 152 F. Serve with roasted root vegies (tossed in EV olive oil, rosemary or thyme, and salt and pepper to taste) and a little side salad and you're good to go. Not very exotic, but easily put together and tasty.
I am your age, Rebecca. I started living this way years before it became popular. I realized I liked the taste of homecooked food so much better. How long has it been since you've tasted fresh homecooked pudding?
I've been called old fashioned and my mother-in-law thinks I'm cheap. I don't have a microwave. Just stove and refrigerator.
I do use some canned vegetables. Canning has been around a very long time. It was a matter of survival.
Here's a favorite new recipe. Make it and freeze it portions for single dinners.
2 quarts vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup uncooked barley
1 large onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups diced tomatoes or 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 (15 oz.) can dark kidney bean, rinsed and drained
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp Italian seasonings
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups fresh or frozen vegetables (peas, corn, string beans, squash)
Salt
Pepper
Heat broth in a large pot. Add barley, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, beans, bay leaves, seasonings garlic. Bring to boil; cover and simmer for 90 minutes. Add additional veggies; cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves before serving. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Makes about 4 qts so use a very large pot.
NOTE: I didn’t have broth so I used three chicken thighs (skinned) that I had in the freezer. I used frozen corn, peas, and green beans. It’s a beautiful soup. I got it from Guidepost magazine.
Rita
Yesterday I went to Bartell's to get some Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce on sale (only 99 cents!) and I noticed it had a bunch of funky wierd ingredients. In fact it has two different kinds of corn syrup. Doh! It's not food! I went to a favorite cookbook looking for a real-food sauce and made this one based on a recipe from Lynn Rozetto Caspar:
2 28-ounce cans of whole peeled tomatoes (organic if possible)
1/2 onion, chopped roughly (I used a very small onion and a couple of shallots I had laying around)
Olive oil (about 1/3 cup)
Dried basil (recipe calls for fresh, but you do what you can)
About 1/2 teaspoon of fennel seeds
Salt and pepper to taste.
Saute the onion, salt, pepper, fennel seeds and basil briefly in the olive oil; squoosh up the tomatoes with your hands and drop them in, juice, seeds and all; bring to a simmer and cook this down until it's reduced by half (about 30-45 min.); roughly grind it in a blender so it's still a little chunky.
This is easy and yummy on virtually everything, including whole wheat bread.
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