Garlic Chicken

So I am a fan of simple dishes that taste good.  This one is one that I tried, modified, and promptly lost the recipe and I tried to recreate it from memory.  This is a work in progress.

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds chicken thighs or drumsticks
1 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup peanut oil (I don't know if it is necessary)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
minced garlic (I use from a jar)

directions:
preheat oven to 375°F (convection oven) or 400°F (conventional)
Arrange the chicken in an oven-safe baking dish (I use a 9X13 inch glass type), so that the chicken is not touching. Use 2 dishes if needed.
Smear a small (1/4t) amount of minced garlic on the top of each chicken piece
mix the red wine vinegar, peanut oil and garlic powder in a separate bowl,
Continually stir the mixture while spooning it on each piece of chicken, I spoon two or three on each chicken until I run out.
Cover the dish in tinfoil for the first 30min
Cook until the chicken is well cooked - clear liquid when pierced, or use a thermometer.

This time, the chicken wasn't completely thawed, I left it in the refrigerator overnight to defrost.  It took over an hour and 10min to cook completely.

Serve with steamed broccoli.

Kielbasa Rice

We lost the original recipe to this, so we are trying to recreate from memory. There WILL be modifications.



1 lb turkey kielbasa, sliced
1 onion, chopped

• brown

2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cups water
1 1/2 dry rice
1 tsp celery salt
1 1/2 tsp cumin

• add and stir

• oregano sprinkled on top

• cover

• let cook on simmer

do not stir oregano in until rice is fully cooked on pain of death

Hamburgers

It seems that everyone has their favorite recipe for hamburgers.  Mine is a variation of my father's.

Ingredients (all amounts are approximate):
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 - 2 large onions  diced small or run through the blender
1 - 2 carrots shredded or run through the blender
2 cups rolled oats
2 large eggs
parsley to taste
cayenne pepper or hot sauce to taste (it takes a lot to make it spicy)

We have substituted celery or green peppers for the carrots.

Mix thoroughly together. Form into patties and fry in pan.  makes approx 16.

If there is too much of the oat, onions and carrots, it does not hold together.

Beef Soup in Crockpot

We purchased a half beef a couple of years ago and have several soup bones that have never been used so I decided to try making it into a soup.  I found seeveral recipies for beef soups so here is the resultant soup.

The base:

Soup bones with meat.
3 cups tomatoes - frozen or canned
Seasoning based on rest of soup
Water and maybe tomato juice (I used bottled)
1 onion diced

Place beef bones in crockpot.  Add tomatoes, juice, and onion.  Add water to  cover.

Cook until the meat falls off the bone (about 12 hours on high).

First try:

2 cups dry white beans.
2 large potatoes
Handfull of soybeans
Mixed vegies

Add the beans, cook for 4 hours unitl the beans are tender.
Add potatoes and vegies, cook 2 hours.

Second try:

1 pound spit peas
4 cups cooked rice
Carrots sliced

Add split peas, cook for at least 3  hours.
Add cooked rice and slice carrots.  cook for 1 hour.

Meatloaf in a Blanket - revisited

Meatloaf in a Blanket

The following recipe is derived from a recipe in the Encyclopedia of Culinary Arts.  This is updated from the previous posting which follows the original recipe.

Ingredients:

leftover Roast  Beef, Pork, etc.
cooked potatoes
cooked carrots
raw eggs
almond milk
Baking powder biscuit dough - The recipe I use comes from the Betty Crocker cookbook:
{
2 cups flour
1/4 t flour
1T baking powder
1/3 cup shortning
3/4 cup almond milk.
}
 I usually end up using a triple recipe.
Gravy - a mushroom gravy gives the best flavor and any basic gravy works.

Dice the roast, potatoes and carrots and combine in sauce pan. At least half of the mixture should be potatoes. Heat until warm, add just enough almond milk to moisten.  Add enough raw eggs so that the mixture is thoroughly coated.  Cook until the eggs are half cooked. I've started using starch (potato/tapioca)  with the eggs to provide the thickening.

Roll out the biscuit dough in an oval shape about 1/4 inch thick.  Spoon the roast and potatoes into the center of the dough.  Fold the dough to the top an join together.  Place on a pizza pan (a cookie sheet works too).  Add diagonal slits for vents.

Bake for 10-15 min at 450.

I know the quantities are not fixed, but usually for us the amount of leftovers are not known until after the first meal with the roast.  Since the potatoes and carrots are cooked with the roast, the meatloaf in a blanket recipe usually has to be adjusted to account for the quantities that we have.  The vegetables are not fixed, if you prefer cooking other vegetables with the roast, they can easily be added, though it may be necessary to change seasoning .  The latest version we had used cabbage and sweet bell peppers along with the potatoes and carrots since it was cooked with corned beef.

I found that a single batch of the biscuits cooks quite nicely so it works better to make multiple meatloaf in a blanket rather than increasing its size.

 One point that I finally figured out, the recipe that this is based off of uses regular milk that thickens when cooked with milk and almond, soy, or other non-animal milk doesn't do, so changing it to use starch is a better replacement which uses less eggs.  

Thanksgiving 2013 Menu

Cashew and Hot Pepper Turkey?grayman's new brain child, we'll see what happens there, or if it happens.

Lion House Cashew Stuffing---Um, is this a theme?

Celery Root Gold Mashed Potatoes and Gravy---Ahh, no theme.

Mashed Pineapple Sweet Potatoes---Lizzyland's brain child, again we'll see what happens. No cashews.

Favorite Fruit Salad--No cashews, walnuts.

Acorn Squash--With walnuts, wait, it's that theme thing coming up again.

Rolls--I think our guests are bringing her pumpkin rolls

Veggie Trio--peas, corn and caramelized onions. 

Caramalized Apple Pecan Cake

Pumpkin Pie

Heaven and Earth Pie --joint brain child, this will need it's own post. But no nuts....I think.


So it looks like a fairly Nutty Thanksgiving. But hey aren't we all a little nutty around the holidays?

Food and Depression

You often hear, and possibly do, emotional eating or not eating, whatever the case may be. People have all sorts of terms for it 'eating your emotions', 'comfort foods', 'too upset to eat'. Whatever it is, food and depression go hand in hand.

Yet, there are times when your depression is sparked by food. And that's what I want to talk about today.

I know this is my recipe blog. But I also make sure that it is milk free, due to my husband's food allergy. Food limitations are a part of our everyday life.

We have 4 children, each child has had food limitations, whether allergies or intolerances. We are lucky that they have all grown out of them. But we've been there. I've walked hand in hand with friends as their kids are found to have allergies.

It is hard. It is just as hard as any other special need. It effects every aspect of your life, and is a daily challenge if not hourly.

And with these challenges depression can come right along for the ride.

Our oldest daughter, by the time she was a year old was diagnosed with 11 different food allergies. Emotions I went through was feeling alone, overwhelmed, anxiety, and honestly had trouble finding food to put on the table.

I didn't really have a support system. Yeah people knew about it, and they were always ready to say 'that's rough'. But I couldn't find anyone that knew what we were going through. That really got it. These days I can find them online, and even a local support group. But at that time I felt so alone.

By the time our daughter was 2 dinner would be "Here's 3 things from the fridge that she can eat. It doesn't make any sort of real meal, but it's food." Yes I remember one dinner that was plain rice, plain chicken, and peaches (in syrup, not juice because they use pear juice and that was on the list of allergies).

Shopping was a torturous experience. We were never there for less than an hour due to the number of labels we had to read.

In short we were in a total depressive funk, and there was no end in sight. Then one day we were in the store and saw Ground Turkey. Yes, it was probably always there and we just never noticed. Beef was another thing on the list. But that day they had a sale on ground turkey. And suddenly a light bulb went off. I could use ground turkey instead of ground beef.

I swear angels were singing that day. It was a momentous day. And it was the first day I started to think 'Hey! I think we might actually be able to do this.' Suddenly I was reinvigorated to find new recipes, to experiment. Daughter grew out of her allergies by 4 1/2, and that was lovely.

My next two weren't too big of a deal, as they were only unable to have 2 things each (milk and seafood for one, milk and barley for another) and since we were already milk free it wasn't that big of a deal.

Then came our youngest. And since I was breastfeeding her, any restrictions she had, I had. There was no cheating. And she couldn't have anything it seemed like. This time around I did better with the depression, I never stopped looking for things. But the denial of so much food took a toll.

Now, some of my friends will introduce me to others and call me an "expert" on food allergies (I am not). And I find myself talking to these other Moms. And one thing I warn about is depression. Yes, I can give you ideas on dealing with it, I can help you find recipes, resources, an allergist. But you can find that out with a bit of research on your own. I can give book recommendations. I highly recommend The Parent's Guide to Food Allergies.

But one thing I don't see much mention of is how dealing with all these food issues can bring on depression. So I warn Moms (Dad's aren't immune, I'm just usually talking to the Mom) to be on the look out. And to get yourself a good support system.

As Holiday's roll around, it can be the hardest time, as everything is centered around food. And harder is that quite often you will be where someone else is doing the meal, and the stress of that is extraordinary.

I've heard horror stories from others on things that have happened. So I'd like to give some advice to anyone cooking for someone with food allergies or intolerances, based on the fabulousness of our own families.

1) It's ok if not everything is safe for the food allergic person. We understand, having something that they can eat is great. If you can't make the main dish safe, please let us know in advance and we'll bring something if necessary for the food allergic person.

2) Beware of cross contamination. Please try not to even cook a dish with food allergies at the same time as food allergy free food. So many times we've had problems from things like shared cutting boards, bowls, spoons, spatulas. If you must share oven space, please put the food allergy free dish on top, that way there is no worries of spilling.

3) Please don't be offended when we have to interogate you on what is in the dishes and how it was cooked. We don't like doing it, but trips to the ER are worse. We are not trying to be insulting, but if you aren't having to do this everyday it is so incredibly easy to make a mistake and not even realize it. (Do you know how many spray oils contain milk?!)

4) Easiest thing on everyone, is don't put anything away. It's a pain for you, since your kitchen can get a bit cluttered, and you have to put it all away later. But it makes it so we don't have to interrogate. So you spray the pan with spray oil, put it on the counter. Then you threw in a can of X, don't throw the can away, put it on the counter. Then you used X seasoning mix, on the counter. Then when we come in we can do to the pile look through everything and feel safe and sound knowing what is in there.

5) Ask us. If there is anything you have questions on, just ask us. Don't try to Google it, or guess it. We don't feel bothered. We don't feel unsafe with you cooking. In fact in asking us, you set yourself up as a safe person.

May you all have a Happy, and Safe Holiday Season!