Cookbook Countdown and a Fond Farewell...

Here's something I've been wanting to do for a while...a Top 10 countdown of my all-time favorite cookbooks.  These are the ones that if something happened to them I'd immediately re-order...the ones that if I were a pioneer, heading West in a covered wagon, and it was too heavy for the horses to pull, I'd make the family get out and walk...the ones that are utterly, completely, and undeniably the best of the best.  Now mind you, I have a cookbook collection that numbers about 70 books, and that's all I have space for, so when I get new books I go through and cull out any that are not being used--this list is the 10 that will never get culled.  Here we go:

#10  From Asparagus to Zucchini, a Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce 3rd Ed., by Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition.

This book is a real gem of a reference book.  I got it a few years back when we subscribed to a local CSA, and MAN, is it ever useful.  It's an alphabetical listing of every veggie you can imagine and how to cook them, and ways to use them.  Because sometimes unusual things like "garlic scapes" show up in your CSA box.  Each section has cooking tips, storing tips and recipes for each veggie.  Score!

#9  Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics, by Ina Garten.  Who better to give better instruction on all the basics of simple and fabulous food?  Gorgeous pictures and beautiful, real, simple food.  Enough said.

#8  Putting Food By, by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg, and Beatrice Vaughan.  A classic.  The cover says it all: "The classic work on the best ways to can, freeze, pickle, dry, cure, and preserve."  Yup. That about sums it up.  When I come home from the farmers market with a box of some veggie treasure and need a quick run-down on how best to preserve it, this is a go-to reference.  Like when I'm wondering "do I need to blanch these before freezing, and if so how long?"  The answer is always here.

#7  Preserve it Naturally:  The complete Guide to Food Dehydration, by Excalibur.  For those who don't know, Excalibur is a brand of dehydrators.  I have two, and I absolutely love them.  This book is the classic companion to my beloved dehydrators.  It gives times and temps for anything in the world you might want to dehydrate, along with pictures and recipes for using those dehydrated foods, and also includes creative and fun snacks like fruit and yogurt leathers, and even dog treats, and crafts like dried flowers and salt dough ornaments for the Christmas tree.  LOVE IT!

#6  Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, and More Make it Fast Cook it Slow, by Stephanie O'Dea.  O.k. I know that's totally cheap, and may be considered cheating, but yes, I just slipped two books by the same author into one spot on the countdown!  (And I'm gonna do it again in a minute...).  All the recipes in these books are gluten free, and it's pretty much got every slow cooker recipe known to man in there.  Sometimes I gotta adjust the times, especially with chicken recipes, like HALF the time listed!  But that's the case with any slow cooker book.

#5  Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes, by Vickie Smith.  Of all my pressure cooker books, this one makes the cut because of all the charts which list time, and release method for any basic food you want to pressure cook:  chicken, whole or parts, any meat, veggie, bean, grain.  The charts are worth the cost of the book, for sure.

#4  Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, with Mary Enig, PhD.  This book almost crept into the #1 spot because it's just flat-out AWESOME reading.  This is an encyclopedic work of traditional food preparation techniques and the #1 best book I know of, anywhere, on nutrition.  This is how I learned how to soak and dehydrate nuts for maximum digestibility and fantastic crispy flavor.  Keeper.  This book will be with me all the days of my life, Lord willing.

#3  Spunky Coconut Cookbooks, by Kelly Brozyna.  (Grain-Free Baking, Dairy Free Ice Cream, and The Spunky Coconut Cookbook).  Kelly is super-innovative.  Her grain-free cakes (coffee cake, yellow cake, scones) are to die for, and guess what?  You'd never guess...they are made with beans and coconut flour!  No refined sugar in sight, woo hoo!

#2  The Dehydrator Bible, by Jennifer MacKenzie, Jay Nutt, and Don Mercer.  Along with the Excalibur book, this one is an absolute necessity as a dehydration reference. 

And...drumroll please...

#1  The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbooks:  The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals, by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre.  These books are a MUST in any gluten-free home.  All recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free, most are egg-free, and all are super, super NOURISHING whole foods.  They have a new edition of the Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook coming out in April...oh yeah. I've already pre-ordered it.

Well hey, this has been so fun...not just the cookbook countdown, but blogging and chatting with you dear devoted readers (all 5 of you, haha!)  I started this blog to explore how to get dinner done, allergy-free, using whole foods, without letting it rule my life, and here are the conclusions I've drawn:  cooking whole foods is a lifestyle.  It's just going to always claim a certain portion of my time, and that's a choice.  But breaks are important!  Sometimes ya gotta compromise--maybe use some convenience items life pre-made GF tortillas and pre-cooked beans, and that's ok.   Whatever keeps Mama sane and the food rolling along is a good thing.

Speaking of Mama's sanity...I'm about to make some changes to simplify my life a bit. Make some room for other things.  First and foremost, I'm getting off  Facebook.  I've only been on a month or two, but I'm not very good at multitasking and, to me, facebook feels like an extra task, rather burdensome to keep up with.  I'm not a huge fan of any additional "screen time" in my life, so facebook just isn't a good fit. 

And along those lines, I feel some great closure about this blog too.  I have LOVED writing it, but it feels done to me.  So, onward!  I'm about to free up a little time for some things like the afore mentioned dehydrating projects, home improvement projects, hiking and biking, and a long, long book list, as always!   Who knows, the mood may hit and I may just return to converse about food and life some more.  But for now, a fond farewell and blessings to you my friends.  Nourish on!

Jumbleberry Fruit Bake with Pecans, for Dessert or Breakfast.

Here's a little something fun that will help you use up any frozen berries and fresh apples you may have hanging around.  It's good hot or cold, and could be dessert, breakfast, or a fun and healthy lunchbox treat. 

  

I started out with a recipe out of one of my favorite cookbooks The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, by Tom Malterre and Ali Segerston.  Their recipe was for apple-cranberry crisp (which is a fantastic recipe!  I've made it lots of times in the past...highly recommended!), but I didn't want the topping (can't tolerate oats), and I wanted just a very quick and simple baked fruit dish, so here's what I ended up with, loosely based on their recipe:

Preheat oven to 375

• 3 very large organic Fugi apples, or 4 or 5 small apples, fairly thinly sliced
• 3 cups mixed berries (I used Costco mixed berries--blueberries, blackberries and raspberries)
• 2 T arrowroot powder (a natural thickener, available in health food stores)
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 2 T. sucanat (Sucanant is a dehydrated, unrefined cane juice: or you could use other sweetener of choice--pure maple sugar, or coconut sugar would probably work just fine too...)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix together in a large bowl, then transfer to a 9x13 baking dish.  Top with:

• a handful of chopped pecans.

Bake, about 40 minutes, but may take more like 45 or 50 minutes depending on how thick your apples were cut, and how thawed your berries were--my berries were frozen solid, so it took about 55 minutes.  Cover if it starts to brown on top.  It's done when the juices look bubbly and the apples are tender.

I call this Jumbleberry Fruit Bake because when I tasted it, it tasted exactly like a dessert they serve at our favorite local restaurant. They call theirs Jumbleberry Pie, but it's just basically fruit baked like this, nestled into a pretty martini glass, and topped with pretty, artfully-shaped pieces of pie crust instead of pecans.

Enjoy!



Sorry, this is not the prettiest picture!  You can see where I already impatiently delved into the lower right-hand corner. :)

Mulligatawny and Freezer Series Wrap-up

Well hey there.  I bet you thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth...been abducted by aliens...broke my hand in a bar room brawl and left unable to type.  I'm happy to report that none of those scenarios actually occurred.  No, my long absence from blogging, while less colorful and scandalous, is pretty much what you'd expect...the busy-ness of life.  Blah, blah, blah...you know the drill. 

But hey!  I've still got blog posts roaming around in that space between my ears.  And I've been dying to wrap up this whole "Freezer Series" so we can get on to other topics.

Alright, I've gotten most everything used up from my freezer stash, except I still have tomatoes and peppers, and I'm in no hurry to use those up and then have to pay $2.00 each for peppers in the store that are grown thousands of miles away, picked too early, have traveled in a truck for days or weeks, are overpriced, and of low nutritional quality.   I'd rather keep eating peppers I can get in season, a few miles from my home, picked fully ripe that morning, and stashed away in my freezer that same summer afternoon.  (Just as a side-note,  I pay about .30 to .50 cents each for peppers in peak season at the farmers market, as opposed to the aforementioned $2. EACH in the store mid-winter.)  So...I'm holding steady on the peppers and tomatoes I have left...we've still got a good 5 or 6 months til the next local harvest.

Lately I've been focusing on the pantry items--dry beans and dehydrated foods.  Now, let me just clarify, for the record, that I'm not a "Prepper".  Have you heard this term?  It's basically when people store tons and tons of food in their house, like long-term food storage (years!), incase of some sort of catastrophic event.  Ok, I get that.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being prepared for life's emergencies, and in fact, it's probably a great idea to have some stuff stored away--I mean, what if you lost your job?  Would you have several months worth of necessities saved up and enough $ in the bank to get by for several months until you recovered?  Or what if there was a storm and power outage...would you be able to survive away from the grocery store for a week or two?

However, in terms of food storage, my personal philosophy is solely focused on getting the most nutrition possible for the least amount of money, which means, yes, I will dehydrate and freeze foods in season to eat when they are out of season in order to ensure superior nutritive value, (and save a lot of $ at the same time).  However, by the time the next season rolls around, I want the previous year's crop to be totally eaten up.  So I do not store very much of anything very long--just enough to get from one season to the next.  I can't stand a bunch of extra "stuff" hanging around.  I'm just a simple girl.  I like my home to be simple, clean, and organized as much a possible.  Collecting a lot of "stuff" I'm not using is burdensome to me.  My family lovingly calls me "the anti-hoarder" because if anything is not earning the space it takes to keep it around here, it's gone.  Clutter and I are not compatible housemates.

I see no point in dehydrating and freezing (or canning) any more food than I can use up before the next crop comes in.  Why would I want to still be eating 2013 tomatoes past the time when 2014 tomatoes are ripe and abundant?  And nutrients do start to decline the longer you keep stuff, so, essentially: I like to eat stuff that's ripe, freshly picked and local as much as I can while it's in season, then stash some away for winter.  Simple as that.  (If you like the idea of keeping food longer than that, you may want to purchase freeze-dried food, which is something people like for backpacking and camping because it is light and compact, but that's not what we're talking about here.)  What I'm focused on is not keeping food forever, but rather stashing a few super-nutrient-packed items with summer sunshine still alive in them, just long enough to nourish us in the cold months until the earth wakes up and starts producing again.   

We're getting down to the time when I need to make sure I'm using up anything I saved from 2013 harvest so I have space to start this process over for this coming season.  That said, we won't see any good local crops around here until June, at the earliest, so I still have 4 months to slowly and steadily, use up whatever I have left from 2013.

This morning I knocked out a bunch of pantry staples all in one shot:  my home-dehydrated carrots, dehydrated onions, raisins, canned fire-roasted tomatoes, rice--and frozen items:  chicken thighs, chicken stock, and some fresh stuff I had that needed to be used up:  apples and a lemon.  What could all these random items come together to make?  Drumroll please...mulligatawny!
 

If you like curry you will love this soup.  If you hate curry, you will probably hate this soup.  I am the only one in my family who loves curry and loves this soup, so I don't make it very often, so when I do make it, I get it all to myself.

You know I'm not about to sit here and re-type what's already up on the web, so here's the link for you.  This recipe is from Stephanie O'Dea, author of the Make it Fast, Cook it Slow books.  My tweaks are:  double the chicken thighs, reduce the curry by half (for those who are not big curry fans), maybe you will need a few extra cups of stock or water, and make this in a 4 qt crock.  I go "High" for 3 hrs, then add in the rice and go about 45 minutes more.

I've been sick with a cold this week--first time in, I dunno...years?  I can't actually remember the last time I was sick.  I made the mistake of stating that fact out loud last week.  Don't ever do that people.  Because not more than a week later I was sick.  I guess I forgot my old friend "Murphy", and his "laws" about these kinds of things!  Boldly boasting about your awesome immune system is the surest way to catch a cold.  So, I've been a soup-making machine all week, and grateful for my stash of chicken stock, which is now almost depleted--time to make more. 

First it was "Red Lentil Soup" from Shaye Elliot over at The Elliot Homestead.  The minute you are done reading this blog post, do yourself a favor, click on the link and go get that recipe.  It.  Rocks.  I love Shaye's book by the way.  You can see it on her website.  My whole family is crazy about that soup and requests it for their lunches. 

Then mid-week I made a chicken tortilla soup, with black beans, and I also threw in some chopped spinach and zucchini, just cuz they were hanging around and needing to be used up.  It was really good.  Everyone loves that soup.  I just make it out of whatever I have, but the basis for the recipe comes from Sarah Fragoso's book Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook.  Sorry, I don't have any link to give you on that one.

O.k.  Here are the last of the freezer principles: 

#4 Keep the Freezer Full for Maximum Efficiency:  I line the bottom of my freezer with gallon-size water bottles (remove a little for headspace so they don't split when they freeze).  This helps for times like right now when there's not much left in there.  And in the summer when it starts to get packed I can always remove the bottles for extra space.

#5 Diversify Your Preservation Techniques:  So here's something I need to keep in mind next year.  For instance, zucchini.  This year I simply dehydrated chopped zucchini.  But there were times recently when I wished I had some frozen chunks that could be used immediately instead of having to re-hydrate, like in a soup.  And there were times I wished I had some shredded and frozen for muffins.  So next year--diversify.  Freeze some in chunks and some in shreds, and dehydrate some--both chunks and shreds.  Also, if you have a freezer failure, or something happens, like moisture gets into your jars of dehydrated stuff--at least you still have some left in another form.  (By the way, you may want to get a freezer alarm--I am going to get one as soon as my freezer gets full again. That will protect you from any unnoticed freezer failures that would result in a ton of lost food--so sad!)  And next year...I need to diversify the foods I choose to save.  This year it was a lot of some things and nothing of others, which gets old round-about January.

And last but not least...#6 Make Kits as You Go:  Here's something I discovered last year and have LOVED reaping the benefits this winter.  Make kits.  Like, fajita kits:  Onions and peppers are ripe at the same time.  Buy a box of each, come home and combine your peppers and onions, sliced and portioned out for individual meals. Then all you have to do it add the chicken when you go to use it.  Or Apple Crisp Kits:  Prep the apples and berries in one container, crisp topping in another, keep them together, then all you have to do is dump it in the pan, add the topping and bake.  Any steps that you can "front load" will really pay off when it comes to prep-time and dishes later.

Okay...I've got Mulligatawny to eat.  Over and out.

Freezer Series: Ways to use up that freezer stash.

Thought I'd mix it up today, put the next few freezer principles on hold, and throw in a couple of good recipes to help you whittle down those freezer and pantry items you may be trying to clean out.  These are what I made for dinner last night and snacks today, all from stuff I had here that needed to be used up.

The first one is a  Gluten-free White Chicken Chili, from Living Without Magazine.  Click HERE for the recipe.

Items I was able to use up: 
1. pinto beans
2. a jar of tomatillo salsa I had in the cupboard
3. frozen red-peppers
4.frozen turkey stock that I made from our Thanksgiving turkey!

The only note I would make on this recipe is that I thought it needed about 2 c. of additional stock or water...not quite enough liquid.  I swapped pintos for white beans and red pepper for green, because that's what I had on hand.  I love that this chili has so many veggies in it.

And this recipe reminds me...next summer I need to freeze zucchini in chunks for soup, instead of just dehydrating it.  For quick soups like this one, frozen would work better.  I like dehydrated zucchini for long-cooking soups though, in the crock pot.

Overall final opinion on the recipe...two thumbs up...way up!  It was quick and simple to make.  We all loved it.  I ate mine with a dollop of guacamole, because everything is better with guacamole.  Sour cream would be lovely too if you eat dairy.

Next up: Blueberry Buckwheat Muffin recipe I found at www.bestofthislife.com.  (Click HERE for the recipe.)

Muffins are a great vehicle for moving berries, nuts and fruits (and even veggies sometimes!) out of the freezer and into your family!  Who can resist anything in a cute little muffin-y package?   However they can also be a vehicle for a bunch of sugar and insulin-spiking simple carbs...so be intentional about choosing recipes that move your nutritional goals in the direction you want them to go. ;)

The flour in this recipe is simply buckwheat and ground flax seeds. Next time I am going to diversify the flour a bit though--swap in some rice and tapioca flours for a little more lightness to the texture--recipes with just buckwheat as the only flour can be a bit "rough", or "gritty" feeling to me, sort of "scratchy" in my throat...it almost makes my throat a little sore...is that weird?  My family doesn't seem to notice any problems, but I always do.  Anyone else notice that "scratchy throat" effect with pure buckwheat?  Or teff flour?  I notice the same problem with teff.  The old timers and pioneers ate pure buckwheat pancakes, right?  But those people were just a whole lot tougher than me, that's all there is to it...anyway...I digress.   So, bottom line is, I am of the opinion that buckwheat flour is great!  but needs to be mixed with other, less gritty flours.  I'll let you know if I have good success with swapping some of the buckwheat flour in this out for other flours.  And you let me know if you do, ok?

I LOVE the fact that here is NO sugar, at all, in these muffins, so you can really taste the shredded apple and berries.  (The recipe calls for chocolate chips, but I left them out...I don't want the added sugar and I don't really like how the chocolate competes with the sweetness of the fruit--shine berries and apples!  shine!) 

These muffins are tender and moist and chock-full of fiber (beware of the high fiber...if you are not accustomed to a lot of fiber in your diet, don't go crazy and eat a whole bunch of these at once, or you'll be cursing my name!!).  They are not really very sweet, except for the natural sweetness of the berries and apples, but if you want them sweeter you can always drizzle and little bit of local honey on them when you go to eat them, and that just makes them even better!

I love how these stayed beautifully moist for the next morning--these don't even really need any butter or anything on them, but a drizzle of honey is lovely.  They were a hit with the family.  Overall verdict is:  these are a keeper, but with reservations about the "all buckwheat" thing...I will absolutely be making these on a regular basis, but I do think it needs a flour tweak.

Alterations I made:  Switched the almond milk for cashew milk, switched the coconut oil for olive oil.

*Note:  If you use a dark or nonstick pan be sure to always lower your oven temp 25 degrees.

The main thing is to just keep on keepin' on with the freezer and pantry clean out...my next targets:  dehydrated zucchini and kale (from my own tiny, not super-successful, "but-at-least-I-got-some-kale-out-of-it" garden last year) and the whole peppers I have frozen that need to be stuffed...then some millet and quinoa flour, and some frozen white fish...how about you?

I'll be back later this week to wrap up the last of my freezer series with 3 more bits of freezer wisdom I've learned through trial and error, so you don't have to!  ;)

Freezer Series, Principle #3 Vacuum Seal Whenever Possible.

We've covered Principle #1: Put stuff into the freezer READY to go... and Principle #2: Be Kind to Yourself.  On to today's freezer principle (drumroll please...)

Principle #3: Vacuum Seal if Possible

It's been 5 months now since I started putting tomatoes into the freezer, and I didn't mean to, but for some reason I vacuum sealed some tomatoes and ziplock freezer bagged some.  (Oh I remember why I did that...if I only had a few tomatoes I just ziplocked...but when I had a 15 lb box I got out the vacuum sealer.)  Here are the results of 5 months in the freezer with vacuum sealing, and without.

Can you guess which one was freezer bagged, and which one was vacuum sealed?

You are correct!  The one on the left is the freezer bagged one, and the right is the vacuum sealed one.  Enough said?  

The vacuum sealed ones were as gorgeous as they were last summer.  The freezer bagged ones were o.k, but lots of ice crystals in the bag, and some freezer burned and discolored spots on the tomatoes. 

Really, it's super simple and no hassle at all to pull out the vacuum sealer...so no more being lazy on my part, not wanting to run upstairs and get the vacuum sealer, where I store it when not in use...in fact I think to make it easier next August the vacuum sealer will earn a permanent place on the kitchen counter for a few weeks.

If you are going to be freezing a lot of things next summer, and you do not have a vacuum sealer...well, you've got about 8 months to try to get ahold of one.  I got mine at Costco several years ago.  It's a Food Saver brand and works great.  I love it.  But I notice they have them all over the place in various price ranges...usually between $100 and $200.  Keep an eye open for good sales and you may even get one on clearance somewhere this time of year.  Even if you have to pay $160 for one in August, if you start saving now that's only $20/month between now and then.  Have a daily latte habit?  Make coffee at home and you'll save a LOT more than $20/month...probably $20 per week!  All for the love of fresh garden goodies in January!  It's totally worth it.

If need be you might consider borrowing a vacuum sealer, or going in with a friend or family member and sharing the purchase of a new vacuum sealer, but personally it's not something I would buy used on craigslist.  You never know what people have been carelessly vacuum sealing...like they might have gotten raw meat juices in it and not thoroughly cleaned it...ew.  Not really a risk I'd take.

Now, to vacuum seal tomatoes you'll need to "flash freeze" them whole (Simple to do:  Just line up your clean tomatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and stick the whole sheet into the freezer for about 24 hours), then when they are totally frozen, vacuum seal them and get them right back into the freezer.  The vacuum is very strong, so if you tried to vacuum seal them fresh you'd end up with a bag full of squashed tomato juice!  You can certainly vacuum seal liquid items for the freezer, like meats in marinades, and soups and stews, just be alert and shut your vacuum sealer off before it sucks all the liquid out of your bag!  And make sure the liquid does not go up into the top of the bag where you want a nice seal.

I personally ONLY vacuum seal foods that are going directly into the freezer, but I do not vacuum seal dehydrated foods, unless I am freezing them.  (Dehydrated foods are best kept in glass jars with simple screw on lids in my opinion.)  So when you vacuum seal any kind of food I'd recommend getting it right into the freezer for food safety reasons.  And be sure to thoroughly read the directions that come with your vacuum sealer. They are fun and easy to use, but make sure you observe good food handling, as always, for safety.  (That's the mom in me talking...I'm always concerned for your safety 1st! ;)

And finally, if you choose not to vacuum seal, but want to go the freezer bag route, that's fine too....just try to get as much air as possible out of those bags prior to freezing, and probably try to use up the food within a shorter period of time.  The vacuum seal bags I use are BPA free, and if you leave enough room at the top you can cut them open, take stuff out, and then re-seal them!  And personally, I recycle them when I'm all done with them.  I always try to recycle my ziplocks too, unless they've had raw meat in them, and then, they really just need to go into the garbage, sorry. :(

Three freezer principles down...three to go!  See ya tomorrow.

Freezer Series Principle #2: Please Be Kind...

Pressing onward friends...How is your freezer quest coming along?  This is about the time it starts to get a little old, because emptying a freezer takes time, and maybe a few meals that you don't necessarily love, and maybe some meals that are, how shall we say...a little unusual.

Well today let's chat about actual freezer cleaning.  But first...a few pictures, and a few principles I've been extracting from this process.

Freezer Principle #2:  Be Nice to Yourself.

So, here's the thing.  I have three freezers.  One in the house fridge, one in a little fridge I have in the garage, and one small chest freezer.  The general plan is that I keep stuff I use all the time in the house freezer (berries, nuts, frozen packages of veggies, and all those little containers of leftovers I'm going to use up "someday".  The garage fridge freezer is for prepared freezer meals I can stack, and meat stocks and broths.  The deep freeze is for bulk stuff, like bulk beef and meat purchases, and bulk preserved items, like all those tomatoes and peppers I froze in the fall.

Now the easiest part of all this usually gets done first:  eating up freezer meals that were ready to go, and using up some bulk items (tomatoes, turkey breast, etc.) and now it's getting down to some things where I have to decide "is this worth keeping and using up" and if I decide it is, I need to make a plan and actually use it, today or tomorrow...and if not, I need to bite the bullet and throw it away.

That's where it's easy to fall into the thought pattern of "Oh, I'll just hang onto it, and someday I'll do something with it".  These are things like huge Costco-size bags of stuff that you were sure would end up saving you a ton of money, but you never made a plan to use them, and now they are a. expired, b.freezer burned, or c. a burden--you don't want to mess with them anymore. 

Prime example:  today I had to throw out a 3 lb bag of almonds, unopened.  I bought them at Costco a LONG time ago and planned to soak and dehydrate them for snacking, but shortly after that I found out that almonds were the things that were causing my throat to swell up so tight that I felt like I was breathing through a coffee stir straw!  I should have given them away, but instead I thought, "oh well I will still soak and dehydrate them for my family...", but did I?  No.  After a while they got lost, buried and forgotten about, until they became expired and too old to be of any use.  And there are lots of old packages of beef bones that come with our 1/4 beef purchases.  Oh yeah, I always think I'm going to get right on making those into beef stock...but do I?  Mmmm, not usually.  And now they are too old, so gotta toss 'em.  That's a gem I hate to waste, but often do.

So.  There are lots of things like that.  You know what?  That happens.  Don't mess around saying "oh I wish I had...", or "maybe later I will...".  Just toss them.  Yes, it's like throwing $ into the garbage, and yes, it's wasteful, but it's over and done with; don't be burdened by those things any longer.  Toss 'em.  Forgive yourself.  It's o.k., I promise.  That happens to everyone. Give yourself the same grace you give others.  Be kind to yourself, ok?  If it makes you feel any better I'll show you my pile of stuff that got tossed today. 

 

You can't see the almonds because they are buried, but you can see the leftover Halloween candy...who needs that?!?!  Why in the world would I have even kept it?  Or even bought it in the first place?  Next year any kids that come to my house are getting pencils or crayons.  And the ice cream?....ay yi yi!  That was from New Years Eve.  It definitely does not need to hang around here any longer.  The Udi's buns?  Well those are just a loss friends.  I'm not sure why we even have those...if we eat GF buns we always buy from a somewhat "local" bakery (in our home state); we must've bought these Udi's buns ages ago.  Lots of bits and pieces...leftover tomato paste, a bit of freezer burned peas in the bottom of the bag.  Yeah...a few errors in judgement reflected here.  But I'm not beating myself up...just movin' on folks.  

 

Good-bye garbage.  Hello clean freezer.



The top shelf items are bits and pieces that are still good, and they are going into a chicken fiesta soup tomorrow.  The third shelf is berries and nuts that are going to be made into baked berries (a recipe that looks scrumptious from book I have called "From Scratch" by Shaye Elliot...it involves just berries, honey, and nuts).

So after this weekend, we should have one freezer that is nearly empty, and ready to re-load with READY TO GO items (please see my previous post for Principle #1).

This freezer is frost free, so I just wipe it down when it gets dirty, no need to defrost.  However my chest freezer needs de-frosting and cleaning about once or twice a year, so I will link for you some great directions I found on Martha Stewart's website:  HERE ya go.  You can clean your freezer with baking soda dissolved in hot water (2 T. baking soda to 1 qt warm water), rinse with clean water, dry and you're good to go.

Meet you back here later for more than you ever wanted to know about your freezer and mine!

Freezer Series: Principle #1

Okey Dokey.  As I've been emptying the freezer of all last summer's market bounty (along with store bought frozen items and meat...) I've learned some things that will be helpful for next season.  Here we go:

Rule #1  Put things into the freezer READY TO PULL OUT AND USE. 

This is my defining, overall take-away from this round of freezer emptying.  Henceforth, nothing will enter my freezer unless it is prepared, and ready to just take out and cook. 

For instance:  An enchilasagna, all prepared and waiting:  HELPFUL!  Big hunks of frozen meat that come out needing preparation:  NOT HELPFUL. 

Here's an example for you...last night I had an enchilasagna (enchiladas, but layered up into a casserole, like lasagna) that I had pulled out of the freezer to defrost in the fridge all night.  All I had to do was pop that pan in the oven to bake, and warm up some frozen veggies--boo yah!  Done baby.  Dishes?  Zip.  Except the plates we ate off of, and the casserole dish.  So guess what I did with all that extra time?  Made these stylin' fleece PJ pants! 

These pants could be a whole other topic, but suffice it to say I got this fleece at Jo Ann's on clearance for $3. a yard, and they are totally warm and cozy!  I love them.  When I posted them on facebook I asked the question:  "what do you think those little creatures are?  Some sort of mutant bird/squid?"  I still can't figure that one out...

 

 

Now let's contrast last night's dinner experience with my freezer experience today:  I'm making Tomatillo Chicken in the crock pot.  I froze fresh local tomatillos in the fall, along with poblanos and jalapenos--so that's good, I had them all here, ready to use...however they did release a lot of moisture in thawing, and I still had to prepare them under the broiler and in the food processor...so really, this did not help me out that much. 

 

How to fix this problem:  instead of bagging the tomatillos and peppers up separately next year I will just go ahead and broil and process them right when I bring them home from the farmer's market.  Then bag them as a sauce, ready to use, and freeze.  Then in the winter all I will have to do is open the bag and dump it in on top of the chicken when I'm ready to use it.  Easy peasy.

 

Here's another example:  Tomatoes.  Ok, I've enjoyed having them frozen, whole.  But it would be MUCH easier if I would just make them into soup immediately when I bring them home, then freeze, and add in the "milk" (coconut or dairy, whatever you like to use...) when I go to heat it up.  My friend S.T. makes soup "concentrates" in the summer:  she does not add in all the necessary liquid, but freezes a concentrated version, then adds the water when she goes to use it.  BRILLIANT!  No need to take up all that extra space in the freezer.

 

So the essence of today's principle is this: put it in ready to go.  No more sticking stuff in there to "make" later...front-load that work and just prep it before it goes in.  No more putting chicken breasts in the freezer in their original package.  At the very least I can get them into a quick marinade before they go into the freezer, so I can just bake or grill when they come out.

 

OK, more principles coming up this week...but no time to write it all today.  I'll be back tomorrow...

Solving Breakfast: Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins

This is going to be a short one today.  I have lots to blog about, but little time, so some things will have to wait 'til later this week, but let's just get to the most important thing first, shall we?

Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins

These muffins are by far the BEST gluten-free pumpkin muffins I've made.  And I love that they are made with buckwheat, and generally speaking, when you bake with buckwheat you don't really need xanthan gum, which is pretty much required for all other types of GF baking in order for things to "hold together".    They are spicy, and almost gingerbread-y, in my opinion.   The recipe calls for sucanat or honey as the sweetener...I used a combo of sucanat and coconut sugar (dehydrated coconut nectar, available at health food stores).  Instead of water I used apple juice.  Heavenly--ahhh, ahhh!  (Angels singing)

Go get the recipe:  http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2013/09/26/fall-recipe-connection-best-gluten-free-pumpkin-muffins-dairy-free-egg-free-corn-free-soy-free-nut-free/

I made a double batch of these today.  I'm going to save some for tomorrow, and freeze the rest for quick breakfasts next week.  I say, slather these babies up with some nut butter, add a banana, and "milk" of choice, and it works, know what I mean?

Tomorrow I'm going to be making some "egg cups"--go HERE to see my previous post about how to make those little gems.  I'm going to use some organic hash brown shreds from the freezer, some of the zucchini I dehydrated last summer, and some Roma tomatoes I froze.

I'm working every day this week on getting the freezer and pantry cleaned out and used up.  Stuff from the summer market has been in there long enough--time to use it up.  And the pantry...I'm just using up bits and pieces of staple items so I can rotate up and get fresh and organized. 

So today I used the last of my sucanat and coconut sugar in the muffins, and my 2nd-to-last can of pumpkin.  I made a loaf of GF bread for the family from a mix in the pantry, and we're having sandwiches on it tonight with the turkey breast I thawed and roasted Friday, and homemade cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving that I froze--it thawed beautifully by the way!  (Next year I'm making it up early and freezing it!  One less thing to do at Thanksgiving time when I'm busy.)  AND...we're having tomato soup to go with the sandwiches:  that uses up some of my frozen tomatoes and the bone stock I made from the turkey carcass!  Woo hoo, my freezer is looking more and more bare!  I'll post some pics in a few days. 

Meanwhile...how is your freezer and/or pantry challenge coming along?  What crazy things are you using up, and serving up, this week?

Mock Cheddar Broccoli Soup: Freezer Challenge Day 1 report

Day 1 of the freezer challenge went surprisingly well. 

Items used out of the freezer:  Salmon burgers, a bag of organic mixed veggies, a bag of organic broccoli. 

Fridge items used up: 1/2 can of leftover pumpkin  (That's a tough one to incorporate....score!) and 2 cups of homemade chicken stock.

You're not gonna believe what I made; it was so weird, but strangely enough, the addition of pumpkin and coconut milk to broccoli soup makes it look and taste like CHEDDAR broccoli soup!!?!?  There's no way I was going to tell my family "this is pumpkin broccoli soup".  So at first I called it "Autumn Vegetable Bisque"....then when I tasted it I switched the name to "Mock Cheddar Broccoli Soup"!! ;)  Clever Mama.

Sorry I can't be more precise...but here's what I did:

• 1 bag of frozen organic broccoli (not a huge bag, like a 6" x 8" size?)
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 2 c. water
• 1 heaping teaspoon instant chicken flavored base (Vogue Cuisine)

Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer til broccoli is tender enough to blend...

Then add in:

• pumpkin puree--I used about 1/2 to 3/4 c.
• about 1/4 of a can of coconut milk (Native Forrest Organic)

Bend with an immersion blender until smooth. 

Then I seasoned it with:

• 1 tsp Herbamare seasoning
• 1/4 tsp pepper

It was really, really good!  I heated up the leftovers in the microwave this morning and put it in an insulated coffee mug.  I drank it for breakfast on my way in to town.  However the coconut milk does tend to make me a little congested and makes my throat or thyroid swell up a little bit.  Odd reaction, but it happens every time.  So I'll have to come up with some other milk substitute next time.  Cashew milk would be great I think (or cream or half and half, if you can have dairy).

Along with the soup we had wild salmon burgers on GF buns (I used a bottom bun only, and used lettuce leaves for the top) with tartar sauce, and mixed veggies on the side.

It was all a big hit, and made a dent in my freezer stash, so hooray.

Gotta say I am inspired by the soup.  I forget how easy it is to just make a soup really quick to go with dinner, and now that fresh veggies are just not all that great we're eating less side salads, so it's time for side veggies to be in soup form instead for a while.

What came out of your freezer today and how did you use it?

January Freezer Challenge

Hello out there...?!  Did we all survive the Christmas season?  Ready to head quietly into 2014?  Or do you still have energy left to start the new year off with a bang?

Personally, New Year's Eve is sorta' a non-holiday--you know, one of those things where you're grateful to have an extra day off work/school, but there's really not a lot of actual celebration going on.  Remember the whole Y2K fuss and commotion?  People were prepared for the end of the world as we know it--computers crashing; the entire infrastructure of the globe totally imploding.  I believe I was in bed by 10:00 that New Year's Eve.  I remember waking up at midnight when our neighbors set off some fireworks, looking at the clock, seeing that it was still running (meaning there was no power outage) and promptly going back to sleep.  Oh sure, there were times long ago, in college and shortly after, when I'd make the effort to dress up, make plans, and go out, but these days, after Christmas I'm pretty much done; ready to clean up, clean out, get organized again, and back on track.  Hence:  The January Freezer Challenge.

 

Remember all the garden or farmer's market goodies you've stashed away in there for winter?   Or even those grocery store finds you stocked up on when they were on sale?   Well guess what?  It's here!  Winter.  The time you were looking towards back in July and August when you said to yourself  "I'm going to put this away for winter" or "won't these tomatoes (or peppers or berries) taste good in the middle of winter?" 

Here are some items I have that need to be used up:  tomatoes, tons.  peppers, whole and diced--(bell, Serrano, jalapeno), blueberries, dehydrated plums, chicken stock, ground turkey, and more recently I've added two turkey breasts (purchased fresh at Thanksgiving), leftover homemade cranberry sauce, some chicken strips, one enchilada casserole, and some cooked ground beef.  Those are my first targets. 

Now...I figured out the best way to deal with those frozen whole tomatoes.  Remember?  In August I just washed them, froze them whole, and bagged them up.  Ok, the first time I tried to use them I thought it was a huge hassle because I stuck them in the microwave...bad idea.  This time (I made fiesta chicken soup out of some yesterday) I set them out on the counter for a while until they thawed a little bit, then when I was able to easily cut out the core I did that...then ran under hot water for a second...skins slipped right off.  I let them thaw further in the fridge and then popped them into the blender for puree.  They were Romas so I didn't worry about the seeds.  Oh my goodness, they were heavenly in soup.  I will absolutely be doing tomatoes this way again next year.

I have one of the turkey breasts thawing.  I'm going to roast it in my Pampered Chef deep covered baker...so tender and moist that way.  Then make sandwiches, wraps, soups and whatever else out of it.

Other challenge items coming out this week:  whole bell peppers.  I washed them and cored them and froze them whole in the summer.  This week they are getting stuffed with a beef mixture for a stuffed pepper dinner.  Berries:  I have a huge bag of frozen Costco berries, as well as local blueberries I froze in season.  I still have tons of fresh apples too...so I'm thinking apple/berry sauce, crisps, and maybe some muffins.

Tomatoes:  Those are coming out of the freezer and going to become fresh tomato soup to go with lunch sandwiches and wraps.

New Years' Resolutions?  Those, to me, are akin to "dieting"...lofty goals that seem inspiring at first, but quickly turn defeating.  No, I prefer to just keep refining, keep tweaking, keep reforming...no radical revolution that burns brightly for a moment then fizzles out, but instead the slow and steadily burning flame of permanent change. 

For instance:  I know for sure that eating "paleo", or caveman-like, is really the best thing for my body, personally.  But for me to say:  "Ok, Janury 1st it's gonna be full-on Paleo!  No grains or dairy or sugar will ever pass my lips again!"  Really?  That's not realistic, and is a recipe for failure, or worse, a cycle of "dieting".  No, I'm just looking at recent weeks and going "hmm, I see my skin is breaking out, my belly is bloated, and my thyroid is swollen...so what have I been putting into this system that has caused this change?"  Well...a few unusual things:  holiday foods, dairy, sugar, and I'm noticing a habit of eating carby-GF grains in the morning has emerged:  GF muffins and breads have become the norm, not an occasional treat.  Ok, so, quit buying so much GF bread--switch that muffin for an egg and veggie cup (made in muffin tin) and we'll soon see change.

Exercise?  I notice that during the holidays my priorities have switched to getting things done for Christmas, because there was a time factor to consider--the 25th was coming, and was not going to wait for me.  But now that it's over it's time to shift back to thinking about getting outside each day in a manner that is more important that other things, not less.  Now, other things can wait.  Before they could not, but now they can, and they will.  I knew that this lower-priority place that exercise had taken was going to be temporary, and now it's back to situation-normal.  No crazy burst of gym-membership buying, and workout clothes to purchase...just a shift of thought from "teacher gifts and Christmas cards have to come first today", to "getting out with my dog for a couple miles comes before other things".  A priority shift.  A re-evaluation of the hours of each day and what is most important.

What are the shifts taking place in your life now as we head into January?  Want to take the freezer challenge with me?  Let's get those goodies out of their frozen holding pattern and awaken those nutrients once again to nourish us in the cold months.  All the while making room in those freezers for a February freezer cooking marathon that will bless us with a bit of extra time come spring, when life will start to get very busy again.  Feel free to comment, and tell us what's coming out of your freezer this week.

Another crock party?!? And make-it-yourself taco seasoning...

If you are looking for a way to get together with people this Christmas season, without much work for anyone, and sharing the expense, may I recommend a pot-luck taco bar?

Last night I had a fun taco-bar fellowship with some of my girlfriends.  It was a super-quick way for us to just grab a bite to eat for dinner and make the best possible use of the 45 minutes we had to hang out, catch up and share all that's new in our lives.  Actually, the conversation turned to family Christmas traditions--so really, all that's "old" in our lives! ;) 

I love to hear people's traditions and what they recall most in terms of childhood holiday memories...the things that really stand out in their minds and make Christmas, well...Christmas, for them. 

Surprisingly enough, I bet if you ask your friends the question "What do you remember most about Christmas" it would not be the gifts, but rather the small things.  One of my friends warmly recalls a yearly gingerbread man, dressed in frosting "lederhosen", made with love, and sent to all the children in her family by an elderly relative.

For me, I recall all the little Norwegian traditions of Christmas at my grandparents' house--lefse, the first-course of oyster stew, the lutefisk (ok I never actually ATE the lutefisk), and the coins left under the plate, to be kept by the head of the household, until after the new year, in the hopes that the amount would multiply exponentially in the year to come!  Funny thing is, my grandparents lived in a small, humble, single-wide mobile home, but at Christmas everyone fit in it just fine!  No one worried that it was small, or humble.  There was a welcoming spirit, and room for everyone:  aunts, uncles, children, tree and tables.  It was not the size of the home, or the elaborateness of the décor that made it special; it was the people.

Those old Norwegian family traditions are not all carrying through to the new generation.  Some are.  Lefse simply will not be put out to pasture!  But now there are also new traditions, specific to our family, and Christmas unfolds much the same way each year.

A taco bar may not seem very Christmas-y, but it helps that someone also brought Christmas fudge and cookies, and adorable little pecan tassies, and we had some Christmas music in the background--a little 45 minute respite to sit, eat, laugh, and just be in the moment together.  The best part is no one really had to go to a lot of work. We all brought bits and pieces of the meal.  One person brought cheese, one tortillas, one salsa, two brought treats, etc.  Paper plates, Christmas napkins, and we were all totally happy.  No need to obsess.  We met in a central location, had folding chairs and just held our plates on our laps.  No need for anything more.  I find that if you just put out a list of what food is needed, people fill it.  My part was taco meat.  I made it up on the stovetop and transferred it to a warm 4 qt crock--my "travel" crock with the lock-down lid.  It stayed nice and warm for serving, and the leftovers patiently waited on "low" for 2 hours after our meal, until I was ready to store it in the fridge.

Now, in a pinch I'll use taco seasoning from Costco, but I far prefer to make own--it tastes better and I know exactly what's in it, and can alter it to my family's tastes and needs.  I also like to use organic corn starch in my taco seasoning, so that I know it's GMO-free.

Taco Seasoning

Originally this recipe came from www.recipezaar.com and is called "Fajita Seasoning Mix".  I just increased the cumin, used organic cornstarch, changed the amounts of some other seasoings, and switched the sugar for sucanat.  I quadrupled the recipe because I go through a lot of it.

1/4 c. organic cornstarch
2 T, plus 2 tsp. chili powder
1 T. salt
1 T, plus 1 tsp paprika
1 T sucanat
1 T, plus 2 tsp chicken bullion (I use Vogue Cuisine brand--it's reduced sodium, gluten-free and no MSG, available in health food stores)
4 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp cumin

Combine ingredients, and store in a glass quart jar in the fridge.  2 TBSP of the finished mix equals 1 pkg store-bought seasoning.  I usually also add water when I go to season my taco meat...I don't know...1/4 cup?  Just add a little, and then add more if you need to.

Enjoy the season friends.  Don't be overwhelmed by "entertaining".  The main thing is to just do it.  Share a meal, or even just a cup of tea and a cookie.  It doesn't need to be difficult, and no one is examining your house with a magnifying glass!  It's the fellowship that matters, not the gourmet cuisine.  Just like it's the yearly childhood gift of a special gingerbread man, and not the expensive gifts that remain in their minds years later...it's the time together, and not the elaborate-ness of the spread, or the perfection of your house that people will remember.

Chai Tea Latte, dairy-free

I just had to try to squeak in one more stamp night before Christmas.  So many great Christmas projects, so little time.

Tonight's event was a weeknight version of the 5 project stamp night I did on Friday.  So many friends had office parties and other things going on that night, so this was the mini-version, to give them a little bit of fun, on a limited time budget.  I call it an "express" workshop.  60 minutes, one make-and-take project, and a little treat.

 The make-and-take project was this cute ghiradelli chocolate holder.  It's hard to see, but under the snowman there's "dazzling diamonds" glitter for the snow.  I simply adore this sweet little "Frosty" stamp.  I just keep coming back to it over and over again.

Here's what it looks like inside.

I wanted this event to be truly 60 minutes for the sake of my sweet friends who have little kids that need to get to bed, and who work full-time and don't have a lot of extra time in their lives to spare.  I was totally done with talking, demo and make-and-take; and treats were served in 60 minutes, but they were chatting and ended up staying 2 hours instead!  I was thrilled because I love having people here and wanted them to stay and have fun, but I was surprised that they did, with their time constraints.  I guess they need creative fun and sweet fellowship as much as I do.

I think hot drinks are very nice for these cold evening parties, so  I decided to try something different and do a dairy-free chai tea latte.

One word to the wise on adding hot items to a crock pot:  do make sure the crock pot is already warm.  You don't want to add hot liquids to a cold crock because you runt he risk of shocking and cracking the stoneware.  The solution is to put some liquid into the crock and get it heating up beforehand.  Don't heat it with nothing inside though, that is also not good for your stoneware.  For instance, on Thanksgiving...remember all that hot food that went into my crocks to keep warm?  I had heated them up for a little while beforehand, with a few inches of water inside.  When I went to add the hot food I just used pot holders, picked up the stoneware and dumped the water out, then added in the hot food.

So for this chai latte I used my 4 qt black crock pot.  Into the crock went:

• 32 oz carton unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 TBSP honey
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 "tea bags" of ground mulling spices

Along with:

• 6 cups water
• 6 Oregon Chai tea bags

that I had already made into tea on the stovetop.

I boiled the water on the stovetop, then steeped the 6 tea bags in it for 4 minutes, then added that tea to the other ingredients in the crock pot and put it on low for a couple of hours, but even with the addition of the cinnamon sticks and the mulling spices, it ended up still being a bit diluted, and not spicy enough for me. 

Next time I would just follow the instructions on the box, and double it.  It says to use 4 1/2 c water and 1 1/2 c. milk--bring to a boil and steep tea bags 2 to 4 minutes, add honey.  Much simpler, and I think it would be better to have steeped the tea in the coconut milk as well as the water.

However if you really want to go simple, just buy the chai in the box, add milk of choice, combine in the pot to warm it, and you're good to go!  I did not do that because it has too much sugar for me.  I wanted to control the amount of sweetener and use honey instead of cane sugar.

Leave a ladle alongside the pot with a note to warn guests that the chai is very HOT!  That's the main problem I am having with crock pot beverages is that they really are too hot of a serving temperature so I'm always worried someone will get burned, so I end up nagging: "be careful, it's really hot"...but the "warm" setting is not quite hot enough after a while, so.  Whadayado?  I guess the only other alternative is to make your hot drinks and keep them the proper temp in big thermoses for easy serving.

Switching gears on you...does anyone else battle with the uncontrollable urge to hibernate this time of year?  I mean truly hibernate?  As in a full-system shut down til spring?  All my life, right about this very week in December I get mentally slow and foggy, tired, do not want to eat (nothing looks or sounds very good), or think, or move, but just be still.  Not sad or depressed, just s-l-o-o-o-w, and apathetic.  Something about the day length and the cold just flips a switch in me.   

In like fashion, when the days start to lengthen out, early March, it's like I start waking up again.  Food looks vibrant and smells fragrant again, and interest and vigor returns to me.  Summer is like being young again.  Free and unfettered.  I love bare feet and intense heat.  Winter, on the other hand, is like carrying a heavy burden a long distance, weighed down by several pounds of clunky awkward clothing, and cement boots. 

There's no "syndrome", and nothing "disordered" about this phenomenon in my opinion, just the natural state of the natural world...and friends, as much as we love our iphones and high-speed internet, in reality, we are creatures of the natural world too, responding to cues in the weather and the seasons.  What could be more natural than to tuck in tight, sleep, conserve energy, and wait it out til spring?  

Mama bears just innately know they need to settle into the cave, curl up with their little ones, and simply survive the cold dead of winter.  They were made this way, with instincts given to them by their Creator, which is how they have continued to live on, season to season, throughout the years since the earth was made.   I know for sure that experiencing this same urge for "down time" each winter is how I was created.  The cyclical nature of this state each and every year is as sure and as powerful as the tides, and as constant as the steady coming and going of the sun and the moon and the seasons.  It's yet another fingerprint of our orderly, consistent, and faithful God.  There are vibrant, green, youthful, wakeful times, and then there are quiet, still, almost dead times.  But without fail, spring always comes back, and out of death new life emerges.  Now is hibernating time, but I can rest in this state, knowing that in March, this hibernation instinct in me will go away.  It always does.  It never fails.  As sure as the sun and the moon rise and set in the proper time, this desire to hibernate will leave me, only to return next December in the proper time.

But we are humans, not bears, and life goes on.  Staying home and being still until spring just can not happen.  The family still needs to be fed, and there are events and weekly routines to maintain.  As much as I love being outside, (and my body still really needs the exercise and fresh air, now that it's so cold), getting out to exercise is something I have to really force each day.  Some days it's so cold I'm just giving in and staying home, but somehow that has to change. 

Now that I'm done with stamp parties for this month (which were very fun to do, a great diversion from the usual routines...and have helped me step out of the daily grind of cooking, cleaning, errands and responsibilities for a few days! ;) it's time now to buckle down, kick myself with some spurs, force myself awake, and do what I need to do.   The old Nike theme:  Just Do It.  Cooking, exercise...just. do.  it.

Next week:  freezer cooking.  If I can get in two good days of prep work life can be a lot nicer for a few weeks.  I'll keep you in the loop.

Spicy Apple Cider--A crock pot stampin' party

Yes, you heard correctly...my crock pots just can't get enough.  They like to "party all the time, party all the time, party all the tiiiiiiiiiiime".  (Showing my age with that song quote.)

Last night it was a Stampin' Up! Christmas stamp camp.  Years ago I used to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator.  I loved it a lot.  Stampin' Up!'s 25th anniversary is this year.  They sent out a special invitation to past demos to see if we wanted to return...I thought "why not???"  So here we are.  I'm back, and loving it more than ever! 

After last night I'm remembering what I adored most about doing SU!, and that is meeting new girlfriends to craft with!  Another aspect I love is the creative process of designing and prepping the make-and-take projects, then the reward of seeing ladies relax and enjoy some crafty time together.  The more laughing and fun, the better.  Women need creative time.  We just do.  It's part of us.  I've never seen anyone not enjoy a stamp party.

And one very important aspect of any great stamp party is treats!  I had planned to have the event at our little community clubhouse, but at the last minute I decided to move it to my house instead.  It was a lot more cozy and warm, and there's something so sweet about having people in my home.  Plus, all my stuff is here, so that helps. 

I threw a taco soup into the crock pot for the family so I wouldn't have to worry about dinner, then set up a beverage bar with my keurig for coffee and tea, and put a spicy apple cider into my 4 qt crock.

Spicy Apple Cider

• 2 2 qt containers of apple cider
• mulling spices
• oranges (I used mandarins, cuz that's what I had)

Put apple cider into crock and turn crock on low for about 3 hrs.   Add in several bags of ground mulling spices--I let it steep about 15 minutes, but probably could've gone longer, or used more spices, it wasn't quite spicy enough for me.  Remove spice bags, top with orange slices, turn to "warm" and leave a ladle alongside so people can help themselves.  WARNING:  it will be HOT for a while!  (You might want to leave a little  note to warn guests that it's extremely hot.)

I also served store-bought biscotti (not GF, so sadly I didn't get any...) and other people brought snacks too share too.  It was that easy.

Today I heated up some of the leftover cider, diluted with water, and steeped a chai tea bag in in for 5 minutes...yum!  It adds a nice hit of caffeine that way, from the black tea.

All in all, I'm pretty sure people had fun. 

I so luv my crock pots.  It was nice to be able to enjoy my own party, knowing that people could just help themselves whenever that want, and that my family had hot soup to eat whenever they wanted to eat it.  Nice to let my crocks play hostess while I just had fun.

One of the tables, all set up to stamp.

 

I made these little treats for everyone--Hershey's chocolate nuggets all dressed up like snowmen!

And these are the 5 projects we made last night....

This little  card that opens up and inside is a pocket for a ghiradelli chocolate square.

 

Hedgie card

 

Snowman card from the stamp set "Snow Day"

 

Frosty card

 

 

Santa pants...the perfect holder for tiny candy canes, or a stack of Hershey's nuggets.

Blueberry Apple Crisp Freezer Test

I updated my Blueberry Apple Crisp Post.  But since no one is probably going back to look, just thought I'd let you know.

I took one of the frozen kits I made out and thawed it in the fridge, then dumped it into a 9x13.  Baked it up and gave it a try.  Not bad!  Not as good as fresh though, in my opinion. 

The benefit is that it only took about 10 seconds and NO dishes what-so-ever to have this dessert in the oven!  (and that counts for a lot in my book...), but the drawback is that the texture of the apples was a bit softer than I like.  The fresh version is more firm, and less juicy.  The frozen one tasted the exact same, but the apple texture was much softer, and there was more liquid in the bottom of the pan. 

So, bottom line:  if you are serving this with ice cream, it probably makes no difference at all.  But if you want the apple crisp to be the star of the show, it would be better to make it fresh. 

I think from now on I might compromise and make up kits with just the topping, and the blueberries.  Then when I go to bake it, just use fresh apples.

8 minutes to chicken tacos

I can finally say that all the Thanksgiving leftovers have been officially handled. 

The mashed potatoes topped a beefy shepherd's pie last night (the leftover carrots also made their way into that one...), the cranberry sauce (made with fresh orange juice, ginger, honey, maple and cinnamon) went into the freezer--I'm going to pull that out later for a quick cranberry chicken bake, and a gluten free cranberry cake.  The turkey stock has been frozen, and there's only one precious piece of lefse left.  After that--done.

So, onward with the quest:  getting dinner done on a daily basis; healthfully, economically, and with a minimum of time, effort and fuss.

Enter:  8 minute chicken tacos.

Who out there has a pressure cooker?  No??  Well Sister, put one on your Christmas list!  Hopefully Santa will bring you one of these time-saving, sanity-saving devices.

I know, I know, sounds like something your grandma used in her kitchen, right?  Well, perhaps.  But pressure cookers have come a long way baby, and now they are making a comeback, and totally hip once again. 

I'm no expert on pressure cookers, but here are a few basics:  get a stainless steel one, not aluminum.  Make it big enough to be worth your while--mine is a 6 qt  Fagor brand pressure cooker.  And make sure you're getting a pressure COOKER, not a pressure CANNER...they are two totally different things.

Here are two great reference books:  Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes, by Vickie Smith, and Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass.  Miss Vickie's is my fave because it has super-useful charts for cooking anything and everything basic, like chicken thighs, breasts, whole birds, all meats, beans, veggies, etc.

Read the instruction manual that comes with your pressure cooker. They are really easy to use. 

Here's a "go-to" thing I do a lot:

Chicken thighs (if it's just one pkg about 1 1/2 lbs. I just throw them into the pressure cooker and add 1/2 cup water.  Lid on, bring up to pressure, and then pressure cook for 8 minutes.  If it's two pkgs it takes about 3 minutes longer.  Release pressure by running cold water over the lid.  Let them cool enough to shred.  Season with taco seasoning.  Serve with all the fixin's.  Seriously, it's that quick, and ya got one pot to clean.

This was yummy with black olives, salsa, and guacamole on a GF tortilla.

 



Kinda lovin' on my pressure cooker lately.  It totally makes quick work out of just about anything, and I'm here to tell you it makes the tenderest, juiciest chicken of ANY cooking technique out there.  Any.  It really is the very best way to cook chicken, in my opinion.

Well, what else is up this week? 

Ah yes, gluten free, dairy free chocolate biscotti...I'm going to give it a shot, I'll let you know what happens.  Hopefully I will get to it at some point this week.  I'm doing a Stampin' Up! Christmas Stamp Camp Friday night, so hopefully I will have some successful biscotti to munch on with my girlfriends as we stamp to our little hearts' content!

Still Workin' Those Thanksgiving Leftovers...Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

I have two favorite days of the entire year:  4th of July and Black Friday.  In fact, I think if I had to choose, Black Friday would come in first.  And it's not for the reason you'd think.  No, I'm not much of a shopper.  In fact, I hate shopping (except on the internet).  And I hate getting up early.  But I LOVE....repeat, LOVE(!) Black Friday....no getting up early for me, and I never leave the house. 

No, Black Friday has a whole other meaning for me than for most people.  It means NO COOKING  and NO CLEANING,  because after a week of Thanksgiving prep work, all the cleaning is done, and there's a house full of leftovers to eat, which means everyone is on their own. 

For one precious day, I get to sleep in, then drink coffee, and read, or blog, or read blogs, to my little heart's content.  And I get to do some stamping (card making with rubber stamps), or crafting, or whatever I want to do.  I don't have to think about meals even ONCE, for an entire day...oh it's so sweet.  SO sweet.   Just a little taste of heaven.  It's Mama's turn to have a holiday.

I did do one thing on Black Friday though...I took the drumsticks and wings of the turkey carcass and made stock in my pressure cooker.  I gotta say, this is my new favorite way of making stock.  It's simply turkey (or chicken or beef) bones, bay leaves and peppercorns, and a bit of vinegar (when I remember to add it), onions and celery if they are available, and water.  Bring it up to pressure and cook 35 minutes.  Release the pressure by the natural method (just remove from burner and let it cool until it's depressurized), and voila...some of the richest, most beautiful stock you've ever seen.  AND it doesn't tie up my slow cooker all day, or infest the house with the smell of stock (which is lovely, but not when it lingers on our clothes for three days....).

Saturday I used that gorgeous stock to make turkey and wild rice soup.  I threw it in the crock pot at 8:00, then we headed outdoors for some fun in the sunny but COLD weather.  When we returned home at 1:30, hungry and cold, it was ready to eat--so warming with a cup of hot coffee and leftover piece of gluten-free lefse (a Norwegian flatbread made out of mashed potatoes). 

This soup is truly one of my all-time favorites.  The original comes from Stephanie O'Dea, and is located right HERE.  It's fabulous on it's own, but I've made changes to suit my family's tastes, so I'm going to give you my version:

8 cups turkey stock
3 to 4 cups water
2/3 c. uncooked wild rice
1 cup chopped celery
1 T. dehydrated onions
1 cup chopped carrots
1 tsp poultry seasoning
about 1/4 c. dehydrated kale (broken into little flakes)

Add all of the above to 6 qt crock pot.  Cook on HIGH for 5 to 6 hrs. (until rice is soft and thoroughly cooked and veggies are tender)

Then add:

Whatever Turkey meat you have leftover, chopped or shredded.
Season with salt and pepper to taste (usually I use about 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper)

Serve and enjoy.

I never add cooked meat until the end of the cook time, because all that does is leave you with rubbery, tasteless chunks of what-used-to-be delicious, tender meat!  The soup is plenty hot at the end of 5 or 6 hrs.  I just toss the chopped meat in, give it a stir for a few minutes til it heats through.

That's all there is to it.  This soup is super-simple to make, chock-full of nutrients, and delicious to boot.  AND, it heats up beautifully the next day for lunch.  I almost like it even better then next day.

Well, enjoy friends.  Today I'm making a beefy shepherd's pie topped with the leftover dairy-free mashed potatoes.  See, I'm still eeking it out around here.  Gathering up some fragments, and saving myself some effort in the process.  I'll report on the shepherd's pie tomorrow...until then, soup on my dears.  

Here's one of the Christmas cards I made on Black Friday.  This is the front of the card...

 

And this is the back!