Pumpkin Soup with Coconut Milk

I've been enjoying using my new "stick" blender to puree soups right in the cooking pot. I have a Cuisinart Smart Stick and it does a great job. You are supposed to blend for only 55 seconds but that's enough time to get the job done.

Saute diced onions in butter or coconut oil.

Peel and cube pumpkin and add to pan.

Add one can of regular coconut milk and cook until soft. If you need more liquid, add chicken broth.

Add salt and pepper and then blend.

This is delicious and fast and most of all very fun to make. I served with croutons made from stale (not rancid) bread that I had tossed in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and salt, then toasted in the oven. I like to drop the croutons on the soup while they're hot because they sizzle.

Potato Salad

I used my crock pot to cook the potatoes in my hot kitchen. I find the crock pot to add less heat to my surroundings during the summer, plus to can use it anywhere.

Wash potatoes and dry
Place in the crock pot but don't add water. I actually cooked red beets at the same time with no blending of flavors or color.

Roast them using medium heat for 4 hours.

Open the lid and let them cool. I was able to peel them easily the next day. This salad is best if you don't refrigerate the potatoes. Toss in:

Raw vinegar
Dijon Mustard
Olive Oil-extra virgin
Salt
Pepper-white
Tarragon leaves

After this salad is refrigerated, I think the potato starch is changed slightly and they are not at their best, so I often fry the potatoes for a side dish. They get nice and crispy. This is a good salad for a picnic since it does not need refrigeration for safety. There is no mayonnaise in it.

Green Beans Oriental Style

These green beans are dressed in a soy and sesame sauce that makes a nice change from my usual butter, garlic, and salt method of serving. The Oriental beans are very nice cold or room temperature and would be good for a picnic.

Green Beans trimmed and cut and steamed or cooked and drained
Carrots slivered for color-I used lacto-fermented carrots
Onions cut how you like

Toss with this dressing:

Sesame oil-expeller pressed from un-toasted seeds - about 3 T.
Sesame oil-from toasted seeds-you need about 1 t. of this.
Red wine vinegar-about 1 T.
Garlic cloves, crushed- 2 cloves.
Ginger root grated very finely-about 1 T.
1 T Soy sauce-naturally brewed
1 T Tamari Sauce-naturally brewed (a nice addition but you could use 2 T soy)

3 T toasted sesame seeds-I used the toaster oven but watch them because they brown very quickly. I pulled them out of the oven when they were brown and quickly dumped them onto a dinner plate to stop them toasting on the hot pan.

I topped the beans with the seeds just before serving.

Spoon Bread for Supper Club

I've been experimenting with nixtamalized corn in various dishes. The latest is spoon bread using the blender method.

In blender place:

1 1/2 C. nixtamalized corn. I soak the corn for 2 days rather than 4 hours.
2 C. Milk

Blend this until corn is smooth and add:

1 C. Milk (total milk is 3 C.)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
2 T. Butter (I didn't even need to melt this)
3 Eggs
3/4 t. salt-unrefined sea salt

Bake in a casserole, uncovered, at 325 degrees for about 1/2 hour or until it "wiggles" when you gently shake the casserole.

The corn and custard separate a little which makes a nice layering.

Tentacle Chowder

I found squid tentacles in the frozen section of our Asian store. I used them to make a tomato based chowder which we found to be extra delicious.

Butter and coconut oil to saute:
Onions

Add and simmer until tender:
Chicken broth
Potatoes diced
Carrots diced
Bay leaf
Garlic cloves, cut up

Add:
Tomato paste
Tentacles, cut up

Simmer for a few minutes after you add the seafood. It doesn't take much to cook it.

Serve with Old Bay Seasoning on top. We loved this soup.

Roasted Red Beet Salad-Crockpot method

I had heard about roasting potatoes in the crock-pot, so I tried it today with red beets. I washed and cut the tops from the beets to 1" from the root. I did not cut into the flesh at all and left the "tails" on. I put them in the crock-pot set at medium for 3 1/2 hours. I turned off the pot at that point and took off the lid and let them cool. It was very easy to peel them.

Cubed beets
Diced onions
Sea Salt, unrefined "real salt"
Horseradish, prepared
Sour Cream, Daisy brand it the best commercial brand I have access to.

This makes an alarming but beautiful pink salad and it's delicious. I ate it room temperature.

I liked the fact that these beets maintained their juices and were made even sweeter by not cooking them in water. I found that I could pile them in and amazingly, the clean-up of the crockpot was very easy.

Dinner Casserole similar to Breakfast Casserole

When I make my Breakfast Quiche Casserole, I sometimes use spinach for the first layer to make a lower carb. version. Tonight I used onion tops and they are just wonderful.

Melt 4 T butter in large glass casserole dish in the oven set to 350 degrees.

Chop green onion tops. I had lots from the onions I bought last week at the farmer's market. I sometimes throw these away, but no longer.

Pull out the casserole with the melted butter and toss the green tops in butter and put back in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute:

1 lb. sausage-pasture raised or ground pork with
1 t. sea salt and
1 t. pepper for seasoning, sauteed gently and set aside.

Mix equal parts eggs and milk, and this time I used some goat broth for the liquid.

3 C. eggs (about 1 dozen), whisk in bowl.
3 C. Milk or broth or both, add to eggs.
1 t. sea salt-unrefined
1/2 t. pepper

4 C. grated cheese. I use a grass-fed Colby cheese and I don't mind that this cheese is NOT raw because I'm going to cook it anyway.

Pull out the hot sizzling onions and top with the sausage, cheese, and milk/broth mixture.

Return to oven for 30 minutes.

The mixture of milk and broth was interesting. There was clear broth that separated from the milk/egg mixture but in a really nice way. It was very juicy which I really liked.

Hoppin John

A favorite meal, especially for work lunches (thermos food) is Hoppin John. I make my own version which uses foods I always have on hand.

Bacon, chopped and sauteed with
Onion, chopped
Celery, chopped
Carrots, cubed

Cooked black eyed peas using the overnight soaking method, then drained.
2 Bay leaves
Garlic, plenty of cloves
Bone Broth that I usually have cooking on the stove. It doesn't seem to matter what kind.
Thyme, dried
Hot pepper flakes.
Sea Salt, unrefined.

1 C. brown rice cooked with
2 C. water
1 t. salt
2 T butter


I saute the first ingredients in the bacon and fat, then add everything else, adding the bone broth to just cover the pea mixture. I simmer this while I cook rice to go with it. I add the two together to store for lunches. I like to cook brown rice on a very low heat and do it an hour. It has such a nice nutty flavor. I usually try to soak the rice overnight too which neutralizes the phytates, but rice isn't so high that this step gets skipped in my house sometimes.

Everyday Cassoulet-Fantastic

I love cassoulet. After I read Julia Child's recipe, I was delighted to learn all about it. Though inspirational, I've never made her recipe because it's so involved. I tasted two authentic cassoulets in France and both were hearty, plain, and delicious. I developed an everyday version that uses simple ingredients.

Soak 2 lb.s Great Northern beans in warm water with whey or lemon juice. Leave overnight. I like to rinse them once during this time, like early in the morning before I cook them. I think it makes them digest easier.

Boil a kettle of water to precipitate as much calcium from hard water as is possible. Pour boiling water over the drained beans and simmer for about 20 minutes. Drain again and pour more pre-boiled water over the beans and simmer for 2 to 3 hours until tender.

Prepare the chicken by cutting into pieces and then make stock out of all the bones. You will need this to pour over the bean-meat mixture.

Roast chicken pieces in the largest Le Creuset casserole you have. I added Italian sausages (no nitrate) and a piece of fatty bacon (no nitrate) too. Drain the beans when cooked and pour over the meats with 2 bay leaves. Add a can of diced tomatoes and about 2 T. tomato paste. A tiny amount of paste is best. I keep extra tomato paste in globs in the freezer. Add un-refined sea salt. Pour the chicken broth over the mixture until you can see the liquid. Add more water to the bones and keep them cooking for even more broth for future cooking.

Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.

Remove the lid and bake 20 minutes longer. I let this cool down in the oven after I turn it off. The skin that forms makes the broth delicious.

Let this casserole cool down a bit before serving. This is a dish where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It's not authentic cassoulet but what a fabulous flavor it has.

French School Lunch

Check out this link to find out what the city of Lyon is scheduling for their children's school lunches.

Lentil Salad with Dry Land Cress

I cooked some lentils in my crock-pot after soaking them overnight to remove the phytates. I drained them well and added:

Olive Oil
Lemon-juice of one
Sea Salt
Spring Onions
Lacto-fermented carrots, chopped

As a side, I cooked some dry land cress like this:

Saute 2 strips of nitrate-free bacon
Toss into pan, 2 heads of chopped dry-land cress (I got this at the farmer's market)
Saute the cress until limp and slightly cooked.

I actually put both of these together on top of a fresh bib lettuce leaf.

This is a delicious cold or slightly warm salad. For lunch the next day I took more lentils and seasoned with balsamic vinegar, onions, salt, pepper, and olives and topped with slices of avocado coated in vinegar.

It's fast food if you have the lentils already cooked and in the fridge unseasoned. This way you can get them out to make a salad, stew, or soup.

Fried Rice

I found a way to make fried rice that I love.

I make it in my large iron skillet starting with some good lard, sausage fat, or bacon and the fat.

I use brown rice that has been soaked and cooked and can be leftover.

Fry bacon pieces and leave that fat in the skillet. While that is frying, prepare vegetables and other ingredients in separate small containers.

Sesame seeds
Onions sliced or diced
Garlic cloves. I crush these on top of another vegetable type ingredient.
Almonds, crispy a la Nourishing Traditions, coarsely chopped.
Cucumbers diced.
Red peppers diced.
Spinach leaves chopped a bit.
Tomatoes quartered or diced.
Anything else you want. Whatever I get at the farmer's market goes into this.

Add the sesame seeds to the bacon and fat and fry until a bit toasty.
Add the rice and fry at a medium heat, stirring and scraping every few minutes with a metal, flat spatula. When the rice is hot and frying, add the spinach and toss every so often for 2 to 3 minutes.

Toss in everything else but the cucumbers and tomatoes and let those ingredients get warm.
Put onto serving platter and add one egg per person to the empty skillet, using more fat in necessary.

Fry eggs very lightly and turn over, adding this to the top of the rice mixture.
Sprinkle on naturally brewed Tamari sauce and garnish with cucumbers and tomatoes.

This meal is very simple to construct and has everything you could possibly want all in one dish. I like the fact that the garlic and onions are almost raw but the spinach is slightly cooked which makes it more nutritious. I also garnish with lacto-fermented carrots since I keep those on hand. The skillet does not need to be washed afterwards and the little bowls of prepared vegetables are easy to wash. This dish is delicious even as it cools down and the egg with a very soft-to-liquid yolk is the very best!

Fluffy Whole Wheat Biscuits - Scones

Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet posted the most wonderful biscuit recipe. We have been yearning for a good scone since we gave up white flour and this is it.

Since we eat dairy, I used butter cut into the flour and kefir for the acid liquid. I inadvertently used a 400 degree oven and baked them for 15 minutes. They were perfect. I've not tried the hotter oven myself. I also added currants at the end and think that next time I'll soak the currants with the flour at the outset.

-2 1/2 C. Whole Wheat lower gluten flour or 10 2/3 oz ground grains
-6 T butter cut into flour with pastry cutter
-3/4 C. Kefir or Yogurt adding more to make a medium stiff dough

Let this mixture sit covered overnight at room temperature.
Chill dough about 1/2 hour before baking.
Roll out into an 8" x 10" rectangle on floured board using a little white flour.

Over two thirds of the dough, with a strainer or sifter, sprinkle:
-1/2 t. Baking Soda
-1 1/2 t. Baking Powder
-1 t. Sea Salt

Fold the empty third over half of the dusted two thirds.
Fold the other third over the doubled part.
Turn 90° and roll out into the same sized rectangle, 8" x 10".
Do this 6 times, adding 1/3 cup currants before the 6th time if desired.
Cut with a sharp knife with one stroke and don't use a sawing motion to give the best lift.
Bake at 400° for 15 minutes.

Update:  Recipe amounts and picture added 2-7-10

Update: Adding the currants before soaking worked perfectly. I also noticed that with frozen flour, I need to use less. I think it's more compact. Next I'll try cheese added in at the end. These are the best! 4-11-09

Update: I used chilled dough and found that at about 50 degrees, it was very easy to roll out the dough and incorporate the leavening while at the same time layering (laminating) the dough for exceptional fluffiness. The butter layered rather than soaked into the mass.

Blender Ground Wheat Bread-Compromise Loaf

Update: I am not getting the same results with this recipe each time. The blended grain idea seems to be useful, but the amount of white flour is turning out to be more like half of the recipe. 4-11-09

Help me with this method. Would you try this experiment?

You can grind your own wheat berries in your blender to make this "compromise" loaf of bread. It uses sourdough for the acid medium to neutralize the phytates and a little yeast to help things along after it's kneaded. It does use some high gluten white flour which does not need soaking. The whole grain has already been soaked, so a yeast rise which is fairly quick is OK to me since I still use a little yeast. I have never mastered a sourdough 100% whole wheat loaf that I like, so this is my compromise. I use my usual recipe amounts.

1+1/2 C. wheat berries (1 C. = 8 oz. berries)
1+1/2 C. water with a little more to drizzle in (use minimum amount possible) to maintain a vortex.
Glob of sourdough starter (about 1/4 C).

Blend for 3 minutes while maintaining a vortex in the blender.

Pour back some of the blended grain/water/sourdough mixture into the sourdough jar to save.
Let the rest soak overnight in the blender or in the bread machine bowl.

Next day add:

2 C. King Arthur All Purpose or Bread Flour
1 t. yeast or less-I've not tried this without yeast yet.
2 t. Real Salt
1 T Olive Oil or melted butter

Start the bread machine and check the dough for correct hydration since I've not used exact measurements. When the dough cycle is complete, form the loaf by hand and put in the pans you use. Bake as usual.

This dough has a great texture and seems nicer than using pre-ground whole wheat flour. The white flour has enough gluten to give this a huge rise.

This is even better: I also tried soaking whole wheat berries in whey and water and then blended the soaked berries the next day. I did add some sourdough to this dough for flavor. I got GREAT bread but almost burned out my blender. I formed two batards on parchment paper, and when they had risen, I put them in a cold oven and set it to 400 degrees and set the timer to 45 minutes.

The texture of this bread is like soft white bread. It seems pretty magical and has a nice artisan crust. The dough is at least 2/3 whole wheat (by weight) , so this is a nice surprise. The bread has nice pieces of wheatberries in it with a lovely texture. Wow! I have never gotten this crust with this much whole wheat. I believe the gluten in the whole wheat was preserved since the acid medium soak was on the outside only and didn't destroy the gluten which happens a lot to me when I make sourdough bread.


If you own a Bosch Universal, will you try blending soaked wheat berries in your Bosch with the amount of water you usually use for your bread recipe? I'd like to know if the Bosch can handle it.

Note: My wheat berries weigh about 8 oz./cup and flour usually weighs 4.5 oz./cup so my usual recipe of 3+1/2 C. flour to 1+1/2 C. water makes this about 2/3 whole grain bread. And you don't have to have a grain mill.

Gravy made with Beef Broth and Oatmeal

Oat Groats

I love gravy. I am also tired of soup at the moment. It doesn't last long, but it happens sometimes. So I decided to make gravy because I can never get enough.

Grind Oat Groats in a food mill and mix with water and whey to make a slurry.

Or put 1 C. groats in blender and add 1 C. water plus whey, blending for three minutes, drizzling in water to maintain a vortex.

I use about 2 T. whey per quart of mixture. Soak this overnight and then keep in refrigerator to use whenever you get hungry for gravy or need to thicken something. You can even cook this with water for breakfast and call it gruel.

To make gravy, heat beef broth and pour in a little slurry of oatmeal, add salt, and cook for a few minutes. You can make it any thickness you desire and can keep adding oat mixture to keep thickening it.

Tonight I baked lamb shanks and necks, covered in my le Crueset, and after they were soft and browned, I poured in water and oat mixture and put it back in the oven until it thickened.

I prefer beef or lamb flavor with oatmeal but did not like the chicken/oatmeal flavor.

Nixtamalized Blender Corn Pancakes a la Sue Gregg

I've been having such fun with Sue Gregg's Blender pancake recipe. I tried it with whole corn kernels that I nixtamalized, washed, and then ground in my blender.

1 1/2 C. Nixtamalized whole corn
1 Egg
1 1/2 T Olive Oil
1+ C. water drizzled in to make a vortex

Blend 3 minutes on high beginning by pulsing.

Using a funnel in the top of my blender, I added:

1/2 t. Soda
1/2 t. Baking Powder
3/4 t. Salt

Blend only a few seconds to distribute the leavening agents.

Pour onto hot griddle. My batter was a rather thin which I really liked. These have a marvelous flavor which is really enhanced by the nixtamalization. They are very nutty and ready for spicy toppings. I had my first one with butter like a pancake. The amazing thing about this recipe is that you can have dried corn available in the pantry and then without a grain mill, you can easily use the whole grain for cooking. I froze some of the wet corn since I wasn't ready to use it. This is very handy in case I get inspired on the spur of the moment.

Sue Gregg's Blender Pancakes-Judy's Version

I love Sue Gregg's Blender Pancake recipe. It's the perfect blend of traditional cooking and technology. Her website has many variations listed and if you are overwhelmed with the information, I've extracted a simple recipe.

Night before you serve pancakes:

1 C. mixed whole grains (not flour), put in blender and add,
1 C Yogurt, Kefir, or Buttermilk.


Blend 3 minutes on high and maintain a VORTEX by drizzling in a little water. The Vortex is important in getting all the grains blended and looks like a funnel or tornado in your blender and ensures that everything is blended well. Let sit overnight or 7 hours at least for the acid medium to remove the phytates on the grains. Phytates are an anti-nutrient which keeps you from absorbing other nutrients you are eating. In history, people just soaked their grains without knowing why. It's very traditional to do this.

In the morning, add the following. Get the dry ingredients ready to dump in all at once.

1 T. Flax seeds-optional
1 Egg
2 T. Olive Oil or melted butter

3/4 t. Real salt
1/2 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Baking Powder

Put the egg, flax and oil in the blender and blend on high while maintaining a vortex using more liquid.

When the flax seeds seem to be ground up, add the dry ingredients into the vortex. The easiest way is to place a funnel in the top of your blender and dump them in. The funnel makes them hit the right spot. Blend only a few seconds after the leavening is added because it thickens and that's the way you want it.

Pour batter onto heated griddle and serve with butter and maple syrup and bacon on the side!

This is part of the Nourishing Gourmet's Handmade Gift Carnival.

Update, 11-14-09: If you use Kefir, beware that storing the leftover batter with a tight lid causes pressure to build up and the jar may explode, if not with broken glass, then all over you. Kefir has good bacteria that continues to grow.

Curried Coconut Fish Chowder

Onions sauteed in Coconut Oil
Celery
Carrots
Potatoes, diced

Curry powder
Ginger, fresh grated
Garlic
Salt

Chicken broth
Coconut milk-not low fat
Fish cut into cubes and added at the end of cooking.

This chowder has lots of superfood ingredients. Coconut Oil, Turmeric (in the curry), Garlic, Chicken broth, and Coconut milk. All in one dish!

I served it with croutons made from sourdough "brick" bread tossed with butter and salt and then toasted. I save my bread flops to use for croutons or croistini. They really taste very good and the texture is no drawback.

Grain Mix for Blender Pancakes-Favorite

Using Sue Gregg's Blender Pancake recipe. I like this mix of whole grains:

2 parts Kamut
2 parts brown rice
2 parts buckwheat
2 parts oat groats
1 part rye berries

These can be changed at whim from what I can deduce. You can go gluten-free easily and maintain excellent flavor and texture. This is a pretty amazing recipe. One of those better than could be imagined. Making pancakes from this is unlike trying to use 100% whole wheat bread which is really hard to make light and tasty. One can get used to it of course, but the pancakes can be passed off as "regular" to anyone, even skeptics of healthy eating. I refrigerate the leftover batter for several days without loss of quality.

Since grains can be stored whole easily, I think it's the perfect marriage of tradition and technology.

Sweet Potato Apple Sausage Bake

Sweet Potatoes - wash, dry, peel and save the peelings.
Apples- peel and slice apples
Sausage-Fry and crumble.

Toss Sweet Potatoes and Apples with cinnamon, salt, and pepper.
Put in oven proof lidded casserole and put sausage on top.
Add chicken broth or water to come up 1/4 of the ingredients.
Cover and bake for 1 hour. Best served after cooling slightly.
Green Beans with garlic and butter on the side.

While the casserole is in the oven, toss the peelings in olive oil and salt. Bake until crisp. This happens fast, so watch. I actually used my toaster/convection oven for these. They are like potato chips and since I don't really like them left on the potato in this casserole, this was a delicious way to eat this vitamins.

Polenta from Nixtamalized Corn using Blender

*

I used nixtamalized corn to make polenta without a grinder or mortar and pestle. I followed the method posted at Mother Earth News.


I put the corn in my blender with water. I was able to blend the corn to a nice consistency maintaining a vortex (by drizzling in water) while blending for 3 minutes. This is similar in method to making Sue Gregg's blender pancakes from whole grains. I then added more water (could be broth) and salt and cooked it in a double boiler. This made a wonderful polenta with the nutty flavor that's mentioned in the article and has all the nutrients available.

I added farmer's cheese to the hot mush and served with sauce made from onions, ground beef, chili powder, garlic, and tomatoes over the top. I added a dollop of sour cream.

Curried Beef with Potatoes and Turmeric

The texture of the meat is on the dry side (in a good way) and the potatoes roast on top and get crispy. It reminds me of sloppy joes except with Indian spices

2 medium onions chopped and sauteed in
4 T Butter
1 lb. hamburger or cut up beef sauteed with butter and onions

Spices:
1 T Curry Powder
1 t. Turmeric
1 t. Salt
1 t. Thyme
1 t. Red pepper flakes

4 Cloves garlic chopped and added with spices.

Stir everything together in a oven-proof casserole and top with:

Diced potatoes coated in tallow or melted butter and 1/2 t. Turmeric

Bake at 350 with lid for 30 minutes
Uncover and bake for 30 more minutes

I served this with steamed, buttered kale, sour cream, red sauerkraut (probiotic), and hot black tea spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves with milk and honey.

Blueberry Banana Smoothies

This smoothie recipe is adaptable to whatever you have or want to include, such as supplements but not Cod Liver Oil obviously. For 1 Q. smoothies use approximately:

In blender pour 2 cups kefir or yogurt

2 egg yolks from pastured eggs

1/4 cup heavy raw cream or more

1/4 t. unrefined sea salt

2 T. coconut oil-can be hard or liquid

Banana-can be frozen in chunks

Blueberries that are frozen-maybe 1 1/2 C.

*

*

Blend until smooth. If it's warm weather, add a couple of ice cubes to thicken the mixture and blend them well. You can put this in the refrigerator if you are not quite ready to drink it, but it's creamiest when just blended.

Update: I've recently learned that this cold mixture of dairy and bananas is especially hard to digest, so I save this for a treat rather than a daily ritual.

Roasted Vegetables

Zucchini

Sweet Potatoes

Red Onions

Carrots

Parsnips

Red Peppers

Any other vegetables you like

-----------------------------------------------

Peel and wash appropriately. Cut into 3/8" slices and combine in a large bowl. Drizzle in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and add minced garlic and a little fresh rosemary or dried. Toss the vegetables and then add unrefined sea salt and coarse ground pepper. Once you add the salt, the mixture needs to be roasted immediately or it will start to get wet. Bake loosely spaced on large baking sheet at 425 degrees for 30 -35 minutes.

These vegetables are delicious served with pork especially. They refrigerate well and can be reheated best in a convection oven.

Memorium

RCL

March 22, 1929 - February 2, 2009

Beloved by many

Breakfast Quiche Casserole

In a large bowl:

1 t. salt
7 c. shredded potatoes
1 onion shredded
1/2 c. butter melted and tossed with the potatoes
Press into large glass baking dish and bake at 400 for 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile prepare:
2 lb. sausage fried and crumbled and set aside
4 c. shredded cheese

Whisk in the same bowl:

12 eggs (3 c.)
3 c. milk or Chicken Broth (Updated 1-26-11)
1/4 t. pepper

When potatoes are baked, sprinkle on the sausage and cheese and then pour liquid mixture over everything. Squish your finger tips down into the bottom of the baking dish several places and then bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Since the baking dish is nice and hot already, it doesn't take long for this egg mixture to set.

For lower carbs sometimes I use spinach instead of potatoes and bake for only 15 minutes at 350 during the first part of prep. Cool, and cut into squares. I wrap in plastic after it's room temp. Another way to freeze would be to freeze the separated squares on parchment paper and then put into a big container to keep in freezer.

This dish seems to improve with freezing even though potatoes don't usually freeze well. For Fast Food at breakfast, I put the squares into individual casseroles the night before, place them in the counter top convection oven and in the morning, they are ready to heat. This makes a wonderful fast breakfast.

Update January 26, 2011
I often use chicken broth instead of milk to mix with the eggs.  This adds the benefits of broth and means I have more raw milk available.  I don't like to ruin the enzymes if I don't really have to. 

Pepper Parmesan Blender Dressing-No Mess

First, check to see if your blender blades screw onto a standard mason jar. If it does, you make this without much clean-up.

I use a 12oz. mason jar, but a pint would be fine too.....into the jar add:

1 clove garlic, peeled
1 egg yolk, free range
3 T Lemon juice, fresh
2 t. Dijon style mustard, I don't bother to measure this
1/2 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 T coarse ground pepper
1/2 C. grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 t. salt, "Real Salt"

I screw the blade/base component onto the jar and turn "up-side-down", place on the blender and pulse several times, and then blend at a medium speed. The mixture seizes up nicely for me even though I haven't drizzled in the olive oil like Julia Child says to do. I don't even bother to have everything room temperature which is supposed to be better.

This is very intense and satisfies those who need some real zing with something else bland. I screw on a regular lid to store and only need to wash the blades of the blender.

Yogurt Made in the Cooler

I like this way to make yogurt:

Buy yogurt to use for culture. I like Seven Stars or Fage.

Freeze in ice cube trays filling each hole half full. (Store in freezer) It doesn't take much at all to culture a quart.

I have a small “Playmate” cooler that holds two wide mouth quart jars.

I measure out two quarts of organic, raw milk into my saucepan and heat it to 180 degrees (I like thicker yogurt, so I use this temp.) I’ve gotten the heating down to a science. Two cold quarts takes 23 minutes on my medium heat to come to 180. It's a shame to heat this lovely raw milk, but to get the texture I want, I kill the good bacteria and enzymes, and re-introduce a yogurt culture. Using organic un-homogenized pasteurized milk is the next best choice.

Cool milk to 110 and pour into jars. You can pour hot milk into jars slowly and let cool there.
Update: I'm currently cooling the milk to 118 degrees and like the taste better.

When 110 (update: 118), drop one tiny cube into each jar, screw on lid and put in cooler. I found that stirring is not at all necessary for me. I think the culture likes to make its way down the jar kind of like growing roots. It always works.

Fill cooler to jar necks with hot tap water. Don't let the water touch the lids because the jar will suck in water as it cools which I don't want.

Close and wait overnight. In the morning I have perfect yogurt and best of all for me is that I used equipment that is also used for everything else. No single use stuff involved which makes it a lot more fun for me. It feels creative and when I get up in the morning I think “oh boy, I get to check my yogurt” and it’s always thick.

After I developed this system, it was simple to get it right every time. It reads complicated, but it is not.

Roasted Vegetables with Sausage

In a large bowl toss ingredients in fat:

Potatoes cubed
Rutabaga peeled and cubed
Sausage fat melted
Sea Salt-(Real Salt)

Pour into roasting pan with:

Sausage links-pastured, cut up

Roast in a 400 degree oven until browned.

Served with:

Steamed red cabbage and a dressing made from
Vinegar, sucanat, butter, and sea salt.

Steamed Swiss Chard with butter and salt.

A small scoop of sauerkraut for the pro-biotic.

Streamlined: For this meal, I used the big bowl to toss the vegetables first. Then I used the same bowl to toss the cabbage and sauce. I love using the same equipment over again. I used the steamer twice too. The red cabbage was first and the quick cooking swiss chard was last. The water from the steamer was a beautiful blue.

Coconut Oil Bars-How to eat coconut Oil

I prefer coconut bars over melting coconut oil in tea.

Gently melt:
1 C. Butter-raw spring butter is the best
2 C. Coconut oil-unrefined, I like Green Pastures

Add:
3 C. Coconut, dried and shredded
1 C. Nuts, chopped
1/2 C. Prunes, cut up
1/2 C. Apricots cut up
1/4 C. Peanut Butter
2 T. Really Raw Honey
1/4 t. Real salt

Add anything else you'd like to eat on a daily basis like sour cherries or a lot more nuts. The coconut oil firms everything well. You can add Stevia if you want it sweeter, or more honey. I try to keep it on the lower end of the carbohydrates scale. The PB really adds a nice flavor and chocolate makes it incredibly good.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper and pour in this mixture. Smooth with a spatula and refrigerate until firm. Pop out of pan and cut into small squares to eat 20 minutes before each meal. Store in the refrigerater. These promote weight loss naturally. If you wish you had added something else, you can easily melt the whole batch and add things.

See Eat Fat Lose Fat by Mary Enig for details about the nutritional value of coconut oil.

Update: I found that I can add Kelp (chopped in the blender-for iodine) and tart cherries (for the anti-oxident properties) and even chocolate and keep the excellent flavor.

Organ Meat Burgers

Back to Kelly:
http://kellythekitchenkop.com

Today I braved eating organ meats. I ground a 3 1/4 lb. grassfed beef heart and added 1/2 lb. of goat liver. I mixed it together and to sample the flavor, I heated my iron griddle with bacon fat and fried a tablespoon of the mixture. I took another tablespoon of the mixture and added ground bacon, and the third taste was the meat mixed with salt and pepper. All three were delicious. I can barely taste any liver flavor and even though the mix is heavy on the heart, I will actually eat this as burger, meatballs, or meatloaf.

With one pound of the meat, I added 1 t. unrefined sea salt, 1 t. pepper, and one egg along with some ground onion which I put through the grinder last. I formed the mix into small meatballs and fried these up in bacon fat and will add the sauce ingredients next. I used frozen tomato sauce and served this over brown rice cooked according to Nourishing Traditions. It was very satisfying.

I made burgers using a press lined with plastic wrap. I still use some plastic and feel that if it's cold, it's much safer than with hot food. I froze these flat on a cookie sheet, and then gathered them up in a container to use as "Fast Food"

Clam Chicken Corn Chowder

1 Onion, chopped
1/2 Red Pepper diced
1/2 C. celery diced
1/4 lb. Bacon, no nitrates, cut up

3 Carrots, cubed
2 Potatoes, cubed

4 Small cans of chopped clams
2 Chicken breast halves, raw, and cubed
Frozen corn
Chicken broth
Milk
Sea Salt
Roux from butter and white flour or sprouted wheat flour or what you like.

Serve with Angostura bitters sprinkled on top.

This is a creamy, thickened, milk based soup that reminds me a bit of New England Clam Chowder but shouldn't be called that of course.