Stuff This!

I just made up a new stuffing recipe.  And I did it just in time to be too late for anyone else to try it for their Thanksgiving bird.  But, Christmas is coming up so there is a second chance.  This stuffing is one that will be loved by those pepper heads out there.  It is full of black pepper!  Not just a sprinkling or a pinch or a teaspoon, but a whole tablespoon of the peppery goodness.  Then, to make it even more of a peppery delight, add a bit of Penzey's Bicentennial rub to the mix.  This will send your tastebuds into orbit!  All this pepper is finally calmed with the addition of a touch of sweet in the form of dried currants.  Give it a try.

Currant Cornbread Stuffing

1/4 lb sausage of choice

1/2 onion, chopped

1/4 stick butter

1/4 cp coconut oil

1 1/4 cp water

1/2 14 oz bag cornbread stuffing

1/2 cp dried currents

1/2 cp pine nuts

1 tbs black pepper, or less to taste

1 tsp Pensey’s Bicentennial Rub

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp marjoram

Saute sausage and onions with butter and coconut oil until saugsage is cooked through. Add water and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add cornbread. Toss until evenly moist. Add remaining ingredients and toss until well blended. Stuff your bird or bake as is!

Sour Cream & Chive Potatoes

Sour Cream & Chive Potatoes, originally uploaded by emmasdaughter.

Sometimes the diet wagon needs to move on down the road. Sometimes we just need to say "NO!" to that little voice that tells us that what we desire is "bad, bad, bad." Sometimes we must coddle our inner child and partake of what we love.

When those time strike around here, at least for me, I prepare my favorite dish...Potatoes. Russet, red, purple or gold, this humble tuber just sets my heart a quiver and my mouth watering.

Last nigh was one of those nights. A great steak seared to perfection, a pound or so of green beans cooked in garlic and broth and the object of my culinary dersire - Yukon Gold potatoes with sour cream and chives. This dish isn't for the faint of heart when it comes to calories and fats. Of course you could use low fat substitutes, but it just wouldn't be the same. If you are going to do it - dive right in to the deep end and do it! So here we go...

Sour Cream and Chive Potatoes

4 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes (or any type you have on hand)
1 chicken bouillion cube
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tbs butter
1 tbs dried chives
1/4 tsp white pepper
Kosher salt to taste
1 tbs bacon cooked and crumbled (optional)

Scrub potatoes and cut into bite sized pieces (do not peel!). Place in pot and cover with water. Add bouillion cube and bring to boil. Cook until potatoes are tender. Drain. In same pot, melt butter. Return potatoes to pot and stir to coat with the melted butter. Add sour cream, chives, pepper and bacon if desired. Stir until potatoes are creamy and resemble chunky mashed potatoes.

Now, sit back and enjoy one of lifes little pleasures.

Spinach & Mushrooms

Last night was a left over night. But even leftovers deserve a fresh vegie to accompany their second appearance. The night before, our pasta was accompanied by a spinach and mushroom salad. The second appearance of the pasta was in the form of a baked casserole. The remainder of the spinach became something with an interesting flavor that is worth repeating.

Spinach & Mushroom Saute

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

6 t0 8 mushrooms, wiped clean and chopped

1 bag fresh spinach washed and de-stemmed

2 tbls brandy

1 tbls balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste.

Heat olive oil in large heavy pan until hot, add onions and saute until golden. Lower heat and add mushrooms, sauteing until all liquid is evaporated. Add spinach and cover. Cook, stirring occassionally until spinach is tender.

Remove lid, add brandy and cook, stirring constantly until all liquid is once again evaporated.

Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve.

Comfort Food, Mexican Style

Mexican food has always been my comfort food. It is warming, it is filling, it is "curl up in front of the television with a good movie and veg" food. And, alas, I am making this big dish of comfort for the staff of my Boyfriend's office. (see my sad face).

The menu consists of the inevitable pairing of rice and beans. Can't do Mexican without the rice and beans. Then, the main course, my own pride and joy recipe:

Dried Currant Mole' Enchildas

2 to 3 quarts Mole'
1/4 cp dried currants
4 cps stewed chicken, shredded
1/2 cp diced onion, sweated until transparent
2 packages, soft corn tortillas (try to find La Tortilla Factory brand)
Grated Jack, Colby or blend of both cheeses for topping

Pour mole into large skillet and add currants. Heat to just below boiling. Turn off heat. Meanwhile, mix onions into shredded chicken.

Coat 2 - 13x9 baking dishes with non-stick spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Soften tortillas in warm mole until pliable. Remove to plate and put approximately 2 tbls of chicken mixture down center of tortilla. Roll tightly and place in baking dish.

Continue in this manner until both baking dishes are full. Top both with enough mole to cover each enchilada. Top all with a sprinkling of cheese to desired depth (some like more, some like less cheese, it is up to you). At this point you can freeze one pan, covered well, if you like.

Place enchiladas in preheated oven and bake until cheese melts and has a nice golden layer - about 30 to 35 minutes.

Find a good movie, a tall glass of milk, and be comforted!

Green Salad with Lemon/Agave Dressing

I had a wonderful visit to my awesome Dr. the other day. Isn't it amazing that some people can deliver relatively bad news and still make it sound great while others deliver the same news and make you feel as though you had committed some crime or another? My wonderful Dr. is the prior. She could tell you that all of your hair is going to fall out and make you excited about the end result. She could tell you that you are clinically obese and cause you to be excited about the diet that you must be on until you get rid of 35 pounds or so. She could tell you that you are pre-diabetic or have Syndrome X and it sounds as though life has opened a new and exciting door to your future!

Not that my hair is going to fall out or anything. No, it is going to stay. Thank some higher being for that. However, the last of my list was exactly what she told me. That, and the fact that my Vitamin D levels are dangerously low.

Now this is a problem. If you don't know what Syndrome X is, Google it, or go here. And Vitamin D? I never realized the myriad diseases and illnesses this simple hormone helps alleviate or prevent! Again, check it out. The D thing is a bit more complicated than the X thing. But that is alright.

Anyway, what are we doing about the X thing? To start with, my kitchen has turned into Mediterranean food central. I have to stay away from breads and pastas unless I grind the flour myself and make it from scratch. Little did my lovely Dr. know that until moving to the shoddy kitchen house, I did just that. There are to be no processed foods, not a problem, I don't keep them in the house as a rule. Everything, yes, everything, must be made in my little kitchen. No pre-made anything.

Now just where am I going with this? How many people eat out of a box? How many children don't know where milk really comes from? Luckily, we as a family were mostly there anyway. Just a small bit of rethinking the whole butter versus olive oil thing and we were good to go. I tossed the ever present potatoes, looked the other way when the bread came out, and generally didn't bat an eye. Greens, whole grains (not ground but truly whole) roma tomatoes, fish, chicken, lean pork and beef; all have remained in my gastronomical life. It is what I top them with and how they are prepared that has been modified.

Take a simple green salad for instance. Rather that top it with a dollop of bottled salad dressing I get to make my own! The following recipe is the salad we had last night. Fun, colorful, and fresh. Who could ask for more?

My Favorite Madrid Street Salad
serves 4

1/2 head iceberg lettuce, fresh, not pre-packaged
2 cps fresh romaine hearts
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup feta
1/2 cup wheat berries, cooked
red onion rings
artichoke hearts

Coarsely chop lettuce and toss in a large bowl with tomatoes. Garnish with remaining ingredients and dress with Lemon/Agave Nectar Dressing.


Lemon/Agave Nectar Dressing

3 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbs agave nectar
2 tsp basil, dried or fresh
2 tsp water

In a small jar, combine all ingredients. Shake until combined and pour over salad.

This is a very light dressing and will give flavor without weighing down the salad. It has the consistency of water actually! I am working on ways of keeping the dressing emulsified without causing the dressing to get heavy. Will update once I have figure this out.

Triple Berry Rhubarb Sauce

I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books as a child. I remember well the "Little House In The Big Woods". I remember well the part where Laura was given a "Pie Plant". It must have been rhubarb from the description of the stalks. I also remember her dismay when Ma and Pa gave a visitor her "Pie Plant" stalks.
As I grew older and more experienced in "Pie Plant" recipes, pies were the last on my list to make with this wonderful, high in vitamin C gift from the earth. Why limit yourself to just a pie when you can have the wonderful, tart flavor over ice cream or a waffle or a pancake?
Whenever I get my hands on this gem, it goes into my sauce pot to become a savored treat that lasts not just one or two nights, but several seasons!

If you are lucky enough to have a "Pie Plant" or two in your yard, or a generous friend or neighbor, make a bit of this to last you through the cold months of winter.

Triple Berry Rhubarb Sauce

1 lb rhubarb, trimmed, washed, and sliced
1 pint blueberries, washed
1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered.
1 pint raspberries, marion, or black berries, washed
4 cps water
2 cps sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Place all ingredients into a large, nonreactive stock pot (enamel or stainless steel), over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until liquid is reduced in volume by at least half and thickened.
You can put up in jars at this point or, if you are like me and don't like big chunks of strawberry in your sauce, run it through a blender til smooth.

Make sure you hide a bit to enjoy over the winter holiday season when rhubarb is nothing but a distant memory of spring.

Nettle Soup

Nettle Soup, originally uploaded by emmasdaughter.

Stinging Nettles, yes, stinging nettles. An herb that goes into my top 100 super foods list. Why? Because they are good, good, good for you! Not only are they high in iron and vitamin K, they are also a great supplier of vitamin D. You men out there, they are great for non malignant prostate enlargement. Allergies? High blood pressure? Arthritis? Gingivitis? Partake of stinging nettles.

Here is just one site that discussed the amazing properties of this herb.

This herb is so amazing that I would cultivate it if I could find enough rhizomes not currently sporting their prickly companions. So I will just settle for the leaves in my soup.

First, you must clean them of their grit and any darkened or wilted leaves. Make sure you have a pair of thick rubber gloves on your hands and remove the tender leaves from the stalk. Place leaves in a colander and rinse well. Leave in colander in sink full of cold water while preparing soup base. Add to the pot and simmer. No more sting! Too many health benefits to mention.

Nettle Soup

1 large bunch Nettles, cleaned
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Italian sausage (optional)
1 large onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp black pepper
salt to taste
6 to 8 leaves, any other green of choice, optional (spinach, escarole, chard, etc.)
1 hot pepper, diced, also optional

In large pot, over medium heat, saute sausage, onions and garlic until onions are soft. Add broth, salt, hot pepper and black pepper and bring to boil. Carefully add nettles (don't forget to wear your gloves) and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Another "to your health" recipe! Enjoy.