Peanut Butter & Rhubarb Cookies

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana, about ½ cup mashed
¾ cup old fashioned oats
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup rhubarb, fresh, diced
3 TBSP mini chocolate chips

 
Double Batch:
2 ripe bananas, about1 cup mashed
1½ cup old fashioned oats
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup rhubarb, fresh, diced
⅓ cup mini chocolate chips

 
Instructions:
• In a large bowl, mash the banana and add oats. Combine with spatula, and stir in peanut butter. Mix everything until all ingredients combined.
 

• Fold in chips and rhubarb pieces. Alternative: use a stand mixer or electric mixer on medium speed, but be careful not to over-mix.
 

• Scoop about a tablespoon of cookie dough on to baking sheet lined with silicon or parchment. The batter will be fairly wet. Once you arrange the cookie dough on a baking sheet, gently shape each cookie into more uniform and rounded shapes with your fingers.
 

• Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 F. WARNING: These over-bake quickly.
 

• Let the cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them onto wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Chicken and Pumpkin Tin Foil Stew

Ingredients, per serving:

¾ cup cubed pumpkin. I used frozen.

½ cup frozen corn.

½ cup leftover chicken, cubed.

1 cup cubed carrots.

¼ cup dehydrated tomatoes, cubed.

3 cloves fresh garlic, coarsely chopped.

1 small under-ripe Scotch bonnet pepper, seeds & placenta removed, chopped finely.

1 TBSP pesto. I used frozen.

1½ tsp dried mushroom powder

½ tsp smoked salt.

1 tablespoon olive oil.

Fresh ground black pepper, to taste.

One tablespoon butter.

Instructions:

• Mix everything except the butter together till seasonings are evenly distributed.
• Place butter in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil. Deposit the mixture on top of the butter, and wrap to a log shape, sealing the edges. Turn the resulting aluminum foil log over, and wrap again in a second layer of aluminum foil.
• Grill over medium high for 20 or 30 minutes, until you can smell things cooking. (Alternatively, roast in the toaster oven.)
• Unwrap, serve and enjoy.

Tsumommy's Clam Chowder

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 slices bacon, chopped (maybe 3 or 4)
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
½ tsp kosher salt
2 bay leaves
8 small yellow potatoes, diced small with skin on (¼” cubes)
2 Tbsp flour
8 oz clam juice
1 cup half&half
½ cup milk
¼ cup white wine
1½ pounds clams
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

Cook the clams. Clean them. Dice them (fairly small). Set them aside. 
 
In a stockpot over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon.
Add the butter. When it’s nicely warm, add celery, onion, bay leaves & salt to the bacon/butter mix.  Cook until veggies are soft, stirring continuously.
Sprinkle the flour in and mix carefully, stirring constantly, making a roux.
 
Add cubed potatoes and the liquids: clam juice, half&half, milk, white wine.
Simmer until potatoes are soft. Stir as needed. Do not boil.
Add the diced clams. Heat the mixture up again. 
 
Serve. Add pepper to taste in the bowls.
Serve with crackers, and perhaps white wine.

Verdict: Really good! Makes enough or 4 or 5 servings.

Classic Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

½ cup uncooked rice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
¾ medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
¾ pound lean ground beef
1 cup diced fresh tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 bell peppers, tops and cores removed
¾ cup shredded Monterey Jack (substitute a goat cheese for the dairy intolerant)
Freshly chopped parsley, for garnish

 

Instructions

Step 1: Prepare the oven. Preheat it to 400 degrees.

Step 2: Cook the rice in a small saucepan according to package instructions.

Step 3: Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, saute the onion for about 5 minutes until tender. Add in the tomato paste and garlic. Stir and continue to cook for another minute until aromatic. Add in the ground beef, breaking up the meat using a wooden spoon, and continue to cook for 6 minutes more until no longer pink.

Step 4: Stir in the cooked rice and the diced tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano, then simmer for about 5 minutes until the liquid slightly reduced.

Step 5: In a 9 x 9 inch baking dish, put the peppers on the bottom cut side-up. Drizzle with oil and spoon the mixture to the peppers, incorporating up to half the Monterey Jack cheese. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese neatly over the tops.

Step 6: Use foil to cover the dish and place it inside the preheated oven. Bake for about 35 minutes until the peppers are soft. Remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

Step 7: Remove from the oven and garnish. Serve warm.

TJ's Mediterranean Pasta Salad

INGREDIENTS: 

-full bag of fusilli noodles (black bean noodles or lentil noodles work great, and make this dish gluten free!) 

Handful each of

-kalamata olives

-roasted marinated red peppers

-artichoke hearts

-frozen corn, A half a bag

-chicken, 6 tenders or thighs. Or 3 chicken breasts. 

-8 cherry tomatoes

-1/4 red onion

-5 radishes

-1 clove elephant garlic, or a few cloves regular garlic

To taste 

-goat cheese

-Parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS 

In a skillet, cook off finely diced garlic with butter, till translucent.

Add seasoned chicken (I liked garlic salt and pepper) when half cooked, start shredding it with two forks. (If it starts out frozen, cook in fryer till fully defrosted, finish cooking in pan and shred)

Place chicken and garlic in a separate bowl with frozen corn, and let residual heat thaw corn.

Cut cherry tomatoes to preferred size and blister in pan till umami flavour is strong. Roughly chop remaining veggies, fresh and marinated.

Do not waste any oil from the marinated veggies, as this will be our sauce. 

Mix everything thoroughly into a large bowl sprinkling in the cheeses to preference. Season with salt and pepper to taste, mushroom salt pairs nicely.  

Balance is important. Especially with the marinated veggies as the oil is important and also filled with flavour.

Sue’s Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound uncooked red or purple potatoes, diced large (golf ball size)
3 cups uncooked leeks, chopped
3 cups kale, chopped
1 bratwurst or sausage per person (optional)
1 TBSP canola oil
3 cups low-fat milk (1%? 2%?)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Pepper to taste.


Instructions:

• Cut potatoes into golf-ball size pieces. Spread on microwavable plate, cover & cook on high until tender, about 6 minutes.

• In stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. When it’s warm, add chopped leeks, chopped kale & salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. 
 
• Dice the sausage (if you're using them) and fry over medium heat.

• Add cooked potatoes, milk & nutmeg to stockpot and reduce heat to medium low. Mash potatoes into small chunks. Simmer until flavors blend, about 5 minutes.

• Serve in wide bowls, perhaps with crackers or toast. Garnish with pepper, finely chopped green peppers.

• Enjoy. 
 
COMMENT: Also works with rice milk instead of dairy milk; makes it vegetarian.

Vegetarian; no sausage.

Not vegetarian; with sausage.

 

McBert Chili

(Prep time 20 minutes cook time 6+ hours)

Ingredients 

-veggie stock box or equal Better-than-Boullion 

-1 can embasa chipotle peppers in adobo sauce 

-dried peppers (Anaheim, jalepeno, pasilla, habenero)

-1 white onion

-2 cans of black beans

-2 cans of kidney beans

-2 small cans of green hatch chilis 

-½ T anchovy paste

-steak chunks 

-soy chorizo

In a large sauce pan start heating the stock, add dried chilies. Our preference is 2 pasilla, 3 jalapeno, 1 habanero. 

Open the tin of adobo sauce and chipotle remove stems, and blend the contents. Add to stock.

Let simmer down until you are happy with the density of flavour. Remove the hotter peppers when happy with heat level. Remember it will get a little hotter. 

While it is simmering, coarsely chop the onion. In a large pot or crock pot, put the beans, the green chilis and the onion in the pot. Stir in anchovy paste. Turn on low.  

Remove the last of the dried peppers, and pour stock into the pot. Let cook on low for at least 6 hours.

When satisfied with flavour and thickness, chop steak into 1" cubes, and sear in a hot pan. Remove chorizo from casing, stir in with steak and add to chili. Let cook on low for an hour or until steak is cooked and very tender. 

I love this chili. Really flavorful. Really dense flavors. 

We served it for dinner with a small dollop of sour cream, and I had it for leftovers with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. 

Low Carb Nut and Seed "Bread"

Ingredients

2½ cups mixed nuts & seeds left whole. For example:

• pistachios

• almonds

• walnuts

• Sesame Seeds

• cashews

• whatever seeds and nuts you have around. Clean the cupboard.

½ cup flax seed (or ground flaxseed meal)

3 eggs

¼ cup oil

½ tsp Salt

Instructions

• In a large bowl, mix everything together.

• Pour into a greased loaf pan.

• Bake at 325°F for 35-40 mins and then let the pan cool for 10 minutes.

• Turn out the bread and let it finish cooling.

Notes

• It’s the eggs and flax seed that bind this together. Don’t short this part.

• I ground half of the flax seed (¼ cup) to powder in a clean coffee grinder, and left the rest (also ¼ cup) whole.

• I added millet and flaked coconut to the “2½ cups mixed nuts & seeds.” I’m thinking I’ll keep trying to make the nuts the big portion and the seeds the small portion.

• I used parchment paper instead of greasing the pan. As usual, it worked wonderfully.

• Apparently it’s not difficult to over-cook this. The original recipe called for 45 minutes. Yeah, that’s too much. When it gets close, keep an eye on it. The only real cooking needed is for the eggs, and they don't actually require that much time.

• The original recipe also called for ⅓ tsp of salt. I used salted nuts, so I cut that back to ¼ tsp. Mistake. Don’t short the salt. 

• It’s better if you put butter on it. I sprinkled some kosher salt onto the butter: that really helped!

NoBake Peanut Butter & Coconut Cookies Freezer Cookies.

Ingredients

1⅓ cups creamy peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 TBSP cocoa powder unsweetened

2 cups coconut flakes unsweetened

2 TBSP butter (or margarine) melted

Instructions

Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick silicone baking mat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, vanilla extract, melted butted, coconut flake and cocoa powder and stir until well combined.

(If you like your cookies a little sweeter, feel free to add 1 or 2 teaspoons stevia or other artificial sweetener).

Scoop batter onto your prepared baking sheet. Use the back of the spoon to gently shape each scoop into into a 3" cookie.

Option: sprinkle a little stevia or erythritol on top.

Place in freezer for 30 minutes to set.

Store in an airtight container in the freezer.