Cheesy Kale Chips

 

Ingredients: 

A whole bunch of kale, preferably dinosaur kale. 

1/2 cup of nutritional yeast 

1 5-oz punch of white miso paste

4 TBSP olive oil

1/2 tsp fine salt

1 TBSP smoked garlic powder (or 2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed & minced)

1/4 cup ground (not shredded) Parmesan cheese

1 TBSP or two of water, to thin the mixture/paste

 

Instructions: 

Combine all ingredients into a large (steel?) bowl. 

Cut or tear kale leaves into chip-sized pieces. Remove thick stems. 

Add the kale to the bowl with the paste & mix thoroughly until well coated. 

Spread the coated leaves evenly on several dehydrator shelves. 

Set dehydrator to 125 degrees.

Leave for 12 - 14 hours, or until crispy. 

Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

 

 

If this recipe makes 4 servings, each serving would be approximately:

325 calories

12 g protein

14 g carbs (about 4 g fiber)

26 g fat

2,100 mg sodium

Ick. 

Rhubarb Chips

I wanted to make some rhubarb chips that I could add to my cottage cheese and such in the mornings.

Ingredients:

Some rhubarb. 

Some artificial sweetener. 

Instructions:

Chop the rhubarb into tiny little cubes. 

Mix it up with the artificial sweetener, to taste. I recommend a Tupperware type thing with the lid, and shake it up. 

Spread it out on a tray in the dehydrator.

Dehydrate it for a couple of days.

Store it in a glass jar until you're ready to use it.

 it turns out that the artificial sweetener that you use makes a noticeable difference.

The one on the left, the darker one, used the sucralose sweetener. The result is a darker fruit, and more of the rhubarb taste. The one on the right uses a mix of ethritol and monk fruit. The color is lighter, and the rhubarb flavor is lighter , almost hidden underneath the sweetener.

Either way, Per serving, that’s about 6.4 calories, 4.4 g total carbs, 0.6 g fiber, 3.8 g net carbs, 0.3 g sugar, 0.3 g protein, and 0.1 g fat.

September’s Dill Pickles

This made: 3 pints dill pickles, 2 pints pickled onions plus 1 pint extra brine. 

Preparation:
• Wash all the jars (dishwasher, hot setting). Sterilize lids in a pan of boiling/simmering water.


Brine:
2 cups white vinegar (5% acidity)
2 cups filtered water
2 TBSP coarse, uniodized salt
4 tsp table sugar


► Simmer (or boil), stirring, until it’s all dissolved.


Pickle Spears, in each jar:
1 small (or ½ large) head fresh dill, or dill gone to seed.
1 clove garlic, halved.
2 very small bay leaves.
1 tsp pickling spices
• Lots of cucumbers, sliced lengthwise. (I used 4 standard sized cucumbers, sliced into eights plus 4 very small cucumbers, halved.)


Optional:
• Maybe add some spears of bell pepper, or of a warmer pepper, or some pepper flakes, or some onion slices.


Pickled Onions, in each jar:
1 small (or ½ large) head fresh dill, or dill gone to seed.
1 clove garlic, halved.
2 very small bay leaves.
1 tsp pickling spices
• Slice a (red) onion very thin (⅛”), then quartered. Separate the sections. (I didn’t have enough red onion for 2 pints, so one pint is mostly red onion and ⅓ sweet onion, mixed together.)

► Put all the spices in the bottom of the jar. Fill the jar (pretty tight) with onion slices, leaving about ½” clear at the top. Fill with brine to ½” from the top. Wipe the rim, add lid, add ring, only modestly finger-tight. Then boil them in a hot water bath for at least 10 minutes.


► If you have a significant amount of extra brine (I had about a pint extra), pour the boiling liquid in a jar to ½” from the top. Wipe the rim, add lid, add ring, only modestly finger-tight. Then boil them in a hot water bath for at least 10 minutes.

Dill Pickles

My very first attempt at making pickles. I grew pickling cucumbers and the herb dill this year especially for making pickles.

The one on the right is one cup of white vinegar, one tablespoon of salt, enough pickles to fill up a jar, if you sprigs of fresh dill, and two small cloves of garlic, sliced in half, crammed down in between things.

When I finished that one, I needed to expand my options.

The one on the left is a cup of white vinegar, a tablespoon of salt, two small cloves of garlic sliced in half , bunch of Dill cram down in between the pickles , and a teaspoon or so of herb de Provence.

In both cases, I boiled the vinegar long enough to fully dissolve the salt, and I poured it over a cucumbers in the jar, slapped a canning lid and the jar lid on top. I let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours until it cooled off, then it went into the refrigerator. 

Space Jam©

Space Jam©: Left to right: Rhubarb,
Citrus (mixture of lemon and orange)
and Strawberry, plus T&G Powder

I've been making some dried fruit powder, and making Space Jam© out of it.

• Dehydrate fresh fruit until it's really dry and crisp.

• grind it to powder. 

I store the powder in the freezer but i mix some in shaker spice jars.

1:1 mixture of fruit powder and sugar free powdered sweetener. 

Serving: spread peanut butter on a cracker, shake Space Jam© on top to taste. It's pretty darned good, but none of the carbs or calories of sugar. 

I took this mixture on a family campout, and my niece decided this needed to be called Space Jam©. So it's Space Jam© now. 

Also: roast tomatoes with fresh garlic. Dehydrate completely. Grind to powder for T&G (Tomato & Garlic) powder. Still working on the best application for this one. 

NB: Rhubarb, Lemons, Tomatoes and Garlic from my own garden. Strawberries from Spooners. Oranges from the produce department.

NB: Apricot Space Jam© is not worth the effort. Needs a fruit with some zing. Going to try Raspberry and Blackberry soon. 

Lemon Pepper Hot Sauce

Ingredients:

12 Lemon Drop peppers, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
2 Mad Hatter peppers, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1 small red bell pepper (or ½ standard size), coarsely chopped
½ cup carrots, sliced small
5 small cloves garlic, peeled & crushed
¼ medium white onion, coarsely chopped
1 TBSP olive oil
½ cup rice wine
¾ cup (more or less) water
1 TBSP honey
1 tsp coriander seed, roasted & crushed

Comment: could use some salt.


Instructions:

• Wear rubber gloves and a face mask.
• Seed all the peppers. Coarsely chop them.
• Peel and crush the garlic.
• Chop the onion coarsely.
• Chop the peppers, ⅛” thick.
• Heat the olive oil in a medium frying pan.
• Saute all of the above until the onions begin to think of transparency. Stir constantly.
• Add some of the water and simmer until everything is beginning to soften.
• Meanwhile, toast coriander seed. Crush it.
• Add the rice vinegar, honey & toasted & crushed coriander seed until carrots are soft.
• Cool the mixture some.
• Blend the mixture real fine.
• Cool completely.
• Fill bottle or jar and refrigerate.


Next time:
• ½ tsp or so of salt.
• ¼ cup or so lemon or lime juice.
• a tsp or a TBSP of peeled, ground ginger root.
• a little tarragon, fresh is better, ground is acceptable.
• Some cilantro or even parsley. Maybe some chives.
• a little batch of fresh basil.
(Courtesy Ed Currie of Puckerbutt.)

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.

Butternut and Turkey Sausage Soup

 This is a big pot of soup. Reduce by at least half, maybe three fourths.  

 
From the Carney Clan in Florida. 

Zucchini flour

You may have heard it called Amish flour or troops flour before. It’s a Staple in Amish and Mennonite household for generations. It was also embraced in the 1940’s during rationing. 

It's a low-carb, gluten-free flour. Or it's good for just stretching your flour, or for using up all those zucchinis that grow so quickly. You can substitute zuke flour for coconut flour 1:1.

There’s probably fancier ways of doing this out there, but here’s how I learned. It's pretty easy.

You let your zucchini grow, oversized zucchini will give a milder-flavored flour. Peel with a carrot peeler, into thin even strips. If you shred the zucchini (cheese shredder or food processor), it will dry faster, but take more space and be messier.

You can use the skins and seeds if you’re using small-to-medium size fruit; if you’re using a great big one, leave skins and seeds out.

Dehydrate the zucchini. It must be absolutely dry, paper dry, crispy dry. It’s essential. If in doubt always dry it more; any moisture will ruin it during storage

Then run the dried strips through a food processor until you have a powdered consistency. It will be a marbled green looking power if you kept the skin. The texture should be similar to a good quality whole wheat flour. If it’s not fine enough for you, sift the flour. You can run the siftings through a coffee grinder and sift again.

That is zucchini flour. Three large zucchini is about four or five cups finished.

It can be used to replace up to ⅓ of the flour in most recipes without any change to the finished products. It acts as a thickening agent for gravies, great for breading fish. I’m told it makes good tortillas or naan bread. It also makes great dumplings and brownies.

Store in air tight jar or vacuum pack it; adding a desiccant (silica) packet to keep humidity down. Do not store the flour in the refrigerator (too much moisture) and use within 6 months for best quality. Alternatively, store the sliced/shredded zucchini in the freezer and process it when you’re getting ready to bake.

So this is free, sustainable, easily produced on site and it has a mild taste. Most people wouldn’t pick up on it. It cuts our flour usage by a third. You can make flour with sweet or regular potato, other squashes, and with pumpkin. I just find myself zucchini is the least flavored. Plus we get overloaded by the darn things. 

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.

 

TJ's Succotash

 INGREDIENTS: 

-1red bell pepper

-1 green bell pepper

-1orange bell pepper

-1 red onion

-1 Zucchini, small

-1 yellow squash (or two Zucchini if you can't find the squash)

-1 bunch of cilantro

-corn (frozen or fresh)

-Seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne, paprika

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Basically try to have equal amounts of everything, though if the onions tip the balance, it isn't a bad thing.

Dice everything really finely.

Sauté red onions till translucent, add Zucchini, sauté for a couple minutes, add peppers and corn. 

Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne, and paprika. Add more heat as you like. Add cilantro at the end.

(Thoughts: I think a little white pepper would go nicely, and fresh jalapeños or serranoes will also go well.) [I may try it with de-seeded scotch bonnets.]

Cook till a happy texture. Avoid mush.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Ingredients

4 or 5 pounds Roma tomatoes - halved and roasted

3 cloves garlic - peeled

1½  TBSP olive oil

1 tsp salt - divided

Some freshly ground black pepper

1½ tsp butter

1 onion - sliced

½ cup fresh basil - plus more for serving

1 TBSP chicken bouillon concentrate

1 cup milk (your choice what kind)

½ tsp red chili flakes - plus more, if desired

optional croutons or crackers

Instructions

    Roast the tomatoes and garlic (400° for maybe 45 minutes).

    Sauté the onions in olive oil and butter. Sauté on lower heat for at least 10 minutes or until starting to brown and caramelize. Stir often.

    Add the tomatoes, fresh basil, broth, and red chili flakes to the pot. Bring to a low simmer, reduce heat to low. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes to the pot with their juices, and return to a simmer.

    Simmer. Simmer the soup uncovered and over low heat for approximately 20 minutes.

    Puree with an immersion blender. Avoid over-blending; you want some chunks. You may also use a stand blender.

    Season and serve. Return soup to your pot and season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with fresh basil, croutons, or a splash of fresh cream, or crack an egg into a bowl of cool soup and microwave 4 or 5 minutes until egg is done.

Yummy! 

Low Carb Rhubarb Pie

Makes one 5" pie. 

Pie Crust:

Use the Low Carb Biscuit Dough for the crust.  I made it with half almond flour and half coconut flour.

Filling Ingredients:

• Fresh rhubarb. I think I used a cup & a half.  (Fresh is good. Frozen works.) Slice 'em thin.
• Sweetener. Maybe half a cup of no-carb sugar substitute. (This stuff is good!)
• Thickener. I used a tablespoon of corn starch. To make it gluten free, substitute arrowroot, pectin or gelatin. To make it gluten free and carb free, substitute xanthan gum or agar powder.

Instructions:

• Roll out the dough for the crust. Roll it onto plastic wrap so you can transfer it to the pan. Make it thin. 
• Carefully put the crust on the pan, and cut away excess. You should have 1/3 to 1/2 left in scraps. 
• Roll the scraps out and set aside. 
• Bake the empty pie crust in the pan at 375 for 15 or so  minutes. Partway through, you'll need to cover the perimeter with foil to keep it from getting too dark. 
• Mix the rhubarb with the sweetener & the thickener. Microwave for a minute or so to get some juices out of the rhubarb for the sweetener and the cornstarch to mix with. 
• When the pie crust is ready, fill the crust with the mixture. 
• Cover with the remaining pie crust. Make it pretty if you have those skills. You can tell that I lack the skills.
• Bake for 15 or 20 minutes at 375, or until the top crust gets golden. I baked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. 
• Let the pie cool before serving. 
• Serve with ice cream if you can get away with it, or else a glass of milk. 

This was pretty good, particularly for my first effort. I'll make this again! 

Veggie Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups grated zucchini

2 green onions, thinly sliced

¼ yellow (or white, or purple) onion, julienned

1 cups spinach leaves, julienned

2 large eggs

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded Cheddar

¼ cup cornstarch

1 TBSP roasted garlic powder 

Dried basil, oregano, sage, etc. to taste.

Salt & pepper, to taste

Vegetable oil or bacon grease, for cooking

Instructions:

• Feel free to vary the vegetables as much as you want: Pumpkin, carrots, kale, cabbage, shallots, bell peppers. Experimentation is encouraged. Clean out your vegetable drawer. 

• Squeeze all moisture out of vegetables with a clean kitchen towel, or several clean paper towels. Be thorough.

• In a large bowl, combine vegetables, eggs, cheeses, cornstarch, & spices. Mix thoroughly. Add more cornstarch if needed to make a mix that will stick together well.

• Heat oil or bacon grease in skillet. Scoop about ⅓ cup of mixture, and form into a pancake.

• Cook until medium brown on both sides, about 4 minutes a side. Drain on paper towel if needed, and keep warm in oven. 

Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to a week. 

Serving Suggestion:

○ Preheat toaster oven to 400° or so.

○ Heat one or two slices of ham in microwave. Or fry some bacon.

○ While ham is heating, use toaster oven to partially melt 1 slice of Gruyere or mild cheese on veggie pancake.

○ Fry or poach an egg. Leave yoke soft.

○ Stack egg on ham slices on softened cheese on veggie pancake.

○ Top with shredded cheese, and return to toaster oven to melt, or possibly brown, depending on your preferences.