It’s what’s for dinner

Amy asked that I post some of my recipes for my menus.? You’ll have to be more specific.? As you can tell dishes appear in the regular rotation, but very far apart.? I can’t stand cooking the same thing over and over again because I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch* over and over.? So for dinner I like to be creative.? However, the one thing on the menu that you will find frequently is “Chicken & Rice.”? I don’t make this dish.? This is a trusty husband specialty.

When I worked for a major greeting card company I traveled.? a lot.? and that’s an understatement.? The trusty husband was finishing up his bachelor’s degree and spent most of the first year of our marriage alone.? Essentially being still a bachelor he cooked simple meals that were quick.? While I was gone he invented this dish.? He used his mom’s fried rice recipe and cooked up some chicken to go on top.? He made it for me one weekend when I was home and I liked it.? Once I started being home more often I started requesting it.? Although he had likely eaten the same dish no less than three times that week.? It became another one of our comfort foods.? It is our go to dish when I’m not feeling well or when I just don’t feel like cooking.? We always have rice and we most always have chicken.? There you go.

As for the recipe for it… I’ve tried to recreate it.? I can’t.? I also asked him to write it down so I could put it in our fundraiser cookbook.? He did, but if you follow the recipe it doesn’t come out like he makes it.? Bottom line is if you ever want to try “Chicken & Rice” you will have to come to our house for dinner.

Instead of posting a bunch of recipes I’ll give you my go-to sources for them.? As always, I’ll post recipes if you ask for them specifically.? Some have emailed me for recipes and I’ve emailed them back.? Anyway, here is my list of favorite cookbooks:

1) A Flash in the Pan by Brooke Dojny & Melanie Barnard (Swedish Meatballs & Buttermilk Fried Chicken come from here)

2) Best Ever Chicken Cookbook by Linda Fraser (Chicken Risotto is from here, but leave out the saffron.? It’s better without)

3) Wok & Stir Fry by Linda Doeser

4) Mastering Pasta from Williams & Sonoma (I bought this the week before going gluten free.? I love it, but cry every time I see it.? I love to make and eat pasta)

5) Betty Crocker (This is my old stand by.? Can’t go wrong with the Betty.)

6) Simply Organic by Jesse Ziff Cool (my most recent addition.? This week’s Asparagus and Scallops and Herbed Artichokes are from there.? Scallops were good and ask me tomorrow about the Artichokes)

For the most part many of my recipes come from the internet.? We go to a restaurant and find a dish we like, I look it up on the internet and make it.? Panang Curry is one of those.? Basically we went to the asian market, bought a can of Panang Curry paste and make the recipe off the can.? Or Crab Wontons.? I looked it up on the internet and made it.? Now I don’t need a recipe.? Others are like that too… Borscht, Vegetable Samosas, Murgh Korma, Moroccan Chicken, Penne with Pink Vodka sauce, Tian Provencale, and the list goes on.? My “Internet Cookbook” is in an 1 1/2″ 3 ring binder.

So if you want to ask about specific recipes be my guest.? I’ll either email you or try to post them more often.

———————————

*My lunch habits are quite unusual and that will be saved for an entirely different post.

Ok, this is the only real post you get this week. I found a ton of photos of the boy last night. To make my mother happy I’ll post them the rest of this week. I don’t have them processed yet so today you get food. Are you surprised? I didn’t think so. Oh, and one addition to the weekly menu. I’m now going to post what we had the preceding weekend. Just so you don’t think we eat crap on the weekends. Well… we do sometimes.

This post is actually as a result of what Jen posted today. Many of you have stated that you aren’t much of a cook. Jen being one of the major ones. She has 4 kids, I don’t blame her. I understand that it is much easier to go out and purchase a loaf of bread at the grocery instead of making one. With all of the kneading and measuring and waiting, and kneading. And like I told Jen, you can’t go from nothing to everything overnight. I certainly didn’t. I started with bread. Actually, cookies. I can’t stand store bought cookies, except Oreos. But now that they are trans-fat free they just don’t taste the same. Just like Crisco. That lack of trans-fat makes me not want to eat it straight out of the bucket. I might as well just eat margarine. The only one laughing at that joke is the trusty husband. He’s just now figuring out that I finished the section in In Defense of Food about saturated-fat, polyunsaturated-fat and trans-fat. And that trans-fat is the only one likely to kill you. I still cook with Crisco.

If you are going to make a few of the basics from scratch there are items that are essential for that. Flour is the first one. This isn’t to say that you can go over to your local grocery and pick up a bag of store brand all purpose. Especially true if you are making specific items. How do you expect to make whole wheat bread without whole wheat flour? Next comes the age old question of brand. Personally, I buy King Arthur brand. I like it. It works for me. They have and all purpose, a bread and a whole wheat flour. They have others too, but those are the 3 most likely found in your local grocery. Most other flours I buy in bulk at our natural market. I have 8 wheat based flours alone. I also have wheat bran on hand. I have a recipe for cream cheese filled wheat bran muffins that is to die for. Too bad I can’t eat them. I also have a container of bulgar wheat for my weekly bread, but I stopped putting that in. I like the texture without better.

Then, I have 10 gluten free flours. Plus Arrowroot powder and Xanthan Gum. Not to mention stone ground corn meal. Most all purchased in bulk from that same natural foods market.

Armed with this array of flours I can make nearly everything. (I’m still looking for mesquite flour for a really good flourless tortilla.) Each flour serves a specific purpose. The self-rising is for Irish Coffee Cake. The whole wheat pastry is for just that, pastries. The bread and whole wheat are my most used. All purpose if for everything else. Semolina flour is for stiffer pastas. See. Without the proper tools you can’t hope to have recipes that turn out correctly.

There are other kitchen utensils that make the job much easier. My Kitchen Aid stand mixer for instance. I use mine at least 4 times a week. If not more. I have the shredder attachment and hope to buy the meat grinder attachment soon. That bad boy gets a workout. My Cuisinart has been resurrected in my kitchen too. It is great for chopping up large quantities of nuts (or chocolate for truffles). I use it to mix pasta dough too. The boy hates it, but I love it. Love it so much that I bought a mini one. I use that for garlic/ginger paste and chopping small quantities of nuts. I have a whole kitchen full of gadgets that I love, but that is a different post*.

Even armed with the latest in ingredients and gadgets, the beginner cook can’t make a damn thing. Some have a natural talent to whip up dinner on a moments notice. I’m getting there. But cooking is an art. Baking is a science. I leave it to the professionals, for recipes that is. I scour the internet looking for things to bake. (Mostly the gluten free stuff) I also have an arsenal of cookbooks. If you are going to bake bread, one of the best out there is The Bread Bible. This is where my weekly bread recipe comes from. Irish Soda Bread is from there too. Ask my girlfriends, they love that stuff. If you are into “healthy” cooking try this book. The site takes pay-pal and it has great sugar free recipes or recipes using sugar alternatives. And yes, that is an Amish website. Oh the irony.

My biggest advice to anyone wanting to start cooking from scratch is to start small. Start with an easy bread recipe. Master that and then move on. Pasta is one of the most difficult because it really requires the aid of a pasta machine. You can do it without, but prepare for a ton of rolling. Find recipes that work for you and practice practice practice.

*Notice I didn’t mention a bread machine. I do own one, but it is collecting dust in the pantry. A bread machine is great for the mom on the go.

I had some requests that if the Curried Pumpkin Pad Thai turned out ok, would I post the recipe. Remember I said I made it up. It was more like, ooo look! There’s frozen pumpkin puree in the freezer and dried rice noodles in the cupboard. I could make something out of that. It’s how I came up with Beer Battered Chicken*.

When I asked the trusty husband earlier this week if he was afraid of Wednesday night’s dinner his reply was, “a little bit.” Why should he fear? I’ve done right by pumpkin and curry before. Just add noodles and all will be good. Right?

Actually, the “recipe” turned out very good. So in honor of that I’ll share it with you.

1/2 package dried rice noodles (we used the full package and it was too much)
1/2 an onion, diced
1T ginger, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1T. Red Curry Paste (you can use more for added heat, but I fed this to a 3 year old, and he liked it)
1T fish sauce
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (please don’t buy the canned stuff)
sprinkle of brown sugar
1/2 c. cashews, roughly chopped

Prepare the noodles as indicated on the package.

Saute the garlic, ginger & onion in oil (use the type of your choice. We use grapeseed because of my olive oil allergy) until the onion softens. Add coconut milk & curry paste. Whisk together to blend. Cook 5 minutes on medium. Add the fish sauce, pumpkin & brown sugar. Taste it. Add more sugar if your pumpkin wasn’t very sweet. Mine was quite sweet. Add the cashews. Add the prepared noodles. Stir to combine and Viola! Dinner.

Ever since the trusty husband read “In Defense of Food” he’s been on a health food kick.? Did you hear that?? That was my husband yelling at the computer screen that it’s not “health” food, it’s just food.? Real unadulterated food.? Now did you hear that?? That’s him doing his best Gordon Ramsay *Simple. Rustic. Food*? Couple Michael Pollan with Gordon Ramsay and I’m surprised we can eat anything.? In fact, my dear husband is doing his damnedest to get me to stop shopping in the grocery.? It’s hard this time of year with our significant lack of open farmers market and the closest one 40 minutes, expensive gas and parking away.? (We have to wait until May 15 for our local market to open.)

My trusty husband is not trying to save the planet, he’s just trying to save his body.? And mine and the boy’s.? He went to the grocery yesterday and said he nearly had a panic attack.? He started reading ingredients.? Have you ever done this?? I’m sure you have.? All of us have.? But how many times have you put something back simply because there were more than 5 ingredients listed?? I’ve put back things because I couldn’t pronounce the ingredients.? I’ve looked at a box of crackers and saw high fructose corn syrup and put that back.? But the trusty husband.? Won’t by anything with more than 5 things listed.? And those 5 ingredients must be pronounceable and real food.? (save that jar of peanut butter I just bought.)

So where does that leave Miss Gluten & Dairy Free? Well… reading “In Defense of Food.”? The husband assures me this book will give me plenty to write about.? We are doing our best to make sure this blog serves as a great public service.? If that means brow beating you into *gasp* not buying that 15th box of Girl Scout cookies then our job is done.? Really this is for your benefit.

Side note to this week’s menu… the crab rangoon are not gluten free because I don’t want to go to the asian market to find rice wrappers and we have extra crab from last night’s dinner that needs to be used up.? And the Pad Thai noodles… packaged.? But the tortillas for the fajitas, making those.? As well as the fajita seasoning.? Have you ever read the ingredients on the package of fajita mix?? I don’t know what half that shit is, but it sure isn’t food.

I apologize for not posting a menu in a while. I had one done last week. I just didn?t get it put up on the site. Oh, and before I forget? to answer Jenny?s question about the Red Curry with Lime, it was good. A little sour, but for the most part good. We did have a different curry dish last week that was vegetarian (for my veg readers) and very good. It was made with lentils, black eyed peas, pineapple and 100% gluten free. Served over some steamed rice and it was a lovely dinner. The boy even ate some of it.

It is beginning to occur to me that our eating habits are getting odder and odder. Part of this is due to me adopting a new gluten free diet and embracing my inner lactose intolerance. I?ve had so many digestive issues (not because of the flu, although at the moment that limits me to soup and jello) that I need to figure out what is causing the issues. Does that mean I don?t sneak the occasional cracker of enjoy some brie on a slice of baguette to celebrate a friend?s birthday? No. But for the most part I am cutting out wheat and dairy.

Add to this, my trusty husband is reading this book and my enjoyment of this book last year, our views of food are somewhat skewed. We already make our own bread and pasta. I would like to make my own cheese (if I could ever get the stuff ordered and if I could eat it). But I sent the trusty husband to the store to buy shaped pasta. He just couldn?t do it. The ingredients list read like a science experiment. What happened to flour, water, eggs and salt?

Then I looked at a box of crackers, a package of tortillas, the remaining boxed convenience foods we had left in our house. Ingredients I couldn?t pronounce. These things certainly are not food. As In Defense of Food points out, as a society we?ve been so obsessed with consuming things like protein, potassium and Vitamin C rather than food such as chicken, bananas or oranges. Our food culture is so out of whack that we?ve lost all concept of what food actually is.

In our house we are committed to making as much food as possible. To add to our repertoire of bread and pasta, we?ll add tortillas, crackers, and anything else I can find the recipe for. I?ve ordered my seeds for this years garden and I have to add at least 2 more raised beds and plant vegetables in my flower beds. I need to buy more containers for a few of my later season crops and when the finances are available we are going to add an espaliered apple tree, a few blueberry bushes and possibly a pair of cherry trees.

I know many of you look at me and wonder how I have time to make all of this food from scratch. I guess I?m just really good at time management. Either that, or you haven?t realized how easy some of this is to do. I?m being sincere when I say making ones own bread is not that challenging, and you certainly don?t need special equipment to do so. Although, it does make it easier. Same with pasta. I make one batch, freeze half, but I do have a pasta roller to roll out the sheets. A necessity I couldn?t live without.

Give it a try. You might find your inner cook.

Someone a while back asked for my Swedish Meatballs recipe. This isn’t taken from an authentic Swedish cookbook, nor was it passed down from the trusty Swedish Oma (which would be Far Mor), but it’s good. So Lena, no jive on “it’s not real.” The recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks. A Flash in the Pan by Brooke Dojny & Melanie Barnard.

1 1/4 pound ground sirloin(the recipe calls for veal, but we don’t eat veal in this house)
1/2 cup fresh white bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 large egg
2 T minced fresh dill (Rosemary works well too, which I have plenty of)
3/4 t salt
1/2 t fresh ground pepper
2 T butter(I never said this was lo-cal)
1 C chicken broth
2/3 cup heavy cream (see)

In a large bowl, combine the beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, half the dill, salt and pepper. Use your fingers to blend lightly but thoroughly (I use my kitchen aid with the paddle attachment to lessen the amount of raw beef I have to actually touch). Shape into 16-20 one inch meatballs (I scoop mine with an ice cream scoop and shape them in one hand. That way only one hand has to touch the raw beef*).

In a large skillet, heat the butter (I use Grapeseed Oil, I’m allergic to olive oil). Add the meatballs and cook over medium heat, turning frequently, until lightly browned all over and no longer pink, about 10 minutes.

Push the meatballs to one side of the pan and add the chicken broth. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring up any browned bits, until reduced by about half, 2-3 minutes. Push the meatballs back toward the center of the pan. Add the cream and remaining dill and continue to boil until the sauce is slightly reduced and thickened, another 2 minutes or so. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over twisty egg noodles, although it goes well with mashed potatoes for even more ass widening goodness.

—————————

*touching raw beef gives me the heebee-jeebees

If you are observant, you will notice in the “Other Stuff” section (over there <——–) there is a new page “Go Purple Participants.” If you are one of the many who decided to join me in going purple for the month of November please enter your information into the fields and on Wednesday morning the full list will be published. If you do get your information in on time you will also enter to win a FREE box of Sweet Hope Truffles of your choice. So head on over and let us know who you are and that you support National Adoption Awareness Month.

Now on to curry.

Thursday’s menu choice was Pumpkin Soup. I had all of those pumpkins taking up space on my front stoop and couldn’t see the sense in just dumping them in the yard waste bin. (no, we don’t compost. Bad Elle! Bad very bad) So I hunted the tubes of the internets searching for pumpkin recipes. I found pumpkin soup. I like Sweet Potato Bisque so why not pumpkin soup. More beta carotene and all.

Of course Thursday I spent 7 hours making Lefse (which are basically Scandinavian tortillas). The last thing I wanted to do was come home and cook. I was so tired I can’t even remember what we had for dinner Thursday night.

Alas, the pumpkins were still sitting on my stoop. I don’t plan Saturday and Sunday dinner so I pulled Thursday’s dish out of the ol’ A file and prepared it this evening.

On texture alone the recipe was a bit odd. (Tacoma Chickadee and Neal are laughing at that comment due to inside jokedness.) Flavor wasn’t as bad as previously attempted Cabbage Apple Soup, but it needed something. The trusty husband and I scooped out small portions of the soup and added this and that trying to get it just right without ruining the whole thing. Trusty Husband decides to try curry. Somehow, this is his go to spice. Ever tried Grilled Curry Chicken Caesar Salad? Try it. You’ll thank me for it.

So he throws curry (Market Spice Hot Curry, stop buying that grocery store brand will ya?) and lo and behold pumpkin pairs nicely with curry. Of course the boy won’t eat hot curry so I try adding honey. Also good. If curry is good and honey is good, why not honey and curry? I have now invented a new soup!

2 small sugar pumpkins
3 cups chicken broth (I suppose you could use veggie for a vegetarian dish)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 (205 C for kate). Cut pumpkins in 1/2 and scoop out seeds and guts. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment and place pumpkins flesh side down on the tray. Roast 45 minutes or until soft to the touch. Remove from oven and cool. Scrape flesh from the skin and put into a food processor (compost skins, unlike Elle who just threw them away). Whiz around until thoroughly pureed.

Add Chicken stock to the pumpkin and whiz about some more. Pour soup into large sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in nutmeg, salt and sage. Mix well. Add honey and curry to taste. (I didn’t measure. I did the dump and taste method.) Serve with a dollop of sour cream.