Thursday, June 21, 2012

A One Pot Dish

 Always in the rush to use up my CSA veggies! Tonight we must cook up the Kale and Broccoli!
 Kale and Broccoli Cassarole


Ingredients:

Ingredients:  coconut oil
Coconut oil
kale
mushrooms
onions
garlic
broccoli
Whole milk ( Hatchers or Plain Amasai
3 TB Greek Plain Yogurt for thickness or just stick to the Plain Amasai
Raw Cheddar Cheese or Havarti or a decent grassfed dairy cheese.
Nitrate free prosciutto or bacon. Best is from a local farm.
quinoa,already cooked in a bit of chicken broth=1 cup
dash of thyme
dash of salt and pepper

Method:

First start your Quinoa. I placed 1 cup of the grain in the pot with 2 cups of water and 1 heaping tsp of Chicken paste from "Better than Bouillon" which I found cheapest at Costco and it is Organic. Bring this to a boil and reduce immediately to simmer for 15 -20 min or until desired tenderness.

While that is cooking saute your onions and garlic in Coconut oil. Add in mushrooms for a few minutes and then add in your kale for a bit.

While those two things were happening, I chose to steam my broccoli in a separate pot, I didn't want it getting tough in the pan as I saute which I find happens sometimes.

When the Kale mixture is done, take it out of pan and set aside while you cook your bacon in that same pan. If using prosciutto you can skip this step.

As your quinoa, broccoli, and bacon gets done then just set it all aside separately till it is time to assemble in casserole dish.

Whisk together your liquid dairy and yogurt, 1 more tsp of bouillon, thyme, salt and pepper. Whisk all this together till well combined. Add this to 3/4 of your Kale mixture stirring together and then fold in your broccoli. Reserve the other 1/4 of kale mixture for a nice omelet of frittata dish or just add it all. It really depends on how much of these vegetables you are trying to you use up before they go bad.

Grease your casserole dish now....because, I never do it first! lol
I also don't preheat my oven before now either, because it heats up SUPER fast.
Preheat oven to 350 F

To assemble:

Place a very thin layer of Quinoa in bottom of dish.
 Then just a tiny sprinkle of Cheddar cheese as a layer.
 Next is the kale and yogurt mix sprinkled all over.
Take your bacon and break in pieces all over the casserole dish as your next layer.
 Sprinkle another bit of cheese on now.  This is so little I don't really think of it as a layer.
  Your next layer is the rest of your quinoa sprinkled all over.
 Top with more cheese as a layer, this time. Add as much or as little as you like. It is up to you!
Ok, I know, I have a really poor camera and desperately need to replace it!
 Forgot to show you finished product we were all so hungry and excited by the smell! Ate way more than I thought we would!

Place in the oven for 30 min at 350. This would be great with a pear salad and a vinaigrette.

As you can see, I don't always follow measurements and sometimes I do. What you need to know is , you won't always have everything in the pantry or fridge that you want for a recipe. Sometimes that doesn't matter at all. Sometimes, it does.  If you didn't have any Cheddar, but you had Parmesan or feta, it would taste completely different. However, it would be a brand new dish that you created!

Most of the recipes that are similar to this one called for dairy that my stomach can't handle and or bread/ noodles that my stomach doesn't sit well with. So, I often use quinoa (a gluten free grain).  As for dariy, I love being able to offer all of you Amasai, a cultured dairy that is loaded with probiotics and carries Beta Casein A2 protein instead of Beta Casein A1 protein, which can be highly offensive to our digestive track. The Raw Cheddar and Havarti that I use from Beyond Organic is also made from this protein and is the only cheese that I know of that ,when you heat it, will still carry all the probiotic value as when it was made. You can learn about Amasai and Cheeses that I use here.


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

"Breakfast out never taste as good as breakfast from your kitchen"


Father's Day, Breakfast and Dinner!


When I asked the father of our household what he wanted to do for Father's day, asking, if he wanted to go out for breakfast or have me make him something,  his comment was, "breakfast out never taste as good as breakfast from your kitchen"! He asked for Waffles.
I have had so much Zucchini from our garden, as well as, our CSA! I am making things with Zucchini all the time! So, of course, I would be adding them to the waffle mix!

Gluten Free Zucchini Waffles and The Perfect Egg Dish!


I was so excited to have picked fresh Blueberries just the day before for a perfect topping to our Zucchini Waffles. What about protein? Egg poached, egg scrambled, fried egg, egg omelet? Then I had an idea! I had some bacon and I didn't want to just cook it up in a pan..boring! So, I made up a really delish egg dish! FYI, all the recipes of the day are GLUTEN FREE !

While I was busy cooking in the kitchen Jon David, Ethan and Ocean Grace were in the front lawn flying a kite! It was such a great way to start the day! And just enough wind for it.






Perfect Egg Dish!
Gluten Free :)

So, what was this perfect egg dish? The easiest egg dish EVER!There are only 4 of us so, i made only 6 in my wonderful muffin pan from pampered chef...:)


Ingredients:


6 Bacon
6 eggs
Parmesan cheese, shredded
mushrooms chunks
basil leaves

There is a lot of stuff you could use with this idea, I can't wait to try them out! Such as, feta, goat cheese, spinach, sun dried tomatoes etc. You can see that this dish, too, is Gluten free!




Place your bacon slices in the muffin cups against the walls, creating a circle. Bacon makes a lot of grease..so, i think you can just count on that and not add any extra oil.
Break an egg into the center of the bacon wrap that you just created. I used my finger to push mushroom chunks into the egg white. If your basil leaves are huge then break them into thirds and punch them into the egg whites with your finger, also. Top with Parmesan cheese.
Bake in Oven at $400 for 10-15 minutes or until yolk is at your desired doneness. Take it out of oven to serve and place a super small basil leaf into egg and Parmesan for a nice look!


The finished "perfect egg dish"


This is round one of the kids serving. I think they had 2 or 3 whole waffles!


It was such a hot day so, we decided to fill the day with swimming, buying daddy some much needed new shoes and Jon David's favorite, Pink Berry for a before dinner treat! Ha ha ha, i guess when it is Father's Day, you get to do what you like! 
Every Dad seems to like Grilled dinners, such as, Hamburgers and Hot Dogs! So, tonight's menu was simple but, filling and healthy delish!


Hamburgers with Gluten Free Buns and a side of Zucchini Mint Coleslaw

Believe it or not, this is my 5 yr old hamburger, and yes, he ended up giving it to Daddy and having a hot dog with pickles! LOL
We loved these gluten free buns. They were TOTALLY just like a regular bun to me! We got ours on sale at Whole Foods.

While I was making this dinner, i served Jon David with a very impulsive refreshing cocktail! I wish it wasn't so yummy that we slurped them down before I thought to take a photo!
Mine, of course, had to have the extra pickles and extra Jalapeno and a fresh CSA veggies on top! I had already added them to the patty before cooking. Can't wait till my very own peppers are ready to be picked, since this still wasn't very spicy for me!
The Zucchini Slaw was made from CSA veggies too and mint from my garden.

Nothing like a few kisses to top the Father's Day celebrations!

Happy Father's Day to all your wonderful Dad's!

Made up Cocktail

Blueberry Basil Quencher

Ingredients:
fresh blueberries
fresh basil
1/2 fresh squeezed lime juice
orange soda water
1-2 oz of vanilla vodka

The thing I like about this drink is how yummy it would be with just the blueberries, basil and water!

Take crushed ice and muddle the blueberries, basil and ice together. My sister taught me that the crushed ice is what cuts through the basil and berries to add flavor! Then add in your liquids. I have no measurements for you, i just figure out what looks good to me. 1-2 oz of the vodka is all you need.
Top with a straw and a stem of basil for pretty!
If this drink wasn't so amazing I would have a picture for you! We drank it too fast to remember!
This was a great Father's Day treat before dinner!

Gluten Free Waffles

 Zucchini Waffles

Ingredients: i made these gluten free

  • 1 large zucchini, shredded
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour. I used gluten free flours
  • 1 TB baking powder
  • 1 tsp of Celtic sea salt
  • 1tsp cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup sugar. I used coconut sugar. You could use maple syrup or whatever you like
  • 1 1/2 cups milk, use any milk you like. I used almond milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract




Method:
Preheat waffle maker.

Shred your Zucchini in your food processor or using the large holes of your grater. Use paper towels or a dishtowel to squeeze out all the extra moisture out of the zucchini and then set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar. Stir well.

In another large bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, vanilla all together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk until smooth. Fold in the zucchini and mix well.

Spread oil on the waffle maker. Add batter to the waffle maker, close lid and let set till light goes off. Be careful not to open too fast or early and split the waffle.

we topped our waffles with fresh picked blueberries, coconut butter spread and maple syrup!

The Versatile Slaw

Zucchini Mint ColeSlaw



Ingredients:

2 small or 1 Lg  zucchini from my CSA, very thinly julienned or grated
1/4  cabbage shredded or cut in thin strips (optional)

2 medium carrots grated (optional)
1 cup mint, finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, minced
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup grapeseed mayo
juice and zest of one lemon
dash of salt
Harissa, to taste (optional)

Method:
Add the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. I had more CSA veggies to use up so, I added in the cabbage and carrots. Toss all this around a bit.
In a separate smaller bowl mix the last 4 ingredients together whisking till smooth. 
Now you can toss the two bowls of ingredients together. If you like a little bite of spice to your slaw be sure to add in the Harissa or a fresh Jalapeno!
Enjoy this as a great side for grilling out!

Suggestions:
using only the Zucchini veggie with the mint flavor to it, this would be excellent with some lamb patties or sausages!