Recipe: Spaghetti Soup

Spaghetti soup

2 quarts water
2 quarts homemade spaghetti sauce (or could use 2 jars of store bought stuff)
1 1/2 sleeves of yam noodles (1 1/2 pounds dry noodles) (or could use 1 1/2 pounds spaghetti noodles of whatever type you like)

Put in large slow cooker on high for 4 hours. At 3 hours use kitchen shears to chop up noodles.

At 4 hours, stir in 24 ounces sour cream and 6 ounces shredded Asiago and parmesan cheeses. Should be consistency of stew. If too thick, add water, sauce, or milk.

Serve with grain free bread and green veggies.

Cooking Tip: to shred cheese when hands are hurting. Chunk with a knife. Drop into a blender. Pulse until little crumbles.

Makes 5-6 quarts. Freezes well.

Chicken Frittata

Chicken Frittata

In a glass cake pan, Layer the following

2 cups shredded, cooked chicken mixed with 1 cup sour cream

4 ounces crumbled Feta cheese

8 jumbo or large eggs whisked until smooth

4 ounces mozzarella


Bake uncovered at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour until browned on top.

Serve with green veggies (steamed Kale, lima beans, peas, broccoli, etc.) or salad.  Have cherries for dessert.

Roasted taters and cheese. Beeswax lip & Hand balm - 2 recipes

Roasted Taters and Cheese
Last night, I was hungry, but really did not want to do much cooking and DEFINITELY did not want to do many dishes.  So, I thought about some sort of twist on a baked potato.  This is what I ended up with:

2 large (baking) potatoes - scrubbed clean.
8 ounces mozzarella (or any other) cheese
1 tablespoon butter

I sliced the scrubbed baking potatoes into rounds that were 1/4 inch thick.  It is important to get all rounds about the same thickness.

I put down a layer of potato rounds in the bottom of a glass casserole dish.  I then laid out a second layer on top of the first, offsetting the potatoes so the second layer lay over the edges of the potatoes below it.

I dotted the entire top layer with very thin slices of butter.

I put this into a cold oven and turned it onto 400 degrees fahrenheit, let it bake for 20 minutes.

At 20 minutes, I took the potatoes out of the oven and topped with thinly sliced mozzarella cheese (could use shredded cheese, but why bother with the work of shredding it when slices work just as well??).  I put the potatoes back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes.  When the cheese was toasty browned on top and crispy, I took them out of the oven.

It was a lovely meal to eat with salmon and green peas.  And, the amount of dishes - 1 casserole dish and 1 knife (I sliced the cheese in the casserole dish before layering on potatoes so I did not have to dirty a cutting board).

AWESOME!




BEESWAX LIP/HAND BALM

2 ounces of beeswax
1/2 cup castor oil
1/4 cup apricot kernel oil.

Put all ingredients in a double boiler (or if you don't have one as I do not, make one by sticking a smaller pot suspended in a bigger pot and fill the bigger pot so water covers the bottom 1/3 of the smaller pot's depth).

Heat OVER LOW HEAT (takes about 30-45 minutes) to melt the beeswax.  Stir frequently.  Time to completely melt beeswax is reduced if you chop the beeswax into thin chunks/slices prior to heating.

Once completely melted, turn out into glass dish with sides or into containers.  Once cool, use sharp, oiled knife to cut into small squares.  Wrap in waxed paper and then in foil.  Tie a little bow on it.  Give as gifts for hands/lips over winter.

Potato Fritatta - Recipe

Cooking fun for the day - Made a fritatta, but used potatoes instead of my typical squash.  Turned out pretty good.

2 large potatoes sliced thinly and evenly (If you slice them different thicknesses some will cook and others will still be crunchy)
4 eggs
2 cups milk
4 ounces colby jack cheese
2 ounces feta cheese

Slice potatoes very thin and set aside.  Mix eggs and milk and whisk well.  Set aside.  Crumble feta cheese into small crumbs.  Set aside.  Shred cheese.  Split into two bowls, 1 with about 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, the other with the rest.  Reserve the 1/2 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of everything.

Once all ingredients are ready, oil a glass 9x12 baking dish (think cake pan size).  Layer potatoes, sprinkle of colby jack, potatoes, sprinkle of feta and repeat until out of ingredients.  When everything layered, slowly pour egg/milk mixture over the fritatta.  Sprinkle reserved cheese over the top.  Place uncovered in oven.  Turn on oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Turn oven down to 300 and bake another 30 minutes.

NOTE - I do not preheat the oven when using glass baking dishes, so this recipe is assuming you put the fritatta into a cold oven.

Easy Substitutions from an allergic life

Conditioner
Marshmallow root
Hibiscus flower
Chamomile flowers

Steep in boiled water for 10 minutes.  Use immediately.


Air Freshener
1 bottle Isopropyl Alcohol
3 vanilla beans snipped into 1 inch pieces.

Drop beans into bottle.  Cap.  Put in cabinet.  Retrieve 4 weeks later.  Sieve out solids.  Put liquid into spray bottle.  Use as wanted.

Can also use citrus zest, pieces of fresh mint plants, lavender flowers, chamomile flowers, etc.


Flavored salt/sugar
Layer citrus zest, vanilla beans, fresh mint, etc. into crushed salt or sugar.  Store in GLASS, Opaque bottle or in GLASS clear bottle in a DARK PLACE.  Shake every couple days.  Ready in about 4 weeks.

Syrup Substitute:
In a slow cooker, place 2 cups fruit chunks.  Add spices and sweetener to taste.  Turn onto low.  Cook 12 hours.  Use hand blender to puree.  Sub for any type of THICK fruit syrup.  If you want it thinner, add water when putting all things into slow cooker.

Cooking for the week - Meatballs, Lentil & Potato Stew, Lentils, Stewed Minute Steaks, boiled eggs

Cooking for the week

meatballs:
1 pound ground beef - VERY LEAN
1 pound sausage (homemade sausage is very easy)
1/4 cup grain-free bread crumbs
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 large eggs
onion powder
garlic powder
italian spice powder

mix well.  roll into meatballs.  layer in a single layer in a glass dish.  bake at 350 (uncovered) for at least 1 hour until crispy looking on top.


Salmon casserole:
1 can drained salmon
2 eggs
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
onion powder
garlic powder

Mix well.  Put into crock pot.  Turn on low.  Cook for at least 4 hours.


Lentil and potato stew:
1 cup lentils
3 small diced potatoes
2 minced cloves garlic
salt
3 cups water
1/4 cup minced onion (fresh onion, chopped tiny... not the dehydrated stuff)

Put into crock pot. Cook on High at least 4 hours.


Lentils
1 cup lentils
1 minced garlic clove
1/4 cup minced onion
3 cups water

Put into crock pot.  Cook on high at least 4 hours.


Stewed Minute Steaks

Brown 2 pounds minute steaks in melted butter.  Pour over browned steaks 2 cups water (use more if needed to cover).  Sprinkle water with onion powder and with garlic powder.  Cover pan.  Let simmer for at least 90 minutes.

And one dozen boiled eggs.

Latest bread recipe.

I was mostly out of bean flour (besan flour), so I made bread with 75% starch mixture (tapioca, sweet potato, potato) and 25% equal amounts besan flour and almond flour - for about 8 cups dry stuff.

Used more eggs than typical (about 1 egg per cup flour/starch mixture).
Used 2 cups sour cream, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 cup oil.

Used a mixer to beat the liquids smooth and then to mix liquids into dry.

SHOULD BE THICKNESS OF PANCAKE BATTER - if not, add water.

Dumped it into GREASED (OILED) glass 9x13 and 8x11 baking dishes.  DO NOT FILL OVER 2/3 full.

Baked it on low (325 degrees Fahrenheit) for a bit over an hour.  DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR FOR FIRST 45 MINUTES or it falls and gets gummy in the center!

Tastes very good.  Light crumb, so is going to be GREAT to slice each piece into 4 slices to make crackers.  HAPPY MOMENT

Yes - you can sub in any sort of starches for the ones I used, you can sub in any sort of milk thing (soy, almond, hemp, etc) for the dairy based stuff.  For eggs, you could try chia seeds or flax seeds soaked in water - not sure that would work.  But, if not, make thinner and then pour onto metal trays to bake as crackers.

RECIPE: Curried potato salad

For people with allergies - USE SAFE FOR YOU INGREDIENTS:

1 teaspoon curry powder (get individual spices and mix your own is safest!)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups large diced left over baked potatoes (Skinned)
1/2 cup sour cream or sour cream substitute

mix all ingredients well.  Place in GLASS (not plastic or metal cause it taints the flavors) dish and cover.  Let sit in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Tastes like a light potato salad with curried flavors.

Gluten-free, corn-free DUMP AND BAKE bread. Takes about 10 minutes of work to get it done.

USE SAFE FOR YOU INGREDIENTS

Frittatas are done.  Had all the pans and stuff out, so thought I would make bread.  Dump and bake bread in the oven.

Today's recipe -
DRY:
10 cups 50% starches (sweet potato, potato, tapioca) 50% chickpea (besan) Flour
4 tablespoons baking powder (make your own for safety)
Salt to taste

WET:
16 oz sour cream (can use any somewhat greasy/milky sub)
1 cup oil
1 cup melted butter (or GHEE) (can use any oil or sub a liquid)
a couple cups of water (to thin it all out to thickness of thick pancake batter)
6 eggs (prob would work with some sort of egg-replacer, but you gotta have enough to puff up the stuff or you will end up with hockey pucks!)


step 1 - Mix dry.  (2 minutes to measure and mix)

Step 2 - Whisk eggs, add wet stuff, mix well. (3 minutes to break eggs, whisk and mix)

Step 3 - Pour wet into dry.  Stir until thoroughly mixed. (3 minutes)

Step 4 - Dump into 2 cake pans (greased) (1 minute).

Put into COLD OVEN (no preheating necessary).  Bake at 375 for 90 minutes.

Check after 60 minutes.  Done when thumps hollow and is cracked on top.

Dump and Bake - squash frittata and salmon frittata

cooking for the day is done.

Used ninja to blend cheese (10 oz), eggs (5), garden scallions (1/4 cup), garlic (4 cloves), onion (1/4 cup), milk (1 cup) and salmon (1 pound).  Poured into very large casserole dish (cake pan size or bigger).

Used ninja to blend  blend cheese (10 oz), eggs (5), garden scallions (1/4 cup), garlic (4 cloves), onion (1/4 cup),  milk (1 cup) and 5 large yellow squash.  Poured into very large casserole dish (cake pan size or bigger).

10 minutes prep time.  5 minutes rinsing and putting dishes in dishwasher.

Cheeses - asiago, feta, cheddar, parmesan, farmer - but you can use whatever you like.

Now the oven is baking 2 very large casseroles/fritattas at 350 for about an hour

...and lunch is baked for the week.  YAY.

Cheesy Chicken Bake Recipe (Low Carb)

Cheesy Chicken Bake

3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

¼ cup queso cheese (Mexican cheese – NOT the stuff in a jar for nacho chips)

¼ cup Farmer’s cheese (or ricotta)

¼ cup asiago cheese

¼ cup parmesan cheese

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Lay chicken breasts out in a glass dish.  Sprinkle with onion and garlic powder. Layer on cheeses in order listed in ingredients.  Cover dish with foil.  Place dish in oven.  Turn oven onto 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Bake (covered) for 1 hour.  Remove foil.  Return to oven.  Bake 30 minutes until browned on top.  Serve with spaghetti sauce and fresh vegetables or salad.

Customizations:

Can change spices to Mexican spices, Italian spices, or other.

Can cut the chicken into chunks and add vegetables before layering on cheeses.

Can add ham slices to the chicken before adding cheese.

Can use different cheeses.

Can layer tomato sauce or pizza sauce on the chicken under the cheeses.

Makes 8 Servings.

Gluten Free Dumplings

3 cups of 50% Besan (chickpea) flour, 25% tapioca starch, 25% sweet potato starch.
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, whisked
2/3 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter


In a large bowl, add 2 cups of flour mix, baking powder and salt.  Mix well.

In small bowl, mix eggs and milk.

Pour milk mixture into flour mixture.  Pour in melted butter.  Mix well.  Should be thin to medium batter.  Add remaining flour a bit at a time until mixture is stiff.  You might not use all the flour.  That is ok.

Drop by spoonful into boiling broth.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

These are NOT fluffy and light dumplings.  They are chewy dumplings (the texture of wheat-based strip dumplings), but they have a lovely flavor.

Broth x 3

A local store has 10 pounds of chicken legs and thighs for sale at $0.68 per pound (a total of $6.80).  So, I got a couple sets.  In a LARGE stock pot, I put chicken, onion, garlic, and a bit of salt.  Filled the thing up with about a gallon of water (which is why I use a large pot), and let that simmer (with a lid on it) for about 8 hours.

Strained out the chicken, onion and garlic.  Boiled the gallon of broth down to less than 1/6 of the starting amount.  Cool.  Freeze in ziplock bags or in mason jars.  This is broth 1.



Cool the chicken pieces and the onion and garlic.  When cool enough to work with, pick the meat out of the skin and off the bones.  Put skin, bones, joints, and onion and garlic back into the large pot.  Fill with 1-2 gallons of water.  Simmer for 12 hours.  Remove the solids and boil down to 1/6 the amount of liquid.  Cool.  Freeze in Ziploc bags or in mason jars.  This is broth 2.

Crack the bones (use a meat hammer).  Put the remaining solids, the cracked bones, an onion, some celery, and some garlic into the large pot.  Add a gallon of water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and put a lid on the pot.  Simmer for 12 hours.  Remove solids and discard the solids.  Boil the broth down.  This is broth 3.  For broth 3, the flavor is less intense than in broth 1 or 2.  So this is the perfect broth to use for delicately flavored soups, to use for boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes, or for cooking fish.

what to do with leftover baked potatoes: Cheesy taters like home fries

Had 3 large baked potatoes left over from dinner the other night.  Skinned them, cut them into chunks and layered them out on a glass baking dish.  Sprinkled them with garlic powder, onion powder and a bare small amount of salt.  Cut mild cheddar slices and layered those on over the taters.  The cheese was cut pretty thin, but not see-through thin.

Put the pan into the oven.  Turned it onto 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Left it to bake.  In about 30 minutes checked it.  Took another 10 to be golden and crispy.

Ate them with ketchup.  Turns out the texture of the potato is about the same as a perfectly cooked home fry.  The cheese on top is crispy and delish.  In between the home fry crumbly tater and the crispy crust is a layer of melted cheese.

Oh my, lunch was delicious!!

Quick and easy mashed potatoes: The perfect use of a Ninja...

When your hands hurt - or you have a stomach bug and allergies enough you cannot take advantage of instant potatoes...  Here is a great way to make quick and easy homemade mashed potatoes.

Rinse several potatoes.

Put on glass baking dish.  Set into oven.  Turn onto 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Let bake at least a hour.  Done when soft to the touch.

Pull glass dish with baked potatoes out of oven.  Using silicon mitt to protect your hands, split the potatoes and squish out the insides into a bowl.  Either set the skins aside later for baked cheese skins or dispose of the skins.

Into Ninja (I used the small pitcher and the dough blade), dump the tater insides.  Add butter and milk to taste.  I used about 1/3 cup milk, 3 medium potatoes, and 2 tablespoons butter.  Put the lid on and process like you would dough.  Scrape down the sides once or twice if needed.  Add salt, garlic, sour cream, etc. to suit yourself.

The actual work time for this - about 6 minutes all told.  The total time from start to eating... about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  For me, with a stomach bug today... I took a nap for the time it was taking to bake the potatoes.

Even better - the dishes all went into the dishwasher... so no fuss, no mess, and something gentle on the tummy.

Tomato Veggie Sauce

Nutrition Info

• Calories: 23.6
• Fat: 0.3g
• Carbohydrates: 5.3g
• Protein: 0.9g

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh tomatoes - Cut into quarters
1 pound Fresh zucchini - cut into chunks
2 medium onions - cut into quarters
4 cloves fresh garlic (peeled, but no need to mince)

1 teaspoon Rosemary Powder
1 Tablespoon Oregano Powder
1 teaspoon salt

5 cups water

Directions

Chunk tomatoes, zucchini, onions. Drop into a HEAVY STAINLESS STEEL kettle. Add Garlic, spices and water.

Turn to Medium Low and simmer for TWO HOURS.

Remove from heat, pour into blender (may need to go from pan to bowl and then into blender in batches).

Puree. Sieve through a wire sieve (use spoon to mash through). Pitch the skin and seeds - or dehydrate and use in breads and other things. (This takes about 7 minutes).

Return sieved sauce to the stove and reduce over medium low until is 8 cups worth - Stir often. (about 45 more minutes).

To Store: Cool. Pack and freeze.

Serving Size: 8 cups = 16 servings of 1/2 cup each

Number of Servings: 16

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user NRVLAURA.

Tips

If you do not mind seeds or threads of skin, you don't have to sieve the sauce. You can also pre-peel the 'maters by dropping them into boiling water, removing and slipping off the skin. I simply prefer to sieve it at the end.

Zucchini Bread - Gluten and grain free. Latest Version

Grain Free Zucchini Bread

Nutrition Info

• Calories: 250.1
• Fat: 5.4g
• Carbohydrates: 46.6g
• Protein: 5.1g

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:
8 cups of gluten free flour (I use 4 cups besan, 1.5 cups tapioca, 1.5 cups potato starch and 1 cup sweet potato flour)

4 Tablespoons Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
A dash of salt if you want


Wet ingredients:
In a blender, puree zucchini until you have 5 cups worth of puree.

3 eggs
1 stick butter
1 cup honey
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon allspice
1 vanilla bean

Directions

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Puree zucchini in blender. Add rest of ingredients and blend again until vanilla bean is pureed as well and all things are evenly distributed.

Pour wet ingredients into dry. Stir gently. Should be a little thicker than pancake batter and slightly lumpy.

Pour into a LARGE cake pan (Do not fill the pan more than 3/4 of the way full - this DOES rise!).

Bake at 350 for 90 minutes.

Turn out onto wire racks to cool.

makes 4 rows of 6 pieces each = 24 pieces.

Freezes well.

Serving Size: Makes 24 pieces - 4 columns x 6 rows

Number of Servings: 24

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user NRVLAURA.

Zucchini bread tip!

ZUCCHINI BREAD SHORTCUT

Information learned yesterday -

Instead of grating zucchini for zucchini bread, cut it into chunks and puree the stuff.  Then add in oil (use that to puree it if needed), sugar, eggs, and hit blend again.  Dump into the dry stuff.  Stir a couple times and pour into the pan.  EASY and NO STRESS ON THE HANDS/WRISTS!  YAY!!!

Zucchini bread - gluten free, corn-free

Original recipe from The Practical Produce Cookbook, which I think is the BEST cookbook for veggies out there!

Modified to fit my diet of no grain, no corn, no other allergens.

Wet Stuff:
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar OR 1 cup honey (if using honey add an extra 1/2 to 1 cup flour mix)
1 tablespoon vanilla OR 1 vanilla bean blended to mush
1 cup Safflower oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon all spice

Veggie:
4 1/2 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini

Dry Stuff:
4 cups flour*
1 tablespoon baking powder (I use the Hain Baking Powder with potato starch)
1 teaspoon baking soda



* Flour = 50% besan (chickpea) flour, 25% sweet potato flour, 25% tapioca starch

Mix the dry stuff.  Mix the wet stuff until creamed together and completely mixed.  Add the zucchini and mix well.  Pour the wet stuff into the dry stuff and mix GENTLY with a spoon until combined.

Pour mixture into a GREASED cake pan.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Done when cooked through in the center.

how to make mashed potatoes for when your hands are numb or achy:

Dump a bag of taters into the sink.  run cool (or slightly warm) water into the sink.  Soak the taters for a couple of minutes (this is a good time to drink a cup of hot tea or coffee).  Put two socks over your hands, rub the taters a little to get rid of dirt.  Drain the water.  Let the taters sit a minute or two to dry some.

Put a big cookie sheet into the oven shelf.  put the taters on the cookie sheet - big taters on the edge, little taters on the inside.  Bake at 400 for an hour or so.

When taters are soft to a push, turn off the oven.  Take the taters out (if you need to not pick up the sheet, just take them out one at a time).  Put on a towel and roll them a little with another towel on top.  Slice the taters and squeeze the insides out into a large bowl (If you cannot squeeze them, put them in a bowl, use another bowl and squish them.  Then, use a big spoon to separate the potato from the skin.  Save the skins (more about that later).

With a stand mixer, start mixing the taters on low.  Add butter (chunk up the stick if you are using real butter).  Add water (hot) so things start to smooth down.  Add some milk, sour cream, and/or some cheese.  keep mixing until at a consistency you like.  Add salt to taste.

Now - those skins - On the cookie sheet you baked the taters, layer out the skins.  Sprinkle with spices of your choice and then sprinkle on shredded cheese.  Put them back into the oven at 450 until crispy looking.

So, now you have mashed potatoes (without having to peel, cut, boil, drain, etc.).  You have potato skins.  And, there are very few dishes to do.  YAY!