Stroganoff!

Tonight I made a low carb adaption of creamy, savory, beef stroganoff. Husband and I are eating it for supper. Well, until about halfway through, and he is now eating his fallback peanutbutter sandwich. I guess this recipe will not be making the Clark-Oropallo food rotation.

So instead of sharing the recipe,  I will discuss adaptations many low carbers make to long loved recipes.

I thought of stroganoff because of today's sale on beef, mushrooms, and locally produced sour cream. But other traditional ingredients of onions, sauce thickener, and noodles are no-no's in low carb living. What do to, what to do.

As the minced bacon gave up its fatty goodness, I considered the onion. What did the onion add to the dish? Flavor. Flavoring the beef specifically. Just flavor since onion really isn't featured in this dish. Rummaging through the spice cabinet I found the onion powder. One high carb ingredient off the list.

The next ingredient I considered was the noodle. There are many substitutes clever low carb cooks use to replace noodles, but I wanted to retain the flavors and textures as close to the original as possible AND keep it as low carb as possible.

What's in the 'fridge? Cabbage! Oh yeah! Not only would a small head of butter-sauteed cabbage provide a tasty bed upon which to lay my stroganoff, but the texture would add a nice imitation of cooked onions! So I scored twice!

And finally, the four recipes I reviewed thickened the cooking sauce with roux or cornstarch. Again, there are many low carb sauce thickening tricks like guar gum, xanthan gum, almond or coconut flour, but knowing that bending to Occam's Razor is the best and easiest option in cooking, I just poured an extra 1/4 cup or chicken broth and and two extra dollops of sour cream and had a nice sauce for my stroganoff.

I liked this dish. I'm sorry husband did not, but in the 'fridge, there's always peanut butter.

Short post today

It's the holiday season! Walking in my vanilla and cinnamon scented neighborhood (IS EVERYBODY BAKING TODAY??) all I can think of is donuts. Cake donuts. Slightly glazed. Spicy. *sigh*

Scour the internet...and--ta-da--low carb donuts!!! Dug out the Baby Cakes mini donut baker. And settled in for a baking session. And it worked! Nice taste, good bite, not too sweet but enough to satisfy the craving, and peace of mind due to no surprise, or unwanted, or mysterious ingredients.

Unfortunately, can't post the recipe today. But I promise I will soon!!
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

On another topic, my all time trusted source for all kinds of cooking, America's Test Kitchen is developing a gluten free BREAD series! YAY!!!  I may have to renew my subscription so I can try the recipies as soon as they are released. 

Winter's chill, hearty, healthy, low carb soup - Sausage and Kale!



Kale and Turkey Sausage Soup

Please, I beg you, PLEASE,
learn how to flavor your own sausage!

It is so easy to flavor simple ground pork or turkey meat. Purchasing already flavored meats is easy, and affordable. But flavoring you own is just as easy because the recipes are not complicated with ingredients that you already have in the pantry.

I spent an hour recently reviewing and experimenting with different spices, herbs and staple home pantry ingredients and now have three small glass jars in my cupboards marked Italian, Breakfast, and Cajun. Each has the essential salt, pepper, paprika, herbs and spices. What I eliminated was the sugar found in many recipes, and you know what? No one noticed.

What they did notice was the juicy pork or turkey meat flavor due to my slower cooking method. What they did notice was how the meat was a complement to the dish, rather than over powering the dish. SCORE!

Yesterday's cold temperatures and a sale on ground turkey meat prompted the above Kale and Turkey Sausage Soup. Took me less than 20 minutes to put together, after simmering for less than an hour, we had soup. Wonderful, tasty, fragrant, filling, and nourishing soup.

First my recipe for delicious, Italian, sausage flavoring:

• 3 tablespoons Salt
• 2 tablespoons Ground Black Pepper
• 2 tablespoons Dried Parsley
• 3 tablespoons Dried Italian Herb Seasoning
• 2 tablespoons Granulated Garlic
• 1/2  teaspoon Dried Red Pepper Flakes (I'm a wimp - you can go as high as 1 - 1.5 teaspoons)
• 1.5 tablespoons Whole Fennel Seeds (which I grind)
• 1 tablespoon Smoked Paprika
• 3 teaspoons Granulated Onion (to taste)

In one pound of ground turkey, I used 1.5 tablespoons of above mixture. (With pork you could use just 1 tablespoon because it has more intrinsic flavor.) Placed the meat in a large* frying pan over low-medium heat. I let the meat cook until just beginning to brown. I then added two tablespoons of chicken broth, and let the meat cook until all the broth was gone. I did let the meat brown a bit more, but not too much. The result is a juicy, flavorful sausage.
*Large frying pan - large surface area allows the meat to saute, not steam, thereby getting some browning without having to burn the meat.

To a soup pot, I added 1/2 cup of chopped onion, a few dribbles of olive oil, and a bit of the liquid from the sausage cooking on the next burner.
Once the onions got soft, I added some minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Stirred it a bit, then added the cooked meat.
Next into the pot went a quart of chicken broth.  (It smelled great.)
As I always do, I asked myself "What's in the 'fridge?" and saw a beautiful, snowy white head of cauliflower. Cauliflower - the potato of low carb cooking! I quickly diced a few large flowerets and tossed them into the soup pot. Keeping in mind the cauliflower would take at least 12 minutes to cook sufficiently to provide texture and bite to the soup.   
After ten minutes, I added two huge handfuls of chopped kale, and let the whole mess simmer gently for 40 minutes.
We ate it. Twice.

The take away from this post? Please find a recipe for seasoning pork or turkey sausage. If you need some more convincing, I did a brief review of pre-made sausages available in grocery stores.

Jimmy Dean Sausage - The quintessential go to meat for Virginia sausage gravy from the South's most favored son, Jimmy Dean. Remember his mellow serenade of Drinkin' From My Saucer, or remember the sparkle in his eyes while crooning his tongue in cheek version of Big Bad John? But his sausage ingredients make me want to turn up some heavy metal to cover my screams! Why? Look at the ingredient list. Let's start with corn syrup, and then add sugar.

Ingredients: Pork, Water, Contains 2% or less of the following: Corn Syrup, Salt, Spices, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Flavorings.

Johnsonville Italian - A real meal starter, at least that's what the grocery store ad says, is the very affordable Johnsonville Sausage. The many varieties it offers spurs the creative culinary juices flowing, and before you know it, several are on the checkout conveyor belt.

Ingredients: Pork, water, corn syrup and less than 2% of the following: natural pork broth with natural flavorings, salt, dextrose, spice, paprika, monosodium glutamate, flavorings, BHA, propyl gallate, citric acid.
 
 
 Bob Evans - Now, Bob Evan's. Ah, the many times meeting family members for breakfast, the occasional work breakfast meetings, the scheduled breakfast stops while on a long car trip, Bob Evans is my family's go to place for sausage, pancakes, biscuits with gravy. And now to upset the food eaters in my house, I'm not sure I can ever agree to purchase this, or order in their restaurants. Why? Searching for the ingredient information, I found that it is MISSING! Go ahead and search their website, tell me if you find the ingredient list. They provide all sorts of nutritional information like calories, protein, fats, carbohydrates, sugar, but no ingredient list. 

  

Ingredients - ?????
 
Aidells Chicken Sausage - And finally, yes, one of my all time favorite meal enhancer, (before low carb) Aidells Chicken Sausage. Chef Bruce Aidell developed his recipe in 1983 and has been a must have for many hurried home cooks who want to feed their family well. Known for crafting sausage by hand using tender chunks of humanely raised chickens, gladdens the heart of my many friends who eat ethically. It still is, and would be except for those of us who want to control our sugar intake. Sadly, apples, fruit juice concentrate of apples, pineapple, pear and peach, spell disaster for blood sugar spikes and spur cravings.  
 
Ingredients: chicken, dried apples, salt, fruit juice concentrate (apple, pineapple, pear, and peach), spices and celery powder, in a pork casing. 

Convinced? Let me know!

  

So, I told my doctor I was getting tired mid-day. Getting VERY sleepy every day at 3 pm no matter what I was doing at the time. She said "TESTS" (of course) test for thyroid, test for blood sugar. And results two hours later showed--blood sugar seemed to be going up. Not high enough to get a diagnosis, but high enough for concern.   :(  

So, off to the internet I go! And discover lots of indications that suggest that a low carb diet may be a solution.

Since I was successful before following Atkins guidelines for controlling carb intake, I dusted off my LCHF (low carb high fat) recipe binder, and dug in. Three months later, eating low carb, with two vacations thrown in the mix, stress (good stress) from a massive reorganization of my family structure, and my life has changed. I'm no longer falling asleep at 3 pm. I'm sleeping through the night (unless my husband gets up to check on why Mr. Elliott, our intrepid Schnauzer, is barking at 2 am.) And I have ENERGY! Oh my! Enough to keep up with the wild resident 7 year old! Whew!

Don't know yet if this WOE (way of eating) is responsible, but no more energy crashes following a meal, no  more headaches, no more arthritis pain, no - none - nada - heartburn, no indigestion. Is it due all to controlling carbs? I don't know, but until my blood test tells me different, I'm sticking with this LCHF way. 

Brief discussion on the high fat part. Don't, just don't try to talk to me about how bad it is for me. I know for a fact that I am eating whole foods, most meals cooked from scratch.  I am eating greens, veggies, and more greens, accompanied by grass fed beef, free range chicken, local pork, eggs from pastured hens, grass fed butter, VAT pasteurized cream, olive oil, coconut oil, water, coffee, and some berries. My suspicion is I am actually eating a lot less food. Using high fat guidelines suppresses my appetite, and therefore my total intake of fat is significantly lower than it was eating a normal American diet. End of discussion.

So with the holidays here, and certain foods must be made-consumed-gifted, I tried my hand at a cinnamon cookie, reminiscent of (happy dance)Snickerdoodles. The recipe is very simple, took a just a few minutes to throw together, and they passed the 7 year old's taste test. I shared them this morning with a monthly group I attend and requests for recipes hit my inbox.

NOTE: items used in low carb baking are not going to be found in the Holiday Baking aisle at your local grocery store (although they should!) If you have any questions about an item, please ask me. I have some knowledge of how these things work, and I will only post things I have personally tried and tested with non-LCHF eaters. I highly recommend reading Carolyn's blog "All Day I dream About Food" to learn about low carb baking.

Cinnamon Cookies

 

INGREDIENTS: 

4 large eggs 

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sweetener

         (I use Swerve and have been very happy with it) 

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter (softened)

3/4 coconut flour

1 tbsp golden flax meal

         (my addition - for color and texture and healthy goodness)

2 tsp cinnamon                           

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Combine eggs, sweetener (reserve 2 tbsp), vanilla and butter. Mix well.
2. Stir in coconut flour and golden flax meal.
3. Let mixture rest for 5 mins to allow it to thicken. (THIS IS CRITIAL!)
4. Combine cinnamon with the reserved 2 tbsp of sweetener.
5. Form dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and roll in cinnamon mixture, coating thoroughly.
6. Place on cookie sheet 1 inch apart. 
7. Bake at 375 for 8 minutes, open over and gently flatten each one. This gives a textured top to the finished cookie.
8. Bake 3 more minutes.
9. Cool thoroughly on wire racks.
10. Enjoy.

NOTES: I keep my baked good refrigerated since coconut flour produces a delicate crumb. By refrigerating the cookies, it helps them hold together well. This recipe is does not have that eggy taste that many low carb baked goods have due to the massive amounts of eggs used. The coconut flavor of the flour is subdued in this cookie, and the cinnamon shines.

 

 

 

 

Four pots, one baking pan, 3 dishes and about a million utensils later...

The title of my blog wasn't just an attempt at being clever. Even though I have shelves full of cookbooks, published by celebrity chefs to a pamphlet from nursing home fundraiser, I rarely turn to them for ideas. They are a great resource when I'm stuck looking for a substitution, an enhancement or a quick fix to a bubbling blunder on the stove. 

But when my creativity wanes, my 'fridge provides. 

There are about 20 pieces of paper on each clip!

Celebrity Chefs! 

Specialty cookbooks and nursing home fundraisers

Sometimes, though, I start in the garden, 
open the fridge, scan the counter top, 
forage through the  pantry. 

Sungold cherry tomatoes cooked 
down until all the fragrant liquid gold is released.

In today's garden, the Sungold cherry tomatoes and eggplant were calling to me and I suggested to my husband Jack, would he be terribly upset if I made eggplant Parmesan for lunch. 

And so, after extricating myself from his gleeful hugs, I proceeded to pull out three dishes - one for salting and draining the eggplant, one for the egg wash, one for the Panko crumb mixture. Four pots: for cooking spaghetti, rendering the cherry tomatoes down, a frying pan and a baking pan. 

Al dente spaghetti dressed with pesto 
and gold tomato water,
coated with a blob of butter and cream.

Here is the pot of creamy, herbacious spaghetti. Drained all but 1/2 cup of salty cooking water, added a frozen, hunk of pesto, about a cup of the liquid gold from cooked down tomatoes, two tablespoons of butter and a dollop of cream. Let the whole thing heat through until the spaghetti had absorbed all the flavor.

Eggplant, with pearls of 
(fresh mozzarella balls) and tomato sauce.

Here's the eggplant. I don't use a casserole dish. I use a small edged baking pan. Each delicious eggplant round is laid down in a pool of tomato sauce and topped with fresh mozzarella balls. This process allows for less baking time, less overcooked cheese, and eggplant that keeps its shape.

Left over egg wash and panko mixture with
shredded zucchini for tomorrow's lunch!!

 I never judge it correctly and either make too little egg wash or too much. Today was too much. So I combined the leftover egg with the seasoned Panko crumbs and added shredded zucchini. Fried them up as small veggie pancakes and tomorrow's lunch is in the fridge!

Five Suggestions for Eggplant Parmasan
Eggplant Parmesan is a simple dish. I hesitate to provide a recipe. But I will provide some suggestions that may help enhance your next Eggplant Parmesan.

1) Prepare your eggplant slices. Peel the eggplant. Slice into 1/2 inch rings. Salt them and place them under a weight to extract the bitter juices. Since my eggplant were freshly picked, they needed only 10 minutes (or the time it took me to get everything else out). The outcome is a sweeter eggplant taste.

2) Your egg wash is simply well beaten eggs. Well beaten (bears repeating)

3) Enhance the flavors by adding a touch of cumin, hot sauce, garlic, lemon zest and coarsely ground black pepper.

4) Use panko bread crumbs. You will end up with less of a battered eggplant slice and more of a light touch of breading. Eggplant on its own soaks up a lot of frying oil. You don't need to add a thick coating of breading to soak up even more! Panko provides a nice crunch even after it is baked in the sauce.

5) Don't smother the eggplant with either sauce or cheeses. Really. This is a dish about eggplant. Let it shine!

Lunch. Followed by more exuberant hugs  ;)  

If this is healthy, then I may survive after all!

Five years ago, life dealt me a challenge.  With that challenge came the welcome addition of a 1 lb 11 oz micro-preemie...

[former micro-preemie at 2 years old]

... and 40 lbs of grief weight.

[mostly in my face!]

Over the last two years, as our former-micro-preemie-now-thriving-5-year-old has grown, our family is back to a healthy exercise and eating regime.  YAY for us!  But the vagaries of menopause isn't letting our return to normalcy help me get back into shape.  But, enough about me.

Yesterday I discovered a favorite dish CAN be made in an extremely healthy and yet still delightfully delicious.  Broccoli Cheddar Soup.  *WHEW*

The premise of this adjustment switches the roles of cheese and veg.  By cooking an extremely large amount of broccoli, pureeing it and then adding a very small amount of VERY tasty cheese - one achieves the quest of delicious and healthy in one bowl.

Here's what I did (with respectful acknowledgment to Alice Waters and Cook's Illustrated)

1) Melted 2 tablespoons of ghee in a large, solid bottomed pan.
2) Sauteed one chopped medium onion and three cloves or chopped garlic until translucent.
3) Add 2 lbs of chopped broccoli - diced, peeled stems included. (Beauty of this is you use the ENTIRE broccoli head!)
4) Add 1.5 tbs of dry mustard and a pinch of cayenne pepper.
5) Add one cup of water. Bring to boil, then reduce to low or medium low.
a) Let broccoli simmer for an hour.  Yes, you read that right - an hour. There is a short cut method of using baking soda and it cooks down in 20 minutes, but I didn't try that so I can't tell you how this works.
b) The broccoli becomes so incredibly soft and *sigh* gray. (COLOR, I need COLOR!)
c) If during the broccoli cooking time it begins to get dry, add 1 cup of broth (I used chicken, but vegetable or even beef would work fine.)
6) Add 2-3 cups of more broth and bring soup to a boil. Then reduce to medium and let simmer for 20 minutes.
7) Add 2-3 oz of raw baby spinach. (Remember my color predicament? And with added nutrition, who can argue!)
8) Add 3 oz of grated sharp cheddar cheese.
9) Add 1.5 oz of Parmesan cheese.
10) Let everything heat up and melt and you're done! (Test for seasoning. I didn't need any more.)

NOTE: I had about 3 oz of cooked carrots in the fridge and added them to the soup mix.  It didn't add any color or taste, but used up "what's in the fridge" and some nutrition.  WIN!

Now, use your blender (hand held is easiest, or use your countertop blender and puree the soup in two batches) until you have a nice thick puree.

Soup's done!

When serving in my very best china, I topped each bowl with a very small teaspoon of Devonshire cream (because I had some) and a tiny sprinkling of Parmesan.

The soup was delicious.  You could taste the vegetable and more importantly, you could taste the cheese.  Quite a hit to the taste buds, but unfortunately, not a feast for the eyes. The gray broccoli, while nutty and mellow in flavor was a dreary gray.  The addition of spinach helped add some green and some texture, but not enough to allow for a magazine cover finish.

(What's in the fridge? A quart of leftover broccoli and cheddar soup of course.)

Blessed be,
Maria

What's happened in eight months?

too much, for sure -- too much has happened. Fortunately all good, just has been keeping me busy.

Our eating has changed somewhat, not for the better I fear. With a contract that takes me out of the house four hours a day, everyday, and a two year old who's now deciding what she wants for herself - we find ourselves eating out more and more and more. *sigh*