Fish and Bean Chowder

Hubby said he liked this recipe, and would probably want it once a month. I baked a cheese and beet sauced flat bread to go with it.

Quart and a half of any broth
2 cups of navy beans
4-8 oz cooked cod or any white fish
8 oz can of oysters, drained and rinsed
1 cup of corn
6 oz cream cheese
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt or more to taste
.5 tsp garlic powder
Sprinkle of dill

Warm broth up with beans and cream cheese until simmering, then use immersion blender or transfer to counter top blender. Blend well, then add everything else. Simmer for 20 minutes, then serve as desired.

Orange Salmon

Really tasty salmon recipe, to bring summer to mind during the cold citrus season of winter.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 navel orange, peeled and cut cross ways

2 rinsed salmon fillets, 8 oz total

Celtic gray sea salt

Other seasonings are optional

I used my great new pressure cooker, the Instant Pot. I set the P.C. to the meat/ stew setting, salted the rinsed salmon, put everything in the pot, saving the salmon for last. I turned the salmon over to get the juice and oil on, then set it skin side down. I cooked it for 5 minutes, using the quick release at the end. 

Serve over veggie of choice :) yum yum!

Best AIP Brownies

This brownie recipe has Carob instead of chocolate or cocoa, no white sugar and is made from a combination of food pastes and flours. This is out of order, as far as recipes go, but I find that okay at times. It reminds me of Oreos uncooked, and I'm pretty confident that I'll also use this batter to make truffles :). This is a treat, not to be eaten everyday, but only on occasion. Think birthday, holiday, etc. or freeze and eat a small piece every few days. Just don't eat the whole batch at once, even though you may be tempted to. ;)

1/2 cup sweet potato

1/2 cup date paste

2-4 TBSP organic honey (domestic, if possible)

3/4 cup toasted carob flour/powder

1/2 cup organic coconut oil

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup arrowroot flour

1/2 cup coconut milk (I made my own for AIP, but you can choose whichever kind)

1/2 tsp fleur de sel or any fine ground sea salt

1/3 tsp baking soda

 

Mix powders together in a bowl or mixer bowl, then add everything else and combine well.

Bake at 300-325 F for 20-25 minutes, store in fridge after they cool for best keeping. They taste best room temp or slightly warm though.

*carob burns at a lower temp than chocolate, so watch your oven temperatures 

Cooking Ahead

Today is a Tuesday...you might be wondering so what, Kati?

Well tonight is our weekly trash night, so I have found it to be good day to cook ahead, since I will be producing more waste than normal. Recently I have gotten out of the weekly habit of cooking and prepping ahead, so I'm going to give it another chance, albeit slowly. 

I am starting with some simply boiled organic waxy red potatoes and parboiled rice. The potatoes were pretty straightforward, as I just rubbed clean under water and set in water to cook, but the rice took a little effort. I rinsed 4 cups of rice several times until the water ran clear, then gave it a good soak for an hour to cut down on cook time. I added a little less water than called for, due to the soaking and put salt and about a third cup of coconut oil in the cooking water. 

 

The rice looks pretty good! And it tastes perfectly al dente and chewy, with the right amount of give. 

I am planning on washing and chopping some additional food such as the veggies romaine lettuce, green onions,radishes and broccoli, plus whatever else I can find that needs using.

That's all for now! Not too exciting, but it will help me to not be in the kitchen with 3 hot pans on the stove every night this week. 

BBQ Beef Baked Beans

Instead of paying a huge price per pound for deli bbq beef baked beans, try this delicious and adaptable recipe. I came up with this recipe from adapting two recipes to suite what we had in the house already and our tastes, from  http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-pork-and-beans-slow-cook-method-gf-86381 and http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/the-best-baked-beans-ever/  .  

 

To cook together in a very large skillet:

4 tbsp butter or bacon grease

1 medium onion, diced 

.5-1 lb leftover cooked roast chopped small, with drippings (or alternately, use an equal weight of bacon)

Cook until onions are translucent and fragrant.

Mix together in bowl (or you could just do what I did and put in the pan while stirring a bunch!):

3/4 cup favorite bbq sauce

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup palm sugar (or brown)

6 oz can of tomato paste + one can water

2 tsp dry mustard powder

1 TBSP molasses

2 TBSP tamari sauce (which is gluten free soy sauce)

1 tsp liquid smoke 

1/2 tsp liquid stevia extract (or add more brown sugar to taste)

Few shakes of garlic salt

3 cans of half drained bean of choice *or an equal amount of home prepared beans with an additional 1 cup water

Add mix to skillet and stir a bunch, on medium high heat for 5-8 minutes. 

Transfer to buttered

baking dish, and bake for about an hour at 325 F, until the liquid is syrupy. 

These babies aren't the most low carb thing out there, but watch your portion if you're into that kind of thing and you'll come out all right. 

Stupid Easy Puffed Rice

This really is so very easy, to make your own puffed rice without all the extra stuff. There is no need to ever buy expensive puffed rice cereals again once you get this simple process down. And it's instantly gratifying!

What is needed:

*As much parboiled or converted rice as you want to puff up (it will say this on the label. Do not use any other kind, as I'm not sure it would work the same. The box of rice I purchased was about $10 from a big box store, and I got 25lbs...you do the math) :) 

*Enough high oleic sunflower oil (or another high heat stable and low PUFA oil) to make a couple inches in a small pot. I used a quart sized pot, which my strainer 

Fits into nicely, as you can see. 

 Method:

Heat a small pot of oil to about 380-400f. You can use a candy thermometer to check oil temp. Put a tablespoon of parboiled rice into the fine mesh metal  strainer and lower into the oil. The rice puffs up and floats to the top in a matter of seconds, so it doesn't take all the long to make a considerable amount of puffed rice. Gently tap excess oil off over the pot, and dump out onto paper towel lined plate or pan. You can sprinkle whatever you like on at this point or leave as is.

Tips: Only leave rice in the oil long enough to puff up, or it will become overdone. You can use a spoon to help dislodge puffed rice from strainer if it gets stuck. 

This is crunchier than the name brand, which I love. I hope you do too!

The uncooked rice compared to the puffed... Yummy yummy. (:

Chocolate Mini Loaves

I adapted the carob brownie recipe from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook into a quick chocolate bread. My version isn't as sweet and includes cocoa instead of carob, as I believe cocoa is a healthy food when procured from a good source. It is also gluten free and can easily be made dairy free with substitutions of coconut oil and alternative milk. 

*I recommend soaking the buckwheat flour overnight with the half and half and a tbsp apple cider vinegar or yogurt, and then mixing as normal, but being in a pinch, I skipped it this time.

Preheat oven to 350F to get started.

Mix these ingredients together in a large bowl with a whisk:

1.5 cups whole buckwheat flour

.5 cups arrowroot flour/powder

.5 cups cocoa powder

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

 In a stand mixer bowl (or separate bowl with hand mixer) cream together:

.75 cups butter 

.75 cups turbinado sugar (brown or sucanant sugars would work also)

.5 cups dextrose (or more sugar)

 After creaming butter and sugar, add 

4 eggs (or just 3 for a denser brownie-like bread)

2 tsp vanilla extract 

When mixed, add:

1 cup of half and half (or milky liquid of your choice-  subbing half amount of milk for cold strong coffee might be tasty!)

Then slowly add in the flour mixture until it comes together. Don't forget to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. :) 

Bake in well oiled mini loaf or jumbo muffin pans for 15-25 minutes, checking for desired level of doness. You can also bake in a regular loaf pan, just adjust cooking time up accordingly. 

I made this recipe in a Duncan Hines brand pan that had 8 mini loaf cavities. I got about 13 loaves from it, and so based the nutrition facts on them. I put estimated nutritional information on My Fitness Pal, with the name of Kati's Chocolate Bread.