Low-Carb Stroganoff

3 lb. chuck roast
1 quart beef broth (you might not need it all)
1/4 c butter (half of a stick)
1 lb mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 t. xanthan gum (more or less)
salt and pepper
16 oz. tub of sour cream


Cook the roast in a crock pot (8 hours on low) with some of the beef broth.  Refrigerate the rest of the broth.
When the meat is done, set aside the drippings and broth from the slow cooker.
Remove any big chunks of fat from the meat, and shred it with two forks.
Melt the butter in a big pot or dutch oven.
Saute the onion and mushrooms in the butter.
Measure the drippings and broth from the slow cooker, and add more broth to make at least 5 cups.  (It was still very thick and chunky with 5, so you might want more.)
Add that to the onions and mushrooms.
Let it come to a boil.
Add the xanthan gum.  (Be careful, because it likes to clump.  I sprinkled a little at a time over the surface, stirred it in, and sprinkled a little more.)
Let it boil a bit, to see if it is getting as thick as you like it.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in the sour cream, and cook for a little longer, so you're sure it is nice and hot (but don't really boil it after the sour cream is in).
Remove from the heat, and serve with buttery cabbage "noodles", shirataki noodles, or cauliflower "rice."

"Mexican" Meatloaf

This was my inspiration.

2 lb. ground turkey
10 oz chorizo
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t chili powder
1 t basil
1 t salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 c minced mushrooms
2 c shredded pepper Jack cheese
1/2 of a red onion, minced
2 eggs

 

  

Heat oven to 350.
Combine all ingredients.
Put the mixture in a loaf pan.  Cover with foil.
Bake for an hour.
Remove the foil.  Pour off excess liquid.  Increase the oven temperature to 400, and bake for another 5 minutes or so, until it is slightly browned.

Brunch for One

Mince: 1 clove of garlic
Slice: several small mushrooms
Chop: 1/2 of a red bell pepper

Melt in a small frying pan: about 1 t coconut oil or butter

Add: a spoonful of julienned sun-dried tomatoes
         the chopped vegetables
         a pinch or two of salt
         some black pepper
Cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add: the green part of a couple of green onion, cut up with scissors
        some fresh basil leaves, cut up with scissors
Stir those in.

Add: two eggs, lightly beaten
As the eggs start to cook, lift up the edges to let the raw egg flow under.

If you are more talented than I am, flip the whole thing over to cook the other side.
If you are smarter than I am, cook the top under the broiler, like a fritatta.
If you are hungry and in a hurry, try to flip it in as big of pieces as you can, and call it a scramble.

When it is almost cooked through, top with: grated Pecorino Romano cheese
                                                                             a bit more green onion top

If I had some pesto, I would have added that, and other herbs, like oregano or rosemary would also be nice additions.

Not a cooking post- How to Clean Silver (Easily)

I had seen things on Pinterest a few times, about polishing silver by soaking it in hot salt-water with aluminum foil, and mentioned to my husband that I wanted to try it, because all of my silver pieces were looking REALLY bad.

Observe:

The pitcher before--notice the "bubbly" marks that I have never been able to remove when I polished this.

A candlestick before

So, my husband didn't think that salt would work very well, and he found this article, so I decided to try that.

First, I filled my plastic basin with water, and dumped the water into my stock-pot to boil.  (That way I didn't heat more water than would fit.)  It was about 6 quarts, so I measured out 1 1/2 cups of baking soda (1 cup per gallon of water).

In the mean time, I put a sheet of aluminum foil in the bottom of the plastic basin, and set the two candlesticks on the foil.

When the water came to a boil, I set the stock-pot in the sink and added the baking soda.  It did foam up (a lot), so I added it gradually, and then stirred it with a long spoon to make sure it was dissolved.

Then I poured the baking soda solution into the basin.  (It smelled just like being at Yellowstone--silver tarnish is silver sulfide.  Who knew?)  The tarnish just came off the candlesticks immediately--before all of the water was in the basin, they were already looking shiny.  I let them sit in the solution for a few minutes, then washed them with hot soapy water to get the baking soda and candle-wax residue off.  (There wasn't much wax left inside the candlesticks before I started this, but there was some.)

After they were washed and dried, we polished them up with a silver polishing cloth, and they were beautiful!

Polishing cloth

The candlesticks after

I used the same aluminum foil and baking soda solution for the two candlesticks, the handle of a "hostess plate," a dish that I think is for setting a bottle of wine on, and a pitcher.

The pitcher during--the basin was too small, so you can see  how much  tarnish came off just sitting in the solution for a minute or so.

 The pitcher was too big to be immersed in my small basin, so it had to be turned over during its treatment.

When it came out, it still had some of the bubbly-looking marks on the sides.  My husband said that it was probably a different type of tarnish--not sulfur, and that I should try the polish I had.  And now it worked!

The pitcher after

I am so excited.  My silver looks better than I've ever gotten it before, and with a lot less effort than I've ever put into it!

Enchilada Stuffed Poblanos

This is the inspiration for this recipe.

Sauce:
1(14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 (4 oz) can diced jalepenos, drained
1/2 of an onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 of a red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t ground coriander
1/2 t ground cumin

Puree all ingredients in a blender.  Pour into a glass dish or bowl.  Microwave about 4 minutes (or more--my microwave is strong).

Wash 5 poblano peppers.  Cut out a wedge at the top, and continue it as a slit down to the bottom.  Cut out the stem, and remove the seeds.
Put the peppers on top of the tomato sauce, and microwave them in 2-minute increments until they are soft enough to open up without cracking.  (Pour out any liquid that accumulates inside the peppers.)

Filling:
about 1/2 T lard or olive oil
1/2 of an onion, diced
the wedges cut out of the poblanos, diced
1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
a (12 oz) tube of chorrizo
about 8 oz of fresh mushrooms, diced

Warm the fat in a frying pan.  Saute the onion, peppers and garlic for a few minutes.
Add the chorrizo and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's cooked through.
Add the mushrooms, and cook a few more minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to about 350 F.
Stuff the filling into the peppers.
Spread most of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13" pan.
Put the stuffed peppers on top of the sauce.
Spread the rest of the sauce over the filling and peppers.
Cover the peppers and filling with cheese.  (I used about 4 oz each Colby/Jack, medium cheddar, and Pepper Jack.)

Ready to go in the oven.

 Bake for a few minutes (5-10), then switch to the broiler to brown the cheese.

Already half eaten.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Herbs and Pecorino

Here's the inspiration for this "recipe."

1 spaghetti squash, cleaned, roasted, and removed from the shell in strands

about 3 T butter

1 onion, chopped pretty fine

4 cloves of garlic, minced

about 1 t fresh rosemary, minced

about 1 t fresh thyme, minced

about 2 T fresh sage, minced

salt and pepper

a few T fresh parsley

freshly grated Pecorino cheese, about 1/4 c

Melt the butter in a large pan/wok.

Cook the onion and garlic for several minutes, stirring at least occasionally.

Add the rosemary, thyme, and sage.  Cook for a little longer.

Add the squash.  Cook until it's warm through.

Stir in salt, pepper, parsley, and cheese.

Even more herbs and cheese would not be out of place.  And capers might be nice.

I chopped the onion pretty small, but I think it would have stirred in and distributed better if it were finer.

Eggplant Lasagna

This was the inspiration for my recipe.
I also consulted the lasagna and ragu recipes from Pasta: Every Way for Every Day by Eric Treuille and Anna Del Conte.
It turned out really well.  (I forgot to take a picture when it was hot, so it looks a little less appetizing in this one.)

2 eggplants (about 1 1/4 pounds each) 

salt
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 onion
16 ounces whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated (3 ounces)

Olive oil in a Misto

a tablespoon or so of olive oil

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

garlic--a few cloves

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 can tomato sauce

1 t fennel seeds

oregano and basil, dried, a tablespoon or so of each

8 oz ricotta cheese 

Brown the sausage in a dutch oven or large saucepan.  (I started with frozen sausage, so I added a little olive oil to the pan, so it wouldn't stick.  You may or may not need to.)  Dice the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic pretty fine, and add them.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes.  Add the tomato products and spices, and simmer the sauce for as long as possible (half and hour to a couple of hours).  

(I made the sauce the night before.)

Trim the ends off the eggplants. Peel them and slice lengthwise into 1/2" slices (or slightly thinner). 

Layer the eggplant slices in a colander, sprinkling each layer with salt.

Let the eggplant sit for at least half an hour (preferably more).

Blot/wipe the moisture off the eggplant with paper towels.

Line a couple of baking sheets with aluminum foil, and spray the foil with olive oil.

Place the eggplant slices in a single layer on the baking sheets (you may need to do them in two batches).  Spray them with olive oil.

 Broil about 3-5 minutes per side until tender and a little browned. Watch them closely because they can burn quickly. Spray the other side with olive oil when you flip them.

Combine the ricotta with about 10 oz of the mozzarella, and set the other 6 oz of mozzarella aside.

Layer everything in a greased 9x13" baking dish in this order: 1/3 of the eggplant slices, 1/3 of the sauce, 1/3 of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layering two more times then sprinkle with the reserved mozzarella cheese. 

Makes 8 servings

Cheesy Cauliflower and Tofu Casserole

Bring a decent-sized pot of water to a boil.

Pare and chop 1 head of cauliflower.

Add the cauliflower to the boiling water.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes, until it starts to be tender.  Use a slotted spoon to fish it out into a colander, and set it aside where it can drain and cool.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 lb Velveeta cheese.

Squeeze the cooled cauliflower into the bottom of the colander, or with your hands, to get some of the water out, and to make it more dense.

Drain a 19 oz package of firm tofu, and cut it into noodle-like pieces.
Put it into to the pot of boiling water, and when it returns to a boil, drain.

Add to the melted Velveeta, and stir occasionally until melted and combined:
8 oz Guyere cheese, shredded
4 oz medium cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz pecorino cheese, shredded
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup cream
salt and pepper

Fold the cauliflower and tofu into the cheese mixture.
Put it all into a 9x13" pan.
Top with 2-3 oz shredded Pecorino cheese.
Bake at 325 for 30 minutes.

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

This squash was given to me, and I was told it wasn't a spaghetti squash.  It was.  I let it sit too long, and it got harder than the other spaghetti squash I've cooked, so it ended up roasting for an hour, rather than the usual 40-45 minutes.
It was pretty good, but the texture and flavor were different from what I was imagining before I found out it was spaghetti, and not regular squash.  I would do this again with a different type of squash.

Cut in half, remove the seeds, and roast:
1 spaghetti squash

Brown in a large skillet:
1 lb Italian sausage

Add:
1 onion, chopped
1/2 bunch of kale (5 leaves), chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
salt, pepper, basil, oregano, rosemary

Remove from the heat, and add:
1/2 c shredded Pecorino cheese
2 eggs

Scoop out the flesh of the squash, and mix that in, too.
Pack it all back into the squash shells, and cover with more Pecorino.

Bake at about 325 until set, and the internal temperature it about 160-170 (half an hour to 45 minutes or so).

"Greek" meatloaf and Tzatziki

Here's the inspiration: turkey meatloaf stuffed with feta.

Tzatziki:
2 cups Greek-style yogurt
about 3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of an English cucumber, quartered long-ways, and then thinly sliced
1 T lemon juice
1/2 t salt
1 t dried dill weed

Mix it together, cover it, and let it sit in the fridge at least a few hours, if not overnight.

Meatloaf:
a tablespoon or two of olive oil
1 good-sized onion, chopped pretty small
about 3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 t salt
freshly ground pepper (I was going for 1/2 t, but didn't measure)
1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
3 lb. ground turkey
2 eggs
1/2 c coconut flour
2 T Worcestershire sauce
a tablespoon or two of dried oregano
1 1/2 cups (about) crumbled feta

Warm the olive oil in a fry pan over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, until the onion is translucent.  
Put everything but the feta (including the onion mixture) in a big bowl, and mix it all together with your hands.
(At this point, I covered the bowl, and put it in the fridge overnight.)
Heat the oven to 325.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Divide the meat mixture into about half.  Shape the smaller half into a rectangle on the baking sheet.  Spread the crumbled feta over the rectangle, but not quite to the edges.  Cover the feta with the rest of the meat mixture.  (I patted a handful at a time into the appropriate thickness, and squished the pieces together a bit rather than try to make a big rectangle, and then I squished the edges of the rectangle together so the cheese wouldn't leak out.)
Bake 1- 1 1/4 hour, until the internal temperature is at least 160 degrees F.  (I went for 170, and it got to 180 as it rested.)
Serve with tzatziki.

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

a.k.a. "Low-Carb Enchiladas"

Pure in blender:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced jalapenos
1 onion, cut into a few pieces
oregano, basil, cumin, salt

Put 2 chicken breast and 2 chicken thighs in a slow-cooker, pour the sauce over them, and cook on low for 8 hours.

At this point I put the chicken and the sauce into separate containers and refrigerated them over night.

Shred the chicken and mix with:
10 oz shredded cheese (I used cotija this time)
some chopped green onions
1 T each basil and oregano
1/4 t each cumin, chili powder, and chipotle powder
a little salt

Wash 6 bell peppers (I like colored ones better than green ones, but I'm sure they would work, too.)  Cut them vertically in half, and remove the stem, seeds, and membrane stuff.  Try to remove as little of the top as possible.  Fill the peppers with the chicken mixture, and put them into a baking dish (or two--I got them all into a dish bigger than 9x13"--I think it's about 10x15").  Spoon the sauce over the top, and sprinkle with additional cheese.

At this point, I covered the dish with plastic wrap, and put them in the refrigerator over night.

Bake until hot through.  (I don't know if the temperature matters too much.  I tried 350.)

Pan-Asian Soup

about a tablespoon each, vegetable oil and sesame oil
1 onion, chopped
a piece of ginger, about the size of my thumb, peeled and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
4 cups of water
1 heaping tablespoon of Hoisin sauce
1 heaping tablespoon of chicken base ("Better than Bouillon")
3 tablespoons soy sauce
8 really big crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch of broccoli, chopped (including the stems)
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 can coconut milk
1 package tofu shirataki noodles, drained and rinsed
3 eggs (1 for me, and two for him.  I'll add more egg to the left-overs.)

Heat the oils in a pretty big saucepan.
Add the onion, and stir occasionally, while chopping and adding the ginger, garlic, and carrots.
Add the water, Hoisin sauce, chicken base, and soy sauce.
Bring to a boil while chopping and adding the other vegetables.
Simmer/boil until the vegetables are almost cooked.
Add the lime juice, coconut milk, and noodles.  Bring back to a boil.
Break the eggs and gently slide them into the soup.  Cover the pan, and simmer until they are cooked.
Serve.