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