Chicken Vegetable Soup for One

I love soup. I just don't love all the work that goes into making a big pot of soup. And, I don't love the fact that some bowls of soup get more chicken other bowls get more pasta.  So, I make soup for one.

First, take a 2 quart pan and dump in about 6 to 8 ounces of random fresh or frozen vegetables. Today I used:

• 1 ounce frozen organic peas
• 2 ounces frozen bell peppers
• 2 ounces frozen okra
• 2.5 ounces frozen organic green beans

Next, add about 3 or 4 ounces organic canned tomatoes and 3 ounces cooked chicken.

Then, spices and herbs. Today I used:

• Penzey's  Cajun seasoning
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Rosemary
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Pepper

Add chicken broth, water, and maybe a squirt of tomato paste, then cook until it is as done as you like.

Pizza Pain Perdu (GF)

It happens way more often than we want to admit. We go to some GF restaurant, pay an extra $4 for our pizza to be on a gluten free crust, and when served, we realize that we have just been served cardboard with a smattering of cheese and meat.

Not wanting to be wasteful, we bring that miserable excuse for pizza home, and try to feed it to our dog.  He snubs it.  We try to compost it, but even the worms won't touch it.

Never fear, you can stop using that leftover pizza for a doorstop and turn it into an easy, yummy breakfast. It's easy.  (Not fast, but definitely easy.)

Pizza Pain Perdu

Ingredients

For each serving, you will need:

2 small slices of leftover GF pizza
1 egg
Scant 1/2 cup goat milk or unsweetened milk alternative
dash of salt or smoked salt
dash of pepper
pinch or two of Italian herb blend (Penzey's Frozen Pizza seasoning is perfect)

Directions

 

1. Lightly oil or spray a 3-cup rectangular Pyrex dish.
2. Place pizza slices in dish, alternating directions.
3. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over the pizza and let set for about 15 to 30 minutes.
4. Bake at 350 for about 25 to 30 minutes, until all is baked through.

Alternating pizzza slices in a Pyrex dish

Savory custard mixture: Egg, goat milk, seasonings

Pizza soaking in the custard mixture

 

The finished product

Close-up of the finished product: No more cardboard

Savory Garbanzo Bread

Once upon a time, I had most of the ingredients for Chickpea and Chives Waffles, but no waffle iron.  No problem: Waffles and pancakes are sort of the same thing.  So, I decided to make pancakes.

Got part way into the process, and wondered: What would it take to make chickpea and chives bread?

Waffles get some oil from the waffle iron and some from whatever you put on the waffle. So, bread needs more oil.  And, bread probably needs more binder than waffles. So, maybe an extra egg.

I didn't have chives, but that's OK.  I had other things to provide flavor.

And, I really prefer to call them garbanzos.   So, that's how chickpea and chives waffles turned into...

Savory Garbanzo Bread

Ingredients

90 grams garbanzo flour
8 ounces warm water (about 120 degrees f.)
1.5 tsp Italian herb blend
1.5 tsp dehydrated minced onion
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper (Really, I have no idea.  Just grind a bunch in.)
12 grams honey or agave syrup
45 grams oil
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
3 eggs
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
60 g. gluten-free flour blend (Trader Joe's blend is fine.)
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
Optional: Smoked paprika and/or pecorino romano cheese

Directions

1. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together water and garbanzo flour.  Let sit for about 20 minutes.
2. Grease a 9" square baking pan.  Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350.
3. Add herbs and spices, honey, and oil.
4. Add eggs and whisk until well-combined.
5. Whisk in xanthan gum.
6. Whisk in flour blend.
7. Add baking powder and soda, then whisk thoroughly.
8. Top with paprika and/or pecorino romano if desired.
9. Bake at 350 for 12-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Play with the seasoning.  The photos below are of the bread sans topping and seasoned with dill, onion, parsley, and garlic.

Yes, Anything Can Be a Pancake -- Even Lentils

A while back I purchased a GF magazine that had a recipe for chicken pancakes (oh, yeah!).  They also had one for garbanzo pancakes that used whole beans instead of flour.  That seemed like a good idea for any legume.

So, I decided to do it with lentils.  But, I didn't bother reading the recipe before cooking the lentils.  The recipe used soaked, but not cooked beans. And didn't use eggs or other binders.  Hmm...

OK. So, I'll make up my own lentil pancakes.

And I did.   You're welcome.

Lentil Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked lentils
Your favorite lentil seasonings
2 T oil
1 T pepper vinegar, or your favorite vinegar
5 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup tapioca starch, or your favorite starch
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions

1. Cook lentils in water to cover plus a little more with your favorite seasonings.
   I used about 1/3 cup dehydrated mixed vegetables, a little dry onion, some garlic, salt, and pepper.  Cook them until they're mushy, adding water as needed.
2. Using a strainer, drain as much liquid as you reasonably can from about 3 cups of the cooked lentils.  Put the lentils in a mixing bowl and let them cool. Reserve the remaining lentils for soup or another batch of pancakes.
3. Add oil, vinegar, eggs, starch, and xanthan gum.  Stir until thoroughly mixed.
4. Stir in the baking soda.
5. Cook as you would any other pancake, but make them pretty small so they don't break. 
6. Serve with cashew cream ranch dressing.

Cashew Cream Ranch Dressing

Ingredients
Cashew cream  (A little more than 1/2 cup)
Organic mayo  (A little less than 1/2 cup)
Apple cider vinegar
Lemon juice
Dehydrated minced onion
Garlic powder
Freeze-dried parsley
Dill
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1. Add cashew cream and mayo to a bowl using about a 60/40 ratio. 
2. Add a splash of vinegar, a squirt of lemon, and other seasonings to taste.
3. Stir it up, then taste. 
4. If it needs more zing, add more lemon or vinegar.  If it needs more kapow, add more pepper or salt.  If it needs more Mmmmm, add more garlic, onion, parsley, and/or dill.  If it has too much zing or kapow, or if the Mmmm is more like Ohhhh, add more cashew cream and mayo.

I won't bother giving instructions for cashew cream.  There are zillions of cashew cream recipes out there already. 

Cheese Toast a la Jared

A recipe for cheese toast? Really??  Who needs a recipe for cheese toast???

Well, it's not about the recipe, kids. It's about the ingredients.

And, no. Jared isn't an ingredient.

But, his delightful farm (http://jaredsrealfood.com/ ) produces delightful ingredients.

So, back to the ingredients....

You'll need a couple of slices of reasonably decent gluten-free bread.  Ramona Family Naturals and Windmill Farms sell a locally-made sourdough that toasts up nicely.  And, of course, Canyon Bakehouse rocks.  But, today, I had T-Jo's multigrain, so T-Jo multigrain it is.

Next, you'll need a couple of Jared's small golden tomatoes. These cute little guys are low acid, vine ripe, organic, heirloom, flavorful... And did I mention they're just so cuuuute!  Slice them up and place them on the bread.

Next, grab one of Jared's Marconi peppers.  Lovely sweet red pods of joy, they look like they should be hot, but they're not. Slice a few paper-thin slices and sprinkle over the golden tomatoes. 

Top all that with a few transparent slices of one of Jared's onions.  These bad boys are pungent, aromatic, and utterly onionicious!

Bake in the toaster oven at about 375 until the kitchen smells amazing.  In other words, until the onions have started to brown at the edges and the tomatoes are hot. Maybe 5 minutes or so?

Now add some raw pepper jack cheese.  Good luck finding it.  I got mine in Ramona.  If you can't find it, then just use your favorite goat cheese.  Pop it back in the toaster oven and continue baking just until the cheese warms enough to melt.  Probably another 3-5 minutes.

And, there you have it: Cheese toast a la Jared.

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Squash Chili

As my adventure in mushy food continues, my biggest question is, "Do variations in Vegetable Slop count as new recipes?"

OK, my real biggest questions are, "Will this ever end?" and "Am I going to be alright?"

But, those questions make for boring blog posts.  Even more boring than blenderized vegetables.

So... today's gustatory delight (said with tongue in cheek, aforementioned tongue partially poking through the hole where the tooth used to be because I'm typing this as I eat, and I'm supposed to eat with my flipper out, and isn't that way more than you wanted to know?) is Yellow Crookneck Squash Chili.  And, yes, it could be made with Zucchini.

Sorry, no pics -- partly because I just didn't have time, and partly because this stuff looks almost exactly like any other Vegetable Slop.  Maybe a little more red-orange than  the greenish brown slop made with tomatoes and green beans. But, except for color, it's all be the same.

Yellow Crookneck Squash Chili

Ingredients:

• 2 small yellow crookneck squash
• 2 small heirloom tomatoes
• About 3/4 cup water
• Big pinches and dashes of Chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt, pepper.
• 1 TBSP guacamole

Directions:

1. Put everything except the guac in a pan and cook.
2. Blenderize with your handy stick blender.
3. Taste and add more seasonings if needed.
4. Pour into a bowl and top with the guac.

Yumm. Sort of.

Vegetable Slop - er, I mean, Soup

I'm not sure how humans survived oral surgery before the advent of the stick blender.  I'm sure I'll wear mine out before this is all over.

One of my biggest challenges has been vegies.  I eat LOTS of vegies.  A day without broccoli is like a day without sunshine. Only worse.

But, pureed broccoli? Not so much.

And, even though I can now chew well-done vegies, it can be very tedious trying to eat a whole bowl full.

Right now I'm kind of craving the vegie soup from Marie Callendar's.  But, without all the salt and who-knows-what one gets in restaurant soups.

So, here it is: Vegetable Slop - er, Soup.  I'm not saying it's all that pretty.  But it is tasty, and it requires no chewing.

The recipe makes 2 small servings or 1 large.

Ingredients:

About 6 ounces organic frozen green beans
About 1/2 cup organic canned tomatoes
About 1/4 cup frozen peas
A slice or two of onion, or a generous sprinkling of onion powder
Dash of garlic powder
Pinch of oregano
3/4 cup or so of organic vegie broth or water
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Throw everything in a pan and cook til done.
2. Blenderize with your stick blender.
3. Serve in a pretty mug.

Variations:
Add a pinch of capers, a couple of olives, or some fresh savory.  Throw in a little spinach or any other vegies you have on hand.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins with Pumpkin Ketchup Glaze

Last summer I bought a couple of small bouquets of fresh sage and parsley at the farmer's market, and those two little bouquets changed my life.  Or at least my meatloaf.

Meatloaf until then had always a failed attempt to replicate Mom's beef-based, tomato-infused, ketchup-topped comfort food. 

And turkey meatloaf?  A failed attempt's poor cousin.

Until fresh sage.

My first sage-infused turkey meatloaf got a cranberry sauce topping.  And, from then on, all turkey meatloaves contained parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.  Topped with cranberry sauce, they were once a true love of mine.

But, cranberry season ends. The stockpile of frozen cranberries dwindles. And, the container of frozen pumpkin beckons.

Many months ago I came across the term "pumpkin ketchup", mentally went "ewww", and dismissed it entirely.  But, seeing the pretty orange frozen pumpkin, the ketchup concept returned to mind.  Googled up a few recipes, but really wasn't interested in apple or mustard or the whole pantheon of pumpkin pie spices.  No, I wanted a very simple pumpkin ketchup... one that would complement the last of my fresh sage, not go to war with it.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins with Pumpkin Ketchup Glaze

All measurements are approximate.  This is meatloaf, after all.

Meatloaf

Olive oil spray
Organic blue cornmeal (or cornmeal of choice)
1 organic red onion
3 ribs organic celery
4 oz organic mushrooms
1 2/3 lbs ground turkey with nothing added (Costco's turkey burgers work well)
3 organic eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 to 1 cup gluten free rolled oats
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp fresh thyme
Dash of garlic powder
2 Tbsp ground flax meal
Pumpkin ketchup

1. Preheat oven to 400 (f).  Line 24 muffin cups, then spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle a little blue cornmeal in the bottoms.  The cornmeal helps absorb some of the liquid that cooks out.
2. Chop the onion, celery, and mushrooms reasonably fine and parboil covered briefly in a small amount of water. Let cool.
3. Mix everything  except pumpkin ketchup together.
4. Divide meatloaf mixture evenly among the 24 muffin cups, and press down. 
5. Divide the pumpkin evenly among the meatloaves, and smooth it down.
6. Bake about 25 minutes, until meat is done.

Pumpkin Ketchup

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 organic sweet onion, chopped fine
1/4 cup organic cider vinegar
3-4 Tbsp honey
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 - 1/2 tsp allspice
dash of garlic powder
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Cook everything in a small saucepan until the onion starts to get almost translucent.
2. Whir the mixture with a stick blender until almost smooth

Result:  Not as pretty as cranberry topped meatloaves, but tasty enough and a bit lower on the glycemic index.  Definitely a keeper.

Exquisite Turkey Meatloaf

Four turkey burger patties, totalling about 1lb 6 oz, and small bouquets of fresh organic sage and parsley from the local farmer's market. 3/4 cup leftover pumpkin from some pumpkin bread made earlier in the day.

 

Definitely time to make a not-my-mother's meatloaf.

 

So, web search to find a turkey and pumpkin meatloaf recipe.  They're out there.

 

And, by the time I got around to making mine, I'd decided to add a few things not in the online version, and I was so tired I ended up forgetting the pumpkin part.  Ooops. But, it turned out wonderful, anyway.

Exquisite Turkey Meatloaf

• 1.5 lbs ground turkey, more or less. Preferably with no broth, seasonings, or anything weird added.
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 C rolled oats  (gluten free, of course)
• 8 oz mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
• 1 medium small zucchini, chopped
• 1/3 C celery
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 T fresh sage, chopped
• 1.5 T fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 pinches dried thyme
• 1 pinch dried rosemary
• Salt & pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mush all ingredients together.
3. Heat a small amount of olive oil in an iron skillet.
4. Add  meat mush to skillet and smooth the top.
5. Bake about 45 minutes or so, until done.

While it is baking, make the cranberry sauce:

• 1 C fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed
• 1/4 C water
• 1/3 C organic evaporated cane sugar
• 1/2 C organic apple sauce

1.  Cook until most cranberries pop and sauce thickens slightly.
2. Taste. 
3. Add more sugar if you think it needs it.

Serve meatloaf topped with cranberry sauce.  Like any self-respecting meatloaf, it's also good cold.

Note: For best flavor, use fresh organic vegetable and herb ingredients, and cage free organic eggs.

Sorry. No picture.

Goat Cheese Quiche

Imagine, if you can, a vegetarian dish so very good that Mr. Carnivore Himself, AKA The Spouse, would eat it for dinner without requesting a side of animal.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not really a vegetarian.  Though three or four days a week you might think I was.

But, nothing says "Girly lunch" like a vegetarian entree or two. So, when I had the girls over for lunch yesterday, I had to do a goat cheese quiche.

The Crust

I adapted the crust from a recipe in Jacqueline Mallorca's book, The Wheat Free Cook.  She has a recipe for cornmeal pie crust.  I used blue cornmeal and substituted a mix of tapioca and potato starch for the cornstarch.  My other major modification: I pressed the dough into the pie pan instead of rolling it. It makes for a less even crust, but it's a lot less aggravation.

Wish I could give the recipe here, but that would be a copyright thing. 

The crust turned out OK, but next time, I may try a hash brown crust. Those are fun.

The Filling

The filling... ah, the filling.  I had more than my 10" pie pan could hold, so I made a couple of custard cups full.  Next time, I may skip the crust entirely, because the filling is that good.

1 unbaked pie crust
1 lb fresh organic spinach
8 oz organic mushrooms
2 Tbsp pecorino romano
5 eggs
1/2 C Greek yogurt (I used Fage nonfat)
1/2 C soy creamer
1/2 C almond milk
1 or 2 cubes Dorot frozen garlic - or 1-2 cloves of the real stuff
pinch of cayenne
pinch of paprika
pinch of thyme
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
4 oz goat feta

1. Rinse spinach, discard stems. Do not dry the spinach.  
2. Place spinach in a pan and cook on low heat until wilted.  Remove from pan with slotted spoon, and drain in collander.  You may have to cook the spinach in batches. Do not discard cooking liquid.
3. Wash & slice mushrooms, then cook in the spinach liquid until done. Drain.
4. Cool the spinach and mushrooms, then squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Chop coarsely.
5. Mix eggs, yogurt, almond milk, creamer, garlic, and other seasonings.
6. Bake pie crust 10 minutes, then remove from oven.
7. Sprinkle romano on bottom of pie crust.
8. Sprinkle most of the spinach and mushrooms in pie crust.
9. Pour most of the custard mixture over.
10. Sprinkle in most of the feta, then mix slightly to combine.
11. Bake at 350 for about 40 or 50 minutes.

You can bake the left-over filling in greased custard cups for about 20 minutes.

Alas, we devoured most of the quiche before I could take a picture. Here's a photo of the last bits.

Cilantro Hummus Pizza Crust

I made two bowls of hummus for the fall potluck at work. One normal and one cilantro-lime. It was surprisingly easy.

After the potluck, I had a little less than 1.5 cups of cilantro hummus left.

Which brings us to the pizza.

I'd actually cooked a whole pound of garbanzo beans in anticipation of making the hummus, and now we have a freezer full of garbanzos.  So, I've been researching garbanzo recipes the last few days.

I found a really cool one for garbanzo pizza dough. It used a can of drained garbanzos, a half cup of wheat flour, and some other stuff. I have no idea exactly what other stuff, because I lost the recipe.

But, if drained garbanzos can be food processed with flour and other stuff to make pizza dough, then hummus can be mixed with gluten-free flour and other stuff to become pizza dough. Right?

Except.... I've both read and learned the hard way that gluten-free flours are not as forgiving of moisture variance as wheat flour is.  And, I'm well aware that my hummus doesn't have the same moisture content as drained garbanzos. So, this could be a disaster.

But, it could be an interesting disaster. And, it would use up that cilantro hummus.

I started by mixing an egg into the leftover hummus. Next, I grabbed my container of Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking mix and added enough to make a somewhat wet and sticky dough. Probably somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 cup.  The dough looked a little coarse, so I drizzled some olive oil in to smooth things out a bit.

I decided to bake it in a large iron skillet just in case it came out really bad. Iron skillets are indestructible.

Oiled the iron skillet, spread the dough out, and put it in to bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I wondered, what do you top a cilantro and garbanzo pizza crust with?

I thought of all kinds of cool ideas, mostly involving things I didn't have on hand.

So, instead, I smeared some spaghetti sauce on top, then used an ice pick to extract 1/2 cup of hamburger from a frozen block I had in the freezer.  Crumbled up a leftover sausage patty. Added a few kalamata olives, some pre-shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. Next, bumped the oven temp up to 400, and cooked it for another 15 minutes.

The result was a thick, soft pizza crust, almost more like a biscuit than a pizza. Spouse 1.0 declared it a definite improvement over the thin, cardboard-like gluten-free pizza crusts you get in the stores.