3-Ingredient, 10-Minute Broccoli Salmon Casserole

Everything in the pan before water is added.

Everything in the pan before water is added.

4.8.14 014I had about 10 minutes to throw this together last night. It’s a quick and easy oven dish. You need a little lead time as it took about 1.5 hours to cook. But it is a super simple and quick dish. But, best of all is that you basically need only three ingredients – 1 can of salmon, frozen broccoli, and brown rice.

Here’s what you do….

Drizzle a some olive oil in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Pour in 3 cups of uncooked brown rice and add some salt and pepper. Add a few handfuls of frozen broccoli (or whatever other veggie you have in the freezer). Open a can of salmon, drain and reserve the juice, remove the bones and crumble the salmon meat over the rice and broccoli. Drizzle the reserved juice over the mix and add 7 cups of water. Cover with alluminum foil and cook on 375 degrees for 1.5 hours or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

10 Minute Jambalaya Rice and Sausage

4.3.14 104So, at 3:30 this afternoon we got home from being out all day and I realized that I had forgotten to thaw out the meat I had planned for dinner. Oops.

Thankfully, we were just returning from Costco so I had some bulk Italian sausage in my cart. Enter my rescue meal plan.

So, I carried all the groceries up 2 flights of steps, quickly put them away, sent the big kids off to “quiet time,” got the baby to sleep and threw dinner together while I could. It turned out quite good and was very easy and quick. 10 minutes of prep, and 40 minutes simmering on the stove and dinner was done. A great one pot meal.

Here’s what I did….

In a large saucepan (I used my 5 quart cast iron Dutch Oven – affiliate link – Disclosures here) add about 2 tbls. of fat (use whatever you have on hand – I use some bacon grease) and measure in 3 cups of brown rice. Saute the rice for about 3-4 minutes until it’s starting to get toasty and all the kernels are coated with oil. Add 7-8 homemade chicken bullion cubes (3-4 if using store bought bullion cubes). Next, use your kitchen shears and remove the casings on 1 pound of sweet Italian sausage cut the sausage up into 1-inch chunks with the shears directly into the pan. Throw in about 2-3 cups of frozen veggies (I used mixed vegetables). Toss in some salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and cajun seasoning if you have it. Pour 8 cups of water over the mix. Stir. Cover the pot with the lid and 40 minutes later you’ll have dinner.

Note: Be sure to turn the heat off while there is still a little liquid left in the pan. Let it sit covered for 10 or 15 minutes and the rice will absorb the rest of the water. This will keep the rice on the bottom of the pan from burning.

 

Everything in the pot.

Everything in the pot.

 

Pour 8 cups of water over and simmer for 40 minutes.

Pour 8 cups of water and simmer for 40 minutes.

 

All done and delicious.

All done and delicious.

It was good. We ate it up.

And this could easily be modified to be a crock pot meal by reducing the amount of water by one cup and cooking on low about 6 hours. Happy eating!

Sugar-free and Allergy Friendly Apple Cobbler

140128_0003The inspiration for this recipe is from a recipe I found on Yummly. Since I’m not good at making pies, I made it one night in substitute for an apple pie. It turned out really good. I’ve realized since that I’m a cobbler girl and not a pie girl. And that’s okay with me. I’ll leave the apple pies to my mother-in-law and I’ll stick with cobblers. To me pies feel like work, and they never turn out right for me anyway, but cobblers…. they feel easy and fast. So, I made this recipe few more times and as I do with all my recipes after I’ve interalized it, I start tweaking it and making it my own – adding my own flair.

Well in this case, the flair was removing an ingredient. Sugar. I was avoiding sugar over the holidays (great time for that right?) and needed a sugar free dessert for myself. So, I made this without sugar, and guess what. It was really good. Keep reading to find out what to do. But, I’ll give you a hint first… The key to this recipe is the cream.

Sugar-Free Apple Cobbler: 

This recipe is free of sugar, eggs, wheat, corn and nuts.

Ingredient List: apples, butter, white spelt flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt, heavy cream, baking powder.

First, grease a casserole dish, cake pan or pie plate with butter.

Peel, slice and chop 4 large apples. Choose a sweet, red variety like Fuji or Braeburn. No Granny Smith’s here please.

Sprinkle 2 tsp. cinnamon, a dash of cloves and 1/2 tsp. of salt over the apples and stir to coat.

Next, melt half a stick of butter in a large (cast-iron if you have it) skillet. Toss in the apple and begin to saute them over medium heat in the butter.

Sprinkle 2 tbls. of white spelt flour over the apples and stir until all the flour is combined with the butter and apple juices. This will make a roux which will thicken your cobber base.

After a few minutes of cooking pour 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream over the apples stirring and simmering until thickened. Remove from heat. The sweetness of the cream combined with the apple juices adds just enough sweet to make this naturally sweet and delicious without needing sugar. (Note: if you wanted it a little sweeter you could substitute 1/2 of apple juice for 1/2 cup of the cream.)

Now, for the topping. This is basically like making homemade biscuits.

In a large mixing bowl add 3 cups white spelt flour (you could use any flour of your choice here, but I think baked goods come out particularly well with this spelt flour), 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt. Stir to combine and then cut in 1/2 stick of butter using a pastry blender. Pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and stir quickly until it all just starts to come together adding a dash more cream if the mixture is too dry. Try to avoid overmixing. The cream here too adds a touch of sweetness so that you don’t need to add sugar to the pastry.

140128_0000Spoon your apple mixture into your greased casserole dish. Now, using a large spoon or cookie scoop add dollops of the dough. Don’t worry about filling in every space with dough as it will rise as it cooks and all the nooks and crannies will get filled in.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until your biscuit topping is golden. Serve with whipped cream if desired. It’s delicious! Enjoy!

Note: If you are diabetic and trying to avoid sugar, the fat (cream and butter) in this recipe will help you metabolize the carbs from the apples and dough.

Chocolate Quinoa Custard

140127_0000This recipe is gluten, dairy, nut and sugar free. This recipe contains eggs.

I’ve been making this for breakfast lately. It’s delicious, filling and high in protein. Try it!

Start with 2 cups quinoa. Soak overnight. Drain and rinse. Add enough water to a saucepan to cover the quinoa by about 1/2 inch. Simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed, the quinoa is transparent and the little curly tendrils can be seen on the side of each grain. Cool.

Next stir the following into your cooled cooked quinoa.
2 tbls. cocoa powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cloves

Mixture unset before it goes into the oven.

Mixture unset before it goes into the oven.

In a separate bowl combine
2 cups milk (substitute: goat, almond or coconut milk)
6 egg yolks (or 3 whole eggs)
1/2 cup maple syrup (or 3/4 cup honey)
1 tsp. vanilla

Add the liquid mixture to the quinoa mixture and stir to combine well. Pour into a greased casserole dish and cook at 350 for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the mixture is set.

It is best served warm. Add some extra maple syrup to taste and pour some cream over the top. It’s delicious!

140114_0000 fix

For leftovers you can reheat it with a little bit of milk or cream over the stove.

Got 10 minutes? Homemade Tortilla Chips anyone?

Homemade flour tortilla chips.

Homemade flour tortilla chips.

I don’t buy regular tortilla chips because my children react to the oils that they are made with. So, necessity being the mother of invention, here is the 10 minute method to making your own using the oil of your choice. The key here is being able to coat the tortillas in oil quickly without having to take the time to fry them first.

Start with a package of your favorite fajita (small) tortillas (flour, corn or some other alternative grain). Coat a dinner plate in the oil of your choice (I like olive oil). Remove six of the tortillas and follow these steps. Don’t try to make sense of them by reading it. Just do it and it will flow. It’s really not hard.

Dinner plate coated in olive oil.

Dinner plate coated in olive oil.

1. Take one tortilla and lay it down in the oil.
2. Pick it up and place another tortilla up against the oily side.
3. With the two tortillas stuck together, lay them both down in the plate of oil on one of the dry sides.
4. Pick up the two tortillas again placing a third tortilla up against the side you just oiled.
5. Lay the three tortillas down together again on one of the dry sides.
6. Continue adding a new tortilla to the newly oiled side of your stack until you have used all six of your tortillas.You should now have a stack of six oily tortillas. So, step seven is….

7. Using kitchen shears (or a cutting board and serrated knife) cut your tortillas into quarters.
8. Arrange your triangles on a 12×18″ jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.
9. Sprinkle with salt.
10. Bake on 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Since every oven is different, start checking at the 8 minute mark and again at the 9 minute mark to be sure that they don’t burn. They will go from not browned to burned if you aren’t careful.

Eat up! We enjoyed this with Black-Eyed Pea Salsa on New Year’s Day. These also make yummy nachos as pictured below.

Nachos made with homemade tortilla chips.

Nachos made with homemade tortilla chips.

Fall Recipes: Pumpkin, Spiced Chai and more…

10.10.10 089

“Don’t you just love New York in the Fall?”

Anyone ever see You’ve Got Mail? It may be a cliche one-liner, but there is something special about Fall. The leaves change, the air is crisp, you pull out your favorite sweaters and hats, and curl up on the couch in the evenings with your favorite afghan spread across your lap. Add these recipes to your list of fall favorites. They are delicious and they fit the season perfectly.

Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin Butter on homemade spelt biscuits

Pumpkin Butter on homemade spelt biscuits

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Allergy-Friendly Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread 001

Spiced Chai Tea

Christmas Chai Tea

Quinoa Cornmeal Breakfast Pudding

9.16.13 015 This yummy porridge combines protein packed quinoa and cornmeal to make a delicious and versatile breakfast dish. You can make a whole batch ahead of time to eat on all week. Or make a double batch and freeze half for later.

Start by soaking 2 cups of whole grain quinoa overnight. (Note: I recommend soaking even if your quinoa is pre-rinsed and says ready to cook. It will cook much faster and ensure that there is no residual bitter taste which can happen if not soaked/rinsed properly.)

Drain and rinse in a collander.

Pour the 2 cups of rinsed quinoa into your saucepan and add the following.

2 cups of cornmeal
1 tbls. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
2 tbls. butter (or coconut oil, or other oil/fat of your choice)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar (or honey)

Stir these ingredients together to combine.

Now add enough water to cover the quinoa/corn mixture. Probably about 5 cups.

Cook over medium heat stirring often until the mixture is thick and the quinoa is less white and slightly transparent. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in the 1/2 of dried cranberries and pour into a loaf pan or casserole dish. (Note: It is best to store this mixture in a glass casserole dish or steel loaf pan and not in cast iron. Long-term storage in cast iron may cause the cast iron to rust due to moisture. Also, I was running out of cranberries when I made the batch pictured above so there’s not many showing.)

At breakfast time scoop out the serving size that you want and heat with a little cream and brown sugar to taste if needed.

Or you can change things up a bit and cut the mixture into slices, coat with flour and fry in a bit of oil for a gluten-free granola bar on the go.

You can see my other Allergy-Friendly Recipes by clicking here.

Probiotic Chocolate “Pudding”

130831_0000A new favorite for my kids. It’s not actually pudding mind you. But it’s very tasty and makes a great healthy dessert. Simply melt a handful of chocolate chips. (Try Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips if you need to avoid dairy, nuts or soy.) To cool the chocolate down a bit stir in a bit of cream, coconut oil, or almond milk depending on your dietary needs. Then mix in 2-3 heaping spoonfuls of your favorite yogurt. I like plain whole milk yogurt. And just like that you have a yummy mock chocolate pudding that is delicious and full of probiotic goodness. Eat up kids.

Allergy Friendly: Stir Fry!

Beef stir fry with ginger and garlic.

If you can’t have sesame and soy eating Chinese, Korean or other Oriental dishes is out. Here are some my favorite ways to adapt your favorite Chinese food to make them allergy friendly.

These recipes are free of soy, sesame, egg, dairy, nuts and either corn or wheat.

Start with a pot of your favorite rice cooked according to the package directions (I like brown rice).

Beef Stir Fry:
Next saute 1 1/2 lbs of  your favorite cut of beef cut into thin strips with salt and pepper. Throw a 6 cloves of garlic, 2 tbls. of fresh ginger root into the food processor and process until minced and add to the pan. Now add your favorite veggies – onions and peppers, broccoli and carrots, string beans, etc. Cook until the beef is done and the veggies are fork tender.

Chicken Stir Fry

Chicken Stir Fry

Chicken Stir Fry:
Begin by cutting uncooked chicken breasts into strips and saute with your oil of choice. Chop your favorite veggies – mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, onion, etc. Add the veggies to the pan stirring often. Next, prepare your sauce. Combine 2 cups of chicken stock, 1/4 cup of vinegar, 3 tbls. honey, salt/pepper (to taste), 2 tsp. garlic powder, crushed red pepper (optional). Whisk to combine. Add 2 tbls. of corn starch and stir into the sauce to thicken. (If you can’t use corn starch, then add some extra oil to your meat before you add your veggies and sprinkle 2 tbls. of flour (wheat or spelt) over the chicken. This will coat the chicken and combine with the fat to make a roux which will then thicken the sauce when you add it.) Pour over the meat and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring until thickened.

Click here to see my other allergy friendly recipes.