Slow Cooked Chives and Rosemary Chicken in Red Wine

(Scroll down for Liver Sauteed in Olive Oil with Bay Leaves and Garlic Recipe)
There is something especially lovely about the smell of wine cooking.  I planned to use a white wine for this recipe, but due to my general laziness and a need to get the chicken in the oven before it was too late in the afternoon I opted for a nice red wine I had in the house.  Cooking a whole chicken in a clay pot takes at least 2 hours.  Depending on its size it can take 2-4 hours.  I usually like to give it 2.5 to 3 hours.  To get back to the wine, I was very pleasantly surprised by the results of the red wine and chicken in the clay pot.  It was wonderful!  This may be my favorite chicken-in-a-clay-pot recipe yet. The recipe is easy and has a minimum of ingredients (which I am very fond of) and uses in season  chives.

Creamy Seafood, Artichoke and Potato Soup: In Season Eating!

I began with the idea of mixing two in season vegetables: potatoes and artichokes. Easy enough. Add a white sauce and some corn, onions and herbs, and viola, yummy garden fresh soup. Day 2: What if I added clams and salmon? Hmmmm. I really like that idea. Like a sweet clam chowder. Here is the yummy recipe:

The Insides:
8 russet potatoes chopped small
4 large artichokes, trim ends (leave 1-2 inch stem)
2 large onions chopped small
4 sprigs of thyme
2 heads of corn, slice kernels off cob
1 can artichoke hearts in water, quartered
3 cans of clams (or fresh!) (about 6 oz per can)
1 fillet of salmon (1 pound) or other seafood of your choice

White Sauce:
4 TBS Butter
4 TBS flour (wheat free or not)
2 cups whole milk
1 cup water

Cook the artichokes in a 5 quart pan with 3 to 3 1/2 quarts of water until they are tender, but firm. Take out and set aside. Chop the hearts to add to the soup bowls. Add thyme sprigs and chopped potatoes to soup pan. Cook for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are well done.

Meanwhile . . . make the White sauce:
melt 4 TBS butter in pan on medium heat, then add 4 TBS flour, while mixing thoroughly. When mixed, add 2 cups of whole milk. Use a whisk to mix the milk, flour and butter. Stir often enough to prevent sticking and burning, adjusting temperature as needed. The mixture will thicken considerably. Add 2 chopped onions and a cup of water, stir and cook until thickened, then add to the large soup pan.

Add the corn kernels, can of artichokes, clams, chopped & de-boned salmon, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until salmon and corn is done, about 5-10 minutes. Cool to eating temperature and serve!

We enjoyed our soup with Jasmine rice and soy sauce.

Burrito Ideas for Summer ~ Use your Garden & Farmer's Market

. . . to create beautiful food. Probably my favorite part of cooking is using the ingredients that I get from my garden and the local farmer's market in new and creative ways. Because I have been a bit busy lately and am healing from a neck injury, simplicity in cooking is important. Stella has also had a bit of a digestive virus so I wanted to make a meal that would have enough options for her to eat something.

Burritos= simplicity + options / local ingredients + traditional ingredients (avocado, lime, salsa, jalapeno)

Today I want to focus on some ideas for making your own burritos with fresh local ingredients. My kids love burritos and it gives them and me a lot of options depending on our mood.

Stella (1 1/2) ejoys a big plate of burritos

For me simplicity was looking in my pantry and using adzuki beans & sushi rice. I used my own spinach & lettuce, parsley from my garden and eggs from my chickens. Another reason I think burritos are simple is because you can start with a shell and just a few fillings and have a spectacular meal. I place "toppings" in bowls and people can add what they like.

Here are some ingredients you can mix and match to make burritos:

Tortillas: we like 100% corn tortillas. they are usually smaller than flour ones. Get a bamboo steamer for your tortillas, it makes a huge difference in the taste!!

Lime & lemon: squeeze some on top of your burrito or add to salsa

Tomatillos: can buy as in a salsa, or as a fresh fruit and cut, cook, and make into salsa or topping.

salsa: try a mango, pineapple, or green salsa, or make your own. I think it would be fin to make a rhubarb and mango salsa, and rhubarb is in season!

Plain yogurt or sour cream

Guacamole or avocados

Fresh tomatoes: sometimes if I froget salsa, I slice up a tomato and barely miss the salsa.

Rice: I like wild rice mixes, jasmine, and sushi rice

Beans: any type (black, pinto, black eyed peas, adzuki)- adzuki beans (little red beans you can buy in bulk at health food or co-op stores) are especially good as they soften into a nice refried bean type mash as they cook. All dried beans soak in water for 4-8 hours and then cook in a pan covered by several inches of water for a few hours. You may need to add more water as they cook. Beans soak up a large amount of water, especially if you do not soak them for long before hand.

Meat: chicken, beef, fish, soy alternative

Herbs: parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, cumin, fennel. Try using one or two herbs at a time, can prepare as toppings or with meat and/or beans

Onions & garlic: cook on its own as a topping or with meat and beans

Greens: spinach, lettuce. Cut small and serve as topping. If you will be reheating the burritos, choose spinach, as it will reheat beautifully

Cheese: feta, farmer, jack, jalapeno, anything you will enjoy.

Jalapenos: cook on the side or with the meat/beans. If you will be serving children, put the jalapenos on the side rather than in the meat/beans

Eggs: scramble and enjoy with beans and cheese

Beer: for the adults, serve burritos with a nice cold specialty beer, I have been enjoying Kona Wailua Wheat Beer with Passion Fruit

Anything I am forgetting that you like to add to yours? Add a comment at the bottom!!

St. Patrick's Day Birthday Corned Beef and Cabbage, carrots and Potatoes

My daughter Marina's birthday is on St. Patrick's day so we enjoy this Irish meal on her birthday to celebrate the occasion. Here's a simple easy recipe I like, and it needs to be simple for at this very moment a 1 year old baby is toppling a teapot over while perched on a stool with her sister who is precipitously leaning onto the kitchen island trying to reach a tea strainer to-do-I-don't-want-to-know-what with it in her smoothie! Here's the recipe:

Brisket of corned beef (2-4 #) Ours come with herbs on top (chopped bay leaf, black pepper kernels, red peppers
1/2 head of green cabbage
4 carrots chopped in half
4 potatoes quartered

Put corned beef in large stew pot and cook for at least 3 hours at a slow boil. Four hours is good. Add carrots and potatoes 35-45 minutes before serving and cabbage 15 minutes before serving.
Serve with crusty bread and/or side salad

Balsamic Spinach, Noodle, and Chicken Salad: Spring Recipe that Kids Love!

Chances are, if it has noodles, my kids will like to eat it. In an effort to incorporate healthy vegetables I combined spinach, carrots, celery, artichoke hearts and baked chicken with long spaghetti-style noodles, which you can chop into shorter pieces (makes the salad easier to toss). For vegetarians, substitute a good vegi-burger with the chicken, or marinate bite-size tofu in balsamic vinegar overnight (or for 2+ hours). I use my favorite balsamic homemade dressing with the salad. This meal satisfies all appetites as it combines a great protein source (chicken or tofu), carbs, and a great vegetable mix. I love making a salad as a dinner's main course, and this one is excellent. Even 1-year old Stella enjoyed the noodles and chicken, which we chopped small for her.

RECIPE: Balsamic Spinach, noodle, and Chicken (or Vegetarian) Salad, for a family or dinner party of 4-ish:

Pre-Preparation:
1. Use already baked chicken the equivalent of 2-4 chicken breasts, but any chicken will do, cut into bite-size pieces.
Or, for Vegetarians: marinate bite size (small squares) tofu in a pan of equal parts balsamic vinegar & olive oil, rolling the tofu in the marinate to cover all parts. I use the plain white firm tofu, for this recipe use a whole package.
2. Precook spaghetti noodles (a day or several hours ahead of time, you can even make them the day before for a different meal and use the leftovers for this recipe) . You can cut the noodles into smaller lengths if you desire, although we kept ours whole.

Vegetables:
6-8 cups of baby spinach washed and spinned in salad spinner
2 carrots, scrubbed and cut into small thin strips
2 celery, cut like the carrots
1/2 can of artichoke hearts, cut into bite size pieces

Mix the chicken, noodles, and vegetables in a nice big wooden bowl, toss with balsamic dressing, see recipe below. Start with less dressing (1-2 TBS) and add as needed. Because there is no lettuce, you can have this salad the next day and it will not be soggy. Yay!

Sweet Balsamic Dressing: this recipe makes enough for a long-term supply, for us it would last about a month. get the best quality balsamic vinegar you can afford (checkout: http://www.balsamicvinegar.com/uk/storia.asp) and mix:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
sugar to taste, I would use about 1 TBS for this amount.

Stir ingredients vigorously, or as I do it: put all ingredients in a salad dressing bottle with a sturdy lid and shake until sugar, oil and balsamic vinegar are mixed. You will need to shake or stir the dressing before you use it. It does not need to be refrigerated as vinegar keeps it fresh. If it is refrigerated the olive oil will harden, bummer.

Poet Robert Burns' 250th birthday Celebration right here on little 'ol Whidbey Island . . .

Robert Burns, poet, born 25 January, 1759

Another idea for celebration, thanks to my friends Nikki and Luke: have a birthday party for a dead Scottish poet complete with Scotch eggs, potato leek soup, salad, and Scottish whiskey. And of course, a Youtube reading of the poet's work:

How to have a Burns Night Supper Youtube video and recitation of poetry

Now, I had never heard of Robert Burns, although upon reflection I probably had heard of him, I just didn't know to take note. Being that his birthday is still being celebrated 250 years after he was born, he left a legacy of sorts behind. Here's what I know, and it's not much: he's Scottish and known widely to be the national poet of Scotland, writing in the Scot language (did you know, they have their own language, and I can't decifer most of it, I tried!). Here is a wikipedia link to more information about Robert Burns: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns
I am a large percentage Scottish (and several other backgrounds as well) so I was interested to learn more about Scotland and its people.

Official Robert Burns website: http://www.robertburns.org/

A well-know Robert Burns poem on Youtube: "Happy New Year/ Auld Lang Syne"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvJRmdN9iyU

A table setting with a picture of Robert Burns and whiskey

"Scottish eggs": hard boiled eggs wrapped in ground sausage (see below) and then deep fried in vegetable oil.

Luke wraps the eggs in sausage

Potato leek soup
Bacon pan fried then chopped and used as topping on the potato leek soup

A yummy green salad

Herbed Clay Pot Chicken with Apples and Baby Potatoes

The apples, potatoes and herbs in this recipe add a unique and very October taste to the chicken. If you cook the chicken for more than 2 hours your apples will be mush, but the flavor is wonderful. If you prefer to actually eat the apples too, not just use them as flavoring, add them 45 minutes before taking the chicken out of the oven.

For the herbs I used garlic (pressed), diced rosemary, and fresh thyme. For one chicken you will need about 5 garlic cloves, 1-2 TBS diced rosemary, and 2 TBS fresh thyme (take leaves off the sticks). The herbs may be stuffed under the skin (on the breasts) and be sure to save a little to sprinkle on top of the skin.

Above: Here is the chicken, apples, potatoes, and herbs. Use some olive oil to rub the clay pot with prior to placing chicken in as it will prevent the skin sticking to the sides, which is rather hard to remove! Cook the chicken, depending on size and oven temperature: 1-4 hours. Be sure to check the chicken to make sure it is cooked thoroughly. The clay pot method of cooking ensures that the chicken will be very tender.

October Ground Turkey, Squash & Lentil Soup: have dinner prepared for days!

Here is my Halloween soup! My rainy-windy-cold-need to heat the house and tummy kind of soup. This soup has a beautiful orange-yellow color and is thick because of the lentils and squash. The lentils, which are very small and pink, become puree just by cooking them. This soup is overall very hearty and great for a chilly autumn day. I actually made this soup to heat up my house. I started cooking it at 1pm and finished at 6pm. Not as hard as it sounds though! I cooked the chicken bones for several hours in the soup water to flavor it and add lots of nutrients. Makes about 4- 4 1/2 quarts of soup

Ingredients:
rain
wind
cold house
hungry family
lots of fall vegetables
noodles or rice
Halloween quickly approaching
urge to have an easy dinner on hand for several days in a row (or lunch or breakfast)

You'll need:
4 1/2 quarts water
MEAT
1 pound ground turkey
1-2 chickens (without meat, leftover from another meal, you can freeze the bones and use them later)
VEGETABLES
1/2 winter squash, peeled seeded and chopped small
5 carrots
3 celery
2 red onion
8 very small red and white potatoes (1"x 1" or so) or make up for bigger size by using fewer
2 head broccoli: chop stems and separate from heads
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
5 cloves garlic
LEGUMES:
3 cups of the small pink lentils
HERBS:
sprig of rosemary, thyme, and two bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste (or soy sauce)

I separate ingredients by how long they take to cook so start by cooking the chicken carcasses for 2-4 hours in a 5 quart soup pan with 4 quarts of water. Cook it on low heat so that it is simmering slowly. Add sprig of Rosemary, thyme, salt and two bay leaves. Cook until 1- 1 1/2 hours before dinner, then strain out bones and add below ingredients (chopped to approx the same size):
squash
onion
carrot
celery
lentils
potatoes
broccoli stems (save the tree tops for later)

Cook above ingredients until soft then add (approx 15 mins before din din). Also, if you are cooking noodles, begin now. Noodles are a great addition to this meal!

broccoli heads (chopped small)
mushrooms (sliced)
garlic, pressed or thinly chopped
ground turkey, formed into small balls

Cook at a simmer for 15-20 minutes, or unitl ingredients are tender, and in the case of the turkey, cooked all the way through!

Allow time for the soup to cool before serving.

Above: Soup with noodles and Mr. Mobley's tahini sauce

The noodles were a hit for both kids, as was the soup!

Edamame Green Salad with Lime Dressing

Edamame Green Salad with edible Nasturtiums (above, Version 1 with lots of beans)

Edamame Green Salad, Version 2 with lots of carrots (pictured above)

Lime and Olive Oil dressing, pictured above

I just love edamame beans. I buy them in the frozen section of the grocery store and heat them in a pan with butter and salt. They are actually delicious just like that! They also add some ummph to a salad. In this recipe you can use any good produce that is in-season at your farmer's market or in your own garden, the latter of which I did. Here's how I did it:

Edamame Green Salad
1 cup fried edamame beans (green soy beans), salted
5 cups of fresh lettuce, try mixing different types and colors
2 carrots, grated
5 +/- yellow cherry tomatoes, whole & halved

Place washed and spinned lettuce in a nice earthy-looking bowl (for presentation). Place the beans, carrots, and tomatoes on top.

Lime & Olive Oil Dressing:
1/2 lime, squeeze out juice
1/4 cup olive oil
5 TBS soy sauce or tamari
3 TBS honey
salt & pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients vigorously with a fork in a shallow dish. Toss with salad. You will have dressing left over unless you use more lettuce.

Serves 4, as a dinner side dish

Shrimp & Cilantro Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are a fun way to incorporate fresh raw vegetables into a meal. For these rolls you will need:

1 package of spring roll wraps (made of tapioca flour)
1 cup mung bean sprouts
2 cups small shrimp, cooked on stovetop with butter and cooled
sprigs of cilantro
2 TBS diced mint
1/2 medium sized cucumber, skinned and thinly sliced
1 cup shaved carrot
1 package very thin rice noodles, cooked and cooled
6 lettuce leaves, wetted to cover rolls and keep them moist until you eat them
2 lettuce leaves sliced thin, veins removed

You will also need a big bowl of warm water and a plate to roll the rolls on. Dip the first wrap into the warm after turning it so that it in wet on all sides. Place it on plate.
You may then place as much of each ingredient as you like in the middle of the wrap, I began with noodles then shrimp, cuke, carrot, lettuce, cilantro, and mint. Use small amounts of each ingredient so you will have enough space left to wrap the roll. It may take a few tries to get it right. Cover rolls with moist lettuce leaves to keep them soft until served.

How to roll: First place all ingredients on wrap, then fold right and left sides in 1/4 of the way, or so. Next wrap the end that is nearest to your tummy and pull it up and over the ingredients, holding the ingredients so that it makes a nice round shape. Then roll away from your body, making sure the right and left folds stay in place. All done! It is quite easy and there are several ways to fold. Use the one that works best for you.

Dipping Sauce:

2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon rice vinegar
6 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice cooking wine)
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger root
1 crushed garlic clove

Mix all ingredients together and serve in a small dipping bowl.

Chicken Sausage and Pinto Bean Soup

Yes, we still need warm & hearty soups here in the pacific northwest!! Brrrrrrr, it has been wet-cold for the last week with pretty much non-stop rain. This is good soup to make when you want to surprise your friends with a dinner. The recipe makes a lot of soup and it is a lot of fun to share it . . .


The Vegetables:
2/3 medium sized butternut squash: pealed, seeded and chopped small
1 onion, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
7 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups of chard or spinach chopped into 1" squares or smaller

The Other Stuff:
sprig of: rosemary, thyme, parsley and 2 bay leaves
4 TBS soy sauce or tamari

The Protein:
3 cups dry pinto beans soaked 6-8 hours
4 chicken sausages (or more if you like)
1-2 whole chickens, leftover from a dinner (ie: most of the meat is gone and bones remain) to make soup stock. You can freeze these used bones and take them out for these occasions.

• Cook the chicken bones in a 6-quart pan with 5 quarts of water for 3-4+/- hours. The goal is flavor and nutrient rich soup stock. I put the soup pan on the stove top on a low simmer early in the day and just let it cook while I go about my day. Then around 4-5pm I start the rest of the soup.

• Add the soaked pinto beans and "other stuff" (rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, parsley) and cook for another hour.

• Make sure the pinto beans are soft, but still well-formed before adding the vegetables. Add the chopped vegetables, except for the onion and the chard/spinach.

• Cook the onion and sausages in a separate pan with some olive oil until the sausage is hard enough to cut into rounds. Make sure the pinto beans and vegetables are all soft (done) before you add the sausage to the soup. Cut sausage into rounds and add it and the onion to the soup.
  
• Turn off the heat and add tamari, and 10-15 minutes before serving add 2 cups of chard or spinach and sprinkle parsley over the top. The heat from the soup will cook/soften the greens, but they will also retain their brilliant color as long as they are not over-cooked.
  

Serve with baked polenta, or all by itself! This is a complete meal in one bowl.

The 'Any Meat ' Burger with Fresh Spinach

I have been making a lot of turkey burgers lately. They are quick and easy. As it becomes lighter later in the evening, until 9:30 PM right now, I like to be outside working in the yard. Then all of a sudden I think, "It is time to eat, and what do I want to make?" This is where the quick and easy comes in. Sometimes I want to just eat and be done. So here it is, the fast and satisfying meal. I just serve the burger- nothing else- it is fulfilling by itself and if you add a lot of shredded romaine or spinach it feels pretty 'green' too. Serves 3

1 pound ground turkey or other ground meat
Enough cheese to cover three burgers
2 cups of shredded Romaine lettuce, or this time of the year, fresh spinach
1 onion cut small
Mayo/Vegannaise
Ketchup
6 pieces of bread, we like the sprouted wheat Ezekiel bread
Garlic powder and salt to taste
Splash of red wine

Cook the diced onion with olive oil in a cast iron pan on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add ground meat, right on top of the onions, flatten burgers to the appropriate size for you, 1 # makes from 2 1/2 to 3 burgers, depending on their size. Cover meat and cook for 5 minutes (or so). At this point you can sprinkle garlic powder and salt on the meat. Flip burgers, add a splash of red wine and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Top with sliced cheese, cover pan until cheese melts.

Meanwhile, toast the bread lightly, put ketchup on one side and mayo on the other. Place the lettuce or spinach on the mayo side, put the burger on top of the lettuce (cheese side up) and pile the onions on the cheese side of the burger. Put the other slice of bread on the meat, cut sandwich in half and place the extra lettuce on the side of your plate. Dinner served

Summer's Coming Quesadillas

These quesadillas are delicious. Summer is right around the corner, at least by the calendar, and the leeks in my garden are close to going to seed. I wanted to use most of them before they go to seed (they taste more tender before) so I came up with this recipe. I cook the corn tortillas with jack cheese on the stove top and in a separate pan I cook the leek and ground turkey. This is great with guacamole and green or red salsa and shredded romaine lettuce. You can keep it simple and quick or add lots of toppings. Here goes!

Turkey-Leek topping:

1 pound of ground turkey
1 leek, use the green and white part, slice thin
2 TBS butter
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp powdered garlic
1/2 tsp mild red pepper
salt to taste

Heat the pan up with butter and add the leek on medium heat. cook for 5 minutes , stirring once or twice. Add the turkey and stir. Then add the spices (garlic, cumin, red pepper salt), stir, cover with a lid and cook until turkey is done, 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile . . .
Cheese Quesadillas:

5 corn tortillas
1/4 pound jack cheese

We use small corn tortillas, add them to a buttered heated on medium pan. Place grated cheese on each tortilla, cover pan and let cook until the cheese has melted. Place each finished tortilla on a plate and add toppings as you like.

Here's a wonderful and easy guacamole:

2 avocados
1/2 small lime
salt to taste
pinch of cumin
pinch of powdered garlic

Mash avocados in a bowl, add 1/2 squeezed lime juice and spices, stir and serve with quesadillas.

Salsa, Ground Turkey & Leek Stir Fry

Turkey makes wonderful burrito meat, especially when it is paired with leeks, garlic, cumin, red pepper and salsa verde. Here is the recipe I cooked tonight. I served the turkey with shredded romaine lettuce, grated Parmesan and extra sharp white cheese, and salsa verde, and herbed lentil beans, and steamed corn tortillas.

Salsa, Ground Turkey & Leek Stir Fry

You'll need:

1 pound ground turkey
3 TBS butter
1 large leek, use the green part too! Cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/4 cup salsa verde (green salsa)
1 tsp powdered cumin
1 tsp powdered garlic
1 tsp dark red pepper (non-spicy) If you like it spicy add 1/4 tsp spicy red pepper

Heat 2 TBS butter on cast iron pan on medium heat. Add all of the leek, chopped. Cover and cook until the leek is soft. Then add the ground turkey, salsa verde, 1 TBS butter, cumin, garlic, and red pepper. Stir and cover for 5 minutes. Check meat, break it up and mix with other ingredients. Cook another 2-5 minutes if necessary. Serve in burritos, with a salad, or with nachos.

Healthy Tuna - Noodle Casserole

I remember rich and cheesy tuna and noodle casseroles as a child. This is just as good, and it has lots of vegetables, as well as fresh tomatoes and parsley. I like to make this dish when I want to have two dinners made in a row. I make enough to feed a family of 3 to 4 for two big meals. Add a green salad or an easy chard stir fry and it is complete!

You'll want:
2 - 16 oz packages of brown rice (or wheat) penne pasta (I get these from Trader Joe's)
2 - 14 oz cans of cream of mushroom soup, I use Health Valley brand because it is wheat-free and has fewer additives than the other brands in my local grocery store
4 cups of chopped chard and/or kale
3 cloves garlic
3/4 cup grated white sharp cheese
3/4 cup grated yellow jack cheese
3 cans of tuna, drained
1 large tomato chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (approximation)

The Noodles:
Cook according to directions, strain out water, then return noodles to pan and add 1 TBS olive oil and stir. Fill 2 - 9" pie pans with noodles and pour sauce over the top (see "Sauce" recipe below). There will probably be some extra noodles left over.

The Sauce:
Heat frying pan on medium with 1 TBS butter. When lightly sizzling, add garlic and stir for 10 seconds or so and then add chard and kale (chopped small, one inch squares or so). Turn temperature down slightly then cover for one minute. Add 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and 3 cans of tuna. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Pour over noodles in two 9 inch pie pans.

The Pie:
Now you have noodles and sauce in pie pans. Sprinkle grated cheeses over pies evenly. Sprinkle chopped parsley and fresh tomatoes.

Now put the pie you want to eat tonight in the oven on broil until cheese is melted to your liking, and serve. You can save the other pie for tomorrow or freeze it. Or surprise a friend with dinner.