Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

This soup was really good.  I adapted it from Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes.
4 chicken thighs, bone in, skin removed
1 TBS coconut oil
4 cups water
1 red bell pepper, chopped
8 baby bella mushrooms, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 can coconut milk, full fat
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste
3 TBS fish sauce (I use Red Boat because it is soy free)
big bunch cilantro, chiffonade

Heat coconut oil in the pressure cooker pot.  Brown chicken in coconut oil (you don't need to cook it, just brown it up a bit).  Remove from the the pot and set aside.  Add the chopped vegetables (but not cilantro) to the pot and saute briefly-again, not cooking all the way, just softening a bit. Add the water.  Remove chicken meat from the bone, and coarsely chop meat.  Add meat AND the bones to the pot.  Seal the pot and keep it on high until the rocker does its thing.  Turn down the heat to medium(that is usually where  the pressure remains high on mine- your stove may vary).  Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let pressure drop.  When you can open the pot, remove the bones, then add the chopped cilantro and coconut milk.  NOTE: the coconut milk will rise to the top if you refrigerate this soup- that's OK- just stir it and all is well.  It actually tastes better the next day!

massaman moo (thai pork curry)

*this was a "freezer" meal......

2 pound pork tenderloin, cut into chunks
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1/4 cup curry paste
salt and pepper
1 rutabaga (peeled and cut into chunks)
1 can lite coconut milk
2 tbl butter

Combine pork with tomatoes, curry paste and salt and pepper.  (at this point I put it all in a freezer bag and froze it.  If cooking it now, go ahead and put it in the slow cooker).  

Place thawed pork into slow cooker, add rutabaga, coconut milk and butter.  Cook on low for 7 hours.  Turn slow cooker up to high. Add 2 tbl of corn starch to 1 cup of cold water and mix well. Stir into the pork mixture. Cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.  Serve over rice.

**my 13 year old thought the rutabaga was potato, and I kept my mouth shut!

Blueberry Loaf

2 eggs

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

3 TBL canola oil

1 tsp lemon extract

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350; grease and flour a loaf pan.

Pour apple cider vinegar into soy milk and stir. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Mix together eggs with sugar. Add soy milk mixture, lemon extract and oil. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl, sifting if needed. Toss in the blueberries (per the advice of my friend, Kendra, this will keep the blueberries from sinking) in the dry mixture. Mix in dry ingredients until just blended.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Allow to cool in pan before removing to a cooling rack.

*when baking with soy milk, the apple cider vinegar causes a reaction which makes it behave more like cow milk. It makes your baked goods "poofier".

** you can add nuts if you wish, but my kids won't eat nuts in bread, so I leave them out.

Another No Oven/Stove supper....

Chicken Spaghetti

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 TBL butter

2 TBL flour

3 cups milk

1 box whole grain spaghetti noodles, cooked al dente

grated cheese (mozzarella or Parmesan or both)

In a skillet, melt the butter. Mix in the flour, stir until light brown (a roux!). Add the onions and saute until translucent. Whisk in the milk, stir until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Put this in the Crock Pot for 3 hours on low. Add the noodles and stir. Cook for another hour. Sprinkle the cheeses on top and let it sit a few minutes to melt. Serve with steamed (in the microwave) broccoli or a green salad.

*I had chicken left over- I used our big roaster to cook two chickens at once.

** It is a million degrees outside and we do not want to heat up the kitchen anymore than necessary. For this reason, I have decided that I will not use my oven this summer (although I will have to break down and make pound cake soon). I have been utilizing the Crock Pot, electric skillet, griddle and grill.

UPDATE: this turned out really good. I made the sauce and cooked the noodles in the morning. About 2 pm, I put the sauce in the Crock Pot. At 4:30 I added the noodles and cranked it up to high because the kids needed to eat early. Helen said it is a keeper and Zachary ate all of his after he picked out the onions.

Crock Pot Enchilada Casserole

12 corn tortillas12 corn tortillas

1 pound lean ground beef
15 oz can diced tomatoes
6 oz can tomato paste
Taco seasoning
Grated low fat cheese (I used nacho blend)

Brown ground beef, drain grease. In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, tomato paste and taco seasoning. In the crock pot layer four tortillas in the bottom; top with 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 tomato mixture and a handful of cheese. Repeat until you have three layers. Cook in Crock Pot on low for 6 hours.

*Judging from the fact that my pickiest eater had seconds and my niece gobbled it up, I am thinking this is a keeper. If I was not feeding picky ones, I'd add some beans to the mix. You could probably sneak in some veggies, too!

Fondue pot...

I gave David a fondue pot for Christmas.  We have a very old one that uses Sterno to keep everything hot, but with two hyper kids and the fact that it scorches the food on the bottom, we wanted to "update".  Any way, I broker 'er in last night.  I made Mexican Dip (sorry, not a true fondue).  It was actually pretty tasty, although Helen would not eat it because of the tomatoes.  Zachary ate a big bowl of it in front of SpongeBob.  Here is the recipe, in case you live on Mars...

Mexican Dip (I halved the recipe)

1 pound Velveeta

1/2 tube Gimme Lean Sausage

1/2 can Rotel

Brown the fauxsage in a skillet, breaking it up into very small chunks.  Cut Velveeta into chunks.  Put all ingredients into the fondue pot and turn it to warm.  Sir every so often until it is all melty and delish.  I also added a scoop of fat free cream cheese (because Velveeta is SO low fat- NOT).  I also had leftovers on cornbread for breakfast.  David ate it and only complained a little that it was fake sausage.  If I wasn't eating it, he probably would never have guessed.

Tonight I used my left-over black eyed peas to make a "gumbo".  Nothing fancy, just beans, okra, a can of tomatoes and some veg broth.  Served with rice and left over kale.  Yum.  SO there you have what I ate today.

ALSO- Helen got her purple belt today.  She still has about 2 years, 3 months to go for her black belt and I don't think I'll survive it.  But, if she makes it, she will be an 11 year old who can kick your ass.

Super Easy Chili

I made chili Saturday and have been living on leftovers ever since. I should take a picture, but I am lazy (I think I have mentioned this before).

Chili

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

1 can light red kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 package Boca crumbles

1 onion, chopped

1 zucchini, chopped

garlic, pressed

chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper

Saute onions, zucchini and garlic. Add tomatoes and turn down heat. Add drained beans and Boca bits.Then I added about 1/3 package frozen mixed vegetables and then it was too dry and I added some water (beer would have been good, but I didn't have any to spare). Then I seasoned to taste. It is actually better the next day. I love to crunch up baked Tostitos on top. Yum.

Pasta Salad

I made pasta salad to take to a cookout today- there was none left. It was good if I do say so myself.

1 box Barilla mini bow ties, cooked in salty water
1 cucumber, seeded and chopped
a bunch of tomatoes (grape, yellow, honey, etc.- some from MIL's garden)
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 bag of frozen peas, thawed
vinaigrette- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 clove garlic (pressed), 1/2 tsp marjoram, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tap celery seed, 1 TB sugar, squirt of mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Pour dressing over pasta and veggies.

I make my own vinaigrette all the time- it varies every time, but the results are always yummy.

More Recipes

OK, so Big Yellow Box didn't go so great, but the food was good. The Spinach dip was great.

1 lb package of silken firm tofu, drained and blotted
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed
1/4 Nayonaise
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Crazy Mixed up salt, to taste

Crumble tofu in food processor and puree til very smooth. Add remaining ingredients, making sure to not mush up the spinach too much. Season to taste. Serve with veggies, chips or crackers.

And, am I the only Republican vegetarian? Surely this cannot be true.

Big Yellow Box and Vegan snacks

OK, so now my goal in life is to become the vegetarian Paula Deen. And I am hosting a Big Yellow Box party tomorrow. That said, check out the menu:

Chocolate truffles (my answer to Helen's "I miss fudge")
Mushroom canapes
Apple bundles
Crudites with creamy spinach dip
Sparking water

I am also filling our scary monster head candy dish with Dots, Smartees and Sour Patch kids. All vegan. Here is the truffle recipe.

AllerFriendly AND Vegan Chocolate Truffles

2/3 cup dark raisins
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate (Sunspire is good, but Giant store brand is also vegan, and cheaper)
2/3 cup nut butter (I use IM Healthy Soy nut butter or Cashew butter, depending)

Mix it all up in the food processor. Transfer to a bowl and chill at least an hour. Roll 1 inch balls and, if desired, roll the balls in jimmies or cocoa (I use jimmies to be FESTIVE). Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Makes roughly 2 dozen.