Blueberry Muffins

September 21, 2010

We have needed a quick grab and go breakfast for the days we are running a wee bit behind. My husband - the one who is usually quite content to eat ANYTHING that I put in front of him - suggested muffins. What kind of muffins honey? Blueberry. I can do that. Piece of cake or muffin, that is. So, I went to my "go to" source - Pamela's Products website.

I've made Pamela's muffins before and they are tasty (as is everything using Pamela's). I had also been perusing other GF websites on the quest for a delicious GF Blueberry Muffin. I used Pamela's muffin recipe with a couple of changes for a delicious muffin!

I will say that my food photography is still in the works and they did get a little browner than I would have liked, but that was due to the brown sugar/butter mixture I put on top, which BTW I will not do again!

Enjoy!

2 cups Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix

1/4 cup melted butter, or oil

1/2 sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup frozen blueberries

Yield: approximately 6 to 7 muffins

Mix first 6 ingredients together. Add blueberries.  Mix gently.  Spoon 2/3 full into muffin pan using muffin cups. I STRONGLY urge you to use the cups. Pamela's baking mix turns out incredibly moist crumbly treats and you want the cup to keep the mess down! Bake in preheated 350º oven for approximately 25 minutes. Makes 10 to 12 muffins.

These may be the best blueberry muffins I have ever eaten. They are certainly the best I've ever made!

Chicken Korma

August 28, 2009

Last week when I was perusing the TINY organic section of our local Kroger, I came across a "new" item. It was a jar of Tikka Masala sauce by Seeds of Change.

Hmmm...I should try it. I did and we were not disappointed. Last night we had:

Basmati Rice (Lundburg - favorite)

Chicken Legs, Chickpeas and Onions simmered in the Tikka Masala sauce

Sauteed Spinach

Snowflake Rolls from Whole Foods

The "house wine of the South" - Sweet Tea.

Folks, this was such an easy dinner. In fact, the prep work was approximately 20 minutes total for the entire dinner. I did all of the preparation prior to our long and lovely walk down the Shelby Bottoms greenway. It was such a great night. After returning home all I had to do was turn on the stove, sit down with my guys to watch Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone and wait for it all to finish cooking.

So, here is how it went down:

In a large skillet, I placed 6 Trader Joe's organic chicken legs. I drained a can of chickpeas and poured them into the skillet with the chicken. I VERY coarsely chopped an onion (I used yellow) and added that as well. I then poured the jar of sauce over the entire creation. I placed a lid over the dish. To cook, turn on medium high for approximately 5 minutes to get the heat flowing. Once you hear the chicken begin to sizzle, turn it down to low and allow to cook with the lid on for approximately 25 minutes. Keeping the lid on will keep the natural juices in the the dish and tenderize the chicken.

I prepared the organic Lundberg Basmati Rice according to the directions. I usually saute the dry rice in butter for a few minutes prior to adding water, but I did not last night. So, measure your rice and water. Add them to the pot and turn on the heat.

The spinach was a last minute creation. Unfortunately for us, I am not cooking with as many fresh ingredients as I did prior to working/moving/ etc. and I am trying to get back to that, but last night I used a bag of organic cut leaf spinach. I melted a tbs of butter over low heat in a small skillet, then added the spinach. I then covered and allowed it to gently simmer. The spinach has so much natural liquid in it that adding additional water is not necessary. Once the other dishes were near completion, I added approximately half a cup of sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic and curry (all of the spices were "to taste.") Just before taking it out of the pan, I added a few cubes of mozzarella cheese. This was SO tasty.

All of the dished should be stirred once or twice during the cooking process.

I don't always want to cook fresh bread, so I keep these fab snowflake rolls on hand and they went well with dinner.

Have fun cooking and finding some simple dishes that offer a short prep/cook time for tasty, healthy dinners.

What's For Dinner?

January 8, 2009

Organic Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower and an Organic Meatloaf.

Green Beans:

2 10oz bags of frozen organic green beans

1 tbs bacon grease

1/2 onion, coarsely chopped

1 tsp salt

Cover with water. Bring to boil. Turn down to medium low. Simmer for 1 hour

Meatloaf:

1 pound organic ground beef

1/4 onion, finely chopped

1 tbs organic ketchup + 1/4 cup (William Sonoma is delicious)

3/4 cup cut oats

1 egg

1 tbs salt

1/4 tsp garlic

1/4 tsp paprika

black pepper

1/3 cup pureed organic sweet potatoes

Mix well. Bake in oven preheated to 350 for 30 Minutes. Take out of oven and cover top with 1/4 cup of ketchup (or more if desired).

Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower:

1/2 Cauliflower, coarsely chopped

2 large potatoes, sliced

1/4 onion, diced

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup shredded cheddar

1 tbs salt

Pepper to taste

Veggie broth

Cover with water. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes. Drain.

Okay, this is where it gets sketchy as I started talking to Noah! Mash drained vegetables to desired consistency. Add sour cream and cheddar, salt and pepper. Stir. Slowly add veggie broth, stir and do this until you get the consistency of potatoes you like.

Growing up in the South, Mashed Potatoes are a no brainer. For years I stuck to a very traditional recipe. However, as I have gotten older and my stomach issues have increased, in addition to an overall desire to be healthier, I have experimented with recipes and this is one of the best ones I have come up with.

Serve these things will a tall glass of iced sweetened decaf tea (Luzianne, of course) and enjoy.

Chicken Risotto

September 15, 2012

1 lb. chicken breast tenderloins, chopped into chunks
1 cup arborio rice 
1 large bell pepper (any color), chopped
1 32 oz. box chicken stock
2 tbs. butter
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp thyme
Up to 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese or parmesan cheese

Melt butter in large skillet.  Add chicken and pepper.  Cook on med low for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally (can be allowed to brown if desired).  Add the rice.  Stir.  Pour 1/4 of the stock into the skillet.  Add salt, pepper and thyme.  Bring to boil.  Turn down to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add 1/3 of the REMAINING stock or 8 oz.  Repeat previous step (turn down, cover and simmer).  Repeat this process two additional times.  When adding the remaining stock, add the cheese as well.  Keep on low or warm and stir until cheese is fully blended in dish.  After 15 minutes turn off and allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes (still covered) to set dish.  Enjoy!

Slow Cooker White Bean Chili

March 12, 2012

I awoke this morning to see the sun rising in the horizon and said a thanks to God for allowing me to see another day.  I hopped out of bed and headed to the kitchen where 2 pounds of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs waited for me in the fridge.  After rinsing the chicken, they went into a 5 quart dutch oven filled with water and boiled for an hour on the stove.  In addition to the chicken, I added salt, pepper and a bay leaf to the water to create a rich and healthy broth which replaces the canned or boxed broth mentioned in the chili recipe I am linking to below.

I am constantly trying to improve things here at home and getting me out of the kitchen will help tremendously.  So, I'm pulling out the crockpot and letting it do some of the work.  Here is a link to a great White Bean Chili recipe which is "what's for dinner" tonight.  As sometimes happens, we will not be sitting around together eating tonight.  I have a Board meeting and Noah has soccer and we will be going our separate ways as a family.  Actually, that's going to happen a few times this week so dinner needs to be really easy.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/white-bean-chicken-chili-10000001875803/

This is a really simple recipe and I have made some modifications.  Instead of canned broth I am using my own and instead of canned white beans I am using dried beans.  Dried beans are much cheaper, healthier (no added sodium) and do not come from a BPA lined can. 

"The aroma of good chili should generate rapture akin to a lover's kiss." - Motto of the Chili Appreciation Society International

Gluten Free Chicken and Dumplings via Pioneer Woman

January 5, 2012

After years of making traditional Southern style chicken and dumplings I stumbled across the Pioneer Woman version of C/D and decided to give it a whirl.  Due to the fact that I am nearly incapable of following a recipe without taking a shortcut of some kind, I made the following changes to the recipe.

1.  I did not add the tumeric.

2.  I was out of carrots - so sans carrots.

3.  I used Pamela's Baking Mix (GF) in place of flour.

Now let me say that I was VERY nervous about these dumplings.  Not that I did not believe that delicious dumplings would be the end result - because much like my belief in faeries I did believe these would be tasty.  No, I was nervous that the hubs would complain as his favorite food in the entire world is C/D and he loves his Mother's very traditional Southern version.

Okay, deep breathe.  He LOVED them.  In fact he said "these aren't my Mother's but they may be the best I've ever had."  Wow.  I have to say that I am not a C/D fan but I also loved these as did Noah and Arwyn though they have never enjoyed them before!!!!  I'm thrilled.  Now, if only Arwyn had not nearly died during dinner resulting in a call to 9-1-1, the evening would have been perfect!

Here is a link to this fab recipe:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/chicken-and-dumplings/

Food for thought:

As for those grapefruit and buttermilk diets, I'll take roast chicken and dumplings.
Hattie McDaniel

Home Made

January 12, 2012

There is very little so satisfying as opening the freezer door and pulling out a jar of chicken broth that I made.  I often resort to purchasing commercial chicken broth.  My broth of choice is Kitchen Basics though I will also take Whole Foods 365 broth.  But the best broth is mine.  

Before I started the makings of a tasty, healthy, healing broth I quickly prepared home made muffins for the family.  Today's muffins are holiday ham and cheese and I used leftovers from the past few days.  Once the muffins were in the oven I turned to the real work of the broth.

A few days ago I purchased a package of whole cut up chicken which I thoroughly washed today before using.  I added 1/2 of the pack of chicken to a 5 quart dutch oven.  I very coarsely chopped a stalk of celery, a carrot and half an onion.  I added 3 turns of salt and 3 turns of pepper from my Pampered Chef grinders and filled the pot with water - leaving approximately an inch of room from the top.

I brought the pot to a boil and then turned the chicken down to simmer with the lid on.  The chicken simmered for 45 minutes.  After allowing the chicken to cool for approximately 15 minutes, I removed the chicken from the pot and set aside.  Using a mesh strainer I strained the broth into a large Pampered Chef mixing bowl with a handle.  Next I poured the broth into 4 quart jars and placed on the counter until cooled.  Once cooled, the broth went into the freezer for later use.

So...what happened to the chicken?  The chicken will be used tonight in an Asian marinade and be stuffed into rice paper for spring rolls.  Sounds like a lot of work?  It's not.  It is also a very inexpensive way to prepare stock.  Normally for that amount of stock, I would pay around $3.00.  By preparing my own stock (keep in mind I still have half of a pack of chicken remaining) I am cutting the cost of my broth by half.  How?  I will get the equivalent of at least 2 boxes of stock plus the meat from the chicken (a $16.00 value) for the $4.92 I paid for the entire pack of whole cut up chicken.  What a deal!!!!

Food for thought:

We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.

-Adelle Davis

Interruption

August 18, 2011

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for a gluten recipe.  You may be wondering why I posted a glutinous recipe this week on my blog.  The last couple of months we have reintroduced gluten into our diets.  My son is having a Celiac's test....today in fact....and I had to gluten him up.  We have not had wheat flour in our diet everyday but many days over the last couple of months.

Here is what I can report from the change in our diet.  I have gained more weight, my migraines have returned, I can't remember anything and I have word salad, my daughter - who suffers from eczema - has shown significant  compromise in her skin issues and my son's digestive issues have returned....there may be changes in other areas that I am just not seeing. 


I went back to a GF diet this week and am fully committed to return to it.  I am anxious to get the family back to a GF diet as well and get our health back on track.  I am not an advocate of all people being on GF diets, however, if you are experiencing things with your health that cannot be attributed to a specific illness or diagnosis, considering eliminating wheat/gluten from your diet and see what happens.