The great paleo experiment

My neighbor wrote a book, which helped me to understand one person’s transition from a vegetarian diet to an “ancestral” way of eating. I don’t tend to jump on the latest diet bandwagon, but after attending a discussion group about the book, I decided to learn more about grain free eating. Websites and library books helped me to gain an understanding of the philosophy, and I’ve tried a few recipes.

The first one is adapted from “Practical Paleo” by Diane Sanfilippo. I could not bring myself to use a dozen eggs in one dish, because I’ve worked so hard over the past decade to lower my cholesterol without medication. I used 6 eggs and 6 servings of liquid egg substitute. Do any of you have experience with paleo-style eating while keeping cholesterol levels under control? Many recipes I’ve seen so far include bacon (which I love!), butter, and lots of eggs. 

In the two and a half years I’ve been blogging here, I rarely rave about kitchen tools, but I’m gaga about my new julienne gadget! Wahoo, that was fun! Here is the recipe with my modifications: beat 6 eggs in a large bowl. Add 1 and ½ cups liquid egg substitute, 1 zuccini (shredded or julienned- about 1 and ¼ cups), 2 large carrots (1 cup shredded/julienned),  ½ teaspoon rosemary, ½ teaspoon sage, ½ teaspoon salt. Stir and pour into well greased* 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. * don’t be like me and try to use “I can’t believe it’s not butter” to grease the pan. No photos of a pretty serving of this dish because it stuck to the pan…though it tasted fine. Use real butter to grease the baking dish.

I’ve enjoyed this crustless quiche, and look forward to new flavor combinations (mushrooms, caramelized onion, etc.). What is your favorite Paleo cookbook, website, or recipe?

Chicken Rice Soup

I sampled four canned chicken soups while too sick to cook, and I was not crazy about any of them. The healthiest (lower sodium) version tasted like not much, the next had a strong sodium aftertaste, one had too much celery- if you are on the BRAT diet, you don’t want any celery at all- and the other two were just blah. I did like the carrot rounds in one of them. I was surprised that the majority of contents was rice, with microscopic amounts of chicken.

Now that I’m feeling better, I decided to try and make a chicken rice soup to beat the canned versions. I found an interesting recipe but didn’t have all the ingredients on hand- now, there’s a shock! So I cobbled together my own version like this:

Sautee ½ an onion (chopped) in a tablespoon or two of olive oil for several minutes. Add 8-12 ounces of mushrooms and 2 cloves of garlic, minced. Stir every few minutes until onions reach your preferred done-ness. Add ½ teaspoon each of cumin and chili powder, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, and 1 tablespoon of steak sauce. Mix, then add 4 cups of water and 2 vegetable or chicken bullion (if you don’t have bullion or prefer, use 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth). Add 12-16 ounces of chicken- I put it in raw and boiled the water until the chicken was done. I also added 10 ounces of spinach.

I had cooked rice separately the day before, and added it to the bowl of soup directly. Much tastier than the canned versions!

Lemon Chicken

It’s day 3 of the lemon challenge, and I’m just about tired of lemons. Since the last post, I’ve made lemon bars, lemon cheesecake, lemon granita and lemon chicken. You would be bored by all the photos of lemons I didn’t take, so I’ll include only one of the lemon recipe, along with unrelated "spring has sprung" photos.

Pioneer Woman’s lemon granita was the only recipe I followed to a t, because there were only 3 ingredients to not mess with! Yummy! Will save in freezer for warmer weather.

I’d never made lemon chicken before; barefoot contessa gave a great outline for the boneless, skinless chicken breasts I had in the freezer. Here’s my adaptation:

Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil into baking dish. Mince 4 cloves garlic and place into dish. Add lemon zest and juice from one lemon. Add 1 and ½ teaspoons oregano and 1 teaspoon thyme, and stir it all to combine. Place two chicken breasts into the mixture, then turn them over to coat evenly with oil and spices. Grind salt and pepper over them. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

I don’t cook chicken very often and this was delicious. It was a bit too lemony for me, so next time I will either use less lemon juice or not place cut up lemon pieces in the baking dish, as instructed in the original recipe.

Best Soup, Pie, Appetizer, and more!

Happy second anniversary to this blog! Last month, many of the blogs I follow posted summaries of 2013. I tried a variety of new things here at Through the Spice Rack last year, from crafts to travel to cooking, so I decided to not create a "best of" list of posts during  2013. Here are some photos that haven't been shared yet for your enjoyment.

Now that I'm organizing my trusty three-ring-binder with print-outs of ideas and past posts (does anyone else still use binders?), I realized that I do have favorites in categories of cooking over the last two years. 

At first I thought I would "grade" each recipe, as there were a few I do not plan on preparing again...but this is a better way to highlight the most delicious, in my humble opinion! 

Best Bread- Lemon Poppy Seed posted in May 2012

Best Soup- Chestnut Soup posted January 2013

Best Seafood- Shrimp & Asparagus Quinoa Risotto posted February 2012

Best Muffins- Cranberry Orange posted November 2012

Best Appetizer- Stuffed Eggs posted August 2012

Best Fruit Recipe- Cranberry Sauce posted November 2012

Best Entree- Stuffed Peppers posted June 2012

Best Pie- Apple posted April 2012

While I could create entire posts of sunset photos or cats being silly, I don't plan to do so soon. I also hadn't planned on a post about holiday decorations, as I'm not very good at scenic seasonal arrangements, but I do love these military stockings from the Army Medical Museum at Ft. Sam Houston (can't remember where the cat stockings are from).

Tarragon Rosemary Chicken Mushroom Soup

Do you ever feel suddenly inspired to cook a certain dish? Today on the way home from the library, I had a hankering for soup and concluded that it had to be a certain recipe that I hadn’t prepared in at least a year. Thankfully, I had all the ingredients on hand!

This recipe was obtained from a restaurant server who got it scribbled from the chef…the restaurant no longer serves the soup and I modified it- here’s my version:

Sautee chopped onions in butter, add mushrooms. Quantities to your choice- suggest a couple of tablespoons of butter, about 1/3 cup onions, 1 or more cups mushrooms. Set aside onion mixture. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter, and once it's melted, add one tablespoon whole wheat flour. Once flour is absorbed, add another tablespoon of flour. Allow flour to warm but stay nearby to avoid burning. Gradually add 1 1/3 cups chicken stock (I added about 1/3 cup at a time, stirring to incorporate flour). Once stock mixture has warmed up, add 1 cup skim milk*. Add ½ teaspoon tarragon, ¼ teaspoon rosemary, and salt/pepper to taste. Add about 4 ounces of cooked & shredded chicken. Add the sauteed onions and mushrooms. If you are slightly crazy like me, add 4 or so ounces of chopped cooked chestnuts.

I can’t remember if I’ve ever added boiled & cubed potatoes to this soup in the past, but I may try that next time. I can’t believe the original recipe called for garlic powder, which I don’t own. By the time I saw it listed on the card with the herbs, I’d already prepared the onions and mushrooms…note to self: add fresh garlic to the onions at the beginning! That said, this soup is so fragrant and rich, it is actually wonderful without any garlic.

* of course, the original recipe calls for cream!

I never provided an update on the watermelon saga in our garden (bites stolen by 4 legged critters)- here is the one successful melon that grew to softball size.

Stuffed Eggs

This recipe for stuffed eggs was fun to prepare, since I’ve made it many times in the past. Though I didn’t realize until I was half-way through that the parsley qualified this recipe for a blog post! In other words, no photos of piles of egg shells.

6 eggs, hard boiled, peeled

¼ c flaked tuna, drained (about half of a 5 ounce can)

½ -1 clove garlic, minced

½ tsp lemon juice

1 TBSP butter, room temperature

½ tsp Tabasco / hot sauce

1 tsp mustard

½ tsp salt and pepper

1 TBSP dried parsley

1 TBSP mayonnaise

optional garnish: lettuce leaves, paprika powder

After peeling hard-boiled eggs, rinse them off and gently cut them in half length-wise. Use a spoon to gently remove the yolk, place the yolks in the mixing bowl and the whites on the serving platter. Add all other ingredients to the mixing bowl, and use a fork to mash everything together. Stuff the mixture into the egg whites, and garnish the serving plate with lettuce and paprika.

I used the extra tuna to make a nice salad, along with the left-over egg filling, lettuce, and some avocado. If I had any more of these beauties left, I’d have added them, too!

Of course I had plenty more within days. Do you have a secret ingredient for stuffed eggs that you can share?

Chicken Tortilla Stack with Cilantro

Again, the question of fresh vs. dried spices is at hand, but since I have dried cilantro in the spice rack, I'll plan on using fresh cilantro after it grows in plant form (and maybe in a different recipe).

This Pampered Chef recipe is not on their website, but remains a family favorite (I got it out of one of their catalogues many years ago and have adapted it). You’ll need:

4 or 5 tortillas (I used whole wheat 10 inch tortillas)

1 can – 16 oz. -  refried beans (fat free is fine)

¼ cup to ½ cup sour cream (fat free is fine)

1 jar salsa OR fresh tomatoes, olives, peppers, onions, chopped 

1 cup grated cheese (reduced fat is fine; original recipe calls for 2 cups of cheese)

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or chopped (leftover chicken with any flavors from the original meal is great, you can add any seasonings you like if using plain/raw chicken)

¼ cup fresh cilantro or 1-2 tablespoons dried cilantro

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use any type of baking dish/ stoneware- you can see that I used a small round baking pan and lined the bottom with foil. I used cooking spray on the foil. Spread refried beans on a tortilla, spread a few tablespoons of sour cream on that, then put the tortilla on the baking dish. Sprinkle some chicken on it, sprinkle cilantro, pour some salsa on (I ended up using an entire jar this time, while previously I’ve been inspired to chop up a bunch of fresh veggies) & top with a handful of shredded cheese. Repeat. Repeat. The original recipe suggests spraying the top tortilla with cooking spray, but I ended up using the last of the refried beans and cheese…not a pretty picture, but tastes great!

Bake 30 minutes or until inside cheese is melted. Garnish with tomato and/or sour cream, etc. and cut into wedges to serve. 
Do you prefer cooking with fresh or dried spices?

I don't have a photo of cilantro growing, but here is what I have on hand now:

BBQ Ribs (secret ingredient is celery seeds)

Who knew that celery seeds would be such a key ingredient in this recipe? It’s been prepared this way in my family for over 25 years, and gets hauled out now whenever the craving hits. I know there are regional specialty recipes for rubs, marinades, etc. but this is the only way I know how to make it. I’ll continue to appreciate variations during my travels! 

3 lbs ribs (or more, and then increase sauce!)

Sauce: 2 tbsp butter or margarine, 1 cup ketchup, 2/3 cup chili sauce, 4 tbsp brown sugar, 4 tbsp chopped onion, 2 tbsp mustard, 2 tbsp Worcester sauce, 1 tsp celery seeds, ¼ tsp salt, hot sauce to taste, 2-3 thin lemon slices.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Boil water in large pot deep enough to cover ribs, boil ribs for 1 hour. If you prepare this recipe using a slow cooker, skip the boiling step and place ribs into the crock pot uncooked.

Fry onion and lemon slices in butter, add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Place ribs in baking dish, and pour sauce over ribs. Bake 20 minutes. If you are running short on time and using a crock pot, sauce ingredients may be placed unheated into the crock pot over the ribs. I've left everything in the slow cooker for 8-10 hours on low with great results.

What is your favorite BBQ sauce or rib preparation method? 

Here is one of my trusty "helpers" while I organized recipes!