Creamy Leek and Potato Soup

On a whim, I decided to make potato soup one cold night. I’d never even eaten potato soup before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. After searching for a bit, I came across the following recipe for Creamy Leek and Potato Soup by Emeril Lagassee on Food Network’s site. You can find the original recipe here, as I alter things a bit (because of allergies, I omit the cheese; because of preference, I omit the parsley).

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes (or less)
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp margarine
3 cups sliced leeks, white and light green parts
1 tsp minced garlic
6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and quartered
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a large pot, melt 3 tablespoons of margarine over low heat.
2. Add sliced leeks and cook, stirring often, until they’re tender (about 3 minutes).
3. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Add the chicken stock and potatoes.
5. Cover and simmer gently until the vegetables are tender (about 30 minutes, unless you boil it rapidly like I do–then you’re looking at about 15-20 minutes).
6. Remove from heat and use a hand-held immersion blender, or in batches in a food processor, puree the soup until it’s smooth.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add parsley or soft herbed cheese as an optional garnish.
8. Serve immediately, or reheat for later. Either way, it’s delicious.

Butter Pecan Waffles

Yes, you read that right. Butter pecan waffles. This is a variation of my recipe for Barley and Oat Waffles with Apple Pecan Topping. Everything is the same except the topping. BTW, this topping is super sweet (and delicious).

These waffles are a world apart from your typical white-flour-and-cream concoctions. They have no wheat, eggs, milk, or soy, but they do have a good balance of protein and fiber. Adapted from an Arrowhead Mills recipe, this recipe works best with waffles and should be altered to make pancakes.*

Ingredients:

1 cup barley flour
1 cup oat flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp. honey (or sugar, if necessary)
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups milk substitute
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:

Pecans
Margarine
Maple syrup
Brown sugar

1. Place pecan halves or pieces in a small frying pan with a little margarine. Brown these on low heat, stirring frequently. Be careful; they will burn easily. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. Mix all the waffle ingredients together in a large bowl. Let it sit for a few minutes.
3. While batter is resting, roughly chop pecans.
4. Put 2-3 Tbsp margarine in the pan used to cook the pecans.
5. Melt margarine and add equal parts maple syrup and brown sugar. Cook until it is syrupy, stirring frequently, adding more sugar and syrup as desired. This need not be precise.
6. Return pecans to syrup mixture.
7. Meanwhile, cook waffles in a lightly oiled waffle iron.
8. Cook waffles until no more steam escapes from the waffle iron.
9. When everything is done, serve waffles topped with the butter pecan mixture.

*For pancakes, increase milk substitute to 2 cups.

Pumpkin Cornbread Recipe | Two Peas & Their Pod

This is delicious! I used gluten-free flour, substituted 1/2 cup applesauce for the 2 eggs, and used 1/2 the salt. Great with dinner and breakfast as well.

Pumpkin Cornbread Recipe | Two Peas & Their Pod.

Pork and Butternut Squash Stew

I didn’t think to take a picture until after I tasted the stew and found out how delicious it was.

I had a little pork loin and half a butternut squash to cook, so I turned to the Internet and found this great recipe. I had everything on hand except the fresh kale, so I used a one-pound bag of kale from my freezer. Next time, I’ll spend the extra time driving to the market for fresh, because the frozen kale made a crumbly mess. A crumbly, delicious mess.

This recipe from Oxmoor House was found on myrecipes.com, and I imagine it would taste great as a vegan stew, as well. I’ll have to try it without the pork sometime.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size 1 1/2 cups)
Cook time: 40 minutes
Prep time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 tsp. olive oil
1 pound boneless pork loin, trimmed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 tsp. ground coriander
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups coarsely chopped fresh kale (about 1 pound)
5 cups cubed, peeled butternut squash (about 2 1/4 pounds)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add pork, salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper, and cook 9 minutes or until pork is browned.
2. Remove pork from pan and set aside.
3. Add onion to pan and sauté 5 minutes or until tender.
4. Add coriander and garlic. Sauté 1 minute.
5. Return pork to pan and add remaining 1/4 tsp. pepper, kale, and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil.
6. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Here’s a pic just before step 6, with frozen kale. Please excuse my greasy stove; browning pork is messy work.

Easy pancakes

When I was young, my dad used to make pancakes every Saturday morning for my sisters and me. He’d make them in the shape of our initials and would sometimes color them pink. When I started to make my own breakfast, I asked him to write down his recipe, and while I changed his “milk ’til it looks right” to an actual measurement and made the recipe allergen-free, it comes pretty close to my Saturday-morning favorites. Just not pink.

Ingredients

1 cup + 1-2 Tbsp. gluten-free flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup milk substitute
1 tsp. vanilla
*1/4 – 1/2 cup optional fruit

1. Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, using only 1 cup flour.
2. Mix wet ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients with a whisk, thickening as needed using the extra 1-2 Tbsp. flour.
4. For optional fruit, I like to place the pieces of fruit into the pancakes by hand when they first go into the pan. Fruit can also be stirred into the bowl of batter, if desired, but it tends to sink to the bottom.
5. Cook over low heat, turning when bubbles appear.
6. Enjoy with syrup, jam, or whatever topping you desire.

Easy Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries

Root vegetables helped our ancestors survive harsh winters for millennia, so it only makes sense that I stock my pantry with sweet potatoes this time of year. Twenty pounds next to the paper towels and cat food on the bottom shelf, waiting to be baked and eaten.

But if you’re like me, waiting an hour or more for sweet potatoes to bake in the oven just isn’t always an option. When I need dinner in a hurry, I make this quick-cooking version of a family favorite.

Ingredients:

2 or 3 largish sweet potatoes
1/2 cup dried cranberries or Craisins
3 Tbsp. margarine
Milk or milk substitute
Brown sugar
Cinnamon (optional)
Nutmeg (optional)

1. Peel sweet potatoes and chop into roughly 1-inch chunks.
2. Place sweet potatoes and cranberries is a small pot of water.
3. Boil until sweet potatoes can be easily mashed with a fork. Drain.
4. Add margarine and drained sweet potatoes back into pot and mash well.
5. Add a bit of milk and stir, repeating until you reach desired consistency.
6. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste. Mix well.

Turnip Green Soup

So. . . turnips. When I first purchased a CSA share, I learned that I like turnips. As a child, my few encounters involved some kind of canned monstrosity that masqueraded as turnip greens. In my mind, turnips were just as appetizing as pond scum (just as green, just as slimy). They were outright gross. The CSA share changed that. When I found myself the owner of pounds and pounds of turnips each week, I knew I had to learn how to cook them. . . and fast!

So the experiments began. I added the root to mashed potatoes with garlic. I tried baking sliced turnips with beets and other root vegetables with just a little olive oil and salt (not so great). I cooked turnip and potato patties, which were pretty tasty with ketchup. But the greens still gave me pause. This turnip green soup recipe changed my mind about eating greens. And while my entire family was skeptical at first, it’s now a favorite. Follow the link above, or try my much better, fresher version.

Note: The bitterness of turnip greens is still somewhat unpalatable to my sons, so I tone that down a bit with steps 1 and 2 below. However, this removes some of the calcium (the cause of the bitterness) from the greens.

Ingredients:

A big bunch of turnip greens
1/2 lb. soaked and cooked black-eyed peas (or two cans)
1/2 – 1 onion
2 potatoes, diced
1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced or diced
1 Tbsp. hot sauce
6 cups chicken stock
Olive oil

1. Wash and de-stem enough fresh turnip greens to fill a stock pot. Cover with water and boil for a few minutes.

2. Pour the contents of the stock pot through a strainer and set greens aside.

3. Sauté onions and sausage in a little olive oil.

4. Add diced potatoes and continue cooking until they get a little color on them.

5. Add remaining ingredients.

6. Let simmer (or cook at a rapid boil, if you’re short on time) until potatoes are done.

Menu – November 10-22

At long last, I’m sharing my menus. Each week, usually on a Saturday, I sit down and plan out the week’s meals, write my grocery list, and head to the market. This particular week, I have family in town for my older son’s birthday, so my menu takes into account that I won’t have time to go to the market over the weekend. This menu is therefore for two weeks.

As you can see, I plan breakfast and supper each day. Lunch usually consists of leftovers cobbled together from the fridge. As you’ll also see, my family has a strange love affair with breakfast meats (always uncured and nitrate free), or really just meat in general. So here we go. . .

Saturday
Supper – mushroom, bacon, and swiss burgers with peppers and onions; creamy potato and leek soup (minus the cheese); sautéed green beans; salad

Sunday
Breakfast – Blueberry muffins and bacon
Supper – Chicken, rice, broccoli, and mushroom casserole; butternut squash with apples; salad

Monday
Breakfast – hashbrowns and patty sausage
Supper – chicken tortilla soup; chips with salsa and guacamole

Tuesday
Breakfast – Daiya cheese grits, eggs (for those who can eat them) or hashbrowns, sausage
Supper – Baked potatoes with sausage, mushrooms, onions, and peppers; black-eyed peas; baked butternut squash slices

Wednesday
Breakfast – blueberry pancakes and bacon
Supper – turnip green soup and cornbread

Thursday
Breakfast – oatmeal with fruit and nuts
Supper – pork medallions; stewed and spiced apples; baked sweet potatoes

Friday
Breakfast – Banana, egg, and peanut butter pancakes (for those who can eat them) or leftover oatmeal (for those who can’t)
Supper – chicken with gravy; rice; peas and carrots; cranberry relish

Saturday
Breakfast – breakfast home fries with peppers and onions; bacon on the side
Supper – Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Sunday
Breakfast – pancakes, sausage, eggs, grits
Supper – pork loin chops, roasted acorn squash, cabbage, pear pie (crisp)

Monday
Breakfast – hashbrowns and bacon
Supper – black bean soup with sausage, cornbread, salad

Tuesday
Breakfast – oatmeal with fruit and nuts; leftover home fries with peppers and onions
Supper – chicken pasta with veggies, green beans, salad

Wednesday
Breakfast – Daiya cheese grits with crumbled sausage
Supper – clear out leftovers – chopped BBQ pork sandwiches, cabbage, roasted acorn squash

Thursday
Breakfast – waffles with mixed berry topping
Supper – pork and butternut squash stew, rice, cornbread

Friday
Breakfast – oatmeal with strawberries and coconut cream
Supper – vegetable stir fry with leftover rice

Saturday
Breakfast – peanut butter and jelly pancakes

A few things to note:

• I will purchase a large pork loin (four pounds or more) to use throughout the week.
• A large butternut squash will contribute to three separate meals.
• A one-pound bag of black-eyed peas will contribute to two meals.

Gluten-free Blueberry Muffins

If you can’t tell from the recipes I’ve posted so far, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Blueberry muffins have always been a favorite, but most bagged mixes have wheat, soy, dairy or eggs — all the stuff we can’t eat. I really love blueberries and don’t like feeling deprived, so I pulled some books off the shelf and started flipping through. Here’s a blueberry muffin recipe I adapted from my Better Homes and Gardens cook book. The original recipe lists several varieties (blueberry, cranberry, oatmeal, poppy seed, banana, cheese), so check out the link above and experiment when you want something new.

These streusel-topped blueberry muffins are just as good the day after, so save yourself some time in the morning by baking the night before.

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 18 minutes
Oven: 400°F
Makes: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups gluten-free baking mix
1/3 or 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, or 1 egg’s worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer
3/4 cup milk substitute (I use oat milk.)
1/4 cup cooking oil
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel (optional)
1 recipe Streusel Topping (optional, below)

1. Preheat oven. Grease muffin tin or line with paper baking cups.
2. In a medium bowl, combine gluten-free baking mix, sugar, baking powder and salt. If you plan to add the streusel topping, use 1/3 cup sugar. If not, use 1/2 cup sugar.
3. In another bowl, combine applesauce/egg replacer, milk substitute and oil. Add to the dry ingredients.
4. Stir until liquid is absorbed. Depending upon the type of baking mix you use, the batter may not look like batter; it may look crumbly and thick, more like a dough. This is OK. Do not add more liquid.
5. Fold in blueberries and optional lemon peel.
6. Spoon into prepared muffin cups.
7. Add optional streusel topping.
8. Bake at 400°F for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool before eating because hot blueberries are like napalm in your mouth.

Streusel Topping:

3 tbsp. gluten-free all-purpose baking mix
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 tbsp. margarine or vegetable shortening (sticks work best)
2 tbsp. chopped nuts (optional)

1. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Cut in margarine/vegetable shortening with a pastry blender or forks until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Stir in chopped nuts, if desired.
4. Sprinkle onto muffins.

Mom’s Cornbread

Having to do without because of food allergies is frustrating. I grew up eating all sorts of foods to which I, unknowingly, was allergic. But I’ve discovered that my mom’s cornbread recipe works well with a few substitutions, and it’s just as yummy as it was when I crumbled it into my beef stew at the age of five.

After trying numerous gluten-free flours and baking mixes, I’ve discovered that most boxed mixes work pretty well for this recipe. Oat milk works best as a dairy substitute (the oat protein makes breads fluffier), but rice milk makes the bread too dry.

Cornbread fresh from the oven

Ingredients:

⅓ cup gluten-free baking mix
¾ cup yellow cornmeal
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 egg’s worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer
⅔ cup milk substitute
2 tbsp. cooking oil
Allergen-free cooking spray
Allergen-free margarine (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch cast iron skillet.
2. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, prepare egg replacer according to package directions.
4. Whisk remaining wet ingredients into egg replacer.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well with whisk or fork.
6. Pour batter into a lightly greased cast iron skillet. Some baking mixes make the batter very thick. If that’s the case, press it into the skillet with clean, damp hands.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Spread margarine on top of cornbread, if desired.

Yields 6 servings.