Cooking For Your Crowd

Ratatouille

2010-07-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

No, not the movie. The dish.

Oh. So. Good.

This dish is traditionally layered and baked/roasted in the oven. But there was no way I was turning the oven on today. In fact, my husband and I are seriously strategizing to keep from turning it on for the rest of the summer. I cooked mine on the stove top. It also traditionally has onions in it. When I went into my pantry, my organic onions I had hanging in there were moldy. :( Hence, no onions.

Here's what I did:

Ratatouille
2 Medium Zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced in 1/2 " chunks
1 Japanese Eggplant, same as above
1/2 Yellow Pepper, large julienne and then cut in thirds
4 oz. Mushrooms, sliced
5 Tomatoes, cored, seeded and chunked
1 Onion, chunked
3 Cloves Garlic, smashed and minced
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Pepper
Herbs
Mozzarella or Parmesan

I put all the vegetables and garlic into my cobalt blue enamel cast iron pot (love this because I can cook and serve in it and it looks good) on the stove top. Drizzled olive oil over all. Don't be shy about the olive oil. It's important! Sprinkled with sea salt, pepper and Bragg's Sprinkles (I would have used fresh parsley in this, if I'd had some. That's about the only fresh herb I don't have right now, though.) and cooked on medium heat until the pot got nice a hot. Then I closed it and let it cook, stirring around occasionally and adding herbs as necessary.

When the vegies were nice and soft and tested (uh hum, I mean tasted!), I sprinkled some shredded mozzarella over it all and served it with sourdough bread spread with hummus and we had grilled steaks with that, too. Yum!

Next time, I would like to use Parmesan instead of mozzarella and I want to use the onions it's supposed to have in it. It had wonderful flavor and was hearty enough to be a main dish with the bread and hummus. This makes enough for a side dish for a family of 7. I would increase the amount of vegetables if you are making this as a main dish.

The French really have something there. Hope you try it!

FYI: This recipe is crossposted on my other blogs today.

A New Ecourse I'm Very Excited About

2010-06-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

Kimi Harris at The Nourishing Gourmet is now offering an ecourse, and I am really excited to share it with you! If you haven’t been to her site, you are in for a treat. She offers real food recipes, tips and techniques for preparing affordable, traditional foods. Her new ecourse is called A Peasants Feast: Nourishing Food on a Budget.

Kimi has generously allowed me to preview one of her 13 lessons and I can’t wait to see more! This is a very talented and organized young woman and I am very impressed! I know I can learn a lot of the traditional foods preparation techniques through this ecourse of lectures, recipes and video demonstrations.

Kimi writes, “I’ve put together a great 13 week ecourse that will give you a bite-sized amount of information every week in the form of topical articles, cooking demonstration videos, and shopping guides. I will give you tips on where to buy quality food for less, demonstrate cooking methods that both boost the nutritional value of your food and stretch expensive meat, and explain in more detail traditional cooking practices.

If you’ve wanted to learn how to make your own yogurt, sourdough bread, lacto-fermented foods, or how to sprout and soak grains, or simply how to cook real food this ecourse is for you. If you have a hard time balancing the expensive of buying quality ingredients on a budget, I can help.

By taking this huge topic, and breaking it down into manageable pieces, you can learn and digest new information in a timely manner. By the end of the class, you will have the confidence you need in knowing where to shop, what to buy, and how to cook real food on a budget. By using a class format with forums and facilitating discussions, I will be able to give a lot more one on one support to those in the course than is normally available through my blog. Answering questions and helping troubleshoot is another important aspect of this ecourse.”

I have become an affiliate for this ecourse and will make a small commission if folks choose to follow these links to sign up for her ecourse. I am hoping to earn my way into this course. But you all know me -I would never advertise something I didn’t think was worthwhile.

Visit Kimi’s site. Check out A Peasant’s Feast. And let me know what you think!

What I Did With 6 lbs. of Organic Potatoes

2010-06-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

I purchased 6 lbs. of organic russet potatoes on Sunday afternoon, as at Beloveds request I planned to make potato salad for Monday’s BBQ dinner. I went home and scrubbed and bake them all in the oven. Five were used as baked potatoes with butter, fresh organic chives and sour cream with our steak dinner that night. The rest, minus eight, were gently peeled and used in the potato salad on Monday afternoon to go with our grass fed beef burgers we BBQ’d.

I haven’t done my menu plan for this week yet. I know -for shame! It’s already Wednesday. It’s not happening this week folks! Anyway, this morning, I really had no plan for breakfast at all. I peered in the frig, sleep-eyed, trying to think of something to feed my crew before they all got up asking for food. (Some ask for food before they’re even quite “up.” And some are very cranky if it’s not on the table when they get there. Not naming any names here.)

Inside the frig was a tray of baked potatoes and a quart canning jar full of uncooked egg whites. These whites were the result of the 12 yolks I needed for the homemade vanilla ice cream for dinner Monday. Aha! I also found a cooked hamburger patty that was extra from Monday night. Now what was I going to do with that? Split it between five kids? Yeah, right!! Green onion, butter…..herbs and spices. Things were looking up!

I diced the potatoes, hamburger (which seriously resembled steak, Beloved had made it so compact), green onion and put it in a hot pan with butter. Stirred and browned for a bit and added some Bragg’s Sprinkles, a bit of garlic powder, salt and pepper. I cooked the egg whites, adding two farm fresh aggs with really dark yolks into them. No one could tell they were mostly whites.

Then I got the blender out and put in three cups of homemade kefir, a few tablespoons of cocoa powder, three bananas, two tablespoons of raw honey and half a handful of chocolate chips. Served everything on the table and Sis says, “Are we having breakfast burritos?” GREAT IDEA SIS! Why didn’t I think of that? So I got out the Buenatural Whole Wheat tortillas (which I absolutely adore and you have to try), cheddar, salsa and sour cream and that’s exactly what we had.

There you have it. I thought I had nothing to feed the crew and we ended up eating like kings! The things you can do with a well stocked pantry are amazing.
I have three potatoes left and I think I have a clam chowder recipe with their name on it for tonight. Soup, salad and garlic bread sounds good to me.

Did you know potatoes are notorious for heavy pesticide residue? According to www.thedailygreen.com:

“America’s popular spud re-appears on the 2010 dirty dozen list, after a year hiatus. America’s favorite vegetable can be laced with as many as 37 different pesticides.

Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include eggplant, cabbage and earthy mushrooms.”

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods#ixzz0piUWoyhk

Eeeewww! You might want to make sure you buy organic potatoes next time you need some.

Kris

What I did with a Fennel Bulb

2010-05-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: Ilva Beretta (Flicker)

Have you ever wondered what you'd do with a fennel bulb? According to wisegeek.com, fennel is a plant that yields both a seed-like fruit and the leafy growth used as an herb. Fennel plants are in the same family, Apiaceae, as anise, dill, cilantro, caraway, and cumin, and their flavor is similar to anise. I've always wanted to buy and prepare one, so I finally did a few weeks ago. But first, I watched this clip from Melissa D'Arabian on The Food Network for inspiration. You can find her recipe for the dish she demonstrates here. Look yum!

I'd been looking for a FRESH fennel bulb that had all of the fronds on it possible. I finally found an adequate one at our local Farmer's Market store. I prepared my own coleslaw with my own dressing, but added the sliced fennel and the fronds. It was really yummy. The next day, I prepared this meal I found at www.allrecipes.com, and used it for our main dish that night. It was really good and a different take on scalloped potatoes.

With the remaining fronds that I had not yet used, I had my daughter trim them off and dry them in the oven for use as dried herbs. They filled up an herb jar. I will probably use it to season chicken and fish.

One fennel bulb, three different preparations, and I used everything except a few of the "stem" parts that were tough. (I don't know if they are called stems or not, but...you know what I mean, right?)

Try something new. Check out fennel. I hear it's good roasted, too!

Rolling Meals

2010-01-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

Rolling meals? What is that?

No, I do not strap my food to a go cart or skateboard and let it ride, although my boys might think that's cool! Rolling meals is what I call using ingredients from one meal to make another. This is not serving leftovers, although we do that here, too.

This is purposeful planning to use ingredients or courses from one meal in another. Here's an example of what I did the other night:

It was Tuesday, and my daughter takes a writing class in the late afternoon. I have to have dinner made, cooking, or in the crockpot on Tuesdays before I leave. I put bone-in chicken breast with BBQ sauce into the crockpot in the morning, had a tossed salad made, roasted green beans with pecans from the night before, and when I came home I made garlic mashed potatoes (using dehydrated potatoes from my food storage).

I cooked enough potatoes for Wednesday nights dinner at the same time -Shepherds Pie. This dish is like a meat and vegetable pie and is traditionally topped with a layer of mashed potatoes and then baked until they are golden.

Another way to do this is to serve baked whole chicken one night, then de-bone it and use the meat for burritos or chicken soup the next night. I'm sure you've all done that, right? If not, it's something easy to try.

How about cooking enough rice for dinner that you can use to make rice pudding for breakfast the next morning? Yum, that sounds good right about now. You get the idea, right? Good, because I think I need to hit the kitchen. I'm hungry!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kris

Corn Chowder

2009-03-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

I adapted this from a recipe I found at www.allrecipes.com. This fed my family (my children are mostly smaller) with about a quart leftover for lunches.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups water
4 cups diced peeled potatoes
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 C. frozen corn kernels
1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

DIRECTIONS
In a soup kettle or Dutch oven, combine the first five ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add corn, soup, milk, salt and pepper; heat through, stirring occasionally. Stir in bacon just before serving.

Really good! We had it with Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits, Coleslaw & Baked Apples.

Raspberry Jam Bars

2009-03-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

1 yellow cake mix
2-1/2 Cups quick oats
3/4 Cup melted butter
1 Cup Raspberry Jam
1 T. water

Mix cake mix and oats together, add melted butter until all is combined. Press half of mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Mix jam and water together and spread over cake mix/oat mixture. Sprinkle remaining cake/oat mixture over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Easy and delicious!

I found this recipe at www.allrecipes.com

Garlic Roasted Chicken

2009-03-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

Are you drooling yet? If not, let me tell you how I make my Garlic Roasted Chicken.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a roasting or casserole pan, place quartered potatoes (scrubbed, with skins on=vitamins!), onions, carrots (also scrubbed and unpeeled -it's called rustic) and celery.
Side Note: Every time I work with celery, I think of my Grandma Helen. She always insisted that we peel celery before serving it.

Back to the recipe. Trim up Mr. Chicken (That's what we call a whole chicken at our house before he's cooked. After he's cooked, we call him GOOD!) and remove neck bone and gizzards. Put all this stuff into your larger sized saucepan along with a quarter of an onion, some celery and definitely some carrots (that's what makes your stock have the beautiful color) and water and simmer covered on the stove until the neck meat comes off. You may add herbs to this, if desired, but I would use fresh for this. This can take several hours. When it is done and has a pretty golden color, strain into a canning jar or two leaving about 1 inch headspace and freeze for later use.

Meanwhile, place Mr. Chicken on top of the vegetables breast side up. Add 6-8 oz. chicken broth, white wine or water to the bottom where the vegetables are to keep them from getting dried out. Drizzle olive oil on chicken and brush to coat with a silicone pastry brush (don't use your natural fiber pastry brush for meat if you can help it). Then, take a whole HEAD of garlic, not a clove, a HEAD of garlic, and separate the cloves, rubbing them in your fingers to get most of the skin off. Don't peel or anything. You want these cloves intact.

Place all but one clove into the pan on top of the vegies and peel the remaining clove and rub all over Mr. Chicken and place it under the skin of the breast.

Roast for 1.5 hours at 375 degrees, until juices run clear. When done, remove from oven, carve up and serve the roasted garlic with baguette slices. The garlic should squeeze out of their jackets onto the bread slices, where you can spread it like butter and eat it. It is SOOOO good.

Now, I realize not everyone is a garlic eater like me. I chalk that up to my Italian heritage. Honestly, I can't eat it like I used to after this many babies. But this is something worth trying. And you don't really have to use the garlic in this recipe. But it is very healthy, especially this time of year, so think about it. WARNING: Your body might emit a garlic odor for a few days after consuming this dish.

And, nope, I do not peel my celery. I am too lazy for that.

The Many Hats of Motherhood

2009-02-23T16:32:00.000-08:00

The job of wife and mother has many responsibilities. I like to call them hats. One of the many hats of Motherhood is that of Nutritionist. It's our job to make sure those tummies are full of good, wholesome food.

How do I do that?

1. Constant Education
I am always educating myself on food, cooking and nutrition, use the library to check out cookbooks and magazines before I buy them, take cooking classes which are offered free in my community and do a lot of online research.

2. Talk to People
I find out what my family likes, taking note of what is and isn't a hit.

I ask other moms of larger families how they feed their families.

I ask my friends for the recipes of dishes I've enjoyed in their homes.

3. Plan Ahead
I plan ahead for my week by cooking and baking on the weekend. I make cookies, treats, etc., with whole grains so I'm not tempted to eat/serve something I shouldn't. I make healthy salads ahead for the first part of the week. I freezer cook in a simple way so it doesn't overburden. Instead of making one dish a night, I will make three of the same and freeze two. I don't do this all the time, but a few times a month can build up quite a stock in the freezer.

I'm not perfect. We have days when we don't eat as healthy as we should and I have weeks when I lack the energy to do what I know I should. But I'm working on it and I enjoy helping others work toward feeding their families well, too.

Here's a list of helpful resources to check out:

For Inspiration
www.allrecipes.com (Advanced Ingredient Search for those days when you haven’t planned ahead. Oops!)
www.epicurious.com
www.recipezaar.com

Freezer/Bulk Cooking
Dinner’s in the Freezer, Jill Bond
Mega Cooking, Jill Bond
The 30-Day Gourmet
The Make a Mix Cookbook, Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, & Madeline Westover

http://www.30daygourmet.com/ Nanci Slagle

http://bulkcooking.com/

Crock Pot Cooking
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
Stephanie O’Dea committed to a full year of using her crock pot every day, with some very interesting results. She keeps the recipes online for all to benefit from.

There are a lot of websites with slow cooker recipes and many books on the subject, also. Search the web for “slow cooker” or “crock pot” recipes.

Cooking with Whole Foods
All Sue Gregg Resources http://www.suegregg.com/
Sue’s work is impressive. She has online sample recipes she WANTS you to try before buying her cookbooks. She also has FREE cooking lessons at her web site. Highly recommended by many.
Crystal Miller at www.thefamilyhomestead.com This mother of eight children is an experienced cook of whole foods and beans. She has great information on her website and her blogs.
All La Leche League Cookbooks http://www.llli.org/
Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon

Enjoy!
Kris

Mega Meatballs

2009-02-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

Today I processed my ground beef into meatballs. I have a really great recipe that makes 120 meatballs from five pounds of ground beef. They bake in the oven, I cool them and tray freeze them and package 25 to a bag.

Any night I'm stuck for a meal because my leftovers weren't "leftover," or I didn't get my meal prep done or whatever, I pull out a bag. I simmer the frozen meatballs in sauce until heated through and ready to serve. I use them for Spaghetti and Meatballs, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, and less often for Swedish Meatballs.

Having those meatballs in the freezer ready to go really works for me.

And the kids love them, too......