Play Along At Home!

It's time for some interactive internet... I need someone to tell me what I ate for dinner. I haven't died yet... ate some of the same thing a few days ago, too... and it came from my beloved local farm delivery service, so I trust it. It is some sort of technically-green bean. But definitely not your ordinary grocery store variety. What is it? How is it best-prepared? I don't know. Do you?


The first night we ate the Mystery Bean, I simply steamed it with a little lemon. It was good. Beany. Tonight I stir-fried it with mushrooms, onion, red pepper, and carrot. And completely forgot to take more pictures. With a bit of a tamari-garlic-lemon sauce, it was very good alongside grilled pork chops.

In case anyone has a weird monitor... the splotchies on the Mystery Beans are pinkish-red, not brown or anything diseasey.

I forgot to take a picture!

I can't believe I forgot.

Ok, I believe it. I just... I was at the mercy of a late dinner (that smelled REALLY good while cooking) and a second glass of wine (on an empty stomach)... and I flat forgot.

I don't even know what to call this, but it was plate-licking delicious. And I am not kidding. I licked it. I offered my plate to the Grill Geek, but he had already moved on to contentedly digesting.

Bekki's Whatchamacallit

2 large pork sausages, the spicy kind with removable casings. Since they can be removed... remove them. Ew, don't they look weird?
1/2 a large onion, sliced
Some fat... olive oil, bacon or duck fat, whatever

Soften the onions in the fat, then add the crumbled sausage. When the sausage is browned, add:

1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 to 1 1/2 cups sprouted beans and lentils (I didn't measure)
About 2 cups chicken stock (once again, didn't measure... just make sure there's plenty of liquid)

Simmer about 45 minutes. I thought sprouted beans would cook quicker. They didn't seem to. Oh, the torture! But, they finally did cook, and I served the whatchamacallit over rice, with a side of sliced summer squash sauteed in butter.

Beans and Greens, Ole!

I never make meat-less meals, and yet... tonight... I did. Weird. It wasn't vegetarian, because I used lard and chicken broth. But, there was no meat. My headache is telling me not to do this again. But... it was pretty tasty.

I had some pinto beans that needed to get cooked (I'd soaked them and put them in the freezer, then thawed them thinking I was going to do something else... they languished..) I also had a ton of greens that needed to get cooked. I love cannelini and kale, which is Italian in flavor. Would pintos and kale be good? Yes! Once the beans were soft (cooked in chicken broth), I tossed in some cumin, coriander, black pepper, and ancho chile powder. I put those brothy beans on the bottom of my bowl and topped with braised kale (cooked with onions and garlic, with a chopped tomato thrown in near the end) and sprinkled a bit of fresh cilantro over it.

Pretty darn good. I don't have a second opinion, as the kids don't that sort of mixed-together food and the Grill Geek was asleep early.

Jamie Oliver

Tonight I finally tried a recipe from my new cookbook, Cook with Jamie. (I know that should be underlined, but can't figure out how to do that here.) I love this cookbook. I love Jamie Oliver's passion for good food, his wit and charm, and his recipes. Granted, this is the first one I've actually made, but... they all sound so good! This particular recipe is called "Grilled fillet steak with creamiest white beans and leeks." I won't post the recipe, as I'm fairly sure it's illegal. Mine didn't look like his, but it was very yummy. I'd still like to know exactly what a fillet steak is. I know the filet mignon kind... but that's not what it looks like he used. So... we did our best.

1st Weekly Iron Chef Mom

KYO NO TEMA... shichimenchou!


So... I recently posted about feeling rather Iron Cheffish after making dinner from crazy leftovers. The Grill Geek thought it'd be fun to take it a step further. Tonight was the first of (hopefully) many Iron Chef Mom episodes, pitting my against the timer and the children. I had beginner's luck- the Little Guy fell asleep on the couch for the whole thing.

First, a brief run-down of the rules:
1) Must be an original recipe that features the "secret ingredient" in some way.
2) Must accept help from any and all "sous chefs" (aka children/husband) or else it wouldn't be Iron Chef MOM, now would it?
3) First attempt is given 90 minutes, second attempt gets 80, and so on. By your fourth episode, you ought to have the hang of it and be able to pull it off in 60 minutes thereafter.
4) Must be a complete, nutritionally-balanced meal. Unlike the TV show, we're not going for total number of entrees. This is real life. Must include something your kids will eat, but the secret ingredient needn't be involved in that.
5) For style points, the kitchen needs to not be utterly trashed when your time is up. That's another Mom element... clean up as you go. At least a little bit.

The Grill Geek got back from the store around 11 am, so I knew my secret ingredient for 8 hours before showtime. I looked up basic preparation techniques, then went through my stash of recipes on the computer (didn't spend hours pouring over actual cookbooks.) I found a recipe for Moroccan Chicken Stew and completely changed it. I think the only ingredient left the same was... um... the cumin. That's what I mean by an "original" recipe. Base it on something else, sure... but make it your own.

Once I knew that my secret ingredient was bone-in split turkey breast, I started getting the idea of a New World theme to the meal. So... this is where that eventually led me:

Getting ready to cook

Bekki's Iron Chef Turkey

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 Tbsp bacon fat

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

½ tsp paprika

2 tsp chili powder

1 split, bone-in turkey breast

1 small onion, sliced thin

3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 cup chicken stock

1 tsp salt

¼ - ½ cup white rum

½ cup salsa

½ cup corn kernels (frozen are ok)

1 cup cooked pinto beans

blue corn chips

1 fresh heirloom tomato, sliced

prepared collard greens

1. Put cornstarch and spices into a large plastic bag, along with turkey breast, and shake to coat. ("It's Shake N Bake, and I hey-alped!") Get the collards goin'.

2. Heat large dutch oven, add fats, and brown turkey breast on both sides.
Remove turkey, add more oil, if necessary, and sauté onion over medium heat until almost-translucent. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add chicken stock, rum, and salt. Bring to boil and stir in salsa, pintos, and corn. Reduce heat to low, add turkey, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove turkey breast and slice. Stir additional cornstarch into bean mixture, if needed.

3. Arrange cooked collards on plates along with sliced tomato, and bean mixture; arrange turkey on top. Garnish with blue corn chips, serve with a glass of sotol (or bourbon.)

Eggs!

I can have eggs again! Hooray!

Thanks to not doing a proper elimination diet, eggs were falsely accused. I'm still being careful and not eating them every day. Sometimes that helps. They are not a food that wants to be eaten, like fruits (where a trip through the digestive tract improves the odds of the seeds getting to grow.) Eggs can be quite a powerful allergen, so I want to tread lightly. But I got to have 'em for breakfast this morning. Yum. Hard to see them there... over easy, so the yolks are hiding.

Lunch was really good, too. Hubby grilled burgers, and I made hummus. I'd heard it suggested as a dip for raw veggies. The people who suggest that are crazy. Hummus needs pita. But, carrot sticks were pretty good, too. Celery really wasn't, which is saying something, because we generally eat a lot of celery. Maybe that had more to do with the homemade bleu cheese dip?

Hmmm, surely not.

Anyhow, I also sliced a cucumber, salted it, and sprinkled it with dill. So easy, so tasty.

The hummus:

1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoons minced garlic

some salt

some paprika

some sesame seeds (had no tahini)

Put in food processor (or blender, I imagine) and whiz it up until it's all blended. Add more oil, if you think it's too thick. Add some cayenne, if you like it spicy. Sprinkle parsley and paprika on top to make it pretty.

And now my GFCF, corn-free (had to make my own freakin' baking powder!?!) banana bread is almost done. I sure hope the finished product tastes better than the batter did. It was a bit... gritty.

It smells good, if that's anything.

By the way, I absolutely HATE the formatting on this blog. I have spent way too much time trying to fix it. I need a tutorial or something. The preview never matches the final result. I will stop screaming at it and just get on with my life.