Sweet Potato Risotto

Right now I am in Effingham, IL at a transition conference and got to go to the most awesome restaurant. It is called the Firefly Grill. This is the second day I've been here and thought that I was stuck with the restaurants surrounding the Walmart (along with the convention center which seems as if it is in the Walmart parking lot). But, thanks to Yelp, I found the restaurant just behind some trees across the street. It has been named the 2nd best eco-friendly restaurant in the country by Bon Appetit. I didn't know about its accolades, or the fact that it is local food, until I walked in with my local food book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. I felt like a bit of a dork reading about local food and then eating it (the menu says where each dish came from) but the bangers and mash were awesome (expensive, but really good). Unfortunately most of the things I wanted to try had gluten and I had to turn away the bread that looked delectable, but it was great.

Another thing that is great.... is sweet potato risotto! I had extra sweet potatoes and I was thinking of what I could do with them, and then thought of the idea of sweet potato rissoto. You would think there would be more recipes out there, but the best one I could find was from Betty Crocker. Now I usualy like stronger seasoned dishes, and not the kind that are usually in the Betty Crocker cookbook, but this dish was sooooooo good. The rosemary really stood out with the sweet potato and I am definitely making this for my Aunt's thanksgiving (with water instead of chicken broth) so that my mom can enjoy vegetarian fare and still feel festive.

Sweet Potato Risotto

(from Betty Crocker)

Ingredients

1/4 cup of white wine

1 Tbsp of olive oil

1 medium onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup of uncooked Arborio rice

3 small mashed roasted sweet potatoes (around 1/2 cup)

4 cups or more of chicken broth

Parmesan cheese to taste

1/2 tsp of chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg

Salt to taste

Roast your sweet potatoes. I put them in the oven at 450 degrees for around 35 to 45 minutes until they are soft. Take them out and mash them.

Heat olive oil in saucepan and cook onion and garlic 3 to 4 minutes until tender. Stir in rice and stir constantly for 1 minute. Add in white wine and stir until soaked in. Stir in mashed sweet potatoes and 1/2 cup of the broth. (I know that people usually heat the broth on the side, and most of the time I do too, but it worked without using the extra pans so it is up to you). Cook and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding in broth 1/2 cup at a time, when the rice has soaked in the previous additions, and stop when the rice is just tender. Add in the cheese, rosemary, nutmeg and salt and enjoy!

Apple Jellies

More apples you say? Yes, 8 more pounds of apples from our 2 apple trees at my parents house. By now we are sick of apple sauce, and our freezers are full of it, so I turned to a recipe that I tried once before...with dismal results.

This recipe and I have a love/hate relationship. On the love side, the apple jellies taste great (even when they haven't firmed up) and are a great alternative to more apple sauce for someone with 8 pounds of apples (this year, since I am not up to making gluten free bread each week, I am not making apple butter). On the hate side... they are horrible, horrible to make! Although the recipe (which I am going to send a link to below because both people somehow made it successfully) says that you only have to simmer over low heat for an hour. I did 6 hours with drops of hot apple napalm spiriting out of my pots. Then I put it in the oven for 4 hours. Did I also mention I put in two packets of pectin and separated the liquid into three different pots and later pans to try to reduce the amount of sauce I was trying to firm up. Wow. One small pan did firm up... AFTER 10 HOURS... but the other was still too liquid to cut. However, I ate it all (well I did send home a bit to my dad) and am trying to talk myself out of doing this again next year.

If you choose to attempt this recipe, I think one of the main things is the type of apples. I used red and golden delicious. Maybe their pectin content is too low because I followed the recipe step by step. Good luck and let me know if anyone actually makes it (in under 10 hours!)

Apple Jellies

Recipes at Lottie and Doof and at Supper In Stereo

Asian Tofu Salad with Seasoned Spinach

I just spent 4 days in Kansas City on a BBQ trip. Great trip, one that 4 years ago I would have talked about for weeks, but for me and my gastroparesis... rough. 4 days of meat 2x a day. Meat that tasted great but made me very sick, oh well. We went to Arthur Bryants, Oklahoma Joes, Gates and Jack Stack.

So back home and back to veggies. I have been waiting for them. The best I could do in KC was baked beans, which I think are absolutely the best. I dont know what they do in KC but their baked beans, especially at Gates and Zarda, but they are unbelievable. My first meal back is from the Moosewood Restaurant's Low-Fat Favorites. It has a crisp taste. However, next time I would press the tofu first so it was less watery. I wanted some spinach also so I made my favorite korean spinach for the bottom.

Asian Tofu Salad

Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant's Low-Fat Favorites

Ingredients

Salad

2 cakes of tofu

1/2 cup of diced red bell peppers

1/2 cup of diced scallions

Dressing

4 minced garlic cloves

4 teaspoons of grated fresh ginger root

1 teaspoon chili paste

4 tablespoons of soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Put the tofu on a plate that is lined with paper towels. Place some paper towels on top of the tofu and then another plate. If it is balanced, you can place a bowl or something heavier on top. Let sit for 1/2 hour. While letting the tofu sit, create the dressing. Combine all the items in the dressing and whisk it together.

Crumble the tofu into a bowl using your fingers or a fork. Combine with green onions, red bell paper, and the dressing. Serve at warm temperature or cold.

Seasoned Spinach

1 pound of baby leaf spinach

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons of sugar

Blanch the spinach in a pot or in microwave. Rince spinach in cold water and squeeze to remove water. Mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and sugar and mix into spinach.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

Ok, new rule. No cooking a new recipe at 9:00 at night after an hour long hot yoga session. Food turned out yummy, I was exhausted. Good thing that I have two weeks off of work (year round school schedule) so I could actually stay up and eat it. My kitchen was such a mess afterwards! I almost took a picture of the disaster. That is why I am posting the quiz on the side, are you a clean or messy cook? Does anyone have any tips on being a cleaner cook?

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

Adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook

Ingredients

5 cups of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 1/2 cups of diced onions

6 large garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno without seeds

3 teaspoons oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons ground cumin

4 teaspoons ground coriander

2 15 oz cans of black beans

1/3 cup of chopped cilantro leaves

juice from 2 limes

tortillas

fresh pico de gallo

Toss the sweet potatoes with the 2 teaspoons of oil and salt and place on baking sheet. Roast on top shelf of oven for around 30 minutes or until soft.

While cooking potatoes, place and onion, garlic, and jalapeno in small skillet or saucepan on medium low heat, covered, until soft (around 7 min). Add cumin and coriander and cook for 2 - 3 minutes stirring often.

When potatoes are done, put sweet potatoes, onion/spice mix, cilantro, drained black beans, and juice from limes. Toss. Then take a potato masher and mash the ingredients together. Place into a baking dish, cover with foil, and cook in oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

Put in tortillas, add salsa, and enjoy!

Oregano Pesto and Marinated Artichoke Hearts

It is the end of the season here and I still have a pot of fresh herbs growing outside. This year all I grew was oregano, rosemary, thyme and chives. Last year I grew so many more but with feeling so low energy from the GP and allergies and knowing that I would be gone for a week during the hottest part of the summer I didn't think I could keep up. Then, unfortunately, I really didn't use the herbs either during the summer. I was off of cooking, feeling that everything just made me sick, and just made basic meals. Since Im on a cooking vegetarian kick right now I wanted to do something with all the oregano that grew. It and the chives were the only things that really thrived this year. I was in the grocery store, getting food for the cats, and figured I could make an oregano pesto.

The store also had a display of cans of artichoke hearts. I haven't had artichokes since I was in elementary school. My dad wanted me to try a steamed artichoke and I refused, however I wanted to move my bedroom from one room to the spare room in the house. My dad said that he would do it if I ate the whole artichoke. So, I ate it. Didn't enjoy it, but I dipped the leaves in Italian dressing and at the end ended up eating artichokes and nacho cheese Doritos and managed to finish it so I could move my bed. Now Im trying them again for the first time to try to expand my veggie diet. Again, my phone was my handy recipe book, and found a recipe for marinated artichokes while in the store.

Oregano Pesto

Adapted from this Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup of oregano (leaves removed from stems)

1 cup of toasted pine nuts

1 head of garlic

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of olive oil, oil for drizzling

Place peeled garlic cloves in olive oil in a saucepan and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Toast pine nuts. Place garlic and oil, pine nuts and oregano into a food processor and drizzle in olive oil until it is at the consistency you like.

I mixed my pesto with gluten free pasta, sun dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese.

Did you know you can freeze pesto? Put pesto into a ice cube tray. People recommend first putting it into a zip lock bag, cutting a hole in the bag, and piping it out into the trays but I just use a spoon. Place plastic wrap over the top so it doesn't oxidize. Freeze the tray. After the cubes are frozen take them out of the tray and put them in a freezer bag so they last longer.

Marinated Artichoke Hearts

Adapted from Saveur

2 cans of artichoke hearts

1/2 cup good olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 teaspoon fresh oregano

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Rince artichoke hearts under cold water. Put together the artichoke hearts, olive oil, salt, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Let it cool to room temperature and stir in lemon juice.

Spinach Mushroom Fried Rice

I had a craving for spinach. Wow, that is weird to say. I'm still getting used to eating mostly vegetables and actually liking veggies that I would never have tried a year ago. My favorite spinach dish to make and to eat is a Korean side dish with garlic, soy sauce, and sesame seed oil (one of the best condiments ever). I've always made it with baby leaf spinach because that was what was on sale, and for some reason thought that all spinach was the tender small leaves. When I bought spinach for dinner this time, I bough the regular kind, and figured out that regular spinach is not one of my favorites. I was surprised there really aren't any spinach fried rice recipes out there, so I made one myself.

Does everyone ever plan making fried rice ahead of time? I always come up with the idea right before I make it. So I make the rice in the microwave, throw it in a baking dish, then into the freezer to cool it down. It would probably taste better being a day old but it still tastes good!

Spinach Mushroom Fried Rice

Ingredients

2 cups of dried Jasmine rice

3 cups of water

Vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon sesame seed oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon minced ginger

4 tablespoons soy sauce

6 green onions, thinly sliced

3/4 cup of fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup of thinly sliced bamboo shoots

1 cup of baby leaf spinach

Make the rice and cool.

Make scrambled eggs with the eggs and place on a plate. Place a tablespoon of oil in pan or wok and stir fry onion until soft. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add 2 more tablespoons of vegetable oil and stir in cooked rice, green onions, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. Toss and mix until very hot. Then sprinkle with soy sauce and sesame seed oil and mix. Remove from heat, add eggs and spinach. Mix.

2 Types of Apple Sauce

I was going to start today's post on one topic but now am totally focused on something else... I got my issue of Bon Appetit magazine today. I love getting it in the mail. I look at the cover and there seems to be endless possibilities...even though only one or two of the recipes per issue catch my eye and my taste buds. It has apple pie on the front and as I saw it I started thinking "oh no, I just put the apples in the pot for apple sauce!" but since I'm not in the mood for gluten free baking (which takes a whole lot more effort than regular baking) and I have to use this huge bag of apples from my parent's house before they go bad, we will have apple sauce.

This is my 2nd 8 - 10 pound bag of apples in 3 weeks from my parents. Last time it was all red delicious, now a mixture of red and golden delicious. Whenever I work with apples it brings up a very strong childhood memory. There used to be an apple orchard called Bell's in Barrington, IL by my grandparents house that made the most awesome apple squares, apple cider, and cider doughnuts. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. They tore it down to build huge homes around 15 years ago, but I still miss it. I would deal with the physical repercussions I have for eating gluten just to have some cider doughnuts or apple squares!

I think the most handy kitchen gadget I have in my house is my food mill, which is the best thing to use for apple sauce. Last year when I made apple sauce on my own for the first time I hesitated on buying it since costs around $45 and I really don't have any more space in my kitchen, but it was one of the best buys Ive made for cooking. It allows me to halve the apples, take off the stems, and then just throw them in the pot with their skin, seeds and rinds intact. By keeping these parts of the apple the natural pectin makes it more creamy (at least that is what everyone who has eaten it has told me).

The first recipe is the one I made today:

Apple Pie Apple Sauce

Adapted from The Family Kitchen

Ingredients

3 - 4 pounds of apples*

1/4 cup of real maple syrup

1/4 cup of dark brown sugar

2, 2 inch pieces of orange zest

juice of half an orange

4 cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon to taste

1/2 teaspoon of allspice

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

Wash the apples and cut them in quarters, removing the stems. Place them into a large pot along with the other ingredients. Cover. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes until apples are soft.

Remove from heat and take out the cinnamon sticks and orange peel. Place your food mill over a bowl. Ladle apples into the bowl and use the food mill to make the apple sauce. Add ground cinnamon to taste.

*I use whatever apples that I get from our trees, but the best to use are good cooking apples like golden delicious, granny smith, Macintosh, Fuji and Jonathan.

Food Mill Applesauce

Here is the recipe that I have made the last few times that I've made applesauce. My family loved it and the nice thing was that it freezes well.

Ingredients

3 - 4 pounds of apples

Juice of one lemon

4 cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon to taste

1/4 cup of dark brown sugar

1/4 cup of white sugar

3/4 cup of water

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Wash the apples and cut them in quarters, removing the stems. Place them into a large pot along with the other ingredients. Cover. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes until apples are soft.

Remove from heat and take out the cinnamon sticks. Place your food mill over a bowl. Ladle apples into the bowl and use the food mill to make the apple sauce. Add ground cinnamon to taste.