"Hearty Herdbeast Stew"

Fall is in the air and the wind coming down off the Rockies makes us crave comfort food.  I came across this stew recipe in The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern, any Anne McCaffrey fans out there?  The hubs is eating it up (and Romeo has had some and drools on himself when he smells it cooking.)  A double batch fits just right in my dutch oven.  I had about 2 and a half pounds of stew meat, so I used a handful of garlic cloves, a whole onion, 2 bay leaves, and added a few extra chopped veggies.  I also skipped the last three spices and it turned out fine.  You can easily make this vegetarian by substituting seitan or TVP chunks for the beef.  If you can, it's best to let it sit in the fridge for a day or so, to let the gravy thicken and the flavors develop.  The book also includes recipes for "Klah"- a cinnamony chocolate drink, "Benden Baklava", and "Bubbly Pies".  The following is quoted from page 74-75 of the book, written by Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey.

Hearty Herdbeast Stew

For tastiest results, use either the meat of mature bovine or young ovine.  To serve four, assemble the following ingredients:

1 to 1 1/2 pounds herdbeast, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 garlic clove (if desired)
1/2 large onion, cut into bite size pieces
1 pound peeled tomatoes (or 1 16-ounce can of tomatoes in their own juice)
2 cups water
4 small or 2 medium potatoes, peeling optional
2-4 small carrots, sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced into 1 inch pieces
bay leaf
1 cup corn kernels or baby corn cut into 1-inch pieces
salt
pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard or cracked mustard seeds
garlic salt
parsley

-Dredge the pieces of meat in flour.  Melt the butter in a saucepan.  When bubbly, add the meat.  Brown the pieces on all sides.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add the onion and garlic; cook until transparent.  Then add the tomatoes and two cups of water.  Break up the tomatoes with a spoon.  Add potatoes, bay leaf carrots, and celery.  Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer, and let cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
-Add corn, spices to taste.  Bring the stew to a boil again, cover and return to simmer.  Cook for 15-30 minutes stirring occasionally until corn, potatoes, and meat are all tender.  Uncover and cook for 15 or so minutes until stew is slightly thickened.

High Altitude Banana Bread

Hurray!  Finally, a quick bread recipe that turns out perfectly at mile high altitude.  The trick is to add less leavening and more moisture.  I also used a half a teaspoon of pumpkin spice, instead of just straight cinnamon.  Even my husband, who doesn't like sweet things, ate this up.  I found the recipe HERE, many thanks to The Wallaces for sharing!

Gluten Pups: Meatless Hotdogs/Sausages

If you are a vegetarian or vegan who isn't a fan of the faux meat available on the shelves but wants to be eating hot dogs from the grill, then this recipe is for you.  It sounds daunting, but it's super easy!  Just takes a little prep work.  I first heard of this recipe from The Vegan Ronin, check out what she has to say about it HERE.  (She found the recipe from Vegan Dad, who I believe found it from someone named Isa?)  I always end up with more than the recipe says it makes, about 8 hot dogs or about 15-20 breakfast links.  And I like to leave the dogs in the steamer for closer to an hour.

I've tried this recipe a few times now and my advice is this: it's crucial that the sausages are wrapped up all snug or you'll end up with seitan lumps that are yummy, but not visually appealing.  And here's how to make sure they're all snuggy:

Take a good handful of dough...

...and make a little log.

Now tuck the tinfoil snuggly around and underneath the dough and roll it up.

Twist the ends of the foil into a tootsie roll shape until it's tightly wrapped and fold the ends up.  Now it's ready for the steamer.

I don't own a steamer and to be honest, my kitchen is so full I'm not interested in getting one.  So I jerry-rigged my own using a frying pan and my lil veggie steamer basket held up by an aluminum pan that I poked full of holes, and I used the lid from my dutch oven.  Ta da!  The only drawback to this design is that I can only fit about four regular sized dogs in it at a time.

One...

Two...

Three!

So now your gluten pups are steamed and ready to eat.  At this stage they can be baked, grilled, or pan fried for extra crispiness but this is a matter of preference.  YuuuuuMEE!

Mouse's Better Than Mac 'n Cheese (Quinoa Risotto)

The following is basically a risotto, but made with quinoa as the grain. (Less starch and higher protein than the rice.) I followed the grain to liquid ratio HERE, but I used olive oil instead of butter, added sage and pine nuts, and used just 2 small garlic cloves. Wish I'd had some mushrooms to throw in. I recommend using a good freshly grated Parmesan because the quality is everything to the flavor, you will miss out if you cheat and use Kraft!

I've also made this recipe spiced with golden raisins, chopped apples, onion, nutmeg, and cinnamon. You can also add millet to the quinoa, just as long as you still use one cup grain to two cups water.

Teriyaki and Your Protein of Choice

Homemade stir-fry is probably one of my favorite meals.  Yummy, healthy, versatile to any diet, and so easy to make!  You just take your protein (chicken, tofu, etc.), your veggies, a good teriyaki sauce (that can be gluten-free if you prefer), and serve it over a good old bowl of brown rice.  Very tasty and satisfying.

                                       

This particular batch was made with locally raised Boulder Natural chicken, broccoli, an onion, shredded carrot, a few finely chopped garlic cloves, a couple spoonfuls of minced ginger, and San-J brand teriyaki sauce.  I got the rice cooking, then I put the bite size chopped chicken in a covered cast iron pan with a cup of water on medium heat to poach it.  When the chicken was no longer pink, I drained the pan and put it back on the stove to steam a moment.  When the water had steamed away, I added some olive oil, the veggies and ginger, and stirred to coat everything.  I steamed the broccoli in a separate pan for a few minutes beforehand so that it wasn't too crunchy.

If you're like me, you've spent years trying to figure out what you're doing wrong when cooking a pot of brown rice.  I've tried using a rice cooker, a dutch oven, and a copper bottomed pot and always followed the recipe exactly according to the package directions.  Never turned out well and I'd always resort to white basmati or jasmine rice, which honestly I really only like with curry.  But I came across a gem of a recipe HERE.  I've used it several times so far and it comes out juuust right every time.  Thanks Saveur!

2 Things Challenge: Song/Sweet

SONG: Leon Redbone in my interpretation again this week, just for you Eeyore.  I took this video at the Kent Stage in Ohio last month, April 27th.

SWEET: Quick and easy coffee cake I made while visiting my folks in Ohio, earlier this month.  I used the recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.  Great if you have about a half hour before having guests stop by, took about 5 minutes to throw together and 20 minutes to bake.  Cinnamony, with a nice crumb to it.

"They taste like little cakes made of heaven..."

Our first wedding present arrived about a month and a half ago. AN ELECTRIC WAFFLE IRON! Yaaaaaaay!

This recipe makes a lot, but they freeze great so the extra effort is worth it. I didn't alter this at all for high altitude, but they turned out great. I'm looking forward to trying chocolate brownie waffles next time! *drool*

BASIC WAFFLE BATTER (yields about 16 waffles)

6 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup, plus two tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1-2 teaspoons pumpkin pie or apple pie spice optional

3 1/2 cups milk

1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir them together; then add the milk, oil, and eggs and whisk it all together until there are no big lumps. Let it stand for about 5 minutes to activate the baking powder before adding to your iron. Each waffle for my iron was about a half a cup of batter.

My mom has an awesome old fashioned cast iron waffle grill that you can use in the campfire or the stovetop. This one isn't cast iron, but much easier to use with 5 heat settings and an indicator light/sound for when it's ready for the batter and also when it's finished cooking. I made a big batch and took the leftovers in to work the next day. Made the Monday morning more cheerful than usual at the office.

Ta da!

With real maple syrup and cinnamon butter apples. Deelish and FILLING!

Vegetarian Crab Cakes

Last night's dinner was yummy. I made a batch of pan sauteed swiss chard, with lots of pot liquor to soak up with garlic toast. (And little Dee Dee had some fresh chard for dinner too.) Mmm.

I also tried my hand at The Vegan Ronin's crab cake recipe. I tinkered with it, adding a little more old bay seasoning than called for and a dash of Frank's Hot Sauce. Because of the way the last two batches of bean burgers I've made turned out (mushy, refried beans), I also altered the recipe to be vegetarian instead by adding two eggs to help hold them together, just in case. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl first, then add them to the mix. Very awesome and super easy. Thanks Jhenn!

I picked up this saucepan at a garage sale for 25 cents. It doesn't like to stand up by itself, so I had to prop it up to make the garlic butter.

Served with Veganaise and homemade garlic toast. Healthy and taaaasty!

African Stew

Dinner tonight was my version of African Stew. I used three chopped chicken breasts which I poached in broth, added two tomatillas and a ripe mango that have been sitting in my fruit bowl all week, used organic creamy PB, and skipped the chickpeas cuz I thought the chicken and PB sauce was plenty of protein. Pretty simple and easy to tinker with. This would work great with chunky diced seitan or firm tofu for a vegetarian version. Soooooo yummy! And I stopped by The Denver Bread Company (on my way to the print shop to finalize the wedding invitations) so there was fresh fantastic locally made bread to go with it.

2nd photo taken from The Denver Bread Company's home page.

CHOW time!

Cheese and rice. It was a come home, put on your fuzzy socks, and eat some chocolate kind of day. I could have sworn I had an Endangered Species chocolate bar stashed in the fridge. But no. I was starting to panic as the chocolate mania took over, but then I remembered coming across this recipe for a microwave brownie from CHOW. I didn't have any vanilla, just almond flavor. My vote is almond and chocolate together are even better than peanut butter and chocolate. Takes all of three minutes to mix and nuke and makes the perfect molten chocolate snack after a long day.

Blueberry Cake

A laid back Saturday. We had a buckwheat pancake breakfast and somehow I forgot about the very ripe, fresh blueberries that were sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. They were still waiting when I'd cleaned up the breakfast mess. After staring at them for a while, I went and looked up THIS recipe. And THIS is what came out of it. Very good, but a little heavier than I expected. I'm still working on getting baked goods to turn out at this altitude. I'll get it right sometime!

Warm from the oven, with a dollop of cinnamon dough ice cream. Aaaah, simple pleasures.

Museums, Muffin Pans, and Midwinter Blues

Good gravy, it's been a rough few days into the new year. To keep the blues from settling, I decided to break in my new dough tamper and mini muffin pans, and try a new recipe. Ta da, jam tarts!

Some time ago, I came across this recipe over at Evil Shenanigans. I'm a little nervous anytime I'm doing anything with pastry dough, I end up with a lot of disasters. But these were a snap! This dough bakes into a buttery shortbread. Very good & VERY RICH. I experimented with the filling, using a generic strawberry jelly, some Crofter's organic blueberry jam I've been hoarding, and a seedless organic mixed berry conserve. They're going fast, I hope there are some left in the morning to take in to work. I used Earth Balance and soy milk to make it vegan for my co-worker, Ritch.

We went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum on Sunday. I don't regret going but it was a little disappointing. The artifacts themselves were fascinating, but it was overcrowded and poorly organized. And of course there were a lot of thoughtless, self absorbed twits in the crowd. And the cheesy icing on the cake was being forced to have to exit through the tiny gift shop, which was a nightmare of merchandising and way too many small children running around. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures once we were let inside. There were sentries standing on every corner, like agents from The Matrix with their little earpieces. The security was understandable; there were some pretty cool artifacts and a lot of them were gold. There were statues of course, furniture the king used, gorgeous jewelry, a tiny carved set of traveling games, even a marble toilet seat! The sandals that his mummy wore were very thin pounded gold, I almost sobbed out loud wanting to take a picture! But this was the best I could do.

You can look here for more info about King Tut's cartouche.

October Day and Evening in Colorado

This is our first fall in Colorado. This past week was very warm during the day and pretty chilly at night. But today was perfect for blankets in the grass at the park. I got to do some reading in the fragrant shade of a pine tree, Shaun walked Romeo over to the creek and Romeo went wading. Ah, Sundays.

And the sunset was fantastic. Doesn't the cloud in the second photo make you think of something out of a S. Dali painting?

And after a yummy dinner of lemon sage butternut squash soup and garlic toast, I threw together a spiced apple crisp for dessert. Huzzah!

Megan's Mouthwatering Fruit Crisp

Very simple, very rich, and so good that you have to eat it with someone, to share the guilt. Here're your ingredients:

About 4 cups of fruit (3 or four apples, pears, or peaches)

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

Optional = 1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice mix (or cinnamon or whatever you like w/ fruit)

1 beaten egg

1 stick (8 T.) melted butter

And remember, this is just an outline! Don't be afraid to experiment here and there. Don't eat dairy and eggs or want to cut out some fat? Then use two egg whites instead of one whole egg (and save the yolk for your canine or feline pal). Or use vegan margarine and egg substitute. If you're watching your sugar intake, I've made this before with Splenda and it turned out fine. Toss in a couple of handfuls of rolled oats to get some whole grain in there. I've made this with berries before and used applesauce to moisten the flour mix with, leaving out the egg altogether. Ta da, turned out delish! I especially love this recipe made with BLACKBERRIES. *Que the Homer Simpson drool sounds*

-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

-Butter a small bake ware dish, line it with the fall fruit of your choice (apples, peaches, pears, cherries, any type of berry, or mix 'em up!, etc.)

-Stir the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl, then add the beaten egg and mix until the flour/sugar/powder/spices is moist.

-Spoon the flour mixture on top of the fruit, drizzle the butter over the top, and gently press it into the fruit. Bake for about 25 minutes until crispy and bubbly. If you're in a comfort food mood, serve it warm with cinnamon ice cream. Aaah, Sundays.

Let's play "What's in my fridge?"

When you enjoy the satisfaction and health benefits of cooking your meals from scratch, prefer meat-free meals, and your man has a good appetite, you really have to stay on top of things in your kitchen. Before I left for Ohio in mid July, I took stock of my kitchen supplies trying to use everything up and with a couple of tweaks, made lentil soup. I know, soup in this heat?? But it's good cold too. And more importantly, it's cheap to make! That's basil from my wonderful indoor garden. With these ingredients, plus a small cooking onion, I basically follow this recipe, get creative with spices (I like to add a little finely chopped fresh ginger, cumin, coriander, and hot sauce), and have a simple filling soup that feeds us for several days. It's even better after the flavors develop in the fridge for a day or two. With brown rice, Irish soda bread, or grilled cheese, you can't go wrong or hungry!

Adventures in Fresh Milk

My folks left for Cape Cod and a much needed vacay off the old farmstead yesterday. So, I'm holding down the fort with the help of my Aunt Sue. On Saturday, I went with my da to the farm over in Carroll county where they have a small share in a dairy herd, to pick up their fresh milk. Rich, tasty stuff. I had fresh cream in my tea yesterday morning.



These are weaned calves having their lunch, the mom cows were out in high pasture.



My madre does wonderful things with fresh, whole milk. Like making cheese!



We had homemade pizza with shiitakes, sundried tomatoes, homemade pesto and mozzarella Saturday night. My da's pizza had ground buffalo too. She left me with a nice sized block of paneer, so tonight I decided to try my hand at making paneer masala. As usual, I had to tinker with it a bit. I didn't have any tomatoes and I didn't want to bust open a half gallon can of chopped, so I used two small cans of tomato paste and added water and extra cream to get the right consistency. I used Once Again brand cashew butter and I would recommend using ground cloves. I also used some healthy olive oil instead of clarified butter. Don't forget to take out the bay leaf! My Aunt Sue can't have rice, so we ate it over whole wheat pasta. Pretty good. The paneer crumbled up, not as solid as what you get at a restaurant. But it was homemade, nutritious and delish!



Later on Saturday evening, I was out in the paddock filling the water trough and had to dash inside for my camera when I saw the clouds over the house catch the sunset. Gorgeous!

Some random ramblings, music, and a recipe

What a day for daydreaming. I had a good one folks, hope you did too. I'm restless to get back to Ohio, I'm already looking forward to it. I made squash risotto for dinner. It was yummy. I LOVE arborio rice! Depending on what you cook it with, it can be a meal in itself. I loosely followed this recipe for liquid measurements, and then pretty much did what I wanted on the rest of it. I used fresh sage for the first time off my indoor plant, yay! And I used more lemon juice than it called for, skipped the salt and cheese altogether. I had two lovely and very ripe and very beautiful green and yellow and orange acorn squash, which I forgot to take pictures of. D'oh! Here are the rinds though. I feel ashamed of just tossing them, this is where chickens would come in handy. This would be a chicken feast!



We had a fab time at back to back Tool concerts at Red Rocks earlier this week. But I wasn't allowed to bring my camera in. And the security people were HARSH: if they caught someone taking a pic with their phone, they'd mark the person on the hands as a first warning. We watched it happen to two different couples near us. Laaaame. Maynard's such a tool. (Ah ha ha ha, I'm a nerd.)

I made a boo boo when saving the pics from the Peacemakers concert we went to in Ft. Collins at the end of May. In my defense, I'd been drinking tequila and apparently thought that made a great time to edit the pics on my camera. Oops. Oh well, here's what survived that episode:

A neat little indie shop we stopped at.


A sweet poster inside the venue.


The venue was the Aggie Theatre. Roger and the band were running an hour late! But when their van passed the line out front, everyone cheered. I don't like crowds in general, but when it's a crowd of people grooving to music (or about to be grooving), then I'm not bothered. There's something pretty spiritual about crowds like that. I'd give every tooth in my head to have caught Woodstock. Le sigh.


It was a pretty day, there was color everywhere. Sometimes you have to really look for it, in the city. But it's there, wild and landscaped.












Roger's a hunk. Wish I hadn't drunkenly ERASED the sweet video I took of him and the band. Oh well, check this one out:


I'm off to finish the chapter I'm reading and hit the hay. Sweet dreams!

UPDATE: Christine's recipe looks fab too!