Fried Rice Balls

I tried something I have never made before, fried rice balls. It was super easy, cook rice, let cool, generously season with whatever flavor you want, I did salt and pepper, kept it simple for the first time. I wish I would have added something else. I put a cube of cheese in the middle, I had Gouda on hand. made a ball, egg wash, then bread crumbs. Fry for 4-5 minutes till golden brown and salt after taking them out.

Cabbage rolls

Tied something new tonight, Cabbage rolls, this was also a way to use left over spaghetti sauce.

1 medium head of cabbage
1.5 pounds of turkey or chicken
left over spaghetti sauce, at least 4 cups
2 cups of quinoa, cooked
3 green onions thinly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 egg
1 clove garlic, miniced
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon paprika
salt and paper to taste

Cook quinoa, let cool. boil cabbage for 10 minutes, let cool. combine all the other ingredients and combine. Start building the rolls by putting left over sauce at the bottom of a pan. Using a spoon take a scoop of quinoa, then a large scoop of meat mixture. Roll like a burrito and line the pan with the cabbage rolls. by cooking the cabbage for a little makes it easier to pull of the full head. Put the rest of the sauce on the top of your rolls and cook for 45 minutes on 350 degrees. Serve with sour cream or other cream sauces that you might like.

Gluten free Quinoa Cakes

Quinoa Cakes (gluten free)

Cooked and cooled quinoa (follow directions on package)
4 mini bell peppers, grilled, chopped and cooled
1/2 onion, grilled, chopped and cooled
1 egg
1/2 cup coconut flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
Oregano.....all the spices to taste, quinoa is very bland so I tend to over do it a bit.

Mix all the ingredients, this should feel sticky to the touch and stay together easily. Heat pan to medium high, form into any shape or size. Flip after about 3 minutes, should be golden to dark brown on each side... enjoy!

Gluten Free breakfast muffins

Sweet Potato muffins:

1 cup cooked sweet potato, cooled, mashed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of clove, nutmeg, and sea salt
2 tablespoon syrup
1 table spoon cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup sweet rice flour
2 eggs
1 can coconut milk

Mix ingredients, I separated dry from wet, but felt that was just another dish to clean. It is a thick batter, but if it is too thick add almond milk or more coconut milk. Divide evenly in a muffin tray, they don't rise much. Pre heat oven to 390 bake for 30-35 minutes :). Excellent with butter or ghee

Garlic Green Beans

I can't ever get a video to post here, so here is the link to my Facebook video for this great and easy recipe side dish. This is a favorite of mine and anything that has garlic in it is the best in my book.





https://www.facebook.com/intentionalchef/videos/760863244019072/?theater

Salmon CAkes

Old Bay Turmeric Salmon Cakes

2 cans of cooked salmon (you can use left overs as well)
1 leek, sliced and sauteed
1 egg
1 tablespoon Old Bay
1/4 cup Cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon Turmeric
3 tablespoons Turmeric oil
Strain and pick out bones, if needed, of the salmon. Put in a bowl and all the ingredients except the flour. Mix well, don't blend, just use hands or fork to lightly work in. makes 2 oz cakes and dredge in flour, I had to do it twice because canned salmon is pretty moist. Heat Turmeric oil in a pan and fry for 2-3 minutes eat side.

SOUP, Soup, Soup

Veggie soup w/beans

Super easy, set it and forget it soup, love the one pot wonders.

2 cans of chopped tomato (your choice, I used Italian seasoned ones)
3 cups of beef broth (may need to add more, so make sure you have some standing by)
1 can of white beans
1 can of black beans
2 garlic cloves
3 celery stalks, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1/2 onion, diced
7-8 stalks of kale, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon oregano
parsley
thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Add everything but the kale. Cook this on high in a crock-pot for 2 hours, then add kale, cook for one more hour on high then turn down to warm until ready to serve.

Carnitas

So tonight we had a inaugural with pork tacos (carnitas). We have had militias and these were wonderful, tonight we took it to a new level.

2.5 pounds of pork shoulder, cubed, and salted evenly with 2 teaspoons.
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 Serrano pepper, diced
1 small lime, juiced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons olive oil

Using a dutch oven heat oil to medium-high heat, add pork. Cook till browned on both sides, or 10 minutes. Sometimes the fat is too much for it to brown. Cut the onions while waiting, add onions, let them sweat down for 5 minutes and add garlic, let this saute for another 4 minutes and add the rest of the ingredients, except the pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to simmer partially covered for an 1 hour, add the Serrano and cook for another 30 minutes.. The meat should be tender and lovely. Heat whatever vessel you want flour, corn, or hard shell and add the pork, cheese avocado and a squeeze of lime on top. Chop some parsley or cilantro to garnish. You don't need beans or any other condiment, this is perfect the way it is.

Pork Roast

Pork roast, french cut.... 425 for 30 minutes, this was a 3 pound roast, 275 for a hour or so till the internal temp is 160 degrees. Pan gravy made from chicken drippings from last nights baked whole chicken. Seasoned with Rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic and a little sage.

Lasagna Soup

My wife posted a recipe to me today called lasagna soup, I liked the concept so I went to work tonight on this.

1 lb turkey, Italian seasoning (bought by mistake, but oh well)
A box of your favorite noodles
3/4 box of chicken broth
2 cans whole peeled tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon each of basil, parsley, thyme, oregano, and onion dried
1 bay leaf
small package of mushrooms, sliced then sauteed
1 can of olives chopped
Sliced mozzarella, I like the kind that is in the ball, just seems more elegant without doing much smile emoticon

Put the cans in a large deep sauce pan, crush them to your liking, I like the texture. This is so easy, I threw this together in like 30 minutes. After that throw the rest of the ingredients in except the turkey, this needs to be cooked before putting it in the sauce, same as the mushrooms, saute them then add. let that all get nice and delicious, simmering for at least an hour, don't hard boil, or all the soup will evaporate. Stick noodles in a pan and cook, add to the bowls, add the soup, top with cheese, you can melt the cheese in the oven for a spell if you want, I did....get some crusty bread to dip and enjoy!

Stew

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 Bay Leaf, whole
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 fresh sprigs of Rosemary, whole
( add all ingredients to a dutch oven on medium high heat)
saute these ingredients for 4-5 minutes, take out before they burn)
This flavors the oil!
Take 2 lbs of roast beef, salt on both sides of the cut, cut into 1 inch think cubs, dust with flour and put in the flavored oil in sections, don't crowd the pan. Get both sides brown and caramelized. Take out each section as they get done. Cut one onion in slices, saute for 5-6 minutes and add 1/2 cup of red wine, one you drink, not one that is left over. Cook this down add 2 more cloves of garlic, diced, 1 table spoon of rosemary, chopped, 1/2 tablespoon of thyme and oregano. Let boil for 10 minutes, add cooked meat and 1 box of your favorite stock. This will cook for at least 2 hours on medium low heat. In the last hour add carrots, I like my veggies chunky so my cuts were pretty big, and then your favorite potato, I cut russets in half, you can most certainly do baby reds, whites and fingerlings, but i would leave the whole. Cook for another hour, checking the meat for tenderness, roast is at its best when it is fall apart tender.!! Add some flour and water mixture if you want it a little thicker! Salt and pepper to taste..

Indian naan

I had to improvise because i did not have plain Greek yogurt, so I used less sugar in place of honey vanilla Greek yogurt, along with i table spoon sugar, 1 tablespoon yeast, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 tablespoon garlic powder. I added 1/4 cup of olive oil and 2 cups of flour to a sticky feel. Let rise for 2-4 hours and cook in a hot cast iron pan. For my first try this was great, please feel free to adjust as needed. Also use flour to roll our and separate, or you will have a mess of dough.

Pho.. homemade

Home made Pho

Ginger
Garlic
Lime
Soy Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Green onions
Chicken broth
1 whole chicken shredded
Soba noodles...add those in last

Sriracha sauce to give it heat

This is something that you need to experiment with. I can't give you magic measurements. I would throw some Allspice, or 5 spice. Just know it needs at least an hour to develop flavors. So a slow simmer is essential to not evaporate the stock.

Zucchini cakes

Since we have an abundance of zucchini i have made some cakes with shredded carrots. So simple one to one ratio of carrot and zucchini add 1 cup of flour after squeezing the moisture out of the veggies. Add one egg, add four till consistency is thick but still work able. Salt to taste, then fry them up, add anything to jazz them up, they are literally a blank canvas. You could try self rising flour to make it a bit more fluffy, let's not forget bacon makes everything better.

Steamed Clams and Garlic

2 pounds of clams

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves of garlic
1 cup white wine (or chicken broth, if not wanting to add wine)
2 tablespoons of butter
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon white pepper

Heat oil in a large sauce pan, add garlic, let sweat for 3 minutes on medium heat. Add clams, cover pan so that the clams open up. Add butter, tomato, liquid and white pepper, bring to a boil. Serve with bread.

Flanken Ribs

I made a meal for my team members today, at the suggestion of one of them, I bought a piece of meat called flanken ribs, in the flanken style of short rib, this thin cut, which is about 1/2-inch thick, goes across the bones so that each slice contains a few pieces of bone. Look for these in your meat section, I have been displeased with flak steak for years, this renews my excitement and belief that this is a good piece of meat. I also learned that it is best to rise them before cooking them as small chunks of bone can find themselves stuck on the meat and be an unpleasant chew. You can add anything to this tender morsel, just don't over cook them!

Canning

Doing some canning and went simple this time around, shearing off the corn from the cob, added 1/4 teaspoon of salt and processed it in my pressure cooker for 50 minutes at 11lbs of pressure. I am going to do grilled corn next weekend.

Italian subs

Ok, I have been a health nut for the past 2 months and it has paid off, but we took the night of and had these wonderful Italian sandwiches.

1 pound hot Italian sausage, browned
1 medium onion, sliced
1 yellow pepper and red, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
melted cheese of choice

I put the onions and the peppers in a large skillet, sweated these down for 7-10 mins, adding the garlic at the end. I chopped the sausage up and split the skillet in 2 one side meat one side veggie, browned the meat. Once the meat was cooked through, I combined and added the tomato paste and honey. you can make rolls or buy good sturdy rolls from the store, add cheese on top, broil if your using shredded cheese. We used cheese in a can or block... stinkin delicious

Shrimp done right!

Ceviche:

half pound of de-veined medium shrimp, cut into small pieces
roasted yellow pepper, rough chop
half cucumber, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
half jalapeno, diced
half red onion, diced
3 limes, juiced
1/4 cup olive olive oil
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves, minced
sat and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, let sit for 24 hours

Spring is here!!

Grill season has started and we went full force this weekend.First we smoked a pork butt, then a turkey breast. I also marinated and canned mushrooms. IN my spare time I prepared pork belly for bacon next weekend and transplanted herbs.

Smoked Turkey:

Olive oil, salt, pepper, smoke for 2-3 hours till bird reaches 160 degrees, take out wrap with foil, let stand till it can be handled.

Smoking is the process of adding wet wood chips to a grill, smoker, or charcoal BBQ.