The Big Cook

Ha, ha!  I just saw a double meaning in my post title.  The big cook had a big cooking spree on Monday.  I've been putting off writing about it because I have a ton of pictures to post and for some reason, I hate posting pictures.  I would love to be one of those people who could do step by step tutorials of everything, with lovely pictures. I do what I can.

So I spend most of the day on Monday cooking.  I prepped all my vegetables and browned meats while watching La Bamba on Netflix.  Then I baked, baked, baked.  It is a fun process where you are constantly making something.

Last Friday I made a turkey.  The first thing I did was strip the meat off and freeze the bones.  Then I cup up the veggies.  Next I sauteed the veggies with sausage for the turkey casseroles.  I put them together and baked while I browned the hamburger for the hamburger pies and cabbage casseroles.  I took out the hamburger for the pies and baked those with the meatloaf muffins while I sauteed the cabbage and other veggies for the casserole.  I assembled the muffins and they went in the oven with the cabbage casserole when the second batch of oven goodies came out.  When I had spare moments, I whipped up the ketchup, assembled the extracts and drained the soaked almonds.

I broke down and bought 5lbs of lean ground beef at the grocery store because it was on sale for $1.99/lbs and we are nearly out.  What a waste.  I doubt I even got 3lbs of meat out of it due to waste and shrinkage (they say its lean but there sure is a lot of fat in it!).  When I was able to present the evidence to Mark, I think he finally saw what I meant when ground beef from the farmer is a much better deal at $2.50 or even $3.00 a pound as there is no waste.  It is not injected with water and it is pretty much the same volume when done, not to mention it tastes so much better and is way healthier, better for the planet and local economy too!

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I also finally made my extracts.  I don't know why I put it off.  It was so easy.

So without further ado, here's the fruit of my labour:

Here is a wide view of everything I made.  Lots of delicious, yummy low carb food for the freezer and immediate use.  Don't mind my messy kitchen as I had so much stuff on the go (as you can see).  To the left are the cabbage (un)roll casseroles.  Then the white castle hamburger pies are in the front. In the large pan to the back of the fridge is the turkey and "stuffing".  The row next to it are my extracts, salmon muffins and tuna muffins and my soaked almonds.  Finally, the mushroom turkey and stuffing casserole and the meatloaf muffins.  The ketchup I made isn't in the picture.



This is a close up of the white castle hamburger pie.  I've probably mentioned it tons of times as it's my favorite low carb casserole.  So good!  Yes, I took a little bite in the corner.  Quality control, you know ;).  I made one pan this size and four small ones which are each about a serving size.

Too lazy to turn picture

Here is a close up of the cabbage (un)roll casserole. I will be posting the recipe soon as it was very good.  I would of liked a stronger tomato taste but that is easy to adjust.  These are the little baking dishes I mentioned in my previous post.  They remind me so much of the Le Creuset petite stoneware baking dishes that I had to buy them.  They were $2 each at the dollar store and are perfect for a single serving and heat up great in the toaster oven!

Search Amazon.com for le creuset petite stoneware

Soaked Almonds that I shelled myself

For these meatloaf muffins, I just filled the muffin cups with ground beef that I worked a bit.  These were level to the top when I baked and they shrunk a lot!  It is very easy to add extra ingredients.  I like them with spinach and feta cheese or you could put a piece of cheese in the middle or wrap in bacon.  Seasonings add endless variety.  I was going for simple though :)

This is one of the turkey stuffing pies I made.  The only difference between the two is one has cauliflower and the other one doesn't.  See, not much difference.  They are very good and it was a good way to use up the leftover turkey I had on hand.

Again, too lazy to turn picture.  I'm too used to face book where you can just rotate pictures after you upload them.  Some day I will remember.  So the top half are salmon muffins, just using salmon instead of tuna in the recipe.  I decided to put some in large ramekin dishes which would be enough for a good sized meal, easily heated and add a veggie or salad.  The bottom ones are a half batch of tuna muffins.

These are my lovely extracts.  I have two vanilla, one lemon, one star anise and one waiting to be turned into orange.  I would like to make some mint but I think I will wait until it is fresher.  I have dried but I am not sure how it will turn out.  After 24 hours, the lemon and the anise smelled amazing!  You could barely smell the alcohol.  I especially love the anise one!  Yum :)

Sitting on the stove until I can find room in the cupboard

 I had a lot of fun doing all this cooking.  I love it because you can reuse pots and bowls and there aren't many dishes when you are done.  It is also good for saving energy as you can cook several things at a time and save time by doing everything in big batches.  What I love most about it is there is lots of food for me to eat when I don't feel like cooking something low carb for me.  It makes it easier to stay on plan.

I will be posting recipes for the new things soon.  I linked most to Linda Sue's site in my previous post but as always, I made some alterations.  That's the best part about cooking; it's pretty flexible!

Creamy Beef

I didn't know what to call this but this is the best way to describe it.  Beefy.  Creamy.  YUMMY!!!

I made a roast in the crockpot a few days ago that was very yummy, cooked with garlic and onions (no, I'm not really following my meal plan but that's ok).  I made a gravy with arrowroot flour and saved what was left with the shredded leftover beef.  I had an idea of what I wanted to make and that is what I wanted to have for supper tonight but I invited Dad over on the spur of the moment for supper tonight and found myself at 6pm figuring out how to make enough food for everyone since there wasn't much beef left (not quite 2 cups but we were all starving!) but it needed to get used up.  Whew, what a long run on sentence!! I was in bit of a panic.

So, I cut up a few onions and sliced about 3/4lbs of mushrooms.  I sauteed these in butter then added the beef and leftover "gravy" (it was kind of runny at this point so if you just wanted to add a cup of broth, it would work).  I then added half a cup of cream cheese and let it heat until it melted through.  Soooo good!  Even Dad, who never comments or says anything is good said it was good!  And there was enough!  I made everyone else mashed potatoes and corn to go with it and a big bowl of coleslaw, which I had a hearty portion of.  It was so good there was none left to take a picture of (and I always feel weird taking pictures of food when there are people around).

A very quick, simple, easy dish that dresses up leftovers good enough for company!

Salisbury Steak

Jenny at the Nourished Kitchen recently posted a recipe for Salisbury Steak.  I was intrigued because I always loved those frozen dinners and it was the only way I could ever find this dish.  Why it didn't occur to me to make it is beyond me.

Her recipe is far more developed than what I made as I did not do a reduction sauce.  I didn't have any broth and we don't have wine (and de-alcoholized wine wasn't appealing to me).  I also used organic mini-bella mushrooms instead of wild ones as I did not want this lunch costing us $20+.  I was quite surprised that the organic mushrooms were the same price as the regular ones ($3), although both are grown without pesticides, so I wonder what the difference is.  With the beef being $2.50 a pound, for us it is a relatively inexpensive meal and it would go well with rice, potatoes or noodles of choice (we had it plain).  The meat could also be stretched with soaked oatmeal or sourdough bread crumbs or another traditionally prepared starch.

So basically, visit Jenny's site if you want the full flavor experience of a well bodied salisbury steak.  Check my recipe out for a quick and cheap version ;)

Quick and Easy Salisbury Steak

2tbsp. butter
1lbs grass fed beef
1/2 tsp. sea salt

2-4 tbsp. butter
1/2 lbs mushrooms, chopped or sliced
1 cup chopped onions

Salisbury Steak on our fancy second hand Tupperware plates.

Melt butter in frying pan.  Form beef into 4 or more patties and fry until done.  Remove patties and add butter to frying pan.  Use it to loosen any yummy bits of beef left in pan and to well coat the pan.  Add the mushrooms and onions, stir to coat with butter and gently cook until onions are done to desired texture (I like mine a little crispy).  Serve patties with mushroom onion mix on top.  Yum!

Mark and I thought this was very good!  We actually used all the mushroom onion mix on our two patties since we didn't eat it with anything so I have two burger patties for another meal.  Total cost of this meal for me was about $6.50 and we get two meals out of it (not including what I use for the other meal).  We could not eat out for that and this is mostly organic, locally grown/produced goodness.

Delicious!


This post is a part of  Tuesday Twister@ GNOWFGLINS

Stew and "English" Muffins

Since my sourdough starter was doing really well, I decided it was time to do something with it.  I really liked the no-knead dough in a bucket idea so I ran with it.  The ratio is 6-3-3-13, which is 6 cups of water, 3 tablespoons salt, 3 cups starter and 13 cups of flour.  I mixed it all together very well and placed in a large food container I purchased (I knew I couldn't get a bucket in my fridge so I got a rectangular container which is flat and fits well).  I then put it in the fridge overnight.

To make the English Muffins, or rustic muffins since they are not cut out, I just sprinkled the top of the took a small amount of dough and shaped it into a thin circular shape.  I was making stew at the time so I wanted to wait until that was done before I started to cook them.  I let my cast iron 2-burner griddle heat up and cooked on each side until browned.

The stew was just a basic beef stew with lots of veggies.  I feel I have not eaten enough vegetables so I was really craving them.  Here is what supper looked like:

Big Bowl O' Beef Stew and english muffins, aerial view.

Close up, after butter melted.

The english muffins puffed up a lot waiting to cook them so I found they didn't cook all the way through even though I was only cooking them on three.  They will be great for toasting, but I do not like doughy bread products where the middle is kind of uncooked (Mark does).  I will probably make them again, but a lot thinner as I didn't realize just how puffy they would get.  I did eat the outer crust and it was yummy :).  I'm not sure what I'll make next as there are so many things.  I may make tortillas because there is something yummy I want to make soon.  Cinnamon rolls are also a big hit here.

Big Mac Salad

This is a throwback to my low carb days where on a message board I participated in, we would come up with all kinds of concoctions to help us over come our craving for the foods we were giving up. Fortunately, this is a winner that is easily adaptable to real food. It is tasty and fills the tastes that one may crave if they don't have fast food out of their system.

This is a pretty loose recipe. You may love onions or hate them. You may want lots of pickles or not. Play with it and adjust to your taste. All ingredients are somewhat local, organic and the beef is pastured .  It is better than the "real" thing because this is the real thing!

Big Mac Salad

• lettuce or other salad greens (darker are healthier)
• sliced white or red onions
• slices of tomato and pickle if desired
• "special sauce" (check out this thousand island dressing at Kelly The Kitchen Kop's site, it is what I used)
• a slice of real cheddar cheese or grated (I used extra old Cows Creamery cheese)
• 2 hamburger patties or desired amount of crumbled ground beef 
• a sprinkle of sesame seeds (optional; I didn't have any on hand)

Layer the ingredients in your bowl or on your plate in the order listed.  It is a very yummy salad that is flexible to your tastes.  So very very good and it satisfies the need for a fast food fix.  I made mine from leftovers so it went together in no time.  I like chopping it all up and eating it all mixed up.  Yum!! I'll have to make it again soon :)


Part of gnowfglins Tuesday Twister, Kelly The Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday, and The Healthy Home Economist's Monday Mania!

Where's the beef?

It's in ma freezer!

We finally have the quarter beef that I have wanted to get for so long and now I can shut up about it, lol! It took me a while to convince Mark, but after watching Food Inc with me yesterday, I think he is starting to see things my way.

I got a call this morning to put in my cut order. Fortunately Heather walked me through it (but I imagine I'll need to be walked through it next time we order, lol!). Then she told me where to pick it up and that it would be ready at 1pm.

On the way, I got Mark to deposit the money I had been hanging on to which was almost enough to cover it. At the farm where our meat was cut, there was a friendly collie named Sophie and a black cat that eyed us suspiciously. We were a little surprised when we walked in as there was a carcass hanging right in front of the door! We were unsure if we should go in. I still have some of my OCD habits and being in a bloody-ish room with hanging carcasses and that earthy meat smell kind of turns me off. I ended up holding the door for everyone.

We ended up with two boxes and two bags of meat. It costs $350 and I forget how many cents. It was about 137lbs hanging weight and $2.55 a pound cut and wrapped to our specifications. It took up nearly a third of our freezer, making me very grateful we had been eating it down (although there is still a ton of food in there!).

I feel so blessed that I can have the comfort of having a freezer full of safe, organically raised (but not certified) grass fed pastured beef that was treated kindly during its life.

So for supper I took out a round steak and a t-bone steak, which we'll be eating with potatoes and fried mushrooms and onions. Sounds like a kings feast to me!

Move Over, Taco Bell

Sometimes I just want a good taco. Living in a town where Taco Bell is the only place that serves them, that just doesn't happen. The last time I had taco bell, it was so gross to me. I was convinced I was going to get sick, it tasted so bad (I couldn't finish it and I used to devour their tacos!)

I decided to make my own! Not only would they be cheaper, they would be healthier and they would be more in line with what I want to put in my body. Plus, my kitchen never closes! Not to mention the much better taste!

Grass-fed Tacos with soaked flour Tortillas

For the tortillas, the night before, I soaked 2 cups of flour with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, 2 tablespoons of kefir (but you can use yogurt, vinegar or lemon juice) and 3/4 cup of warm water. Mix well until the flour is completely damp and in a firm ball.

Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let soak overnight.

When ready to use, add about half a teaspoon of salt and knead well for a couple of minutes until it is well mixed. You may need a little extra flour if it's sticky. Divide and roll into 8 to 12 equal balls. I weighed mine and they were about 1.40 oz each to make a dozen. Let rest for half an hour, again covered with a damp towel.

Heat up a frying pan until it is very hot then turn down to medium (I like cast iron as it holds the heat and you can even turn it down more). Put the balls of dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and either roll out with a rolling pin or if you have one, use a tortilla press. I find it takes exactly the same amount of time to roll a new tortilla as it does for one to cook. Turn them over when they start turning bubbly. It is easy to get a knack for when they are done. As they are done cooking, place under a damp towel so they stay soft and pliable.

For the taco meat, I fried a pound of my grass fed beef until browned. I actually added a cup of water since I was cooking from frozen so it kind of "steamed" the meat with the cover on (I don't know for sure, but it seems to cook quicker this way). I roughly followed Kelly The Kitchen Kop's recipe for homemade taco seasoning, although I put more cumin and 1/8 tsp of pure chipolte powder. I used to make large jars of it when I made tacos more and I probably will have to again :). The water was cooked down a lot so I added half a cup more with the seasonings, although you could probably add tomatoes or tomato paste, whatever floats your boat. I let cook at a low temperature until it was fairly dry and I knew the flavors were fully merged.

To serve, I made a plate of our favorite taco toppings (all fresh, local ingredients):

If you can believe it, our kids don't like tacos so I made these for our lunch. Maybe if I make them some that aren't very spicy they will enjoy them more :). They did seem to like the plain tortillas. I plan to make chips out of them some time since I know they like those!

As for me and Mark, we loved these! They were great, so good. I had three (they were small!). I did spice them up a little too much but in a good way. Yogurt was good after, but it would of been good on top too. So would sour cream. Yum. Too bad I already ate the leftovers!

Part of Tasty Tuesdays at Dr. Laura's, Simple Lives Thursday at gnowfglins and Pennywise Platter at Nourishing Gourmet

Beef Stew

One of the dishes made with our market food was beef stew. I made this a little differently than usual since it was a small amount and I wanted to make it fast. We finally tried the King Limousin beef and it was good. It is grass fed and pastured. She said they take them right off the meadow when it comes time for slaughtering (not a nice visual, but it is what I'm looking for). No antibiotics or hormones and they are now a registered organic beef farm, although their first batch of organic beef won't be on the market until next year. Their cows are still all raised the same though.

So it was $3.25 for a pound of stewing meat, which is fairly comparable to what you buy in the grocery store. It was very lean and a little tough, but that is probably because I cooked it too fast. Stewing meat is best cooked long and slow. We were just too hungry!

So I browned one pound of stewing meat in a little bacon fat.

Meanwhile, I washed, peeled and sliced 5 carrots, 2 parsnips, an onion and a leek (you can add what you like, whatever is in season. I added most of the leek greens about 5 minutes before the stew was done).

After the meat was done browning, about the time I was done the veggies, I added the vegetables, a couple cups of water, a sprinkle of sea salt, covered and let simmer for about 25 minutes or so until all the vegetables were tender.

Oh, I also cut the beef in smaller pieces after adding the vegetables but you can do this before adding them or even before cooking. I just hate cutting raw meat. You can leave it in big chunks if you like but it will take longer to cook.

I then added a tablespoon of cornstarch to a cup of water, mixed well and added to the frying pan, stirred well to make sure it mixed well to make a thin gravy. You can add more cornstarch if you want a thicker gravy or even use a different thickener all together or just leave it soupy.

Serve with homemade bread!

I will soon be posting my bread recipe. I've made it several times now and it is the best one I've used!

Market Report

This is something I want to get in the habit of doing. Fresh produce markets probably won't be around much longer so I want to report in what we got and how it was.

At the Thursday market, there wasn't much of interest so we got 2lbs of stewing meat from King Limousin Farm and since we got there early, I was able to get 2 dozen farm fresh eggs. It was $6.50 for the beef and $6 for the eggs.

On Saturday, I got 4lbs of tomatoes ($0.50 a pound! I would of bought them all but I didn't want to be greedy), a bag of dried beans ($2), a bunch of swiss chard ($1) and a big bag of organic greens ($3). $8 is a great price for all that stuff! It would of been way more at the grocery store.

Let's see, it would of been at least $4 for the tomatoes (not local), $3 for the same beans, $2.49 for the swiss chard (not local or organic) and $6 for organic greens, again, not local. So nearly $16 at the grocery store for non local, mostly non-organic food.

So $22.50 spent at the farmers markets. Next post will be how good it was and/or what I've done with it!

Loving this time of the year

I feel bad that I have no pictures to post. I am really loving this time of the year. Lots of cheap local food and lots of free veggies from the gardens of our families. I have bags of string beans in the freezer, along with all our blueberries. I have a pile of cukes that I plan to make into pickles.

I found some very yummy grass fed beef at the farmer's market that is only $2.50 a pound! It was so lean, it had no fat at all on it. I made it into hamburger and gravy and 1 pound was enough for two and a half meals (half because I made a sandwich for a snack; the kids don't like hamburger and gravy but Mark and I ate enough for two). I had to add lots of water to be able to make gravy and it was delish!! On Saturday I am going to ask if they sell beef by the side or quarter.

They are starting CSA's in our town! Community Supported Agriculture is something I have been wanting to support, unfortunately right now, it will still have to be a dream as it's kind of expensive. I may look into a half share though. From the news article :"One full share (vegetables only) will provide a family of four and cost $680 for 17 weeks. Meats and eggs can be selected in their premium full shares packages at a cost of $1,400 for 17 weeks. Half shares are also available for both."

Tonight for supper, we had a beef roast cooked all day in the slow cooker with some montreal steak seasoning on top and onions (Red and White claims their beef is local but I'm not 100% sure). It was served with garden fresh green beans and the driest squash I've had in ages. I love squash! If someone in my family says it's "Good and dry" you know it's the best! Fred Kingsbury usually has the best squash so it was a welcome treat, especially slathered with butter.

I am going back on a lower carb diet but I am not going to hold back on fresh fruits and veggies. They are just too good when they are so fresh. It would be a shame not to enjoy them while they are at their peak of goodness since through the winter veggies can be a bit boring and I am trying to be more seasonal in my eating. I hope to preserve a lot this summer/fall through alternative methods. I definitely could use a bigger freezer (although I don't regret giving our other one away).