We all have them - those days that go to pieces when the dinner plan called for a dish that took more time than was humanly available. Araminta created this dish some time ago, and Clara cooked it for us the other night. It was my night to cook but suddenly there were two extra events that needed me to drive children in entirely different directions. It also was perilously close to grocery shopping day, but there were sausages in the fridge and miraculously, still some mushrooms, so Clara remembered this creation and it was light and so delicious and almost instant food! The flavor is light and pickle-y and satisfying.
Araminta's Artichoke-Sausage Dish (aka "Cha Forehead")
10 Italian sausages (large)
2 packages mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 33 oz jar artichoke hearts (we love the Kirkland brand at Costco)
Rice
Start rice cooking. Cook the sausages, then slice them. In a skillet, saute mushrooms in a bit of olive oil. Add sliced sausages, artichoke hearts, and a splash of the artichoke heart juice from the jar. Stir until ingredients are warmed through. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Serve over rice.
These amounts serve 8, but I think it should warm over fine (I wouldn't know, as we devoured it all).
Order of operations for speed:
Start rice
Dump sausages in pan and get them cooking
Get out other ingredients and spices
Flip sausages as needed
Chop mushrooms
Remove sausages from pan when they're cooked through to cool on separate plate
Using sausage pan, saute mushrooms
While mushrooms cook, gingerly slice sausages (don't burn yourself!)
Add remaining ingredients and seasonings. Taste and adjust seasonings.
If rice isn't done, lower heat as far as it will go while rice cooks
Showing posts with label Allergy Cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Allergy Cooking. Show all posts
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Revising a Pinterest Dish: Taco Ranch Chicken Chili
I’m not even going to try to explain away the absence here. We have five entirely new huge diagnoses in our family, four which have dietary restrictions and recommendations (which often directly contradict each other). We’ve just been trying to keep afloat food-wise and figure out how to fix something for each meal that doesn’t actively harm anyone. We have very few dishes that everyone can eat – and this isn’t one of them. But most in our family could eat it, including our multiple-food-allergy three, so it will be a keeper. And it brought me out of blog silence since I did enough tweaking to want to have it written down somewhere! Also, in my years of silence, I’ve seen the disappearance of blogs such as this one where photography wasn’t central. I snap pics with my phone and don’t style them, sorry – but nobody ever visited this blog for inspiring food photography!
I started with the recipe found here, on the blog “The Novice Chef”. Hers is aimed at different goals than in our kitchen, but the thought of taco and ranch flavors being translated for our allergens and issues was intriguing. First off, the allergic three are not good for beans. Jessica, the “novice chef”, recommended a particular brand of beans as these come pre-seasoned. In general, we use sweet potatoes rather than white potatoes, but my inner tastebuds could “see” this being served over home fries in place of the original white beans. I also can’t do seasoning packs, and even in the old days, we mixed up our own blends for thrift, freshness, and lack of additives. So I used our standard ranch seasoning herbs/spices and combined them with our standard taco seasoning herbs/spices.
Low Allergen Taco Ranch Chili
In the crockpot, for 4 hours at high heat, cook the following:
3-4 lb chicken breasts
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/4 cup dried parsley
2 Tbsp cumin
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp salt (it will dissolve, so I used coarse Celtic sea salt)
4 tsp black pepper
3 tsp dill
3 tsp paprika (I used smoked, but any sort will do)
3 tsp dried chives
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
When this is done, use forks to shred the chicken, which will shred quite easily:
As mentioned above, I served this over home fries. Using organic potatoes so I could include the peels, I sprinkled the potatoes with garlic powder, cumin, and onion powder as that’s what the “Bush White Beans” website said were included in their beans. No measurements, I literally just dusted the potatoes after they were in the pan:
We served this with a generous dollop of sour cream for those who can tolerate dairy, but for the allergic three, So Delicious coconut yogurt worked really well. We did notice that without the sour cream/yogurt, the ranch flavor did not come out at all; that fat was necessary.
This would alternatively work well in a wrap of any sort, from a romaine leaf to a tortilla. Bland photography, but tasty results :).
I started with the recipe found here, on the blog “The Novice Chef”. Hers is aimed at different goals than in our kitchen, but the thought of taco and ranch flavors being translated for our allergens and issues was intriguing. First off, the allergic three are not good for beans. Jessica, the “novice chef”, recommended a particular brand of beans as these come pre-seasoned. In general, we use sweet potatoes rather than white potatoes, but my inner tastebuds could “see” this being served over home fries in place of the original white beans. I also can’t do seasoning packs, and even in the old days, we mixed up our own blends for thrift, freshness, and lack of additives. So I used our standard ranch seasoning herbs/spices and combined them with our standard taco seasoning herbs/spices.
Low Allergen Taco Ranch Chili
In the crockpot, for 4 hours at high heat, cook the following:
3-4 lb chicken breasts
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/4 cup dried parsley
2 Tbsp cumin
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp salt (it will dissolve, so I used coarse Celtic sea salt)
4 tsp black pepper
3 tsp dill
3 tsp paprika (I used smoked, but any sort will do)
3 tsp dried chives
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
When this is done, use forks to shred the chicken, which will shred quite easily:
As mentioned above, I served this over home fries. Using organic potatoes so I could include the peels, I sprinkled the potatoes with garlic powder, cumin, and onion powder as that’s what the “Bush White Beans” website said were included in their beans. No measurements, I literally just dusted the potatoes after they were in the pan:
We served this with a generous dollop of sour cream for those who can tolerate dairy, but for the allergic three, So Delicious coconut yogurt worked really well. We did notice that without the sour cream/yogurt, the ranch flavor did not come out at all; that fat was necessary.
This would alternatively work well in a wrap of any sort, from a romaine leaf to a tortilla. Bland photography, but tasty results :).
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Invaluable When Traveling with Multiple Food Allergies
Our recent 4,500 mile cross-country trip was the first time we’ve ventured long distance with severely food allergic children since the girls were “eating” nothing but pharmaceutical boxed drinks. Now that was some easy traveling. Cases of EO28? Check. Done. Now? Not easy at all. Not like we can drive through somewhere for the three little guys (although . . . we did discover that at Wendy’s we can order a plain baked potato and it is just a microwaved potato. To which they could add salt and a bit of coconut oil from the back of the van.)
We packed their safe cooking ingredients, naturally, like safe spices, oils, etc. Which was fine for when we had a kitchen available – even all of the motel rooms we stayed in had microwaves. But the real conundrum was what to do about the days, and there were 5 of them, when we had to drive 8 or more hours of just driving. Enter my big, big, BIG recommendation – we bought this little guy off Amazon:
We picked up the butane cartridges at our local Cash & Carry – we bought three and came too close to using the last one up. Partly because there was a little learning curve for us. I’d recommend buying a cartridge per three meals if you’re doing something quick.
We took along a huge bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts and potatoes and coconut oil. Plus rice – more on that in a second. We would stop at a rest stop and set up in the picnic area, chop/slice chicken breast and potatoes and fry them up with various combinations of flavorings, or the same on rice. We really lean on Coconut Secret’s Aminos, which are a “soy sauce” that is safe for many allergic people. I also learned over time to open a bottle of water for myself after I browned the chicken and toss some of that in the pan before drinking out of it :-). Kept the mess down and helped the chicken cook through more quickly.
About that rice: the second vital tool we bought was a rice cooker. We could make up a batch of rice in the morning in a motel and the little guys could have that with cinnamon and the hemp milk we’d packed, then again later with chicken (and veggies added) cooked at the rest stop. We don’t buy anything with non-stick surfaces if we can help it, especially for the youngest three with a fragile immune system, but the availability of rice cookers with stainless steel bowls is increasing as more people become aware of the issues. Ours doesn’t have fuzzy logic or even a timer (which would be nice) but hey we were trying to pay for a trip! We had no issues with sticking or clean-up or burning whatsoever. I had made sure to buy it to arrive a week or so before the trip so we could feel comfortable with its use before hitting the road, and that puppy has been in daily use ever since. Here is the one we got – smaller ones available but we have a big family:
So those are the two tools that made travel amazingly smooth. With the portable cookstove, you’ll want to remember the following (we ended up stopping at a Walmart to buy a couple of these after not thinking it through carefully enough):
We packed their safe cooking ingredients, naturally, like safe spices, oils, etc. Which was fine for when we had a kitchen available – even all of the motel rooms we stayed in had microwaves. But the real conundrum was what to do about the days, and there were 5 of them, when we had to drive 8 or more hours of just driving. Enter my big, big, BIG recommendation – we bought this little guy off Amazon:
We picked up the butane cartridges at our local Cash & Carry – we bought three and came too close to using the last one up. Partly because there was a little learning curve for us. I’d recommend buying a cartridge per three meals if you’re doing something quick.
We took along a huge bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts and potatoes and coconut oil. Plus rice – more on that in a second. We would stop at a rest stop and set up in the picnic area, chop/slice chicken breast and potatoes and fry them up with various combinations of flavorings, or the same on rice. We really lean on Coconut Secret’s Aminos, which are a “soy sauce” that is safe for many allergic people. I also learned over time to open a bottle of water for myself after I browned the chicken and toss some of that in the pan before drinking out of it :-). Kept the mess down and helped the chicken cook through more quickly.
About that rice: the second vital tool we bought was a rice cooker. We could make up a batch of rice in the morning in a motel and the little guys could have that with cinnamon and the hemp milk we’d packed, then again later with chicken (and veggies added) cooked at the rest stop. We don’t buy anything with non-stick surfaces if we can help it, especially for the youngest three with a fragile immune system, but the availability of rice cookers with stainless steel bowls is increasing as more people become aware of the issues. Ours doesn’t have fuzzy logic or even a timer (which would be nice) but hey we were trying to pay for a trip! We had no issues with sticking or clean-up or burning whatsoever. I had made sure to buy it to arrive a week or so before the trip so we could feel comfortable with its use before hitting the road, and that puppy has been in daily use ever since. Here is the one we got – smaller ones available but we have a big family:
So those are the two tools that made travel amazingly smooth. With the portable cookstove, you’ll want to remember the following (we ended up stopping at a Walmart to buy a couple of these after not thinking it through carefully enough):
- Plastic cutting board and something to sanitize it, preferably in wipe form
- Spatula
- Pan (try on your various pans to bring biggest that fits the burner)
- Knife and/or kitchen scissors depending on what you’re cooking out there
- Peeler
- Hand sanitizer of choice
- Potholder or mitt
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
First Try at Chicken Marsala
I would really like to master Chicken Marsala. Didn’t get there tonight, but at least moved in the right direction. I made the recipe from Salt to Taste: The Key to Confident, Delicious Cooking
, which (yep, here comes the part about Amazon reviewers again) is recommended as a book to help improve skills – reviewers commonly mention reaching for this book over and over.
After first cutting some fresh rosemary from the backyard (and feeding some to the goats, who love rosemary), I gathered ingredients. We had the hardest time finding marsala, and never did find the dry marsala called for in the recipe. It wasn’t an overly sweet marsala, either, so could have been worse.
I used several sorts of mushrooms, and tried Costco’s chicken breasts. They didn’t strike me as super fresh. When I pounded them thin, they sort of macerated in an unpleasant way.
The mushrooms get pan roasted, the chicken pounded flat, then the finely chopped rosemary is patted onto the chicken with salt and pepper. The chicken pieces are then lightly floured and cooked on the stovetop. I used coconut flour to make this a Paleo dish.
The cooked chicken gets set aside, then the mushrooms are added back into the pan, which is deglazed with the marsala (which is cooked off entirely) then a bit of chicken stock and butter added to the pan for a bit and it’s done.
It was good, but I need to keep trying to perfect it. There was a bit of dryness to the coating, which might have been the use of coconut flour instead of all-purpose flour, but I’m not ready to concede that point at this time!
The book was enjoyable, though. Again it was my first foray into a book off the shelves. It does seem to be a book that has a good balance of in-recipe teaching and usability. I’ll enjoy experimenting from it another time.
I also want to share what Araminta made tonight for her dinner (and Lucinda’s). With their severely limited ingredient list, she made “Meatza” – doesn’t it look good? They can’t do tomatoes, so she made a white sauce using hemp milk, rice flour, a bit of potato starch, and garlic. No cheese, of course, and the “crust” is ground beef seasoned with those pizza-type spices that they’re safe for. The toppings are olives, pineapple chunks, mushrooms, and caramelized onion.
A big green salad, and another night’s a wrap.
, which (yep, here comes the part about Amazon reviewers again) is recommended as a book to help improve skills – reviewers commonly mention reaching for this book over and over.After first cutting some fresh rosemary from the backyard (and feeding some to the goats, who love rosemary), I gathered ingredients. We had the hardest time finding marsala, and never did find the dry marsala called for in the recipe. It wasn’t an overly sweet marsala, either, so could have been worse.
I used several sorts of mushrooms, and tried Costco’s chicken breasts. They didn’t strike me as super fresh. When I pounded them thin, they sort of macerated in an unpleasant way.
The mushrooms get pan roasted, the chicken pounded flat, then the finely chopped rosemary is patted onto the chicken with salt and pepper. The chicken pieces are then lightly floured and cooked on the stovetop. I used coconut flour to make this a Paleo dish.
The cooked chicken gets set aside, then the mushrooms are added back into the pan, which is deglazed with the marsala (which is cooked off entirely) then a bit of chicken stock and butter added to the pan for a bit and it’s done.
It was good, but I need to keep trying to perfect it. There was a bit of dryness to the coating, which might have been the use of coconut flour instead of all-purpose flour, but I’m not ready to concede that point at this time!
The book was enjoyable, though. Again it was my first foray into a book off the shelves. It does seem to be a book that has a good balance of in-recipe teaching and usability. I’ll enjoy experimenting from it another time.
I also want to share what Araminta made tonight for her dinner (and Lucinda’s). With their severely limited ingredient list, she made “Meatza” – doesn’t it look good? They can’t do tomatoes, so she made a white sauce using hemp milk, rice flour, a bit of potato starch, and garlic. No cheese, of course, and the “crust” is ground beef seasoned with those pizza-type spices that they’re safe for. The toppings are olives, pineapple chunks, mushrooms, and caramelized onion.
A big green salad, and another night’s a wrap.
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