Chicken Bone Broth- ancestral medicine

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I recently purchased a book, Nurishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, a fascinating and controversial tome filled with anthropologic studies on nutrition and recipes following traditional methods. From fermenting foods to raw meat, this book covers many interesting dietary theories. The book is very controversial for its praise of animal fats and discouraging of vegetable oils and homogenized pasturized dairy, I can definitely imaging my vegan friends flipping a lid over this. Either way, I've found it to be a great read and can see the common sense in the recipes. My first attempt was bone broth. So, here we go down the schmaltzy road to CHICKEN SOUP WITH RICE. 

In my first attempt at broth I rushed into it a bit too enthusiastically and refused to reread the recipe. I used a roasted chicken carcass, a fresh organic chicken, beef bones, spinach, a bag of shredded Brussels I had lying around, organic carrots, celery, an onion, bay leaves and apple cider vinegar. At some point I threw in herbs my mom gave me. This was a slight disaster, so far as, the spinach and herbs dissolved into a green paste mixed in with the meat and small bones. Definitely use a cheese cloth bag to keep herbs separate. 

Attempt #2- I started with an ORGANIC chicken and two ORGANIC chicken feet from Whole Foods, because we are cooking out all the amazing minerals in the marrow of the bones it must be of the highest quality.  Covering the chicken with cold filtered water, I added a 1/4 of apple cider vinegar and let it sit for 30 minutes, I finally read the dang recipe. 

Then I added the celery, peeled carrots and bay leaves. A quick press of the button on my crock to 8hr and was finished and free to fold some laundry. 

8hrs or 2 playoff football games later- the celery had practically melted away, so I removed what I could and added more celery, carrots, sautéed onion, garlic, new potato chunks and pepper (no salt yet!) to make my morning prep easier, let's be honest I only give myself fifteen minutes to get ready, I separated as much cooked chicken as possible into a jar and refrigerated it. Then I reset the crock to 8hrs. 

  

6:45 this morning- the entire house smells of garlic and chicken, or HEAVEN. 

I grabbed my new ceramic travel mug and added some chicken from the fridge, leftover rice from Saturday's dinner, broth from the crock and selected a few carrots and potatoes. There it was, gorgeous chicken and rice soup that took practically no effort and will feed myself and the man for at least three days. 

Oh My Goddess Couscous

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Brian and I threw this pearl couscous salad together for an infomercial tomorrow. Super easy and super delish.

Ingredients:
1 pkg Pearl/Israeli couscous
1/2 cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts
1 marinated red pepper chopped
1 can garbanzo beans
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup Trader Joes Goddess dressing
Splash of white balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste.

In a pan melt a tbsp of butter or earthbound. Toast the dry couscous until lightly golden. Add water and boil until tender and water is absorbed.

Toss all together and serve warm or cold. Enjoy!!


- Posted from Craftlandia

Fried Egg Bruchetta

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As a dairy-free mostly vegetarian, brunch can be a hard menu to pick from. A few weeks ago I finally found a breakfast joint in my 'hood that had a flavorful dish I could and would eat. The award goes to The Mustard Seed Cafe in Los Feliz for their Eggs Bruchetta. Now the only difference here is that mine has no toast, couldn't be bothered to put on boots to trudge across to the market. I have, however, made this with cornmeal pancakes with scrumptious results.

For the bruchetta, two servings worth, I chopped three organic Roma tomatoes and two cloves of garlic. I mixed it with about 1/4 cup of basil chiffonade, I use scissors for convenience.
Add a few dashes of salt and mix.

I like my eggs over-medium with just a touch of thick yolk to run out. Spoon the bruchetta over the eggs and season with a bit of fresh cracked pepper.

- Posted from the ether

Weeknight Veg Pizza- dairy free

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Last night the roommate and I did our massive grocery trek for the week, Super King for veggies and Trader Joe for all the pantry goods. Passing the refrigerated balls of dough nestled under shelves of micro-ready meals, I dreamt of pizza, a rarely enjoyed food for a lactose intolerant. Whole wheat dough, soyrella and sun-dried tomato tofurkey sausage in hand, finally, I had a meal in mind when I left the TJ check stand. Usually I get home and unload a hodgepodge of mismatched condiments and vegetables, not this time! Victory over the grocery aisle space-out that has sucked hours of my life away.

Ingredients:



Whole wheat dough
Four button mushrooms sliced
1/4 cup thin sliced zucchini
1 Italian sun-dried tomato Tofurkey sausage, sliced
1/4 cup sun- dried tomatoes julienned. I used kitchen shears
1 clove of garlic minced
1 cup marinara
1/4 cup shredded soyrella
4 leaves of basil shredded
4 pitted kalamata olives minced.



This vegetarian dairy-free pizza was downright healthy. Start with whole wheat dough, remove from the plastic and place on cutting board dusted with cornmeal. Let the dough rest and reach room temp. After 20 minutes roll the dough out into a vaguely round shape. If yours looks like a circle then you are way ahead of me on technique. Take a fork and prick the dough a bit all over, I think this keeps it from bubbling up all over but I could be wrong.

Place your battered and pricked pizza blob in the oven on a cookie sheet. Sometimes I drizzle with oil and salt but this time I didn't. Prebake the dough for approximately 8 min or until the dough looks firm but not golden yet.




Now you are ready to dress it up with all the fixins. Paint a layer of marinara and place your toppings in an even layer. Then drizzle a touch more marinara over to help cook the zucchini and mushrooms. Careful with the sauce, a swimming pool of it can make for a soggy crust that flops your toppings off when you try to eat it.

I then grated a dusting of soyrella, sprinkled the basil, and another layer of soyrella.
Word of caution, I only use the soyrella as a web to secure my toppings. It won't taste like mozzarella and can really affect the taste of your pie if overused.



Bake in the oven until the crust is golden and your 'rella is melted.
Let cool a touch, then slice and chow down.

Late night vegan pizza

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So last night the roommate and I were too exhausted and broke to go out for dinner. The fridge was a barren ice chamber, aside from a few cans of Pilsbury thin crust pizza dough I had leftover from a show I just wrapped up and an open jar of marinara. Usually I am a 'from-scratch' kind of gal but sometimes ya got to make do. So we chopped up some sun-dried tomatoes and black olives hiding in the pantry, sliced up a white onion and a few cloves of garlic. The fridge even had a few handfuls of baby spinach and capers hiding. A dash of salt and pepper and 10 minutes later had us chowin down on vegalicious pizza, only problem was that I didn't make more. Tonight I won't make that mistake.

Yellow Squash Soyriso Tacos.

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These tacos are a quick and easy way to satisfy your taco craving. I was inspired by Hugo's Tacos' zucchini tacos here in Atwater Village. The yellow zucchini was a surprise find at my local Armenian market. While I was at the store an older gentleman with a thick accent asked me why I was shopping at an Armenian market. We talked about how cheap the vegetables are and all the great oils and such. Then he starts to tell me about how good the meat at Super King is and I stop him to say that I really don't eat meat. He chuckled and then gestured, "Yes I can see." Um did he just call me skinny? Well, that's how I am going to take it.

So, you fellow non-meat eating no dairy doing foks I give you...Taco Night!!

Ingredients

1 small onion chopped

1 yellow or green zucchini

6 or so inches of soyriso

smidge of favorite taco seasoning

corn tortillas

Add-ons:

2 chopped fresh roma tomatoes

Avocado if you have it.

cilantro

chipotle hot sauce

Saute the onions and yellow zucchini until onions are translucent. Add a bit of taco seasoning but not too much because the soyriso will add a ton of heat.

Then add the soyriso and cook until hot and the flavors all blend together.

Heat your tortillas up over a burner on your stove, using tongs of course. If you have an electric stove, wrap the tortillas up in tinfoil and heat up in the oven for a few minutes. I like my tortillas a bit burnt. My family has been cooking tortillas like this since I was a kid. I can only imagine what people would say these days about at 10 year old standing above an open flame flipping hot tortillas for an after school snack.

Once your tortillas are hot fill them up and top with your favorite goodies. I had a few tomatoes to kill and I saved half of the onion to use raw as a topping. Instead of sour cream I used a dollop of 2% greek yogurt to cool the heat from the soyriso.

There ya have it. This recipe made a big meal for one gal. It probably would make enough for two if you had a nice side salad or some fresh ears of corn to nibble on. Sigh....I love summer.

Creamy Almost Cheesy Vegan Broccoli Soup

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I love cream of broccoli soup but just looking at it gets my intestines in a bunch. What better challenge for me than to veganize this delicious winter dish. In Tal Ronnen's vegan cookbook he uses a cream made from cashews. It's the kind of thing that needs to be prepared ahead of time. Not my style. I'm a fly by the seat of her pants kinda cook. But I figured why not run with the cashew idea but make a fine meal out of it. SUCCESS. Sure it's not super super milky cream but it added a toothy texture that I really enjoyed. The recipe as a whole is easy and fairly quick.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large heads of broccoli cut into chunks. Peel and cut stems as well.
1 large yellow onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 zucchini chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
2 cups of raw cashews - processed into 1 1/2 cups of meal.
16oz vegetable stock
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast
1-2 bay leaf

In a stock pot, over medium high heat, saute the onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil. When the onions start to become translucent add the broccoli, zucchini and celery. When the broccoli starts to brighten, add the vegetable stock, salt and pepper, and a bay leaf.

Add your raw cashews to a food processor and blend until there is a fine meal.



Add the meal to the soup along with the nutritional yeast and cook until the vegetables are soft.




Blend the soup in batches in either a blender or food processor and add back to the pot.




Serve with a slice of crusty bread and try to resist licking the bowl when it's all gone.

Easy Non-Dairy Scallop Celeriac Chowder

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Recently, I became intrigued by celeriac, or celery root. Such an odd little veg that reminds me of a creepy little root baby like a mandrake from Harry Potter. I bought one at Whole Foods and took it home. After researching this ugly little feller I discovered that it is often treated like potato, think scallops and mashed, only it is lower in carbs than the potato (2g per oz for the celeriac compared with 6g per oz for potato). I figured that I would try using it in a chowder, as I on a whim, purchased frozen sustainably caught scallops and the light bulb went on. Did someone say CHOWDAH? So here she is, a simple and fairly quick chowder with celery root, celery, carrots, and scallops.

INGREDIENTS

1 celery root cubed

1 carrot chopped

2 stalks celery chopped

1 white onion chopped

1 bag of frozen scallops

White wine

bouillon

thyme

bay leaf

flour and "butter" for roux

and salt and peppa'

optional soy creamer

Unpeeled celery root with little celery growing from top

peeled, scrubbed, and ready to go.

Sliced up

Cubed and ready for the pot

Carrots for some color

So start with sauteing your onions in a little butter or oil. When the onions are translucent add 4Tb of Earthbound and 4Tb of flour. Mix together to create your roux, the paste that will thicken your soup. Then add 2 cups of white wine, 4 cups of water, bouillon and the chopped vegetables. Turn the heat up to high. Throw in some thyme, fresh or dried, the bay leaf and your scallops. Boil for a bit with the lid off. This will reduce the soup into a rich broth.

Here's where things get personal. And by personal I don't mean 'gloves off.' I keep checking the soup, tasting, salting and adding to it. So, add some pepper corns maybe, and a tsp of salt. If you think it needs more yummy wine flavor add another cup. At one point this weekend while making a batch I using Schlitz and Louisiana Hot Sauce to give it a southern flavor. The boys really loved that one. I've also added a swig of soy milk to make it creamy like clam chowder.

There you have it. Once the celery root is soft and tender the soup can be done.

Last Minute Thanksgiving Offerings- Savory Yams, Roasted Garlic Mash and Falldorf Salad

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So this year for the big food day I'm making Savory Yams, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Falldorf Salad. Falldorf Salad you ask? Well, it's similar to the classic Waldorf but instead of apples I use pear and persimmon and add a dash of nutmeg. So yummy!

FALLDORF SALAD

Ingredients:

2 ripe pears cubed
2 fuyu persimmons cubed
3 stalks of celery chopped
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cup of halved red grapes
4 tablespoons of mayo or vegenaise
juice of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Behold! The Last bunch of celery left in Atwater Village....

Ahhh the glorious color of the Fuyu

Mix the ingredients adding nutmeg to taste as well as salt and pepper. Serve over a bed of lettuce and friggin enjoy this no-cook, recipe that even your vegan cousin Max will enjoy with fervor.

SAVORY YAMS

Another vegan fave for your cousin to shove in his mouth as he tells the family about his new yoga studio.

Preheat oven to 400.
Cube your peeled yams. Toss in oil and dust with McCormick's Honey Chipotle Rub, if you don't have this on hand sprinkle brown sugar (or honey), salt, cayenne, pepper and a dash of cumin. Bake until tender, occasionally rotating and flipping the cubes for an even back.

OHhhhh Yes these smell good.

In batches, add to a food processor adding a bit of unsweetened soy milk, don't drown them, and blend until creamy.

Now smooth the top and lick the spatula clean. Soooo good right?

ROASTED GARLIC MASH

I went with the red smooth taters for this one. Threw them into a pot of boiling water with two bay leaves and some salt. Once they were really tender and ready for a good mash I pulled them out. As for the garlic, I cut an entire bulb in half, drizzled olive oil over it and baked it with my yams. It got golden brown and buttery soft. Add the potatoes to a bowl with chopped fresh thyme, a few tablespoons of Earthbound or butter, some unsweetened soy milk and squeeze the cloves of garlic out from the bulb.

I don't have a masher so I first smashed them a bit with my spoon and then did the rest of the dirty work with my trusty hand blender. Worked like a charm!

Add salt and pepper to taste. Super yummy and guess what? Max the vegan just licked his plate clean and didn't complain once that there wasn't any food for him this year.

Have a great Thanksgiving. See you all next week.