Red Wine Beef Stew and Herb Dumplings

This is a delicious dish. The red wine adds such depth of flavor. I make it using my homemade beef bone broth. This is super easy to make and is such a great food to consume during the "sick" months due to its ability to boost the immune system. Bone broth is chuck full of vitamins and minerals. I have a post on making chicken bone broth and you can make beef the exact Same way. I make at least one or two batches a week. Chicken, beef or both. I would love to try a pork one too. I made one with leftover ham over Christmas and made an awesome smokey ham and bean soup. You can freeze the broth too. My freezer is stocked. Here is my recipe for the beef stew.

Red Wine Beef Stew and Herb Dumplings
Ingredients:

2-3 lb roast

2 cups beef broth

(I prefer using home made, but if you use store bought be sure to get the low sodium)

1/2 cup of red wine

1 large onion large diced

2 whole cloves of garlic crushed

3 carrots chopped into bite size chunks

3 celery stalks cut in bite sized chunks

6-8 mushrooms sliced

1 tsp of fresh oregano chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme chopped

3 small potatoes chopped into bite size chunks

1/2 can diced tomatoes with juice

3 TBS flour

3 TBS butter

Instructions:

Season beef with sea salt and pepper

Add about a TBS olive oil to hot pan (you want the pan really hot to crisp up the outside of the beef and seal in all the juices)

Brown each side of beef then put in crock pot

Add stock and wine

Add veggies, herbs and 1/2 of the can of tomatoes with the juice

Sauté butter in a pan, or melt in the microwave in a small bowl
Add flour and mix until smooth.
Add to broth mixture.

Cover and cook on low for at least 6 hours

The dumplings only take about 20 min to prepare and cook.
Just before serving mix up the dumplings and allow 15 min for them to cook

Dumplings Recipe:

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp raw cane sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 TBS Butter

1/2 Cup milk

Chopped fresh herbs (I used thyme and rosemary)

Mix flour, salt and baking soda and herbs. Cut in butter with a fork or a pastry cutter. Stir in milk until a soft dough forms.

Drop by big spoonfuls into the crock pot. Cover the crockpot tightly with the lid. Cook 15 min. Don't peek, the steam is what cooks the dumplings.

Sausage & White Bean Pasta

Ask my husband and he is sure to tell you that this is my "go to" meal!  Its just so good, so easy, filling and nutritious!  I typically never really make it the same way twice.  The great thing about this blog, is that it might force me to actually write one of my recipes down once and a while so I can remember it next time I want to make it!
I go heavy on the beans and sausage and lighter on the pasta in this dish.  We are trying to limit the amount of refined carbs we take in, so this is a great meal for getting a little taste of pasta, but not over doing it.  Its all about moderation!  Enjoy!

 

Sausage & White Bean Pasta
Ingredients:

1/4-1/2 box of any type of dried Pasta.  I like penne or rotini for this dish.

1 TBS Olive Oil

1/2 Onion chopped

1 clove of Garlic chopped
(I use my garlic press)

1 Cup of White Beans
(I prefer to use dry beans and soak them overnight and cook them on the stove top.  I really prefer the taste and texture much more than canned beans.  They are also much healthier for you that way.  Canned is absolutely fine to use though.  Many a time I have used can and it still tastes good).

2 Pork or Chicken Sausages
(halved and sliced  I really like pork in this particular dish.  The sausage I used was a Salt and Pepper pre cooked pork sausage from Whole Foods)

1 tsp of fresh chopped Oregano

1/2 Cup of Chicken Stock
(I really like to use homemade for cooking, but canned or boxed stock will suffice) 

3 TBS of Mascarpone Cheese

3 TBS of Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:

Heat the olive oil in sauté pan on medium
Add the onion and sliced sausage
Cook until the sausage is brown and the onion begins to brown and become translucent
Add the garlic.  Let that cook about 1-2 min.  Garlic burns easily, so keep and eye on it.
Add the beans and the chicken stock to de-glaze the pan.
Simmer on Medium-Low until the sauce starts to thicken up and reduce
Add the oregano, mascarpone and Parmesan cheese.
Mix everything well
Add the cooked pasta to the sauté pan.  Be sure to reserve some of the pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce out at the end.
Mix well and serve!
I usually sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top as well.

This dish really has endless possibilities, throw in some spinach, kale, broccoli, or whatever!

 

Paleo Herb Crackers

My youngest is on a grain free diet due to multiple food protein intolerances.
A lot of times, children with some type of auto immune dysfunction will have what is called "Leaky Gut Syndrome". I've said this before, but this has just very recently been recognized by the AAP as a true diagnosis. What a huge step! Without getting into too much detail, Leaky gut can cause a variety of gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms.
Here is a quick explanation from Dr. Andrew Weil
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA361058/what-is-leaky-gut.html

Leaky gut syndrome (also called increased intestinal permeability), is the result of damage to the intestinal lining, making it less able to protect the internal environment as well as to filter needed nutrients and other biological substances. As a consequence, some bacteria and their toxins, incompletely digested proteins and fats, and waste not normally absorbed may "leak" out of the intestines into the blood stream. This triggers an autoimmune reaction, which can lead to gastrointestinal problems such as abdominal bloating, excessive gas and cramps, fatigue, food sensitivities, joint pain, skin rashes, and autoimmunity. The cause of this syndrome may be chronic inflammation, food sensitivity, damage from taking large amounts of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), cytotoxic drugs and radiation or certain antibiotics, excessive alcohol consumption, or compromised immunity.
Leaky gut syndrome may trigger or worsen such disorders as Crohn's disease, celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma.
My colleague, pediatrician Sandy Newmark, M.D., who deals with leaky gut syndrome in children, tells me that it isn't clear how many people have this disorder or exactly what problems can be attributed to it. Dr. Newmark says that it has been established that a significant percentage of children with autism have increased intestinal permeability, but it isn't known whether this is a cause or an effect of food sensitivities and an underlying metabolic problem.

So back to the crackers!  These are great, because I can give them to both kids and A doesn't feel like he is missing out.  These are really good too.  They are made using almond flour and they have a light buttery crispy texture.  Paleo diet or not, they are good.  I'm am going to try some other flavors.  I already made an apple cinnamon one along with the herb.  I am thinking of making a cheese one for W, and maybe a pumpkin one, and one using my chicken bone broth.  I cut them out in little shapes that were easy for them to pick up.  I'm going to look around for some cute little cookie cutters.  Here is the recipe for the Herb crackers.

 

Paleo Herb Crackers (thanks to http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2011/09/paleo-herb-crackers/)

 

2 cups almond flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoon favorite herbs of choice (I used a blend of pizza seasoning and rosemary)

2 tablespoons water

1 egg white

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon coconut oil

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine almond flour, salt, and spices in a medium mixing bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together the water, egg white, olive oil, and coconut oil (melted).  Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until stiff dough forms and all dry ingredients are wet.
Place dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll out to an even thickness of about 1/8 of an inch.  Transfer parchment to a baking sheet pan and remove the top piece of parchment.  Using a pizza cutter trim off uneven edges of dough, then cut the sheet of dough into cracker size pieces/squares.
Bake for 10 minutes.  Turn off oven and let crackers sit inside oven for an additional 10 minutes, until golden. 

Chewy Granola Bars

I found this recipe on Pinterest (of course)  These are so good, make a double batch because they are going to go fast!  I eat them as a little treat after dinner too. 


Chewy Granola Bars

1/2 Cup of Almond Butter  You can use any kind of nut butter, but I like almond in this the best. 

1/3 Cup of Honey

1/4 Cup Coconut oil

1 Cup of Old Fashioned Oats

1 Cup total of any combination of:
coconut flakes, raisins, chocolate chips (chopped or mini), chopped almonds, nuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, dried fruit

Directions:

In a medium sized saucepan, melt together the almond butter, honey and coconut oil

Remove from heat and add in one cup of oats, and your "combination of goodies" that equal one cup. 

Stir well, and spread mixture into a 8x8 or 9x4 pan.  Line your pan with parchment paper to make it easier to remove the bars. 

Chill them for about 2 hours in the fridge, then cut into bars.  Wrap them individually in parchment or plastic wrap, for a quick accessible snack. 

I store mine in the fridge, because they tend to get soft really easy and fast at room temperature.

Fermented Kraut

My one year old loves this stuff. He eats it like spaghetti! At $6.99 for a small jar. It gets expensive. I figured it looks easy enough, so I decided to make some.
So here is what you need:

Fermented Kraut

1 head of cabbage

Sea Salt

A big metal or glass bowl

Clean kitchen towel

Rubber band

Some type of weight

That's it!

DIRECTIONS: (recipe taken from)

http://nouveauraw.com/raw-techniques/fermentation/


Raw Cabbage Kraut

Yield: 3 cups (12 servings)

Ingredients:

1 cabbage, very finely shredded (10 cups)
Reserved outer leaves of cabbage to cover the cabbage kraut
1 tsp salt

Preparation:

Put the shredded cabbage into a large bowl. Add the salt and gently massage it into the cabbage until the liquid starts to release.

Let the cabbage rest for 10 minutes and massage it again. Repeat as often as necessary until the cabbage is very juicy.
Pack the mixture firmly into a large jar, crock, or bowl. Press the cabbage down until the liquid rises above it about an 1/8”. Place the reserved leaves over the top, allowing them to extend partially up the side of the crock; put a small saucer on top.

If you are using a large jar for your kraut, put a weight on top of the cabbage, such as a small jar, filled with water. If you are using a crock or a bowl, put a plate on top of the cabbage and then a weight. Cover everything with a clean dish towel.
Allow the kraut to ferment in a cool, dark place for at least 3 days and up to 14 days, depending up the desired degree of sourness.

Once the kraut is ready, store in sealed jars in the refrigerator for up to several months.
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I let my batch ferment for about 6 days. It is quite sour, but I think I prefer it a bit more sour. Next time I may let it go another 5 days.

Pic #1
Cabbage before salt

Pic #2
Cabbage after salt and pounded down

Pic #3
My finished product bottled up and ready for the fridge.

Coconut Almond Oatmeal

I kinda made this by accident this morning. It was so good, I will be making it again tomorrow morning! W (my 2.8 year old gobbled it up).

Coconut Almond Oatmeal

1 cup of Old Fashioned Oats

1-1/2 cups Water

Pinch of Sea Salt

Dash of Cinnamon

1 TBS Raw Honey

1 TBS Raw Brown Sugar

1 TBS Coconut Oil

3 TBS Blanched Almond Flour

Boil Water and salt, add dry oats. Cook for 5 min, stirring occasionally. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. It's that easy!! Enjoy!

Kombucha!!!! -Scoby update

Im totally jumping on this bandwagon! My good friend took on the task of making a scoby (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) from scratch. A Scoby is like the mother of all Kombucha drinks. It's what is used every time to brew your drink! Well, every time you brew a batch of Kombucha with your mommy scoby, you get a wee little baby. How cute is that!! I guess in a weird scientific way. It's like a little science experiment every time you brew. I think this is why I love this type of cooking so much!

So I'm going to only touch on how to mature your baby scoby, then brew your Kombucha.
I may have to have my friend guest blog on the making of the mother scoby!
This is a work in progress, so I will come back and update as I go along.

Here is a little info on the many health benefits of Kombucha. Someone posted this in a FB group I'm in and I thought it was great.

http://www.kombuchakamp.com/health-benefits-of-kombucha

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Kombucha has been consumed for over 2000 years the world over. It has been extensively studied and applied for several medical uses in Russia, Germany, China and many other places. It is naturally carbonated and is purported to have a host of healing properties that may include:

*Probiotics – healthy bacteria
*Alkalize the body – balances internal pH
*Detoxify the liver – happy liver = happy mood
*Increase metabolism – rev your internal engine
*Improve digestion – keep your system moving
*Rebuild connective tissue – helps with arthritis, gout, asthma, rheumatism
*Cancer prevention
*Alleviate constipation
*Boost energy – helps with chronic fatigue
*Reduce blood pressure
*Relieve headaches & migraines
*Reduce kidney stones
*High in antioxidants – destroy free-radicals that cause cancer
*High in polyphenols
*Improve eyesight
*Heal excema – can be applied topically to soften the skin
*Prevent artheriosclerosis
*Speed healing of ulcers – kills h.pylori on contact
*Help clear up candida & yeast infections
*Aid healthy cell regeneration
*Reduce gray hair
*Lower glucose levels – prevents spiking from eating

Simply put, Kombucha is an all natural health beverage chockfull of probiotics and other healthy amino acids. Probiotic literally means “for life”. Unlike antibiotics, which kill ALL of the bacteria in your body, even the good stuff, probiotics re-establish the natural ecology of the intestinal flora. Probiotics are said to boost immunity, enhance mood, fight allergies, detoxify the body and rid the body of disease. The Kombucha benefits you experience may vary.

However, Kombucha is NOT a panacea – it doesn’t cure ANYTHING! It brings the body back into balance so that it may heal itself naturally. That is how it is able to do so much – because it works with your body’s natural immune system.

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Step 1

Ok, so step one. WASH YOUR HANDS. really well. Wash everything that comes in contact with your scoby well. You dont want to introduce any bad bacteria!

So, My sweet friend has already done the labor intensive work for me. Here is my wee scoby in the bottom of a glass bottle.



Step 2

Next step. We need to mature our scoby. Take her from a baby to a mother in just a few weeks. We must feed the baby, and the baby likes tea and sugar!

Boil 3 cups of filtered water. Add 3 black tea bags, and 2 green tea bags and 3 TBS of raw sugar. Let it sit for 10-20 min, take the tea bags out and let it sit for a few hours until it is room temperature.  If the tea is too hot, it will ruin the scoby and kill all the good bacteria and yeast.  LET YOUR TEA COOL!

Step 3
Add the tea to a large glass bowl. Do not use anything but clear glass.  No pottery or anything painted or glazed.  Also make sure that the glass is unleaded.  The last thing you want is lead in your kombucha.  Gently put that sweet little scoby in there on top of the tea.

Cover with a very clean kitchen towel. Secure with an elastic.

Put up in a cupboard in a warm dark place for at least 2 weeks. Don't check on it until the two weeks are up. Let me admit something, I checked, it's so hard. But my friend said no, no, no, don't do it. So now I feel guilty haha!

Ok this is where I'm at. Ill update in another week!

I transferred my scoby after a week to a larger bowl. I felt like my other one was too small. Snapped a few pics of my little darling!



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UPDATE 1/27

I checked on my scoby to see if I should feed it. I think it's been about 2 weeks. I made about 3 more cups of tea with some sugar and put it back in my cabinet. It's crazy how much it has grown. The part that is more dense in color is the original size of my scoby before I transferred it.

 

Here is a picture of my mature scoby, you can see that it is quite thick and has grown a bunch of "babies"

Pot Roast Soup- made using beef bone broth

Pot Roast Soup?! Yes please!! Delicious and comforting!

Pot Roast Soup

1-1/2 cups Shredded beef from bone broth

4 Cups of Beef bone broth

1 onion diced

1 cup of any mushrooms sliced

2 potatoes diced into bite size pieces
(I used red potatoes and left the skin on)

2 carrots cut into bite size chunks

2 tsp of thyme chopped

1 large clove of garlic chopped

1/4 cup of any red wine

1 TBS butter

1 TBS flour

2 TBS olive oil


Heat 1 TBS olive oil in a large skillet or pot. Add chopped onion, cook until translucent.

Add another TBS of olive oil and add potatoes carrots and mushrooms. Cook until all the veggies are beginning to get soft. About 15 min.

Add 1 cup of broth and reduce.
Add the garlic and the and cook for about 1 min.
Add the wine, and reduce again.

Add the remaining beef broth.

Melt butter in a separate bowl and whisk in flour until smooth. Slowly add about a cup of hot broth to the flour mixture until smooth. Add back into the soup pot.

Simmer on very low heat for at least an hour.

Once cooked reserve 1-1/2 cups of soup and blend with an immersion blender. Be sure to get lots of potato. This helps thicken up the soup and give it a creamy texture.

Serve with crusty sourdough bread.

Chicken Enchiladas-made with chicken bone broth and slow cooked chicken

These are so good, so satisfying, so easy, and so healthy!

Pulled Chicken Enchiladas

Meat from your slow cooked chicken
I use about 1 1/2 cups of chicken

1/2-1 Cup of chicken bone broth

1 onion diced

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 TBS olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

1/3 cup salsa

Enchilada Sauce

Flour tortillas (I use extra thick flat bread style ones)

Shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese

Salt and pepper to taste


Heat olive oil in the pan. Sauté onion.
Add chicken and bone broth, salsa, garlic, spices and salt and pepper to your taste.
Simmer until it reduces, about 5 min.

Put a little enchilada sauce in the bottom of a square baking dish.
Fill tortilla with chicken mixture, and a little cheese put seem side down in baking dish. Repeat until all tortillas are filled.

Top with enchilada sauce and cheese.
Cover with foil.
Put in 375 degree oven for 20-30 min. Basically just heating through and melting cheese.

Serve with Sour Cream, Salsa, and diced Avocado.

This is a picture of my cold leftovers, but you get the idea! By the way, these enchiladas are even BETTER the next day. I even froze a few individually in foil for a quick dinner or lunch.

Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup

Whole foods had a bunch of local fresh mushrooms on sale, and they just looked way too good to pass up.
I had an amazing mushroom soup a few weeks ago, so this was my inspiration.

Mushrooms are so good for you too!
I found some great info on Dr. Mercola's page explaining a bit.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/12/31/organic-mushrooms-for-immune-support.aspx?np=true

By Dr. Mercola

Some of the most potent immunosupportive agents come from mushrooms, and science is just beginning to tap into this vast natural medicine warehouse.

There are mushrooms that kill viruses, mushrooms that kill bacteria, and even mushrooms that kill yeast—which may surprise you, given they're both fungi.

Some mushrooms destroy cancer cells, and others facilitate nerve regeneration.

Fungi are incredibly resilient, even surviving radioactivity.

They can actually harness radiation to thrive, as was found by a robot sent to map the inside of the entombed Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1999.

The robot found a hardy fungus chowing down on 200 tons of melted radioactive fuel.

In addition to bringing us nutrition and powerful medicine, mushrooms offer great benefits for the planet.

You may be surprised to learn that mushrooms have the following green applications:

• Eradication of carpenter ants by producing a pesticide that tricks the ants into eating it
• Producing a low carbon footprint type of ethanol
• Breaking down the neurotoxins in nerve gas
• Producing a fully compostable fungal-based packing material that could potentially replace plastics and styrofoam
• Bioremediation: Cleaning up waste from petroleum, toxic chemicals (PCBs, TNT), and bacteria such as E. coli

Of the 140,000 species of mushroom-forming fungi, science is familiar with only 10 percent, according to world-renown mycologist Paul Stamets in "The Most Powerful Medicine in Nature". About 100 species are being studied for their health-promoting benefits. Of those hundred, about a half dozen really stand out for their ability to deliver a tremendous boost to your immune system.  

Here is my recipe:


Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup


About 3 cups of sliced mushrooms ( I didn't measure, and it doesn't have to be exact). I used Cremini White Button, Shiitake, and dried Porcini

1.5 (1 Liter) boxes of chicken stock

3 tbs butter
1 TBS olive oil
2 TBS marcapone cheese
1/2 pint of heavy cream
1 onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
2 sprigs tyme

Slice mushrooms 1/4 inch thick leaving stems to chop later.

Add mushrooms and onion to pan with the olive oil, and 2 TBS of butter. Reserve 2 cups of chicken stock. Sauté onions and mushrooms until brown scraping brown bits from bottom of the pan periodically with 2 cups of reserved stock chicken stock.
Cook about 15 min
Add the garlic until just brown.  You do not want to burn it.  Add a little more chicken stock to "deglaze" or scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. 
Add one box of stock and a whole sprigs of thyme and simmer on low scraping all brown bits.

Melt 1 TBS of butter and add 1 TBS of flour in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth. Gradually add about a cup of hot broth to incorporate. Add back to soup.

Meanwhile add 4-6 dried porcini to about 1.5 cups of stock. Cover and boil 10 min until liquid starts to evaporate. Pull mushrooms out, save liquid and add to the sauté pan with the mushrooms and onions. Roughly chop the porcini, add to soup.

Add salt and pepper to taste

Simmer at least an hour covered. Very low heat.

Add marcapone cheese. Reserve 1.5 cups soup and puree with an immersion blender or regular blender until smooth. Add back to soup

Slowly add cream, mix, and slowly bring the soup back up to temperature, and serve!

We ate it with a nice piece of sour dough bread. Yum!