Category: Gluten-free

Nebraska City Apple Butter (our version)

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Nebraska City is home to Arbor Day Farm and Morton Orchards, which is famous for their apples. We love their apple butter, which Lied Lodge uses with sauteed apples to make amazing oatmeal. This recipes comes as close to their delicious apple butter as we’ve been able to get. Tart apples are great for this, but we often use a blend of whatever is looking good. Maya and I first made this on 9-24-08.

enough apples to make 9 cups crushed apples or apple sauce

5 cups sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup apple cider

Peel and quarter apples. Cook with cider until soft. Add everything else, and cook for one hour on low heat. Pour into sterilized jars and process as usual. Sweet, spicy and a little tart – it is so good.

Good Chicken

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Barely any notes with this recipe – must have been improvising. Dated August, 2008

2 chicken breasts
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil

Sprinkle spices over chicken and saute in olive oil for 10 minutes.

1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 whole jalapeno pepper, sides slit, but not actually open
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 cup mushrooms, sliced

Add all to chicken in pan, and cook together until the chicken is done, I suppose.

Serve over white rice with peas. (Make rice with chicken stock instead of water, and add fresh or frozen peas.)

Cashew Rice

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I have no idea where this recipe came from – or what culture it represents or anything.  It may be that I just had a lot of cashews to use up.  Anyway, my note was “yum” so that’s a good sign.

2 cups rice, rinsed (we use Basmati)
2 tsp kosher salt
3 7/8 cup water

1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3/4 cup chopped cashews
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp chopped jalapeno pepper, or 1 chipotle pepper, chopped
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 1/2 cup yoghurt
1 tsp salt

Make rice with water and 2 tsp salt.

In a frying pan, saute onion and belle pepper. Add mustard seeds and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes. The add nuts and Jalapeno or chipotle pepper. Cook for a couple more minutes and remove from heat.

Gently blend in the rice, and the then the yoghurt.

Feijoada – a much simplified version of a classic Brazilian stew

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My extended family always gets together for a potluck on Christmas Eve. 20 years ago, we decided that it would be fun to choose a different country each time and have everyone try cooking recipes from that country. The year we chose Brazil was really outstanding and the first time I made Feijoada.  That was also the year of our fabled introduction to the national drink of Brazil, Caiparinha’s, which is another story altogether. This dish is a very simplified version, but we love it.

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried thyme

Saute together for 10 minutes.

4 cans black beans, rinsed and drained or 1 lb. black beans, soaked and cooked the night before
1 lb. kielbasa sausage, cut into small bite-sized pieces
2 cups of chicken broth
2 chipotle peppers, chopped fine
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 bay leaves.

Add all to onions, and cook on low heat for 25 minutes.

Serve on white rice, garnished with diced fresh parsley

 

Hot Cocoa Mix

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We often try to do something fun for Christmas gifts for family members, so the kids can give gifts to their aunts, uncles, grandparents and special friends.  We’ve done soup mixes, muffin mixes and various other things, but this was one of our favorites – hot cocoa mix in mason jars, and it is a slight variation on Alton Brown’s recipe. We mixed up giant batches in a huge bowl and created a real assembly line and the kitchen was full of a kind of sweet,white haze. But it’s fun to keep on hand all winter long.

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/4 good cocoa
4 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper

Mix all together and keep in an airtight container. To make cocoa, just add 3 Tbsp mix to a mug with hot water.

Sriracha Glazed Salmon (or Chicken)

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Just made this last night for dinner with  friends.  It was easy and delicious -plus you just let it marinate until it’s ready to cook.  So you can hang out with your friends instead of messing around in the kitchen.  What more can you ask?

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 1/2 Tbsp vinegar (I used cider vinegar.)
1 Tbsp Sriracha Sauce (use less if you don’t like it too spicy)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated, or 1/4 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp Sesame Oil  (Check the Asian section of the grocery store.)

2 large Salmon fillets

Mix glaze ingredients and pour into a large baking dish (I used a big rectangular pyrex dish, but you can also use a big, flat baking pan.)

Rinse fish, and shake off as much water as possible. Lay the fish skin side up in the glaze, so the actual fish meat is in the glaze. Lift it up from both sides to be sure it’s all in contact with the glaze. Let marinate at least 20 minutes.

Flip the fillets back over (skin side down now) and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, until the fish just flakes with a fork.  This is also a great fish for grilling.

Remove from pan and drizzle glaze from the pan over the fish with a spoon.

The glaze is also good on chicken. I served this last night with Brown Butter Potatoes, and a spinach and strawberry salad. Love it when the plate is so full of color!

Caitlin’s Supreme Pesto

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Caitlin made this amazing Pesto tonight and since I’ve never made Pesto, I asked her to write down the recipe.  She said she makes it a lot and always tweaks the recipe based on what she has on hand.  The price of pine nuts has always scared me away from making Pesto, so I’m delighted that you can use any nuts!  This one was a doozy – thanks for sharing it!

1 handful of basil
1 handful of cilantro
4 cloves fresh garlic
1 cup mixed nuts – any nuts
1/2 to 1 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup parmesan
big pinch of salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper

Pour all in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until you get a consistency you like. Add more salt to taste.

Put on everything and enjoy!  (We had it on “Some Enchanted Crackers” from Trader Joe’s which has somehow morphed into “Magic Crackers.” They’re good and the Pesto is delish!)

Ali made a batch right after Caitlin to use up odds and ends in the fridge, and promised me his recipe, too. I’ll add his recipe here and you can try both.

Chopped Garden Salad

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This make a nice big salad, and is really good for potlucks and block parties.

Salad:

1 head of iceberg or romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup sweet peas, fresh or frozen
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup diced zucchini or yellow squash
1/2 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced fresh tomato
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/8 cup diced radish

Mix together in a large bowl, and spread out on a large, flat platter.

Dressing:

2 Tbsp fresh parsley
1 Tbsp fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup mayo
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
splash of apple cider

Buzz together the parsley, chives and garlic in a food processor or grind them together in a mortar and pestle. Add mayo, buttermilk, salt, pepper and splash of vinegar and buzz again. Gently stir in blue cheese.

Just before serving, drizzle dressing over salad on platter. Serve extra dressing in a pitcher on the table.

BBQ Chicken Casserole

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Do you ever just want to thrown something together quick? I probably first made this recipe when I had frozen hash brown potatoes, chicken, cheddar cheese and parmesan to work with. But it’s still delicious, filling and truly a comfort food!

3 large potatoes, grated  or 1 package shredded frozen hashbrowns
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken (any kind is fine)
BBQ sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Saute onions in oil until translucent, add salt, pepper and potatoes. Cook for several minutes, flipping to brown both sides as best you can. (It does kind of fall apart, but that’s okay.)

Add in cheese and place in a medium sized casserole dish. Salt and pepper the chicken and lay it on top. Generously slather BBQ sauce on the chicken.

Bake at 400 for 25 – 30 minutes.

Crudites with Dip

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Made this for Thanksgiving 2007, and 2013. I think the dip is originally a Martha Stewart recipe. Part of the fun is to have lots of different, interesting vegetables. I gathered lots of little clear glass containers for the veggies and put them on a tray, with the dip in the center. Prepping the veggies take a little time but it’s worth it. You can also serve hummus with roasted red pepper.

green beans, tips cut off and blanched
thin asparagus, trimmed and blanched
celery sticks
jicama sticks
cucumber spears
scallion sections
baby carrots
grape tomatoes
yellow squash spears
zucchini spears (Both the yellow squash and zucchini are surprisingly good with dip.)

Arrange in glasses and bowls and serve with dip, below:

1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp buttermilk
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp minced chives
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 large shallot, finely diced

Mix all in a large mason jar and refrigerate until just before serving. (Note, I didn’t write down salt when I wrote the recipe, but I’m certain I added some. Taste and add salt as needed.)

Note: blanching vegetables is super easy. It just means slightly cooking vegetables. I use a deep basket shaped strainer that I got an an Asian grocery store, but you can just do it with tongs if you don’t have a strainer that fits in your pot.

Here’s how you do it. Bring a medium sized pot of generously salted water to the boil, and have another large bowl of ice water close by.

Put veggies in very briefly, maybe 2 minutes. Remove and plunge veggies into ice water for a few minutes, until they don’t feel warm anymore. This softens them up just a bit without losing their crunch. It also keeps the colors nice and bright.