Greece had delicious breads, so I have been making fresh bread every few days to serve warm with dinner or have delicious toast at breakfast. We haven't had to buy store bought bread, and we don't miss it. Fresh bread is delicious!
On Sundays, I've been roasting a whole chicken and lemon potatoes and serving these with a fresh Greek salad made with Corinthian olive oil we brought home. Delicious! (And of course, I save the chicken bones and scraps to make broth.)
We picked up fresh eggplant, squash, and tomatoes from the farmer's market, so I made briam (roasted vegetables) to go with grilled Greek chicken tenderloins.
I used leftover briam for breakfast, eating a fried egg with a soft yolk on top of the saucy vegetables with toast (from my homemade bread toasted to sop up all the yummy briam sauce and egg yolk.) Delicious!
Today, I made a lemon chicken and potato soup using leftover broth saved from the lemon potatoes mentioned above. I served it with warm, fresh bread. Delicious!
All in all, the visit to Greece and eating meal after meal of delicious, wholesome, homemade foods inspired me to spend more time making better meals now that I'm home.
Dwayne pointed out that this prime rib actually costs less than what our favorite fast food restaurant costs when we all go out and order a combo. That seems insane. But it's true.
We haven't eaten at a restaurant in weeks. The biggest reason we stopped eating at restaurants is because Norah and I can't eat anything with gluten, dairy, or sugar while we are treating our Lyme and co-infections, so that really limits menu options.
And even the best restaurants add a lot of extras to their food, and after one bite now, we can all tell, since we have all grown more sensitive to sugar, butter, etc.
We all begin to hesitate to eat anything at restaurants. So most of the temptation we once felt to go out to eat is basically entirely gone.
Given our situation, we find it is usually easier to make what we crave at home, and we try and often succeed to make it better and fresher with less junk in it.
We're eating well- making prime rib, pulled pork, pho, French fries- all the things we might have gone out to get before, because we didn't' know how to make them or weren't comfortable trying.
We're all growing brave, knowledgable, and skilled in the kitchen, cooking and baking more and more- even with the limitations to our diet.
And when we want "a break" from cooking, we just make simpler meals at home- chicken salad, homemade soups, egg sandwiches, etc.
Eating more at home means we are buying more groceries, of course.
We're also buying different and better groceries, too, so that adds to the expense in some cases.
So we spend more on groceries than before, but we're not spending anything on restaurants, so the costs work out.
By eating at home and cooking most things from scratch, we're controlling what we eat, we know exactly what's in our food, we're eating better, wholer, more nutritious foods, even when what we make isn't considered healthy food. We're all definitely feeling better, healing, and in general, having far nicer meals than anything we can get from most restaurants anyway!
In almost every way, in almost every case, we find that eating at home is better than eating at restaurants.
Ingredients:
Ground beef (or ground turkey)
Greek seasoning
Fresh tomato, chopped
Fresh cucumber, peeled (mostly) and chopped
Purple onion, chopped
Tzatziki sauce and/ or Tahini Lime dressing
Basmati rice
Directions:
Boil the water and start cooking the rice. I make two cups of rice for my family of five, and we have leftovers, which we like to eat the next few days for lunch.
Brown the meat. I use two pounds of beef for my family of five. We buy ground beef in bulk on sale and then we portion it into smaller quart freezer bags and freeze them in smaller sizes, usually just enough for one meal. I thaw one freezer bag of beef in warm water an hour before dinner, of if I am thinking ahead, I put it in the fridge to thaw a day or more ahead of the day I cook it. Approximately two pounds of ground beef fits in a quart bag.
After the meat is brown, drain it, and then return the meat to the skillet. Add Greek seasoning and toss to coat. Turn the heat down so it doesn't keep cooking, but the meat remains warm until the rice is done and all the toppings are prepared.
While the meat and rice and cooking, chop the fresh vegetables.
Take out the sauces and/ or prepare those, too.
For the Greek seasoning, you can buy some pre-made or you can make your own using a recipe online. Sometimes, I just Google "Greek Seasoning Recipe" and then throw all the ingredients in the beef without being exact. It still tastes great.
For the tzatziki sauce, you can buy a pre-made version or make your own with plain greek yogurt, garlic, lemon, cucumber, and olive oil, etc. Just Google a recipe and use it if it looks good to you. We usually have all these ingredients in our fridge and cabinets as staples, so I can just make some if we are out of it. But if you don't keep Greek yogurt around, just plan ahead and buy some premade. Note: There's a dairy free tzatziki at Trader Joe's for those of you who need that option.
There is a delicious Tahini Lime dressing at Whole Foods near the fresh vegetables on the refrigerated shelves. But you can also Google a recipe and make your own Tahini Lime sauce with hummus, tahini, lime, garlic, salt, etc.
I like to keep the meat in the skillet and the rice in the pot on the stove.We serve ourselves rice and pile on the beef, then we go to the table where the fresh toppings and the sauces are out in the middle of the table.
Enjoy!
Google it.
You blend frozen banana slices with flavors like vanilla or honey or maple syrup, and you can add frozen fruit or sprinkle on chocolate, etc.
I got my berry nice cream recipe from Downshiftology's Healthy Meal Prep cookbook.
Here's a recipe for mint chocolate chip nice cream.
I put our berry nice cream in little jars (lids very loosely on until they are frozen solid).
I put these in the freezer so we can enjoy them in single servings.
Now I make these nut butter balls once every one or two weeks, so we usually have some on hand for snacks.
Ingredients-
1 cup of rolled oats
2/3 cup of shredded coconut flakes
1/2 cup any nut butter (I have used cashew, peanut, sunflower, and almond.)
1/2 chocolate chips or chunks (I use a sugar free dark chocolate bar and chop it up)
1/3 cup agave nectar or honey
1 Tbsp. chia seeds
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. pink sea salt
I mix everything together using my Kitchen Aid mixer with a coated flat beater attachment. Then I use a small thumb press scooper to shape the balls. Note: I actually use the same scooper to make smaller and larger balls so that we have a choice for a smaller or larger snack. I line a plastic container with wax paper and cover it with an air tight lid and store this in our fridge.
Plain Oatmilk (Barista Version)
Sugar-free caramel syrup
Stevia
Pumpkin Pie Extract
Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix
Equipment-
You will need your usual coffee maker and a milk warmer/ frother. Note: A milk frother takes non-diary milks like almond or oat and turns them into something magical. If you are transitioning away from dairy in your coffee, a milk warmer/ frother will make this transition 90% easier.
How to-
Pour a tablespoon or two of sugar free caramel syrup into the bottom of your favorite mug. I like to make this in my Ember, so it stays hot the whole time I drink it.
Add a spoonful of stevia if you want it even sweeter.
Brew or pour your favorite coffee into your mug. We like the Starbuck Holiday Blend K-cups right now.
Froth and warm 1/2 to 1 cup of oat milk. Note: I like barista version oat milks, because some of the regular oat milks don't froth well in my experience.
Add a few drops of pumpkin pie extract to your coffee.
When it's frothed to your liking, add the milk to your coffee right to the top.
Stir.
Then sprinkle some pumpkin pie spice on top.
Enjoy!
(This recipe has been adapted from Sally Fallon's Coconut Chicken Curry. At this point, I make it without referring to the recipe. And as long as the chicken is thawed, it comes together in about thirty minutes.)
Ingredients:
Olive oil
One half onion, sliced into long pieces
Two large chicken breasts, sliced in half and then sliced into pieces (Note: This serves my family of five with some leftovers)
Two carrots, peeled and chopped
One can of diced tomatoes
Chicken broth (1/2 to 1 cup)
One can of unsweetened coconut milk
One-two cups of frozen peas
Optional:
1 cup of fresh spinach or kale, chopped up
Spices:
Tumeric powder
Curry powder
Coriander powder
Jalapeño powder
Onion powder
Salt
Serve over:
Cooked basmati rice
Directions:
1. Spray or drizzle olive oil into a large pot. Saute the onions, carrots, and chicken in the oil for a few minutes, until the chicken is no longer pink.
2. Next, add a little (1/2 cup-1 cup) of chicken broth to the pot, and then add the spices. I do not measure at this point. I just sprinkle and stir and smell. But if you need to know where to start, I suggest adding 1 Tbs. of curry and turmeric each, 1 tsp of salt and onion powder each, a sprinkle of coriander, and just a pinch of jalapeño powder. After you have made it a few times, you will know how much of each spice to add to suit yourself and your family.
3. Then add the can 1/2 can or the whole can of coconut milk. Drain the diced tomatoes and then add those. Let this simmer on low while the rice cooks.
4. To make the rice: I use another medium sized pot with four cups of water. I bring that to a boil. Then I add two cups of basmati rice and stir and cover and turn the rice down to simmer for approximately. 15-20 minutes. Stir the rice once or twice to see how much water is left and gauge when the rice will be done.
5. When there is just a few minutes left before the rice is done, add the frozen carrots, stir, and turn the stove top off. Let the curry sit and thaw the frozen peas as the soup also cools a little. At this point, you can also add chopped spinach or kale to this curry, too. It will also soften as the curry sits on the stovetop. The curry can sit from up to ten minutes and still be warm/ hot.
6. Turn off the rice when there's no more water in the bottom when you stir, and it's done. Serve the curry over the cooked rice in shallow bowls.
Enjoy!
This is another new recipe we tried, and it's great!
I am already excited about making charcuterie boards throughout the coming year and using our various blueberry jams and conserves with crackers and cheeses and meats.
I often sign up to bring a dish to a church or homeschool group event or make something when we have friends over, so it'll be great to bring charcuterie boards and bring some of our own homemade fruit jams to share.
One of the unforeseen joys of doing so much extra and special canning this year is that we are already looking forward to having some special meals and desserts and teas throughout the coming year so we can use our jams and jellies, etc.
Adele helped tonight the whole time- start to finish; I didn't even need to ask, just looked over and she was washing her hands and getting her apron on.
As we cooked the jam, we read other recipes aloud and asked and answered various questions just by comparing one recipe to another.
We wondered aloud about fruit butters...
What makes them different than jams or jellies or conserves?
We answered our own question just by reading the recipes carefully.
A fruit butter has the same ingredients as jam but it is cooked longer, then pureed, then cooked again with even more sugar into what sounds like a delectable spread.
So a good canning book can be a great teacher if you take the time to read/ study it.
We're learning a lot.
But I'm also happy to say that canning (at least canning jams, jellies, and the like) finally feels somewhat easy after consistently doing it for years, so there isn't as much stress as we work this year.
There's just lots of room for conversation.
I had never tasted anything so good.
Dwayne grew up eating chicken croquettes, apparently, but somehow, failed to ever mention them to me...
Note: Even the most outstanding Christian spouse can let you down.
I resolved to learn to make them.
First, I researched recipes online.
Next, I realized I'd probably have to fry them to get them right.
I don't fry as a rule.
I always thought, "I'm fat enough even without frying... Can you imagine what frying will do to me?"
Nevertheless, I decided to fry these.
And I served them with mashed potatoes and chicken gravy just as they are traditionally served.
I also served some vegetable I can't remember to give a passing nod to healthy; I think it was steamed green beans.
My family hasn't responded that well to a meal in years.
Sounds of delight as they chewed
Two thumbs up all around the table
My children rose up and blessed me
My husband also saying, "Honey! This is amazing!"
And there were no left-overs
None!
I feel like I'm at a crossroads here...
Two roads diverge in a wood
Fried foods are unhealthy, but I have longed for my family to enjoy the meals I make as much they enjoyed these fried chicken croquettes...
I think I will have to take the fried road
At least as far as chicken croquettes go.
I usually plan dinners or Sunday afternoon meals with these items in the days and weeks following. But this year, I'm planning four breakfasts for the four days we're together and home around Christmas.
We don't often get to eat breakfasts as a family on weekdays, because the adults get up hours before the children and my husband usually prefers not to eat before leaving for work. And even on weekends, we can't have a nice breakfast together because there events, errands to run, or church to attend.
But on holidays like Christmas, when we all just stay home together, there's plenty of time and opportunity to gather around the table in the morning. So I get to try some breakfast casseroles I don't usually have opportunity to make.
I'm specifically trying casserole in the Foster Family's Cookbook. The Foster family was Dwayne's second home growing up and they are still friends like family to us.
Breakfast Casseroles may need to become another Christmas tradition. (We have many.) Or I may need to add some of these recipes to our "breakfast for dinner" category if they are a big hit with my family holiday.
Here's a basic biscotti recipe you can endlessly adapt.
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, cool and chopped in chunks
1 cup sugar (or brown sugar)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/4-1/2 teaspoon almond, anise, butter, mint, etc. extract and/or flavorings)
1-1 1/2 cups of dried fruits and/ or nuts
Directions:
Sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Mix together butter and sugar.
Add eggs one at a time.
Add vanilla and any other extracts or flavors
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet little by little by hand.
Add whatever dry ingredients you want up to one and half cups.
Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Shape dough into a ball to transfer to baking sheet.
Shape dough into a long loaf on the baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
Take out the loaf and allow it to cool 5-10 minutes.
Carefully transfer the biscotti loaf to a cutting board and cut it into strips.
Return strips to sheet and bake another 7 minutes.
(You can lower the temperature in the oven at this point if you desire.)
After seven minutes, turn the pieces again and bake them on the other side for another 7 minutes.
Cool pieces on a wire rack.
Enjoy with hot coffee!
Kitchen notes:
We made almond, cinnamon brown sugar, mixed fruit and nut, chocolate chip, and peppermint chocolate.
I want to try the basic recipe with vanilla and almond and anise extracts, chopped almonds and pistachios, and cranberries. I think that combination will be beautiful and delicious. And the red, green, browns, and whites of that combination will be festive for Christmas.
I need butter and mint extracts now I've run out. Butter is impossible to find in the regular grocers, but maybe I'll try a cake supply store or Amazon Prime.
The peppermint chocolate piece had mint extract and was surprisingly good when I dipped it hot coffee. If I want the chocolate to be smooth when dipped and dry, I need to research recipes for dipping chocolate and add something to the melted chocolate morsels. But, as it was, we simply melted the morsels this time. The thick, dry, melted chocolate really caked on and this probably just made them even more delicious.
Ingredients:
Two cooked chicken breasts (approx. three cups), chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 1/2-2 pounds of broccoli pieces, steamed and drained well
One can of cream of broccoli, mushroom, chicken, cheddar soup, etc.
One can milk
Approx. 2/3 cup sour cream
Equal parts (approx. one teaspoon each) of onion powder, garlic powder, dry mustard, pepper, and Seasoning Salt
Approx. two cups of shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix together soup, milk, sour cream, seasonings, and cheese. Mix in cooked, chopped chicken and steamed, drained broccoli.
Prepare a glass casserole dish with cooking spray and pour the mixture in.
Bake until hot and bubbly, approx. 40-45 minutes.
In the meantime, prep rice and sides.
Comments:
This isn't a fancy dish, obviously, but my family loves it. Everyone gets seconds and eagerly hopes for and eats any/all the leftovers.
When I was first struggling with Lyme Disease, I was given a version of this dish from a friend at church with rice and broccoli and chicken altogether, and I loved it.
I asked for the recipe and then cooked it for my family, but their feedback dictated that I change the sauce. The original version was made with mayonnaise, but after referring to other divan recipes online, I adapted the recipe to make the dish without mayonnaise and separate the rice from the dish altogether.
When I cooked it again, I changed the sauce even more to make it creamer, since that is what the feedback my family prefers.
I try to be careful not to steam the broccoli too long. Otherwise, it totally falls apart when it is mixed with the chicken and sauce. I prefer when the broccoli is in bite-sized pieces like the chicken, but my family actually seems to prefers the broccoli overcooked and incorporated into the sauce (as in the photo above.)
These turned out well, and my family approved, so I want to record how I did these for another year when I have Thanksgiving leftovers to use.
Ingredients:
You need several cups of cooked turkey, vegetables, green bean casserole, and herb stuffing.
For Pot Pie, you'll need two pie crusts.
For Shepherd's pie, you'll need leftover mashed potatoes.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
To prepare the filling:
Heat a deep skillet on medium- high heat.
Add a few tablespoons of butter.
Add leftover vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, peas, and corn.
Add leftover green bean casserole. Heat and stir everything together.
Add leftover stuffing, breaking large clumps into smaller and smaller pieces, stirring consistently.
Add chicken broth as needed to create a gravy in, with, and around the vegetable-casserole-stuffing mixture.
Chop light and dark meat turkey into small pieces and mix those in as the mixture simmers.
Prepare two pie pans with Pam cooking spray.
To make the Pot Pie:
Line one pan with a pie crust.
Fill this crust with the turkey-gravy-veggie mixture.
Cover this with a second pie crust, folding and pinching to attach the top crust to the bottom crust, cutting slits in the top.
To make the Shepherd's Pie:
Fill the second prepared pie pan with the turkey-gravy-veggie mixture.
Heat the leftover mashed potatoes in the microwave or a separate pot on the stove top to make them easier to spread.
Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the mixture.
Melt a few tablespoons of butter and pour the melted butter on top of the mashed potatoes.
Bake both pie in the oven at 450 for twenty-thirty minutes.
Then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for twenty or thirty more minutes, until the pot pie and Shepherd's Pie are golden brown and bubbling.
Ingredients:
Half an onion
Celery
Minced Garlic
Italian Seasoning
Italian Sausage
Tomato Sauce
Fire-roasted tomatoes
Chicken broth
Bag of Frozen Tortellini
Directions:
Heat some olive oil in a large pot.
Chop half an onion, a piece of celery, and a medium carrot into small pieces, and sauté them in the oil.
Add a tablespoon of minced garlic and a pound of sweet Italian sausage.
Brown everything together, breaking sausage into smaller, smaller bits.
Add 8-10 ounces of tomato sauce and 14 ounces of fire roasted diced tomatoes.
Add dried Italian seasoning.
Add tomato sauce and fire-roasted tomatoes and chicken broth.
Allow this to boil then simmer for ten minutes, and then add several cups of frozen tortellini.
Allow this to heat for five minutes.
Saute in butter until they begin to soften. The mushrooms will release most of their moisture and it needs to cook away. Stir consistently so nothing burns.
Add ample chicken broth.
Bring to a boil and let this simmer for five-ten minutes.
Add cooked brown rice and sliced or shredded chicken breast.
You could add uncooked rice and chopped, raw chicken, but keep the amounts small. For instance, with two quarts of stock, I'd add a cup of uncooked rice and only one chicken breast, chopped. You'll also need to add a little more liquid (water or broth or a combination), since the rice will soak it up. If you are cooking rice and chicken as you go, bring your soup back to a boil and cook for several minutes until the rice and chicken are totally done.
Salt generously and add parsley and black pepper to taste.
Enjoy with crackers.
Freeze leftovers for a rainy day. This is a great soup to thaw and reheat when you are sick and are in need of something lite but nourishing.
I have several recipes: soups, quiche, casseroles, that require chopped ham.
So instead of paying a premium for separate ham steaks every time I need ham, I buy a larger ham way ahead of time when it is one sale, slice it into 8-12 portions that are 7-12 ounces each, and freeze these so that I can thaw them as needed.
We often do this with ground beef, too.
We get a better deal on the larger container of ground. Then we bring it home and portion it into 1 pound bags that we freeze and thaw as needed.
Buying meat in bulk is a way to save some money... and time and trouble, too.
We also try to keep an excess of the non-perishable items in the pantry, stuff that we always use like flour, canned tomatoes, and beans.
With portions of meats in my freezer and most non-perishables we use stocked on my shelves, some weeks I only need to buy a few things because I already have a lot of the main and basics ingredients on hand.
As I plan my meals each week, I inventory my stores, shopping from my own freezer and shelves.
I replace stores of frozen meats and non-perishables as needed, but I can often get in and out of the grocery stores in minutes only needing a few perishables like milk, eggs, and vegetables.
The girls usually took sandwiches for lunch on CC days, for ten long years, sandwiches.
But half the time, I'd open their lunch bags the day after community to find their sandwiches only partially eaten, sometimes totally uneaten.
They ate the chips and other small snacks they took to go along with the sandwich, so they didn't go hungry.
But I finally found something they'd actually eat every time.
They eagerly devour this macaroni salad.
Even better, this is no-fuss lunch that doesn't require reheating.
That line for the microwave in the church kitchen grows long when all the other CC kids are trying to heat leftovers, too.
It's just:
elbow macaroni, cooked al dente and drained
cubed cheddar or colby jack (Really, this entire salad is a conduit for delivering the sharp cheddar cheese blocks into your mouth.)
chopped celery
chopped purple onion
salt, pepper, and dill to taste
Sometimes I also add:
frozen peas (they will thaw)
chopped carrots
Then I mix in mayonnaise to taste.
After ten years of trial and error, mostly error, I've discovered our perfect lunch for CC and co-op days.
I made the next recipe in Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads , the "Thirty-Minute White Bread." I think I've o...
