Kale via vonda Shepherd

Here is one from Vonda shepherd, that great singer who we first heard on Ally McBeal.

SAUTEED BLACK KALE! Ingredients: One or two bunches of Black Kale, washed, with the tough stem removed and coarsely chopped. (This takes time, so put on some music and get that stem out!) One medium Red Onion, thinly sliced into half moons. Candied pecans, or any nut, candied or not. (Or no nuts) Dried cranberries or cherries, or if you can't find those, raisins. (You get the idea). Kosher Salt and Pepper. Olive Oil. Saute onions on med/low heat in olive oil until soft - about 5 minutes or so. Add Kale and saute about 3 minutes. (At the most) Add Pecans and Cranberries, a bit of salt and pepper. (Don't over salt... unless you want to, of course). That's it, friends! It's so delicious. I serve this with, well, just about everything. Have a great day. See you at the shows, I hope. Love, your friend in music and food, Vonda

lamb stew

this is a veal recipe, but I'd like to try it with lamb.

Spring Veal Stew

Yield 4 servings

Time 1 hour

Mark Bittman

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 pound veal cubes, no side larger than 1 1/2 inches
• 1 sprig fresh tarragon, or 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1 pound spring onions or shallots, peeled (if large, trimmed and halved), or scallions, each cut in 2 or 3 pieces
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup white wine or water
• 1 1/2 cups fresh shelled peas, snow peas or frozen peas.

Method

• 1. Put a 12-inch skillet over high heat, and a minute later, add oil and butter. Add the meat, in one layer (if you use the larger amount of meat you may have to cook in batches). Cook, undisturbed, until the meat is nicely browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes.
• 2. Add tarragon, onions and some salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions soften and any meat stuck to bottom of pan is released, about 5 minutes. Add liquid, stir, reduce heat to low, and cover. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until the veal is tender.
• 3. Uncover, add peas and raise the heat to medium. Cook about 5 minutes, until the peas are done. Adjust seasoning, garnish if you like and serve.

Variations

• VEAL STEW, PROVENCAL STYLE: Use all olive oil. Omit tarragon, onions and wine or water. Instead add 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed; 20 basil leaves, washed and roughly chopped; 2 cups seeded and chopped tomatoes, and 1 cup good black olives. Omit the peas as well. If necessary, uncover to reduce the liquid until the stew is thick. Garnish with more chopped basil. Serve with bread.
• VEAL STEW WITH BACON AND MUSHROOMS: In Step 1, render 1/4-pound chopped slab bacon in 1 tablespoon olive oil until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, then brown the veal in the fat (pour some off first if it seems excessive). In Step 2, omit tarragon; cook onions with a few sprigs of thyme and 1 cup trimmed and chopped mushrooms; after onions soften, add liquid as above. In Step 3, return bacon to pan, and cook about 5 minutes more. Serve over buttered noodles or with bread.

polenta

I bought some prepackaged polenta and will use it today with some spaghetti sauce to see if I like it. I like grits so I may like this also. As far as I can tell, it too would be better than white rice/pasta/ect as the corn mash would turn more slowly to sugar. In the radical diet portions of this must still be limited.

pea mushroom soup curried

May 3, 2012

2 quarts of water
one bag of split peas- note that if fresh peas are good conventional buys, then split and dried do not have to be organic.
one Tablespoon of curry powder
one Tablespoon of tumeric
one third white onion finely chopped.
Five thin organic carrots finely diced
almost all of 24 oz containter of mushrooms cut in bite sized pieces
one large bay leaf
black pepper to taste

I cooked it on in the slow cooker high for about 4 hours and it really cooked up, but I like that consistency.  I did not blend it with the little soup blender.

Pizza

11/16/2008
Pita pizza

Use the pita shells found at Guido's market.
There are 280 calories per shell. All stone ground whole wheat flour.
no oil or fats in this.

Set up a small broiler pan in the bottom of the roaster.
sprayed the pan a bit.
Got two large spatulas ready for removal of the pizza.

Cooked up aging veggies in a casserole in water in the microwave.
Left them just cooked a bit. This batch included some portobello mushrooms, white onion, a lot of green pepper, celery, cauliflower, small bits of carrot.

Put some of the left over spaghetti sauce on the pita and spread it.
This one had some small sausage pieces in the jar.


Added Italian seasoning.
Added some anchovies.

cooked at 400 (maybe a bit high ) for tne minutes and it was done.
Scooped it up with the spatulas and with a bit of sprinkled parmesean it tasted like very good, crispy crust pizza.

Now, it is not really on the diet as there is a touch of meat and cheese and fish, but it is much improved over a store pizza. Next time I won't be using up left over sauce and will use just the crushed tomato, perhaps thickened with paste, and more spices including garlic. There was garlic in the prepared sauce.

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11/17/2008
Made the second one for Elizabeth. Did not cook it long enough and the bread was not crisped enough. Also she did not want anchovies, but for me that depleted the taste. Elizabeth liked it.

Heated up one piece in aluminum foil but it was too wet. Good but not as good as fresh made.

tofu pizza

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February 2 2009 in Florida

Put one can of Italian crushed tomatoes and a small can of paste in the slow cooker with baby bellas, slice, onions finely chopped, yellow pepper, and a small eggplant( other times the eggplant has overwhelmed).
spiced with Italian seasoning
oregano
powdered garlic
black pepper
Cooked until the eggplant was tender.
Put the mixture on top of a Sami's Millet and Flax Pizza dough circle.
Added a layer of tofu slices - mozzarella flavored.
baked at 400 for
1200-

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February 16
No slow cooker, just cooked the tomato down on the stove after browing onion and pepper in a bit of olive oil. Add the crushed tomato and let it cook. No paste.
no eggplant this time either.

Next time I may bake the crust a bit before topping it with the cooked ingredients, but this time I did not. Spooned the mixture over the crust. For the last bit dipped the veggies out of the tomato sauce as there was too much sauce.
Baked at 420 for about 30 minutes.
Everyone seemed to like it.
Some added cheese at the table. course grated mozzarella and boxed parmesian.

Susan added a fine romane lettuce wrap. The lettuce was filled with soy chorizo, black beans, onion, and roasted red pepper, all very finely cut or grated. First she cooked down the chorizo, discarded the fat and chilled it before filling the lettuce which acts easily as a little wrap.

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FEBRUARY 21

Took the mix and did it first on 50% power in the microwave for 10 minutes and then 10 minutes again;
This time remembered the eggplant but forgot we were out of baby bellas.
Added the tofu Italian sausage susan likes.

Out the microwave the mix came too watery. Similar too the slow cooker. So I am reducing the water on the stove top but must be careful not to burn that tomato mix as nothing kills a recipe like that. NIce nonstick pan helps that.

I put the crust in the over for a bit as high at one point as 450 but this oven is really not regulated well. It has a nice crisp on top now that should stay when I add the topping, tofu, and cheese.

Rice brown

Brown rice and frozen peas

I suppose that this mix of field peas with snaps is not available in the north, but they sure make a nice bit of frozen beans to add to cooked brown rice. With left over catfish, some crushed tomato and some cut tomatoes I made a nice mix like a poor man's jambalaya. It was not seasoned the way I best like, but it was good.

Brown rice cooked up easy on the top of the stove using 3 cups rice to 7 and a half of water and letting it cook the full 45 minutes on the very low electrical setting. I like the result.

Brown rice in the slow cooker

1-12-09

I used a recipe for slow cooker brown rice that called for 3 hours on high and then went out to do errands and left the rice on low for a long while. It overcooked. It is rice mush now. It would make a great mashed potato substitute at turkey time. It does not taste bad with a bit of soy sauce in the morning, but it does not have the texture I enjoy in brown rice. I guess I'll make it on the stove again in that pan here that is no stick and has a good covering lid.

rice-gallo pinto

November 14 - Dad would be 117 today. Casey celebrates his first birthday.


ENOUGH FOR PARTY

six cups of rice - I used brown although Costa Rican people use white
Two cans drained black beans
one white onion choppped
one green pepper in paper thin slices
two cloves garlic
chopped carrot (optional)


Make rice in the rice maker.
saute everything but the beans in some olive oil in the large cast iron pan

Add cooked rice and beans and Salsa to taste. this time I used Salsa Ingles.
It can be made with wortescher sauce, but it really is not gallo pinto then.
It is the Costa Rican Sauce that adds the flavor.
I like the carrot added to rice dishes, but I skipped it this time.

Cook the mix until the beans are hot.

Return the mix to the slow cooker and warm until ready to serve.

Add more sauce at the table to taste.

Peppers- hot

chuck's soup:

Anyways after making a batch of XXX habanero sauce I found the cold red bell peppers and habanero soup recipe. Plucked a couple radiators and brandywines from out back, grabbed some garlic and onions along with 4-5 habaneros and the same amt red bell peppers, that I purchased from the farmer mkt. Sauteed the onions and chilis added the rest of stuff and cooked til just done. Boat grind it with oil and chilled in ice bath and its ready to go. By the way I removed seeds from the chilis. That keeps the heat down, not like the sauce i made that will scorch your mouth, the soup has a nice sweet flavor and the heat creeps up on you and will warm your forehead but isnt overpowering.