Recipe: Chick-Chickpea Stew

I was trying to follow a recipe, I swear. But it turned out that I was out of a couple of the items required and had to change it up at the last minute. I think the changes I made created a more interesting and tasty soup than the one I was trying to make. My partner in dinner swapping thought so too and requested the recipe...so before I forget what I did, here it is.

Chick-Chickpea Stew

2 cups dried chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo beans)
4 chicken thighs
Water
1 tsp. cumin
2 bay leaves
3-6 cloves of minced garlic
4 tbl. tomato paste
4-8 oz. pesto
1 cup coarsely chopped roasted red peppers
S&P

Soak the chickpeas for 3-4 hours (or plan for an extra hour or so of simmering time). Put the chickpeas in your large soup pot with the chicken thighs on top and just cover with water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the chicken is done through. Remove the thighs and set aside to cool.

Add the cumin, bay leaves, garlic, and tomato paste. Mix throughly and cover to continue cooking the chickpeas. Mine simmered for about 30 minutes before the chickpeas we close to ready.

Shortly before serving, pull the meat off the chicken thighs and add to the soup. Stir in the pesto (I used Nettle Pesto I made this spring, but I think any pesto flavor would be good...if you are using something highly flavored like basil or cilantro, add it slowly to adjust the flavor as you go) and the roasted red peppers. Simmer for a few more minutes to mingle the flavors.

Serve with crusty bread and salad.

Recipe: Savory Spaghetti Squash

I stuffed up a spaghetti squash the other night, needing something easy for dinner. It turned out really well - but needed more salt than I had thought. Perhaps the nature of the squash just needs an extra pinch.

Savory Spaghetti Squash

1 Spaghetti Squash
1 lb. ground pork (this would also be excellent with ground goat...)
1 bag frozen, chopped spinach
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese (optional - without the parmesan it's paleo!)
1 tbl. smoked paprika
1 tbl. oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400. Halve the squash and roast upside down in a baking dish until you can pierce the skin with a fork. I don't scrape seeds before I roast squash - much easier to get them out when the flesh is soft!

Once the squash is cool enough to handle, scrape the seeds out, and then scrape the flesh into a large bowl. Preheat the oven to 350.

In a large frying pan, cook the onion, garlic, and pork. Toss in the spinach at the last moment to soften it. Add the frying pan contents to the squash. Mix throughly, adding the spices and remaining ingredients as you go. Top with extra parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and/or paprika.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

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I used Deck Family Farm pork, as always. I organized my deep freezer the other day and realized that I am running low on meat - it must be time to think about ordering sides!

Recipe: Broiled Lamb Chops with Fresh Herbs

I concocted a recipe for broiled lamb chops the other night. It was wonderfully fresh for a summer night - but I did heat up the kitchen quite a bit with the broiler. When I pulled the packs of Deck Family lamb chops out of the freezer, I pulled a pack of goat chops too on accident. I cooked them both up anyway and found out that 1) this recipe works well with Lamb or Goat, and 2) a side-by-side comparison of the two meats was really interesting. The Lamb is super tender and rich, the goat is somewhat tougher but has a more complex flavor.

The measurement of the garlic is best determined by the cook. Our family loves garlic, so I put in the full 6 cloves. However, because of the way the herbs crisp during the broil, the garlic retains almost all of its fresh spice. One option would be to lightly saute the garlic before mixing it with the oregano, another would be to use less garlic. Also, because of the final broiling step, I'm not sure that this could transfer to the grill, but possibly someone with more grilling expertiese could figure it out.


Broiled Lamb Chops with Fresh Herbs

8 Lamb (and/or Goat) chops
Worchestershire sauce
Fresh squeezed lime juice
Salt & Pepper
2-6 cloves of garlic
3-4 tbl. fresh oregano

Defrost the chops and sprinkle them with the lime and Worchestershire sauce - I didn't measure this, but just made sure that each chop had a drizzle. Marinate at least 45 minutes, flipping them over and redistributing the juice about halfway through.

Heat your broiler for at least 5 minutes. Mince the garlic and the oregano and combine, setting aside for now. Spread the chops on the broiling pan. Sprinkle lightly with salt & pepper. Flip over and sprinkle salt and pepper on the second side.

Broil, close to the heat, until the meat browns and the fat begins to carmelize. Remove from the oven and turn over. Spread the garlic-oregano over each chop evenly and broil again for 5-7 minutes. Fully cooked (medium-rare) lamb or goat chops should register an internal temperature of 145F.

We served this with cous-cous, salad, and roasted sweet potatoes. Super tasty and super easy - my favorite kind of cooking.

Hot Breakfast Cereal Options

We eat a lot of oatmeal around here - partially because we have ample Steel Cut Oats from our Lonesome Whistle CSA and partially because we just like oatmeal. If there is one grain you should eat, it's oatmeal.

Oatmeal is good for your nervous system, supporting, healing, and strengthening the mylin sheath that protects your nerves. (This link will take you to excellent information on the whole plant.) When I hear someone say their "nerves just feel frayed", I tell them to eat oatmeal. Of course it won't work for some folks who need to avoid grains of all sorts, but the rest of us can really benefit from a good bowl of oatmeal (or an oatmeal cookie!).

We like to bulk up our oatmeal - a lot. We add all kinds of nuts and dried fruits. The dried fruits mean we can add less (or no) sweetener later. I almost always add flax seeds for a little extra nutrition. Along the same lines, I often add a handful of coconut. The result is a bowl of goodness that sets us up for a busy day. Some of our favorite combinations (in addition to the flax and coconut);

*Dried blueberries, cashews, & pumpkin seeds.
*Raisins, dried cherries, almonds, & pecans.
*Dates, sunflower seeds, & any tree nut.
*Dried cranberries, crystalized ginger, & pecans.
*Sliced fresh apple, raisins, pecans or almonds, & pumpkin seeds.

I know I have barely begun to tap the myriad possiblities, but those are some of the best. Add a drizzle of honey, a little butter if you like, and a splash of milk.

So that's good, but sometimes we have grains leftover from our previous dinner and I want to use them. Cooked rice or barley are the most usual suspects here, though wheat, kamut, or spelt could work as well.

Make a breakfast pudding!

I recently did this with a blend of brown rice and the purple barley from Lonesome Whistle. There's not really a recipe... but here's the general concept.

Combine the leftover cooked grain in a pan with enough milk (cow, coconut, or almond milk are my favorites) to just cover. Add raisins, almonds, flax seeds, coconut (or any other combination...as above). On medium heat bring to a simmer, reduce heat and cook on low, stirring frequently until thickened. If the puddin is too thin you can pull some liquid and temper an egg or two into your pudding (which adds some extra protien - always good!), add the egg back in and allow to thicken. If eggs aren't your thing, stir in a couple tablespoons of almond meal. Add honey to taste, a dash of vanilla, and a pinch of salt. The resulting pudding is rich and flavorful.

Combining this, lots of different fruit and nut combinations, oatmeal, and plenty of extra nutritional add-ins...and suddenly those hot breakfast cereals offer a lot of diverse options for a most basic breakfast.

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And if you like coconut milk, did you know it's easy to make your own? I've been using these instuructions with a fair amout of success. The resulting milk is thinner than what I use for cooking usually, but really tasty. The kids drink it up so fast there usually isn't much left for cooking anyway.