Chicken Chili with Hominy

Good thing I printed this recipe out long ago, because now I cannot even find it online! What happened to "massrecipes.com"? But since it is one of our favorite soups, I have to document it here!

1 T canola oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium poblano chile, diced (I've used 1 can green chilies)
29 oz canned chicken broth
30 oz canned white navy beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz canned hominy, drained
Salt and ground pepper to taste
Fresh cilantro for garnish (optional)
Hot sauce (like Tapatio) for serving (optional)
Sour cream for topping (optional)

In a large, 5 qt pot, warm oil over medium-high heat. Brown chicken until golden, 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; set aside.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, garlic, and chilis; cook, stirring often, until onion softens, 3-4 minutes.

Cut browned chicken into 1/2 inch strips. Add chicken, broth, and beans to pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to an active simmer, and cook until chicken is very tender and chili has thickened, 25-30 minutes.

Reserve 1/2 C hominy to use as garnish (optional); stir remaining hominy into chili. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowl; garnish each serving with reserved hominy, sour cream, and cilantro, and drizzle with hot sauce as desired.

Per serving: 399 calories: 9.8 grams fat; 34.7 grams protein; 41.4 grams carbohydrates; 9.7 grams fiber

My Favorite Minestrone

Image from this website

1 lb sausage, browned and drained
1 quart water
1 can consomme
3-5 large carrots, cut large
3 stalks celery, cut large
1/2 tsp basil leaf
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 quarts tomatoes
3 onions, cut large
1 T parsley
1 can tomato sauce
1 clove garlic, minced

Simmer the above 8-10 hours (in slow cooker). Add 1 can cut green beans and 1 can red kidney beans. Simmer 1 hour. Add 1 cup macaroni, cook until macaroni is done, about 10 minutes. Sugar and salt to taste. Sprinkle individual bowls with Parmesan cheese.

This is a very forgiving recipe. You can mix up the ingredients. I personally like to use acini do pepe for the pasta so that we don't get big bites of pasta. I like to add 2-3 C sliced cabbage at the end with the pasta. You can even make it up in less than an hour if that's the time you have, but the longer the ingredients simmer together, the better they'll taste! The consomme is delicious, but you can switch that out with beef broth if that's all you have. A perfect fall recipe. YUM!

Marvelous Minestrone

From Brenda Stott, one of our former neighbors

2 C onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 C cabbage, finely shredded
2 C carrots, finely diced
1 C green beans, cut
2 potatoes, cubed
2 C zucchini, chopped
4 oz can sliced mushrooms
2 C stewed tomatoes
3 T parsley
1 T basil
1/2 tsp rosemary
2 C tomato juice
4 C beef broth
1 C kidney beans, cooked
3/4 C macaroni
1/3 C raw barley

Saute onions until clear. Combine garlic, cabbage, carrots, green beans, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, and tomatoes in a large pot. Add onion. Cook 10 minutes. Add parsley, basil, rosemary, tomato juice and beef broth. Cook 10 minutes. Puree 1/2 cup kidney beans in blender. Add to soup. Add remaining whole kidney beans. Boil. reduce heat. Simmer 25 minutes. Add macaroni and barley, cook for 15 minutes.

Lime Sherbet

I found a wonderful recipe on Pinterest for Refreshing Lime Sherbet, and per usual for me, I adjusted it for myself and my family and for our ice cream maker, and here is the result.

4-6 tsp lime zest*
1 1/2 C sugar
5-6 C milk
1 C fresh lime juice (prob 8 limes)
1/8+ t salt

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl until well blended, then pour into the ice cream freezer container. (Mine is bigger than the 4 quart maker for the original recipe, but I'm not sure how big, maybe 8. This recipe did not fill it to the "Fill" line.) Freeze to manufacturer's directions. Mmmm!

Notes - The original recipe called for added water, but I just used the whole milk I had on hand, instead of half and half. It works - it tastes great!

Make it dairy free by using almond or soy milk.

*The zest is just the outside green part of the rind, not including the white pith underneath, so as to avoid getting the bitter part of the lime. (In the case of a lemon, the yellow.)

Find the original recipe by clicking on here or on the picture.

Sour Milk Pancakes

1 t baking soda
2 cups sour milk
2 eggs, beaten
11/2 T sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups sifted flour (I like whole wheat)
1 T melted butter
1 t baking powder

Dissolve soda in buttermilk.  Stir in eggs.  Add sugar and salt.  Beat in flour a little at a time.  Add butter and baking powder. Fry individual pancakes and serve hot.

When looking for recipes to use some sour milk, I found this recipe on Pinterest.  "Retro recipes" are some of my favorites because they usually tend to be basic and delicious, and I did NOT want to lose this one. I also changed it very slightly, so what you see here is how I fix it. (Main difference - it called for buttermilk, but I wanted to use sour milk. It totally works!)

Link to original recipe here.

Deep-Dish Pizza

(From my Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1983 edition, but I've modified it slightly, of course, knowing me...)

1 lb hamburger (sometimes I'll add a little sausage or bacon for flavor)
Pizza Dough (see recipe here)
1 can (16 oz) whole tomatoes (or used diced) drained (I never drain it)
1 Tbsp instant minced onion
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder (or crushed garlic clove)
1 small green pepper
1 can (4 oz) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz) (I usually also add a little shredded cheddar cheese for color & flavor)

Cook and stir hamburger until light brown; drain. Prepare Pizza Dough. Mix tomatoes, onion, oregano, salt, the pepper and garlic powder; break up tomatoes with fork.

Press dough evenly on bottom and halfway up sides of greased oblong baking dish, 13x9x2 inhes. Sprinkle hamburger over dough. Spoon sauce over hamburger; top with green pepper, mushrooms and cheese. Cook in 425 degree oven until cheese is light brown, 20-25 minutes. 8 servings.

My class notes: Grains & Sourdough Bread

I went to a set of classes at the home of a friend of a friend, and learned exactly what I've been needing to learn for a while. This time the bread is turning out FABULOUS, my kids LOVE it, and are anxious for me to make more when we get low!!!

Grains Class, Amy Loveless, Saratogajacks.com

The book Amy referred to - "The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast, by Caleb Warnick & Melissa Richardson - I have a copy already, and have used, but not successfully, so I was grateful to have this in person training from someone who has used it with success, and to receive an actively growing live start to get started with.

In 1984 instant yeast came on the market, with lots of dire consequences.

The long yeast process was necessary, because it takes time to break the grains down properly. Grains are like legumes - you'd never try to have dry legumes ready to eat in 15 minutes!

Kamuth wheat is 5% gluten, vs 80% of others

Since then there has been a huge rise in auto-immune diseases, such as yeast infections, fatigue syndromes, autism (recently linked to leaky gut), etc., etc., etc.

5 Steps for Healing your Gut (I can't figure out for sure which steps were 3 or 4)

1. Go off the garbage you've been eating, like the rapid yeast breads, etc.

2. Replace with healthy foods for 2 whole weeks

Bone broth -- extremely healthy

Yogurt or kefir, raw cultured

Fermented vegetables

Coconut products

5. Plug the leaks - Colostrom from Dr. Anthony Klein Smith, chewable colostrom (bovine)

Natural sour dough breaks down the starches/carbs, and fills with enzymes instead! (Her diabetic husband would eat a regular roll and go up 220, eating the sourdough roll he'd go up 5!)

Self grinding flours are best - purchased ground flours are made in plants where machines divide up the ingredients, and put in other things, instead of grinding it complete.

(Recommends Silver Nugget hand crank, from ID, since the competition stole their design, altered one shape and had it made in China.)

Tools for Sourdough bread making

Big metal bowl from IKEA ($9.99)

Danish dough whisk from Amazon ($9.99)

Recipe

Note - IMPORTANT - for every cup of water you add one tsp salt.

4 C water

about 1 C start

(feed this mix with a handful of flour)

4 tsp salt

5 big scoops (about 1 1/2 C each) flour*

Optional ingredients

2 eggs (makes it fluffier)

2 tbsp coconut oil

seeds

1/2 C honey

pepper (counterbalance the sweet with not sweet)

2 tbsp ginger powder (old fashioned dough enhancer)

other flavorings as desired

(She didn't measure anything accurately,  it's not an exact science for her.)

*Flour questions - the sourdough method breaks down the wheat such that the gluten is negligible, so any flours, even the altered ones will work.

Leave in bowl, but place a clean garbage bag around it, and set it aside for at least 8 hours. Then you punch it down and separate it into loaves as desired, and let rise for at least 2 more hours. Bake in 350 degree oven until bread reaches 190 degrees internally, (about 30-40 mins). For a harder crust, put 2 inches of water in a pyrex dish on bottom oven shelf, 15 minutes before putting the bread in, at 400 degrees. Bake bread with the water for 15 minutes, then remove the water and turn down the oven to 350 degrees and finish cooking.

Feed your yeast/start with 1 C flour and 1 C water (not hot). Stir. It should be thick enough for a spoon to stand up, then it will last one week in the fridge. Remember yeasts are territorial, so do NOT put two yeasts next to each other, or store modern breads near your yeast starter! It could ruin them.

Sprouting Grains Class, Instructor Kimberly Shock (EXTREME athlete, vegan for many years, she uses sprouted grains for her nutritious diet.) I have her phone number if you have questions.

When sprouted, grains are GLUTEN FREE, as the sprouting process turns them into a vegetable.

In a quart jar, place 1/2 C of grains. Soak grains for at least 24 hours (different than other instructions you'll read). 

Rinse, rinse and rinse to get rid of the folic acid - you will do this twice a day. Do this between 3-7 days depending on what you are growing and how much you want it sprouted. (If you're going to the bathroom too often, maybe you grew it too long.)

Dehydrate sprouted grains on the lowest setting, sufficiently dried, they have long shelf (10 years), and can be used like normal grains, ground, etc.

You can sprout everything, (but if you sprout kidney beans they are poisonous until cooked.)

Sprouted grains are 1/2 the carbs of non-sprouted.

No dehydrator - you can dehydrate on cookie sheets outside, just protect from birds & other critters & weather...

OR use immediately as moist sprouts: Blend together 2 C sprouted wheat to 1 C water, use as a base for your recipes. (As I'm looking in the book Natural Yeast book, I notice that you usually use a little sprouted grain, and mix it with unsprouted ground grains.)

Wheat grass - 7 days to grow. "One ounce juice is better iron builder than a blood transfusion." 1 lb wheat grass has equivalent nutritional to 23 lb homegrown garden vegetables.

Sprouting provides 900-2000% nutritional improvement over non-sprouted grains. Sprouting makes it a vegetable. (Even dehydrated.)

Sprouted Almond Milk recipe

1 C almonds - soak for 24 hours

Drain, rinse 4-5 times until water runs clear

In blender, combine almonds and 4 C cold water (for cold milk)

1-2 T sweetener (optional)

Blend 3 minutes, and drain through cheese cloth, or similar to remove solid particles.