Portabellos with Apple Sausage Stuffing

I know.  It has been a really really long time since my last post.  I've been doing better and cooking again but I haven't been making anything new hence no posts.  But I got creative yesterday and it came out fantastic so here we go....

I've managed to find a winter farmer's market here in the Northeast.  They have several meat vendors and a bunch of veg vendors with one even selling a variety of fresh mushrooms.  I picked up some sweet Italian sausage from my favorite meat vendor and an absolutely HUGE mushroom cap.  The herbs were from one of the other vendors and I've had them out on the table drying.

Use one regular sized portabello per person or if you find huge ones you can split it with someone.  Use 1/4-1/2lb of meat per person depending upon appetites and affinity for meat.  I'm fine with 1/4 lb for myself but hubs tends to go for 1/2lb serving.

Ingredients
serves 2

1/2-1lb of sweet sausage
1 large or 2 normal sized portabello mushrooms (with stems if possible)
1 granny apple
1 large stalk of celery
1/2 a medium onion
1 clove of garlic
1t rosemary leaves
1t thyme leaves
2-3 sage leaves
1t celtic sea salt
generous pinch of pepper
1T ghee, lard or tallow for frying
1-2T olive oil
1 small egg slightly beaten
1/2c almond flour

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Chop onion, celery and apple into small pieces.
3. Peel mushroom cap.  Remove stem and chop stem into small pieces and add to veg.  Scrape out gills and add to veg leaving the cap itself intact.
4. Crush or dice garlic finely.
5. Remove sausage meat from casings and dice into small pieces.  (scissors work well for this)
6. If herbs are dried grind together or if fresh break into fine pieces.
7. Add fat to pan and saute sausage meat until all pink is gone.  Remove from pan and set aside in a bowl.  Do not drain fat from pan.
8. Add vegetables and garlic to pan. Add herbs, salt and pepper.  Add more fat if needed and saute until soft.  Add to bowl with meat.  
9. Drain any liquid off meat.  
10. Add flour and egg and mix well.  You could put this in a food processor if you like but I prefer mine chunky.
11. Brush mushroom caps with olive oil.  Place topside down in baking dish.  Pile stuffing into caps.
12. Bake for 20-30mins until it has nice browned bits on top.

Variations on the theme:

• Use acorn squash instead of mushroom caps.  Split and deseed squash.  Paint interior with olive oil and bake at 350F for 45-60mins until soft and easily pierced with a knife.  Stuff with sausage and bake as directed above.
• Skip the mushroom and serve over rice.  Bake sausage mix in any baking dish until browned while making rice of choice.  

Simple Sausage Soup

This one came out of no where.  I had the ingredients kicking around in the fridge and freezer and decided that they would taste good together.  Low and behold I was right.  Tonight I fed it to hubs for the first time and he loved it as well so now it is time to publish it.


It is a simple idea of combining sausage, pasta and leafy green veg.  You can use all sorts of combinations of the three but I've found the most tasty to be mild Italian sausage and fresh cheese pasta from the local Italian grocer combined with kale or spinach.  The ingredient amounts are rough estimates since that is how I roll.  This isn't baking so we can be loose about things.

Ingredients
serves 3

2c Basic Chicken Stock
2c filtered water
~1lb sweet Italian sausage (one large link or several small ones)
~2 cups shredded kale (two small leaves or one large leaf)
~6oz fresh cheese tortellini
generous pinch dried thyme
generous pinch dried marjoram
Celtic sea salt
fresh ground pepper

1. Remove casing from sausage and discard.
2. Cut sausage into 1/2" thick disks and cut the disks in half.  I found scissors to work remarkably well for both the casing removal and sausage chopping.  If you like you can roll the sausage into little balls but this isn't necessary.
3. Tear kale into bite sized pieces.
4. If you have thin stock, use 4c and don't dilute with water.  My stock tends to be very strong so I cut it in half with water as this is a mild soup and I don't want the stock to overpower the other ingredients.
5. Add sausage and kale to stock along with seasonings and bring to a rolling boil.
6. Add pasta and cook according to package directions.  Fresh pasta will only take a couple of minutes tops.
7. Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.

Variations that I've tried and liked so far: chicken apple sausage, cheese tortellini and spinach or kale; sweet Italian sausage, cheese/prosciutto tortellini and kale.  You see the general theme here.  You want the spicy of the sausage combining with the creamy soft pasta.  The green veg helps more with eye appeal and nutrition than taste.  If you use spinach toss it in right before serving so that it only blanches rather than turning to mush.  Kale needs the longer cooking time to soften up.  This could also be made with GF pasta but I haven't found any tortellini in my area.

Pork Medallions with Sherry Pan Sauce

This one I stole from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and made it WAPS legal.  I just got sprouted kamut and sprouted spelt flours in the mail today so I decided to try the kamut in this recipe.  It worked wonderfully!!

Beware though, kamut is a type of wheat so if you need truly GF recipe use nonGMO cornstarch or arrowroot powder.  However I can't vouch for the texture/flavor of the substitute since I haven't tried it myself.  Nut flours are another option but I've found they make things extra crunchy and they won't thicken the sauce as well as cornstarch or arrowroot.

The pan sauce makes this dish so don't skip it.  It is wicked good!

Ingredients
serves 2-3

~1lb pork tenderloin
3T sprouted kamut flour (or wheat or spelt or for GF use non-GMO cornstarch)
~1t fresh or dried thyme
large pinch salt & pepper
olive oil
2T butter divided
2 lemon wedges
1/4c cooking sherry

1. Rinse and dry off the pork.
2. Trim any fat or sliver bits off the tenderloin and slice into 1/8" thick rounds.
3. In a plastic baggie (my fav) or bowl combine flour, salt, pepper and thyme.  Mix well.
4. Add pork and coat evenly.  If using a baggie just seal and shake.
5. Heat oil and 1T butter in large saute pan.  When a pinch of flour sizzles in the oil start adding the pork one slice at a time and don't let the slices touch.  You might have to do a couple of batches like I did.  In that case keep the finished batch on a plate covered with pan lid to keep them warm.
6. Cook until brown and then flip and brown the second side.  Remove to plate and cover to keep warm while making the pan sauce.
7. Drain fat out of pan and add sherry.  Let boil while scrapping the pan to loosen up the yummy bits stuck to the bottom.  Keep it simmering until almost gone (this evaporates the alcohol off while leaving behind yummy flavor) then add the juice from the lemon wedges. When simmering again add the remaining 1T of butter and stir in until melted.  This should result in a several tablespoons of thickish pan sauce.
8. Pour over waiting pork medallions and serve immediately.

Orange Cranberry Pork Roast

I am so happy I can finally post this recipe.  I have managed to tinker with it enough that it can be considered almost my own.  The original recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks and I highly recommend it:  Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea. 

All variations of this has been gobbled up by my family.   It is supposed to feed four but between the three of us and the cat there isn't enough left for a fourth person.

It looks complicated but it is really easy to put together and of course it is a slow cooker recipe so you can go rest for at least three hours before having to get up to make some frozen veg for sides.

Ingredients:
serves 3-4

2-3lb pork loin roast
1t powdered ginger
2T cornstarch (preferably organic GMO free)
1/4t pepper
1-2T whole grain mustard
generous pinch Celtic sea salt
1c fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2c sucanat
1 clove crushed garlic or 1/4t of minced garlic out of a jar
1/3c orange juice
3-4 thin slices of fresh orange
2-3c coarsely diced sweet potato

1. Put the cornstarch, ginger and pepper in a gallon ziplock bag and mix thoroughly.
2. Grease slow cooker with some olive oil.
3. Rinse and pat dry pork roast.
4. Put roast in ziplock bag and shake around to coat all sides with cornstarch mixture.
5. Place roast in slow cooker fat side up.  Dump all extra cornstarch mixture into slow cooker with the roast.  This will act as thickener for the gravy that forms.
6. Paint mustard on top of roast with a knife.  Adjust amount to personal taste.
7. Put cranberries, juice, sugar, salt, garlic on either side of roast.
8. Lay orange slices along top of roast neatly.  This makes for a nice presentation later in addition to flavoring the roast itself.
9. Layer potatoes along each side of the roast.
10. Cook on high for 3-4 hours.
11. Remove roast and put it on serving platter.  Surround with potatoes and cranberries.
12. Scoop out sauce and put it in a gravy seperator and let sit for a few minutes.  Pour off into gravy boat leaving fat behind.  Put a few cranberries in for interest.
13. Serve with green beans or carrots.  YUM!!

If the roast hasn't been frozen by the supermarket it literally falls apart when cooked.  I've often removed it from the cooker in pieces.  This is hands down the best pork roast I've ever had.  Even my cat thinks so.

Ham and Potato Bake

I meant to post this weeks ago when I first made it but I've been dealing with some health issues.  I hope I can remember all the modifications that I made to the original recipe because the one I made came out fantastic.  The original recipe is in an ancient cookbook I inherited from my Mom, The Pillsbury Family Cookbook published in 1963.  They loved their pimentos back then!

Everything except the cheese sauce can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator for a day or two.  Just heat the ingredients up in the microwave before using them in the recipe.

Ingredients
serves 3-4

~2 c cooked ham (I just cooked up a ham steak that I got prepackaged at the supermarket)
1-2c peas
2 medium potatoes
1t parsley
1t marjoram
1/4c diced onion (frozen is fine)
2T butter
2T olive oil
1-2T corn starch
2c milk
1/2c shredded cheddar cheese
1/4c  shredded Gruyere cheese
1/4c grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 350F and grease a  2qt casserole dish.
2. Peel and cut potatoes into bite sized pieces.  Boil in water with peas until just fork tender. Drain.  It is better if the potatoes are just slightly under done since they will continue to cook in the oven.
3. Fry up ham steak and then cut into bite sized cubes removing extra fat and center bone.  Set aside.
4. In same frying pan add butter and oil.  Fry up onions.  Use a spoon to free up bits stuck to bottom of pan.
5. While onions are cooking, mix 1/4c of the milk with the cornstarch, stir until well mixed and set aside.
6. When onions are soft, add remainder of milk along with the cheeses to pan.  Also add herbs and salt and pepper to taste.  Stir constantly and do NOT let it come to a boil. 
7. Once cheese is melted, whisk the cornstarch mixture again to make sure it isn't lumpy and slowly add it to cheese mix while stirring constantly.  Continue to stir until mixture thickens and immediately remove from heat.
8. Put potatoes, peas and ham in casserole dish.  Pour cheese mixture over it.
9. Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Pulled Chicken Sandwich

This is a super simple dinner to make.  You cook the chicken in a slow cooker for three hours and then do some minor assembly work.  The original recipe called for a half cup of vinegar but I found this to overpower the dish so in this version I've left it out.  If you like vinegar and want to counter balance the sweetness of the coleslaw by all means add it to the crock pot along with the BBQ sauce.  Since hubby doesn't like coleslaw I left it off his but he said that some pepperjack cheese would be a nice addition.  This can be served with green salad and french fries.


Ingredients
serves 4

1-2lbs bone in chicken thighs (4 pieces)
1/4c frozen onion diced
1 1/4c favorite BBQ sauce (I like Annie's original with sweet & spicy being my second favorite)
1t -1T hot sauce (optional:I left this out)
medium sized deli container of coleslaw (try to find stuff without HFCS)
Favorite GF hamburger buns

1. Strip skin off chicken and cut away extra fat.
2. Spray no stick in slow cooker and put onion in first and then layer chicken on top.
3. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Mix BBQ sauce with hot sauce and pour over chicken.
5. Cook on high for three hours. 
6. Remove chicken pieces from sauce strip from bone and return to pot.
7. I get my GF buns frozen so this is the point where I defrost them in the microwave.
8. Put chicken on bun, add coleslaw on top.
9. Enjoy!

Options:

1. Top with pepperjack cheese instead of slaw
2. Make with pork instead of chicken

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

Here is an easy peasy pork roast recipe that you can throw together and then walk away from for 5 hours. Wish it were my creation but here is the link to the Gluten Free Goddess.