Lemon Curd

Menu for yesterday - last of the homemade instant oatmeal for breakfast and leftovers from Sunday dinner (veggies and pork chops cooked with cream of chicken soup and rice). Dinner was fantastic. My husband put 4 chicken thighs in a casserole dish (3 for dinner, 1 for my lunch). He covered them with leftover pasta sauce and sprinkled on feta cheese and then baked the whole thing at 350 until the chicken was perfectly cooked. The feta doesn't melt but makes a crust that tasted amazing. He also sliced up sweet potatoes and baked them into chips and served it all with millet groats. The millet groats have no flavor but covered in sauce from the chicken they were amazing. It could easily become a favorite grain, especially since they come in bags that you boil them in (super easy).
I didn't take time to make the lemon curd last night since I wanted to do some research on canning it first. Lemon curd is made with eggs so I wasn't sure they would be shelf stable. I want to send some to my friend in LA who sent me the lemons. I did learn I can seal the jars but they need to be used in two months - that should work to get a jar to her.
This recipe makes a tiny amount and can easily be doubled. I'll be making 2 triple batches because I am not confident in the ability to make a 6x batch. I, also, skip the zest. I like the creaminess and don't want anything chewy to disrupt the wonderfulness of this spread. I've made this with lemon/lime juice and grapefruit juice. I did purchase real butter for this since I have never made it with nucoa.
To can - process in a water bath for atleast 20 minutes.

Lemon Curd
2-3 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Zest 1 lemon. Squeeze juice from lemons to measure 1/3 cup. In heavy saucepan, combine juice, zest, sugar and eggs. Whisk until blended. Place over med-low heat. Stir constantly, slowly add butter - let melt before adding more. Cook slowly until thickened 10-15 minutes. Transfer to bowl and cover with plastic wrap to prevent film on surface.

Chicken Cacciatore

I often forget to share the simple recipes - you know, those recipes that are really just an idea that you throw together. How could anyone really be interested in how I made that? Last night, my husband made chicken cacciatore. It was something that I used to make quite often - funny how our diet goes in cycles. I had totally forgotten it until he suggested making it for dinner.
I know there are tons of recipes out there for chicken cacciatore but they all are more complicated than ours. I'm sure you know someone who makes this and didn't even know what it's called.

Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken parts (we used 4 thighs but you can use whatever so long as you have 1 piece per person as a minimum)
1 jar garden vegetable spaghetti sauce
parmesan cheese
1 package noodles
Lay chicken, single layer, in baking dish. Cover with spaghetti sauce. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked (this will depend on your cut of chicken).
While the chicken is resting outside of the oven, cook the noodles according to the package directions. Serve the chicken with sauce over the noodles and top with cheese.

These are also the hardest recipes to write (as you may have noticed) because we just throw everything together. Make sure you have enough pasta to feed your group and enough sauce to cover the chicken and it will all work out. Serve with a salad.

Sweet and Sour Sauce (take 2)

I shared my recipe for sweet and sour sauce back in March. It's one that I have made my entire adult years and sure it's the same my mom made as I was growing up. It's a great recipe that has only two faults - it's a little complicated (mostly lots of chopping veggies) and it makes a ton. When I make this we eat it for days. So when my friend Carol put up a really simple Sweet and Sour sauce recipe on her blog I couldn't wait to try it. Of course, I can never follow a recipe so I did my best impersonation of hers. I substituted the water and the tomato paste for 1 quart of homemade canned diced tomatoes. I used about 1/2 of a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple since that was the only size at the store. The result was amazing. This version is slightly less tangy than my home version and it was so quick and easy. I highly recommend it (it tastes just like the sauce in a restaurant).

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Making your own chocolate syrup is almost easier than buying chocolate syrup. One thing I have learned, however, is that this is not a recipe that does well when doubled or tripled. I think the sugar doesn't dissolve enough or something because when I attempted to triple the recipe it turned out gritty and not very good. I love this recipe because it is simple. It comes out just like Hershey's syrup so it's great on ice cream but makes great chocolate milk. You end up with about 1 cup of syrup with this recipe and it stores easily in a glass jar in the fridge.

Chocolate Syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
Boil water. Add cocoa and sugar. Heat until dissolved, stirring constantly.

Caramel-Pecan Sauce

This is a great easy sauce for desserts. I still haven't had time to do much baking this week but I just found an easy cookie recipe that I might be trying tonight to share with you tomorrow. We're changing routines from summer to school and that always requires adjustment.
This sauce is great on ice cream or on warm chocolate cake.

Caramel-Pecan Sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla
In medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients except vanilla, mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Cool about 15 minutes or until thickened.

Hot Buttered Rum Sauce

Things are crazy here in Pullman. WSU started a new year monday which means the tide has turned and we have to adjust. I'm sharing this sauce recipe - it's quick and easy and tastes great on ice cream (try it over chocolate - so good).
I just got a couple of recipes for homemade sweetened condensed milk - one with dairy and the other dairy free. I think I'll try this recipe with them and get back to you.


Hot Buttered Rum Sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup dark rum
2 tsp. vanilla
In medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Cook until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Stir in rum and vanilla.

Peanut Butter Sauce

My friend over at Mrs. Undomestic was talking about making your own pancake syrup. I love making syrups and fun little sauces. It's an inexpensive way to add more pizzazz to pancakes, ice cream, whatever and it's fun to experiment. Many of the sauces/syrups I make last a long time in the fridge, however sauces like this one do have a tendency to crystalize if left too long. It's easy to fix - just heat up the sauce in the microwave until all the sugar melts but over time that too will alter the composition of the sauce. The real solution - use it up.

This recipe was given to me by a friend ages ago and really got me into making canned sauces and syrups. This sauce makes 1 jar so I don't go through the canning process since I just keep it in the fridge. If you want to save this on the shelf or give it as a gift, pour the hot sauce into a hot jar and top immediately. If you worry about the seal not taking - boil for 10-15 minutes.

Peanut Butter Sauce
1 cup brown sugar
3 tbs. butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup creamy peanut butter
Place 1st 3 ingredients in microwave safe bowl, microwave 3-4 minutes uncovered, checking periodically until bubbly. If overcooked will taste burnt. Add milk and peanut butter. Keep in glass jar in fridge.

Homemade Mac and Cheese

It's sweltering hot outside and do you know what my family wants to eat - Mac and cheese. No box mac will work for them - it has to be homemade. What we make is nearly as easy as a boxed dish so I don't really mind. I don't bake my mac and cheese like many people do and we serve it just like any pasta dish - noodles with the sauce on the side, unless I'm serving a big crowd and then I mix them together. My son's really enjoying some rice shells we got at the beginning of summer. While the noodles might be gluten-free, the sauce is not. To make it gluten free - use the almond sauce recipe, omit the seasonings and add cheese.

Homemade Mac and Cheese
16 oz bag of macaroni, shells or other small pasta
1/2 stick of butter
1/2-1 cup of flour
milk
shredded cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Melt butter in medium saucepan on a med high heat. Add flour until the butter is absorbed and you are left with a yellow paste (a whisk works best here). Slowly add milk (about 1/2 cup at a time) and stir into the paste until incorporated. It's best to work it until the paste is smooth to prevent future clumps but may not be easy with the first addition of milk. Continue to add milk 1/2 cup at a time and stir until the paste is smooth. At some point the milk will not turn into paste. It should be thick. Add another 1/2 cup of milk to make it slightly thin and stir until it thickens some. Add cheese.
The reason I did not say how much cheese is because this depends on taste and type of cheese. If I use a sharp cheddar, I add about 1 1/2 cups. Add cheese, stir until fully melted and taste. If you use a velvetta like cheese - melt about 1-2 cups in a glass container before adding to the saucepan.
Serve the cheese sauce on the noodles. You can serve with cauliflower or broccoli since you have cheese sauce. We had it this week with salmon patties and the sauce was better than tartar sauce.

Tilapia in Caramel Sauce

My dad had some Tilapia and wanted to make it for us for dinner. The problem was he didn't know how to prepare it. I offered some suggestions but my dad and I are different sort of cooks. I like to just throw things together and recipes are ideas and guidelines (inspiration). For my dad a recipe offers a certain comfort that a dish will be good. He doesn't really like to substitute or vary from the recipe. He has dishes he has cooked most of my life that he still needs the recipes for. It's not a bad thing, it's just different.
So when I began offering suggestions to my dad, he wanted a recipe. We did a quick search and found Braised Tilapia in Caramel Sauce.

My dad had me cook the fish so I didn't quite follow the recipe (does that shock you?). First thing I did was make the sauce in a saucepan. I dipped the raw fish in the sauce and fried it on an oiled griddle (can use a frying pan). I brought the sauce back to boiling so that all the raw fish stuff would be cooked. I served the fish with the sauce drizzled over it. The reason I did this was I was concerned that the sauce would not be good and would ruin the fish. The sauce is great. It's not what I thought it would be but it's still a good sauce. My first sample of the sauce got me laughing because it tastes a lot like teriyaki sauce. It's a little more complicated than my basic teriyaki but it's worth the trouble.
I will share that my family really likes fish sauce in cooking. We're not quite to the point we can use it as a condiment. Fish sauce is always gluten free so it's great for those avoiding gluten. It does have a strong smell but I found that it's flavor is more mild than it feels like it should be. It tastes like soy sauce with a hint of fish but when serving it on fish you don't notice it at all.
Tilapia is a nice, firm white fish. It's often inexpensive (compared to other fish). It has a mild flavor, making it perfect for sauces. It's great just fried in butter with seasoned salt and pepper. Because it's firm, it fries beautifully and could easily be breaded and deep fried.

Lemon Chicken

I believe this is a Kraft recipe that I found years ago. It's such a quick and easy meal that it's like a treat. I don't care for the vegetables in this dish so I leave them out and serve some sort of vegetable side dish (stir fry is a great side dish - mixed veggies fried in a little oil seasoned with soy sauce).

Lemon Chicken
1 tb oil
1 pd chicken
2 cups trimmed snow peas
1 small red pepper, cut into strips
1 4 serv pkg of lemon jello
1 tb cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tb italian dressing
2 cloves garlic, minced
heat oil in skillet on med-high heat. add chicken and cook thoroughly. add snow peas and peppers and cook 2 minutes. mix jello with cornstarch in small bowl. add broth, dressing and garlic, stir until gelatin is dissolved. add to skillet. reduce heat to med. cook 3 minutes or until thick. serve over rice.

Chicken in Rose-flavored Sauce

This is a lovely elegant dish that goes well with jasmine rice. Any rice is fine but jasmine's floral taste accents this dish perfectly. Be careful when adding the rose water - too much will over power this dish and ruin it's lovely flavor. Rose water is inexpensive at International/Asian markets. A bottle lasts a rather long time. I use an entire small can of minced chilies instead of purchasing whole chilies. I make this on the stovetop but was just thinking that if you used a cast iron or other all metal skillet/pan, you could easily cook this in the oven after browning the chicken. Don't skip the browning step as it adds another level of flavor to the dish.

Chicken in Rose-flavored Sauce
3 TB oil
1 ¼ pd skinless chicken legs (or whatever cut, I usually use boneless skinless breasts)
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1 TB gd ginger
2 fresh green chilis minced
½ teas cardamom
3 TB gd almonds
2/3 cup heavy cream
½ teas rose water
Heat oil and lightly fry chicken. Add yogurt, chilies and cardamom. Cover and cook until chicken is tender. Stir in almonds. Simmer for a couple minutes. Add water as necessary. Add cream and rosewater just before serving.

Sweet and Sour Meat

I opted to title this Sweet and Sour Meat because I make this with pork or chicken. You really could use any meat (or no meat) if you desired. Long ago I used to bread and fry chicken nuggets to serve with this sauce but I really prefer the meat unbreaded and made into the sauce so it absorbs some of the great sweet and sour flavor.
This is one of those recipes that my mom got from the ladies group at church when I was a kid. It was one she made on occassion at home but it was a lot of work frying the chicken (another reason why I don't make little nuggets). Somehow I got the little photocopied booklet and created my own version.
I made this last night with chunk pineapple since the store was out of crushed and it worked nicely. I can't remember the exact size of the can but it's what I would consider a normal sized can (maybe around 14 oz). Also I have found that reducing the vinegar to 1 cup helps cut the bite that my family is not so fond of. I use plain white vinegar but this could be good with rice vinegar.
I serve it over rice with extra soy sauce.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
1-2 pounds chicken or pork, cut into bite sized pieces
1 onion, diced
1-2 green peppers, diced
1 can crushed pineapple with juice
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup vinegar
4 tbs. soy sauce
2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
4 tbs. cornstarch
1 cup cool water
1 cup ketchup
In a deep skillet or large saucepan (not huge but at about 12 inches across and 5-6 inches deep), heat enough oil to cover bottom of pan. Add meat and brown. Add onions and green peppers. Saute until just tender. Mix cornstarch with cool water until all the starch is dissolved. Add to pot with remaining ingredients. Stir until well mixed and begins to thicken. Remove and serve over rice.

Sausage and Potato Coddle

This is a strange dish. It seems normal but the casserole thing is a bit weird. It had really good flavor but I think that this would be a recipe that I would do on the stove instead of the oven.

Sausage & Potato Coddle
1 pound pork sausage links
1/2 pound thick-sliced bacon, cut in 2" pieces
4 large potatoes, (2 pounds)
2 large onions, sliced
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups water
In a skillet cook the bacon pieces until they turn golden, and then drain on paper towels. Brown sausages (prick in several places with fork) in bacon fat; drain on paper towels and slice into 1/4-inch pieces. Peel and slice potatoes about 1/4-inch thick. In a casserole dish, alternate layers of bacon, sausage, onion, and potato, seasoning the potatoes with salt and pepper. Sprinkle each layer with a little parsley. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the skillet. Add water and bring to the boil. Pour over the potato casserole. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove the cover and cook for an additional 15 minutes, until the top is browned and potatoes become tender.

I think next time I will boil the potatoes until mostly tender. Then fry the bacon and sausage (we use breakfast sausage since there was no distinction). This version did not seem to lose the water so everything was a little soggy. So after cooking the bacon and sausage I would fry the onions and add the potato slices. Mix everything together in a deep skillet and call it dinner. We served the coddle with shredded cheese which was nice but I think the dish needed something to give it a little punch.

Sloppy Joes

This recipe was given to me by a little old lady that used to come in the gas station I worked at many, many years ago. It's a great crock pot recipe but this week we made it with canned pork and it was still great. The recipe says to serve on buttered buns but you can serve it on anything - rice, potatoes, gluten free toast, etc. We, also, substituted the tomato soup and water for a quart of canned tomatoes and added a little extra worchestershire sauce.

Sloppy Joes
2 pd hamburger
1 onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped fine
1 tbs. mustard
1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup catsup
1 can tomato soup
1 can water
Brown hamburger. Put all ingredients into crock pot and cook. (can add onions and celery to hamburger while browning).
Serve on buttered buns.

Honey Soy Nuggets

I got this recipe in my email the other day. The recipe is for chicken nuggets but last night I tried the recipe with Sea Bass and it was wonderful. As always, I altered the recipe slightly. This is a great meal for lunches since it was just as good cold as it was hot and it was easy to make a large amount.

Make a marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
2 TB fructose
1/4 teas garlic powder
1 TB louisiana hot sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot to taste)
2 TB ginger (the recipe doesn't say ground or fresh - I used about 1 TB ginger juice instead)

Add cubed chicken or fish (the recipe calls for 3 chicken breast at 8 oz each, I used about 6 filets but I couldn't tell you what they weighed). I added the fish to all the marinade, the recipe has you marinate in 1/3 cup of the sauce and then brush the rest on while cooking.

With fish you don't have to marinate long because it just soaks up the sauce, chicken you want to marinate a couple of hours before cooking. Drain and pat the meat dry.
Put 3/4 cup of coconut flour in a bag. Add dried meat to the bag. Shake until all the meat is fully covered.
Bake at 400 degrees.
The fish took about 15 minutes to fully cook in my oven but may take less time in yours. Check a thick piece before removing from oven.
The recipe says for chicken - bake 15 minutes and then brush with glaze (marinade), cook an additional 15 minutes brushing with glaze often. When done transfer hot chicken to bowl and pour over remaining glaze and toss until fully covered.
Personally I can't see me doing this since the fish came out so flavorful. The coconut gives it a nice tropical taste and I fear that the glaze would take away the coconut flavor but who knows - I let you know when I try this with chicken.

Tator Tot Casserole

We love Tator Tot Casserole but hadn't eaten it since I went Gluten Free. Traditionally I would make the casserole with Cream of Mushroom soup which had wheat as a thickener. Add to that problem - my husband is dairy free and we just gave up on a favorite (happens all too often). I had a brainstorm this past week and came up with an idea.
I used a modified Almond Sauce as the base and made the casserole. It's a little different and doesn't have that mushroom flavor (which my son was grateful to have gone). It's a bit more time consuming that the traditional version but still fairly simple. I am using dairy ingredients in this version of the recipe - substitute non-dairy any way you'd like (I used Nucoa and Soy Milk).

To make the sauce:
2-4 tbs butter
2 cups milk
2 tbs cornstarch
2 tsp onion powder (or to taste)
2 TBs soy sauce
Melt butter in saucepan. Measure 1 cup milk and add 1 tsp cornstarch. Mix well and pour into saucepan. Repeat with 2nd cup of milk. Add seasonings and cook until starting to get thick (it will continue getting thick when you bake the casserole).

Brown 1 pound or so of ground beef. Feel free to drain the fat off - I don't because I am a little lazy. Add sauce. Add vegetables (usually I use a can of green beans that has been drained but tonight I used 1/2 pound of frozen mix veggies). Pour into casserole dish and top with tator tots. I like to lay them out in rows. Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes or until the tator tots are fully cooked.

Teriyaki Sauce

Most commercial teriyaki products have gluten because soy sauce is often made with wheat. We use La Choy which does not use wheat. The only problem I have with La Choy is that it's not as natural as other soy sauces - it has corn syrup and caramel color to make up for the wheat but it is cheap where other gluten free varieties are not. We use a lot of soy sauce so I hate to pay $4 for a little bottle when La Choy is about $2 and is a decent sized bottle (we used to buy it by the half gallon but have yet to find a gluten free bottle that size).
I wanted teriyaki chicken and came up with a fairly simple recipe. I used this as a marinade for my chicken so it does not have a thickener. After marinating the chicken I boiled it down and it was a fine sauce. If you want it as a sauce exclusively you will need to add cornstarch to it before cooking.
*note - I made this up as I went along and did not measure so use your own judgment but this is pretty close.

Teriyaki Sauce
1 20oz can crushed pineapple
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
Puree pineapple in blender until it's the consistency of a smoothie. Pour into sauce pan and add remaining ingredients. Heat over med heat to melt sugar and to give all the flavors a chance to blend. I cooked it over low heat for about 30 minutes while prepared the chicken. Pour over raw chicken and marinate 2-4 hours. Bake chicken at 350 until cooked fully. Heat remaining marinade in saucepan until boiling, boil a few minutes or reduce to low and let cook while chicken is cooking.

Zucchini with Almond Sauce

It's late summer and my kitchen is filled with zucchini. I love zucchini - it's abundant in the garden and a great vegetable to cook with. I have been fortunate to have a variety of sizes that have allowed me to experiment.
My best tip is that zucchini makes a great pasta replacement. We sliced zucchini into strips and used them like lasagna noodles. I am going to experiment with dehydrating zucchini strips so we can really use them like noodles.
Another things we love is strips of zucchini fried in Nucoa so that it's buttery and crisp. Once finished you can glaze it with cinnamon and sugar or top it with a savory sauce.
I cut a large zucchini into disks and dipped them in egg and then corn meal and fried them in an inch of hot oil. We served them with Almond Sauce which is easy and gluten free so I didn't have to make any adjustments there. It cooked up easy with soy milk and tastes great. I suppose that can be this weeks recipe with the zucchini ideas.

Almond Sauce
2 Tbs. Nucoa or butter
1 cup milk or milk substitute
1 Tbs. Cornstarch
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tbs. soy sauce (look for a gluten free variety)
1 tsp. onion powder
Almonds, chopped (I put them in the blender and make them almost powdery)
Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add the cornstarch to cold milk. Add to sauce pan with other ingredients except almonds. Heat until thick over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Serve topped with almonds.