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The Multitasking Chicken

So that's what happens when you take a picture over a boiling pot of soup.

I just love chicken. Being one of the only meats I can digest (I ate beef and pork for so very long, and ignored many a stomachache because of it) it's kind of a staple around my house. I like to buy a whole chicken, and make a soup out of it, and then a lot of the meat then becomes chicken salad or some other fun thing. Today I will share 3 chicken recipes, all from one whole chicken. The one I bought the other day cost about $7.50 and it will last all week in various forms.

First, I cook the chicken and start making the stock. For the broth, you will need:

a whole chicken

a couple of carrots

a couple stalks of celery

half an onion

a bay leaf or two

your choice of spices

black pepper

Later, you will need: whatever veggies you like in your soup- I suggest a bag of frozen mixed veggies, celery, carrots, onion, potatoes...

brown rice or pasta

wild rice is also nice in this soup

Put the chicken in a stock pot and fill it with water. Add the ingredients from list #1. Cook this for a while until the meat on the chicken is cooked all the way through- a half hour to 45 minutes (or so). Take off the meat that you can get to easily, like the breast meat and some from the legs. Put that in the fridge. Cook the carcass for a couple of hours, until you feel like going on to the next step. Add water as needed.

Cook your rice or pasta while you strain the bones and veggies from the broth, and find the chicken that is still left on the bones. Put the broth back on the stove. Add the vegetables that you want in your soup, and cook for a short time, until they feel ready. When the vegetables are done, add the rice or pasta and salt.

Chicken Salad Ok, remember that chicken you put in the fridge? It will make great chicken salad. Once it's cooled, cut into small chunks. Divide the chicken to make both of the following recipes.

You will need:

Mayonnaise (corn syrup free)

1/2 -3/4 cup chopped onions

1/2-3/4 cup chopped celery

freshly ground salt and pepper

Mix together. Yum!

Fake Pulled Pork Sandwich

My husband likes pulled BBQ pork sandwiches, but he hasn't had one for years. This was a welcome surprise. You will need:

barbecue sauce

onions

freshly ground pepper

lettuce & tomato

whole grain bread

Mix the barbecue sauce, onions, and chicken. Make a sandwich. Yum!

Banana Bread with Ginger

Today our friend Aaron came over, and he had a big bag of bananas that weren't doing too well and also some ginger to use up (he's the friend who I made zenzerino with, from the previous post-luckily it wasn't the same ginger...), so we decided to make banana bread. I found a recipe and altered it a bit. My sugar-eating companions enjoyed it very much. Here's my version:

Banana Bread with Ginger

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup plain yogurt

3 ripe bananas

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

2 Tbsp fresh ginger, zested

My (lazy) food processor/blender directions: Pulverize banana in food processor. Take out the banana and cream the butter and sugar in the food processor. Add banana, yogurt, and ginger. This will yield a spongier bread, and as you can see below, a fluffy batter.

Normal directions for less lazy people: Cream together butter and sugar. Add yogurt and mashed bananas.

Then: Combine all dry ingredients in a seperate bowl and mix dry and wet ingredients. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until a knife comes out clean.

Then, we made molasses frosting.

Then, Aaron ate a lot of ginger.

Awesome Agave Blueberry Cake

I have made this cake 3 times now and every time it's come out really well. I do suggest that you go with canola oil or a light tasting oil, because even light flavored olive oil adds a bit of an olivey flavor to the cake. The website also has some good information about agave nectar.

Gluten Free Mozzarella Sticks

Mozzarella sticks are one of those things I forgot that I loved so much. In college they were the ultimate treat to get from the dining hall.

I have come up with a suitable wheat-free & gluten-free version, and it's quite easy. It takes a bit of patience when you have to roll the string cheese around in the egg, due to it not being very porous, but it's worth it.

Being an INFJ, I don't use measurements... just eyeball it.

You will need:

brown rice flour

Italian seasoning

mozzarella string cheese

patience

an egg or two

canola oil

organic ketchup (high fructose corn syrup free) or tomato sauce for dipping

In a plate, mix flour and seasonings together.

In another plate, beat the egg(s).

Unwrap your string cheese and coat in egg, then coat in the flour mixture. Place each back in the egg and in the flour again, to coat twice. They just don't pick up enough flour the first time.

Freeze the mozzarella sticks for at least a half an hour.

When you're ready to fry them, heat some canola oil in a frying pan on medium high. Fry both sides for only 45 seconds - 1 minute.

Be sure to only leave them in the pan for 2 minutes, or you will have a cheese explosion on your hands. You'll find yourself with a nice pan full of fried cheese, which is tasty in it's own way, but not really what we're going for here. I did this the first time I made this recipe, I think partially because I didn't freeze them, and partially because I left them too long. I forgot that back in college when I worked in the school cafeteria, when you left someone's mozz sticks for too long, all the cheese pops out and you serve up a lovely crispy mozzarella stick crust with no cheese inside. You quickly learn not to leave in there for too long, because otherwise you find yourself with a grouchy college student on your hands.

Serve with ketchup or tomato sauce and enjoy!

French Toast

I would have taken a picture earlier but I didn't want to stop eating.

Maybe it's my Canadian genes, but I LOVE french toast. I'd forgotten all about it for a long time, but rediscovered it not too long ago. It doesn't have to be an unhealthy sugary treat, though in my mind I lump it together with other food you might eat at IHOP.

It's also super easy. I do not suggest making it in the morning if you don't have too much time, because inevitably it will take longer than you think it will, and you might have an unfortunate egg accident (yes, I'm speaking from experience). But, if you get up early, it's perfect!

Just mix up an egg with a little water, a tbsp or two, and put two pieces of brown rice or spelt bread in until they soak up the egg. One egg should do it for two pieces of toast. Heat a skillet on medium high with a bit of canola oil, and all the bread. Cook both sides for a few minutes, and enjoy with a little maple syrup.

Wheat-free & Sugar-free Banana Muffies!

This post is the first in a series of wheat-free, sugar-free recipes for treats.

Dispite looking quite large and looming in the above picture, these muffins are tiny. That's why they are called "muffies". The word muffie is also more fun to say. I just modified a regular banana muffin recipe a bit, and they came out great. You can make them regular sized as well, of course.

3 medium bananas, mashed, blended, or pulverized in a food processor (my personal favorite)

1/2 cup canola oil or 1 4-oz stick of butter

2 large eggs

3/4 cup agave nectar

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 cups spelt flour or 1-1/2 cup spelt + 1/2 cup barley flour

1/2 cup of blueberries, walnuts OR chunks of dark chocolate (my personal favorite is 85% -it has a miniscule amount of sugar-but people who are used to sweets tend to find it too bitter)

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix banana, oil, eggs, agave nectar, and vanilla together. In a seperate bowl, mix baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour together. Add liquid to dry, and mix until smooth. If you're using berries or walnuts, stir them into the batter. If you want chocolaty center muffins (shown on right), place a chunk of chocolate into each muffin tin once you fill them, and carefully cover the chunks with the batter, making sure you don't push the chunk all the way to the bottom. If you use regular size muffin tins, bake for 23-28 minutes. If you use mini muffin tins, make it about 12 minutes or so... I can't remember the exact time. Just make sure a cake tester or knife comes out clean.

A NOTE ON MY WEIRD INGREDIENTS

Agave nectar is a low glycemic sweetener, which means your body processes it more slowly than sugar. It is great for people like me who love sweets but can't really take the high sugar content. It is also the plant tequilla is made from.

Spelt and barley flour can be found at Whole Foods, and some supermarkets. You could always use whole wheat in this recipe. Barley flour makes muffins more crumbly, which is good in small amounts, this is why I used a quarter barley flour. According to King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook, that is the ratio to use. (I recommend the cookbook to those who want to integrate whole grains into their diet while eating "normal"; it also has a lot of good information about baking with less common grains)

Crunchy Granola

In conversation, my boss often describes people as "crunchy granola" followed by "you'd like them". Apparently, I'm one of them, I guess. Maybe because I eat organic food and weird grains. Or is it my personality? Probably both, and here'a another reason: I love homemade granola.

Pretty much every package of store-bought granola I've looked at is full of sugar, but it's still really yummy without a ton of sweetness. And it is so easy to make. Here's my recipe, which is a hybrid of a couple of recipes that I found.

4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 milled flaxseed (store in the freezer, it will taste a lot better)

2/3 cup cashews

1 cup almonds

1 1/2 tbsp vanilla

4 tbsp canola oil

4-6 tbsp maple syrup

Mix it all together in a big bowl (dry first, then liquids), and spread it on a cookie sheet or two. The thinner you spread it, the faster it will cook, so if you're anxious to try it use a couple of cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for around 15-20 minutes or until it feels dry when you run your hands through it. Mix up the granola partway through cooking so it browns evenly. Add dried fruit and and soymilk and you have yourself a healthy and filling breakfast.

I will take being called crunchy granola as a compliment, since that must mean that I'm awesome.

My favorite thing in the world

I love pizza. Sure, I like cooking, but I also really like having someone else cook one and put it in a box for me, but that can't happen anymore. I came across someone talking about a restuarant that sells spelt pizza, but it's nowhere near me, which is very, very sad. So, I just have to make my own (what's new?).

Spelt is the easiest grain to substitute for wheat, in my experience. It has a similar amount of gluten so it acts pretty much just like wheat, and tastes quite similar as well. If you want to know more about spelt, buy a package of spelt cereal, pretzels, or flour, and it will tell you more. They all have little background stories, unlike wheat (just another great benefit of spelt, a history lesson!), such as my bag of Newman's Own spelt pretzels tells us that it's been eaten for over 9,000 years.

I'm currently waiting for my dough to rise. Here's my foolproof spelt pizza recipe.

Spelt Pizza

3-4 cups spelt flour

1 package active dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water (it can be pretty warm without killing the yeast)

1 cup warm water

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Dissolve yeast in the 1/3 cup warm water. Add the rest of the water, half of the flour, olive oil, and salt. Mix that up and gradually add flour until it forms a ball and you can knead it. Knead for about 10 minutes (or until the dough is really mixed and/or you're really bored). Let it rise until it doubles in size, preferably in a warm area. It should take about an hour to rise, or at least 2 if it's the winter and you are like me and don't like high heating bills.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down, knead it a tiny bit more, then seperate into 2 or 3 pieces. Each ball will feed 2 people; if you split it into thirds those people might want a side dish with their pizza as well. Freeze what you don't use in individual baggies. To defrost, leave it in the fridge while you're at work so you can come home to a delicious and super easy dinner.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Roll out the dough and prick with a fork all over, so air bubbles won't form, unless, of course, you are one of those people that loves to pop air bubbles on pizzas. Top the pizza however you like. I like fresh mozzarella-tomato-basil and onion-spinach-artichoke. Cook until the cheese is browned. If you don't have cheese to gauge it by, I'd say about 10 minutes.

Zenzerino, also known as limoncello without the lemons

How can you not smile when a big plate of ginger and orange zest are looking up and smiling at you? You forget just how many times you zested your hands instead of the stringy ginger roots. You haven't yet noticed that your fingernails are a strange yellow color. It hasn't sunk in that you have to wait 80 days to try it, and a meteor (or spy satellite) could fall out the the sky sometime before you get to taste your creation.

I made limoncello last year "to give as gifts for Christmas". We gave away one bottle, I think, and kept the rest. It was a big hit. So, Aaron, who was in the lucky household to recieve the one bottle we gave away, decided to make his own, but this time with ginger. We zested half a pound of ginger and 6 oranges, and at this moment they are sitting in 100 proof vodka in his kitchen, awaiting the next step. We're just following the recipe I used for my limoncello. We still have a while to wait, but for now I will continue to be amused by our smiling ginger-orange friend.