Peachy Keen Cobbler Cake: Another Grainless Wonder

Another "bean" cake? Yep. It's absolutely peachy good, too. Cross between a peach cobbler and a cake. When you turn it out of the pan, the top has the soft, juicy texture of a cobbler with cake at the bottom. Homely looking like a cobbler, but you can slice it like a cake, and so, so delish. Add some whipped cream, or some (low carb??) ice cream and it's peachy heaven. I also ran some nice raspberries through a sieve and covered the plate with the puree. Kind of a "Melba-ish" flavor, with the tart berries offsetting the sweet peach dessert.

Deprivation.  One of the things that drives people back to their less healthy eating habits is deprivation. If I didn't have one of these cakes or cupcakes lurking in the fridge, I'd really feel deprived. It's hard to stick to a no sugar, no grain eating plan when you're constantly surrounded by breads and cakes at home and at work. And then, gluten free desserts available are generally loaded with sugar and calories and the sugar-free options generally on the market are shot full of artificial sweeteners. That puts those of us who avoid grain and sugar either in the "no dessert category" or we have to find something else equally delicious. This, I think fills the bill. It ain't pretty, but boy, is it good.

While still low carb, this peach dessert is not as low as some of the others I've made, but I was starting to see the end of the peach season looming, and peaches, luckily, are not so high in carbohydrate that we can't indulge every now and then. The peaches I used today are from a local orchard, Highland Orchards, and they are BIG, as big as a baseball, and sweet. Go now and look for some local peaches before they become extinct until next summer. The other nice thing is that this is largely made in the blender, so the clean up post baking is easy.

Peachy Keen Grain-Free Cobbler Cake

Peach Cake, raspberries and whipped cream. No grain.  Life is good.

Ingredients:

1T Lime juice
1T honey
2T water
2T granular erythritol
2 Large peaches,  peeled, halved, pitted and sliced 1/8" thick
1/2 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of sea salt
7T coconut flour
5 large eggs, plus 1 yolk
1 15 oz. can of navy beans, drained and rinsed
4 tsp. natural vanilla extract.
2 tsp. almond extract
3/4 cup granular erythritol
1/2 tsp. pure stevia extract powder
6T melted butter, cooled slightly

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9" round cake pan with cooking spray, and then place a round of cooking parchment into the bottom and spray it, too.

2. Place he lime juice, honey, water and the 2T of erythritol in a small saucepan and bring gently to a boil stirring to dissolve the erythritol when the erythritol has dissolved, carefully pour the syrup over the bottom of the prepared cake pan and arrange the sliced peaches in concentric circles over the syrup. Set the pan aside.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder,sea salt and the coconut flour with  whisk or fork until blended and set aside.

4. Into your blender container place the eggs and yolk, the drained beans, the vanilla, the almond extract,the erythritol and the stevia and process until smooth. add rhe melted buter and process again for a few seconds until mixed. add the dry ingredients from the small bowl and blend until the mixture is completely homogenous, about 1 minute. Stir if necessary and blend again until smooth.

5. Carefully pour the batter from the blender container over the peaches,  smack the cake pan on the counter a couple of times to release any trapped air, and place it in the oven. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Cool the cooked cake on a rack for about 30 minutes before inverting onto a flat serving plate, and carefully peeling off the parchment. Garnish with whipped cream and raspberries if you like. Serves 8. if you aren't too greedy.

Chicken in Vermouth with Tomatoes, Peppers & Herbs

This is one of those "fall back on" recipes that are so easy and good at any time of year, but truly spectacular when you can get garden fresh vegetables and herbs. Another beauty of this dish is that it works with fresh chicken,  leftover chicken or even a rotisserie chicken.

The vegetables, garlic and herbs I've used have come from my own garden, but at this time of year, it would be a shame to make it with canned tomatoes and frozen peppers if you have access to any sort of fresh, locally grown produce. All the summer vegetables and herbs are at their peak right now. Leave the canned and frozen  vegetables for when the snow flies in January.

Italian vermouth is both sweet and herbal, and adds a lot of depth of flavor to this dish. Other red wine is good, but the vermouth really makes it sing. There are plenty of savory juices that are perfect over pasta or rice, or with a nice chunk of crusty baguette. This a sophisticated comfort food at its best.

Chicken in Vermouth with Tomatoes, Peppers & Herbs

The actual hands-on time is about 15 minutes, but it tastes like
 you've slaved all day.

Ingredients:

4 lb. of raw chicken parts, with skin, or a cooked 4-lb. chicken  cut into portions
2T olive oil
6 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped
2 large onion, one thinly sliced, one diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large yellow or orange bell peppers, diced
1/4 cup  fresh basil leaves
3T fresh oregano leaves
2 T fresh rosemary leaves, lightly chopped
Kosher salt, pepper
1 cup sweet Italian vermouth

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF, and oil a broad, shallow oven-to-table baking dish that will mostly hold the chicken in a single layer. If you are starting with raw chicken, heat the olive oil in a large, non-stick sauté pan and place the chicken skin-side down. Cook for about 5-7 minutes over medium high heat until the skin is browned. Place the chicken in one layer in the pan.  Proceed to step 3.

2. If you are using cooked chicken, place it in the prepared baking dish, and then heat the oil in the pan.

3. Add the tomatoes, peppers, garlic, basil and diced onions to the chicken pan or the heated oil, and cook until soft. Scrape the tomato and pepper mixture evenly over the chicken. Separate the sliced onions into rings and spread them out evenly over the tomato mixture, and then scatter the oregano and rosemary over the top and season with about 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and a few grinds of freshly ground pepper. Drizzle the vermouth back and forth over all, cover tightly with aluminum foil or a lid, if your dish has one.

4. Place in the oven and bake for 1-1/2 hours if using raw chicken, and just 1 hour if using pre-cooked chicken.

Serves 4.

Looks good, even before baking.

Fee, Fie, Foe Friday: Wonder Why That Recipe Didn't Turn Out?

It's not just using the wrong ingredients that can make a dish o very wrong...

Okay. Yes, there are a few faulty recipes on the internet. I've found some that, even with my 30 years of cooking and teaching, make me say, " WTH?" Those we can't do much about.

But if you read the comments sections of food blogs, as I do, you'll find that either literacy on the part of the reader/cook is a bigger problem than we know, or that people just will-nilly substitute ingredients left and right and then have the nerve to complain to the food blogger that the recipe doesn't work or is awful. At least half of the commenters have made mistakes in execution or have made off-the-wall substitutions and are unwilling to take the blame for their own stupidity mistakes. If you substitute applesauce for butter and carob chips for chocolate in one of MY recipes, don't come whining back and tell me the cookies were dreadful. No sympathy from me, since you've just made YOUR OWN bad recipe, not mine. I admire the tactfulness and kindness of so many of the blogger I read; someday I will learn to be that nice. Probably not very soon, even though I have yet to run out of patience with any of my in-the-flesh students.

There is a lot of both chemistry and physics in food prep and cooking. Most of us slept through so many science courses in school that we've forgotten about things like how metals conduct heat and what happens with sodium and cell walls...Cooking and baking are  the everyday practical application of those classes that seemed useless at the time.

My mother always claimed that if you could read, you could cook; maybe not well, but passably. I think people can read, but their comprehension is low. Not understanding the instructions and not using the correct ingredients are pretty much guaranteed to spoil the best of recipes, especially if the cook is inexperienced.

The bright side here is that by making cooking mistakes is how you get cooking experience. Some things you'll likely learn the hard way: that baking soda and baking powder are NOT interchangeable, that a wet cloth transmits heat way faster than a dry one, and that butter cookies don't taste good when you use a trans fat free, earth friendly, vegetarian, factory spread instead of Mother Nature's good butter. Or that a cup of ketchup is a lousy substitute for sauce on a homemade pizza. This list goes on and on, and each of us has our very own list of things we'll never try again.

The point of this Fee, Fie, Foe rant is basically to read the recipe, and then read it again to be sure you understand what to do in each step and then make sure to use the food the recipe specifies. If you don't have something a dish asks for on hand, and you aren't sure if what you've got in the pantry will work, don't do it. Make another recipe. Google a recipe for what you do have. And if it's one of my recipes, I don't want to hear about it unless you think its a funny story and you take the blame.

Swoonworthy Grainless Wonder: Chocolate Mocha Blender Cupcakes

Yup, you heard me. Blender cupcakes.  Rich, dark chocolatey cake, topped with a tower of unctuous mocha cream cheese frosting, these are everything our little grain free hearts can desire. Especially since they taste just like the cupcakes from the best baker you know. Just don't tell your friends until after they finish swooning that they're made with black beans. And all natural non-sugar sweeteners. Far better than all those gluten-free cakes made with 36 different odd foods ground into powders.

Everything gets mixed in the blender. No mixer for the cake part, just the blender and a small bowl to mix some of the dry ingredients.  You will need a mixer for the frosting, but the recipe makes a lot, and you can console yourself by eating the extra fabulous frosting while no one is watching.

All I could do to not just dive in. 

Grain Free Chocolate Mocha Blender Cupcakes
Adapted from the recipe for Healthy Chocolate Cake from Healthy Indulgences

Note: I keep seeing in other recipes that if you can detect a beany taste in the cake, it will disappear after they stand 8 to 12 hours. What I've actually found is that there is no discernible bean taste after they cool, if you choose very bland beans. For these I suggest organic black soy beans (Eden Brand), although regular black beans will work fine. The soy beans are also very low in carbohydrate compared to other beans, and makes this already low carb recipe still lower. My husband, who is a Type 2 diabetic can also indulge in one of these since the alternative natural sweeteners don't seem to impact his blood sugar. You body may react differently if you have blood sugar issues.

1 15 ounce can of black soy beans, drained and rinsed
5 large eggs
1 T pure vanilla extract
6 T melted unsalted butter, cooled slightly
1T instant espresso powder
3/4 cup granular erythritol,
1/2 tsp. pure stevia extract
6T Dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Place 12 cupcake papers in the cups of a cupcake pan, and spray the inside of the cups with oil cooking spray. Set the pan aside.

In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder, the baking powder and the baking soda, then set aside. Into the blender container, place the drained beans, the eggs, the vanilla extract,  and the melted butter. Puree, scraping down the inside of the blender jar as necessary. Next add the espresso powder, the erythritol and the stevia. puree again. Last add the cocoa mixture from the bowl and puree until it's all mixed evenly.  Pour the batter evenly among the 12 prepared cupcake cups, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until domed, and a toothpick stuck into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove them to a cooling rack to fin isn cooling to room temperature.

Chocolate Mocha Cream Cheese Frosting
Note: to keep the granular texture of the sweeteners from being noticeable, I suggest placing the erythritol, the xylitol and the stevia in a food processor and blending them together until the texture resembles powdered sugar. if you are lazy, like me, just use them as the come out of the package but be warned, there will be it bit of an undissolved sugar texture in the finished frosting. No one has minded so far here. They just scarf them down.

1 8-oz block of cream cheese, softened at room temp
3 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3/4 cup granular erythritol
3T granular xylitol
1/4 tsp. pure stevia extract
1 T instant espresso powder
1/4 cup hot tap water

Stir the erythritol, xylitol and the stevia into the hot water, then stir in the instant espresso. Stir to dissolve the sweeteners as much as possible. In a large bowl, with a hand mixer, whip together the cream cheese, the melted chocolate, the vanilla and the salt. When well blended, mix in the Espresso mixture, and whip on high speed for a few minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy. Pipe or spread generously on the completely cooled cupcakes. Garnish with 90% dark chocolate shavings, or dark chocolate covered coffee beans. Makes enough frosting to cover a dozen cupcakes generously, plus a bit for the cook to eat from the bowl. Ahem.

From Garden to Plate: Spinach, Cauliflower & Cheddar Bake

Spinach, Cauliflower & Bell Pepper Bake

Now that we've joined the Big Green Egg cult, I haven't cooked a single piece of meat in the house, unless you count a pan or two of bacon. While I used to be the BBQ Girl around here, regularly loading and running a smoker full of apple logs and briskets while my disinterested DH watched baseball, I am now Kitchen Girl. The Egg has kindled a new interest in outdoor cooking in him and I am relegated to the side dishes. For the moment...I'll be back out there as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, though, it has given me a man-free kitchen to whomp up something to go with the manly burnt offerings (actually he hasn't burned anything, but it sounds good). And when you cook the meat outdoors, there is no roasting pan to wash. So it's all good and I pretty much love our Egg as much as he does, maybe more, since I've wanted one far longer. But I digress...

Remember I was whining about  the slim pickings in the garden last Friday? Well, it still is producing a little of this and that. All good.  Some shallots dug a few weeks ago, garlic, and bell peppers. And I got a very small cauliflower at the farmers market on Friday which, when you are aiming for low- carb, is a godsend. It made the base for a good cheesy dish that's somewhere between a casserole and a crustless quiche. You can add or subtract whatever you don't like here, but the eggs and sour cream proportions need to stay constant, or, well, you have an entirely different dish...possibly not bad, but different.

Note: to grate cauliflower, just scrape it on the big holes of a box grater, or chop it medium-fine in a food processor. To cook it, I just sauté it in a bit of butter until soft. If you want to keep this dish vegetarian, either use vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, or Pickapeppa sauce which has no anchovies in it.

Homegrown peppers and shallots.

Spinach, Cauliflower & Cheddar Bake

3 cups of grated cauliflower, cooked soft
1T extra virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced 1/2"
5 oz. baby spinach
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. Cholula or other hot sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Oil a 9" square oven-to-table baking dish. Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan, and add the shallot, garlic and bell pepper. Sauté on medium heat until the pepper is soft and the shallot is limp. Stir in the spinach a bit at a time and cook until it just wilts. Turn off the heat and set aside in the pan to cool for a minute or two.

Infinite possibilities with fresh-from-the-garden vegetables.

Whisk together the eggs, sour cream hot sauce and Worcestershire in a medium bowl. Stir in the cheese, and the vegetable mixture from the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and bake for 45 -60 minutes until brown at the edges and bubbly. Good side with grilled meat or as a vegetarian main with a salad.

Serves 4-6.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: Beautiful Food & Some Not So Much

I read a lot of other blogs; these people who crank them out daily, shoot wonderful food photos, produce books and just generally sound like they're my helpful friends, are my heroes. It's astounding how beautiful and consistent their blogs are, if, like me, they're juggling a full time job, a home, garden, family and some sort of a social life. I know some of them make their livings writing and blogging, but  they still amaze me daily. I so often end up running late (and skipping my daily run) because I've spent too much time on Google Reader catching up each day. They often present a perfection I don't think I'll ever reach.

Today, Marisa over at Food in Jars wrote about cutting yourself some slack. She wrote: "My very best advice is to try to learn to adapt, be flexible and exhibit some kindness to yourself, your preserves and the recipe writers who live in the same changeable world that you do." Boy, is she ever right. I spent a 45 minutes trying to make some rather burned overcooked chicken thighs look presentable enough to shoot, since it was just a superficial burn--just the skin. But too much Photoshopping is a bad thing, and I ended up writing about something else and just ate the damned chicken thighs. It's so hard to cut myself some slack in the kitchen. But that's just what I want you to do.  If you have some sort of cooking disaster, salvage it if you can, laugh about it and move on. And go read what Marisa wrote. She's spot on.

The day I overcooked those chicken thighs, I also picked a baby zucchini with the most beautiful blossom I've ever seen on anything. It makes a perfect picture, with no help from me. No cooking, no pretty plates, no dragging the tripod out to the patio to get the light right for a shot. It was a gift, a reminder that, control freak that I am, I can't control it all. 

No matter how good I get at shooting food,
Mother Nature make a much better looking product.

I'm pretty new to this blogging thing, and I'm learning post by post, shot by shot. I really want to share what I've learned largely by cooking, teaching and making some real doozy mistakes that I'll NEVER make again (although there are so many other things I haven't tried  yet that I can screw up). Blogging it all is the best way I can do it. This way, you will end up with some great stuff on your table and at least avoid MY mistakes. You can make your own mistakes this way...mwahahaha! So if you see a little ugly food here on occasion, bear with me. I promise to take a food photography class as soon as I can. And not to turn the broiler on high and then walk out of the room.

Instead of a blog post, they became work lunches...ouch!

  

If All Else Fails: Make Pickled Jalapeño Peppers

It's very weird, but last year just about this time, I was complaining about how awful the garden had been. This year, ditto. Heat, drought, and what little rain we get is monsoon-like, running off the parched ground like water runs off a rain slicker. Just like last year, it was again a slim year for tomatoes, and most of the other vegetables. Enough for the table, and maybe a couple of extra meals worth to freeze, be there will be no big can-a-thons, except for jalapeño peppers. The damn plants are loaded. Later in the summer, I'll see what I can whomp up that's fancy enough to be a gift jar, but in the meantime, it's going to be pickled jalapeño slices. Just like last year. 

So, if all else in the garden fails, make pickled jalapeno peppers. These are Hades-hot peppers, thanks to the heat and drought, and would actually make a great gift for any hot pepper lover. The leftover pickled pepper juice in the jar is a goldmine of flavor, too, so use it up in dressings, as a sauce or add a few fresh things to it (cukes or radishes??) to make a quick, fresh hot pepper. This recipe is similar to one I showed you last year, with a few adjustments. Enjoy!

Pickled Jalapeño Peppers--
a taste of Summer for all year long!

Pickled Jalapeños with Garlic
Makes 4 pints

2 pounds fresh Jalapeño peppers, mix red & green if possible
8 large garlic cloves, slivered
5 teaspoons of pickling salt
4 tablespoons sugar
5 cups white distilled vinegar
1 cup water

1. Wash 4 pint canning jars, with new lids and bands. Bring a water-bath canning kettle full of water to cover the jars by 1" to 2" to a simmer. Sterilize the jars and lids per the instructions from your canner.
2. Cut the peppers into 1/4" inch slices, and mix in a bowl. Discard the stems. Be careful handling peppers; try to use tools, or put plastic bags over your hands to avoid contact with the hot stuff.
3. Put the garlic, salt, sugar vinegar and water into a large saucepan, and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 3 minutes or so.
4. Tightly pack the peppers into the jars, but try not to crush them too much.
5. Ladle in the vinegar mixture into each jar, filling to just under 1/4" from the top, carefully scooping in some of the garlic.
6. Wipe the rims with a damp, clean paper towel, and place the lids and bands on, sealing just hand tightening.
7. Place in the water bath canner, and bring to a boil, covered, and process for 15 minutes.
8. Remove the jars to a rack or a folded kitchen towel and do not disturb until completely cooled. Mark your jars with the date and contents, and try not to open for a few weeks. They should keep for a year or so, if you don't find lots of ways to scarf them down sooner.

Another Grainless Wonder: Cheddar Bacon Chive Muffins

I miss a good muffin. A good savory muffin. So far I've gone a week without sugar or grain products and am feeling much better. I still miss a good muffin, though. I'm not a big bread eater in general, but some saucy foods just cry out for something to soak up the good juices.

Grain-free Cheddar, Bacon & Chive muffins, pass the butter!

I've been fascinated by these recipes that use plain cooked beans to make cakes and cupcakes. The two batches I've made have turned out perfectly. How delicious would it be to have some sort of muffin  alongside a bowl of chili or a cup of soup? Made with a bean base? Guess what? These are killer. And no grain. They even got thumbs up from my decidedly flour and sugar loving co-workers.

At last, a muffin recipe that's gluten free, grain free, and doesn't have 37 different odd grain flours from 6 different stores in it. And its fast, easy and totally scrumptious. They have bacon in them, after all.

Notes: If you don't quite end up with 6T of bacon fat from cooking the bacon, add enough butter to the bacon fat to make up the difference. A good sized portion scoop will make it easy to fill the muffin pan,  Some white beans, like cannelloni beans, have a stronger flavor than navy beans, which have no discernable flavor in this recipe. If you use another type of bean, let these muffins sit at least 4 hours, and there will be no bean taste to them whatsoever.

A portion scoop keeps me from being my usual messy self.

Grain-Free Cheddar Bacon Chive Muffins
Makes 12

You'll need: paper muffin / cupcake liners, cooking oil spray and a muffin pan with 12 cups in it.  And a blender.

1 15-ounce can of navy beans, rinsed and drained
5 large eggs
2T Granular Erythritol
5 slices of smoky bacon cooked and crumbled (save the fat)
6 T of bacon fat, cooled slightly
1-1/2 packed cups shredded extra sharp cheddar
1/4 cup minced chives
3T coconut flour, packed
3T flax meal
1T sweet paprika
1/8 teas. cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon non-aluminum baking powder (Rumford)
cooking oil spray

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place muffin / cupcake papers in the muffin pan, and spray with cooking oil spray. In your blender, put the beans, the erythritol, the bacon fat and eggs.  In a small bowl, mix the coconut flour, the flax meal, the paprika and cayenne. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the crumbled bacon, the chives and the cheddar cheese, breaking up the cheese with your hands, mixing it all well. Puree the bean mixture until smooth. Add the coconut flour mixture to the blender and puree until well mixed.

Pour the contents of the blender over the cheddar cheese mixture and mix well with a spatula until the chives flecks are evenly dispersed. Scoop into the prepared muffin pan, and bake about 22 - 25 minutes until lightly browned, and a toothpick comes out clean if you test a muffin. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. for best flavor, let cool and rest 4 hours. Store covered, or refrigerate.

Can you tell what's in these besides bacon, cheese and chives?
 My tasters couldn't!

Disclaimer: I do my nutrition calculations on a free nutrition website, and am not responsible for inaccuracies; your calculations may differ. Each muffin has approx. 260 calories, 4g usable carbohydrate (96.5g carb - 3.38 fiber) and 12 g. of protein.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: Somebody Took My Smoker

We've joined a cult. My old, big BBQ smoker had to go when I could no longer hitch and trailer it, and a few years back, I got a medium sized one. The little one is somewhere lost behind the shed. I cranked out a lot of good brisket, ribs and pork shoulders in that thing. I modified it quite a bit along the way with a lot of help from the nice folks at Smoking Meat Forums. I named it Faithful. But I still had to stay up most of the night tending the fire every few hours to keep it going low and slow. Finally I caved, and we bought a Big Green Egg, which as far as I am concerned, is the ultimate Grill-BBQ-Smoker. I don't have to snooze in a chaise lounge between the smoker and a pile of applewood any more. The BGE will hold a steady temp for hours which means Mama gets to SLEEP. In bed. The Big Green Egg may have a cultish following, but there's a reason. There is nothing like it in 'Q world. We're in the BGE cult.

But what to do with the now-rusting hulk of my old Faithful? If you look in the upper left of the picture below, you can see it sitting lonely out in the middle of the yard, while the BGE takes center stage. Black and rusty, it was no beauty, but it worked. Temperamental, but it worked. Faithful weighs around 200 pounds, and since we had no way to dispose of it, we called our trash hauler and they were going to send a truck with two brawny men to take it away, and Faithful's BBQ days were done.

Poor old Faithful, back there in the upper left corner, has been replaced.

Since he had some time early this evening, before we went out to dinner, Chuck shoved and pushed Faithful all the way to the edge of the lawn near the curb to catch a ride in a trash truck tomorrow. Then we left for dinner. Two hours later, as we turned into the driveway, there was an empty spot where Faithful had been sitting. It was gone. Somebody took my smoker. Faithful may just have another chance at being the centerpiece of big BBQs again. God, I hope so. Saved from the trash truck in the nick of time.

Rock on Faithful; I know you'll be smokin' wherever you are.

The Best Thing You Forgot to Grill This Summer: Lamb, Butterflied and Marinated

Somehow, we've missed the boat here with one of the best possible meats for the grilling season. Everyone does beef steaks and burgers, pulled pork butt and ribs, but rarely do you ever see a really great recipe for a simply fabulous grilled lamb. Here it is.

Meat Eater's Delight: juicy, tender grilled butterflied lamb!

A lot of people think they don't like lamb; it draws up memories of dry, overdone leg of lamb with mint jelly at Easter dinners. I was one of them until I was a teenager, and was served lamb cooked rare in France. What a revelation: rich, juicy and succulent. Certainly NOT what my mother put on the table at home. The key to really wonderful lamb is never to cook it past medium rare...or at most medium. If there is no pink left, then you better keep cooking and make a stew, as well-done lamb leg is abominable. It's the stuff that made so many people think they don't like lamb. Like Chuck.

Last weekend, for Sunday dinner, I found a beautiful, small piece of free-range, organic lamb at the butcher, already boned and butterflied. All it needed was a little marinating in a simple garlicky mixture of fresh garlic, Herbes de Provence, red wine and olive oil. And then a short visit on a hot grill. Perfection.  Good meat doesn't need a lot of ornamentation. Ours turned out to be a spectacular dinner, and my lamb-hating husband scarfed down every bit on his plate.

Be sure your grill is hot enough to cook before your start. 450°F.

Note: To make this Simple Grilled Lamb, you'll need some simple math skills to multiply the ingredients according to the number of people you plan to serve.  The meat should be evenly butterflied to just over 1" thick. Also, please be sure your Herbes de Provence mixture contains lavender; it doesn't have taste anywhere as good without it. When you remove the meat from the grill notice that the grain of the meat will likely go in different directions in the leg, as it's comprised of several different muscles. Be sure to pay attention to where the grain shifts direction as you carve the cooked meat to keep cutting against the grain. This will insure every bite will be meltingly tender.

Simple Grilled Lamb

1 pound of butterflied leg of lamb for every two people you plan to serve
2T of Herbes de Provence per pound of meat
3 minced garlic cloves for each pound of meat
1teas. kosher salt per pound of meat
1/2 cup dry red wine per pound of meat
2T extra virgin olive oil per pound
1 big grind of fresh ground pepper per pound.

Place the meat in a big zip top bag. Combine everything else and pour over. Seal the bag and refrigerate 6  to 8 hours, turning over occasionally bathe the meat in the marinade  evenly.

No fancy ingredients,  just herbs, garlic , wine and oil. Perfection.

Heat a grill to 450°F. Remove the meat from the marinade and discard the bag and marinade. Grill about 3-5 minutes a side depending on how well cooked you like it. Let stand about 7-10 minutes before slicing across the grain like a London broil. Better to err on the rare side as you can always put it back on longer. No way back from overcooked.

Nice with a light dry red wine, pureed cauliflower and steamed greens with oil and garlic.

Grainless Wonder: Lime Coconut Cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Put the Lime in the Coconut and eat them all up.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes. She put the lime in the coconut...I was so enamored of the cake Chuck made for me for my birthday, that I just had to try another version, using white beans. Honestly, if I didn't tell you they were made with beans, stevia and erythritol, you'd never know. Coconut and lime seem summery to me, and I also had the ingredients on hand. Noting having to run to the store is key for me. 

♫ Brother bought a coconut, he bought it for a dime

His sister had another one, she paid it for a lime.

She put the lime in the coconut, she drank them both up...♫

Every time I say the name of these cupcakes, I want to start singing the Harry Nilsson version of this song. Fortunately, this cupcake recipe will not give anyone a bellyache ( like the song says) because it is grain free, gluten free and sugar free. It's also pretty low carb, too, by my calculations, less than 6g per cupcake. Your calculation may differ.



No coconut shreds in them, but they do have excellent coconut flavor, ideally use the Frontier coconut flavoring; but real coconut extract will do. Coconut flour and coconut oil really up the flavor ante. The lime keeps them from being too sweet. You can buy the Boyajian Lime oil here, or over at Amazon, and in some good baking stores. You can leave it out if you want, but I'd double up on the zest if you do. I started out with a recipe I found called Healthy Yellow Cupcakes over on the blog Healthy Indulgences, and ran with it. They're topped with a decadent cream cheese frosting pumped up with some lime zest, lime juice and lime oil. I've used navy beans, as they have the least beany flavor, which totally disappears after the cakes stand for about 8 hours. Keep the frosted cupcakes refrigerated. We ate our first cupcakes after about 5 hours and noticed no bean taste at all. Just deliciousness.

Almost eaten all up.

Adapted from Healthy Indulgences

Coconut Lime Cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

1 15 oz. can of navy beans, drained

6 large eggs

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

3/4 teaspoon pure stevia extract

2/3 cup granular erythritol

2 tsp. natural vanilla extract

2 tsp. Frontier alcohol-free Coconut Flavoring

1/2 tsp. Boyajian Lime oil

6 packed tablespoons of coconut flour

2 T lime zest

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place 12 cupcake papers into a  cupcake pan, and spray the inside of the papers with cooking spray. Set aside. In a blender container or a food processor, place the beans, and all the ingredients through the lime oil. In a small bowl, mix the coconut flour, the lime zest the salt, the baking soda, and the baking powder. Set aside. Puree or process until perfectly smooth, scraping down the container as necessary. Add the coconut flour mixture and blend or process until mixed in completely. Fill the 12 prepared cupcake cups with the batter, place in the oven, and bake about 20-25 minutes until they are beginning to brown at the edges. Let stand on a rack about 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan and let cool completely on a rack before frosting. 

Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz. package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup granular erythritol

1/8 teaspoon pure stevia extract

1/2 tsp. Boyajian Lime oil

3 T lime zest

2T fresh lime juice

Pinch of sea salt

With a hand mixer, beat everything together in a medium size bowl, beat about 3-4 minutes until the erythritol dissolves and is no longer grainy. Frost cupcakes as desired. Make enough frosting for 12 cupcakes.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: The Coffee Sweetener Dilemma

What the heck can I stir into my coffee in the morning that won't rot my teeth, raise my blood sugar, make me fat, or give me some dread disease somewhere down the road? And doesn't taste weird?

This is probably over-thinking this, but I think I am a sugar addict. My husband says I'm crazy, but I find when I eat a sugar-sweetened dessert, or a piece of candy, I have to have MORE. I can never seem to stop at one serving. Always two and sometimes three. Which is why I try to avoid sugar as much as I can, without turning into a food hermit. According to what I've read from Gary Taubes, I'm probably right about the addictiveness.

I'm guessing I'm not alone, in wanting a little something to sweeten my day, considering how many sugar substitutes I can buy in a single supermarket on a single shopping trip. Aside from plain old cane sugar, there is a plethora of natural and artificial sugar substitutes and the sheer number boggles the mind. Back when I was an online member of Weight Watchers, and frequenting their community boards, there would be outright battles over what to use in place of the demon sugar. No one ever won.

Problem is, I still like my coffee sweetened, or some sort of a decent-tasting  dessert. I've got an arsenal of various sugar substitutes from the generally considered fake artificial, like the saccharine in the pink packets, the aspartame in the blue ones, and the sucralose in the yellow ones. Those are shoved way back in a corner.

Then there are the "alternative" sugars like the sugar alcohols erythritol, xylitol, and the polydextrose (yep, have them, too) and finally the herbal extract, stevia. I'm not even going to discuss the "natural" sugars like raw cane, turbinado, coconut, honey, molasses, and date. Which I also have some of each. What you see here is just from ONE partial sweetener shelf in my pantry. Oy. 

All are good, none are perfect for everything. Sigh.

My current leanings are to evict the artificial ones from their space, and stick to the more naturally occurring products. The problem is, no single sweetener is good for all purposes. I think stevia is revolting in coffee, but fine in smoothies and baking. Xylitol is good for baking and frostings, but can give a digestive upset in quantity. Erythritol is ok in coffee, doesn't give digestive problems, but can be grainy and has a cooling effect in some dishes. No one-size-fits-all here, no matter how much I wish it.

Maybe I'll just start drinking my coffee black.

Kitchen Magician Trick #1: Blanching

It's hard to follow a healthy diet every day when those darn $5 foot-long hoagies (subs to all you non-Philly folks) look so good. Making a meal from scratch seems so daunting when it's late, you're tired and there are still things like baths and bedtime stories, or a lawn to mow before dark. Or, there's a hammock and a glass of wine with your name on it.

It's easy enough to pop a chicken breast or a steak on the grill, but if the thought of having one more bagged salad combo on the side makes you want to dial Dominos, I have a good trick for you. The big TV food gurus always tell you to wash and prep your vegetables and fruit as soon as you bring them home, but I want you to take it one step further. Blanch your vegetables in bulk in advance. Blanching partially cooks your vegetables, and usually brightens the color. If you like them on the firm side, you can even use the blanched vegetables in salads or quick pickles.

So if your family will eat green beans twice in a week,  buy 2 pounds, trim and blanch them in boiling, well salted water for about 4-5 minutes, until just on the verge of being cooked, and then immediately shock them in ice water to stop the cooking. Now you are ready to go. This technique works for most harder, crispy vegetables like broccoli, green beans, carrots and cauliflower, though you may want to blanch sliced carrots or cauliflower a minute or two longer than beans. Tougher greens like kale and collards are great stored blanched, ready to use. You probably only think of blanching when you want to freeze vegetables, but blanched vegetables will keep well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.  This week I did a batch of green beans and a big bunch of kale.

When mealtime rolls around, and your chicken is on the grill, or the tuna is in the broiler, all you have to do is heat some of your favorite fat in a saucepan, add some aromatics--onion, garlic or pepper, cook for a minute or two, and then add a meal's worth of your blanched vegetable. Toss it in the hot oil until heated through and as tender as you like. Less than 5 minutes to the table. There are innumerable combos to try with your vegetables. Bacon is always a favorite, it goes with virtually everything, and if you save bacon fat like I do, you already have the start of a tasty side dish.

I'm not going to tell you how to blanch your vegetables, you can Google for plenty of info on that; I am telling you to partially gook your vegetables ahead to speed getting a delectable, nutritious dinner on the table in no time flat.

Here's a favorite recipe of ours that uses blanched green beans; in our house the green beans are usually haricots verts, because I grow them and we prefer them. Feel free to use whatever bean is fresh and beautiful in your market.

Just about everything is better with bacon.

Green Beans with Bacon, Fried Onions & Tomato
Serves 4

1 lb. green beans or haricots verts, trimmed and blanched
4 slices of bacon, minced or 4 slices of cooked bacon crumbled, and 2T of saved bacon fat
1 small red onion, quartered and sliced thin
1 medium tomato, seeded and diced small
salt ,and black pepper to taste

In a 12" non-stick frying pan,  cook the bacon over medium high heat until beginning to crisp, about 2 minutes. Lower the heat and cook about a minute longer, until there is a little more than a tablespoon of rendered fat in the pan. Remove the cooked bacon and set aside. Add the onion to the bacon fat, and cook until beginning to soften. If you already have the bacon cooked, just heat the bacon fat and cook the onion. When the onion is beginning to turn golden, add the green beans and toss in the bacon fat. Cook a minute or two until heated through, then add the tomato. Toss well, season with salt and pepper to taste, and place in serving bowl. Sprinkle the reserved bacon over the top.

Pork Chop Porchetta on Farinata: Another Grainless Wonder

Your Cousin Vinny is probably going to come after me. My Uncle Tony is probably rolling in his grave. Spinning.  There is nothing in the world more delicious than a really well-made Italian porchetta sandwich made with juicy, seasoned, braised pork shoulder on a really good crusty, hard roll. I make a really scrumptious porchetta, almost an Italian pulled pork, and we live near Carangi's suburban branch -- a great Philadelphia Italian bakery that has the perfect rolls. I have two problems, though.

First, my porchetta recipe makes an enormous amount of the luscious, juicy pork, so my family of two would be eating it for a couple of weeks, and my system can't handle a lot of wheat starch. But it's such a familiar comfort food that I had to find a way around those hurdles. Luckily, I have a half of a freezer full of pork chops from that whole pork loin I bought a few weeks ago and showed you how to cut up here, and there is another Italian specialty that I can eat ---farinata. Farinata is the Italian version of the French Socca. Both are basically thin, crisp-ish flatbreads made solely from chickpea flour, water and olive oil. No grain, no gluten, and deliciously and fabulously authentic. It's also speedy to prepare as long as you remember to make the thin batter ahead and let it stand. By seasoning the chops with traditional porchetta seasonings and  braising all day in my slow cooker, Chuck and I can have a really good porchetta dinner in less than 30 minutes from when I pull into the driveway. I think Vinny and Tony would scarf this version down, too.

Pork Chop Porchetta, ready to serve!

You can  use my Socca recipe here, without adding any of the toppings. Or to make a Farinata, here's a link to the blog Kalyn's Kitchen where you'll find great, easy instructions. I use a slightly smaller pan to bake it for this,  as I want it a bit breadier and less crisp so it will sop up the gorgeous pork juice and I leave out the rosemary as there is plenty in the meat. These are great gluten free recipes to have in your file even if you don't make porchetta.


Note: I make this in a slow cooker, but it can easily be made in a dutch oven, in the oven at 325ºF for 2-1/2 hours. Generally, most traditional recipes include sage, but since we aren't fond of it, we've always subbed thyme. And in this non-traditional version, which is really more like a porchetta pulled pork, I've used some roasted peppers, both for color and flavor, and because loin is far leaner than pork shoulder. Enjoy every bite!

The Pork Chop Porchetta seasonings ready to go.

Pork Chop Porchetta
Serves 6
2-1/2 lb. boneless pork loin or sirloin pork chops or loin chunks
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2T ground fennel seed
6 garlic cloves, pureed or crushed
2T fresh rosemary leaves
6-8 fresh thyme sprigs
3/4 cup dry white wine
fresh ground black pepper
kosher salt
1 cup roasted sweet red bell pepper, chopped coarsely

Slap on the slow cooker lid; when you get back, it's Porchetta for dinner...

Place the pork in the crock of the slow cooker and toss with the olive oil. Mix in the ground fennel, the pureed garlic, the rosemary and thyme. Add the wine, and grind some fresh black pepper over the top, and add a big pinch of kosher salt. Cover and cook on low for 9 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, stir in the roasted peppers.

Serve over farinata or socca, or in crusty rolls.

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: 5 Things I Wish Foodies Would Fuggetabout

By the end of the week, I'm tired. I don't know how that affects you, but when I'm tired, little stuff starts to tick me off. Big stuff ticks me off, too, but when I'm bright and chipper I can let the little stuff go. I've found that one of the best antidotes for annoying things that you have no control over is to rant about it publicly. Many of my friends use Facebook for this. Another is a large dirty martini. Extra olives. Since I am totally out of olive juice, and my basement fridge is packed with drained-dry jars of green olives, there is no dirty martini in my future, or yours if you stop over here now. But I'm going to rant here, and you can certainly join me in the comment section below. Today's topic is over-done food trends. If I sound like a curmudgeon, I am.

1. Anything served in a canning jar. Please. Nearly every summer magazine spread, blog post with seasonal food or recipe site shows food or drinks served in mason jars. It's certainly OK if you are writing about canning or showing canned foods, but except for possibly the expedient consumption  moonshine, there is no good reason. It was cute. About 5 years ago. Very Martha-charming. Now, not so much, unless you like having your Watermelon Mary dribble down your shirt while you attempt to get your lips around the jar threads. If you feel you must use "unconventional" serve ware, at least use the cool stuff like the German made Weck canning jars. Good shapes and no threads.

Actually used for canning, this Weck canning jar would
pass for a perfectly good cafe-style glass.
 Get them at Crate & Barrel or from Weck's site.

2. Salt everywhere and on everything. Once the big ole ice cream companies have mass marketed an idea, it's time to move it along. I'm talking about salted caramel. Chocolate. Sweets in general. I just had some little dark chocolate discs that had so much salt on them they were just about inedible. Granted, salted desserts are delicious, done judiciously. Anyone who has ever scooped up ice cream on a pretzel stick has that figured out. One good thing about when food fads finally peter out, at least the good ones, is that they do have the staying power of a Chanel suit in the repertoire of good cooks. You can trot them out occasionally and they will still be wonderful.

3. Eggs atop everything. I had my first Salad Lyonnaise at the ripe age of 14. It was a revelation; the barely cooked egg became one with the dressing and coated the frisee and batons of pork beautifully. In a recent visit to  a "New American" restaurant, I saw a coddled egg four times on the same menu, on  boar chili, over a steak, on a bean salad and in a spring roll. The chef must raise chickens. Just try Googling coddled egg recipes. Too many. I'm sprouting pin feathers just thinking about it.

4. Food television reality shows. Snore. Need I say more?

5. Cupcakes, cake balls, popsicles. No, no, and no. At work we have 8-year-old kids coming in for baking supplies for cupcakes and cake balls, and they make really good stuff (some of the little dears bring us back samples, bless them). That's where these belong now.  Fun cooking at home. If I have to see one more overpriced cupcake shop open up in town, I'll have to move. If you feel the need to open a bakery, go to culinary school, spend some time apprenticing in Europe, and THEN, open a shop. Adult popsicles on restaurant menus? No thank you.

Happy Birthday to Me: A Grainless Wonder Cake

Today is my birthday. Chuck's was last week. We've already had too much of a good thing, and while I'd much prefer no cake at all, He-Who-Bakes won't even listen. So when he asked what I wanted for a birthday cake, I told him a no-grain, no-sugar, nothing-artificial cake. While he was still gaping at me, I sent him this link, to a beautifully written and researched blog. It's called "Healthy Indulgences" and Lauren has a cake recipe on it that I promise, no one will know is gluten free, grain free, and not sweetened with sugar, or chemical sweeteners. 


Sweet man that he is, he gathered together all the ingredients at Whole Foods on Sunday and made it. Considering he's a traditionalist when it comes to cake, I don't think he was prepared to find that a cake recipe that includes black beans, erythritol, and stevia, besides the usual eggs and butter produces a real, honest-to-goodness cake, that's moist, delicious and tender. 

Yes, cake, no grain, no sugar, no fake stuff!

We've already dug in, even though it's a bit ahead of time. Couldn't resist. Moist, chocolatey perfection. The cake is wonderful, even unfrosted. Tonight, it'll have whipped cream on top, and a candle, too, with a stevia sweetened raspberry coulis below on the plate.


The really nice part is that this is a gluten free cake, so good you can serve to anyone, with no apologies and it's not full of weird vegetable gums and odd things ground into flour. It's all stuff you probably have in your kitchen already. The erythritol is easy to find at any natural foods store and in some supermarkets with the sugar-free products. It's a natural sugar alcohol, that will not cause digestive upsets like other sugar alcohols.


As I get older, I am less willing to sacrifice my health just because it's a holiday or birthday. Especially when there are too many events too close together. And everyone in this family is a great baker. Luckily, Lauren to the rescue. This cake makes it easy, it just tastes sinful, but isn't. Try it.

Happy Birthday to me!

Rich, moist, chocolatey, just MY perfect Birthday Cake!
Thank you, Chuck! Love you...

Healthy Flourless Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Healthy Indulgences who--

Adapted from a recipe at LowCarbFriends


Makes a 9" one layer cake


Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans
OR 1 1/2 cup cooked beans, any color
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons unsalted organic butter OR unrefined coconut oil
3/4 cup erythritol + 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia extract
OR 1/2 cup honey + 1 teaspoon pure stevia extract
or 3/4 
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon water (omit if using honey)


Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9" cake pan with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray, or just grease it with a thin layer of butter. Dust cocoa all over the inside of the pan, tapping to evenly distribute. Cut a round of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan, then spray the parchment lightly.


Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia (if using) and salt into blender. Blend on high until beans are completely liquefied. No lumps! Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat butter with sweetener (erythritol or honey) until light and fluffy. Add remaining two eggs, beating for a minute after each addition. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder and water (if using), and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth. 


Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top. Grip pan firmly by the edges and rap it on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done with the top is rounded and firm to the touch. After 10 minutes, turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to a cooling rack. Let cool until cake reaches room temperature, then cover in plastic wrap or with cake dome (I use an overturned plastic chip bowl). For BEST flavor, let cake sit over night. I promise this cake will not have a hint of beaniness after letting it sit for eight hours! If you are stacking this cake, level the top with a long serrated knife, shaving off layers until it is flat and even. Frost immediately before serving  

A Summer Lapse: Pork Chops with Smoked Paprika, Roasted Peppers & Braised Onions

A break in the heat means a wonderful dinner
that's not grilled, for a change!

Cook the onions until they turn gold and translucent...
they get sweet!

Smokey, juicy pork chops, oh, deliciousness!

We must be having a blip in our oven-like summer. Suddenly for the last couple of days, it's actually been nice. Like "my shirt isn't stuck to my back" nice. Nice enough for a hot dinner from the oven. A lapse in the heat and humidity. Even though I go from my air-conditioned job to my air-conditioned car to my air-conditioned home, I'm just not that motivated to turn on the oven. Not when it's just plain hot-hot-hot. But I am really tired of grilled this and that.

Even though I do love summer, it made me very happy to make a deeply smoky, spicy, oniony base for some nice, thick bone-in sirloin pork chops. Without having to think about how much it might heat up the kitchen. I miss the savoryness of cooler weather foods. Just not the cold weather. This Spanish-inflected dish doesn't take that long in the oven, so you really could consider it for just about any time of year.

We enjoyed our chops over simply sauteed mushrooms and spinach for a grain-free, gluten free and Paleo dinner. And best yet, since we were just two at dinner last night, there are leftovers for today. When the heat comes back this afternoon, I'll just have to reheat. For now, yippee! for the nice blip in the weather and a flavorful baked dinner.

Note: Smoked Spanish paprika (pimentón) comes usually in either mild or hot, but be careful. Even the mild can pack a wallop at the two tablespoons used in this recipe. Use your discretion.

Pork Chops with Smoked Paprika, Roasted Peppers and Braised Onions
Serves 4

4 bone-in sirloin pork chops 1/2" to 1" thick
salt, fresh ground pepper
2 T olive oil or coconut oil
4 cups sliced onions (about 3 large)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2T smoked Spanish paprika (pimentón, see note)
1 12-oz. jar fire roasted red peppers, drained and coarsely chopped
1 cup dry Sherry or white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray a shallow baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Salt and pepper the pork chops on both sides lightly. Heat the oil in a large nonstick pan, and quickly brown the chops on both sides, remove from pan and set aside on a plate.

Add the onions to the oil and stir well to cover with the oil, salt lightly and cook about 5 minutes until the onions begin to brown a bit and turn golden. Stir in the garlic and the smoked paprika and mix well. cook for about a minute, then add the roasted peppers and the wine. Bring to to a simmer, cover the pan and turn down the heat. Cook for about 5 minutes until the unions are nearly translucent.

Place the pork chops in the prepared baking dish, then removing the cover from the pan, and stirring up all the juices, pour the onion and paprika mixture on top of the pork chops. Taste the juice for seasoning.  Bake in the oven uncovered, about 20 minutes until they are cooked through.

I like this with sautéed spinach and mushrooms, or the cauliflower puree recipe I posted last week. Gut if you would potatoes or a grain, go for it.