Shawarma Chicken, Vegetables and Pasta

I found a double pack - 2 1# packages - of sliced chicken in an Indian Shawarma sauce at Costco recently.  The ingredients are actually very healthy, and it's almost gluten free. Wheat flour was the last ingredient, so for those of us trying to back away from that, it's a good choice. 

It sounded so good, although I hadn't a clue how to make actual Chicken Shawarma, and decided not to find out. I just went with vegetables I had here. The sauce was surprisingly mild. I served it to my Granddaughter and her two little guys yesterday and everyone ate it! I was going to serve it over rice, but instead, decided on angel hair pasta, since it's my #1 Granddaughter's favorite.

2 sm.-med. dark green zucchini

1 med. light green variegated zucchini

equal amounts of butter + EVOO about 5T total

black pepper

Sauté the zucchini over medium heat while chopping or slicing:

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 orange or yellow bell pepper

1/2 big Vidalia or purple onion

2 big garlic cloves

1# sliced chicken in Shawarma sauce

1 28oz. can of good quality diced tomatoes

Add these vegetables to the pan when the zucchini starts to turn translucent. Remove the chicken from the pack, add any sauce left in the pack to the pot. 

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and add these, and the diced tomatoes, when the vegetables are still crisp-tender. Check the seasonings and make any corrections or additions. 

At the end, cool this a bit then add a 13.5oz. can coconut milk or coconut cream, and 1c honey roasted peanuts.

Serve over cooked, chilled and reheated pasta or rice. Much healthier since this creates a base that's considered resistant starch. . .Lin

Colorful Roasted Vegetable Soup

Scrub all the vegetables well, then cut away any bad spots.

In a large bowl, combine 5-6T coconut oil, several grinds of fresh black pepper and about 1t of parsley-garlic salt. Microwave this until the oil is liquified, then stir together, dissolving the salt.

Brush this inside a kabocha squash, also known as a Japanese pumpkin, that's been cut open with the seeds and membranes scraped out. Toss those, compost them, or throw them outside for the bunnies, birds and squirrels. Cut the rest of the vegetables (see list at the bottom of this post) into big chunks. Stir them around in the seasoned coconut oil, to coat all the surfaces.

Preheat your oven to 375°

Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper and arrange the vegetables on the sheets. The oranges, celery tops and garlic go in later (don't roast those) Roast the vegetables about 50 minutes, longer if needed, until the carrots are tender. They'll take the longest, so by then everything else will be done.

Use the parchment paper to transfer the vegetables to a 5 quart pot by sort of creating a tube of the paper, and letting them just slide off into the pan - with any seasoned oil, the vegetables didn't absorb, left on the paper.

Add the cut up tiny mandarins - including the peel, 12-15 cloves of roasted garlic, 1-2t pumpkin pie spice, a little pinch of cayenne pepper, half a bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley and a cup or two of vegetable or chicken broth. Stir and bring this to a simmer. Let it cook like this, at a very low bubble for 10-15 minutes giving the oranges and parsley a chance to warm up and blend with the vegetable flavors. Remove from the heat and chill in the fridge or out on your chilly deck if you live in the crisp-cold northern region.

It's been around 30°F here all day. Perfect temperature out there to utilize it as added food cold-storage 😉

After about an hour, blend the soup with an immersion blender, adding more broth if needed. Now would be a good time to add some sour cream if you'd like. For a pot this size I'd recommend starting with 6-8oz. If that's not enough you can always add more. I decided to stick with just vegetables this time.

This recipe made about 4 quarts of really flavorful soup! Now it will chill on my deck until Sunday and be part of an Easter Family Dinner. Serve garnished with (a dollop of sour cream) a sprinkle of dill, and thin slivers of orange peel. . .Happy Easter Everyone. .✞. .Lin

Hazelnut Craisin Mango Cake-Bread

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a bundt cake pan with butter or coconut oil.

Dust it with hazelnut flour, or use spiced turbinado sugar. This will give the finished cake-bread a crunchy-caramelized crust.

In a large glass bowl, whisk together:

1c oat 'flour'*

1⅓c corn flour

3/4c hazelnut flour

2T pumpkin pie spice

1/2T baking powder

1/2T baking soda

1t salt

*I made oat flour out of quick rolled oats, in my mini food processor. I was originally thinking this would have walnuts, but I discovered I was out of those. The hazelnut flour is made only of ground hazelnuts, so they added a bit of nutty flavor, just not the crunch.

In another glass bowl or large container, whisk together the wet ingredients:

1/2c oat milk

3/4c light olive oil

2T Mexican vanilla

2/3c coconut sugar

2/3c organic cane sugar

3 lg. pasture raised eggs

1½T fig balsamic vinegar

When these are well combined, and fluffy, add the fruit:

3/4c craisins or raisins

1 can drained diced mango

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry bowl, working quickly; using a silicone spatula; mix everything together, and pour into the prepared pan. Bake 1 hour, cool until at room temperature or cooler, before flipping onto a serving platter ("or it will break apart," says the voice-of-experience) This is a good anytime snack, breakfast or dessert. . .Lin

Almond Carrot Fruit Muffins

1c chopped rhubarb

1 lg. grated carrot

2T real vanilla 

zest from one lemon
juice from half a lemon
⅓c shredded coconut~~

⅓c organic cane sugar

⅓c dried cherries
⅓c raisins

⅔c avocado oil

2 lg. eggs

1c fine corn meal or corn flour

½c organic unbleached flour

½c quick steel cut oats
½c hazelnut flour

¾c sliced almonds
¼c ground flax seed mix*

1T pumpkin pie spice

½t Himalayan pink salt

1t each: bak.soda + bak.powder

Combine the first ingredients in a medium bowl, mixing well with a wooden spoon.  Set this aside to rehydrate the raisins and orange peel, while measuring and combining the flours and spices, etc., in a big bowl.

Once all the dry ingredients are combined well, pour in the egg-fruit mixture, stir well, but quickly so as not to over blend.  If it's a little dry, add a splash of water, milk or half and half.  If you use milk or half and half, stir in a tablespoon of white vinegar to covert it into buttermilk.  This will give the muffins better flavor and texture.  Spoon into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in a preheated 350⁰ oven for about 15 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test.  This makes 24 nice size muffins.  Mmmm! . . . Lin

~~I don't like the texture of the coconut.  If I make this again, I'll omit this ingredient.
*I found a wonderful one that contains flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and goji berries.  All finely ground.

Walnut Fruit Muffins

1c rhubarb

1 ripe banana

1-2T real vanilla 

2 'cuties' and peel

¾c chopped walnuts

⅓c organic cane sugar

⅓c golden raisins

⅔c avocado oil

2 lg. eggs

1c fine corn meal or corn flour

½c organic all purpose flour

½c quick steel cut oats

¼c organic oat bran

¼c ground flax seed mix*

2t pumpkin pie spice

½t Himalayan pink salt

1t each: bak.soda / bak.powder

Combine the first ingredients in a medium bowl, mixing well with a wooden spoon.  Set this aside to rehydrate the raisins and orange peel, while measuring and combining the flours and spices, etc., in a big bowl.

Once all the dry ingredients are combined well, pour in the egg-fruit mixture, stir well, but quickly so as not to over blend.  If it's a little dry, add a splash of water, milk or half and half.  Spoon into 24 prepared muffin cups, sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar.  Bake in a preheated 350⁰ oven for 12-15 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test.  This makes 24 muffins.
Mmmm, These Smell Fantastic! . . . Lin

*I found a wonderful one that contains flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and goji berries.  All finely ground.

Colorful Meatloaf

2¼# ground butcher's blend

(½ beef - ½ pork)

½ sweet orange pepper

½ sweet yellow pepper

2 stalks celery

1 med. onion

3 lg. eggs
1c rolled oats

10-15 oz. crushed tomatoes

1T Rosemary Seasoning 

(or your favorite salt and pepper based seasoning)

This is 'What's For Dinner' tonight

In a large bowl or pot, break up the meat then add the chopped vegetables and everything else in this group.  Using your hands or a big heavy wooden spoon, mix all this together for several minutes.  Form into however many loaves you want, bake at 350⁰ for 40-60 minutes.  I have a recipe in mind for this, for later, so I'm freezing 2 of the 3 loaves I made today.  These freeze well for another time or to give to someone who needs some home cooking. . .Lin

Mmmmeatloaf! With Pork and Turkey and Lamb - Oh My!!

2 large eggs

2 grated carrots

1-1/2c rolled oats

1 med. chopped onion

1 14.5oz. diced fire-roasted tomatoes

1# each: ground pork, turkey & lamb

½t± ground red and black pepper

1-2t± fresh ground garlic sea salt

1t± dried-crushed rosemary

Mix everything together in a large bowl with your hands or a wooden spoon.  Let stand 10-15 minutes to blend all the flavors while preheating the oven to 350°.  Form into 2-3 loaves, which freeze nicely either at this point, or after baking.  Bake about 1 hour.  It's always nice to have a healthy-comfort-food meatloaf in the freezer to give to a friend when they're sick, or on a busy day when you don't feel like messing with food prep.

Meatloaf is great with mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetables, baked potatoes and fresh green beans - or - as shown here, with chopped kale and assorted baby potatoes, steamed together, covered, in a little water until it evaporates.  Finish with fresh ground sea salt & garlic, fresh ground pepper and a little sour cream, on the stove. . .Be Creative - Happy Cooking! . . .Lin