Egg Bake with Chicken & Lots of Vegetables

This turned out SO well, in spite of forgetting to set my timer and going past my estimated baking time by about 20 minutes! 😯 No doubt about the vegetables being well cooked, that's for sure!

Preheat your oven to 350°

CHOP or SLICE:
1-2 lg. carrots
3-4 ribs of celery
a big handful of broccoli florets
6oz. roasted chicken
a generous amount of fresh greens
~ I used baby arugula and spinach
SHRED: 6-8oz. strong flavored cheese

Next, put the following in your blender jar:

8 lg. pasture raised eggs

1/3-1/2c liquid - I used coconut milk. Chicken broth would also be good.
3T Buckwheat flour - in spite of its name, this IS gluten-free!
1/2T baking powder
a big shake of smoked sea salt
- or- smokey paprika
1t± oregano leaf
1t black+cayenne pepper
1/2T good quality curry powder

Layer the vegetables in a buttered 9-13" pan. Add the chicken and greens. Pulse everything in the blender, just until smooth. Pour over the vegetables. Gently move everything around with a spatula to coat everything with the egg mixture without disturbing the layers. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over everything. Bake ? probably 35 minutes or until sides are browned and the center is firm.

I omitted onion from this recipe since I'll be sharing it with my Old-Man-Puppy Oliver 🐶 . . . Lin

Gluten-Free Corn Muffins with a little help from A.I.

Please excuse the font change, I wanted the A.I. comment to stand out from my ramblings. . .For the past several years, when I have ingredients rattling around in my 'fridge and my brain, I've found if I type them in the Google search line, it'll send me to similar recipes.

Now. . .A.I. not only does that but it will actually create a recipe for me using exactly what I've typed in! This is possibly the ONLY positive comment you'll ever see from me on this scary, invasive technology. . . 

So. . .I typed in only the main ingredients I wanted to use: "For Corn Muffins: Corn flour, buckwheat flour, eggs, canned corn, EVOO, plain Greek Yogurt" and this is what it suggested:

AI Overview

Healthy, moist corn muffins can be made using corn flour, buckwheat flour, eggs, canned corn, EVOO, and plain Greek yogurt. This combination typically requires a binder like baking powder, and often a sweetener like honey, with a base of 1 cup cornmeal (or flour) and 1 cup alternative flour, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, and 1/4 cup oil. 

Key Considerations for this Recipe:

• Moisture: Greek yogurt is the key ingredient that ensures the muffins are not dry or crumbly, often replacing butter or sour cream.
• Flour Mix: Using buckwheat flour adds a earthy, nutritious profile, while corn flour provides the traditional flavor, usually combined with a 1:1 ratio of flour to cornmeal.
• Method: Combine dry ingredients (corn flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, salt) and wet ingredients (eggs, yogurt, EVOO, canned corn) separately before gently mixing them together.
• Baking: Bake at 375°F-400°F for 15-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Add-ins: Enhance the savory flavor by adding mix-ins like jalapeños, shredded cheese, or savory herbs, or keep them slightly sweet with honey. 

For a healthier or gluten-free version, this combination works well and can be customized with additional ingredients like cheddar cheese or scallions. 

Preheat your oven to 350°
Line metal muffin tins with papers or use silicone muffin pans.
My take on this:

In a large glass bowl, whisk together:

1c corn flour

1c rolled oats

1/2c buckwheat flour

1T baking powder

1/2T Lowry's Garlic Salt

1/2T Little's Chili-Lime Seasoning

Combine the following in a smaller bowl:

1 can corn—drained

2 lg. pasture raised eggs

2oz. *1/4c raw, unfiltered honey

4oz. *1/2c Moroccan EVOO

8oz. *1c plain Greek yogurt

6oz.± low sodium vegetable broth or water - only if batter is too thick.

Other good additions would be grated Parmesan cheese, chopped canned jalapenos, finely diced sun-dried tomatoes, (chopped garlic stuffed large olives-?)

***My daughter-in-law bought me a kitchen scale several years ago. Best thing ever! She's a Pastry Chef and strongly recommends WEIGHING ingredients whenever possible for better accuracy. It also saves on having to clean measuring utensils. Just put whatever it is you need on the scale, zero the setting, and then the amount you need will register as a negative amount as you (for this recipe) squeeze, pour or spoon it into the bowl, all perfectly 'measured' by weight. 

When each bowl is well combined, and the oven is ready, pour the second into the first. Mix again, then fill each muffin—mini-bread cup 1/2—3/4 full. Sprinkle with a little grated cheese or everything bagel seasoning.

Bake until the tops are nicely browned or until a toothpick used to test comes out clean - about 20 minutes. Then drop the oven temperature to 325° for another 15 minutes. . .Lin

Sorry this appears so choppy, it always happens when I copy and paste text from an outside source to this site. I also can't remove the open space below without losing all the text above 😕 odd programming or crabby software I guess!

 

An Expanded Garlic-Cheese Biscuit—Muffin Recipe

😃 — WOW — 😃

I just realized. . .This is recipe #2,000!!!

I think some variety of this will be my go-to 'bread' recipe. In fact, next time I make this, I might try baking it in a loaf pan. There are other variations I'd also like to experiment with. Different spices, seasoning and other flours. I thought I only had 1/2c corn flour, but I was wrong, I found another package, or I would have made up the difference with buckwheat flour. In spite of the name, buckwheat flour is actually also gluten-free. I also bought coconut flour the other day when I shopped. Ohhh, so many fun possibilities! Here's today's recipe though, which is just a bit of an expansion on the original one I posted last week.

Preheat your oven to 375° In a big glass bowl, whisk together:

1c almond flour

1c corn flour

1T baking powder

2T ground flax seed

Put these ingredients in your blender and pulse until they're mixed, then blend a minute or so:

14-16oz. cottage cheese
6 cloves of garlic
3 jumbo eggs

1T± dry oregano

1/2T dry dill

1/2T garlic salt

Pour the blender contents into the flour bowl and stir until well mixed. Then add whatever cheese you like in whatever amount you want. Today I used about 2 cups of Taco Blend cheese.

Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins or directly into silicone muffin pans. Add more shredded cheese to the top of each, or sprinkle them with Everything Bagel Seasoning.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned. Cool, then serve with. . .Well. . .Just about anything! . . .Lin

Garlic and Cheese Biscuit-Muffins — Gluten-Free

Preheat your oven to 375°

In a blender jar, combine and blend these ingredients:

1½c cottage cheese

3 lg. cloves of garlic

3 lg. pasture raised eggs

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium glass bowl:

1c almond flour

½c corn flour

½T baking powder

½T oregano

1t dry dill

¾t garlic salt

Pour the blender ingredients into the bowl, add ½c shredded Dubliner cheese, stir to combine. Using a large serving spoon, spoon batter into paper-lined muffin tins or a silicone muffin pan.

Top each with a little more grated cheese for a chewier top, or omit to keep them fluffy.

Bake until golden brown, mine were in the oven for 35 minutes. These would be great with soup, vegetable casseroles or chili.  .  .Lin

Shrimp and Vegetable Lo Mein (gluten-free)

Slowly simmer three millet-brown rice ramen noodle 'cakes,' separating them as much as possible since they tend to stick together if you don't stir while cooking. I cooked them in fresh boiling water with a little lobster flavor Better Than Bouillon. Don't overcook this.

Drain and put in a big baking dish while still hot. Mix them with the snipped green onion tops and 4oz. frozen peas. Add some toasted sesame oil to keep the noodles from sticking together.

4oz. thin sliced carrots
2 mini peppers
3 baby bok chop
~ use the chopped, crunchy white parts now - thin slice the green tops to add later
2 big garlic cloves
~ crushed and chopped

Sauté-stir-fry these in some toasted sesame oil for a few minutes then add:

8oz. thawed Argentinian shrimp
~ cut each one in a 2-3 pieces
4 green onions
~ the white part
the green leaves from the bok choy
1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped

Cover and turn off the heat while making the sauce.

3/4c peanut or mixed nut butter
1/3c sweet chili sauce
1/3c mushroom soy sauce
2-3T finely chopped candied ginger

Stir these together in a small glass bowl. Heat 20 seconds in the microwave. Check the flavors. I added a little garlic salt and black pepper

Gently stir the vegetables into the noodles, add the sauce and fold together until everything's combined and coated with the sauce.

Heat this until steamy in the microwave. . .Lin

Spicy Olive-Jalapeño Cornbread

Preheat your oven to 375° and butter a 12"x9"x2" glass pan.

Whisk together, in a large glass bowl:

~ Whisk together, in a large glass bowl:
1/2 gluten-free flour

1c 'quick' rolled oats

1c corn flour (not cornmeal)

2T ground flax-chia seeds

1t ground cumin

1t-1T sugar

1T garlic salt

1t baking soda

1t baking powder

~ In another bowl, again, whisk together:

2 lg. pasture-raised eggs

1c sour cream

1/4-1/2c water

1/2c single source EVOO

1t white wine vinegar

~ Stir in the corn, chopped olives and jalapeños.

1 can corn - drained

1/4c Kalamata olives

1/4c jarred jalapeños

Combine this bowl with the dry ingredients in the big bowl. As soon as everything's incorporated, pour it into the buttered pan. Sprinkle smoky paprika over the top.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted, comes out clean. Cool a while before cutting into squares. Serve with soup or chili. . .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

Asian Corn Crab-Shrimp Cakes - that almost weren't. . .

I so love coming home from a great market adventure, in an excited mood, then think, 'What-Am-I...Nuts?' as I unpack everything. As a Foodie, I seem to have little restraint at these places and it must look as though I'm stocking a small (or not so small) restaurant kitchen. My freezer storage space is minimal, and, in spite of intending otherwise, it seems it's always FULL.

There was that one time I was shopping, picked up a bag of frozen peas then put it back, knowing there wasn't even room for that! Before going to The Cities with my daughter for an Asian-International Market extravaganza, I checked. Hmmm, not a lot of space. Did I buy accordingly? Absolutely not. And yet, as Foodie luck would have it, I was able to fit everything in there and the freezer door actually closed on the first try!

I'm finding, there are things in ethnic markets that may be worth trying, but often, that's all it is - a one-time-adventure, which = a lesson learned. . .Case in point:

Asian Corn:  I think it's an acquired taste, or maybe if it's the only corn you've ever known, you might like it. Mine was wrapped in husks that were completely dried out, so I thought that was the problem. Yet, when I Googled Asian Corn I discovered the general consensus is, it's chewy and sticky. Amen to that, and I'd add, it doesn't have good flavor. Now I see why yellow and bicolor corn is called 'sweet' corn, this stuff is just blah. It has little flavor, but some crunch, so I wonder if my dogs will like it mixed with their dry food. . .Moving On:

Crab.  Ahhh, crab how I've loved thee. . .Giant King Crab legs, and the Dungeness and Red Rock Crab we caught on wonderful boating trips to the San Juan Islands. . .So, when I saw these, 4 for $3.27. . .well, you can imagine how excited I was. . .A sweet Asian gal saw them in my cart and asked where I'd found them.  I, in turn, asked how she fixes them. She was clear that they should be steamed, shell side down, only until they turn orange. Got it! Shell side down? "Yes, so you capture all the 'flavorful liquid'!" Okay, thank you so much! As I walked away I remembered a New England trip. Being Ooohhh, so excited over the prospect of having Real Maine Lobster! The whole Giant Crustacean bright red, delivered on a platter! On the first one (we did this at 3 different restaurants - some of us are slow learners) I started breaking apart the logical segments, claws, legs, body and tail. . .when suddenly my platter was almost overflowing with 'flavorful liquid', I quickly realized was liquid LOBSTER POOP.  Ugh, really/ How is this done? This monstrosity should be shelled, hosed down, broiled and brought back to me THAT way.

Prior to our trip, I had bought frozen Lobster tails at Aldi's and we chuckled the whole time eating them saying, this will seem SO LAME, once we're eating at a Lobster Shack in Maine. Little did I know what horrors awaited us out east 😳. . .Nope. . .I'll take clean, frozen, packaged Aldi Lobster tails ANY DAY!

My first attempt, earlier this morning:

I cooked the brown crabs and was surprised the house didn't smell disgustingly like bad cat food.  Ahhh, so exciting! It smells 'Like The Sea'. . .just like they say on the cooking shows. . .then came the cracking. Where's the MEAT? There'w NO meat in these poor, nasty looking bodies! And why does everything suddenly smell like AMMONIA?  UGHHHH. . .Ureic Acid. . .'flavorful liquid' ?? Into the garbage with that mess, except for some of the bigger legs and claws.

On to the Blue Crab.  The house already smells like a Stinky Crab Shack, might as well, right?

The fish guy had sort of frowned when I showed him the first package. They looked like little turtles, all sealed in plastic and banded like that. He had trouble with English, but I finally understood 'Crab' - but he frowned again.  He pointed to the Blue Crab, nodded and looked much happier.  Okeydokey, I'll also give these a go, I sure bought enough! Three packages..😳..I pulled one out of the freezer and they're steaming now.

I have no crab-cracker, not even a nutcracker or picker-outer tool, so I'll use scissor handles, a salad fork handle, and work on this a while.

Out of 4# of whole crabs, an hour+ of cracking and digging - I ended up with 3oz. of crabmeat! Now I see why crabmeat in those teeny cans is so expensive! The way I have this recipe scaled in my mind, I need 8oz. - Enter 5oz. of dependable Argentinian Red Shrimp to fill the gap!

So, starting again, combine the following in a big glass mixing bowl:

3 measly ounces of crab

5oz. Argentinian red shrimp-chopped

2 lg. eggs

3T EVOO

1/2T dry dill

1/2c corn flour

1t-1/2T Old Bay Seasoning

1/2c 'mortared' quick oats

3/4c mayonnaise

3/4c cooked-chopped Asian Corn

1/2T Better Than Bouillon-lobster

1/2c finely chopped green onion

2 lg. finely chopped fresh garlic cloves

Mix everything together in a big bowl. Line muffin tins with liners and fill each one half full. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. This made 24 mini-crabcakes. The Asian corn is WAY too chewy. Next time I'd use regular corn - fresh, frozen or canned. I also adjusted the amount of OBS and BTB, since these are too salty. The proportions listed here should be just right. New cooking adventures are always fun!..Lin

Vegetable Fritters. . .

Oh my. . .I made these for a while, several years ago, then for some reason. . .I just stopped. . .

Why did I do that?

I made quite a few recipes with zucchini, onion, carrot and garlic, which were great, but I've found you can pretty much use whatever you have on hand. AND. . .they're gluten-free. These turned out wonderful with guacamole ranch for dipping. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together:

1 lg. egg

1/3c basil or tomato pesto

1/3-1/2c good quality EVOO

2/3-3/4c plain Greek yogurt

smokey salt and southwest chipotle seasoning

1c corn flour

Once this is blended, add:

1 med. potato - scrubbed and grated

3/4-1c frozen green beans - chopped

1/4 lg. onion - chopped

5 lg. cloves garlic - finely chopped

1c frozen corn - thawed

(garlic and corn were sleeping when photo was taken)

Stir well to mix, then spoon into sizzling oil in a non-stick pan. Fry a couple minutes on each side.

Serve. . .while wondering how you've not made these until now. . .

Mmmmm, now think of all the awesome vegetable possibilities! . .Lin

Layered Italian Zucchini-Mushroom-Chicken Casserole

Start with the sauce, in this photo, the sauce ingredients are to the left of the EVOO. Combine the chopped sauce vegetables and seasonings in hot oil and simmer a few minutes to release their flavors and scent. Add the red sauce and bone broth, simmer a while to thicken a bit. After several minutes of a medium bubble-simmer, move the pan off the heat to cool before whisking in the sour cream.

• 
  2T dark EVOO
• 5-6 lg. garlic cloves - crushed-minced
• ⅓-½ lg. green pepper - chopped
• 1t Stonemill Italian Seasoning
• 1t Rosemary Seasoning *
• 1c a hearty red sauce
• 1c chicken bone broth

After this is simmered and cool, whisk in 1c sour cream.

Arrange in a 8"x2"x11" glass pan, in 4 layers adding a ladle of sauce between each:

• 3 sm.-med. zucchinis - washed and sliced in cross-sections
• 10oz. roasted chicken meat
• 8oz. sliced mushrooms
• 1 big sweet or cipollini onion - sliced vertically

2 zucchinis was enough. I finely chopped the last one and a big carrot and added that to the sauce. Once the whole dish is put together, top with 1c shredded cheese, plus a little more Italian seasoning. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes covered. Uncover and bake another half hour. Turn up the heat to brown the cheese, at the end of the cooking time. Serve this like lasagna.

No gluten...guilt free...Vegetable-Chicken "Lasagna!" . .Lin

Pepperjack Chakes

What are Chakes you ask?

They're a simple pancake made with 1 egg and ½c shredded mozzarella cheese! Really! That's it!  Chaffles, cheese waffles, are the new big thing right now, but since I no longer have a waffle iron, for me, they quickly evolved into cheese panakes! For one person, you can beat an egg, add the cheese, pour it into a hot non-stick pan and voila. . .a simple, quick, high protein, gluten-free, low-carb breakfast. I always need to add my own touches, so here's one idea. . .

• 2 beaten eggs
• 1c shredded pepperjack cheese
• 2t coconut flour
• 2T half and half
• a sprinkle of black pepper

Combine in a small-medium bowl, pour onto a preheated non-stick pan and give it a couple minutes. When the edges dry a little and bubbles start to form check to see if they're browned nicely. Flip them and cook the other side.  These turned out so well. After I plated them I remembered I had a little bowl of homemade applesauce.  I spread them with that, then spooned on the fruit. Frozen dark cherries and blueberries, cut up and warmed. This was really good!

Are you wondering about the pepper? Pepper goes well with many fruits. One of my favorite things is canned or fresh ripe Bartlett pear slices over cottage cheese that I mix with shredded cheddar and black pepper, with a little spicy cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top.

Experiment with different flour and cheese.  Next time I make applesauce, I'll make these again using corn flour and sharp cheddar. Oat flour, craisins and walnuts could be good.  You could also put some sautéed vegetables in the batter to make mini vegetable omelettes. Remember, to keep cooking a fun experience. . .Be Bold...Be Creative!  Happy Cooking Everyone! . .Lin

Onion-Oat-Cheddar Cornbread (gluten-free)

In a big mixing bowl, whisk together:

• 
  2T ground chia and flax seed
• 1T turbinado or brown sugar
• 2T dry onion soup
• 2t baking powder
• 1c grated cheese
• ½c rolled oats
• 1c corn flour

In another bowl, whisk together:

• ½c sliced green onion
• ½c half and half
• 1t white vinegar
• ¼c EVOO
• 2lg eggs

Preheat the oven to 425°. Rub a cast iron skillet with EVOO and put it in the oven to preheat. Meanwhile pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and blend well with a wooden spoon. When the oven is ready, take the skillet out and pour in the batter. Bake for 15 minutes or until the top springs back when touched. If it needs a little more baking time, shut the oven off and leave it for another 5-10 minutes before removing to cool. This is great with chili or a hearty soup. . .Lin