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

Mediterranean Tuna Pasta Salad

I chopped and sliced everything a day ahead, combining the vegetables with the dressing to marinate 24 hours. The next day, I needed a package of chicken from the freezer - but they were all gone! I changed the meat to tuna and was surprised at how well it turned out. Didn't take ingredient photos, so I'm going from memory now:

2-3T mayonnaise

a big splash of Lemon-Oil Dressing

2 cans of EVOO-packed tuna

I don't remember measurements, but the vegetables I used are marinated-jarred artichoke hearts, bell pepper, celery, Vidalia onion and Kalamata olives. Thin slice all these.

I didn't want the pasta to dominate, so I only used 2/3c dry pasta, cooked, drained and rinsed in cold water, then drained again.

Combine the UN-drained tuna with the prepped vegetables in a medium glass bowl. Good quality EVOO adds to the health benefits of this salad. Check the flavors. I added quite a bit of black pepper, a pinch of cayenne and a good sprinkle of garlic salt. 

I had never made this with tuna, chicken is my preference, but this is one I'll make again. . .Lin

Another Chicken Cacciatore Redux. . .

I've been making Chicken Cacciatore since the the late '60's!
I would splurge, and buy a copy of Women's Day and Family Circle once a month when grocery shopping. Back when my $20.00 grocery budget bought 4 bags of groceries for the week, and 20¢ for each magazine seemed extravagant. . .Money well spent. I'd read them cover to cover!

I found a recipe for it in Family Circle - and loved it - each time. Even though I made it a bit different from the time before. Sometimes serving over linguine, sometimes over Uncle Ben's 20 minute rice. You know I can't follow someone else's recipe, much less make it the same way twice. So, this one is similar, to that first one of the early '70's, same ingredients, but also way different with additions and different techniques.

This one was really fun. First time ever making a roux to thicken it, or adding kalamata olives, or serve it over gluten free, brown rice and millet ramen noodles! Mmmm!

So here it is, my latest rendition of the original Family Circle's Chicken Cacciatore. 

I started with a package of rotisserie chicken, only using 1# for this recipe! If you roast your own, let it cool enough to touch. Separate it into meat and another container of the skin, bones and tendons. Use that to make bone broth.

I froze all the skin, tendons and bones, shown here, on the right, and will use that for future bone broth.

24oz. baby portobello mushrooms

1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper
5-6 sm. yellow onions
1 whole bulb of garlic, cut in half, horizontally

I roasted the mushrooms separately from the other vegetables. Slice them, spread on a big baking sheet, drizzle them with a good quality, single source, EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). Season with salt, pepper and Italian seasonings. Chop, oil and season the vegetables. 

Roast everything in a 375°-400° oven, moving them and flipping if possible, so everything develops a bit of a char on all sides. Roasting pulled a lot of liquid from the mushrooms! Shown in the mug. I used a turkey baster to remove it before combining with the vegetables. It's a wonderful flavorful Mushroom Broth! Use it!

While the vegetables are roasting, make a golden roux, using 1/2c butter and 1/2c all purpose flour. I only used part of this, freezing the rest to thicken future soups, etc.

In a big pot, mine holds 6+ quarts, combine the following:

12oz. bone broth - mine was made previously

1 28oz. can diced tomatoes

5 bay leaves

mushroom broth

1-2t brown or coconut sugar

12oz. your favorite red pasta sauce

Gently stir all this together, with the roasted vegetables. Simmer 15 minutes or so. I kept one onion raw and added it now for a little different onion flavor and texture. When adding the garlic, squeeze the cloves out of their papery coverings  Cut them up a little.

Add the chicken and:
1c+ Kalamata (dark red-purple) olives

Simmer 5-10 minutes then check the flavors.
Add chicken soup base, or salt and pepper if needed, to wake up the flavors.

Cook as many blocks of ramen as you need. This is a wonderful, gluten-free, wheat pasta alternative I found at Costco. When cooked it's a lot like slightly curly angel hair pasta. I just love it! It's great in soup.

Since I'm not serving this until Sunday, just visualize how it will look plated, accompanied by a big green salad! This last photo shows everything simmered and ready to eat. It will taste even better with additional reheating. 

Be Bold! . . Be Adventurous! . . Happy Cooking! . .😁. . .Lin

Vegetables, Seeds and Protein

Today this was breakfast. . .
It was really good, and it went together quick!

1 med. carrot

1 handful broccoli florets

Scrub the vegetables and slice into a bowl. Cover with a damp paper towel and microwave on high 2 minutes. Drizzle with 1t EVOO and sprinkle with parsley garlic salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Add to the bowl, some sprouted pumpkin seeds, a few Kalamata olives and one quartered, hardboiled egg. Drizzle the egg with a little seasoned mayo you can make ahead and keep in a plastic squeeze bottle. Mine is 1c mayo mixed well with 2-3T brown, grainy-seedy mustard and 2T or so, white Balsamic vinegar. . .Lin

Kalamata Tuna Salad...In Many Forms

I had no plan to blog this when I put it together. I just knew I was really hungry, and I didn't pay a lot of attention to amounts. So, think of this more as a recipe idea than an actual scientific formula. I realized how versatile something like this could be, so in the end, I decided to share it here.

1 12oz. can of drained tuna
1/2c sliced kalamata olives
1/2 med. chopped Vidalia onion 
1c chopped celery heart + tops
mayonnaise, a little garlic aioli mustard, a splash of white balsamic vinegar

The two halves were more than enough for breakfast, and I cut the leftovers into tiny sandwich bites, for lunch later on.

Hey. . .we all have to eat!
Have fun with the creative process! . .Lin

Olive Chicken with Zucchini and Mushrooms

Marinate the Chicken:
1# chicken thigh meat - cut into bite size pieces - in:
~ EVOO, white balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and zest
~ Old Bay garlic & herb, Southwest Chipotle seasoning
~ salt and pepper - a little of each of these, stirred together

~ 3/4c halved Kalamata olives

Marinate for an hour. . .

Then simmer on low heat for 15 minutes in the marinade.

In a non-stick pan, sauté celery 10 minutes. . .
then add zucchini and mushrooms:

2 big stalks celery - diced
1-2T Chive Compound Butter

6-8oz. mushrooms - sliced
1-2 med. zucchini (I only used 1)

When this all starts to sizzle, and the celery is tender, add the vegetables to the chicken and olives. Cook over medium heat until it sizzles again, then cover, remove from the heat, and let stand for 10-15 minutes.

Serve as is, over pasta, or garlic mashed potatoes! . .Lin

Salsa - Guacamole

Ahhh, I can tell it's heading toward warmer weather when I start craving this!

Make this right before serving.  It doesn't keep well, it's a mix and serve sort of thing.

Heat up 3 quarts of water to a simmer.  Drop the tomatoes in and gently stir them for about 30 seconds.  Drain and immediately put them in ice water.

Zest and juice the lemon, or a lime, into a medium bowl for mixing. Add your favorite salt-pepper, seasoning blend. Chop all the other ingredients shown, into the bowl. Peel and chop the tomatoes. Add them and ⅓c chopped kalamata olives and 2-3T of finely chopped jalapeño slices. Stir everything together and serve with your favorite chips.

You could also add a can of black beans and/or corn, rinsed and drained.

Today I decided to just keep it all fresh.  Be bold. . .have fun experimenting. . .Lin

A Big Sorghum Tabouli Salad (gluten-free)

1½c sorghum

Rinse, then cook the sorghum according to the package directions.

1 recipe of Lemon-Olive Oil Dressing *

~ with ½t of ground oregano added

2 cans garbanzo beans

~ drained and rinsed

1c chopped celery

¾c sliced green onions

¾c drained-rinsed capers

¾c sliced kalamata olives

¾c chopped green peppers

¾c Lemon-Olive Oil Dressing

Make up a fresh batch of the dressing.  Put the drained, still warm sorghum, garbanzos and all the chopped vegetables and ingredients in that group in a large container, drizzling with the dressing.  Gently mix it all with a big wooden spoon.  Cover and refrigerated to marinate, at least a couple hours or as long as a day ahead.

Just before serving, prepare the following vegetables; according to directions below; then chop into a big bowl:

3 lg. tomatoes

3-4 med. pickling cucumbers

~ or one long English cucumber

2-3 hearts of Romaine lettuce

1 bunch of parsley

Wash 3 large tomatoes.  Drop them into rapidly boiling, water to cover them.  Gently stir until the skins split.  Immediately plunge them into icy water.  After about 10 minutes, cut them in quarters and slide the skins off.  Remove the wet seedy parts.  This will give you a meatier-drier tomato which will keep the salad fresh longer.  Additionally it removes the main source of lectin in tomatoes, found in the skin and seeds.  Lectin is responsible for much inflammation in the body.  Scrub, peel, seed and chop the cucumbers.  Lectin is also found, to a lesser degree, in cucumbers (and zucchini).

Slice-chop the tomatoes and cucumbers into a bowl with the well cleaned Romaine and parsley.  Mix this, then combine it with the marinated sorghum and vegetables.  Add more dressing if needed.  This makes a giant container (about 6 quarts) of tabouli.  It's August!  Happy Salad Days! . . . Lin

Black Bean Quinoa Tabouli

1c quinoa

2c filtered water

2-3T Tuscan olive oil
2oz. rinse-drained capers

4 lg. green onions - sliced
2 lg. cloves garlic - minced
1 frozen lemon or lime - grated
½-1c chopped kalamata olives

1 lg. tomato - diced

1 15oz. can black beans

1 bunch cilantro - chopped

This is such a special salad to me.  I originally discovered it in Mollie Katzen's "Moosewood Cookbook" and have made numerous variations of it over the years.  This '70's hippie cookbook of hers will always have a place of honor on my cookbook shelf!

Simmer the quinoa gently for about 20 minutes.  When tails have sprouted and water is absorbed, combine the quinoa with the second group of ingredients, in a large glass or porcelain bowl.  Stir gently, then let stand while prepping the third group.  Drain and rinse the black beans.  Add them, the diced tomato, cilantro (leaves and stems) to the bowl.  Next time I make it, I'll try a 3/1 ratio of quinoa to wild rice, red rice, or possibly 'forbidden' black rice for the base.


Have fun with your recipes!  Life is too short to cook boring food! . . . Lin

Chili-Tomato Chicken and Pasta

Every so often I find I'm really craving pasta.  Last year I found a wonderful specialty pasta that has the best flavor.  It's called Chili-Tomato little hats pasta - but - I only bought one package 😒

I'm usually pretty good at tracking down such things online, but when the only option was to order this from a company in Germany, it seemed a bit laborious.  So, I'm going to use the last little bit of it to create something yummy and just hope to find this particular brand of pasta again someday.

I'm still deciding on the ingredients, but so far I'm thinking chicken with a tomato and sour cream base, kalamata olives, green garlic-stuffed olives, garlic, onion. . .and we'll see what else emerges. . . Hmmm, maybe artichokes. . .although those are usually better in a pasta salad recipe using Italian dressing.  Lots of options though.

1¼# chicken breast meat

½c dry white wine

¼c Tuscan Herb flavored olive oil

¼c minced garlic in olive oil

⅓ lg. onion - finely chopped

6oz. chopped roasted red peppers

4oz. sun dried tomatoes - chopped

3oz. GOYA Sofrito tomato base

Combine these ingredients in a 5qt. pot and bring to a quick simmer.  Turn of the heat and let everything marinate an hour or so.  After an hour, add the following ingredients:

a few leaves of dark green 'bubble' kale - chopped

14oz. petite diced tomatoes

2 sm.-med. zucchini - chopped

1 yellow pepper - chopped

⅔ lg. onion - chopped

1½c sliced kalamata olives

al dente cooked sm.-med. pasta

1c sour cream

This turned out amazing.  It was just what I was craving.

I omitted the artichokes and green olives, but I'll be doing something with those in the not too distant future.  A variation on one of my many Mediterranean Pasta Salads sounds like a good idea. . .Lin

Fresh Pasta With Mushrooms and Pesto

8oz. sliced mushrooms

1 lg. clove elephant garlic

extra virgin olive oil

a little ground cayenne pepper

fresh ground garlic-sea salt

6.5 oz. basil pesto

1c whole Kalamata* olives

7 lg. cherry tomatoes - quartered

1c grated Parmesan cheese

1 9oz. pkg. fresh pasta

Combine mushrooms, grated garlic, olive oil and seasonings in a non-stick pan.  Stir and saute' adding a little water as it all begins to brown.  Simmer, covered, until mushrooms have reduced in size by about one half.  Stir in the next four ingredients (*I substituted Kalamatas for the green olives (shown in first photo) since the green were a bit too assertive.  Kalamatas are colored nicely, and their flavor blends better with the pesto.)  Simmer, covered on very low.  Or, bring to a sizzle, then shut off the heat.

Meanwhile, boil 3-4 qts. of water, to which several tablespoons of olive oil have been added.  Break open the pasta, fluff and separate, dropping it into boiling oiled-water.  Simmer 3-5 minutes once temperature returns to a boil.  Drain, combine with rest of the ingredients in a large casserole dish.  Serve immediately or chill - to blend flavors - then heat and serve the next day.  It's been a while since I created something with such a decidedly Italian flavor to it!  It was nice, and I'll do this more often.  (Chopped, drained, canned artichokes would be a wonderful addition to this.) . .Lin