Tortilla Soup

I buy free range chickens in the fall at our farmers' market and freeze them for winter. They are tremendously different from supermarket chickens. I find that they have a lot less fat and a lot more flavor. Generally one chicken gives us at least 5 meals. I roast the chicken the first day, in a covered pan with potatoes and vegetables. The carcass goes into the slow cooker overnight with water to make stock. I strain the stock in the morning, put it back into the slow cooker, and add vegetables during the day to make soup. Here's the latest soup we made.

About 2 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade with chicken pieces
1 onion, sliced fine
3 large carrots, diced
2 small crookneck squash, in small pieces
6 cloves garlic
dried chipotle pepper (either a whole pepper or about 1 tsp crushed pepper)
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp vegetable broth seasoning (I use Seitenbacher)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained, or 1/2 c dried black beans, cooked

Using some of the chicken fat from the degreased stock, or some olive oil, saute the onion, carrots, squash, and whole garlic cloves. Add cumin seed, crushed chipotle pepper (if whole is being used, just add it to the stock), and other seasonings. Add to stock. Add black beans. Cook about 30 minutes, or about 4 hours on low in slow cooker.

Serve with toppings of choice, such as:

• fresh cilantro
• grated cheese
• corn tortilla crisps (brush corn tortillas with oil, slice into strips and then in half, and bake for about 10 minutes at 425F, until slightly golden)
• pumpkin seed kernels
• diced avocado
• lime juice or lime wedges
  

Gluten-Free Month

I am trying an experimental gluten-free month to see if it has any impact. Since day 2, I've felt unusually uncongested.

I was really disappointed when I started to look at GF cookbooks. Most cooking isn't a problem, but baking, of course, relies entirely on wheat. Barley flour has gluten in it, so that's out. Ditto for rye. Most GF recipes use a combination of a grain flour and grain starches (such as cornstarch), which have very high glycemic indices. There are some recipes that use alternatives such as chickpea flour or almond flour.

I thought I did a fairly good job of balancing my diet before, but it is really surprising how often I would reach for something that contains wheat. There are many foods that I like to eat on something - and that something usually was a form of bread. Hummus, avocado, almond or peanut butter...

Thus far, I've tried 3 GF recipes. 2 were successful: some simple chickpea flour crackers, and some GF corn muffins. The pizza base recipe that I tried (cornmeal and millet flour) was an abysmal failure.

Overall, my assessment is that eating GF is not easy, but neither is it extremely difficult. Certainly dining out would be more difficult than eating at home. I find that taking all the wheat out of my meals means I eat a lot more vegetables - and, significantly - a LOT less sugar, because sugar tends to be in many things made with wheat.

If you have any favorite GF recipes, I'd love to try them!

What's the most difficult dietary change you've made?

Making Life Simpler

Life can be complicated. Schedules are crazy - while I know that neither of my parents ever kept a calendar, I can't function without mine - and I try to limit activities so that we all have some down time. So when I find an action that makes my life easier, I make it a habit!

Here are ten things I've done that simplify my life:

1. cooking oatmeal overnight in the slow cooker, so that busy school mornings don't also involve cooking. I have to use a timer to turn it on around 3am - all night cooking results in a crusty mess.
   
   
2. using small, ~8"x10" plastic cutting boards that can go in the dishwasher. We eat a lot of produce, and I prefer not to wash dishes every time I cut something. I have multiple cutting boards and several paring knives for this purpose.
   
   
3. minimizing cleaning solutions. I use vinegar and a dish detergent solution for kitchen and bathroom cleaning, baking soda for scouring. Easy, nearly free, and they take up a lot less space than all the stuff that the chemical manufacturers want to convince people are necessities.
   
   
4. handling paper once only - then filing, shredding, or recycling it - and minimizing incoming paper with e-bills and electronic bill payment.
   
   
5. the pantry and freezer. No need to run to the store in advance of a snowstorm or anything else - we can easily eat for two weeks without any grocery runs.
   
   
6. buying gifts ahead - when I see them at good prices. I hate going to the store to look for "a gift for (insert name)." So I don't do it. When I see something that is appropriate, I buy it - even if the occasion is nearly a year away.
   
   
7. masking tape in the kitchen. It's the all-purpose tape: adhesive, label material, etc.
   
   
8. I don't dust on a regular basis. Seriously, what's the point? I sneeze less when I leave it alone, and it doesn't grow to infinite thickness. When it bothers me, I remove it with a damp rag. I think that happens about twice yearly.
   
   
9. reusable cloth bags for all shopping and gifts within our household. I do truly find it easier - not to mention easier on my conscience - to take my bags to the store than to have 20 flimsy plastic bags of heavy groceries to juggle and then recycle.
   
   
10. thinking of the store as a storage facility. I don't need to buy Item X now, because it is always available at the store should I need it - and the store has far more storage space than our house. Ditto for the library: I don't need to have this (book, CD, etc) in my house permanently, because the library will shelve it for me.

What tricks do you have to make your days easier?

Buckwheat Crepes with Various Fillings

Buckwheat flour is readily available at most natural foods stores. These can easily be made gluten- and dairy-free. We eat these for supper, but in smaller quantities, they could also be a snack or an appetizer, or even a dessert.

This is modified from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

For about 14 crepes:
1 c buckwheat flour
1/4 c all-purpose flour or other flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
2 to 4 eggs
About 1 1/2 c milk + water - at least 1/2 c milk (nondairy subs are fine)
1 tbsp canola oil

Whisk ingredients together to make a thin, pourable batter (adjust consistency as needed). Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to the lowest temperature and put an oven-proof plate in it to keep the crepes warm.

Heat a 10" skillet over medium heat, then add a small amount of butter or canola oil. Swirl to coat the pan and then immediately ladle in about 1/4 c batter. Swirl the pan to make a thin pancake. When it is dry on top, flip and cook the bottom briefly. Stack on the plate in the oven until all the crepes are cooked.

To eat: spread entire surface with filling and roll up.

Filling options:
Savory:
1. Spinach with or without cheese. Heat frozen, chopped spinach in a small pot, uncovered to evaporate excess moisture. Season as desired. Spread on crepe and top with grated or crumbled cheese of your choice (pepper Jack, goat, feta, swiss, etc), or sunflower seeds.

2. Spreadable cheese.

3. The pea-and-potato combination that is used in Indian samosas (recipes readily available online).

4. Other vegetables, chopped as needed, and steamed, with or without cheese, cubed, baked tofu, sauteed mushrooms, etc.

5. Cooked beans (with or without cream cheese), lentils, or leftover dahl.

6. Caramelized onions with or without vegetables as above.

7. Spinach with curry spices and cashew cream.

Sweet:
1. Cooked fruit/vegetables such as apples (e.g. homemade applesauce), cranberries and sweet potatoes, gingered sweet potatoes with or without pineapple, etc. Add nuts and/or cinnamon if desired.

2. Jam or cooked dried fruit, with or without nuts or cinnamon.

3. Cream cheese or tofu "cream" with any of the above, or cinnamon/sugar.

Black Bean Enchiladas

Modified from Vegetarian Classics by Jeanne Lemlin

8 servings

Filling:
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 small onions, diced
2 bell peppers, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
other vegetables as available: corn, zucchini or yellow squash, spinach
1/2 pound dried black beans, sorted, rinsed, soaked, and cooked
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano

Sauce:
2 c salsa
1 c milk or 1 c tomato sauce, depending on the type of sauce you prefer
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano

16 corn tortillas
Neufchatel cheese, optional but very good
Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, grated, optional

Heat sauce ingredients. In separate pan, saute the vegetables in the olive oil. When tender, stir in the black beans and spices.

When ready to prepare enchiladas, microwave about 6 tortillas at a time between 2 plates to soften them for rolling.

Ladle a small amount of sauce into the bottom of a baking dish. Spread about 1 tsp neufchatel cheese down the center of a tortilla, add the filling, roll, and place in baking dish. When dish is full, add more sauce on top of enchiladas, and top with a small amount of grated cheese, if desired. Additional enchiladas can be placed in another layer or in a different baking dish.

This can be prepared early in the day and refrigerated until dinner. When ready to cook, bake, covered, at 350F, for about 30-45 minutes, until steaming and cheese has melted.

Reusable Gift Bags

Last year I decided to turn various bits of fabric that were leftover from projects, and which had been taking up space in my craft corner for at least 5 years, into gift bags.

I love them.

No paper to buy, wrap, and trash. No tape. The gift bags fold and take up very little space when stored. The ones I've made are lined and have a nice weight to them; lining fabric can also be scrap fabric, or from something like an old sheet (the flat ones never wear out like the fitted ones do). Bags can be pieced to highlight particular fabrics as well.

I've tried several different methods, including these:
Simple bag with ribbon tie
Unlined Drawstring Bag
Lined drawstring bag

Making one bag, from cutting the fabric to completing the drawstring, takes about an hour. Wrapping a gift takes 10 seconds.

Dairy-Free Meals

This is for my friend Jennifer, who has to cook dairy-free for a while due to her infant's potential allergies. These are some ideas for easy dairy-free meals.

Breakfast:
Just about anything you might have other than breakfast cereal, which you can of course prepare with soy or rice milk. Read labels as some nondairy "milks" contain a lot of sugar.

For pancakes or waffles, you can sub prepared nondairy milks in the recipe, or you can blend some cooked oatmeal or cooked rice with water and use that instead.

Lunch:

• Use bean spreads such as hummus for sandwiches or wraps; bean spreads can be made from almost any bean with varied seasonings. For instance, try black beans with cumin and salsa, or white beans with lots of parsley. Add your favorite veggies.
• Avocado sandwich
• Hard-boiled egg or an egg sandwich
• Leftover roast chicken or turkey sandwich
• Bean and grain salads
• Leftovers from dinner

Dinner:

• Beans and rice (Use canned beans, or cook a big pot of beans and use it for several meals). There are many ethnic variations on beans and rice.
  
• Pasta with sauce and veggies (Sunflower seeds or pine nuts add a big burst of flavor if you miss Parmesan).
• Tacos or burritos, just as good without cheese. I like to make a big batch of taco filling and freeze it in meal-sized containers. Making your own beans is easy, too.
• Stir-fry, and then fried rice with the leftover rice.
• Roast chicken and some veggies. Try quinoa for a change of pace side dish.
  
• Chili, stew, or soup and bread. If a soup recipe calls for lots of milk or cream, look for another recipe. Veggies have sufficient flavor on their own. My favorite veggie chili is from Cary Neff's book Conscious Cuisine, which our library has.
  
• Make-your-own pizza. Pizza is different, but very good and a lot less greasy, without cheese. Call it if focaccia it doesn't look like pizza to you.
• Sweet potato, white bean, and pepper tian. This is delicious.
  
• Moosewood's Chili Burgers and some whole wheat rolls
• Chicken sausages, sauteed peppers & onions, and rolls

Snacks:
Fruit
Veggies
Muffins (use juice or water in place of milk, applesauce, pureed white beans, or pureed oatmeal/rice in place of thick dairy stuff).
Hummus and pita bread

As I noted in a previous post, baking can be the most difficult. Try those substitutions, or look for dairy-free recipes. Oatmeal cookie recipes usually are dairy-free, for instance. Quick breads and muffins often use oil and no butter. If you need a cake, try making Six-Minute Chocolate Cake for the ultimate in fast and easy - seriously, it's easier than waiting in line at the grocery store.

Now - start experimenting!