Roated Potatoes and Carrots in the Crock Pot

This recipe is a hit at every party I bring them to!  They are easy and very flavorful.  The crock pot does all the work for you.  I hope you enjoy this delicious side dish.

13-15 small russet potatoes, washed, cubed
4 lg carrots, washed, peeled, sliced
1 medium onion, minced
4-5 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 C olive oil
Juice from one lemon
1 1/2 tsp basil
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
few dashes of paprika

Place chopped potatoes in the crock pot.

Next, add sliced carrots, minced onion, and minced garlic.

Mix together olive oil, lemon juice, basil, salt, pepper, and paprika.

Pour over veggies and mix well.

Place lid on crock pot and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

I forgot to take a final picture...we must have been starving that night at dinner!  I will add one the next time I make this.

Enjoy!

Egg Free Pancakes

1 C flour (I use unbleached)
1 TBSP sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 C milk (you can use rice milk)
2 TBSP canola or olive oil (I prefer Olive oil)

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then add the milk and oil.  Stir well with a wire whisk.  Then pour in small amounts over a hot griddle(follow griddle instructions for temperature for pancakes).  Make sure that you cook it thoroughly, flipping it back and forth to cook both sides.

**I like to double this batch, cool the extras completely on a wire rack, and wrap in plastic wrap in 2's and then put them all in a freezer bag.  They are good in the fridge for at least a week, or in the freezer for a few months.  My son loves these for breakfast.

**I find that without egg, you might need to turn down the temperature by about 25 degrees.  For example, if it says to cook it at 375 degrees, then do 350.

**If you are using rice milk, it does sweeten up the pancake, so you might need to adjust your sugar amount if you feel like it is too sweet.

Bagels –Recipe from “The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book”

This is a great recipe, but it does take time to make this.  Making sure you have all your supplies ready before you start is a key.  Enjoy!  We love bagels.  She also has a whole wheat recipe.  Check out her book for more great recipes.  I just checked it out at the library.

4 1/2 C unbleached flour, divided

2 TBSP active dry yeast

1 1/2 C warm water

3 1/2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp salt

For boiling:

water

1 Tbsp sugar

In a large mixer with a dough hook, such as a Bosch, put 1  ½ C flour and yeast.  Mix slightly.  In a separate bowl, fill with warm water, sugar, and salt.  When dissolved pour into mixer.  Mix for 1 minute.  Then turn up the speed and mix for 3-4 minutes.  Stop and add the rest of the flour. Mix for another 3-4 minutes.  Remove dough to a lightly floured surface; cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

While the dough is resting, fill a large pot with water and sugar.  Bring slowly to a boil. Then turn down to simmer before adding the bagels.

After the resting period, then cut dough into 12 equal pieces.  Roll into balls, then push your finger through the middle and pull just a little to make the bagel shape.  Let bagles rise 10-15 minutes.  Cook 3-4 bagels in the sugar water for 5-7 minutes, flipping halfway through(don't over boil, you will get the hang of this after a few batches--too much makes them too chewy). Place on paper towels for the excess water to drain off.  Then place on prepared pans. 

When all bagels have been boiled, bake in oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Egg Free Brownies!!

This recipe has taken me a long time to adapt.  In brownies, eggs are a critical part in achieving the desired texture, density, and flavor.   I hope you will try these and enjoy brownies again. 

I prefer eating these with some of my delicious homemade vanilla ice cream on top.
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

2 1/8 C granulated sugar
2 1/8 C unbleached flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 TBSP flaxseed + 3 TBSP water
1/2 C butter, melted
3/4 C cocoa powder
3/4 C milk ( I use 2%)

Preaheat oven to 335 degrees. Grease with butter a 9x13 glass casserole dish.

In a large bowl, pour in your sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Stir with a fork.  Set aside.

In a small container, pour in your flaxseed and water.  Stir.  Let sit about 5 minutes until the flaxseed has absorbed the water.

In a small sauce pan, melt butter over low to medium heat.  When butter is melted, turn off heat and stir in cocoa powder with a whisk until smooth.  Remove from heat.

In your large bowl, add the milk and flaxseed to your dry ingredients.  Stir a little, then add in your butter/cocoa mixture.  Keep stirring until all ingredients are incorporated.  This is a thick batter, so after stirring a bit with my fork, I'll also grab a spatula and make sure everything in the bottom of the bowl gets mixed in well.

Using a spatula, pour into your prepared dish and spread evenly. 

Bake at 335 degrees for 36 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack when done.

**note: as the brownies cool, they do "fall" in the center.  In this photo it is hard to see that.  They still look great though.  Without egg, it is very hard to get a cake-like look to brownies. Please enjoy and comment how yours turned out!

**note:  when baking without eggs, often I will turn down my temperature on my oven a few degrees...thus the unusual 335 degrees.

Happy Baking!!

Rosemary Pot Roast & Homemade Vegetable Broth

This is the MOST DELICIOUS roast I have ever tasted!  It is so easy!  I adapted this recipe slightly from The Pioneer Woman's blog: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008_the_year_of_the_pot_roast/.  I love her posts!  I don't always have fresh herbs on hand... who am I kidding, I almost never have fresh herbs on hand, so this is my adaption.  I also prefer the pot roast cut of beef instead of the chuck roast.  I serve this with a large pot of mashed potatoes because this makes the BEST gravy ever! Enjoy!

1 4-5 lb beef pot roast
Salt/Pepper
2-3 TBSP olive oil
2 small onions, cut into 1" chunks
6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
3 C homemade vegetable broth (Recipe at bottom)
1/8 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary

Before beginning to cook, trim your roast and generously salt and pepper all sides.  Cut up your onions and carrots too because once your oil is ready, you won't have time to do these things.

In a large copper bottom pot(the pot matters--a non stick pan won't give the same effect) with a lid, heat 2 TBSP olive oil(I never measure exactly). Sauté the onions until somewhat translucent and lightly browned(about 5 minutes). 

Remove the onions, and add the carrots into the pot.  Sauté about 2 minutes.  Then Remove to a plate with the onions.

Add another TBSP of olive oil.  And brown all sides of your roast.  This only takes a couple minutes per side. 

Once the roast is nicely browned on all sides, remove it from the pan to a plate.  Do you see all those nice brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan?  Well, that is flavor!  Pour a couple ounces of broth into the pan, and using a wooden spoon get the brown bits loosened.  Then add your roast back into the pan.

Add the carrots and onions on top.  then add the rest of your broth to the side of the roast so that the onions and carrots will stay on top.  The broth should be to the halfway point of the roast.

Then sprinkle the thyme and rosemary on top.  Cover with the lid and bake at 285 degrees for 4 hours. 

**Remember to start cooking your mashed potatoes about a half hour before the roast is done.:)**

When done, remove the roast to a plate and cover with foil.  Let rest at least 15 minutes before slicing.  Remove carrots and onions from the broth by pouring into a fine mesh strainer over a large pot.  Put onions and carrots in a bowl and cover with foil while you make your gravy.

To make the gravy, first skim the top of the gravy to remove a little bit of the fat that rises to the top.  I usually only remove a few TBSP's.  Then warm the gravy over medium heat stirring occasionally.  When it comes to a boil, add this mixture

Gravy thickening Mixture:

1 C cold water

1/2 C flour

Whisk very well together

Gluten free option:

Use cornstarch/water combo(I would guess that 2-3TBSP cornstarch + 1/2 C cold water is a good place to start)

Slowly whisk in the thickening mixture so that the gravy is still boiling slowly.  Continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes to let this thicken.  NOTE:  this is not a "thick" gravy in the sense of packet gravies.  You are welcome to add more thickener to the gravy to your likings.;)  I always need to add more salt and pepper to the gravy.  This is the fun part because you get to test the gravy as many times as you need...wink, wink.  Be careful to blow your gravy before tasting, I have burned my tongue so many times when I don't blow it adequately enough.

Enjoy!

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Carrots-- no need to peel or cut off ends, just wash and chop up

Onions-- I like to use red and yellow onions--use the skin too

Celery- use the whole stem, just roughly chop up

4 garlic cloves--roughly chopped skin & all

1 TBSP peppercorns

1 TBSP Real Salt

Fill a REALLY large heavy bottomed pot 3/4 the way with these vegetables.  Add the garlic, peppercorns and salt.

Add cold water to fill about 4 inches from the top of the pan.  Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for about 1 hour. 

Remove vegetables, peppercorns, etc. Cool the broth in large glass bowls. I often will let this cool for about an hour on my counter, then let finish cooling in my fridge.  **This takes a lot of room in your fridge**

Once cooled, store in freezer safe containers.  I like to freeze in the quart plastic containers you can find in the canning section of your grocery store.  I freeze in 2 & 3 cup quantities.  Don't over fill your container.  As is freezes, it expands and you will have a huge mess in your freezer(I speak from experience here!) 

This is the base for all my soups and sauces.  Whenever you are using these vegetables for meals, save the scraps in the freezer for when you are ready to make a batch.

**If you don't have a really large pot, just use as big as you have, and still fill the pot up 3/4th the way with veggies, then half the garlic, peppercorns, and salt.  Then fill up with cold water.

Tomato Soup

I got the basis for this recipe from http://thedomesticgeek.com/?s=tomato+soup.  She has a great website!  And I LOVE tomato soup on a cold winter's day!  And we've had plenty this winter.  Enjoy!

2 TBSP Olive oil
1 small onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5 oz canned tomatoes (I've used stewed and petite diced- any kind is fine because you're pureeing it)
1/2 C brown sugar
4 TBSP tomato paste
4 C vegetable broth( I use homemade- the domestic geek has a great one)
1 parmesan cheese rind
salt/pepper to taste(approx. 1tsp salt & 1/2 tsp pepper)
1 bay leaf
1/2 C whipping cream

Heat olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot.  Sauté onion and garlic until onion is translucent.  Then add the tomatoes and cook for 5 more minutes. Then add all other ingredients EXCEPT the whipping cream.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Then remove the bay leaf, and puree in batches in your blender.  Remember this is very hot, use a rag to put over the top of the blender where the hole is.  This prevents splattering all over your kitchen.  When all the soup is pureed(I use another large bowl to put it in until I can put it back into the pot), put it back into the pot. Then stir in the whipping cream.  This is so good!

Serve with Trader Joe's soup crackers!  DELISH!!

Lemon Pepper Chicken and Rice

4 tbsp. butter
2 lg chicken breasts, cut into strips
salt & pepper to taste
4 TBSP white grape juice concentrate( you can use white grape juice or wine-may need more to achieve the flavor since I use concentrate)
4 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 TBSP grated lemon zest/peel
2- 2 1/2 C whipping cream ( I don't like the heavy, just normal whipping cream)
salt & pepper to taste
3/4 C fresh grated parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a large skillet.  Place chicken pieces in the pan, salt and pepper generously, and sauté until browned. Then place on a paper towel to drain some of the butter off.  After the chicken has sat a couple minutes, place it in a 9x13 glass casserole dish.

Your pan should have very nice browned bits on the bottom.  This is where all the good flavor is, so keeping your heat on, dump the grape juice concentrate(mine is juice from garden grapes in the fall that I can) in the pan.  Watch out because you'll get a lot of steam/smoke coming up as this gets all the good stuff loosened.  Stir with a wooden spoon to get all the brown bits up.

Then add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Slowly add the cream.  stirring constantly.  Then salt and pepper your sauce generously(I wish I could be exact but I just sprinkle salt back and forth about twice, and pepper until it looks nicely even through the sauce).

When sauce is warmed through, pour over chicken in casserole dish.

Then sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Turn on broiler to LO and broil for about 5 minutes until cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Then serve over your favorite kind of rice.  This sauce is so good!  Make sure you serve this with French bread or rolls, because you'll want to soak up every last drip!  Enjoy!