Fabulous Soup

This morning I hit the ground running, in the kitchen. I made granola and while that was baking I pressure-cooked a tomato sauce. While that was simmering I took leftover chicken stock and leftover vegetable steaming water and leftover boiled dinner veggies and made a soup. I added more water and 2 bullion cubes and a pound of kale chopped with scissors. I added garlic and ginger red chili and olive oil and Adobo and salt. I simmered it for 2 hours. When I came home from swimming I was ready for lunch. The soup was fantastic.

Best Recipe for Hard Pretzels

Here

Chicken Stock

I just pressure cooked the chicken carcass from my roasted chicken. I cooked it in 2 quarts of water in my pressure cooker for 45 minutes. I strained the liquid through mesh into another pot. When it cools in the fridge I'll skim the fat and use the broth for stock.

New Sandwich

Peanut butter on toast with granola stuck on it.
Open face, open mouth!

Waffled Falafel

Recipe

Hash Brown Waffles

Recipe
a variation

Fruits and Veggies

Article

The Secret to My Best Granola

I am baking granola today. I bake a batch nearly every week.
I have to make something a million times before I devise the simplest and best-tasting method.

The secret to my best granola is not toasting it but drying it out in the oven. This way the flavor of the vanilla and molasses are not overshadowed. Bake in a preheated oven 250 degrees for 45 minutes and let sit for an hour or overnight to absorb residual heat.

Recipe:
1 cup of corn oil, 1 cup of Grandma's Molasses, 1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract, 1 heaping teaspoon of kosher salt (half this amount if using fine grain salt). Maybe I should just admit it, two teaspoons of kosher salt.

Directions:
Heat the oil, molasses, salt, and vanilla, in a large spaghetti pot and stir until bubbly then turn off the heat. Then add one (42 oz, or 2 lb 10 oz) large cylindrical container of old fashioned rolled oats and stir like mad. It's like tossing a salad of oats with molasses and oil dressing. When the oats are evenly coated pour them onto two baking trays or into two large cast iron frying pans and bake for 35-45 minutes at 250 F. Then after it has baked for 35-45 minutes turn the oven off and keep the oven door closed. Just let the granola dry out by itself. This is the important secret discovery. Come back a few hours later or the next day when it has dried and cooled and break it up (with a metal skewer) and store the granola in an airtight container.

This is my favorite travel and snack food. I often carry a little bit with me just in case I get peckish when I am out on a long walk. Sometimes I add raisins.

Kale + Chick Peas + Pasta + Sauce

Last night I steamed the chopped kale in the leftover chick peas broth in my 12" skillet. Then I added fresh garlic red chilies and olive oil. I decided to add the leftover chick peas and leftover cavatappi (hollow spiral) pasta and homemade tomato sauce. It was so good that I will do this on purpose next time. We grated fresh Parmesan Reggiano on top.

This is so good we made it again!

Fast Potato Breakfast

This morning I grated two potatoes and fried them in my skillet. When browned I topped them with two eggs briefly covering the pan. I added a few marinated artichoke hearts and my leftover tomato sauce and grated parmesan. Delicious.

Simmering Homade Tomato Sauce

I have been dreaming of Italian food for a few days so today I set up a tomato sauce using our last locally smoked Polish sausage, a head of chopped celery, 3 big carrots diced, 3 cans of crushed tomatoes, 2 cans of black olives chopped, a few cloves of garlic diced, a splash of cheap port wine and olive oil. I have not added any more herbs or spices because today the smoked sausage is my spice. Simmering the sauce over time will complete the magic.
Update: I decided to add basil, oregano, bay leaves parsley and tomato paste. The sauce was magnificent and the tiny bits of chopped sausage absorbed the Italian flavors. We ate it with a pressure-cooked pound of cavatappi pasta ( ready in 3 minutes) and pressure-cooked chick peas (as tiny meatballs) and parmesan reggiano grated fresh, on top.

Soul food in a Storm

I made scalloped potatoes with lots of potato and onion and I made a roux using whole wheat flour and olive oil and low-fat 2% milk and Adobo. It came out so good I will do it again. I baked it in a deep casserole dish out of convenience. Next time I will bake it in a shallow for more surface area and delicious crust.

Quiche IMPROV without a Crust

INGREDIENTS
3 onions
two large white potatoes grated
one pound of frozen spinach
olive oil
Adobo
Salt
cheap port
vegetable stock
14 large eggs beaten
4 sandwich-slices or equivalent of pepper jack cheese
6-inch smoked polish garlic sausage chopped in small chunks


I sauteed the onions and grated potato in olive oil and Adobo and added vegetable stock. When it cooked down I added the spinach, cheese, sausage, a splash of cheap port.
I beat 14 eggs and added them to the mixture and baked it in my 12 " cast iron skillet in a preheated 350 F oven for 30 minutes.

It was fabulous!