11 Smokey Beans Soup

Here's a recipe I made up today with the goal of using fresh produce from my garden. I didn't exactly measure anything, but it's just soup so adjust it to your liking.

11 dry bean mix
Vegetable broth
Balsamic vinegar
Dry sherry
Liquid hickory smoke
Sea salt
Dill
Onion
Garlic
Red potatoes
Red pepper
Pickling cucumbers
Tomatoes

A crock pot is also handy to cook your beans in.

Start you beans the night before. Don't forget to sort and wash your dry bean mix. This step is so important. I didn't find any stones this time but I have found them in the past in several types. Soak them over night. I like to drain them in the morning but I hear you don't need to. Make sure you have them covered by about an inch of water then start your crock pot on high for two hours then low for four or until the beans are cooked.

In a seperate kettle, bring your vegetable broth to a boil. I like to cut a corner here with these great organic boullion cubes I found. Next add a glug of balsamic vinegar, a splash of dry sherry and a dribble of liquid smoke. It is easy to get carried away with the liquid smoke so remember you can always add more if needed but it us not easy to mask too much. Go a little heavy with the sea salt because not only are you going to add plain beans but potatoes will soak a bunch of it up too. Last add a decent pinch of dill. This mix should taste strong at this point.
Dice your potatoes into half inch cubes. The ratio of potato to beans should be about 1:3. Add diced onion and minced garlic with your potatoes the the boiling broth. When they are about half done turn your pot to simmer and add sliced cucumber, diced red pepper and seeded and diced tomatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked to your liking.
At this point you can start adding your beans. I laddled mine in with as little cooking water as possible. They could not be drained because the lentils were too delicate. When you add the beans and stir the lentils will fall apart and make a nice gravy.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Gluten, Dairy and Soy Free Brownies

Last night I had an urge for chocolate, the kind only a brownie could satisfy. The trick to good gluten free food is great ingredients. I have found that the quality of each item matters so much more now that it has to be made without wheat and butter. If you use crappy quality ingredients you don't end up with OK food you end up with crap. Here's the recipe:


1 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil - melted
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2/3 cup gluten free flour blend
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 almonds - diced
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs. stir in remaining ingredients. Spread into a greased 8x8 pan, coconut oil works perfectly. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and center slightly bounces back when pressed.

Now about those ingredients. Your results my vary but I'll tell you what I used.
Sugar - Organic evaporated cane juice crystals. I bought this a costco although I order it from Azure Standard too.
Coconut oil - There are difference types of coconut oil. Some have a coconut flavor and smell some do not. The kind I used in this is raw cold-pressed and retains a bit of coconut flavor and smell. It works very well for baked goods.
Vanilla - I'm a fan of gourmet vanilla. This time I used organic vanilla extract from Uganda. It's one or the reasons I run a wholesale frontier buy, good prices on these specialty things. The regular price is $6.99, wholesale I buy it for $4.65.
Eggs - it's your choice what eggs you feel comfortable eating. I would rather eat eggs from chickens I raise myself but the racoons took every last one so I have to be comfortable enough with free range.
Gluten Free flour blend - This gets tricky. The key to gluten free baking is never one flour. No one item you use will work like wheat. You need a combination, really, trust me on this. The recipe only needed 2/3 cup flour so I went with a blend I bought Mama's Coconut Blend. If I didn't have this on hand I would have made up a mix in a jar containing 1/4 cup coconut flour, 1/4 cup tapioca starch, 1/4 cup garbanzo bean. I'm not a huge fan of rice flour. I think it often imparts too gritty a texture. In needing such a small amount of flour it's really worth the extra cost to omit it. That said, the blend I used contains two kinds of rice flour but the milling is so fine, it's not gritty at all.
Xanthan gum - the glue that takes the place of gluten. This makes it all stick together. Experience has taught me I needed a quarter teaspoon. Too little and to would crumble apart to much and it's like a rock.
Cocoa powder - this like the vanilla makes the end product. A high quality cocoa is essential. I like Rapunzel Organic Cocoa. It's fair trade, it is non-alkaline cocoa and makes great hot chocolate as well.
Almonds - well they're almonds
Baking Powder - I use aluminum free. It doesn't rise as fast as aluminum containing but it does rise later I'm happy with it.
Sea Salt - I love good salt. It really makes a difference is all cooking. Don't use table salt, it's not the stuff wars were fought over, it's just crap.

Bottom Round Roast

First let me explain that I didn't have my usual camera handy so I used my iphone instead and the pictures are of a much lower quality.

Here's the tools I used for cooking the roast. Note the time when I started this dinner. I usually get impatient with roast such as this and end up cooking to too high a heat. Today I was prepared with snacks instead. I guess the smartest thing to do would have been to start dinner earlier but I lost track of time, again.


First I added olive oil to the heated pan then browned the meat that was sprinkled with sea salt and steakhouse pepper blend. On top of the meat I placed half and sliced onion, a bunch of smashed garlic and a few mushrooms. I poured in about a quarter cup white wine and 2 Tbls balsamic vinegar. With the lid in place while the kettle was still warm from the browning I placed it in a preheated oven at 250 degrees.




This is what came out about three and a half hours later. The smell made it hard to finish putting together the rest of the meal, we really just wanted to stop and eat the beef. I pulled the meat out to rest and Doug made the gravy out of the juices.


The pictures really don't do this meal justice. The roast was perfect, the mushrooms so flavorful and everyone loved the artichoke too. The kids really enjoyed dipping their artichoke leaves in gravy. I admit I wouldn't have thought to do that. I prefer salted ghee myself, and Doug is strictly mayo.


This peach cobbler was really the highlight to me and beleive me that meal was a tough act to follow. Here's my recipe:

1/2 c brown rice flour
1/4 c tapioca flour
1/4 c garbanzo bean flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup evaporated cane juice crystals
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
rice milk
2 cups diced peeled peaches
a good bit of coconut oil

Preheat your oven to 350. Peel and dice the peaches then set aside. Whisk together the first 6 ingredients. Preheat a 10in cast iron skillet on med-high heat. Mix eggs, vanilla and enough milk to your powder to make a light batter. Add a healthy amount of coconut oil to the pan and once melted tilt the pan to coat all the sides. Pour your batter into the hot pan, as the batter starts to rise pour in your peaches. Give it a minute to set up a bit then move it to the oven and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and delicious GBD!



I'm not accustom to sweets and this one did push the limits for me. Next time I might reduce the sugar a bit but for your average person I'm sure the amount was just right.

Beef Stew

This I kinda just make with out any real recipe. Here's most of the ingredients:

That stove is as clean as it gets. It is 13 yrs old now and between boiling vinegar for pickles, a huge water bath canner and the cast iron double burner griddle the paint has peeled away in places and there are permanent brown rings baked around most of the burners. Anyway on with the story!


I only used half the meat and froze the rest. I chop the meat into bite sized pieces, coat them in rice flour, salt and pepper, I heat the pan on medium high, add olive oil and a couple cloves of garlic. Brown meat in batches until all is browned. Sautee onion, garlic and celery until soft then deglaze the pan the rest of the way with white wine. I used boxed wine for cooking. I doesn't go bad before you can finish it that way. Finish cooking onions, add beef broth. Chop carrots and add in, add back the meat chop the potatoes and add them too. I also added green beans and granulated kelp.


This really didn't need anything added to thicken, it turned out perfect on it's own.

Braised Short Ribs

Today I decided to show a bit of the process. I say a bit because somewhere along the line I forgot to keep taking photos.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds beef short ribs, cut in serving-size pieces
• salt
• pepper
• 1 diced onions
• 5 cloves smashed garlic
• 2 Tbls olive oil
  
• water to cover
  
• 3 tablespoons white wine
  
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• a pinch of xanthan gum

Preparation:

In a bowl, lightly coat beef with flour.



In a Dutch oven brown ribs on all sides. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove from pan.
Deglaze with white wine. Add half of the onions and all of the garlic cook until translucent. Put the meat back into the kettle add water to cover and simmer until meat is tender, about 2 to 3 hours. Check occasionally and add a little more water if needed. The meat is done when tender and your house smells so good you can't take it any more.

Transfer ribs to another pan and place in a warm oven. Pour off pan juices and allow to settle. Skim off fat and return 2 tablespoons of the fat to pan. Saute the remaining onions. Sprinkle with flour adding back some fluid to make a paste. Add back 2 cups of the broth, strained and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Add a pinch or two of xanthan gum or flour until your gravy is as thick as you like it.
Refrigerate the remaining broth for later use.

The finished product:

The mashed potatoes are made from organic potato flakes bought from Azure Standard and to them I add sea salt, granulated garlic, Triple flake, Robust Olive Oil, Brewers Yeast and boiling water. When they are the right consistency, we add frozen peas at this point to cool it for the kids to eat and actually they are really good this way.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

This is a pulled pork sandwich made from the braised pork ribs on a tapioca rice flour bun from central market. They were really good. I made the BBQ sauce from a can of tomato paste, garlic, cumin, chili con carne, salt and a drop of liquid smoke. I also added a splash of white wine and olive oil, increasing the olive oil as needed to thin allowing to cover all the meat. The sauce was mild and the whole family loved it.

Brasied Pork Ribs

This photo doesn't do the meal justice. I browned the country style pork ribs then brought them to a boil with water, garlic and spices. Next I placed the whole pot in the oven heated to 250 and left it there for 3 hrs while I was out. I took it out when I came home to find tender meat falling from the bone. Left overs will be made into some sort of pulled pork dish.