I loved the dish we had for dinner last night. It was fast because I used my grass farmer’s tenderized turkey breast cutlets. It was chop-and-drop easy and included some of my favorite nutrient dense foods. It’s a seasonal autumn dish, perfect for right now. Round out the meal with a coconut pumpkin muffin and a glass of cold, raw milk.

Turkey Cutlets on Kale with Mushroom Sauce

6 tenderized turkey breast cutlets
1/4 cup sprouted wheat flour
1 bunch of kale, stemmed and chopped
2 cups homemade chicken stock, divided
1 pound mixed mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms
3 tablespoons pasture butter, divided
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
sea salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, bring 1 cup chicken stock to boil. Pour half a cup of hot stock into a bowl and add dried mushrooms. Add chopped kale into remaining stock in the pot, set on medium low and cover. Give the kale a stir when you flip the turkey cutlets later.

Heat 1 tablespoon pasture butter in skillet. Add chopped onion and mixed mushrooms. Squeeze porcini mushrooms dry (reserve soaking water) and chop, adding to skillet. Stir around over medium high heat until mushrooms give off their liquid and onion begins to brown. Remove onion mixture from skillet.

Melt 1 tablespoon pasture butter in skillet. Dredge turkey cutlets in sprouted wheat flour and add to skillet. Brown on one side over medium heat, then flip over and cover the pan to brown the second side. The cutlets will be done in about 5 to 7 minutes total cooking time. Remove cutlets to a plate and keep warm.

Deglaze the skillet with remaining cup of chicken broth and mushroom soaking liquid. Scrape up all the good bits off the bottom of the skillet and allow liquid to reduce by half. Add mushroom mixture back into sauce, melt remaining 1 tablespoon pasture butter into sauce. Serve cutlets over a bed of kale, and topped with mushroom sauce. Serves 6

If you don’t have access to pastured turkey breast cutlets, you could use a couple chicken breasts that you’ve pounded thin. I used curly kale, but any variety would work well. The mushroom sauce mixes with the kale so deliciously! I had this dish on the table in less than 30 minutes.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Shopping List by LexnGer, on Flickr

I don’t plan to do this every week, but I wanted to post my menu plans for this week. Sometimes in the middle of winter it can be hard to come up with ideas. I hope there’s inspiration here for someone!

Breakfasts

• Smoked Salmon Omelette with Shallots and Hollandaise sauce
• Porridge (soaked the night before, with a pantry full of choices for toppings: nuts, seeds, dried fruit, a couple chocolate chips, etc.)
• UFOs (also called egg in a hole, depending on your part of the country)
• Scrambled eggs with bacon and toast
• Fried eggs on torn up bread

Lunches

• Bologna sandwiches (my meat farmer makes the yummiest bologna!)
• Chicken breast chunks (marinated overnight in a combination of citrus juices), brushed with butter and baked, with homemade ranch dip
• Crab dip (from Nourishing Traditions) poured over toast
• Pasta with jarred tomatoes, kale and olives
• Quesadillas
• Salmon spread (from Nourishing Traditions) on sourdough crackers

Dinners

• Stir fried bison steak and cabbage on udon noodles, green salad
• Squash and Sun dried tomato soup (from Nourishing Traditions), hamburgers and broccoli
• Carrot salad (from Nourishing Traditions), Roasted chicken, sauteed parsnips
• Dr. Connelly’s soup (from Nourishing Traditions), Seared Pork Tenderloin medallions with apple cider pan sauce, brussels sprouts with cream and bacon
• Baked Salmon with Egg Mustard sauce (from Nourishing Traditions), frozen peas, a salad of sliced oranges and fennel bulb
• Clean-out-the-fridge meal with Sweet potato dollars served with leftover sauces from the week for dipping

It’s pretty easy to turn all this low-carb by just skipping the bread and crackers when they are offered. The two roasted chickens midweek will find their way into the slow cooker for stock, and the leftover meat will be put aside for a meal next week.

I find it easy in the wintertime to have soups frequently. Summer is a much more salad-friendly time of year. But that general plan leaves me with a longing for tomato soup! I haven’t really found a recipe for tomato soup that uses jarred tomatoes and still tastes really rich and good.

In addition to these meals, I also made some pineapple chutney (yeah, I know pineapple isn’t local, it’s one of my cheat foods), queso blanco, crispy pecans and walnuts for snacking on, and I soaked and roasted the seeds from last week’s acorn squash. The rind from the pineapple is soaking away in whey, turning itself into pineapple vinegar to be used in cortido next week. My apple cider vinegar using the Thanksgiving apple pie’s peels and cores is still working, not quite the acid level I’d like, but getting there.

And John has asked for some homemade marshmallow fluff before he goes back to college. How can I say no?

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

My pastured poultry provider sells these wonderful wings with huge chunks of breast meat attached. These are no little wimpy grocery store wings!

I wanted a very simple presentation the other night, something to really allow the chicken flavor to shine through. I melted some butter on the stove and used it to baste the wings as they broiled. I put them about four inches from the heat and broiled them, turning and basting often, for about 25 minutes. The skin was crispy and the wings were wonderfully moist and tender. I served them with some roasted squash and mashed potatoes, and passed some melted butter at the table. The whole shebang took less than 30 minutes to make and was just right for a chilly autumn evening. Sometimes the simplest foods are the most delicious!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

At only 81 calories a cup, blueberries are relatively low in calories for the flavor punch they pack. They also have anthocyanins, which provide their color. Anthocyanins work together with vitamin C to neutralize free radical damage to your tissues and work with your body to repair collagen for healthy skin and connective tissues. Unfortunately, anthocyanins don’t survive the canning process, so be sure to freeze or dry (at low heat) extra berries. Blueberries have even more antioxidant action than red wine, so the teetotalers among us needn’t feel shortchanged!

Of course, berries are delicious in pancakes and muffins, but can turn your food strange colors when they are cooked. In acids (lemon juice, vinegar) they can turn reddish. In base combinations (baking soda), they can turn an even darker blue. If your muffin batter has too much baking soda, the blueberries will turn the batter greenish blue! But, to preserve the vitamin C in the berries and keep the B vitamins from leaching out, it’s best to eat these gems raw. Wash berries immediately before eating to protect them from spoilage.

We use dried blueberries to combat diarrhea and urinary tract infections. A tea of a few teaspoons of dried blueberries steeped in boiling water can be enjoyed a couple times a day. The tannins in the blueberries stop diarrhea very effectively, and the acids in the berries will keep bacteria from adhering to the urinary tract and colon (much like cranberry juice, but tastier!) There has been some research indicating one of the bacteria blueberries repel particularly well is our old nemesis, E. Coli.

Blueberries are a classic pairing with peaches, which are just coming into season here. I made this salad for lunch the other day. It combines fresh peaches with chicken leftover from making stock, some standard salad ingredients and is topped with blueberries. The dressing complements the fresh flavors with cinnamon and lemon.

Peachy Chicken Salad

serves 6 as a main course salad

1 head organic green leaf lettuce
1 thinly organic red onion
2 small organic cucumbers
3 ripe organic peaches
4 cups cooked pastured chicken
1 1/2 cups organic blueberries

For dressing:
juice of 3 organic lemons
rind of 1 organic lemon, grated
1/2 cup extra virgin organic olive oil
1 teaspoon flax oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons organic cinnamon
1/4 cup creme fraiche

Combine the dressing ingredients in a pint jar, screw the lid on tightly and shake to combine. Set aside.

Wash all fruits and vegetables and chop small, leaving blueberries whole. Chop chicken into small pieces. Toss all fruits and veggies together in a bowl with chicken except blueberries. Serve salad, stream dressing over and top with blueberries.

A word on organic ingredients: Blueberries and peaches are on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list, onions are on the clean fifteen. I would not use the rind of a non-organic lemon for eating.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop. Hey, lookie there…blueberries!

So, stretching our lovely, delicious, grassfed meat we buy is a high priority for me. Most cooks and cookbooks recommend a quarter pound of uncooked beef per person. In our house, we aim for half that amount several times a week. One of the ways I’ve found to stretch a piece of meat is the stir fry. Here’s a very basic guideline, a recipe and some options:

Stir Fry for Four

1/2 pound meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon each naturally fermented soy sauce and cooking sherry
1 large onion, cut in half from root to stem and sliced
1 pound raw vegetables, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon each minced garlic and ginger
2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
3 tablespoons homemade stock
3 tablespoons coconut oil
Soaked or germinated brown rice, cooked

The basic procedure is very simple. Cut up all your veggies and meats and have them ready before beginning. Heat a large skillet on high heat. Toss the meat in a bowl with soy sauce and sherry. Mix the arrowroot with the stock in a small bowl. By now the pan is really hot, so add 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and half the meat. You want to keep it moving in the pan for about 2 to 3 minutes, until it is just barely cooked through. Remove that batch of meat and add the other half. When that batch is done, remove it and add the last tablespoon of coconut oil to the pan with the onions. Stir around a minute, then toss in the ginger and the vegetable. Stir around for about two minutes and add the garlic. Return the meat to the pan. Stir the arrowroot mixture and add to the pan, stirring around until thickened and glossy. Serve immediately over hot cooked rice.

We like to use these meats:

• scallops
• shrimp
• pork tenderloin
• beef
• chicken

The vegetable choices are nearly endless, but some good ones are:

• asparagus – pencil thin to cook quickly and not be tough
• cabbage
• carrots – shredded or sliced very thinly
• celery
• green beans – those tiny skinny ones cook just right in a stir fry
• mushrooms – any kind. White ones go well with chicken, portobello with beef, etc. I add these with the arrowroot so they don’t lose too much consistency.
• bell peppers – these add color to the finished dish
• fresh pineapple – adds a lot of sweetness, so I’ll add a pinch of red pepper to the dish for balance
• sugar snap peas
• summer squash
• broccoli

I like to match the stock for the sauce with the meat I’m using. This is one great reason to store at least some of your frozen homemade stock in ice cube form!

I also like to make flavoring sauces to add to the stir fry. I add these with the cornstarch and stock near the end to add a little more flavor to the dish. For example:

Sweet and Sour Sauce
1/4 cup homemade stock
2 tablespoons naturally fermented soy sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar (cider, balsamic or wine vinegar is nice, my new favorite is coconut vinegar)
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Citrus Sauce
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest (or preserved lemon rind)
1/4 cup homemade stock
1 tablespoon naturally fermented soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey

Putting together different combinations of meat, vegetable and sauce make for an incredible amount of variety.

This post is part of the Real Food Wednesday blog carnival hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

But, my pastured poultry producer had a great sale on their wings and I just had to pick some up. These aren’t little grocery store wings, they include a nice chunk of breast meat (they call it breast bits) and I found one wing was plenty for me and the kids, the boys had two wings apiece and were plenty happy. They turned out just lovely, but next time I’ll adjust the recipe a tad.

Wings for Wimps

3 oranges, juiced
2 tablespoons naturally fermented soy sauce
1 tablespoon freshly ground peanut butter
1 teaspoon raw honey
2 teaspoons molasses
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 inch knob of ginger root, peeled and finely minced
10 pastured chicken wings with breast bits

Mix together thoroughly all the ingredients except the wings. Put wings in a glass baking dish and use mixture to marinate the wings overnight, covered in the refrigerator. Remove the wings from the refrigerator about an hour before cooking to allow the pan to warm up a bit. Bake 45 minutes at 325°, basting with the juice occasionally.

It turned out very well, but next time I think I will use the juice from 4 or 5 oranges, then after marinating, reduce it by boiling a few minutes first, and maybe add some grated orange peel too.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays, this week hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

College Inn Culinary Broth by urbanbohemian on Flickr

Another food recall, this time for MSG-Free Chicken Stock that isn’t MSG-Free. For people sensitive to MSG, this is so frustrating. I was around in the 1970′s and 80′s when labelling laws were prompted many heated discussions. Citizens asked their government to standardize labels so that the information on them would be readable, comparable and trustworthy. Here we are 25 years later and we are still battling with food providers to put the food in the can that is listed on the label and to put the words on the label that accurately describe what’s in the can.

Here’s a better option. Buy a whole pastured chicken, a few stalks of celery, a couple onions and carrots and make your own. It takes a couple minutes and is superior to the mass-produced stuff available that you’ll never go back.

Put the chicken in the pot. Whole. Skin, bones, the whole shebang. If your chicken came with a liver, heart or other pieces and you don’t want to save those for other uses, toss them in there too. Cover the chicken with water and toss in a tablespoon of vinegar. Cover the pot and cook for 2 days on low. I use my oven set to 170°, but you can use a crockpot if yours is large enough. On day three, add celery, carrots and onion. Cook another 20 hours or so. Toss in a few stems of parsley for the last hour. Drain stock and freeze in quart (or pint, depending on your family size) glass jars.

You can use the meat for cooking, but check out the bones before you toss them. The connective tissue at the top of the legs, for example, should be gone. It’s dissolved in the broth, held in suspension waiting to be consumed. It will be used by your body to create new connective tissue for you. You don’t need collagen injections, just this collagen-rich broth! Get off the glucosamine pills and get yours in your diet!

Use your broth to replace water when cooking rice, making soups and sauces, or even just a cup in the afternoon instead of coffee. Delicious, health-promoting and MSG-Free, for real!

Dutch Puff
2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour
2 cups filtered water
2 tablespoons whey (or yogurt, kefir, or cultured milk)
8 eggs

Soak flour in water with whey 12-24 hours. In the morning, preheat oven to 425°, butter a 9×13 pyrex baking dish and put it in the oven to heat up. Add 8 raw eggs to the flour and beat well. Pour into sizzling hot baking dish and bake 20 minutes. This will puff up, but will fall as it cools. Serve with butter, milk and maple syrup.

This is just your base and pretty bland. You can add dried fruits, nuts, whatever suits your taste. Remember to heat the dish in the oven, that keeps the puff from sticking.

I started dinner when I took the Dutch Puff out of the oven by letting the oven cool down, then putting a bunch of potatoes in at 250° for two hours. (Note to self: two hours was only enough for the smallest baking potatoes.) Before I started the rest of dinner last night, I scooped and mashed the innerds of five of the potatoes with butter, a dot of kefir, some chopped, cooked natural bacon and some raw cheddar cheese. I stuffed the potato skins with this mixture and topped them with a little more cheese and set them in 150° oven to melt the cheese and stay warm. For my allergic daughter, I mixed the “tater guts” with some rice milk and bacon.

Our chicken tonight was simple breasts, dunked in egg, dredged in breadcrumbs and fried up in olive oil. I didn’t pound them first, so they took about 7 minutes a side. When I turned the last batch, I put some asparagus in about an inch of boiling, salted water and covered it. After five minutes, I drained it well and tossed them with some clarified butter. We passed a wedge of parmesan cheese to grate over the top of the asparagus. The kids have always preferred the green shaker cheese, but since it’s not in the house anymore, they are forced to eat the real stuff. Sneaky, ain’t I? Everyone was really thrilled with dinner, and no one even asked about dessert. Perhaps I’m making progress.

As I was doing dinner dishes, I slipped on some water on the floor (Note to self: When it’s time to replace that floor, look for something that’s not so slippery when it’s wet!) and tweaked my knee a little. So much for dancing tonight. Hubby took the older ones, leaving me home with the ones still recovering from a cold. I spent the evening making menus and a shopping list for the next week, planning our Oscar party and playing my favorite video game.

For lunch, I sauteed some mushrooms and shallots in the skimmed fat from a jar of homemade chicken stock. When they were softened and starting to turn golden, I tossed in a little white wine and a cup of stock and let it reduce some while I chopped up some leftover roasted chicken. I added the chicken and scooped out youngest’s serving before adding some cream to the sauce for the rest of us. Served over soaked and cooked rice it was just right for lunch.

I started some breadsticks in the bread machine to have with dinner right after lunch. I used the flour I’d soaked the other day to use in pancakes. I had about 3 cups that had been soaked in a little more than a cup of water. I threw that in the bread machine with 2 teaspoons of yeast, 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (my machine warms the ingredients with the first mix, so this will melt gently and be incorporated well without my having to melt it first and take the chance of scalding the yeast) and a pinch of sea salt. I set it on the “dough” setting and let it do its thing. When the machine beeped its “all done” sound, I took the dough out and shaped it into long twists. They went on a buttered cookie sheet in the turned-off oven to rise, which took about 2 hours. Just before baking them, I brushed them with melted butter and sprinkled on some garlic powder (and parmesan for the un-allergic). They didn’t take long to bake, about 10 minutes at 400° and they were so, so yummy.

A couple days ago I set some red lentils to soak in a mason jar on the counter. When I realized I wouldn’t use them the next day, I set them to sprout. The sprouts on them were about 1/4 inch long tonight, just right for cooking, so I made lentil soup. It was orange and beautiful and didn’t have the earthy flavor of brown lentils, but a bright, herbal taste.

Sunshine Lentil Soup
1 onion, peeled and sliced
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon clarified butter
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 quart beef stock
1 cup (presoaking measure) red lentils, soaked and sprouted
thyme sprigs
1/2 lemon, juiced
Kefir, to pass at the table

Cook onions and carrots in butter and coconut oil slowly for about 20 minutes. Add stock and lentils and bring to a boil, skimming off the foam. Reduce heat, add thyme and cover. Simmer 15-20 minutes until lentils are tender. Remove thyme and blend with stick blender. Add lemon juice and sea salt to taste. Pass kefir at the table to add to soup.

This post is part of the Pennywise Platter Thursday blog carnival hosted by The Nourishing Gourmet.

I started out early this morning by setting 8 chicken breasts to soak in an orange juice/lemon juice/fresh garlic/fresh ginger marinade. For dinner I  poured off and reduced the marinade while the breasts cooked and served it all with steamed fresh broccoli. The rice I soaked yesterday cooked, covered at the lowest possible heat for about 45 minutes during lunch. To two cups of it, I added a chopped red and green pepper, some chopped green onion and raisins, tossed in half of the fresh (and very, very not local) pineapple on the counter, and mixed it all up with some evoo and apple cider vinegar to serve next to the chicken.  It won’t take long to make or create a lot of dirty dishes, which is good news because on Fridays we go dancing!