Recipe Review-- Slowcooked meats and Brownies

Salsa Chicken Crockpot style from Simply Sugar and Gluten Free

Twenty minute to prepare! I skipped the tortillas (being gluten free n all) and instead served this with rice and black olives on top. I put half the sauce in the crockpot, added chicken breasts, put the rest over and cooked on high for 4 hours. Then I added cheese and let it melt into yumminess.

Black Bean & Avocado Brownies from Cara's Cravings

Believe it or not, these are absolutely delicious. While making these a friend dropped by and waved off the batter covered spoon I offered to him. "I'm on a diet." Well guess what you can have your brownies and eat them, too. These taste like the chocolate mousse type variety. Another friend would not stop talking about these after he tried it, and the ingredients are inexpensive. Be careful not to eat the whole thing, as beans and avocado might have a loosening effect! I replaced the sugar with equal parts palm sugar to make it even better for you. Instead of espresso, I added spicy hot chocolate mix I had in the kitchen.

Slowcooked Carne Asada from Faithful Provisions

I recently bought this dish at a Mexican restaurant and didn't realize it was not a slowcooked dish. So when I saw that Trader Joes sells premarinated carne asada for $6 a pound, I got a package of the sliced version and decided to make it myself. This recipe is a bit similar to the salsa chicken above, however it doesn't need any cheese, instead I topped it with fresh avocado. It was the perfect cool addition to this spicy dish. (If you don't buy the trader joe's version, I would recommend marinating the meat in your favorite spices first for extra flavor).

Crockpot Meatballs from a Year of Slowcooking

I am an Italian food snob. This month I craved meatballs and so I set out to make a gluten free version that I can eat. I made these marvelous things in about half an hour and I froze them. Next time I definitely will make an extra batch so I can have meatballs anytime. These are so good. I used a larger can of tomatoes and added onion, carrot and celery so there would be a delicious sauce with it to put over rice pasta and peas. Yum yum yum!! (FYI you probably only need a third of a cup of flour to coat the meatballs, not the 1 cup this suggests)

Astralagus (Astragalus membranaceus)

Astragalus is an herb used in Traditional Chinese Medicine that helps strengthen the body, prevent disease and sickness, and level out the effects of stress. In fact there is so much to say about it that cutting this draft down from pages has been real hard.

It may protect us from cancer and diabetes because the plant contains antioxidants that protect from free radicals (like pomegranate, acai and the hip Indian gooseberry). Astragalus is used to protect and support the immune system, for preventing colds and upper respiratory infections, to lower blood pressure, to treat diabetes, and to protect the liver. Studies have shown it to be anti-viral, and it is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. Thus, it's great topically for wounds, too. It may even help with seasonal allergies!

In the United States, researchers have looked at astragalus as a possible treatment for people whose immune systems have been weakened by chemotherapy or radiation. In these studies, astragalus supplements seem to help people recover faster and live longer. Research on using astragalus for people with AIDS has produced mixed results.

Read more at the University of Maryland Medical Center

A Note About Safety

At low-to-moderate doses, astragalus has few side effects. However, it does interact with a number of other herbs and prescription medications. Astragalus may also be a mild diuretic, meaning it helps the body get rid of excess fluid. (So watch your potassium level!)

There is not much evidence about whether astragalus is safe for women who are breastfeeding or nursing. Talk to your doctor before taking any medication, including herbs.

If you take any of the following medications, you should not use astragalus without first asking your doctor:

Drugs that suppress the immune system -- Astragalus may interfere with how these drugs act. If you have an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, or take cyclophosphamide, a medication used to reduce the chances of rejection in transplant recipients, or corticosteroids, do not take astragalus.

Lithium -- Astragalus can make it harder for the body to get rid of lithium, so dangerously high levels of the drug could build up.

Sources
University of Maryland Medical Center
Pictures from Hierbas Medicinales and Methow Valley Herbs

Recipe Review

I've been in a cooking frenzy! Here is my review of Grain Free Nutty Carrot Breakfast Bread, Pumpkin Gingerbread Protein Bars, and Gingery Shiitake & Cabbage Soup with Edamame.

Grain Free Nutty Carrot Breakfast Bread from Daily Bites

Omm nom nom!! This is so absolutely delicious and it doesn't use any sugar other than that which is naturally stored in dried prunes and carrots. I added a little almond flour I had lying around and a little less stevia than called for. I will definitely be putting this into the rotation, this batter would also make great muffins.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Protein Bars from Cara's Cravings

Yummy! I made one batch of these last night, looked at the half empty can of pumpkin and decided to make another! There are tons of these in my freezer now. I must have eaten four or five when they were cooling and gooey so I have a feeling these will go realll fast. Aside from the pumpkin, I have enough for another future batch so this is another one for the recipe log.

Gingery Shiitake & Cabbage Soup with Edamame from Cara's Cravings

This soup is a great way to use that leftover cabbage from the borscht I made! I didn't add edamame and I cut the amount of tofu in half. Personally I don't like to eat a great deal of soy. I've read a lot of herbalists say it is really only good for you if you eat it in fermented form so that's what I go with normally. But the todu is great in the flavor of this soup which actually gets better int he fridge. The broth feels so great for me because its got so many mushrooms.

Happy cooking!

Three Resolutions Down -- Cabbage Soup and Yucca Fries

In learning how to do anything for the first time there are always things to learn from. Here's my update about my list of cooking projects to try this year.

So I liked my cabbage soup at first. I tried the recipe from Flying Apron's Gluten Free and Vegan Baking Book by Jennifer Katzinger. I made the Quinoa Loaf from that book and thought it was so great in the morning with peanut butter. REALLY filling and really not very complicated being that you only need one kind of flour. Vegan recipes are rather simple in this book, which I was suprised by.

I only used 4 of the recommended 6 beets in the recipe to cut sugar but I probably could have done a little less, beets are so powerfully potent! And to tell the truth, it took me until my last bowlful to make the cashew cream for the soup. And now I need to figure out something else to do with the half cabbage I've got in the fridge...

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I also recently got water kefir grains, and I have made my first batch of apple cider kefir! I have another one brewing and I have a feeling there will be a post about that pretty soon...

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Yucca fries have potential but need some work. The first time I boiled a yucca chopped and peeled for an hour and then fried it up with olive oil and butter. But I think that this is a plant that must be better roasted. It is amazing in soups, because it just melts in your mouth, but fried and eaten in large quantity (because its one big root) makes me feel a little queasy. But I would try it in a roast and in the oven, so we'll see how the next one goes.

National Certification!

Just passed my National Certification Exam! Yay no more studying

photo is - Leonid Afremov BEFORE THE CELEBRATION

Goals for 2012

So things I plan to explore this year are:

Yucca fries and hashbrowns
water kefir-- fermented sodas
real gluten free sourbread
cabbage and sausage soup
kefir ice cream
homemade pasta & ravioli

and much more! but that should keep me busy for a while!

Herbalist Mystery Series!

If you'd like to learn more about herbs, a fun way to do that would be to pick up Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles Mystery Series. These books are about an ex-lawyer who opened an herbalist shop. The author cites Margarete Grieves' a Modern Herbal and other herbal works at the beginning of each chapter. For a plant lover like me, I can just eat something like this right up! Yummy easy reading. You can follow the linked picture below to the book's Goodreads page.