Category: Pioneer Spirit

Tonight’s dinner was fabulous! Does anyone else open the spice cupboard and throw in whatever looks like it will work? That was tonight’s dinner. I marinated the cubed pork in sesame oil, chili sauce, fish sauce, Italian seasoning, aged balsamic vinegar, merlot, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke. The veges where red, yellow and green bell peppers, carrot, yellow onion and cabbage. It was REALLY good.

Update on the keto hot cocoa thing. I’ve streamlined the process and wanted to share.

Put 3/4 cup of your favorite granulated keto-safe sweetener into the bottom of your blender jar. Put 3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s Special Dark) on top the sweetener.

Cut open a Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk box. I use this brand because it has two ingredients, coconut and water. No sweeteners, no fillers . . . of course that makes it a little more difficult to deal with . . . you can’t shake it and mix it up. It just doesn’t work. When you look at the customer rating for this brand you’ll see it’s rated at ~3.5 stars. It can’t be because of the quality of the product, it has to be because you can’t mix the settled out solids into the liquids by shaking. I solve the problem by dumping it in a blender. Open the box by folding out the ears and flattening the ends. Hold it bottom end up and cut off a corner and pour some of it into a blender carafe, then cut the entire end off and dump liquid and solids into the carafe. Tilt the carafe and carefully dump the solids to avoid splashing the liquidy bits everywhere.
Stick the lid on and blend until fully mixed.

Pour into a quart jar, put a lid on and refrigerate. Don’t try and scrape the carafe clean. Add 2/3 of a cup of almond milk (JMPO, Walmart’s Great Value brand is the best I’ve tried). Scrape the sides down into the cocoa, put the lid on and blend.

Pour into a cup and microwave. Enjoy.

You now have cocoa mix that can be used hot or cold. 1/4 cup mix, 2/3-3/4 cup almond milk according to your taste. Fast, easy, hot or cold.

Don’t forget the MaxMallow Marshmallows if you need the extra oomph.

I had a frittata for breakfast. SO good! Plus I have half left over for another meal!

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 2/3 cup cheese (I used Colby/Jack)
• 6 large shrimp cut into thirds
• 3-4 green onions
• handful of shiitake mushrooms halved and sliced
• 2/3 cup chopped cooked broccoli (I cook it in my instant pot and put it in the fridge for adding to soups, stews, omelettes, etc.)

Sautee the mushrooms and green onions in butter. Add more butter if the pan starts to look dry. Mushrooms absorb oil while cooking and stuffing them with butter makes them extra delicious. Add the shrimp and broccoli. Cook until the shrimp is opaque.

While the veges are cooking mix the eggs and cream cheese until smooth. I use the whisk on my immersion blender. It’s fast and cleanup is pretty easy. Add the cheese.

Once all the cooked stuff is ready add it to the egg mix and stir until combined.

Pour it in a buttered dish/pan. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Serve it with diced tomato.

This one is fabulous, contains no dairy and has maybe 1 carb.

Mix equal parts Dutch processed cocoa powder (I’m using Hershey’s Special Dark) and the sweetener of your choice. I’m using xylitol. Yes I know it’s poisonous to dogs but chocolate isn’t good for dogs either so I’m good. Plus I’m not about to share my hot cocoa. Once you taste it I think you’ll agree. I mix a cup of cocoa powder and sweetener at a time and store the result in a glass jar with a well fitted lid where it’s available whenever cocoa craving strikes. If you don’t want to premix, add 1 heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder and 1 heaping teaspoon of sweetener. I know that seems weird but when you mix cocoa and sweetener together it takes up close to the same volume as the sweetener because the cocoa nests into the spaces between the grains when they are mixed together.

Put a heaping teaspoon of the mix in the bottom of a cup. Add ~1/4c coconut milk (make sure you shake the carton first). Using a spoon mix the cocoa/sweetener/coconut mix until all the cocoa powder has been incorporated. Add another 1/4 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup almond milk (make sure you shake the carton first). Stir. Microwave for 2 minutes or whatever time is suitable for your microwave. Mine’s low powered so 2 minutes works.

If you can use erythritol (I can’t) add two Max Mallow marshmallows to the top. They are fabulous and yes, it breaks my heart that I can’t eat them. Regardless, with or without, the hot cocoa is fabulous. ‘Scuse me while I go fix a cup . . .

Wadly brought home some chuck steak. I already had a cabbage. I’ve looked and looked for good simple recipes for beef and cabbage and am truly underwhelmed. I’ve tried cabbage rolls which are time intensive, carb heavy (rice) and not very good. Today was a headache day and there’s no way I was up to anything but simple, so I improvised. The result got an “absolutely delicious” from Wadly so I’m rating this one as a solid win.

Cube the beef. Brown it in equal parts garlic/onion oil and butter.

While that’s browning add to the Instant Pot 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of red wine (I used a good merlo), a couple dashes of Worcestershire Sauce and a good sprinkling of rosemary (I used dried ground).

When the beef is done browning scrape everything out of the pan into the Instant Pot. Add salt and pepper. Lay the tougher outer leaves of 1/3 of a leek on top. Save the tender inner leaves for the cabbage mix. Pressure cook on high for 45 min.

Slice half a cabbage. I halved the head, cut one half into quarters and thin-sliced the quarters so I wouldn’t have long strips of cabbage leaf. Thin slice 1/2 a bell pepper. I used orange for a nice splash of color. Diagonally slice the remaining leek leaves . Sautee the three ingredients in a dash of garlic/onion oil and 2-3 tbsp butter. Don’t overcook. You want it done but still with crunchy bits.

When the pressure falls off the Instant Pot (natural release) pick off and dispose of the leek leaves, add 1/2 small can of diced tomatoes (1 cup), bring up to a simmer, add corn starch to thicken. Serve over the cabbage. Amazingly good. I’ll do this again. My tummy thought it was really good as well.

I know you think I only share this stuff for your benefit but I also do it because I can’t remember what I did from one time to the next and recording my recipes here gives me a place to go to when I need to know exactly what I did.

Update: I need to add a tweak and a comment. I was trying to use up some peppers and onion. I only had about 1/3 of a large orange bell pepper so I added a few scraps of green bell pepper and a slice of yellow onion to the cabbage mix. When the Instant Pot finished venting I pulled the leak leaves and taste tested the liquid. It was a little on the sour side so I added a tablespoon of keto friendly sweetener. When the entire dish was assembled it tasted fabulous. Lots of rich subtle flavor. Wadly loved it.

I’ve been buying ten pound bags of chicken hindquarters and packaging them individually to freeze. I use them for chicken enchiladas, gravy and soup. I’ve developed a couple of recipes I really like; chicken gravy with stuffed baked potatoes for two and two generous servings of an easy and delicious chicken soup.

Stuffed baked potatoes with chicken gravy

Thaw two chicken hindquarters, separate legs from thighs, and brine for an hour. Easy brining is kosher salt in a gallon ziplock bag. Add water, dissolve the salt, add chicken and zip it shut while expressing the air. I set it in the sink if it’s not going to be brining long or set it in a bowl in the fridge if it’s going to sit longer than that.

In the instant pot add 1 tsp italian seasoning, 1 tsp of poultry seasoning, 1/4 tsp hing (or a garlic clove and a quarter of an onion) and 4 cardamom pods. Place the chicken skin side up in the bottom and add enough water to come halfway to the top of the chicken. DO NOT cover the chicken in water. The goal is a beautiful flavorful broth and more water isn’t the answer. Put the lid on, set to pressure cook for 24 minutes. When the chicken is done separate out the meat and roughly chop it. Strain the broth into a container.

Put 2/3 of the chicken in a pan with butter and onion/garlic oil. Once the chicken is warmed up nicely add enough of the broth to do gravy justice. When the broth in the pan starts to simmer mix cornstarch with a bit of broth and thicken the gravy.

Bake a russet potato. Once it’s cooked, cut the baker in half lengthwise and scoop out the potato.

In the bowl with the baked potato guts add sour cream and butter and mix well. You don’t want completely smooth and you don’t want big lumps. You can use the skin to present the potato. Wadly likes the skin, I give it a skip. If you’re using the skin, mound half the potato mix into one of the potato skin halves. Place the potato in a soup bowl (with or without skin). Keep the potato to one side of the bowl. Add gravy to the other side of the bowl. Serve with a slice of buttered sourdough or a biscuit and a bowl of steamed veges.

Put the left over gravy in with the same container as the chicken and left over broth and refridgerate for later use.

This has become one of our favorite meals. In addition to being easy, it’s really easy on the budget.

Easy and delicious chicken soup

Dice broccoli stems and quarter florets. Dice carrots. Sautee in butter and onion/garlic oil. While they’re cooking cut up mushrooms, green onion, peppers (I use green and something else, red or yellow or orange). Once the carrots have started to soften add the remaining vegetables and more butter. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the left over chicken/broth/gravy. If the soup is too thick add 1/2-1 cup broth (bone, vegetable or chicken – be aware commercial broth is loaded with salt). Simmer until all the veges are done.

I did say easy didn’t I? And really delicious! All the flavoring has already been added, it’s just a matter of cooking the veges and adding the left over chicken/broth/gravy.

If you’re like most folks you’re eating more chicken and pork and less beef. Inflation sucks. Until the government stops printing money and agrees to live within a budget, this up and down cycle is our life. So, for now, chicken and pork is on the menu!

I bought a new chili sauce and it was crying to be used. It’s got a bit of heat but it’s also got flavor, really nice flavor! So, pork stir fry for lunch!

This was REALLY good. The marinade recipe is for a generous single servering. Wadly doesn’t do stir fry if he can avoid it. He’s like really plain unspicy food and this is not in that category.

Marinate cubed pork in red wine (2 tbsp), worcestershire (1 tsp), fish sauce (1/2 tsp), balsamic vinegar (1 tbsp), honey (2 tsp) and the onion/garlic oil I make (1 tbsp). The pork sat in the marinade for about an hour before I managed to get to cooking. I fried the pork really quick in butter and my onion/garlic oil, dumped the contents out of the pan into a bowl, added more butter and onion/garlic oil to the now empty pan, sauteed halved broccoli florets and carrot (sliced thin on the diagonal). Once they started to be something other than dead raw I added sliced mushrooms and sliced green onion. I pushed that around the pan for a little bit before adding the meat and meat juices back into the pan and gave it a stir. I added two teaspoons of my new chili sauce and some bone broth to the marinade and added most of that mix to the pan. While it was coming up to temp I mixed a bit of corn starch into the remaining bit of marinade. Once the sauce started to reduce I added the corn starch mix, got it thickened and served it up. DELICIOUS.

I bought a marinade that I really enjoyed . . . except for the burning stomach it caused. Why? Not sure. Probably coconut aminos, one of those things I should be able to eat but can’t. So the quest is . . . duplicate the taste without upsetting my gut. What I’ve got is really close and delicious.

This is a one-person recipe because I like sauces and spices and Wadly likes simpler stuff.

• 1 medium tomatillo
• 1 tbsp garlic/onion oil (I make it because I love the flavors)
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp bone broth

I process it with an immersion blender. You could do the same thing with a blender, it’s just more things to wash when you’re done.

Cube the pork and dump it in a bowl with the marinade. Stir.

Do your veges . . . broccoli, carrot (saute these two while cutting up the other veges), yellow onion,  bell pepper (I used green and orange), mushrooms (I used shiitake).

Add the remaining veges to the carrots/broccoli. Cook until al dente, transfer to a bowl.

Add the pork and marinade to the pan. Cook until mostly done. Add the veges back to the pan and finish cooking.

It’s simple and really good!

Have you every had egg salad that was actually a salad? It’s really good.

Of course I have to add lots of other things . . .

• 2 hard boiled eggs (crumble the yoke, dice the white)
• diced dill pickle
• diced red pepper
• diced yellow pepper (you don’t really need both but I like ’em)
• sliced green onion
• diced tomato
• spring salad greens
• Sir Kensington Mayo

This is a lovely salad. Stir the mayo into the egg and diced veges, stir in the lettuce . . yum!

For me, a big bowl of this is a lovely dinner. If you don’t want to have it as a stand alone dinner, pair it with pork chops or steak!

I love the taste of garlic. Because I can’t use garlic (high FODMAP) I frequently use garlic oil when cooking. With supply chain issues, it’s currently not available.

I’m occasionally not a very patient person. I’m perfectly happy to improvise when things aren’t going my way. Because the store is out of garlic oil, I decided to make my own.

I’m not a huge fan of olive oil, the base for commercial garlic oil. It’s too hard to get oil that’s truly 100% olive. Usually it’s mixed with something else, often soy which I don’t tolerate at all. This is a significant strike against commercial garlic oil. Is the oil used really 100% olive oil?

So . . . substitution for commercially produced garlic oil . . . I’m using sunflower oil, my preferred oil for everything.

I filled my 10″ cast iron pan with about 3 cups to which I added 2 head of thinly sliced garlic. I cooked it until the kitchen was filled with the heavenly (to me) smell of garlic. I have no clue how long I cooked it. It looked right, it smelled right . . .

I sifted out all the garlic slices and the result is . . . lovely. I’m using more than I would normally but I’m also into it for far far less than the cost of the prepackaged garlic oil.

Win win!