Tag Archives: eggs

FAITH, Recipes

Pesach Sameach!

Leave a comment

I don’t speak Hebrew, but ‘Happy Passover’ simply hasn’t the same ring to it.  We are commanded this week of Feast of Unleavened Bread to eliminate leaven (not necessarily yeast) from our lives.   I’m not a fan of Matzoh or other flat wheat breads, so here’s what i’ve made.  For those of you who are experts on this, PLEASE let me know if this does not meet biblical standards of unleavened bread.

Focaccia Bread

1 cup almonds (ground)

1 cup shredded mozzarella (or whatever cheese you prefer, i used provolone this time)

1/2 cup sunflower seeds (ground)

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (ground)

1/2 cup sesame seeds (ground)

1/4 cup flax seeds (ground)

1/4 cup coconut flour

2 tablespoons onion flakes (ground)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano flakes

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup black olives (finely chopped)

2 large eggs

1/4 cup olive oil

Using my Magic Bullet, i ground all the seeds and nuts separately for best results into a coarse grind, feel free to grind them finely, it’s up to you.  Stir all ingredients together in a large bowl with a fork, holding out about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.

Press mixture onto a buttered 9 x 15 stone pan (use whatever you have), then bake in a 375ºF oven for 12 minutes. 17757155_10208645975569212_7534789530260493445_n.jpg

Take out of the oven and cut into squares (i use a pizza cutter), brush with remaining olive oil, and sprinkle with salt flakes (optional, but not too much).  Bake for another 8 minutes.  Take out of the oven immediately and let cool a bit before trying to remove the squares.  Use a spatula to remove them.

Focaccia Bread

Absolutely delicious in my opinion!

Praise Yah!

tauna

Keeping Yah’s Feasts (and other Mo’edim) is not just a Jewish celebration; it is for ALL His set apart people!  What an honour we are given to give glory to Him in His way.

FAMILY, Recipes

Quiche

3 Comments

Encouraged by the wonderful recipe, Broccoli Mushroom Cheddar Quiche published by Cooking With A Wallflower last month, i pulled together what ingredients I had and then tweaked it a bit to meet our tastes, discovering along the way that despite adoring black olives, i did not like them in  my recipe!  Unfortunately, I did not have mushrooms and i think that those will be much preferred.  BUT, here’s my recipe for today – easily tweakable for your own tastes.

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

Crust:

  • 1 cup coconut flour
  • 2 cups almond flour (i grind almonds)
  • 1/2 cup sesame flour (i grind sesame seeds)
  • 1 cup shredded provolone
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Real or kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground oregano
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup melted beef fat (grassfed beef bones) (olive oil or melted butter will work)

Mix it all together with a fork and press mixture into a buttered 9-inch pie dish.  Cook in a 350°F oven for 12 minutes.

Pie filling Yummies

  • 1 cup cooked and crumbled home made beef sausage
  • 2 cups broccoli florets (rinsed and patted dry)
  • 2 or 3 dientes garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 1/2 cup sliced black olives
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup real milk
  • 1 cup monterey jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Crumble and cook your homemade beef sausage in a saucepan with a lid.  Once it’s done, remove with a slotted spoon leaving the drippings in the pan and add slice garlic.  Saute those for a couple minutes, then add sliced olives and broccoli florets.  Cover and let simmer just to steam the broccoli a bit.  Don’t cook it until it gets soggy.

Mix the sausage back into the broccoli, etc.  Pour off any excess moisture, but i didn’t have any.  Dump the lot into your cooked pie shell.  Spread the 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese kind of over the top and mix in a bit maybe.  Then whisk together the milk and eggs.  Pour that over all the mixture, then top with the 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese.

Bake in a 350°F oven for 45 minutes.  I stuck a toothpick in the middle right at 45 minutes and it was spot on perfect done.  Let it stand maybe 15 minutes before slicing into 6-8 pieces.  Serve warm.

IMG_2021

Now, here’s an important note about the crust.  Unless you want an extra thick crust, you’ll find that you have about 1/3 of it left over.  Not wanting any to waste, i went ahead and buttered the end of this stone baking pan and spread it out and cooked it along with the quiche, but it’s only going to need cooking about 20 minutes!  This makes really tasty crackers.  IMG_2022

Enjoy!

tauna

FAMILY, Recipes

Deviled Eggs

5 Comments

While i’m making devilled eggs for Refuge Ministries in Mexico, MO, this is a great opportunity to not only share my recipe, but also talk about food.  Like most real food, there is little NO waste when preparing eggs.

For the meal today, I’ve hardcooked 5 dozen eggs – that’s a total of 60 eggs and of those 17 ‘failed’ which is to say there is some reason they don’t qualify for use as a devilled egg – might be the shell split, the yolk busted free, or it’s just misshapen.  Whatever the reason, even when the eggs are sufficiently aged (eggs peel better when they are at least a week old), sometimes they just don’t serve this purpose.  But don’t throw them away!

 

devilled egg makings 002
Here’s those ‘failures’ perfectly suited for chopping and using for roast beef, tuna, or salmon salad.
devilled egg makings 001
Normally i use organic brown mustard and organic lemon juice, but i was out.c,xms
FAITH, Recipes

French Cheese Braid (Natte)

7 Comments

Here’s an easy, delicious, and gorgeous recipe i tried for the first time and was pretty successful!  Taken from my old Betty Crocker International Cookbook.  When i posted it on facebook, a friend noted that it would make a great Challah bread for Shabbat and some of YHWH’s Feasts!  Unbeknowst to me at the time, the little write up for the recipe in the cookbook suggested exactly that!

French Cheese Braid

“The rich yellow dough used to make this braid (the French call it natte) is similar to the Jewish holiday bread called Challah, but somewhat richer in flavor and flecked with bits of cheese.  It is delicious as a luncheon or light supper bread served with soup and salad.”

1 package active dry yeast (i use 1 tablespoon)

3/4 cup warm water (105F to 115F)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon Real salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

6 ounces Swiss or Gruyère cheese, shredded or diced (about 1 1/2 cups) (i use mozzarella or cheddar)

olive oil

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons water

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl.  Stir in sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and 2 cups of the flour.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. (I use my Kitchenaid mixer with a dough hook).  Place in a greased bowl; turn greased side up.  (i spray the dough and bowl with my Misto olive oil sprayer and leave the dough in the same mixing bowl).  Cover; let rise in a warm place until double, 1 to 2 hours.  Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.  (If you can’t find a warm spot in your house, set the bowl in a bowl or pan of hot water)

Punch down dough; knead in cheese until well distributed.  Divide into 3 equal parts.  Roll each part into a rope, 15 inches long.  Place ropes together on lightly greased cookie sheet.  Braid ropes gently and loosely; do not stretch.  Pinch ends to fasten; tuck under securely.  Brush lightly with oil.  Let rise until double, 40-50 mintues.  (May have to set your sheet on top of the pan of hot water again)

Heat oven to 375F, Beat egg yolk and 2 tablespoons water slighty; brush over braid.  Place on oven rack below center of oven.  Bake until braid sounds hollow when tapped, 25 to 30 minutes.  If braid is browning too quickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil.

My experience is that this baked fully at 25 minutes and the braid needs covering at about the 18 minute mark.

french cheese braid 001
I mix then let rise in the same bowl.
French Cheese Braid 001
Braided before second rising

 

french cheese braid 004
After baking
lovely texture

This is perfect bread to accompany soup!

Cheers!

tauna

Liquid and Soft Diet Recipes

Egg Nog

Leave a comment

 

Another treat for an all liquid diet – this one hails from my good friend, Barb, who, along with her husband care for great cows which produce awesome milk from their nearly 100% grassfed diet.

1 quart milk (real, if possible)

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar or 1/4 cup real honey

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp vanilla

Heat milk to 160 degrees (about steaming)over medium heat.  Add one cup hot milk to egg yolks, then blend into the remaining milk.  Remain vigilant and/or whisk often to keep it from sticking and burning to the bottom of the pot.  Add sugar (or honey) and spices, then reheat.  This is great warm or cold.

As always, use organic, fresh, local whenever possible.

Jerry really likes this and it’s packed with calories and fat, which is important for him right now.  He warms up a cup of eggnog if he has trouble falling asleep or for brekkie in the morning with his softened cereal.

Cheers

tauna

Casady Honey Farm 

Welter Seed & Honey

Frontier Organic Spices

Green Hills Harvest

 

Liquid and Soft Diet Recipes

Egg Drop Soup for Liquid Diet

Leave a comment

Home made egg drop soup:  (Tan Hua T’ang)

3 cups of chicken stock broth.

1/2 teaspoon salt (use Real salt or something that is 100% salt – check the label)

3 tablespoons cold water

1 tablespoon tapioca flour (cassava)* or cornstarch

2 eggs slightly beaten (farm fresh from pastured hens is best)

Heat broth and salt to boiling.  Mix cold water and tapioca flour; stir gradually into broth.  Boil and stir 1 minutes.  Slowly pour eggs into broth stirring constantly with fork, to form shreds of egg.  Remove from heat; stir slowly once or twice.

You can also make this without thickening it with the tapioca flour or cornstarch if it needs to be absolutely thin liquid.

For best medicine, you need to find a local farmer from whom you can purchase healthy pasture raised spent hens or broilers.  You may have to butcher them yourself.  Cook them down bones and all, pull off the meat bits, then throw the bones and cartilage back into the water and simmer another hour or so.  The goal is to get as much of the chondroitan out of the cartilage and minerals out of the bones and into your broth.  Once done, strain out the bones and let the broth cool.  Chicken fat is quite soft, so if you want to skim it off, you’ll eventually have to put it in the frig or other cool spot so that it will harden on the top of the broth so that you can remove it with a slotted spoon.

Buying chicken broth in the store is NOT the same product as what you are making here.

As always, find certified organic or organically raised ingredients.

This was a big hit with my father-in-law who is recovering from hernia surgery, is very weak, and really doesn’t have an appetite.

However, it’s quite good even if you aren’t sick or in recovery.

Cheers

tauna

*my friend Francoirse raises cassava in DRC!

Find a local producer near you using a handy website search, here are a few:

Localdirt.com

Eatwild.com

Localharvest.org

 

FAMILY, FARM

Food Waste in the UK

7 Comments

Speak boldly  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall!

From BBC News Magazine

Viewpoint: The rejected vegetables that aren’t even wonky

There is little doubt this situation is just as bad in the US and around the world.  Yet the big food companies (not food producers) tell us we’ll all starve if we don’t buy their products to produce more food.  It’s a pack of lies.  We waste far too much food.  What we have is a distribution problem and in the first world countries we have so much food that we are incredibly picky.

Food waste is a subject i feel is important – as a cattle rancher and mom, i hear a lot of people complain (in the US) about the high cost of food, yet most producers (meats, eggs, chicken, vegetables, fruit) barely scrape out a living.  The facts are that the cost of production continues to skyrocket, yet, by and large, the producer’s income has remained stagnant while the consumer’s cost has risen only a little.  The margins are very thin and oftentimes only the much aligned farm subsidies provided by the govt are the difference between going another year and losing the farm.  We could utilise our resources much more efficiently and produce a great deal more foodstuffs.  But there is no reason to do so.  Food is so cheap, we would simply lose money.

That huge pile of parsnips that Mr Fearnly-Whittingstall is standing in front of could consumed by cattle or sheep or just returned to the soil to be ploughed back in, but will it?  For sure, the food you throw into your bin at home will go only to the landfill.

Okay, i’ll step off my soapbox now!  😉

Cheers!

tauna

BBC magazine supermarketveg