Colder Weather

Oh my, I can't believe it's been so long since I last did a post. So much for me trying to get something up here every week. We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday and I perfected gluten-free cornbread and therefore enjoyed a wonderful cornbread dressing with our smoked turkey.

I haven't been knitting all that much new lately. I am working on a few Christmas presents and therefore can't share those quite yet and have finished the square of the month for December, but knitting and baking have not been high on my list of things to do lately. The weather has turned colder of course and so I'm slowly working up to Christmas celebrations and figuring out what the kids can give to classmates while they work diligently to finish up their assignments before they start winter break this Friday. 

I recently spotted a flea on our white cat, who I believe is actually allergic to flea bites, by the bald patches that are appearing on her as a result of her over grooming. I've bought a flea collar for her and even tried a hydrocortisone shampoo bath (which almost killed her, so to speak). I gave her the bath and within about 3 hours she was vomiting violently and was lethargic and uninterested in food for about 24 hours. I'm still not 100% sure what caused this reaction, but I'm not inclined to bathe her again very soon. Her favorite spot right now is, as you can see, curled up to the heater. We find it quite amusing to see how much of herself she manages to fit under the 1" clearance space underneath.

Last evening was the holiday party at my local knitting guild, Snohomish Knitters Guild. There was the gift exchange and a lot of food. With my new food guidelines, I've learned to either eat before I go or take whatever I want to eat all evening, so I don't cheat and eat things that will have consequences later. I found a wonderful recipe for Carrot Fritters that I was able to adapt to be gluten-free and egg & dairy free as well. They seemed to be the hit of the ball and everyone requested the recipe. I didn't take a picture of them, but if you go to the link above, you can get an idea of what they are supposed to look like. I quadrupled the original recipe and had about 40 2" fritters and I guess that was a good quantity, because there were only 2 left on the plate when I packed up to come home. Here is the recipe with my adjustments. I'll formalize it later with an actual picture, but it will get you started.


Carrot Fritters
Adapted from Food.com

7 large carrots (about 8 cups grated)
2 small yellow onions
8 Tbsp Brown Rice Flour
6 Tbsp Tapioca Starch
6 Tbsp Millet Flour
4 Tbsp ground Chia seed
8 Tbsp warm water
4 tsp dried dill weed
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp baking powder

Grate the carrot and onion together. Stir in brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and millet flour. Mix ground chia seed with water, mix well and pour into carrot mixture. Add remaining seasonings and mix well until all ingredients are well distributed. Shape into small 2" fritters and place on wax paper on a cookie sheet. Chill for minimum of 1 hour, maximum 12 hours. Heat a large fry pan with a shallow amount of oil on medium-high heat. Fry the fritters, in batches, in the oil about 5 - 8 minutes per side or until brown. Drain on paper towels and serve while hot.

Pre-Halloween with soup

I have been busy at work, the last week and a half, creating a Halloween costume for Little Bigfoot. She loves stretching my creative powers to the maximum every year and this year was no different. In the creation of her costume, I developed a new knitted hat pattern that I am working to finalize and write up for sale. I can't share her costume yet, but promise to post pictures and Halloween excitement next week.

Her school had a Bingo Night on Friday and costumes were encouraged, so I dug around the house to come up with something. In the past I haven't been one for dressing up, a lot of that has to do with the fact that I felt horrible in general and the extra effort of finding a costume and putting up with being uncomfortable in it all evening wasn't something I relished. However, over the last year, I've regained more of my health and have felt better than I've felt in 10 years, so I decided to give it a whirl on Friday and see what I could come up with. Many years ago, I created this hat for The Redneck, as he was fighting the great opossum battle at the time, between them and our garbage cans. We've had many a laugh about it over the years, so I decided to put it to good use this year. I found an old pair of holey jeans, a ratty t-shirt and flannel and wore The Redneck's winter boots. I think I made a passable female redneck for the evening. The suspenders were dyed strips of fabric that just worked to highlight the whole thing. Bingo Night was a success, we had a lot of fun and won some fun prizes as well. Little Bigfoot wasn't quite sure what to make of my costume, but decided it was alright to be seen with me and it was even better when she started winning some at bingo.

On another note, the garden harvest is coming to a close, and we have a lot of Delicata Squash to use up. Since most winter squash are okay for me to eat, I'm trying to think of different ways to eat it, so that I don't get overly tired of the same flavor all of the time. I decided to try to create a creamy soup that would be dairy-free and hearty. Here is what I ended up with:

Creamy Delicata Soup
[Printable Recipe]

2 medium Delicata Squash, cut in half, cleaned and roasted until tender
1 can (14 oz) Great Northern Beans, drained & rinsed
1 can (14 oz) black beans, drained & rinsed
1/2 lb chicken sausage
4 mini bell peppers (orange, yellow and/or red), rough chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 cups chicken broth or water

Scoop cooled squash out of the skins and process with the northern beans in food processor until smooth, adding chicken stock/water as needed to aid in achieving a smooth consistent puree. Continue in batches, until all of the squash and northern beans have been pureed.

In a medium saucepan or large deep skillet, cook the sausage and onion until done, add the peppers and saute for 5 minutes. Add the black beans and squash puree, adding more chicken broth/water until a thick soup consistency is achieved. Simmer on very low heat until soup is warmed through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.


Yield 4 medium servings or 2 large servings


Note: Squash can be cooked and stored in the fridge several days in advance, either in the skins, scooped out, or already pureed with the beans.

Turkey Noodle Soup (aka Ambrosia)

What is the one food that you crave when you are feeling even the slightest bit icky? For me it is Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I remember fondly, my mom putting the big canning pot on the stove with 1-2 chickens and stewing it all day, then later in the afternoon, we would all gather in the kitchen as she rolled out the homemade noodles and we formed the assembly line to get them into the soup. Nothing has ever come close to those chewy, hearty noodles (except when I made them myself) and I didn't think I would ever have that feeling of comfort again, since I am now gluten-free. I've tried a bunch of the gluten-free noodles out there, but none of them have the 'right' flavor to make me crave spaghetti or any other previously loved noodle dish and while I had thought of one day figuring out the homemade noodle again, I didn't think I would do it so soon.


On Monday, my husband (The Redneck) smoked a 19 lb turkey for me. It was his payment for having lost the bet that he would be able to keep up the speak on 'Talk like a Pirate Day' last week. We enjoyed the turkey and as I was putting it away that night, I decided to just throw the bones in my stock pot in my fridge, instead of in the freezer as I normally would. So yesterday was Soup Day. I always put the chicken/turkey on the stove early in the morning, to get a nice flavorful broth, it cooks all day infusing the house with the aroma of wellness and poultry goodness. Mid-afternoon I pull out all of the meat and bones and start adding the vegetables and making the noodles. 


My oldest daughter agrees that nothing beats homemade noodles, so it was with great trepidation that I substituted the gluten-free ones. Would they pass muster, only be 'okay' if there isn't any other choice, or flop completely miserably? The moment of truth arrives, I dish up the soup for us and we take the first bite. SUCCESS! I have delicious chewy noodles that are a wonderful complement to the hours of flavor building, so I am sharing with you both the original and modified versions of my family's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.


Homemade Chicken/Turkey Noodle Soup
[Printable Recipe]


1 4-5 lb chicken or turkey carcass (with generous meat left on)
2 medium onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

2 lb carrots, roughly chopped

1 large bunch celery, roughly chopped

(other desired vegetables; mushrooms, zucchini, etc)

Dried/Fresh Basil

Dried/Fresh Rosemary

Dried/Fresh Thyme

Dried/Fresh Marjoram

Salt & Pepper

4 eggs

4 Tbsp Milk

4 c Flour 

-Gluten-Free-

Sorghum Flour

Brown Rice Flour

Tapioca Flour

Early to mid-morning, in a large stock pot, place the chicken/turkey with enough water to completely submerge the meat. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a heavy simmer. Add the herbs (there are no quantities listed as I generally just add several Tbsp of each dried), cook for 3-5 hours. Add more water as necessary to keep the level over the meat.

Approximately 3 hours prior to desired serving time, carefully scoop all of the meat and bones out of the broth and set aside to cool slightly. (I will sometimes run the broth through a strainer to ensure that no small bones are left behind.) Add the onion and garlic, let simmer while you prepare the other vegetables. About 1 1/2 hours prior to desired serving time, add the carrots and celery, keeping at a medium - high simmer. Debone the meat, cut into bite sized pieces and add back to the stock pot, discarding bones, fat, etc. Add approximately 3-4 tsp salt and pepper to taste.

At 1 hour prior to desired serving time, bring the soup to a rolling boil. Crack eggs into medium mixing bowl and beat slightly with a fork. Add milk, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste). Gradually add the flour. [For gluten-free noodles: add 2 heaping Tbsp of each flour, continue adding at the rate of 1 Tbsp Tapioca Flour for every 2 Tbsp of Brown Rice & Sorghum combined.]  Continue adding flour until you have a kneadable dough. Generously cover your counter top (or large cutting board) with flour (brown rice flour) and using enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, roll it out in batches to 1/4" thickness. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut into 1/2" x 2" strips (approximately). Gently lift the noodles off of the counter (with a spatula) and drop individually into the boiling soup, stirring as needed to submerge the noodles. Continue with all of the dough until finished or you have the desired amount of noodles (more is always better). Reduce the soup to a heavy simmer and continue to cook, while you clean up the counter (10-15 minutes). 


ENJOY!


Notes: This recipe can be reduced drastically with success. I have made it using two boneless chicken breasts and canned broth, in a 2 qt sauce pan. Use 1 egg and reduce the flour accordingly for the noodles.


The noodles are best eaten within a few days of making the soup. If you plan to freeze the soup, remove the desired amount of soup to another pan, prior to adding the noodles.  Add noodles only to the amount you plan to eat soon. Use Chinese Egg Noodles in the freezer portion of the soup, adding the raw noodles to the warm soup, prior to putting into freezer bags/containers. Or freeze the soup without noodles and reheat and make fresh noodles for any frozen soup. Store-bought noodles may also be added, in place of the homemade noodles.