Easy Tortilla Soup Recipe

Although I like this Tortilla Soup Recipe I posted awhile back, it required fairly specific ingredients and took a fair amount of time to put together. This week I made a stripped-down version that also turned out well.

Ingredients:

-Whatever you have on hand that seems appropriate: I used leftover organic green and yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions from our Valentine's Dinner.

-2-3 jalepeno peppers

-1 can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes and green chiles (from Trader Joe's, you could use something similar from another store)

-1 can of water

-stale tortilla chips

-avocado, rice, lime, other garnish as desired (optional)

Directions:

Chop vegetables and saute in oil until soft. Add canned tomatoes and can of water. Crumble several handfuls of stale or fresh tortilla chips into the soup. Blend with a hand mixer. Simmer until warmed through. Serve over rice if desired or with avocado or lime. This tastes better the next day after the flavors have had a chance to meld.

Golabki Polish Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Recipe

Ingredients:

-1 head of cabbage

-1/2 pound ground beef

-1/4 pound ground pork or other meat (can also use all beef)

-1 onion

-6 cloves garlic

-1 cup cooked rice

-1 small can tomato paste

-4 large tomatoes, diced

-salt and pepper

-bay leaves and peppercorns (optional)

-olive oil or other cooking oil

-dill (optional garnish)

Directions:

Prepare the cabbage: Rinse the cabbage and remove the core. Place cabbage in large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until outer leaves begin to loosen. Carefully lift out the cabbage, remove the softened leaves and return the cabbage to the pot of boiling water until more leaves are softened. Repeat until all leaves have been removed. Remove the center stalks from inside each softened leaf (this will make the leaves easier to roll). The removed stalks can be chopped and set aside along with any leaves that are too small to stuff.

Saute onion and garlic until soft. Add meat and spices, cook until done. Add the meat and onions to the cooked rice.

Place half the chopped cabbage pieces on the bottom of a large cast iron pot or pyrex baking dish. Place about a handful of meat and rice mixture into each cabbage leaf and roll up. Place cabbage rolls seam-side down on top of the cabbage in the pan. Cover with remaining cabbage. Mix diced tomatoes and tomato paste with a hand blender and some water until you achieve desired sauce consistency. Pour tomato sauce over the cabbage. Sprinkle with peppercorns and bay leaves if desired. Simmer on low heat for approximately 3 hours or as desired. A slow cooker can be used instead of the oven or stove-top.

I liked topping my rolls with a sprinkling of dill. Enjoy!

Pomegranate Quinoa Salad Recipe

This pomegranate/quinoa salad is refreshing and simple. It would make a nice holiday side dish because it has both red and green in it. Other recipes on the internet call for adding nuts and/or cheese, which would probably be good if those are safe for your diet. This recipe is delicious as-is. Because quinoa has lots of protein its a good dish to share with vegetarians as well.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed

- 2 cups water (to cook the quinoa)

- 1 cucumber, thinly diced

- arils/seeds from 1/2 a pomegranite

- 1/4 white or yellow onion, finely chopped

- salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, to taste

Directions:

Cook the quinoa according to package instructions. Chop and combine remaining ingredients. When quinoa cools, add to the other ingredients. Serve cold.

Photo credit: Wiki Commons user Bob_pcc

Crock Pot Cranberry Sauce

Modified from this recipe at A Year of Slow Cooking.

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. cranberries
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar*
• 1/2 cup sugar*
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• dash grated ginger (optional)
• splash of vanilla extract
• Note: I've had success with substituting a sweeter berry, like raspberries, for part of the sugar.

Directions:

Rinse cranberries. Place all ingredients in crockpot and mix. Cover, cook on high for about 2 hours, or until cranberries are soft enough to "pop" when smooshed with a spoon against the wall of the crockpot. Smoosh all the berries and let simmer for another half hour on low. Let cool. Can be made ahead of time. Makes a nice topping for salads and ice cream or pie.

Key Ingredient: Mirepoix; Also, When to Buy Organic

Mirepoix is a French name for a mix of onions, carrots and celery. It is used as a base for stocks, soups, stews and sauces. Some chefs prefer a 2:1 ratio of onions to carrots and celery. Mirepoix can be used raw, roasted, or sauteed. When preparing mirepoix, I like to use "regular" or "conventional" onions but organic carrots and celery. I do this because onions have a fairly low concentration of pesticide residue, while carrots and celery are higher in pesticide residue. Carrots are sometimes on the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list of fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residue. This year, celery was ranked the item likely to have the highest amount of pesticide residue. The idea behind the "Dirty Dozen" list and ranking fruits and vegetables is that people can maximize their grocery dollars and minimize pesticide exposure by focusing on buying organic where it can benefit them the most.

Easy Crock Pot Braised Chicken

Ingredients:

-chicken (I used 1 package of frozen chicken breasts, about 1 lb)

-dash of olive oil

-salt

-pepper

-garlic

-onion

-1 jar salsa verde or tomatillo salsa

-1/2 cup water or chicken broth (you want enough liquid to coat the bottom of the crock pot, but the chicken doesn't need to be submerged)

Directions:

Place ingredients in crock pot. Cover and set to high for approximately 4 hours or until chicken is done. If you use fresh or thawed chicken, set to low. Chicken will shred a bit on its own, if desired, shred more with a fork before serving. Excellent for tacos or nachos but also delicious on its own. Enjoy!

Dairy-Free Indian "Butter" Chicken Recipe

My allergies, including allergies to beans, legumes, dairy, nuts and turmeric, make it difficult to find allergy-safe Indian recipes. When I saw this recipe for Butter Chicken on the Tasty Kitchen website, I knew I had to try modifying it to be allergy-safe. The results were fantastic. I think this is a great dish even for people without food allergies or sensitivities. It is even better as leftovers the next day.

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite sized pieces if desired)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper (I used white pepper because I didn't feel like grinding that much black pepper)
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom (if you don't have cardamom, you could try subbing a pinch of cinnamon or allspice)
• 1 whole lime, juiced
• 1 whole onion, diced
• 1 cup frozen spinach (Optional--the original recipe does not call for this but I thought it was a nice addition.)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (Melt before measuring--I used slightly more than this because I wanted to finish off a jar. Note that the coconut oil is in place of the original recipe's butter, you could switch to butter if you prefer and its safe for you.)
• 1 6 oz. jar of tomato paste
• 6 oz. water (I use the empty tomato paste can to measure)
• 2-3 diced fresh tomatoes (could use canned diced tomatoes in a pinch)
• 1/2 can light coconut milk (This is a substitute for the original recipe's whipping cream.)
• 1 bunch chopped cilantro
• 2 cups basmati rice

Directions:

Combine the first nine ingredients and marinate the chicken (overnight if desired, I did not do this because I wanted to eat it the same evening). Sauté the onion in the coconut oil until soft. Add the chicken and cook about 10 minutes. While the chicken is cooking, prep the tomatoes and wash the cilantro. Add the tomato paste, diced tomatoes and frozen spinach. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat with the lid on. Add the coconut milk and cilantro. Serve over rice. Enjoy!