More Ideas for Beets

I said I'd pull out my Grandmother's cookbook to see what else there was for Beets.  Actually there are several ideas in here, but here are a few that stood out to me. The cookbook is called New American Cook Book dated 1942.

Beet Greens

Select young beet tops, Wash carefully in several waters to remove all grit.  Put entire plants, including roots, in pan.  Cover with boiling water and boil rapidly until tender, about 1/2 hour. Season with salt during cooking. Chop coarsely. Add butter (or CF Earth Balance) and serve hot.

Diced Beets and Bacon

2 1/2  cups diced boiled beets

4 slices bacon, chopped

Salt - Pepper

Fry bacon crisp. Add beets and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 4 to 6. A teaspoon of vinegar may be added if desired.

Beet and Tomato En Casserole

2 1/2 cup diced boiled beets

2 1/2 cups stewed tomatoes

 1/2 cup grated cheese (sub with CF cheese I would think)

2 cups bread crumbs (GF)

2 tablespoons fat

Salt - Pepper

Put 1/2 beets into bottom of greased baking dish. Add half the tomatoes then half the cheese in layers. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 bread crumbs. Dot with 1 tablespoon fat.Repeat. Brown in moderate oven (350 degrees F) 20 minutes. Serves 6.

Note: it doesn't say what size baking dish to use.

Aunt B's Fresh Beets

For the first time I decided to try to grow beets in my garden.  I guess the reason I've never tried to grow them is because no one else in my house likes them.  Most of us seem to associate them to holidays, such as Easter.  We just don't think about eating them on a regular basis.  Did you know the tops are editable, too?  I've never given that a thought either.  I haven't done anything with the tops just yet, but I plan on pulling out my Grandmother old cookbook to see whats in there for the tops.  As it is you can google beet tops recipes and find several ideas there. I love Google! Don't you?  Anyway, here's basically what I did with my beets.

After washing them real good and cut off the tops. I peeled them just like a carrot and cut them into quarters. Oh by the way I added 1" cut carrots with my beets once, so don't just stop at beets.  I tossed them in a tablespoon of olive oil. Remember I only had about five beets here, so if you have more beets add more olive oil.  I added some fresh chopped herbs from my herbs.  This time I added Thyme and Sage.  Not too much, but enough to give it a wonderful smell. I also sprinkled a teaspoon of Kosher Salt on them.

After making sure they are coated real good I wrapped them in foil and roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  The end results were heavenly and it was a quick & easy side dish.  Even if it's for just one.

Aunt B's Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

I admit it! I make a lot of muffins, but for a good reason. My oldest son eats breakfast at school everyday and he is Gluten & Casein Free.  So it can be a challenge coming up with different ideas that he can take to school with him.  Muffins have been a great breakfast item, because you can change up the flavors so easily. I've been told that quick breads can be very forgiving and so far they have been for me.  Here's my newest one, but not my last one.  I've been kicking around the idea of strawberries. Most likely because it's spring time and strawberries seem to be on everyone's ones mind right now.

Speaking of Spring I have to show you my Beets fresh out of the garden. That's coming up next!

Aunt B's Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

1 ½ Bananas (170 grams)

3 tbs Natural Peanut Butter (at room temperature;  I use Smucker’s Brand)

1 Lg Egg (at room temperature)

½ cup Almond Milk (at room temperature) 

3 tbs Oil

½ tsp Vanilla

Flour Mixture:

1 cup Brown Rice Flour (158 grams)

½ cup Tapioca Flour/Starch (60 grams)

½ cup Potato Starch (81 grams)

½ cup Light Brown Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

¼ tsp Baking Soda

¼ tsp Salt

Directions: 

• Grease the muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350⁰
• Mash the Bananas and set them aside.
• The Peanut Butter I use has to be kept in the refrigerator, because it is made of only peanuts.  This is the reason I said to use it at room temperature.
• In a separate bowl blend your flour mixture and set it aside.

In a large Mixing Bowl beat the egg; add the Oil, Almond Milk and Vanilla.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.  Once the flour is blended in with the wet ingredients start adding the mashed bananas and the peanut butter.  Mix only long enough to blend everything together.

Spoon the muffin dough into the muffins tins. Mine made about 10 muffins and this will depend on the size of your muffin tin.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. I let mine bake the full 20, but if you are using a small muffin tin cut back on the time. You can check them with a tooth pick to make sure they are done.  Let them cool for about 5 minutes in the muffin tin and then remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.  BUT, if you’re like me its okay to steal one while it’s still warm.  I store mine in an air tight container on the counter for a day or so. They usually don’t last an longer than that, but if you want to make them last longer put them in the refrigerator.  Remember there are no preservatives in homemade baked goods, so if you’re planning to save them for a few days put them in the refrigerator.  You can always put them in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds to take the chill off of them.

I forgot to mention one thing yesterday. I topped the muffins with chopped peanuts. It didn't take many for the topping, so don't feel that you need a 1/4 cup of chopped peanuts for this.

Sesame Teriyaki Chicken Salad

"How does your garden grow?" is a question we often ask each other on our recipe group. That's a good question if you ask me.  I sent this weekend working in the yard and my garden.  I bought some seeds that I had run out of or replaced those that were out of date. If the date on the back of the seeds is 2 years old I toss them and buy new ones.  Over the years I've learned not to waste my time planting seed that have become old.  If they're a year old and nothing seems to work from that batch of seeds I toss those right then and there.

Beets & Carrots

Peas & Strawberries

Spinach in a Container

 Mostly the weekend was spend pulling weeds. My how the weeds can grow so fast.  As for my garden it's not real big, but it's big enough for us.  I don't need a huge garden, because I don't can my vegetables.  I'd love to, but I don't have the time.  As it is I need to make my Banana Bread today and start looking at ideas for hamburger buns.  Since going Gluten Free myself I've been able to actually taste a lot of the products that I buy for my oldest son.  The hamburger buns I buy are good, but they seems to have a lot of bread to them.  Most of the time I cut off part of the bun to reduce the width of the buns.  

Yesterday I made a wonderful Salad with Chicken on it for our lunch.  Years ago when I had more time one of my favorite shows on the Food Network channel was Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee.  I love her idea of using products that we can buying in the grocery store and making something wonderful with them.  That's basically what I did yesterday.

GFCF Sesame Teriyaki  Chicken Salad

Chicken (I used tenderloins)
Organicville Sesame Teriyaki Sauce
Oil
Lettuce, Carrots and Tomatoes

It was easy to do and fast.  I cut up same chicken tenderloins and fried them up in my cast iron skillet with a couple of tablespoons of oil.  When they were a golden brown I added about a 1/4 cup (maybe more because a just poured it in) of the Sesame Teriyaki Sauce.  Organicville seems to be a favorite right now in my house and if you time I'm sure there's a lot of recipes out there for a Sesame Teriyaki Sauce, but I wanted to get back outside to enjoy the lovely weekend.  Once I added the sauce I turned down the heat on the chicken to let it simmer for about 5 minutes.  This gave me time to throw together the salad.  When the chicken is done just add it to the salad with your favorite salad dressing. I used a sun dried tomato dressing on my salad.  It was wonderful, it was fast and I was back out of my back porch in no time enjoying the beautiful day.

Aunt B's Chicken & Peas

I know I haven't posted anything in a while again, but I have my reasons. I've been busy in my garden getting it ready for the season. It's been beautiful here lately, until today. Today is cold and rainy.  We even saw a little sleet this morning.  Here's what I've been up to in the garden.  I bought rabbit wire to enclose the garden this year.  I had it on one of the beds last year, but that made for a lot of bending over the rabbit wire to work in the beds.  With the rabbit wire enclosing the area I can sit on the edge if I want to while pulling weeds.  Yes, weeds get in my beds, too. You know how it is when you mow.  It blows stuff everywhere else you have a bag on the mower or even better a mulching mower.

The old ladder is for the Peas to climb on with strawberries under it.

Why the picket fence? That so my dog, Angel, doesn't run into the rabbit wire in her enthusiasm while chasing the squirrels.  No, she doesn't chase the rabbits. We taught her not to chase them, but she does like to watch them along with the birds. Yeah I can hear her brain working, too.  Nuts! Why can't I chase the Rabbits, too!

On to cooking. Here's a quick and easy meal that Garrett often asks me to make for dinner.

Aunt B's Chicken & Peas

6 - boneless skinless chicken breast
Moore's Original Marinade or Italian Dressing
1 - can of peas or frozen peas
Brown Rice
Chicken Broth

I cut up the chicken into chunks and marinade it in either Moore's Marinade or the Italian Dressing. Whichever one Garrett picks that day or whichever I have on hand. I let it marinade for most of the day and then stir fry it in a large skillet. While I'm stir frying I cook the  peas and the brown rice. The brown rice I cook in chicken broth using the amounts on the brown rice packaging.  I very seldom use water when cooking any of my rices. The chicken broth helps to give it some sort of flavoring.  When it's all done lay a bed of rice in your bowl and pile on the chicken and peas. I add a little gf soy sauce to mine OR in my son's case.  Pile on the chicken, peas and hot sauce!

Cast Iron Dutch Oven

I know I've talked about my cast iron skillets in the past and I know I told you once about how rusty my very first dutch oven was. Well, here's a look of that dutch oven before I cleaned it up. Yap, that's a lot of rust. When I got this dutch oven I had no idea how to clean it or how to get the rust off of it. By the way it was giving to me by my sister that has Bargain Basement Antiques and that's where my last two skillets have come from. So anyway, I hit the internet and I discovered a few things along the way. Did you know that vinegar will remove rust?  No, well I didn't either until doing a lot of searching on the net.  I even bought a book called Cast-Iron Cooking for Dummies. Yap, that is me!  You have to remember that I grew up in the age of Teflon.  Cooking with cast iron was something my grandmother did long before I was even born as far as I knew, but after reading several posts from some of the people with our gluten free recipe group that it isn't such an old idea after all. Several of them when asked by us newbies to gluten free cooking about what type of pans they used would always say cast iron and the more I read the more I was sure I wanted to go to cast iron myself.  One thing I was really concerned about was the gluten in the pores of the dutch oven. Yes I said that right.  As you cook in cast iron the pores open up and it will absorb what you're cooking in those pores.  So, how do you remove the gluten or casein for that matter. A lot of people use butter in their skillets. Well, some sites have you using Easy Off Oven cleaner and letting it sit in the plastic bag for a day or so outside.  I did this myself only because there was so much build up on this dutch oven and I was just starting out.  Let me tell you that is one messy method.  Not one I'll do again myself. After I did this it still wasn't showing a whole lot of improvement. Some, but not enough to finish the dutch oven off with seasoning. There's another method if you have a self cleaning oven and in the end this is the one I use for all of my cast iron. I put it in the oven on the rack and start my self cleaning with the oven. So far this has been the best method for my household. Cleaning the skillets after I cook in them is fairly easy with a little elbow grease and that's all. No soap. Soap will break down your seasoning.  If you want to use soap just use a very very small drop. The best thing about using my skillet or dutch ovens is they have to be cleaned right after dinner.  I can be one of the laziest ones about doing my dishes after dinner. Load the dish washer and let the pans soak over night. LOL I can't do that with the cast iron.  The cast iron gets cleaned right after dinner and sometimes while I'm cooking dinner.  You need to try your hamburgers in a cast iron skillet. When it's raining and I can't use my grill outside that is the only way I make my hamburgers, now.  They turn out just like the ones my Dad would make when I was little.  My Dad was great at making hamburgers and to this day I always try to make my patties the same way he did it.

Greasy but good

So how did the dutch oven turn out? It's the one in the back and yes that's the lid on it's side.  I will be honest if I knew how much work was in involved I might have been temped to give up on it, but I can get a little bull head at times, too.

Ok, so I mentioned a new adventure coming up for myself in the near future in my Gluten-Free with Kevin blog.  I will be leaving one of my part time jobs at the end of the month and moving on to something else.  I'm excited about the new project coming up and nope I'm not going to tell you what it is yet.  I want to wait and hopefully I'll be able to show you the finished project next month.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

One of my boys complained to me about eating the same vegetables for dinner. Well, heck I cooked something else for him if he'd eat it! I'm always trying stuff and he turns his nose up to it. I made these one night and had to make him put them on his plate. LOL This morning I asked him if he liked them and he said they were okay. Then I asked would you eat them if I made them again. His answer "I don't know, maybe." Thank goodness I don't just cook for him or we'd never have brussel sprouts or asparagus.  As for my oldest he ate them the first time, but couldn't bring himself to eat them the second time. No that's not really true. He was trying to eat them, but was gagging on the second bite. Now he has an excuse. He's autistic and some things just don't look appealing (green or white) or they don't feel right in his mouth (soft). He'll eat green beans right out of the garden, but not cooked.  He won't eat mashed potatoes, but prefers vanilla icing (who doesn't). When it comes to him I never know until he tries it, so I always put a small amount on his plate just to see if he can eat it. You notice I didn't say will eat it. When it comes to peas I have to mix them into his rice otherwise he gags. Here's how I made the Brussel Sprouts and yes I'll make them again just for me.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

2 tbls Olive Oil
1 med Onion chopped
4 slices of Bacon sliced
2 tbls Maple Syrup
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the Olive Oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Chop the onion and add it to the skillet. Cut the Bacon into 1" slices and add that to the skillet. Cook until the onion is a golden brown. Remove the onion and bacon to a paper towel on a plate leaving the drippings in the skillet. I was using my cast iron skillet and had to add a little more oil to the drippings. If you are using a non-stick skillet you may not need to do that.  Add the brussel sprouts to the skillet and cover. Allow them to cook covered without turning for about 5 or 6 minutes. Add back the bacon and onion tossing it around and cover. Let them cook for about another five minutes stirring once in while. You want them tender not soggy. Once they are nice and tender drizzle the maple syrup stirring them to coat them real good. Salt and pepper to taste or leave it out.

Try them on your kids. If they still don't like brussel sprout then make them for yourself. I know they were good, because my brother had seconds.