Cast Iron Mac & Cheese: real comfort food

Did you notice? Plus Other Good Stuff is now plusothergoodstuff.com! You'll be seeing some more changes in the coming weeks, I hope, so stick with me and enjoy the ride. :)

 

When you need something a little more exciting than my Easy Mac & Cheese, but still not very time consuming, try this delicious twist. It's just as satisfying as baked mac & cheese, but super fast because the "baking" happens under the broiler for 4-6 minutes! Feel free to alter the spices to your liking and add different veggies as desired!

You'll need a deep iron skillet for this recipe. Here's the one I use. 

Cast Iron Mac & Cheese

(inspired by Parents Need to Eat Too)

One package of brown rice pasta (or pasta of choice)
3-4 organic hot dogs (optional)
1/2 c. organic frozen spinach (the kind in a bag, not a box), or a couple handfuls of fresh greens such as spinach, Swiss chard or kale
3 T. grass-fed butter
1 1/2 c. whole milk
1 t. mustard powder
1/2 t. smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 t. unrefined sea salt
dash milk curry powder
2 1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
4 T. organic unbleached flour, or sprouted whole grain flour

1. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water. If your hot dogs are frozen (we keep a couple packages in the freezer and just take out what we need), throw them into the boiling water to heat them. Add your greens toward the end of the cooking time (just a couple minutes for spinach, 3-4 minutes for chard, 5 minutes or so for kale). When the pasta and greens are done, drain and set aside. Let the hot dogs cool, and then slice them into pieces.
2. While the pasta is cooking, preheat your broiler. Heat a deep iron skillet until very hot.
3. Melt the butter in the hot skillet. Add the milk and spices. Add 2 cups of the cheese, a handful add a time, whisking to melt.
4. Sift the flour over the cheese sauce, a tablespoon at a time (I don't have a sifter, so I use a fine mesh strainer and just tap the side of it to sprinkle the flour in), whisking the sauce until smooth after each addition. The sauce should be nice and thick when you're done adding flour.
5. Add the cooked pasta and greens, and cut-up hot dogs. Stir to thoroughly coat the pasta with sauce.
6. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and broil for 4-6 minutes, until the top is nicely browned.

What do you cook when you want something fast and really, really delicious?

 

**This is part of the following real food and healthy living link-ups: Real Food Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Healthy2Day Wednesday, Thank Your Body Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday


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Meal Plan December 3-9

 

Many of my meals this week come from Our 10 Favorite Simple Meals that I posted last week.  Check it out and share your own favorite simple meals in the comments!

Breakfasts this week will be oatmeal (I make a lot on Monday at eat it for a few days, storing the pot with leftovers in the fridge), fried eggs with sauteed greens and toast, and hopefully a batch of homemade breakfast sausage.

Lunches will be leftovers, hummus, egg salad with homemade mayo, and pizza balls.

Rodriguez Family Meal Plan November 12-18 

  

Monday: Big Pot of Beans with chips, salsa, cheese, avocado
prep: thaw & cook chicken for later in the week

Tuesday: Use leftover beans to make Mexican Chicken, Bean & Rice Skillet (recipe coming soon)

Wednesday: Leftovers (Wednesday is our Sabbath)

Thursday: Pasta with cream sauce, mushrooms, peas, and chicken; salad with homemade dressing
prep: thaw beef

Friday: Crazy Good Coffee Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, and My Favorite Kale (recipe coming soon)

Saturday: Baked Potato Soup
prep: soak waffle batter

Sunday: Oatmeal Pecan Waffles from Festive Traditions

 

What are you having for dinner this week?

I'm sharing this with Modern Alternative Kitchen's Meal Plan Link-Up, and Menu Plan Monday @ Orgjunkie.com.

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Meal Plan November 12-18 + Quick Lunch Ideas

The stress of a husband in grad school continues. So we're pressing on, rejoicing in small peaceful moments, and trying with all our might to have a Sabbath. We're working on making Wednesdays that day, so you'll see leftovers scheduled on that night. If we have no leftovers, we will pull something out of the freezer or eat out.

For now, I've mostly given up planning our lunches and breakfasts. I'll make a big batch of oatmeal on Monday, which we'll eat for a few days, and the rest of the week will be fried eggs or french toast.

As for lunches, I'm putting a list of ideas on the fridge, and when we don't have leftovers to heat up, I'll make one of them. Here's my list. What do you do for a quick lunch?

Quick Lunch Ideas

• Tuna Salad
• Egg Salad
• Grilled Cheese (with pulled chicken, if we have any)
• Hummus or Bean Dip (with beans from the freezer or canned in a pinch)
• Mac & Cheese
• Pita or English Muffin Pizzas

And here's our tentative dinner plan for the week.

Rodriguez Family Meal Plan November 12-18 

 

Monday: Oven Baked Chicken, roasted cauliflower & broccoli
prep: thaw hamburger meat

Tuesday: Burgers, whole grain buns, root veggie chips, Bubbies Pickles
prep: make breakfast burritos to freeze

Wednesday: Leftovers
prep: soak lentils, thaw salmon

Thursday: Salmon with Lentils, dinner rolls, salad with homemade dressing
prep: soak beans

Friday: Big Pot of Beans with chips, salsa, cheese, avocado
prep: thaw chicken, soak dough for pizza balls

Saturday: Slow Cooker Roast Chicken with Gravy, roasted root vegetables
Lunch: Pizza Balls (freeze the rest for quick lunches later)
prep: soak waffle batter

Sunday: Oatmeal Pecan Waffles (from an e-book I can't wait to tell you about!), bacon
Breakfast: Breakfast Casserole from Real {Fast} Food (I think this will be our solution for a quick but hearty breakfast on Sunday mornings. With a long morning at church we need to be well fed!)

 

What are you having for dinner this week?

I'm sharing this with Modern Alternative Kitchen's Meal Plan Link-Up, and Menu Plan Monday @ Orgjunkie.com.

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Two Dinners in One: Tex-Mex Stuffed Zucchini and "Hamburger Helper"

I love it when you get two meals out of little effort. This stuffed zucchini recipe leaves you with extra filling to eat in whatever manner your taste buds desire. We mixed it with brown rice pasta and called it "Hamburger Helper," but you could also eat it over rice, put it in a quesadilla, or use it as a crepe filling.

The stuffed zucchini was just enough for our family of one hungry dad, one nursing mom, and one almost three year old with a good appetite. Double it for a larger family or for company. The leftover filling was enough to feed us dinner the next day with about 2/3 pound pasta.

Bonus: This is a great way to use up overgrown zucchini!

Recipes by the Soup Goddess: Minestrone

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

This is the second soup in this series, Recipes by the Soup Goddess. The Soup Goddess is my mom, and she's not really a goddess, but she is a pretty gifted woman. And one of her gifts is making soup.

When I think about this soup, I remember a time during the first year I was off of meal plan at college and cooking for myself. My mom came for a visit and brought with her a gallon sized freezer bag full of this soup, complete with a little baggie of grated Parmesan. I don't remember much of what I ate that year, but I had virtually no cooking experience and that soup was a bright spot in a dark culinary period.

This is a great soup to make in late summer or early fall, when vegetables like green beans and zucchini can still be found in your garden or at your farmer's market. 

Happy Summer Vegetable Salad

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

Corn, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Basil, and Feta. Can you say yum?

My favorite kind of recipe is one that evolves from random bits of things I have lying around. I wasn't sure what to do with a few ears of leftover corn, or the small handful of green beans I harvested from my very neglected patio garden. Then I remembered the vibrant tomatoes my aunt brought me from her garden, and the feta that has been in the fridge for awhile and surely should be eaten. Add to it a handful of basil (the one plant on my patio that is thriving despite my neglect), some quality olive oil and red wine vinegar, and this salad was born. One bite and I knew it was a keeper.

Basil-Lime Avocado Salad Dressing

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

Check out those pastured egg yolks. They are almost orange!

I love my standard Balsamic Vinaigrette, but sometimes it's nice to have something different atop my plate of greens. This unique and nutritious dressing was delicious with a salad of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onion, radishes, bacon, and hard boiled eggs.

Why make your own dressing? 

 

Homemade salad dressing is easier than you think! With just a few basic ingredients you can whip up something much tastier and healthier than anything that comes in a bottle. Trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup and polyunsaturated oils? Make this easy change to improve your family's health, and you might just end up enjoying salads more, too!

French Onion Quesadillas

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French Onion Quesadilla on a Sourdough Tortilla

 

I'm sometimes skeptical when I come across a dish that is posing as something else. You know what I'm talking about: "Taco Pizza." "BLT Salad." "Baked Potato Soup." "Pot Pie Chicken Salad." I usually say that I'd rather just eat the food that it's trying to be. But these quesadillas are a blessed exception to that rule. Clearly, they are not authentic in any way. But man are they good. And they make a stinkin' easy lunch.

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas

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Mmmm...cheesy goodness...

I love when I can throw a meal into the oven and do the dishes or feed the baby while it bakes. This meal comes together relatively quickly (though it does dirty two pots and a casserole, but it's worth it!) and would be a great thing to prep ahead of time for company.  The spiciness can be adjusted to your liking; we used two jalapenos this time but I think I'd prefer it with just one.

Another reason I like to make this recipe is this: I sometimes buy stewing hens for cheap (this last one cost me $3 from a local farm), which are great for making soup or broth, but the meat tends to be a little dry. Somehow, when you cover it with cheese and sour cream, it doesn't matter so much. :)

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas

Filling ingredients:
1 T. coconut oil
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 (4 oz.) can diced mild green chiles
1 1/2 c. cooked white beans, such as cannellini or great northern (or one can, if you're in a pinch)
1 1/2 c. cooked, shredded chicken (I made broth with a stewing hen and saved the meat)
2/3 c. chicken broth
1-2 t. cumin
unrefined sea salt and pepper to taste

Sauce ingredients:
1 T. butter
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 T. flour (I use all-purpose, I'm sure sprouted would be a good alternative)
1 c. chicken broth
1 (4 oz.) can diced mild green chiles
1-2 chopped jalapenos (I wear a glove when I chop hot peppers. They burn!)
unrefined sea salt to taste

Other ingredients:
1/2 c. sour cream (I like Daisy Brand - no additives!)
1 c. shredded cheese (I used colby jack)
8-10 corn tortillas (We like Milagro brand, which are traditionally prepared in lime. Sprouted corn would also be a good option.) 
Chopped cilantro for garnish
Sour cream for serving

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Make the filling. Saute onion in oil until almost tender. Add garlic and saute one minute more. Add chiles, beans, broth, cumin, and salt and pepper. Stir, cover, and cook on low fifteen minutes while you prepare the sauce. Add chicken and cook long enough to heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings.

3. Make the sauce. Cook onion in butter and until tender. Add flour and cook, stirring, one minute. Whisk in the broth and bring to a boil, stirring and cooking until it thickens. Add chiles, jalapeno, and salt, and cook a 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 c. sour cream.

4. Assemble the enchiladas. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Fill tortillas with about 1/3 c. of the filling. Roll them and place them seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until you run out of filling. Pour and spread the sauce over the enchiladas, and top with the grated cheese.

5. Bake them for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

6. Serve, garnished with chopped cilantro and sour cream.

Try this recipe and let me know what you think in the comments!

 This is part of the following carnivals: Foodie Friday, Fight Back Friday, Friday Favorites, Inspire Me Friday, Eat, Make, Grow

Meal Plan August 6-12

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

Leftover Steak Salad with Bleu Cheese Dressing

We're still keeping it simple around here with lots of salads, built-in leftovers, and food pulled from the freezer. Check out this meal plan for fast, easy meal ideas!

Meal Plan for August 6-12

Monday
Breakfast: Eggs fried in coconut oil, buttered sourdough toast, kombucha
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Sourdough crepes filled with sauteed veggies, ricotta, and herbs

Tuesday
Breakfast: yogurt, granola, hard boiled eggs
Lunch: Hummus toasts (hummus, sliced tomato, and cheese on sourdough toast, melted under the broiler)
Dinner: French onion quesadillas (sourdough tortillas filled with Swiss cheese and caramelized onions, idea from this book), cole slaw

Wednesday
Breakfast: French Toast Frittata, raw milk
Lunch: Egg salad sandwiches
Dinner: BLT salad with avocado dressing, soaked whole wheat artisan bread

Thursday
Breakfast: slow cooked steel cut oatmeal (idea also from this book) with butter and real maple syrup
Lunch: Leftover Egg Salad
Dinner: Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas, guacamole

Friday
Breakfast: Veggie-Egg Scramble with buttered toast
Lunch: Big Salad with hard boiled egg, white beans, tuna, lots of vegetables, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner: Leftover Enchiladas

Saturday
Breakfast: Sourdough pancakes, homemade chicken sausage (make extra to freeze)
Lunch: Mac & Cheese
Dinner: Hamburgers on whole wheat buns, oven fries, corn on the cob

Sunday
Breakfast: Yogurt, granola, hard boiled eggs
Lunch: Grilled Cheese with Asparagus soup from the freezer
Dinner: Leftovers or freezer meal

What are you eating this week? 

 

I'm linking this up to the following real food carnivals: Modern Alternative Kitchen's Monday Meal Plan, Monday Mania, Hearth and Soul, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Healthy 2 Day Wednesday

Recipes by the Soup Goddess: Tomato Soup

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

This is the first recipe in my new series, Recipes by the Soup Goddess! This tomato soup is like nothing you've ever tasted, especially if you grew up on Campbell's. Seasoned with loads of fresh basil and chock full of nutrients, it's totally worth the effort of peeling and seeding fresh tomatoes from your garden. 

We like to serve it with pesto grilled cheese sandwiches, made with homemade pesto that we froze last summer in ice cube trays.

The makings of a great grilled cheese: sprouted bread, fancy cheese, and a cube of pesto from the freezer.

It makes a big Dutch oven full: enough to eat, share, and have leftovers! (We like to freeze the leftovers for a summery treat in the dead of winter.)

Tips for Success from the Soup Goddess

1. Fresh basil is key. Don't be shy!

2. Blend to the thickness you like. She likes hers a bit chunky.

3. Freshly grated Parmesan sprinkled on top is The Upgrade. (She always has an Upgrade.) She likes to grate hers on a microplane.

4. As always, remember this Soup Goddess secret: "Taste, sprinkle, taste, sprinkle, taste."

The cheese oozing out the bottom is Dill Havarti.

Best-Ever Tomato Soup  

Original Recipe by Sara Moulton, amended and upgraded by Linda Leeman

Ingredients:

• 4 T. butter
• a splash of olive oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion (medium or large), diced
• 3 carrots, finely diced
• ¼ c. flour (I've used all-purpose, but I bet sprouted would work well)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 6 lbs fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (details below)
• 2 (28 oz.) cans pureed tomatoes, or more fresh tomatoes
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 4 c. homemade chicken broth
• 4 t. fresh thyme leaves (or 1-2 t. dry)
• 2 T. fresh basil, chopped
• 2 c. light cream or whole milk
• freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish

Directions:

1. To peel and seed the tomatoes, fill a large pot halfway full with water. Bring it to a boil, and carefully place the tomatoes in the pot. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon after less than a minute, or when you see some of the skins starting to break or wrinkle. Drain in a colander, and let cool. Slip the skins off, cut off the stem end with a serrated knife. Slice in half and remove the seeds, either by squeezing or scoping them out with your finger. Chop coarsely.

2. Melt the butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven or other large pot. Add the onion and carrot and cook over medium heat until almost tender. Add the garlic and continue cooking a few more minutes.   
3. Add the flour and cook, stirring, 1-2 minutes. Do not allow to brown. 

4. Add seeded and peeled tomatoes, canned tomatoes (if using), tomato paste, chicken broth, and salt and pepper to taste. 

5. Simmer, stirring every few minutes, for 30 minutes or longer (the longer it simmers the better it tastes). Halfway through simmering, add the fresh thyme. Toward the end of simmering, add the fresh basil. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

6.  Puree the soup (preferably with an immersion blender to avoid extra dishes and potentially squirting soup all over the kitchen!). The Soup Goddess prefers hers a little bit chunky.

7. Add the cream or milk and heat on low for a few minutes, tasting to adjust the seasonings one last time.
8. Serve with a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan and a grilled cheese sandwich.

A Few Notes

The last time I made this,  I used tomatoes I had frozen whole last summer. Did you know you could do that? When they thaw, the skins slip right off and you can cut and seed them as normal. It actually saves a step - you don't have to boil them first.

(My next contribution to Modern Alternative Kitchen is a post on Lazy Freezing Techniques like this one! Be sure to subscribe over there so you don't miss out!)

Tomatoes frozen whole with skins. Who knew!?

I also made use of my crock pot last time I made this. We were having some friends over for lunch after church on Sunday, so I went as far as step 4 above the night before, on the stovetop. Then I plopped the contents of the pot into my crock pot insert and stuck it in the fridge. In the morning before church, I turned it on high and it simmered for about three hours. When we got home I added the fresh basil and cream, pureed it, and seasoned to taste. It may have been my best batch ever!

Does it get any better than this?

This is part of Fight Back Friday, Monday Mania, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up for Tomatoes at GNOWFGLINS

 

Recipes by the Soup Goddess: A New Series

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

Best Ever Tomato Soup with Pesto Grilled Cheese

Summer seems a strange time to start a series about soup. But it's also the time when gardens start to overflow with fresh vegetables. One of the best ways I know of to use up fresh vegetables is to turn them into soup. And I happen to know a soup expert.

This is my mom, Linda.

Isn't she a good lookin' Grandma?

Her friends call her the Soup Goddess.

I'm not sure when it started. She has always been a good cook, but in the last ten years or so she has been perfecting the art of soup. Cream of Asparagus, Minestrone, Tomato, Ham and Potato, Split Pea, French Onion, Beef Barley, Chicken Corn Chowder, Broccoli Cheese, Turkey Dumpling, Wild Mushroom, Chicken with Wild Rice, Butternut Squash with Brie...are you getting hungry yet?

Momma's Minestrone

How many times have you been to a restaurant, ordered the soup, and thought, "Well, that was disappointing"? Or do you go through the effort of making soup from scratch at home and then think that it was just okay?

Butternut Squash Soup with Brie

Let the Soup Goddess teach you how to make soup. I'll be sharing her recipes here at Plus Other Good Stuff, as well as her secrets for how to achieve the tastiest soup!

We'll start with some summery recipes like Tomato Soup and Minestrone, and as fall approaches you better believe we're bustin' out the brie for the best squash soup ever! Yeah, get excited! 

Are you ready to learn how to make delicious, nutritious, satisfying, family-pleasing soups?

Salmon Patties with Probiotic Lemon-Dill Sauce

Salmon Patties with Wild Rice Pilaf

Crispy on the outside, studded with sauteed onion, and seasoned with dill and mustard, these salmon patties are one of our favorite meals. The simple sauce takes only a few seconds to mix together, which is easy to do while the salmon is frying. We like to eat these with either oven roasted potatoes or a wild rice pilaf.

The last time I made these, I tried something new: doubling the recipe and freezing half. I formed it all into patties, cooked what we were going to eat, and froze the rest without cooking. I put them in a container separated by parchment. I'm planning to thaw them and cook them up when we need a quick and easy meal...which is pretty often, with a newborn and a 2 year old in the house!

To make this even more economical, I used one can of the pricier but more delicious red salmon, and one can of the cheaper but less tasty pink salmon. I've made them with all pink salmon before, but we gave that a thumbs down. Half and half was perfect, though! If you're only making a single recipe, I recommend just using the red salmon.

This recipe makes 4 patties. It doubles easily.

Toss it in and mix it up!

Salmon Patties

 ingredients:
1 16 oz. can wild Alaskan salmon (red or pink)
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 T. butter
2/3 c. homemade breadcrumbs, separated
2 pastured eggs
1 t. dried dill
1/2 t. dry mustard
freshly ground pepper
2 T. coconut or olive oil

method:
1. Saute onion in melted butter in a large skillet.
2. Drain salmon, reserving liquid. Remove large bones (you won't even notice the small ones).
3. Mix together all ingredients, except for 1/3 c. breadcrumbs and oil. Add enough reserved liquid to moisten, up to 1/3 cup.
4. Place reserved breadcrumbs on a plate. Form the mixture into patties and gently coat with crumbs.
5. Fry in oil in a hot skillet until brown on both sides. Depending on the thickness, you may have to turn heat to low and cover in order for them to cook all the way through.
6. Serve topped with Lemon-Dill Sauce, below.

Lemon-Dill Sauce

ingredients:
1/4 c. plain yogurt
1/4 c. sour cream (I use Daisy Brand)
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 t. lemon zest
1/2 t. dried dill (I'm sure fresh would be great!)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix together all ingredients.

 

So yummy.

What's your favorite way to eat fish?

 This is part of Real Food Wednesday and Whole Foods Wednesday.

Real Food Cook-Out Menu

Garlic Herb Potato Salad - my favorite summer side dish!

I'm spending several days at my parents house while my husband is at a big long conference. I'm not doing much cooking while I'm here (what a nice break!), but yesterday my extended family got together for a cook-out, and I just HAD to share with you what we ate. It was so delicious and healthy and real!

Our Family Cook-out Menu

Grass-fed Hamburgers
Applegate Farms Organic Hot Dogs
Trader Joe's 100% Whole Wheat Buns
Garlic-Herb Potato Salad
Green Beans with Goat Cheese and Pine Nuts
Grilled Broccoli with lemon and thyme
Fruit Salad
Gluten-Free cupcakes (for the gluten-intolerant family members, but tasty enough for everyone to enjoy!)
"Bars" (a very unhealthy but totally delicious bar cookie that my family has been making for ages. I'm totally okay with compromising on this one because they are so darn good and it's a once in awhile kind of thing!)

What does your family like to eat at cook-outs? Have any easy and healthy ideas to share?

 This is part of Real Food Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, and Simple Lives Thursday.

One Pot Meal: Baked Fish Provençal

Pet peeve: meals that dirty several pots. Or a meal that you start on the stove and transfer to a casserole to put in the oven. Or a meal that dirties the blender or food processor in addition to one or more pots. I hate dishes so I try to keep them to a minimum! Sometimes, when a recipe says to start cooking on the stovetop and transfer to a casserole, I try to figure out if I can do the whole thing in the same pot or skillet. Since my pots are oven safe, that's often a viable option. So that's what I did with this easy fish dish. It's one example of the kinds of simple meals we're eating lately in order to stay sane. Make sure you have a pot with an oven-safe lid, too.

Baked Fish Provençal 
(adapted from $3 Dinners)

Ingredients: 
1/4 c. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes and their juice
3 T. chopped parsley or 1 T. dry parsley
1 T. Herbes de Provence (see note below)
1 bay leaf
2 large potatoes, thinly sliced (or 3 medium or 4-6 small)
1/3 c. chopped and pitted oil cured olives (I find them in the international aisle at Meijer)
unrefined sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 lbs fish fillets, such as cod or whitefish, rinsed (make sure it's wild-caught and not from China)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Heat oil in large skillet on medium. Add onion, cook 3-4 min, adding garlic in the last minute. Add tomatoes, herbes de provence, parsley, bay leaf, potatoes, olives, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, 7-10 minutes until potatoes begin to soften.
3. Remove bay leaf, check seasoning. Remove half of the mixture to a dish (perhaps one you will be eating out of later so as to not dirty an extra dish), and place fish fillets on top of remaining mixture. Place reserved mixture on top of fish.
4. Cover and bake 25 minutes, until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork and potatoes are tender.(You can also uncover it for the last 10 minutes or so, see update below.)

I think it's great with a sprinkle of parmesan and a squirt of fresh lemon juice. You can serve it with some vegetables or a salad on the side, but it also makes a pretty complete meal on it's own. Even better!

Note: Don't have Herbes de Provence on hand? Neither did I. There are plenty of recipes online for how to make your own. Here's the one I used. If you're out of something, don't stress about it (unless it's the oregano or thyme). I made mine without savory or lavender. I'm sure it would be extra tasty with those added, but it was plenty good without them, too!

What's your favorite one-pot meal?

[Update: yesterday I heated up the leftovers for lunch in a 250 degree oven for a little over an hour while I was running errands. I turned the heat up to 300 when I got home for 15 minutes or so. These leftovers were even more delicious than the original, which I owe to two things: cooking for so long at a low temperature concentrated the delicious sauce, and heating it uncovered crisped up the potatoes. Our family practically devoured it. I love it when leftovers taste so good!]

This is part of Real Food Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesday, This Chick Cooks and Simple Lives Thursday. Check them out for tons of great recipes and kitchen tips!

Simple Meal: Saucy White Beans with Zucchini

*Update: I've entered this into the seasonal recipe round-up at GNOWFGLINS! Check it out for more great recipes to use zucchini and summer squash!*

As you learned in my last post, our family recently returned from a Fine Arts Camp where we taught middle-schoolers, chased our toddler through the woods, slept on two "twin" beds pushed together, and cooked real food without a kitchen (I know I didn't give you all those details in the last post, but I thought you'd enjoy hearing more about our time there).

Here is one of the very simple meals I made while we were there, using our new one-burner Coleman stove. As always with my recipes, amounts are approximate and can and should be altered according to your own tastes. It was a cinch to whip together with the few ingredients I brought (and yes, I brought fresh basil from the garden!). It would be realllllly good with sausage, I’m sure. J

Saucy White Beans with Zucchini

Ingredients:

2 T. butter

1 onion

1-2 zucchini

2-3 cups cooked white beans (great northern or cannelini)

garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste

1 c. pasta sauce (or as much as you want)

cheese to taste, shredded (I used Swiss and parmesan because that’s what I had)

fresh basil leaves, snipped into strips

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan.

2. Add the onion and cook until tender.

3. Add the zucchini, beans, and seasonings and cook covered over low heat, stirring every couple minutes, until zucchini is tender.

4. Add the sauce and stir to combine.

5. Add the cheese, stir, and cook a couple minutes to melt and heat through.

5. Stir in the basil.

6. Serve with extra parmesan cheese on top.

I’m sure this would be good over pasta (maybe use a little more sauce) or on toast, but I kept things simple and just ate it out of a bowl. It hit the spot and was super easy, even without a kitchen!

If you have a simple meal you've made lately (with or without a kitchen!), share it in the comments!

This is part of Real Food Wednesday and Pennywise Platter Thursday.

how we ate real food at camp, despite road blocks

A couple weeks ago, our family drove an hour north of us to spend 12 days teaching at a fine arts camp. We didn't hit any road blocks on the way there, but when we walked into our cabin there may as well have been a sign like this one:

As we've done in the past, I was planning on cooking most of our food using the little kitchenette that most cabins have (we’ve always had one before and this was our fourth year there); it’s a unit the size of an oven that has two burners, a sink, and a mini-fridge. There is food provided in the faculty cafeteria, but we can only take so much standard GFS fare: powdered eggs, iceberg lettuce with soybean oil-HFCS dressing, canned green beans and peas, white bread with margarine, pre-made lasagna, etc. We do our best to eat the food that most closely resembles real food when we do eat there, but it’s hard, and we just don’t feel well afterwards. In fact, a week after returning home, we still feel like our bodies are recovering from the few meals we ate there and the few meals we ate out when family came to visit. (I don’t know how the dance students dance all day while eating food that is supposedly even worse. No wonder so many of them get sick, injured, and exhausted!) I don’t want to be a food snob, and I was grateful some nights when I was too exhausted to cook that there was food to eat, but I just couldn't do three meals a day for 12 days there.

So I packed ingredients for several simple meals, along with the bare minimum in cooking equipment: our iron skillet, two saucepans, a couple utensils, a small strainer, a cheese grater, and our blender (I couldn’t go two weeks in the summertime without a smoothie!). We packed our small cooler full to the brim with raw milk, butter, pastured eggs, fresh produce, kombucha, cheese, yogurt, and cooked chicken and white beans. And of course our cod liver oil!

But we had an unpleasant surprise when we walked into our cabin. No mini-kitchen! No stove! No sink! And a fridge so tiny it could barely hold half of what we brought! ARGH!

Here is where the sink was supposed to be hooked up. :(

It was not a happy moment. I was not prepared to eat crappy food for two weeks. Nor did I want all the food we brought to go bad. So after I recovered from the initial shock, I went to Meijer looking for a hot plate, thinking if I could just have a way to heat one pot, we'd be fine.

Apparently they don’t sell hot plates.

So I bought a camp stove instead.

We have never really felt like we were "camping" at Blue Lake. Though the cabins are junky (ours was full of broken furniture when we got there...), they have indoor plumbing and well, usually a mini kitchen. :( You don't get wet when it rains, so it can't possibly be real camping. But cooking outside sure made it feel like camping!

As for the lack of fridge space, some stuff stayed in the cooler and I rotated the cold packs (which was difficult considering how small the "freezer" compartment in the fridge was). A few days in we had eaten enough food that most of it fit, and we kept a couple things in the fridge at the dance building.

Here's the fridge with our dishes on top of it because there was no where else to put them.

We washed our dishes in this tiny bathroom sink:

And we made an impromptu pantry by bringing some shelves in from the bedroom. (Notice the toddler-friendly lower shelves and all the glass jars on the top shelf!)

So we made it work. But boy was I happy to return to my own kitchen, small as it is, after 12 days of that!

Since the stove only has one burner (it was the least expensive model), one pot meals were a must. Here are a few of the meals we ate (some cooked on that little camp stove, atop a crooked picnic table, and some that required no cooking):

Breakfast

1. Fried Eggs and Toast (with the toast cooked in the pan next to the eggs, and lotsa butter)
2. Oatmeal (with an egg in it!)
3. Toast with Peanut Butter and homemade strawberry jam (toasted in the skillet, of course)

Lunch/Dinner

1. Chicken Salad (made with the cooked chicken I brought)
2. Shredded chicken sandwiches (on sourdough bread with sharp cheddar, mustard, and homemade mayo)
3. Chicken Pesto Pasta
4. Saucy White Beans with Zucchini (recipe coming!)
5. Pizza toasts (sourdough bread, spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, and melted cheese, served open face)
6. Mujadareh (rice and lentils with spiced caramelized onions)

Snacks

1. Crackers and Cheese
2. Fruit Smoothies
3. Homemade Granola
4. Raw Milk and Chocolate Zucchini Cake (I made it the day before we left and we savored the leftovers for a few days)

I hope you are encouraged that you can a) Cook real food even with very limited equipment and space, and b) Choose to eat real food even when fake food is readily available and free. The free food is not really worth the cost your body pays. (Except when it involves relationships with people; I always want to be able to eat what is put in front of me - and even enjoy it! - to show love to those around me, real food or not.)

We are glad to be home, caught up with laundry, and jumping back into the school year. You can expect less blogging from me than I was able to do in the summer due to a toddler who makes computer usage difficult, and my husband taking the laptop to class most days. But I'll try to keep giving you all sorts of good stuff!

Have you ever cooked real food in the midst of less than ideal circumstances? Tell us about it!

Brown Rice Salad with Kale and Roasted Chickpeas

This was a hit at our house tonight! In thinking about something to cook for the CSA pick-up this week (read about that here), I remembered something a friend made once in college: brown rice with kale and raisins. The combination of nutty brown rice, slightly bitter greens, and naturally sweet raisins works really well. So I took the idea and ran with it, inspired by this recipe I found. This is a great way to use up your abundance of CSA greens this summer! It would work well with swiss chard, spinach, or beet greens, too.

If you don't LOVE greens, try this recipe. I do love greens, but I hardly noticed them. If you love them, add a little more! Don't forget they cook down.

This recipe may seem complicated at first glance, but most of the steps involve getting something going and all but forgetting about it. While the chickpeas are roasting and the rice is cooking, wash the dishes or play with your toddler. :)

Brown Rice Salad with Kale and Roasted Chickpeas

roasted chickpeas:

1.5 cups cooked chickpeas

1 t. cumin

1 t. chili powder

1 t. olive or coconut oil

salt and pepper to taste

rice:

3/4 cup uncooked brown rice

1.5 cups chicken stock

1/2 t. salt

greens:

3 cups chopped kale or other greens

1 T. coconut oil

2 cloves garlic (I used garlic scapes from last week's CSA pick-up)

a small squirt of thai hot sauce

salt to taste

other ingredients:

1/4 c. chopped onion (or more to taste)

chopped tomato or bell pepper (optional: use when in season)

1/3 c. raisins (eyeball it)

1 T. olive oil

1 T. red wine vinegar

1/2 t. honey

cumin, thai hot sauce, sea salt, and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Roast the chickpeas.

On a baking sheet with sides, toss together the ingredients for the roasted chickpeas. Cook at 400 degrees 25-35 minutes, stirring a couple times during cooking. Cook until browned and a little crispy.

2. Cook the rice.

Meanwhile, get your rice cooking. I soak my rice overnight or for at least 7 hours using this method. If you soak your rice, drain off the soaking liquid before cooking, and use less than 1.5 cups stock since the rice has absorbed some liquid. If not soaking, simply place the rice in a small saucepan with the stock and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to lowest possible heat, cover, and cook 40-45 minutes (a bit less if soaked).

Or just use 1.5-2 cups of already cooked rice.

3. Cook the greens.

In a cast iron or stainless steel skillet, heat the coconut oil. Add the minced garlic and cook on medium heat a few minutes until it softens. Add a small squirt of Thai hot sauce (depending on how hot you like your food!). Add the washed, stemmed, and chopped kale and stir. Add salt to taste. Cover and cook for a few minutes until wilted and tender.

4. Make the salad.

Whisk together (or combine in a small jar with a screw top) the olive oil, red wine vinegar, and honey. When everything is cooked, combine the chickpeas, rice, greens, and remaining ingredients in a bowl. Pour the dressing over it. Stir, and then taste to check the flavor. Add salt, pepper, hot sauce, and cumin to taste. (If you salted all your other steps, you may not need any salt at the end. But the right amount of salt is a key factor in a successful recipe, so make sure to check!)

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Frugal Food Thursday, and Full Plate Thursday.

White Bean Dip with Garlic Scapes

Yesterday I cooked the first dish of the season for our CSA share from Eighth Day Farm. I'm acting as "chef" for the season, whipping up dishes for members to try, using the veggies they're receiving each particular week. We're hoping this will help people learn what to do with unfamiliar vegetables, and give them some fresh ideas when they get zucchini for the sixth week in a row. :)

The season has started out a bit light, due to heavy rains rotting out a lot of their crops. I feel so bad for these poor farmers who are having a rough start to the season. But it makes me grateful for Community Supported Agriculture; by paying at the beginning of the season, members are supporting the farmers in good times and in bad. You might think, "Whoa, that's risky!" And, it is. It helps when you know and trust your farmer. I know they are working hard and doing their best, and I want to help them make it. Because in this world of industrial farming and depleted soil, we need farmers who are doing what they are doing!

So, despite a table holding only a basket of garlic scapes, I wanted Eighth Day's members to be able to cook something delicious this week.

Hold up, Garlic WHAT?

Garlic Scapes! They are amazing! These fellers shoot out from the garlic plant during the spring and form a gorgeous curlicue. If you harvest them, they help the garlic grow better. They taste like garlic (big surprise) but a bit milder. You can chop them up and use them as you would garlic, in any recipe. Here is a recipe that showcases their delicious pungency without being overpowering. It's very tasty with homemade crackers, which I'll post a recipe for another time.

Notes: Quantities are totally up to you. Taste as you go, and you will have success! Using three or four garlic scapes yields a comfortably strong garlic taste (in my opinion) on the day you make it, and it gets more garlicky over time. If you're not sure you like a strong garlic taste, use one or two.

White Bean Dip with Garlic Scapes

3-4 Garlic Scapes (or a couple cloves of garlic), roughly chopped

Juice of 1 lemon (to taste)

Salt and Pepper to taste, start with 1/2 t. salt and a several grinds of pepper

2 cups cooked white beans (great northern or cannellini)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (to achieve desired consistency)

In your food processor, combine chopped garlic scapes, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Process until scapes are finely chopped. Add beans and process to combine. Add a few tablespoons of water if it seems dry, and then add enough olive oil to achieve a dip-like consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more lemon juice, salt, or pepper to taste. Serve with crackers or veggies for dipping.

Have you ever cooked with garlic scapes? What did you think?

This is part of Real Food Wednesday. Check it out for great real food recipes and ideas!

Menu Plan Monday 5.9-5.15

The first part of this week is going to be pretty busy, but I thought I'd at least share my menu with you. I'll give you links to as many recipes as I can, so you can get a feel for what kinds of things we eat in this real food home! Let me know if you have any questions or want more information about anything we're eating this week. A couple of the dinners are new recipes for us; I'll let you know how it goes!

Breakfasts:

hard boiled eggs, soaked oatmeal

peanut butter toast and cottage cheese with fruit

fried eggs with vinegar and garlic, sourdough toast

sourdough pancakes

oatmeal with an egg thrown in (you can't even tell it's there!)

eggs scrambled with veggies, toast

sourdough french toast

Lunches:

mostly leftovers of the previous dinner

tuna salad with homemade mayo

baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese

pasta with creamy tomato sauce

Dinners:

fried eggs over warm lentil salad

bean bowls: black beans, salsa, plain yogurt, cheese, avocado, tortilla chips

kale quiche with no-roll crust (I'm going to try adapting it for sourdough like I did here)

oven baked chicken, roasted veggies, rolls, salad

Be sure to check out more Menu Plan Monday ideas at I'm an Organizing Junkie!