Good Friends Good Food: Onions

This Last week’s ingredient was ONIONS and LEEKS. This was Kayte’s choice. She loves French Onion Soup so onions was a good choice from her. Unfortunately I am very late with my post. Last week was chaotic and I just could not find the right time to make my onions dish.

I ended up using a dish from Paul Prudhomme’s Seasoned America. Baked Onions Stuffed with Pork and Mushrooms. Oh my goodness. What a list of ingredients but well worth it

and then all that yummy stuffing came poring out.

I could eat just the stuffing!

3 Tbl cajun seasoning (I used Tony’s)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

4 Tbl unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups chopped onions

1/4cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped bell peppers (recipe called for green, I used red and orange)

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

3/4 cups uncooked rice ( I wanted Keto friendly so I used pork rinds)

2 cups pork or chicken stock

1 12-oz can evaporated milk. (I used heavy cream)

2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

Preheat oven to 375.

Peel the onions and and slice off a small piece from the top and bottom. Scoop out the insides until you have a shell about 1/2″ thick. Save the onions. Make thin slices on all four sides of the onion. This is so It will not roll when browning the outside.

Add the butter and add the onion cups laying them on their sides and browning all four sides. Remove from the skillet.

Add ONE cup of the 1 1/2 cups onions, bell pepper, and celery to the skillet. Cook until browned. Add pork and garlic and cook until brown breaking pork into small pieces. Stir in ONE TABLESPOON seasoning and the remaining 1/2 cup onion. Cook 1 minute. (I have to admit I just dumped everything in at once and it worked out fine.) Stir in rice and remaining seasoning TWO TABLESPOONS mix. Cook for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook 1 minute. Scrape the bottom so as not to stick to the skillet.

Add 1 1/4 cups of the stock and cook until stock is reduced. About 8 minutes. Add the milk/cream and pecans. Bring to a roiling boil, cover and remove from heat. Let sit for 20 minutes

Sprinkle each onion cup all over with reserved seasoning mix. Rubbing the interior and exterior of the onions.

Place onions, open ends up in a cake pan or other pan so that they sit upright. Stuff each onion with the pork/mushroom mixture heaping it as much as possible.

Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Pour remaining stock in the bottom of the pan. Bake 20 minutes. Then turn heat up to 550 and bake until brown and bubbly on top. About 10 minutes.

Serve with stock spooned over the top.

This was very tasty. Definitely a keeper even though it takes a while to make.

What other onion/leek dishes showed up in the kitchens of the GFGF cooks.

Kayte

Ellen

Ulrike

Peggy

Donna

Tune in next week for some Eggplant/Aubergine recipes.

 

{CC#15} Green beans with Onions…

…and mushrooms, and peppers.  All cooked together where the flavors of each blended yet didn’t.  It was quite tasty.  {And more tasty than it looks!}  No fancy hard to find spices just salt and pepper to bring out the flavor.

The recipe says to precook and ‘shock’ the beans but I didn’t do that because I had some beans that we canned last year and they were already cooked. The sliced onions, and mushrooms and strips of bell pepper are cooked in a skillet until tender.  Add the beans back in.  Easy to cook {and easy to over-brown} while you watch over them and shake them  often.  The beans should be crisp and bright green.  Mine – not so much.  But still a great side that would go with anything.

This recipe is from  The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom the book I have been using for March’s Cookbook Countdown.  You can find it on page 280.

If you want more info about The Whole 30 program just visit Whole30.  The program outline is there along with recipes, tips, and other great info.

I’m linking this post with Cookbook Countdown 15 hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily’s Cooking (Makan2).

 

{WWDH}Onions!

This week’s theme – chosen by Kayte – is ONIONS!!  I love cooking with onions.  So much flavor and so many things you can do with them.  Usually onions are NOT the major ingredient unless you are making Onion Soup or Onion Rings but in this recipe they are the star of the show.

Caramelized Onion and Potato Stacks

The onions are browned first in a skillet and then layered in a muffin tin with slices of potatoes.  Drizzled with melted butter and moistened with chicken broth {I used Veggie}  the onions caramelize and add their flavor to the potatoes.  The recipe called for thyme sprigs but the Man doesn’t care for it so….. {and really neither do I}  Super simple!!

I made 1/2 of the recipe in large muffin cups and they were done in about an hour.  While the recipe didn’t call for salt and pepper I did add some before I cooked the potatoes.

These are a good alternative to your everyday potatoes and made a great side.

The recipe is on Donna’s Website.   

More onions -> Onions! Any way you slice ’em!

 

{CC#14}Chicken with Sauteed Onions

Another tasty recipe from Eat to Beat High Blood Pressure.  I am finding so many good recipes from this book.  Healthy and tasty.

Sauteed Chicken with Caramelized Onions

The onions are cut into wedges and then caramelized in margarine olive oil a little sugar and salt and pepper. This takes a while – longer than the 8 minutes mentioned in the recipe.  The onions come out sweet and soft and brown.  

While the onions are caramelized the skinless, boneless chicken breasts are seasoned and then browned in margarine olive oil until well browned on both sides.  I cooked mine longer than 6 minutes per side so they would be nice and DONE!  

Rosemary and thyme are added to the onions.  Then the chickens are put into the skillet and allowed to cook until the chicken is completely done. I added more than the 1/3 cup chicken broth so I would have ‘sauce’ because I was serving the chicken and noodles over some brown rice/quinoa pasta.

I didn’t use the margarine.  I figured the olive oil was healthier.  There is just something about oleo/margarine that just doesn’t look right.  

We really liked this combination.  The onions and chicken were delicious.  

Without the pasta a serving (1 breast with 1/4 of the onions) was only 240 calories, 19 carbs, and 6 gm fat.  And it had lots of good nutrients to help lower blood pressure: potassium, calcium magnesium, and vitamin C.

The recipe is on page 84.

I’m linking this post with Cookbook Countdown 14 hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily’s Cooking (Makan2).

 

{CC#14} Cream of Leek/Potato Soup

The Man’s Favorite soup is Potato Soup.  And I make a darn good one.  Not the healthiest in the world, but good.  But I needed a healthier version.  I found this one in my cookbook pick for Cookbook Countdown #14 (February) – Eat to Beat High Blood Pressure. [Simple delicious recipes for a long healthy life] 

This was pretty good.  Not as rich as I usually make, but still good.  No cream cheese.  No bacon.  No carrots.  Just plain onions. leeks, and potatoes.

1 Tbl olive oil
8 ounces leeks, white part only, thickly sliced
2 cans reduced sodium chicken broth {You could use veggie broth}
1 pound potatoes, peeled and diced
salt to taste
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/3 cup low-fat sour cream
chopped chives

In a large saucepan heat the oil and add  the onions and leeks and 3/4 cup of the broth.  Cook until soft.

Add in the potatoes and stir well.  Then add about 1/2  of the remaining broth, cover and simmer until potatoes are soft. about 15 – 20 minutes.  Blend this mix using a mixer, blender or immersion blender.

Add the rest of the broth to the pan and add in the potato/onion puree.Simmer 1 – 2 minutes and season with salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and add in the sour cream. Serve in bowls with chopped chives if desired.

I did the miss the cheese and bacon in this soup but it was healthier and that is what we need right now.

Recipe is from eat to beat high blood pressure page 227.

I’m linking this post with Cookbook Countdown 14 hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily’s Cooking (Makan2).

 

{WDH} Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

What do you eat when you aren’t feeling good?  What tends to boost your immunity when you have a cold or Flu?

Chicken noodle soup!  Besides being good, it is also good for you.  There is something about it that helps fight through that cold.  Runny nose.  Inflammation. Cough.  Yep!  Helps all of them.  Why?  Even Science doesn’t know.  But they do know, and report, that there is something about the combo of chicken and veggies that does the job.

Let’s see if it helps my cold.  Even tho’ mine doesn’t have a lot of veggies in it it does have three Chinese spices that are helpful during cold season – anis, cinnamon, ginger – which are antibacterial, boost immunity, and/or fight coughs.

 

This was really good.  The combination of the spices with the soy sauce and onions was spot on.    Definitely a keeper.

The recipe is from Donna’s off the shelf  page 58

More Soup?  Visit Wednesdays with Donna Hay.  And if you want to join in the themes are on the right.  The recipe is up to you.  Just blog and leave us a comment.  We’d love to have you.

We don’t publish the recipes.  We’d rather you buy a cookbook of Donna’s.