W30: chicken sausage, stuffed peppers.

About two weeks ago, Kayte made the chicken sausage stuffed bell peppers. At the time I did not have the ingredients to cook along, but I did today and so I made them. The stuffing for the peppers is absolutely delicious. While the recipe called for chicken sausage and casings to cut up into chunks, what I had was minced chicken sausage so that is what I used.

Well, Kayte did not add in the cauliflower crumbles. I decided I would. They were very bland so they did not upset the flavor of the sausage. I was lucky enough to still have some homemade marinara in my pantry so that is what I made. I only made three so I put them in large muffin pan to bake.

I have enough for two more lunches here. And some leftover stuffing to make cabbage rolls.

You can find the recipe at littlebitsof.com as well as other whole 30 recipes,

Kayte’s blog post is here.

 

W30: Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Vegetables

One more dish added to our whole 30 this week. This one made with sautéd shrimp, zucchini, and red peppers. Super simple.

I had cooked my shrimp the night before, so putting this dish together was very quick. You simply stir and sauté the zucchini and pepper strips for about three minutes. Then you add in the shrimp and some garlic. And then you keep it warm while you make a simple lemon sauce of lemon And clarified.

I liked the veggies and the shrimp but I did not care for the lemon sauce. I had served it over 1/4 cup of rice (Food freedom) but only ate part of the rice, because of the lemon sauce

Kayte also made this dish this past week and you can find her post about it here.

The recipe came from Melissa Hartwig’s Whole 30 Fast and Easy (Page 99).

 

GFGF: Carrot Souffle

If you live somewhere in the gulf coast region you have heard of Piccadilly Cafeterias. It is a chain that started in Baton Rouge, La. Advertised as quality dining at an affordable price. Their food is usually pretty good. Nothing fancy. Solid comfort food.

One of favorite s is their Carrot Souffle. I love it. A sweet side dish packed with flavor. So when I found a copycat recipe I knew I had to try it. And it just became my new Christmas side dish. A new veggie dish.

The recipe is HERE! Super simple to make. I think I can make this KETO friendly simply by switching out the sure with erythritol. And the AP flour with almond flour. I’ll try that.

More new to us dishes for Good Friends Good Food:

Kayte

Peggy

Ulrike

 

Good Friends Good Food: Parsnips

I have to admit I had never eaten a parsnip. It was not a veggie any one in my family had ever cooked. And I would not have cooked it now if Ulrike had not chosen it for this week’s veggie.

I would have to describe it as “not a carrot”. It looks like a white carrot. The taste is similar to a carrot but with a little bite.

I looked at a lot of recipes. Most of the recipes were for mashing, roasted, or in a soup.

i decided to go simple. Roasted. With butter and garlic.

I have to admit they weren’t bad but not something I would use again. I’d just as soon have carrots.

Here is the recipe

Kayte, Ulrike, and Peggy all made parsnip dishes. Go check them out.

If you want to join us just let one of us know. We’ll give you the schedule through the end of the year.

 

GFGF: Cucumbers

A Cucumber is such a versatile veggie. It is very good for you. You can put slices in ice water for a refreshing drink. You can put slices on your eyes to reduce puffiness. They contain lots of antioxidants, nutrients, aids in weight loss, may lower blood sugar. You can even mix cucumber juice and yogurt for a facepack.

AND they also taste good.

Even better if mixed with ponzu sauce. This is a KANI salad. While this doesn’t look like cucumbers it is. Shredded and mixed with some fake crab (and sliced avacado if you like it) and ponzu sauce it is a sweet/tart salad.

Shred a cucumber. Add some shredded fake crab, and toasted sesame seeds. Pour over some ponzu sauce and you have a quick tasty salad.

Ponzu Sauce:

• ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
• ¼ cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
• ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper

Mix all ingredients. Cover and chill.

You can use a lot or a little sauce on your salad.

More cucumber salads:

Ulrike

I’s still trying to catch up. Still have asparagus salad, and herb salad to go.

My choice next time (7/2) – FRUIT!!

 

Good Friends Good Food: Artichokes

I think I finally have time to catch up on the Good Food Good Friends Salads. So Far I am three ingredients behind. This catch up is for the artichokes from May 7th – Donna’s choice.

I made a lemony artichoke salad.

The salad is from The Healthy Foodie

Ingredients

• 2 – 14oz cans quartered artichoke hearts drained
• 1 – 10oz can sliced mushrooms drained (I used fresh mushrooms
• 1 medium lemon supremed and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• the juice of 1 medium lemon ( I cut this in half)

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss delicately until well combined.

Refrigerate for about an hour and let the flavors blend together.

I have to admit I didn’t care much for this one. I thought I would because I like all the ingredients. Oh, well!

Check out the artichoke salads from

Kayte

Donna

Ulrike

Peggy

Ellen

 

Good Friends, Good Food: Spring/Green Peas

Spring Peas. What a great veggie. A good indication that spring is on it’s way. Warmer weather. Sunny days. (Unless you live in Louisiana lately!) and fresh veggies. While these are not from our garden they are my favorite pea. Frozen sweet peas.

This weeks ingredient was chosen by Ellen. And the theme for the next few months is SALADS! My idea!

So I chose a pea salad. I had never made one before or had one I really liked so I decided to make one for our monthly church supper. They seemed to like it. And so did I, but I would make a few changes if I made it again.

The original recipe is from The Pioneer Woman.

1/3 c. sour cream

1 tbsp. 

mayonnaise

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp. white vinegar

4 c. frozen green peas, almost totally thawed

8 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped

1/2 small red onion, halved and sliced very thin

6 oz. cheddar or American cheese, cut into small cubes

3 tbsp. minced fresh parsley

I would make twice the dressing because the noted amount was not enough for the amount of peas. It seemed dry.

I would increase the bacon next time. As Ulrike says, everything is better with bacon.

Other than that the salad was tasty.

More peas to come:

Kayte

Peggy

Ellen

 

Good Friends Good Food

This weeks veggie is EGGPLANT! My choice! I love eggplant but don’t get to use them that often in recipes as the Man is NOT a fan of this lovely purple fruit.

I thought about making Moussaka but I wanted to try something different so I found a new recipe for a Veggie Moroccan Tagine. But I wanted a dish I could use for a meal rather than just a side so added some chicken to it. That was a good choice as it made a great KETO meal. The recipe is from Essential Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet Cookbook gifted me by my great friend Kayte who is also in this group.

You can find the recipe here. Veggies include eggplant, cauliflower, zucchini, onions, garlic, green olives, and artichoke hearts.

I browned some seasoned (salt and pepper) chicken thighs in some EVOO until almost done. Then I simply added it to my dutch oven (sans skin) with the veggies and let it cook just a little longer to get the flavor into the chicken.

Absolutely delicious. The spices: ginger, cinnamon, cumin, and paprika added so much flavor to the vegetables. I wanted to just sit down and dig into the pot with a big spoon. I’m sure there will be some veggies left over. Maybe…I hope…

This serves 6 and (without the chicken) has; 309 calories, 21 grams fat, 24 grams carb (15 net) 9 grams fiber and 6 grams protein. Each chicken thigh adds

More Eggplant recipes from…

Kayte

Nancy

Ulrike

Peggy

Ellen

Donna

Our next Ingredient is corn

And then we start with some salads. Looking forward to that in mid-April.

 

Good Friends Good Food: Rutabaga

This week I ‘met’ a new vegetable- the RUTABAGA. Let me tell you it is one ugly root veggie. I found one finally and brought it to its new home. It was covered in a waxy substance and looked like a huge turnip. I thought, this can’t be good. Why is it covered in Wax? I found the answer to that question – to keep them from drying out.

I could not decide what to do with my new veggie friend until I talked to Kayte and we were discussing recipes. We found we both agreed that ‘fries’ might be the best answer because we both have picky husbands and this might be the best way to introduce this one. Bill was NOT a fan! Oh, well, cannot please everyone. I rather liked the rutabaga fries and they will make a good substitute for KETO.

All of the recipes for rutabaga fries are basically the same. Toss in a little OVEE and add seasonings. And that is what I did. Salt, pepper, paprika. And then I tossed them in my Air Fryer and let it do all the work. Easy Peasey. I do love my Air Fryer.

I ate some plain and some with a little shredded cheese. The cheese added a whole different world to my KETO lifestyle. YAY CHEESE!!!

Thanks, Ulrike for my new veggie. Interesting tidbit – in Germany a rutabaga is a SWEDE.

More rutabaga dishes:

Kayte

Nancy

Ulrike

Peggy

Donna

Ellen

Our next veggie is Kayte’s choice – onions and leeks. That should be fun. Onion soup, Kayte?

 

GFGF: GREENS

GREENS!!

Now, before you think of lots of vegetables that are green consider the vegetable “GREENS“. This includes only one category of veggies. Leaves: Collards, Mustard, Turnip. Those are what, in the south, we call greens. And I cook them a lot for the Man. Me, not a fan. So when Donna chose GREENS I knew it would be just for the Man.

And they are not easy to photograph for a pretty picture.

These are easy to prepare. Boil water. Season with salt. Add cleaned and stripped (from the tough stem) leaves. Bring to a boil.

But before you do that you need to fry some bacon and then sautee some onion in the bacon grease. This you add to the greens as they cook.

See. Easy.

I am curious as to how the rest of the Good Friends cooked their greens.

Donna

Kayte

Ulrike

Peggy

Ellen

Nancy

In two weeks we are cooking Fresh Shell Beans. Stay tuned.