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

Advertisement

 

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.

 

Good Food Good Friends

It’s that time of the month again. Veggie Friday with Good Friends Good Friday. This week it is CARROTS. What a great way to start the new year – cooking with friends.

I like carrots. Raw. Not to wild about them cooked. I like them cooked in stews IF they are well cooked. I know they are sweet if they are cooked right but I just don’t cook them often enough. So this week I went in the other direction.

CARROT CAKE

I’ve been making this carrot cake for about 12 years. First made it when baking with Dorie Greenspan and the BFMHTY cookbook . I met some wonderful ladies in that group. Several of whom are the creators of this group.

I am not going to print the LONG recipe here but I will leave the link. Dorie’s Carrot Cake.

Let me tell you this cake is WONDERFUL! I make it every year for The Man and a friend. This year I made it as a Christmas Gift for that friend. She loved it.

For more carrot dishes visit with

Kayte

Ulrike

Peggy

Donna

Ellen

Nancy

I wish all of you a Happy New Year in 2021. See you in two weeks with GREENS!

 

GFGF: GREEN VEGGIE

This week we enjoyed picking any veggie we wanted. As long as it was green. That left it wide open. It just so happens that in my most recent Misfits Box I had a veggie I have been wanting to try. ROMANESCO. If you aren’t familiar with it, it as beautiful member of the broccoli family. A!though some call it a form of cauliflower. Whatever it is it is delicious.

Isn’t it wonderful looking? All those beautiful shapes and angles. Like a forest of Christmas trees!

I found a very different recipe to use with the romanesco.

Baked Romanesco with Mozzarella and Olives

• 1head romanesco broccoli (about 3 pounds)
• salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for baking dish
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, shredded
• 1 cup grated pecorino or Parmesan (I used Asiago)
• 1 dozen soft black oil-cured olives, or another type of black olive, pitted
• 1 teaspoon roughly chopped capers
• 4 roughly chopped anchovy fillets
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
•  Pinch of dried oregano

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Boil romanesco for about 2 minutes. Rinse and cool with cold water.

Lightly oil an earthenware baking dish. In a bowl mix the romanesco with the capers, anchovy, garlic, red pepper and 3 Tbl of EVOO Arrange blanched broccoli in one layer. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Cover top of romanesco with Mozzarella, then sprinkle with pecorino or Parmesan. Place olives randomly over the romanesco.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until cheese has browned a bit and broccoli is tender when pierced with a fork. Let rest 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with a good pinch of dried oregano.

Original Recipe

For those of you who don’t care for anchovies they are undetectable in the dish. They just add an UMPH! to the seasoning.

I wish I could say I enjoyed it but I didn’t. It had a different taste that just wasn’t for me. It is Keto Friendly.

For more green veggies from great cooks visit with

Kayte

Nancy

Peggy

Donna

Ellen

Ulrike

Have a great Holiday and we’ll see you in 2021 with a new veggie – greens!