Category Archives: recipes

Twice Baked Potatoes

Pesach, recipes, ,

I’ve made these a number of times, always varying the recipe according to what I have on hand.  It’s very inexpensive, easy to adapt, and it always tastes great!  We make double this amount for a lunch meal, but a smaller family would probably do better to halve it.  🙂

Twice Baked Potatoes

  • 8 medium potatoes
  • 1/4 – 1/2  c. butter or coconut oil
  • 1 c. chopped onion (any kind – white, green, or red)
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • optional – 2 c. shredded vegetables (carrots, broccoli, spinach, napa, cauliflower, zucchini or whatever you have on hand)
  • 1/2 c. milk/cream/sour cream
  • 2 c. cheese (hard cheese or cottage/ricotta, or combination of )
  • salt and pepper to taste

    • Wash the potatoes well, prick them with a fork, and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until tender.

    While the potatoes are baking, saute the chopped onions and garlic in butter.  When they are soft and translucent, add the finely chopped/shredded vegetables of your choice.  Cover them and continue cooking on low until they are soft.

    When the potatoes are done, scoop out the insides, and mash them with milk, cream, or sour cream.  Mix in the sauteed vegetables, then the cheese.  (If you’re using hard cheese, reserve some to sprinkle on top at the end.)  Add salt and pepper to taste, mix well.  Then add the mixture to the empty potato shells – it will be overflowing, especially if you add the optional vegetables.

    Sprinkle some hard cheese on top, then pop them back into the oven for another 10 or so.  Serve warm.

    (This post is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Pennywise Platter Thursday.)

    Avivah

    Delicious Cabbage Soup

    Intentional Spending, Pesach, recipes

    Cabbage is a wonderful winter vegetable – it’s inexpensive, stores well in a cool room, and can be made into a huge variety of tasty dishes.  I created this soup a couple of days ago, and though I thought the twelve quarts I made would be enough for two lunch meals, it got gobbled up at one sitting!  The amounts below should work well for a smaller family than ours  – I made about three times this amount.

    Delicious Cabbage Soup

    • 2 medium onions, chopped
    • 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, diced
    • 2 – 4 T. oil (I used rendered chicken fat)
    • 1 – 2 lb leftover turkey or whatever meat you have from making broth (you can use ground meat instead if you don’t have any leftover meat to use up)
    • 1 large head of cabbage (purple or white)
    • 1 T. sweet paprika
    • 2 t. thyme
    • 8 c. broth
    • salt to taste

    Heat the oil in a pot, and add the chopped onions; cook until translucent.  Add the soup chicken and saute it until it’s warmed through.  Then add the cabbage, spices, and broth.  Cover the pot and cook on medium until the cabbage is so soft it’s almost melting.  Taste it and add salt according to your personal taste – I’d estimate I used about 3 T. sea salt for my large pot full (12 quarts).

    This recipe is super inexpensive and it’s a great way to use up your leftover chicken from making broth.  The cost for me to make 12 quarts was under $5: the onions were .29 lb (I used approximately two pounds – .60), the cabbage was .39 lb (I used about 8 – 10 lb/3.90), and since I got the turkey carcasses for free, the broth and turkey were free.  It’s packed with flavor and nutrients, and is very digestible.  Perfect to warm you up on a cold winter day!

    (This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday and Ultimate Recipe Swap.)

    Avivah

    Coconut Rice – gluten free

    recipes

    I made this last week for breakfast and the kids really liked it, and when I made it again this week they still were very enthusiastic.  So I guess it’s a keeper!

    Coconut Rice

    • 1 c. coconut milk (unsweetened)
    • 1 c. water
    • 1 c. brown rice (I soak it overnight in an acidic medium – did something different this time that I’ll share about later this week)
    • 1 thin slice of peeled fresh ginger
    • 3/4 t. sea salt

    Bring the coconut milk and water to boil, then stir in the remaining ingredients.  Cover and cook on a low heat until all the liquid is absorbed.  When the rice is finished, you can sprinkle 1/3 c. shredded coconut over it.

    This can be a nice side dish or a light breakfast when served with a piece of fruit.

    This post is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.)

    Avivah

    How to render animal fat

    Intentional Spending, nutrition, Pesach, recipes, ,

    >>How do you render animal fat?<<

    Sometimes I forget that many things I do that have become second nature to me need explanation!   Rendering fat is very, very easy, and it’s a frugal thing to do since most people tend to throw away the skin and fat; you can save money while simultaneously benefiting your health.

    Take the fat of your choice (chicken, duck, beef), and cut it into chunks if it’s large.  It doesn’t need to be ground or minced, but if you have big pieces from beef, cutting it into 2 inch chunks will help it melt faster.  I don’t usually have any pieces big enough to cut.  You can separate any flesh from it, but I don’t bother since that’s more easily done at the end.  Put the chunks of fat into a pot on the very lowest flame/heat setting on your stovetop so that it will very slowly melt – if you put it too high, it will burn.  As the fat melts, it becomes clear.  Keep the pot covered to keep the heat in, and after a few hours (sometimes significantly less) on low, the fat will be totally liquified.  Be sure to take a look at it every once in a while to be sure it’s not cooking too fast.

    Once it’s fully melted, you can do one of three things, depending on how you’re planning to use and store the fat once it’s rendered.  1) Carefully pour the liquified fat through a fine mesh strainer/cheesecloth to catch the little drippings.  This will give you the best result in terms of asthetics; additionally, by straining out all of the protein sediment, it will stay good for a very long time.  2) Use a slotted spoon to take the cracklings out, saving them to use in a savory dish.  3) Don’t bother straining it because you’ll be using the rendered fat in cooking (vs baking) and you don’t care about if there are a few little pieces. Whatever you choose, store it in a container with a tight fitting lid.

    I tend to go with option 2 or 3, since I only use animal fat for sauteeing, not baking (coconut oil is my ‘go to’ fat for baking).  And I use it so quickly that it doesn’t matter to me if it will only stay good for a few weeks vs a few months.  If I’m doing a huge batch, though, I’ll take the extra few minutes to strain it out.

    I also reserve the liquid that is left at the bottom of the pan after roasting poultry or meat.  When it’s refrigerated, it naturally separates, with the fat rising to the top and the gravy sinking to the bottom.  I scrape off the fat layer to saute with and add the congealed broth that is left to  a stew or casserole – it packs in a lot of flavor.  When I make broth and refrigerate it overnight, the fat will congeal on top.  If it’s a very concentrated pot of broth (ie large amount of bones to water), then I skim the fat or the broth tastes too greasy.  This is particularly important when I do lamb broth, since it tastes like drinking oil if you don’t skim it first.

    Is anyone familiar with gribenes? My mother used to make these on Pesach (Passover).  Gribenes are a traditional Jewish food, the kind of things people now consider a heart attack waiting to happen, but if you know about saturated fats and why they’re so important to your body, you can enjoy them with a clear mind.  🙂

    Gribenes are basically just crispy fried chicken skins.  To make them, you take some unrendered fat and chicken skin (cut it in strips).  Chop up an onion, and put it together in the pot with the fat and chicken skins.  Keep the flame on low until the fat has melted, then turn it up to medium and keep cooking until the onions and skins are golden. Sprinkle with a little salt, and enjoy!  My kids like these hot from the pan as is, but it’s a nice addition to chopped liver or any mashed potato dish (on Pesach, you know that means you can put it into everything :lol:).

    Note: kosher supermarkets sell chicken fat around Pesach (Passover) time, not so much the rest of the year.  Our local store sells schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) throughout the year, but it’s way more expensive than making your own (I haven’t checked for a long time, but I think it was over $5 lb).

    (This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday.)

    Avivah

    (My apologies for mentioning Pesach when Purim is still over two weeks away; everyone who felt anxious at the mention can now stop hyperventilating. :))

    Coconut Flour Biscuits

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    Since I first found this recipe, I’ve seen it in a number of places online.  But as far as I can tell, it originates from Bruce Fife’s book.

    Coconut Flour Biscuits

    • 3 eggs
    • 2 T. coconut oil
    • 1 – 3 T. honey
    • 1/4 t. sea salt
    • 1/4 t. vanilla
    • coconut flour to thicken
    • shredded coconut for texture
    • optional – dried or fresh fruit (diced), berries, nuts, chocolate chips

    Blend the first five ingredients, then add enough coconut flour until it’s thick like cookie dough.  Add some shredded coconut if you like.  You can also add fruits or nuts at this time.

    Drop by the tablespoon onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes; delicious served fresh from the oven with butter and homemade jam.

    This is a tasty recipe, but it reminds me more of macaroons that are sold around Pesach-time (Passover) than biscuits.  Maybe day I’ll play around and see if I can create a savory biscuit.  Nonetheless, everyone enjoys them for breakfast.  (I make about 5 times this recipe for our family.)  Because they are so high in fat, the kids get filled up after a fairly small number of them.  An added bonus is that I can give one to the baby (8.5 months), who I’m trying to keep away from grains of any sorts as long as I possibly can.

    (This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.)

    Avivah

    Nutty Pizza Crust (grain-free)

    Pesach, recipes,

    In our family everyone enjoys pizza; for the last few months we’ve been serving two versions on pizza night to accomodate those who prefer grain-free/GAPS.   This crust has a nice flavor – and though it doesn’t taste like your typical pizza dough, it’s very tasty.

    I made some very slight adaptations to the recipes of Sierra and SOG , and this is what we use now when we want a gluten-free pizza crust.

    Nutty Pizza Crust

    • 2 c. nut flour (I prefer hazelnut, but have used almond meal successfully)
    • 2 eggs
    • 2 t. coconut oil (I use expeller pressed)
    • 1 t. salt

    Melt the coconut oil, let cool slightly.  Beat the eggs, add in the coconut oil and salt. (You don’t want it to be boiling hot or it will curdle the eggs; if you don’t melt it, it’s hard to mix in evenly.)  Then stir in the nut flour; mix thoroughly.

    Form it into a ball, and then pat it out on a greased pan or cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes until browned.  Then add the toppings – sauce, vegetables, and cheese.  Bake another 10 – 15 minutes until it looks ready.

    Enjoy!

    (This post is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.)

    Avivah

    Transform your soup chicken!

    Intentional Spending, nutrition, recipes,

    All broth makers share the same experience: they make a fantastic broth, packed with nutrients, and then are left with the meat that has fallen off the bones – tasteless, unappetizing, and uninspiring.  Is there something to do besides choke it down or feed it to your cat? (We don’t feed our cat commercial pet food, so it’s not a waste, but still…)  🙂

    Being the frugalest of the frugal, I’m not about to waste any food that comes into the house if I can help it!  But I’m also not about to torture my family and leave them with bad memories of unpleasant food I forced them to eat so it didn’t go to waste.   Bland soup chicken is easily transformed and made into a really tasty dish.  Here’s what I do:

    Revamped Soup Chicken

    First I shred the chicken.  Then, using chicken or lamb fat that I’ve rendered, I heat the fat and saute the chicken in the fat – this gives it a rich and delicious flavor.  (If you don’t have rendered animal fat, you can use expeller pressed coconut oil, but it’s not going to be nearly as good.)  Then I generously season it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and anything else that appeals to me that day.  After it’s been sauteed and seasoned, I add it to stir fries, pot pies, tacos/burritos, chimichangas – lots of possibilities!

    Because I tend to think of this as a humble thrifty supper, when we recently had a couple for dinner mid week, I wanted to serve something nicer.  I had a different main dish planned, but something happened and I ended up having to serve this.  I was a little embarrassed when the husband asked me how I cooked it (I thought he was thinking it looked wimpy or not up to their standards – they live on a much higher income than we do), so I gave him a brief answer.  Turned out he really wanted to know because he was trying to figure out why it tasted so good and wanted his wife to make it the same way; he’s a good friend of my husband and kept raving about how good it the next couple of times they spoke!

    Simple, frugal, and good for you, too – can’t beat that combination!

    Do you have tips on how to use your leftover soup chicken?  Share them below in the comments section!

    (This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursdays.)

    Avivah

    Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

    recipes

    Here’s the cauliflower soup recipe that was requested yesterday; my family really enjoys having this for a tasty and filling lunch:

    Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

    • butter
    • 1 c. onion, chopped
    • 1/ c. celery, chopped
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 c. carrots, sliced
    • 2 c. potatoes, chopped
    • 2 c. cauliflower, chopped
    • 5 c. vegetable stock, milk, or water (I use milk)
    • 1/2 t. dried dill
    • 1/4 t. caraway seeds
    • 1/4 t. dry mustard
    • 1/4 t. black pepper
    • 1 1/2 c. shredded cheese (I prefer cheddar) or sour cream
    • salt to taste

    Saute the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in a generous amount of butter until tender (sorry, I don’t measure, I just throw a big chunk into the pot:)); I like to cover it and leave it on low until the vegetables are soft.  Add the liquid of your choice (stock/milk/water) and cauliflower.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about twenty minutes until the cauliflower and potatoes are tender.  I like to blend it at this point with an immersion blender, but that’s not necessary.  Add the seasonings, except salt.  Now add the cheese and stir until it’s all melted.  Salt to taste, and enjoy!

    You can adapt this to the vegetables you have on hand, keeping the vegetable total to 6.5 cups.  Often I use a lot more cauliflower and leave out the carrots and celery and it still tastes great.  It just depends on what I have on hand.

    Avivah

    Too Good to be Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

    Intentional Spending, nutrition, recipes, ,

    The inspiration for these incredibly yummy and good for you treats came from the plastic tray that the all natural falafel patties I bought came in.  I rarely buy processed foods, even natural processed foods, so these trays were an unusual bonus!  The tray had eight round molded spaces where each patty was and looked so nice that I started thinking about what I could use them for.  A couple of days later I had this burst of inspiration!  The final result tasted decadent and looked beautiful, since the molding on the bottom gave it the look of fancy chocolates (I served mine upside down so that the molding was on top).  They looked so good I was tempted to take a picture to show you, but of course I didn’t because that would have meant figuring out how to post them. 🙄

    If you don’t have any creative molds that you rescued from recycling :), don’t despair!  You can use a pan or other flat container and cut them into bars, or you can pour them into metallic mini muffin cups.  They’ll taste good either way.

    Too Good to Be Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

    Chocolate layer: (some of you will recognize this as my healthy chocolate recipe)

    • 1/2 c. cocoa powder
    • 1/4 c. coconut oil
    • 1 t. vanilla
    • 1/8 – 1/4 c. honey

    Melt the coconut oil and stir the other ingredients in; mix until smooth.  Pour the chocolate into the bottom of the pan or fill the molds with a thin layer, leaving half of the chocolate for the topping.  Let cool while you prepare the peanut butter filling.  (The chocolate will have the taste of semi sweet dark chocolate, not milk chocolate. I experimented using coconut milk to see if I could make it more similar to milk chocolate, but wasn’t satisfied with the consistency.)

    filling:

    • 3/4 c. creamy peanut butter (I use organic, with only sea salt added)
    • 2 T. honey
    • 1 t. vanilla
    • 1/4 c. coconut oil
    • 1/3 c. ground nuts (I used pecan meal)

    Melt the coconut oil, stir in honey, vanilla, and then the peanut butter.  When smooth, stir in the ground nuts.  Spread the peanut butter filling on top of the chocolate, whether it’s in a mold or a pan.  Finally, take the remaining chocolate mixture (if it’s started to solidify, heat it gently for a couple of minutes until it’s liquidy and easy to pour) and pour it on top of the peanut butter layer, smoothing it so that the top is even. Refrigerate or freeze.

    Healthy chocolates are super expensive, and these are a fraction of the price!  Not only that, they’re packed with healthy fats and are very satisfying; two make a nice dessert that you don’t have to feel guilty about.  And they are so good you can serve them to your junk food loving friends, too!

    (This post is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays,  Pennywise Platter Thursdays and Fight Back Fridays.)

    Avivah

    Saving money on deodorant

    Intentional Spending, recipes, ,

    For years, the idea of anti-perspirant has bugged me.  It’s always seemed counter intuitive to health to keep perspiration from being released (one way the body releases toxins).  And I’ve also always wondered about if there’s a connection between breast cancer and anti-perspirant, since the lymph nodes are right under the armpit and if they get blocked up, it makes sense that a person will get sick.

    Well, regardless of my mental cogitating on all of this, I like looking and smelling socially acceptable and this wasn’t something I was going to give up.   I had tried a crystal but it didn’t work at all, and the healthy deodorant alternative in the store was mucho money and I didn’t want to spend that without knowing it would work really well.

    But about a year ago in the winter, I decided it was a good time for an experiment in this area, since if it wasn’t working no one but me would know. 🙂 I started applying a sprinkle of baking soda in place of deodorant, and I found that it worked great!  I stayed fresher than I ever did with deodorant!  Because I prefer to try things for a while before sharing them to make sure they really work, I didn’t want to post about it here until I had gone through all the seasons.  So it’s been over a year now and I can say with confidence it’s worked great though all kinds of weather, hot and cold.

    However, there were two downsides to my solution.  One – it was slightly messy, since a sprinkling of baking soda would fall on my bathroom counter. That’s easily enough taken care of by a daily wipe down, but still it was a down side.  And it is kind of wasteful.   Two – my teenagers had no interest in trying my solution, even though they tend to be open to my ideas.

    So, I decided it was time to find a solution that would work for them, and we did!  I saved a few empty deodorant containers, and made an effective, healthy, and inexpensive alternative to deodorant.  And it took all of five minutes to make a few bars worth. (The recipe below will make one or two bars, depending on the size you make it.)

    Homemade Deodorant

    • 1/4 c. baking soda
    • 1/4 c. cornstarch
    • 2 T. coconut oil (expeller pressed)
    • optional – ten drops of essential oil

    Melt the coconut oil in a small pot.  Stir in the baking soda and cornstarch until smooth.  If you want to add a scent to it, add ten drops of essential oil now.  I didn’t, because all I had on hand was tea tree oil and my kids hate the smell of it.

    You’re going to have a soft white paste.  Take out the empty deodorant containers, and turn them so the little thing in the middle is down as low as it can go.  Then fill the containers, and let them sit on the counter until they harden.  Once it’s firm, use like any regular anti-perspirant – it will look just like what you buy in the stores, and my kids have said it works great and are happy to use it.

    If you don’t have an empty deodorant container and don’t feel like waiting to have one to try this, find a couple of empty toilet paper tubes.  It seems to me that if you stand the empty tube on top of a wax paper or pan and then pour the mixture in, you can let it harden in place.  Then once it’s firm you can cut down the side that has the paper tube sticking up, leaving enough over so that you can fold the sides of it down over the bottom like you would wrap a present.  Then turn it right side up and just push it up from the bottom as you want to use it.

    How does this work?  Baking soda is known to be an absorber of smell, and the cornstarch wicks away moisture.  I’m sure the coconut oil is beneficial as an antibacterial factor as well.  If you add the essential oils, it mostly just makes it smell nice.

    The cost for this is very, very low.  I pay under .50 lb for baking soda (.06 for 1/4 cup), and around a dollar for a cup of expeller pressed coconut oil (.13 cents for 2 T.).  I haven’t bought corn starch in ages so I have no idea how much I paid, but it wasn’t a lot.  So for under .25 cents, I’ve been able to make a generous sized deodorant that works great, without any of the negative side effects!

    (This post is part of Fight Back Fridays and Frugal Fridays.)

    Avivah