The Crop

Fresh tomato simmer sauce or Soup

3t minced garlic or more
2 leeks chopped fine
1 big onion chopped
2T olive oil
1 green bell pepper chopped
3-4 leaves kale chopped
12 big tomatoes or 3 cans unsalted diced tomatoes
2T fresh thyme or 2t dried
2c water
2 veg bouillon cube
1 sm can green chills
2 bay leaves
1.5 T dry basil
1 t black pepper
1 t salt
1/2 t dry rosemary
1 t cumin
1 T soy sauce
1/4 c red lentils
1/4 c dry split peas

In a large soup pot heat oil then cook the first 3 ingredients on low for 15 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil then simmer for 2 hours.  At this point you have a wonderful soup.  If you want a sauce, use a submersible wand blender and blend the soup to a less chunky texture.  It it is too watery,  cook uncovered until it thickens.  I chose to use this amazing stuff for a very healthy  lasagna.

yeah--that's right--chicken balls!

Ok this is more of an idea than a recipe for all you people who are still–STILL–wondering what to do with all that chicken breast you have in the fridge. You will need a food processor,magic bullet or just ask your favorite neighborhood butcher to grind it for you.

Here is what I did with my ground up chicken breast: I added some red curry paste, garlic powder, turmeric, onion powder, cumin, fish sauce and sea salt. I mixed it all up and let it sit and marinate in the spices for about a half hour. Then I took an egg and cracked it open in a bowl and beat it up *flex flex* in another bowl I added some potato starch. I then removed all my bling rings from my fingers, washed my hands and formed meat balls with the chicken mix–then rolled the ball in the egg and next the potato flour. Let those sit for a few minutes to really have the egg and potato flour introduce themselves to one another.

raw poultry balls

Here they are getting acquainted while the skillet warmed up on medium high heat. I sprayed the pan with some olive oil cooking spray, enough to just prevent them from sticking–and as the can says–add a trivial amount of fat to the dish. Trivial!~

I put about 8 balls in the pan at a time, making sure not to crowd them or cool down the skillet at all. I then covered the pan and let them cook like that for about 5 minutes–then i turned them and let them brown on all sides–uncovered–for about another 5-7 minutes.  the key with this is to get them potato starch to brown up and give it a crisp outer shell to make us think it is fried food. Pretty tricky, Sis!

These passed the taste test with all the kids and the husband, and this is straight up strict diet food here!
See , they look like cheat food and they taste wonderful!  You can add any seasoning mix you would like, garlic, onion and some smoke flavor would be excellent as well!

If you are opposed to chicken balls you can do the same batter and omit the coating. Fit the chicken with your hand onto skewers and bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Chicken on a stick! I used the same seasoning and then squeezed lemon juice on them when done. Also super delicious! So–once again rethink your chicken breasts!  These would be great to have as party foods, too!

Everything tastes better on a stick!

Some of you are reading the header of this post and thinking to yourselves–”I knew it! Moe is a slob!” However that is not what I am going to talk about–this is not a confessions of a messy housewife entry into our blog. Though it did for a moment make me look around my work area and consider abandoning this post for other projects.  ADHD is the enemy I tell you!  OK back to my point–This is a soul sharing entry on a comfort food favorite for lots of Americans–and we of course cleaned it up! This is a slow cooker recipe that would be perfect to have on a “game night” or bring to a pot luck party. These even made spectacular left overs for the hubby to bring to work the next day! I paired it with a Napa slaw that was so fast to prepare i wonder why I never thought of sharing it with the readers before! The bun is a gluten free cheesy bread roll–but you can use any of your favorite rolls for this–just make sure they are not store bought rolls–it would be a great disservice to the meat and slaw.

Sloppy Moes
serves 5
2lbs lean beef roast
1 medium onion diced
1 sweet red pepper diced
1 14oz can low sodium diced tomatoes–drained well
2 tbl chili garlic sauce
2 tbl spicy brown mustard
2 tbl cider vinegar
2 tbl garlic powder
Juice of half a lemon

Place all ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on high for 5 hours. When the meat is done it should shred very easily with a fork. Serve shredded with some added sauce.

For the Napa slaw, dice 1 head of Nappa Cabbage and toss with Squeaky Gourmet’s Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing. You can either serve the slaw on the side or serve on a bun as pictured.

Other Good Ideas:

– Serve on corn taco shells with added chili sauce and avocado slices
– Serve over brown rice

Calories Per Serving (meat only) : 298
Protein: 55 grams
Fat: 6 grams
Carbohydrates: 7 grams

Garden Meatloaf
serves 8 (or 4 hungry individuals!)
16 ounces ground turkey breast
16 ounces whole mushrooms
1 large avocado seeded and chopped
1 1/2 cups sweet bell peppers diced fine
1 large red tomato sliced thin
1/2 cup onion chopped fine
1/2 cup raw oatmeal ground into oat flour
1 large egg

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large colander wash the mushrooms. You want to use your hands to wipe these mushrooms off as you gently run water on them–these are like sponges so do not soak them in water. The longer the water runs on them the soggier they will become in the meatloaf itself.

Next you want to add these mushrooms to a large bowl and using your hand blender–kill them all. Smash these little vegetables that are loaded with nutrients from earth into a messy dirty pulp like mixture. It will look and smell like wet earth–which is a very good thing. (Take that Martha!)

Add to the ‘mashedrooms’ your oat flour, avocado, peppers, onions and egg and blend well. Look how full the bowl is before we even add the meat! Next you of course want to add the turkey meat, have your kids wash their hands and allow them to fully blend this miracle into the raw meatloaf.

Then using a non stick pan of your choice–we like to use the angel food cake pan for our load–add half the mixture to the pan and half the tomato neatly to the top, cover with the remaining meat mixture and add a final covering of the tomato.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 35-45 minutes. We served this with sesame roasted Brussels sprouts because–vegetables do not come from a can! We did not even use any added spices because this dish is really loaded with such good flavor and really, even if your kids did know how much you are hiding in this they won’t care–they will love it!

Calories Per Serving- 187
Fat- 5 grams
Carbohydrates- 11 grams
Fiber- 4 grams
Protein- 21 grams