Stevia-Sweetened Lemonade

Steve the stevia plant is doing very well.  No idea why, since all of my gardening adventures involve planting something and hoping it ends well.  I tried making an herbal brew of basil, mint, stevia, and black tea.  It was delicious, but ended up far too sweet.  Then I thought that "too sweet" is never a problem for lemonade and gave this a try.

Given that the average person does not have an overgrown stevia plant in the front yard, I'm going to try to adjust this for granulated, store-bought stevia, based on my own experience making lemonade with erythritol.  Which now has been found to be not good for you.  Come on, science, I need a way to cut back on sugar naturally.  Cane sugar, in moderation, is turning out to be the least damaging sweetener there is.

*3-4 lemons
1 Tb stevia granules or *2 generous sprigs fresh

1.  To make the sweet base, combine 1 C water, stevia, and the peel of half of the lemons in a small saucepan.  Bring to a light boil, then lower to a simmer for 5 minutes.  Allow to cool to room temperature naturally.

2.  Juice the lemons, which should get you about 3/4 to 1 cup of juice.

3.  Strain solids out of the now-yellow water and combine with the juice.  Add enough cold water to make 4 cups, stir, and taste.  Add more stevia to taste and chill until ready to serve.

Makes one quart

Difficulty rating  π

Creamy Chicken and Rice

Ok, sometimes you just have to go for easy comfort food.  I first had a version of this on a school camping trip.  If you can make it over an open flame, it isn't that hard.

This time, I opted for a wild rice blend from the bins at Sprouts, but a box of pilaf is how I was introduced to this dish.  I was originally going to use my last can of store-bought canned chicken, but used some of the failed seals from the canning session instead.  You can also use leftovers.  Cooked chicken is nice to have on hand, in whatever form you keep it.

At its most basic, this is a pantry meal, but I jazzed it up a tiny bit with fresh onion and celery since I wasn't using a box flavor packet.  I also ended up dumping the peas into it instead of cooking a side veggie, as originally planned.  It was an open bag, so might as well.

1 Tb olive oil or butter
*1 C diced onion
*2 ribs celery, diced
1 C wild rice blend, or box mix like pilaf
1-1/2 C water or chicken broth, plus more to thin
*2 C shredded chicken, or one 10-12 oz can
*1 can cream of chicken soup
salt and pepper to taste
frozen peas or other small veggie, optional

1.  In a large pot or soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the diced onion and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add rice and toast, stirring to coat all the grains.

2.  Add water or broth, bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.  Some brands and blends will require more water or a longer cooking time.

3.  Stir in chicken and veggies, if using.  Stir in cream of chicken soup and enough water or broth to thin to desired consistency.  Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.  Since I didn't use a box mix, the chicken wasn't salted, and I found a no-salt cream of chicken, I actually added quite a lot.  Still, I would rather add it myself than have every element of the casserole bring more sodium to the party.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  π

Vegetarian Zuppa Toscana

I've never actually had Olive Garden's zuppa Toscana, mainly because I'm not a huge fan of Italian sausage.  I do like it on pizza, because there generally isn't a lot of it.  Most of the vegetarian versions use plant-based sausage, which defeated the purpose for me, until I found recipes using white beans and compensating by adding in the sausage spices.  That's what I wanted.  Also, there's a significant amount of kale in it, because that's still a thing in the garden.

I probably should have used cannellini beans, being an Italian recipe, but I don't have any at the moment.  I didn't realize they're part of the kidney bean family.  Think I'm going to put them on my hypothetical bean-canning list, but only one pound, if I can even find them.  I only use them a couple of times a year.

I did have to buy sun-dried tomatoes, which assume the flavor profile of the bacon for this recipe.  I admit, I got a super late start on my tomatoes this year, like by three months, but I had hoped to have more than a couple by now.  Without any of my own oven-dried to put in the soup, I opted for the dried ones in pouches, rather than the canned ones in oil.  They do have to be refrigerated after opening, but you can reseal the package and cram it in anywhere.  Jars tend to leak if they're not upright.

2 Tb olive oil
1 C diced yellow or white onion
*2 ribs celery, diced (optional, but I like celery in a cream soup)
*3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Italian seasoning (or enough of related dried herbs to equal 2 tsp)
*1/2 tsp dried fennel seed, optional
2 Tb sun-dried tomatoes, cut in small pieces
chili flakes to taste, optional
salt and pepper to taste
*1/4 C white wine, optional, or extra broth
2 C drained white beans, veggie Italian sausage, or diced mushrooms
*4 C vegetable broth
1-1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, cut in bite-sized pieces
*1 C half & half or 1 can evaporated milk
*3-4 C kale, de-stemmed and chopped
*Parmesan cheese for serving

1.  Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Cook onion and celery until softened.  Add Italian seasoning, garlic, fennel, sun-dried tomatoes, chili flakes, and a little salt and pepper.  You don't want to over-season before the broth goes in.  Cook until fragrant, another 3 minutes.

2.  If using mushrooms or sausage, add to pan and cook until browned.  Deglaze pot with wine, if using, or a generous splash of broth.  Add remaining broth, potatoes, and beans if using.  Bring to a low boil.  Cover, lower heat to a strong simmer, and cook until potatoes are done, about 15 minutes.  Actual time will vary based on size of pieces.

3.  Add half and half and kale.  You'll be surprised how creamy the soup gets with only a cup of milk.  Keep at a simmer until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes.  Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.  Ladle into bowls and garnish with grated Parmesan.

Serves 4 as a main dish, 8 as an appetizer

Difficulty rating  :)

Chocolate Mint Pudding Pie

I started losing weight again.  Sigh, sugar makes me feel weird and cutting carbs makes me underweight.  So, we're compromising with keto pie filling in a regular graham crust.  It didn't make me gain weight, but things stabilized.

I invented this as I went along, hoping it would set up.  The thing about a "no-bake" dessert is that they sometimes take longer than a baked one, with tons of dishes.  I wanted this to stay easy and without too many ingredients.  This did come together in under ten minutes, plus chilling time, so mission accomplished.

*1 pre-made graham or chocolate cookie crust
* 8 oz block cream cheese
*3 Tb creme the menthe liqueur or 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
*1 4-serving package chocolate pudding (sugar-free ok)
*2 C milk
*1/2 C mini chocolate chips, optional
*whipped cream for garnish

1.  In mixer with the paddle, beat cream cheese until smooth.  Scrape down, add liqueur or extract, and beat again until incorporated.

2.  Add first cup of milk to cheese and beat until the cream cheese breaks up into it.  Switch to the whisk and add rest of milk and the pudding mix.  Whip on 4 or so until pudding thickens, 2-4 minutes.  If desired, stir in chocolate chips.

3.  Pour pudding mixture into pie crust.  Chill until set, at least 2 hours.  Garnish with whipped cream, extra chips, or even crushed peppermints.  Serve chilled or lightly frozen.

Makes one pie, 6-8 servings

Difficulty rating  π

Korean-Inspired Quinoa

I had one jar left from this year's batch of kimchi to finish before thinking of making more.  It kept staring at me every time I opened the fridge.  Also, I'm going to need more pint jars back if I keep canning things.

Now, using kimchi and Bibigo sauce doesn't automatically make a dish Korean, and quinoa is American.  That's why I'm calling this "inspired" and not putting a non-American label on it.  It's a vaguely Asian quinoa bowl, and quite yummy, which I don't always say when I make quinoa.  With so much going on, you don't even notice that it's also vegan and gluten-free (vegan assuming the kimchi is).

1 acorn squash
1 Tb olive oil
*1 C dry quinoa, any color
*2 C kimchi
*2 ribs celery
1 package firm tofu
*1/4 C (ish) Korean BBQ sauce

1.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Line a sheet pan with parchment or foil for easier clean-up.  Wash acorn squash and cut in half stem to blossom end.  Scoop out seeds and slice into wedges.  Arrange in a single layer on baking sheet and rub lightly with oil.  Roast 20 minutes, flip, and roast until cooked through, about another 10 to 15 minutes.

2.  While the squash is roasting, cook the quinoa according to package directions.  This will probably include rinsing to remove any saponins.  Don't skip that step.

3.  Thinly slice the celery.  It's really optional, but I liked the non-fermented crunch added to an otherwise soft dish.  Cut the tofu into smaller slabs any size you would like for your presentation.

4.  When all the elements are ready, you can make a large serving bowl or portions.  Spoon quinoa into the bowl first.  Arrange squash, tofu, celery, and kimchi on top.  Drizzle with sauce.  It's tempting to put on a lot of sauce, but the kimchi brings its own flavor that you don't want to drown out.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  π

Ugly Chicken

This is a pressure-canning post.  Just getting that out of the way now, in case you have zero interest in the subject.

Leisa Sutton at Suttons Daze coined the term "ugly chicken" to describe raw pack, pressure-canned chicken, and it has kind of become a thing in the canning community.  If you've ever opened a store-bought can of chicken, you know it isn't the prettiest thing.  It also smells kind of off for half a minute.  Now imagine it in a glass canning jar instead of a metal can.  No one would buy it.

Cans of chicken (10 to 12 ounces) are running almost four dollars.  I don't use it a lot, but it's nice to have a few in the pantry for salads, soups, and casseroles.  I waited a couple of months after getting the Presto for boneless/skinless breasts to go on sale for $2 per pound, the maximum I'm willing to spend on this product with current prices.

You can use any cut of chicken for this project, including bone-in.  Leisa makes her life easier by using B/S, and I agree.  I'm terrible at cooking B/S breasts in the oven or on the stove, but pressure canning is steaming it in its own juices at 250º, which is pretty hard to mess up as long as you do it at the correct pressure for the right amount of time.  It's just cut up, stuff in jars, and go for it.

To follow along, here's the link to the National Center For Home Food Preservation's procedure, considered the current best practices and updated when necessary.  They do prefer using the hot pack method for poultry and mammals, but raw pack is acceptable and produces the texture I want in this particular product.  Raw pack is also one ingredient, fewer steps, and is frankly more consistent because par-cooking chicken is an iffy thing.

I bought a little over eight pounds of chicken, plus the very close to one pound from the bottom of the freezer.  Sheesh, it's been in there since last October.  I was expecting eight jars out of it, but the headspace math actually turned it into ten jars and I got out the extra rack.  There's a lot of headspace in canning meat, so it's 12 to 14 ounces per jar.  That's more than you get in a store bought can.

1.  Wash your jars, lids, and rings.  I canned in pints because it's 3-4 servings, and wide mouth because it's a bigger target so I wouldn't have to use a funnel.  For a large family, there are instructions for quarts.  I've pretty much decided the only thing I'll ever can in quarts is soup, and I haven't done that yet.  You don't need to sterilize jars for pressure canning.

2.  Prepare your canner according to manufacturer's instructions.  That may involve some minor maintenance.  I feel like I know how it works better than I know how my car runs.  Fewer parts.

3.  Cut chicken into manageable chunks and toss in the jars.  I didn't measure, but it was roughly the size I would cut them for grilling skewers.  I also put the packs in the freezer for half an hour first, to make them easier to cut, and ran the knife against the steel.  This part only took maybe a minute per pound, which is so different than making jam.  Lightly press the chicken pieces into the jars to make sure there aren't any huge air bubbles, but don't pack it super tight.  Leave 1-1/4" headspace, which is when you're sure it's below the rim that the band screws down to.  If you can't see the top of the chicken when the ring is on, you've over-filled it.

4.  Wipe the rims with vinegar to remove any debris and/or fat.  With jams and vegetables, you can generally get away with wiping with only water, but anything with fat in it definitely benefits from a vinegar cleaning.  Center lids, screw down bands finger-tight, and arrange jars in the canner.

5.  Follow the canner's instruction manual to vent and bring up to pressure.  The NCHFP link has a chart for pounds of pressure and time based on pints and quarts.  If you do a smaller jar, you still have to follow the pint time.  Then you get to sit around for a minimum of 75 minutes to keep an eye on the gauge or listen for the jiggler.  You actually don't have to watch it every second, but if it falls below pressure, you have to start the timer over again.  I have gotten used to finding the sweet spot on the gas dial remarkably fast, so I only check on it every five minutes or if I hear something unexpected.

6.  When the time is up, turn off the heat and follow the instruction manual on how to safely lower the pressure and remove the lid.  You're probably going to be waiting on it another half hour.  All this time of waiting for the thing to boil, processing, and releasing pressure is part of the equation for safe canning.  It's going to take nearly three hours from lock to unlock, and that's what you signed up for when you bought the canner.

7.  Remove the jars to a mat or wood resting surface.  Never place a hot jar directly on a tile or stone countertop.  It will crack from thermal shock.  All that liquid that's now in the jar is the chicken's natural juices and can be used as stock.  If they're bubbling, that means they're probably going to seal, but not bubbling isn't an instant sign of failure.  I had three fails, which isn't terrible for a first try.  I knew at least one didn't make it when I could smell cooked chicken before opening the lid.  Let them rest a minimum of 8 hours and up to 24.  Test the seals.  Refrigerate any fails and use within a week.  For the sealed ones, remove the rings, wash in soapy water, date, and store.  They are best used within a year, but lids are generally guaranteed to 18 months and they can be safe for years if stored properly.  I expect ten jars to last me a year (including the fails, which are now in the freezer), so that will be $20 (including the lids) well spent.

Difficulty rating  π