Chicken Broccoli Casserole

(with Coconut Milk) 

 

Serves x 6 People

Ingredients:

2 TB - Butter
2 - Cloves garlic minced
1 - Large onion diced
2 - Boneless skinless chicken breasts, or 2 cups diced rotisserie chicken
2 TSP - Italian Seasoning

1 TSP - Sweet paprika

1/2 TSP - Thyme

1/4 TSP - Rosemary 

Salt/Pepper, to taste

1 TB - Olive oil

2 Cups - Fresh broccoli florets 

1 Can - Full fat coconut Milk (400 ml)

1/2 Cup - Plain yogurt 

2 1/2 Cups - Chicken broth
1 1/4 Cups - white long grain rice, uncooked

Topping:

 1 Cup - Shredded old or medium cheddar cheese   

 2 Cups - Shredded sweet potato

Instructions:

 
Note: This recipe is designed to allow you to prepare all of the casserole ingredients in one pot before transferring to a casserole dish for baking. Before you begin, refer to your rice package for the amount of water (or chicken broth) and cooking time. I use white long grain rice and the cooking time/liquid amount below works perfectly.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

 

 
Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat until melted. 
 
Add chicken breasts and cook until golden brown on all sides. Remove and set aside. 
Note: This step is not needed if using a cooked rotisserie chicken.
 
Add olive oil, diced onions and minced garlic then cook until the onions are translucent and starting to brown. 
 
Add the chicken broth, olive oil, spices and rice to the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.
Cover tightly and cook for 6 minutes.
Add the broccoli and replace the cover. Cook for 9 more minutes. Refrain from stirring.
Turn off the heat and leave the cover on. Let the rice stand for 10 minutes, do not stir. Any rice on the bottom of the pot will release.
Add the cooked chicken, coconut milk and yogurt. Add to a lightly greased 9 x 13 casserole dish.
 
 
Topping: Mix the grated sweet potato and grated cheese together. Evenly distribute the mixture over the top of the casserole.

 

Bake at 350 Degrees for 45 minutes or until the cheese is browned and the casserole is bubbly.

ENJOY!

 

 

 Here's an Image for your pinterest recipe collection!

 

Apple Pie Filling Recipe

I had been missing my favorite pie filling recipe that my mom found in taste of home, or the country women or some similar magazine. I modified it to my personal liking and made it anytime we had a good stock of apples. For the life of me I could not find any comparable pie filling recipes and I certainly could not track down the one I originally based mine off of.

So yesterday, I decided to trust my memory. Mind you, I have not made this recipe for about 15 years! But I made it so much as a teenager, that I had it memorized, so I figured maybe I should trust my memory? So I went for it... And it turned out rather impressively if I do say so myself! Yum! 

This recipe is chock full of fruit, lightly wrapped in sauce and not too sweet so the best of the apples still shine through! It is delightfully moist but not sopping with juice when you cut it. If you like a more gelatinous pie filling surrounding the fruit, you can add another 1/2 - 3/4 cup of juice.

JJ's Apple Pie Filling Recipe

(Makes enough for 1 large pie)

6 TB - cornstarch

1/2 CUP - brown sugar

1 CUP - apple or cranberry juice 

2 TB - butter

1 TSP - vanilla extract

1 TSP - cinnamon

1/4 TSP - nutmeg

7 cups of diced apple and/or pear (try placing the diced apples in your desired pie pan, if it is not full enough, add some more)

•Mix together the cornstarch and sugar in the bottom of a saucepan, then add the juice.

•Turn the pan to medium high heat and stir constantly with a whisk until it becomes translucent and thick. 

•Once it has thickened, turn the heat to low and mix in the butter.

•Add your spices and apples then mix to coat evenly. If you wish you may cook it on low until the apples are softened or put directly into your crust.

I love this pie filling in a good sourdough crust. The light, tender and flaky crust blows me away everytime! It is better for your gut with the sourdough, plus the butter makes it more delicious and easier for digestion then the traditional lard varieties. And it is a great way to use up sourdough discard. I use this fabulous crust recipe from The Bojon Gourmet! 

Sourdough Yorkshire Puddings

Sourdough Yorkshire Pudding Recipe

(Makes 12 puddings)

4 - large eggs

1 cup - whole milk

1/2 cup - fed sourdough starter

1 cup - unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp - salt

+ Grapeseed oil for the muffin tins

1. Beat all the ingredients together well with a whisk. 

2. If it's too thin add a bit more flour to create a "pancake batter" consistency.

3. You can either chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and then proceed to cooking. Or leave to ferment for 6 hours or overnight in the fridge for better health benefits.

4. When you're ready to cook them, preheat oven to 425°F. Put 1 tsp of grapeseed oil in the bottom of each muffin tin. Once the oven has heated, place the oiled muffin tins onto a lipped baking tray and place on the middle rack. 

5. When the oil is bubbling, take the trays out of the oven and fill each 3/4 full with batter. 

It should sizzle a bit as you fill them, this extreme heat is what jumpstarts the puffing action! 

6. Bake them for 15 to 20 minutes at 425°F until puffed and almost entirely golden brown! They must have a slightly crisp surface or they will collapse, so make sure it's not just slightly golden in dots, but more uniformly browned all over.

And that's it! Serve with a roast dinner and fill with gravy or munch on them straight out of the pan! 

Lentil Brownies!!!

INGREDIENTS:
1 3/4 C. cooked red lentils
4 eggs
1/2 C. melted butter or coconut oil
3/4 C. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. real salt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 C. evaporated cane sugar
1 tsp. baking powder

Milk to make it vita-mixable

Add all ingredients into a vita mix and add milk until you can puree it.

Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes

Breakfast Powerhouse Pudding!

This pudding is now my new favorite breakfast food! Its a real powerhouse for sure! Loaded with: oats which contribute both soluble and insoluble fibers, cranberries packed with antioxidants, pre-biotic apple, eggs loaded with protein, biotin and healthy thyroid boosting cholesterol, sprinkle in a few mineral rich pumpkin seeds and to top it off I added a kick of digestion/circulation/etc. boosting cinnamon! Yay!



Bring to a boil:
7 Cups of water

Then add:
2 Cups of steel cut oats
2 Cups of whole fresh cranberries
1 apple diced
2 Tablespoons of cinnamon
1/4 Cup turbinado sugar

Beat together:
1/4 tsp salt
8 eggs beaten
1 Cup un-homogenized milk

Then drizzle in bits of the egg mixture and stir in quickly, repeating till its all mixed in. (make sure you stir very quickly so there's no egg chunks)

After the eggs are mixed in add:
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 Cup pumpkin seeds

And enjoy!

NOTE: This makes a HUGE pot so I can have it in the fridge for a quick breakfast! If you want it for a single serving you might want to make something like 1/4 of a batch!

100% Wild Yeast Sourdough English Muffins!

RECIPE
1 cup lukewarm milk
1 cup %100 hydration sourdough starter
2 tb avocado oil
2 tb honey
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 flour

METHOD
Mix all the ingredients together, let sit for 10 minutes, then mix viciously for 5 minutes to develop the gluten. Let it sit for 2-3 hours on the counter, then put in the fridge overnight. Take it out in the morning allowing several hours to return to room temperature.

FRY
Heat a cast iron skillet to medium low-ish heat. Take small balls of dough, dip in flour and roll into shape. Lay the ball a plate of corn meal and flatten, flip and repeat. Place on the heated skillet, cooking on each side for about 6 minutes. Ta da! Now eat those tasty little muffins all up!

BONUS IDEA!

Make a jumbo English muffin, cut the crust off one side and hollow it out like a little bread bowl. Fill it with some garlic, tomato, lemon thyme and a bit of salt, then crack an egg on top of all that. Lay a few slivers of Havarti over the whole thing and pop in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes to bake in an oven proof bowl.

Drizzle with a little olive oil and chow down on it! ....but wait till its cooled for about 10 minutes....its super hot...if you don't heed my warning, the roof of your mouth will be singed :S But it was SO good! :D

Third Time's s A Charm! ;D

     Ta da! Finally a beautiful sourdough loaf! Each loaf pretty much doubled in size from the first! And #2 and #3 were defiantly the same size of a batch, #1 was probably a smaller amount of dough, which contributes to its minuscule size...but the oven rise on it was pretty pathetic :S

     But this loaf, was a whole other story! Ever since I was about 12 years old I desperately tried to make a bubbly chewy focaccia bread, but sadly never produced a satisfying loaf... 

     Until today! Now this loaf...this is the loaf of my dreams...ah! At long last! :D Look at those beautiful bubbles! The texture: the crust is crisp and flaky, when I give it a squeeze I can hear a soft cracking noise and feel the spongy crumb that lies beneath the surface. Then when I release the pressure, the bread springs back as quick as a cat on a trampoline! And will you just look at that bread rise! When I spied it through the oven window, in gleeful triumph I exclaimed "it looks like its just going to keep puffing up like a balloon and float off into space!" And then I fluttered off with a hop and a skip only to return to peep into the oven once more to check the progress: crouching on the floor, eying the bread like a mother hen awaiting her hatching chicks! I looked up a lot of artisanal sourdough pictures on Google and most all of them have a very flat bottom...not so for this loaf! Mine went from sagging over the edge of my too-small baking stone, to actually lifting up into the air! ...crazy, I never have I seen bread that could do that! 0_0 ....its a bird, its a plane, no...its SUPER BREAD! Duh da da daaaaa!  

I used a 100% hydration sourdough starter and this fantastic recipe by Jacob Burton:

And by the end of the day, this beautiful loaf came out of the oven:

Notes on My Process:

     As I was mixing the dough initially, I noticed it was quite wet, so I added more flour until it was quite stiff and was a very "shaggy mess" indeed, so then I left it to autolyse for 30 minutes. I then began to do the slap and fold method of kneading, it was a sticky mess, so I proceeded to add in more flour (and the salt) until it was just manageable and I wasn't going to end up with webbed mitts! I kept working the dough until it was able to form a nice "window" and then did the "stretch and fold" technique and let it bench rest for 10 minutes. I did a total of three "stretch and folds" followed by a 10 minute bench rest and then put it into a bowl for a couple of hours to bulk ferment while I went shopping. When I came back I did another stretch and fold and then a bunch of tension pulls and put it into a floured cloth lined bowl to rise for about 30 minutes then I looked at it and thought "this dough is definitely 1.5 to 2 times the size, I'm just going to bake it now!" (even though I knew that most instructions always say to let it rise 3-4 hours [and my first loaf I left to rise overnight it was so slow]) So I preheated the oven to 500º F (and forgot to put my soap stone baking stone in right from the start [which resulted in a slightly underdone bottom crust {that was remedied by flipping it upside down, placing it near the top of the oven and putting the broiler on to 450º F and watched it until it was browned]). I turned down the oven to 450º F then placed the dough on the bottom rack with a pan of about 1/2 cup of water underneath it for steam. I baked it for about 45 minutes until it started smelling "toasty" and then I took it out and let it cool on a rack for 1 hr, then sliced into that yummy round of bread for a taste! Yum! 

Just take a look at that crumb! ;D