Roasted Sweet Potatoes

This makes a sweet, but not too sweet, simple fall or winter side.  My kids love to mash this for “mashed sweet potatoes.”

Serves 6
Time: 1 hour, mostly unattended

1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt to coat
ground cinnamon to coat (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)
1/3 c white raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Peel sweet potatoes with a vegetable peeler, and cut into bite-sized cubes.  Put into a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish; drizzle with olive oil, and coat with salt and cinnamon.  Stir, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and stir again.  If you want to add the raisins, mix them in and let them warm in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Lady and Sons Okra and Tomatoes

This is a great summertime side!  I usually have bacon grease on hand, so I just leave out the bacon and use 2 Tbsp bacon grease for this recipe.

Serves 4
Time: 30 minutes

Lady and Sons Okra and Tomatoes

4 slices bacon, diced into small pieces
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 T chicken stock (or Better than Bouillon)
1 T sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 c fresh okra, cut into 1-inch pieces (frozen is okay)

Cook bacon slightly. Sauté onion and garlic with bacon until tender. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, sugar, salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning if needed. Meanwhile, wash okra and remove fuzz (if using fresh), and cut into pieces. Add okra and simmer until okra is done, about 20 more minutes, less if using frozen.

Bacon grease

For the first five years I was in the kitchen, I poured bacon grease in the trash.  What was it good for, except to clog the sink, anyway?  Well… since then, I’ve learned differently!  It’s rendered lard with a fabulous flavor.  I bake bacon in the oven at 375° for 22-24 minutes and pour the grease into a container.  Then, I keep it in the fridge and use it to flavor lots of things.  What do you use bacon grease for?

I use it for cooking:

• scrambled and fried eggs
• braised cabbage
• onions for any dish that calls for softened onions (okra & tomatoes, sweet potato soup- recipe coming soon)
• green beans
• collard greens
• field and black-eyed peas

And here are a lot more ideas that I’d never thought of!

(And no, lard won’t clog your arteries and make you fat- the way they’ve been telling us it does for the past 70 years.  Before the 1920s, when everyone cooked with lard and butter, heart disease didn’t exist and obesity was rare.  Go figure!)

Sausage and Apple Skillet

This is one of those busy-day recipes to help when you don’t seem to have time to cook, but want something yummy.  The recipe can be expanded or reduced to fit your needs.  This recipe will make enough for 3-4 people.

one package of sausage links (about 12 oz.) sliced in 1/4″ slices
(I like the natural andouille sausage from Costco–the brand is Sausages by Amylou)
2 onions, cut into chunks
3 large or 4 small apples, cut into chunks
2 T bacon grease, butter, or coconut oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Pour oil in a medium-sized cast iron skillet, and heat to medium-high.  Add sausage; cook until barely browned.  Add onion, cook until onions start to brown. Add apple chunks; cook until apples are just soft.  Check seasoning; add salt and pepper if needed.  Serve with mashed potatoes, cabbage, sauerkraut, or whatever else you think would taste good.

Maple-braised carrots

This is a simple, yummy side dish.  There aren’t many veggies that don’t love being braised in butter and served with salt and pepper to taste.  But carrots like a little maple syrup to bring out their sweetness.

Serves 4
Time: 15-20 minutes

5-6 large carrots (almost a pound), sliced
4 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c water or stock
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
salt to taste

While you’re slicing the carrots, melt the butter on medium heat in a medium-sized dish that can be covered later.  Toss the carrots in the melted butter for 1-2 minutes, or until they start to soften.  Add water or stock, maple syrup, and salt.  Cover, turn heat to low, and let carrots simmer about 10 minutes, or until almost done.

After 10 minutes, uncover, turn heat to high, stir until extra liquid has evaporated, and carrots are glazed with butter and maple syrup.  Taste and adjust salt if needed.

Modified from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything (I love this cookbook!)

Sausage-Tortilla Soup

1/2 pound sausage
1 med-lge onion, cut into large dice
2-3 bay leaves
1 can or 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
1-2 cans black beans (or 2-3 cups home-cooked beans)
1 more can of beans of your choice (black-eye peas, white beans, pintos or even kidneys)
1 can Italian tomatoes
1/2-1 can of Rotel tomatoes
1-2 t. cumin
1 T. tomato paste, or (easy choice) ketchup
salt and pepper to taste (I didn’t need any)

Tortilla Chips, crushed
Grated Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Pepper Jack cheese

Brown sausage in a medium to large saucepan until no “pink” is left. Add in onion and bay leaves.  Saute until onions are slightly caramelized. Add remaining ingredients; cook until flavors have settled, about 20-25 minutes. Check seasonings. 

Serve with crushed tortilla chips and cheese.

 

How to Make Broth/Stock

Meat Stock is one of the foundational ingredients in a delicious soup.  It’s one of those things that always makes food taste better, and it’s much cheaper (and healthier) to make stock at home than to buy bouillon cubes or canned chicken/beef broth at the store.  It takes a long time to make, but the hands-on time is maybe twenty minutes, from start to finish.

Stock also makes a great food for anyone who’s been under the weather.  It’s a great way to get back to regular foods after a stomach upset, and it’s a great way to fight a cold.

Making stock is more of a method than a recipe.  The most important ingredients are bones: they add nutrition and flavor. You can save bones from bone-in meat, use the carcass of a whole chicken, or even save bones after a meal. (We put ours in the freezer in ziplock bags until we’re ready to make stock. Since the bones will be cooked again for a long period of time, this is perfectly safe.)  Your bones can be precooked, or they can be raw.  They can be from regular grocery-store meat, but the best is from grass-fed animals that have eaten an organic diet.  Ours aren’t always that good, and we still enjoy our stock.

To make stock, start with a good amount of bones– usually about half a gallon, or a gallon-bag’s worth.  Put these in a large pot.

Splash over the bones a glug of vinegar (about 2 Tablespoons).  Some recommend Apple Cider Vinegar, but white vinegar works fine. (This helps release the nutrients from the bones)

Add in enough water to cover the bones, but not so much that it will boil over.  (Usually about 2-3 quarts)

Add in 1-2 Tablespoons of salt (depending on how much water you’ve used).

Any “stock-like” vegetables, like celery, onions, or carrots that you need to use up.

Any fresh herbs that you need to use up, like parsley, marjoram, thyme, etc.

Place your stock pot over a burner, cover it with a lid, and begin heating the stock slowly.  I usually use a medium-low temperature setting.  Once the stock reaches a boil, lower the temperature to a simmer. Let simmer for a couple of hours.  You can cook the stock for as long as it’s convenient for you–it really doesn’t matter.  Eight to twelve hours is the maximum length it gets cooked here.  The longer it simmers, the more nutrients you get out of the bones, and the better for you the stock is.

Once you’re finished (or you’ve run out of time), strain the broth, and pour into containers for storage. You can freeze your stock, or you can store it in the fridge for a week.  If you think it needs more flavor and you want to drink it as a clear soup, you can add onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to taste.

This method is based on the one found in Nourishing Traditions.