Chia Seeds: Blood Sugar Stabilizer

Recently, I was wandering through Costco.  What a difference attitude makes.  Having enough time makes a big difference, too.  I like to look at new products, or they might just be new to me!  It’s a lot more fun to go there with a friend.  

Chia seeds.  The package said that it was an ancient food source with natural health benefits.  I looked at the back of the package and read that it is very high in protein, Omega 3s and fiber.  It also said that it suppresses appetite.  Who doesn’t need a little bit of help with that???  This all sounded good to me!

We’ve all hear of these.  The commercials...chi, chi, chi, chia.  We’ve given them and received them as gifts.  I once bought one for my buddy, Bob.  It was Donkey from Shrek.  If I eat them, will green sprouts start emerging from my skin like they do from clay?

I bought a bag and brought them home.  Then I googled “health benefits” and recipes.  They look like poppy seeds, have very little flavor, but a little bit of crunch.  The recipes talked about adding them to water.  They will get “gelatinous” when added to a liquid.

I started out by putting some on my Lucia’s breakfast sandwich, that I treat myself to once a week.  It is a panini with egg, cheese, spinach, and pesto.  I put my Herbes et Sel de la France on and some chia seeds.  It was delicious.  The little buggers do tend to fall off, so I kept dipping my sandwich on the plate to recover them.  

I also really like them on my hard boiled eggs, salad, kombucha, and potatoes.  The herbs brighten up plain things and the seeds give them texture.  

I try to have some at each meal.

I’ve been a Type 1 diabetic since I was two.  Funny thing...they really help to stabilize my blood sugar.  As I’ve read more about these seeds, I have found more information about this.  I am not a medical professional.  My doctor would smile and be condescending if I told him, so I don’t.  I wear a meter.  It “tests” my blood sugar every 5 minutes.  I see the difference.  It’s not a perfect system, but seems much better with these seeds.  

Brandy Ball Cookies

This is a recipe that I sometimes make for my dad.  I have changed it up a little bit, as I cannot help myself!   This is a no-bake recipe that is easy in a blender or food processor.  I don’t own a food processor, as I truly enjoy cutting/chopping and don’t believe that I’d use it enough.  Knowing me, I’ll probably buy one some day and go on and on about how great it is!  :-)  The original recipe called for Nilla Wafers.  I use Ginger Snaps.  You could also use chocolate wafers.  

2 cups crushed ginger snap cookies.  You can use any hard, dry cookies.  :-)

1 cup finely chopped pecans.

2 tbsp. light corn syrup.

2 tbsp. cocoa powder.  Think quality.  I got mine at Penzey’s.

2 tbsp. instant coffee. This is optional, but gives it a dark chocolate taste.

1/2 cup brandy, rum, or liqueur.  

1 cup powdered sugar plus more to roll the cookies in, if desired.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl (or the kitchenaide mixer).  Roll in to bite size balls.  Roll in powdered sugar.   Refrigerate.

These are even better after they’ve been refrigerated.  They can also be frozen.

Winter Squash Soup

This is a little bit different.   I still have some winter squash from my CSA.  I was inspired by Lucia’s to make this soup.  I tried to make it healthy and tasty.  You be the judge.  Of course, you could add cream.  I did not.  You could serve this with a hearty bread for a delicious lunch.  I also like it with roasted root veggies.  

I made this today.  I had some “fish stock” in the fridge made from simply boiling the life out of crab shells.  I like to boil the shells, as the don’t stink up the trash as much.  When I don’t have real chicken stock, I will use something else.  It makes the flavor much more complex.  The recipe calls for I used that in place of the chicken stock.  Please note that I used a blender a couple of times for this recipe.  When blending/”whirring” hot items, do not use a sealed lid.  Cover the lid with a clean towel and add power slowly.  If hot pressure is blended, it can cause the pressure to increase.  Hot liquid all over you and your kitchen.  Danger!  Danger!  

Ingredients:

• 2 acorn or other winter squash.
• 4 carrots.  
• 2 stalks of celery.
• 1 quart of tap water with chicken soup base, if you don’t have any stock.
• 1 can of garbanzo beans (also known as chick peas).
• 8 oz. of chunky applesauce.*
• 1 tbsp. Sel et Herbs de la France (posted on this blog earlier).  I don’t add salt until the very end, if needed.
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper.
• Garnish, if you’d like with rye or wheat berries, additional herbs, sour cream, chopped pecans, or fresh herbs.  Garnish is really important on this one, and most blended soups.  

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Roast the squash for 15-20 minutes.  Wash it.  I poke several holes in it and microwave for a few minutes to make it easier to cut in half to roast in the oven.  If they have frozen, you can skip this step and let them thaw before cutting.  Cut in half remove the seeds, and place in cast iron pan with a bit of butter on each half, or on any pan.  After it’s slightly cooled, remove the skin/shell.
3. While the squash is roasting, boil the carrots and celery in the stock.  Cool slightly.  Blend in Vita Mix.
4. Add the beans and squash and blend some more.
5. Return soup to pan and add applesauce and herbs.
6. Heat and taste.  Add salt, if needed.  You might also need to add some water, if it’s too thick for your liking.
7. Serve with garnish, if desired.

• I used applesauce that I canned from apples, also from my CSA.  I smile every time I use them.   All I used was peeled apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and maple syrup!  Yummy!

You could also add some browned Spicy italian Sausage, if you’d like a more hearty bowl full of goodness.  Notice that I didn’t blend the soup after adding the applesauce.  That texture and that in the herbs is really nice.

Boiled Corned Beef Dinner in a Pressure Cooker

It’s getting to be “the season” to make corned beef and/or reuben sandwiches.  I make both of these at home as it’s so much better than going out.  Often, a reuben sandwich is made with “corned beef” lunchmeat.  Gross!  Easy, but you get what you play for.  Not very tasty.  Corned beef becomes readily available and pretty inexpensive before St. Patrick’s Day.  Buy a couple of roasts when they are on sale and put a couple of them in the freezer.  No need to pay $10/lb., just because you want corned beef another time during the year.  I will make a boiled dinner.  I will add another post for reuben sandwiches.  

The biggest challenge in making a corned beef roast, that has been mass-produced, is that it is really salty.  As a result, use lots of water!  After cooking the meat in water and the spices it comes with, dispose of that water and use fresh water.  Return the cooked corned beef roast and the veggies to the fresh water.  This will help.  This is not the healthiest dinner, but once in a while, it’s pretty delicious!  This recipe will easily serve 2 or 3.  

Ingredients:

• 1 corned beef roast.  Size depends on the number of people you’re cooking for.  I usually make about a 2 pounder.  
• Several quarts of water
• 9-12 Red Potatoes.
• 1/2 to whole head of green cabbage.
• 1/2 to whole ruttabega.  (Optional).  This is a veg that has a hard, waxy shell.  One you peel that off and cook it, yummy.  If you’ve not used it, try it.  I had to really fish around for the spelling and Apple Pages still does not like this one.  :-)

Process:

1.)  As noted above, use several quarts of water to completely cover the roast in a large pressure cooker.  Seal and cook for 30-35 minutes.  This is a very tough piece of meat, so don’t worry.  After reducing the pressure, dispose of the salty water.

2.)  Add 1 couple of quarts of fresh water, the roast, and the veggies, chopped course or whole.  Large chunks are part of the rustic charm of this recipe.  Seal and cook for additional 5 minutes.

3.)  Remove from heat, allow pressure to escape, and serve!!  You can slice the meat and serve this “family style”.  

That’s it!  Serve it hot.  Microwave, if needed.  It’s important to serve this really hot and it cools off quickly.  Put out some butter for the potatoes and salt and pepper.  I may need to make this before St. Patty’s day, as writing this makes me really hungry for it.  

I make this in the pressure cooker, only because it’s super fast.  I had made it in a slow cooker for years.  If you do that, it might be saltier, and you’ll need to cook the veggies a little while before serving.  It’s also a much smaller vessel, so it might not all fit in there.  However, you could remove the roast and put the veggies in.  Not as many, but you could make reuben sandwiches or freeze the rest of the meat.  

Chicken Noodle Soup in a Pressure Cooker

In February, in the Midwest, why wait until someone is sick to make a delicious chicken noodle soup?  So fast, easy, and so good!  This is the best chicken noodle soup that I’ve made at home.  I call the chicken stock that it makes “liquid gold”.  

This was the very first thing that I’d made in the pressure cooker.  I was sold!  In fact, the handle broke on my pressure cooker this morning.  What a bummer!  Initially, I was just going to order a new one, but since I’m trying to generate less trash...i found the replacement part and it should be here in a few days.  As I’ve mentioned, I have a tiny kitchen and need all of my “equipment” to work very hard!

This soup is great to make with leftover pasta.  Otherwise, cook the pasta first, then the chicken with half of the veggies (carrots and celery), water and herbs.  It’s a “one pot meal” and is very quick to make because you can prep for the next step while the pressure cooker is working.  Do not add salt until just before serving.  Soup is made in a few easy steps:

1. Cook the pasta (al dente) and drain it.  It’ll cook more as you heat the soup.  Discard this water (or, better yet, let it cool and water your plants with it).
2. Cook the chicken in the water with half of the carrots, celery, the water, herbs, sugar, and soup base in the pressure cooker (20-30 minutes).  Note: Do not cut up these carrots and celery.  It will make it much easier to remove them after cooking.  After releasing pressure, take the chicken and veggies out of the pressure cooker. Discard these veggies as they are overcooked and mushy.   You could add half of an onion to the stock, if you’d like.
3. While the chicken is cooking, chop up the carrots and celery for the final soup.
4. Add the chopped celery and carrots to the stock.  Bring to a boil.  Note: While the veggies are cooking, remove the chicken from the bones.  Discard the bones and skin. Turn heat down to medium.  Add the cut up chicken and the pasta.
5. Taste.  Add salt, if necessary.  If you want more liquid, add water and more chicken soup base.
6. Serve!  You’ll need a large ladle, as good as this is.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, uncooked.  You can remove the skin before cooking, if you’d like.  I don’t remove it until after cooking.
• 8-10 carrots.  
• 6-8 stalks of celery.
• 2 quarts of tap water.
• 1 tsp. chicken soup base (or bouillon).  I bought the soup base at Penzey’s Spices.
• 1 tbsp. dried herbs (I use basil, oregano, chives, pepper, cayenne pepper mixture).  I don’t ad salt until the very end.
• 1 tsp. sugar.
• 2 cups cooked egg noodles (or other noodles).

You don’t need a pressure cooker, if you don’t have one, but you would have to cook the chicken for longer and the stock will not be the same!

My friend, Rene, asked for this recipe.  He's had a pressure cooker for several years, but was a "pressure cooker virgin".  He said that he might need to call as he was makoing it, but he didn't, as it's pretty straight forward.  I couldn't believe that I didn't have this posted earlier.  Sorry about that!

Sam's Cucumber Sandwich

This is a sandwich that Sam created.  She used a low fat English Muffin and cream cheese.  So simple, so delicious!  This week, I made it this way, of course with a different cheese.

Humbolt Fog...This is a goat’s milk cheese with a layer a vegetable ash.  It’s really delicious!  No more fooling around...here it is:

Ingredients:

• 2 slices bread, or english muffin.  I used Lucia’s cottage cheese dill bread.
• Humbolt Fog Cheese.  You could use almost any kind of cheese.
• Fresh herbs, if available.  I used dill and basil.
• Cucumber, sliced thickly.  (Is thickly a word????).
• Herbes et Sel de la France (Recipe provided on this blog).  You could use salt and or pepper.  Any of this is optional.  

You could also make this as a tomato sandwich.  That is equally delicious!

Toubouli

This recipe was emailed to me by one of the local farmers markets just in time!  I’ve adapted it, of course!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chopped cucumber.  If using the small ones, for pickles, no need to peel them.
• 1 tomato (not too ripe).  Chop up and drain water on a paper towel.
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped.
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped.
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped.
• 1/4 cup other fresh herbs of your choice (optional).
• 2 cloves of roasted garlic.
• Onion, shallots, or radish, to taste, chopped of course.
• Salt and pepper, to taste or Herbes et Sel de la France (posted on this blog).

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp.  lemon or lime juice w/some zest.
• About 5 tbsp. olive oil (emulsified with the citris).

Process:

1. Make dressing.  
2. Place all chopped salad ingredients in a bowl.  Mix, gently.
3. Add dressing.

Note:  If the salad seems “watered down” from the veggies, you can try to pour that off.  On the other hand, four months from now, we will only dream of a salad like this.

I had this for dinner with a veggie panani!  This is probably not a conventional summer meal, but...I think you know the rest.  What a pleasure to use all fresh, local, organic ingredients.