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Make Yourself Comfortable (Comfort Food, Part 2)

10/19/2016

1 Comment

 
Another Presidential debate, another pot of tapioca pudding (this time shared with my daughter, so at least I didn't scarf down the whole thing). Here are some more recipes for comfort foods that should get you safely through any forthcoming revelatory tapes and right up to Election Day.  By the way, I voted early...made me feel so much better.

French Toast
Serves 2

It's not called "French toast" in France, but "pain perdu" (literally, "lost bread", which is what I thought it meant to go Paleo). Happily, there are a number of good Paleo bread recipes out there, including the one for Paleo Sandwich Bread from a couple of weeks ago in my "Comfort Me With Meatloaf" post.
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​Ingredients

4 slices Paleo Sandwich Bread (see paleogram.com, September 21, 2016)
3 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canned organic coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBS ghee
Maple syrup for serving

1. Mix eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla together in large shallow bowl or baking dish.
2. Submerge bread slices in mixture. Poke holes in bread with fork to help absorption of liquid. Let sit for at least 30 minutes. You could also let this soak, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.
3. Melt ghee in large frying pan over low heat and place bread slices in pan. Cook on one side until lightly browned, then turn and cook over low heat until toast is completely cooked and other side is also light brown.
4. Serve with maple syrup, and bacon on the side, if you wish (yum, everything's better with bacon!).

Mashed Buttercup Squash
6-10 servings

Buttercup squash may not be the most beautiful winter squash in the bunch but to me, it is the most delicious. It's sweeter than Butternut (although you can use either one in this recipe) and would make a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving. Kids love it, too. Last weekend, my two grandsons asked for seconds and then thirds.
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​Ingredients

1 large buttercup or butternut squash
1/2 cup cream from top of can of organic full-fat coconut milk
2 or more TBS ghee
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Puncture whole squash in 6 or 7 places with sharp knife.
2. Place whole squash in baking dish with about an inch of water. Roast until you can make an indentation in squash and it feels "squishy", at least an hour.
3. Remove squash from oven, cut in half, and remove seeds and stringy stuff around seeds (kind of messy, but easier than cutting raw squash in half to scrape out seeds before baking). Scrape squash from shell.
4. Put squash in saucepan, add rest of ingredients, and use potato masher or immersion blender to purée. Warm over low heat, season with salt and pepper and serve.
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Miracle Pho
4-6 servings

Pho is a warming, comforting soup for any time of the day. Traditional Vietnamese Pho calls for rice noodles, but to make it Paleo, use Miracle Noodles (www.miraclenoodles.com), instead. This is a pretty easy recipe, but it is a two-day process. You make the broth the day before, but then it doesn't take long to throw the dish together the next day.
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Ingredients for broth:

4 cups Paleo-friendly chicken broth, like Imagine brand
4 cups water
3 pounds meaty soup bones
1 tsp salt
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
2 onions chopped (leave the skins on for a richly colored broth)
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 bunch parsley
2 stalks lemon grass
1 1-inch chunk ginger, peeled
1 cinnamon stick

2 packages Miracle Noodles, prepared according to package directions

For serving:

2 TBS Red Boat Fish Sauce ( this is Pale-friendly--the only ingredients are anchovies and sea salt
Salt and pepper to taste
2 limes, quartered
1 Thai chile, seeded and chopped, optional
Small bunches fresh herbs like mint, cilantro, Thai basil and parsley
Handful of fresh mung bean sprouts or micro greens

For broth:

1. The day before you are planning to serve the Pho, put all broth ingredients in large soup pot, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 6-8 hours.
2. Cool and refrigerate over night.
3. The next day, skim the fat from the top of the broth, then strain the soup, reserving the meat and discarding everything else.
4. Cut up the meat into bit-sized pieces and return to the broth.
5. Heat broth and add fish sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

For pho:

1. Divide up prepared Miracle Noodles into 4 soup bowls. Ladle soup on top of noodles.
2. Pass the limes, chiles, herbs and sprouts or micro greens for each diner to add to pho.

Apple Clafoutis

My husband thinks we should call our place "One Tree Farm," because this one little apple tree that we rescued from the trash heap after a home renovation about a dozen years ago and replanted in the front yard, is paying us back 100-fold. We have cartons and cartons of apples: In two  refrigerators; sitting in the front hall waiting to be turned into applesauce; going to the local soup kitchen; and sent home to Massachusetts with my kids. O.K, we don't really live on a farm, and, actually, there are a few more apple trees on the property, and I am SO not into naming the house where I live (Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower, anyone?).

But, anyway, this has turned into my hands-down favorite (and easy) apple recipe of the year. It is an adaptation of Elana Amsterdam's Pear Clafoutis recipe from elanaspantry.com . Clafoutis is French, natch, and is traditionally made with cherries. If the birds didn't beat me to the cherries on our two trees each year (another reason why we can't be "One Tree Farm), I would so make this with cherries, as well...I wouldn't even mind pitting them.
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​Ingredients

5 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
Ghee for greasing baking dish
4 large free-range eggs
1/2 cup cream from top of can of full-fat, organic coconut milk
1/2 cup ghee, melted
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 8" x 8" baking pan with a little ghee.
2. In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut cream, melted ghee, honey, and vanilla extract.
3. In small bowl, whisk together almond flour, cinnamon and salt.
4. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until smooth.
5. Arrange apple slices in bottom of baking pan and pour batter over them.
6. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until clafoutis is set in the center and top is golden brown.
7. Cool and serve.
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1 Comment

Comfort Me With Meatloaf: Paleo Comfort Food for a Ghastly Election Year

10/5/2016

2 Comments

 
I don't know about you...no, I take that back, I DO know about you: You are feeling as awful as I am about this incredibly hideous election cycle. When I think about Election Night, I can picture myself sitting under a blanket and sucking my thumb. In dark times like these, the only foods I want to eat are comfort foods...primarily tapioca pudding. I once spent several weeks following one disastrous election outcome (but not as disastrous as this one could be, trust me) comforting myself with warm tapioca, right out of the pan. I couldn't stomach anything else.

So here are a few of my go-to nursery food choices to get you through  Election Day. And after that? Depends on the outcome...I'll either go with celebratory meals, or, if my friends follow through on their desires to flee north of the border, Canadian specialties.

Meanwhile, please don't forget to register and VOTE and please let your vote be informed by everything that is GOOD about our country. Love can indeed trump hate.

The meatloaf recipe, below, requires bread (the ultimate comfort food), so I am reprinting the recipe for Paleo Sandwich Bread from a year ago, one of my first posts. So, Happy Anniversary, Paleogram, and thank you, faithful readers, for making it such a fruitful year.

So, what are your favorite comfort foods, childhood or otherwise? Drop me a line under comments and, if feasible, I'll work on making your favorites Paleo and include them in a future blog post.

Paleo Sandwich Bread (from Paleoeffect.com)
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups arrowroot powder
1 cup golden flax meal
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
4 tsp  baking powder
4 eggs
4 TBS walnut oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
4 egg whites, beaten to soft peaks
Coconut oil for greasing pan

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a bread pan.
2. Combine all dry ingredients.
3. Mix 4 eggs, walnut oil and cider vinegar and then combine with dry ingredients.
4. Fold in beaten egg whites.
5. Pour into greased pan and bake for 55-60 minutes.
6. Cool on wire rack.

My Favorite Meatloaf
Serves 6-8

The original recipe came from an old Adele Davis cookbook which is now lost, but I've changed it up quite a bit over the past 40 years, so my kids consider it mine. In any case, it wasn't difficult to "paleotize."
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Ingredients

2 slices Paleo Sandwich Bread (see recipe, above)
1/2 cup organic full fat canned coconut milk
2 TBS hemp seeds
1 large carrot
1 small zucchini or other summer squash
1 small onion
Handful of parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
A few grindings black pepper
1 egg
1 lb. ground grass-fed beef
1 lb. ground turkey or ground chicken
Paleo-friendly ketchup
Coconut oil for greasing pan

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease loaf pan (I prefer glass, but metal works o.k., too) and spread a thin layer of ketchup on the bottom of the pan
3. In a large bowl, crumble the bread into the coconut milk and let sit until bread gets mushy (you may have to mash it with a fork, as this bread doesn't mush as well as regular bread); stir in hemp seeds
4. Using the shredding attachment of your food processor, shred the carrot, zucchini and onion, and stir into the bread mixture, along with the chopped parsley, oregano, salt and pepper.
5. Mix in the egg, then mix in the ground meats, one pound at a time.
6. Now it gets fun: Roll up your sleeves, take off your rings, and plunge your hands into the mix. Use your hands to mix thoroughly until everything is incorporated and there are no separate little chunks of meat or bread.
7. Put the meatloaf mix into the pan, smoothing the top with a spoon. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. To serve,  cut loaf into slices and spoon ketchup "gravy" from the bottom of the pan onto each slice.

 For extra comfort, serve alongside mashed cauliflower (faux mashed potatoes). Simply steam cauliflower florets until tender, then place in food processor with a tablespoon or two of ghee and salt to taste and process until it achieves the texture of mashed potatoes. And if you don't tell them, some of your eaters may think it is the real thing.

Fettuccini or Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 2

Writer Calvin Trillin once famously called for Spaghetti Carbonara to replace turkey as America's iconic Thanksgiving meal. While I wouldn't go that far...how can you go wrong with bacon, eggs and cream on pasta? Actually, I eat this for breakfast a couple of times a week. Zero calories for the Miracle Noodles, not so for the bacon, eggs and coconut cream, though.
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Ingredients

2 packages Miracle Noodles Fettuccini or Spaghetti (available at your local health food store or on-line at miraclenoodle.com), prepared according to package directions, which are basically to rinse noodles, throw in boiling water for a minute and then drain)
4 cage-free eggs, beaten
4 slices cooked bacon, broken into pieces
4 TBS coconut cream (from top of can of organic full-fat coconut milk)
Salt and pepper to taste
Nutritional yeast, optional

1. Prepare Miracle Noodles and after boiling for a minute, drain the water out and put noodles back in dry pan. Over low heat, stir the eggs into the noodles and cook gently, just until egg are no longer liquid (don't cook too long or you will end up with scrambled eggs).
2. Stir in the coconut milk, add crumbled bacon and salt and pepper to taste. If you want to make this more authentic (Spaghetti Carbonara contains Parmesan cheese), sprinkle with nutritional yeast for a "cheesy" taste.

Tapioca Pudding

Serves 8, or one very needy person, who will eat it warm, right out of the pan (Note: I do not endorse this practice, but it's better than drinking yourself s**t-faced as you are waiting for the election returns from swing states).

 This is a Paleo version of the Classic Old-Fashioned Tapioca Pudding Recipe on the back of the bag of Bob's Red Mill Small Pearl Tapioca, which I recommend. Do not use instant tapioca, as it may contain additives. Tapioca is not a grain, so it's o.k. In moderation (with an exception for Election Night) on a Paleo diet.
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Ingredients

1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
3/4 cup water
2 1/4 cups organic full-fat canned coconut milk
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 eggs, separated
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place tapioca and water in a medium-sized saucepan and let tapioca soak for 30 minutes. Do not drain after soaking.
2. Add coconut milk, salt, honey and beaten egg yolks to tapioca and stir over medium heat until boiling. Simmer over very low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring often.
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
4. Fold about 3/4 cup of the hot tapioca mixture into the egg whites, then gently fold mixture back into saucepan. Stir over low heat for about 3 or 4 minutes.
5. Cool for 15 minutes, then stir in vanilla. Serve warm, but it's good cold the next day,  provided there is any left over.
2 Comments
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      Deborah Shepherd

    New recipes and Paleo adaptations of family favorites I've been cooking for years that I hope will work for all of us, whether Boomers or beyond.

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