Three Course Polish Dinner

When I lived in Eastern Europe, I learned that dinner included three courses and everyone stayed at the table until dinner was finished. In fact, it was considered rude for anyone to leave the table even if they were finished eating and there was only one person left, not yet finished. As I wrote in a previous post, eating is social. In America, we wonder what is happening to the American family, we wonder why so many Americans are obese, we wonder why certain illnesses and disease are on the rise. Though concern for what we eat, no one wonders if it has anything to do with the way we eat which is in a hurry, alone, over the sink or in front of the computer.
A simple three course dinner is not expensive nor time consuming. Start a soup stock on either Saturday or Sunday morning, or evening. It requires no more than submerging a whole chicken in a large pot of water and adding an onion and salt to be basic. This stock will take you through the week becoming a new soup every night not just one kind that everyone is tired of eating the second day.

There is an old fable - The Story of Stone Soup that goes something like this: a traveling man came into a village and sought a place to stay the night and have a simple meal. An old woman and child approached him and said that this was a poor village and food was scarce. She said he could stay in her barn but as for food, she had none. The traveling man agreed. After he settled in the barn, he knocked to the old woman's door and asked for a pot and if he could fill it from the well. She said yes but what for. He said he was going to make stone soup. The woman was a curious and so she asked how and if she could help. The traveling man said of course. They got the pot of water going on a fire. Then the man took out a stone and threw it into the pot. They watched it boil. A neighbor came by and asked what they were doing. The woman told the neighbor. The neighbor wanted to help too and asked what he could do. The traveling man asked if he had salt since the stone he had used so many times was losing its salt. Yes, the man said and he got salt. The next neighbor came by and the same thing happened, this time the contribution was a few cloves of garlic and a sprig of rosemary. The word got round and people started coming with all kinds of things to make stone soup. Then everyone sat down to a lovely soup dinner.

3 course dinner.
You will need to buy a whole chicken (remember this will stock can be for all week) I bought a whole chicken at Aldi for less than $4.00. Soup stock for every night of the week for less than $4.00. Wow! Into that pot went 2 tbs of sea salt. (this is not salty, given the large stock pot with at least 6 six cups of water) The best way to judge the amount of water is to place your whole chicken into a large empty pot (the largest one you have) and cover with water til the whole chicken is covered and floating. Add your salt, and one whole large onion peeled and cut into quarters. I also sprinkle in my concoction of dried herb seasoning. It is a good idea to let the stock perk for at least 90 min. before removing your whole chicken, usually it will not be overcooked and easy to take from the pot. Now that you have stock, you can decide which kind of soup you want, I like to make chicken noodle as the first soup of the week. You can choose whichever pasta noodle you prefer, my husband likes both the short and long egg noodle. The pasta 'noodles' are cooked separately and put into individual soup bowls, not into the stock. Serve!

The second course is pierogi and veal or lamb chops; buy as much or take from the freezer as you will need to serve. I like the Kasia brand of pierogi, potato with onion or bacon or cheddar cheese. Any of those will be delicious. A package of 10 is only $3.50. As for the cost of the chops, you can expect to pay  no more than 5-6.00 dollars for 4 chops
.
The chops should be started before the pierogi (which only have to be boiled for 8 min.)

Heat your covered skillet over medium high heat adding 3 tbs of coconut oil and olive oil. Season chops with salt and red pepper flakes and rub them each with about 1 tablespoon of chopped sage. Rub the sage into meat on both sides of each chop. As they start to fry, get the water boiling for the pierogi; once water is rolling, add pierogi. Turn over the chops as they cook. After 10 min, melt butter into the oil  and cover, cooking an additional 5-7 minutes on each side and transfer to warm platter and let them rest. Back to the pierogi, they should be soft and ready to drain. Take a platter or large low lipped bowl, ladle the pierogi onto the serving plate/bowl, add a drizzle of olive oil and stir, this will keep them from sticking to each other. Take another platter for the chops. Add wine to the pan and scrape up drippings. Spoon drippings down over the chops; cover and wait to serve.. til everyone is ready!

I always put on the table a small bowl of sour cream, a must when serving potato 'ruskie' pierogi.

The third course is as simple as you want it to be. My sweetie likes cold coffee with flavored cream and a homemade cookie or almond biscotti. You can also serve fresh fruit, pears are my favorite. The point is to keep everyone around the table for a daily dose of reconnection through good food and conversation.

Potatoes, a Staple Around the World

Potatoes, the staple of many diets throughout the world. Potatoes are gluten free if you buy them in their natural state; which means not processed, dried/boxed or in a frozen mix and certainly you should be careful when eating in restaurants as likely they are not using 'fresh/natural state' potatoes.

Baked potatoes pack a bigger punch of nutrients than you might realize. They also supply magnesium, potassium, foliate, vitamin B-6 and vitamin C.  Potatoes have all nine amino acids, but they don’t have an adequate amount of all of them to be considered a complete protein. Like most other plant foods, potatoes are incomplete proteins. One large baked russet potato has 8 grams of protein, or 14 percent of men's and 17 percent of women's daily allowances. 

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/much-protein-large-baking-potato-8380.html

Pork cutlets and roasted potatoes, a simple dish and made gluten free, using olive oil, butter and fresh dried herbs from the garden. I paid 2.25 for two juicy cutlets. If you prefer, you can pound them a bit, which I do sometimes. About 15 mins. of cooking time for the thicker cuts and only 10 for pounded.

The Gluten Free Craze

The gluten-free craze is something of a unique cultural phenomenon as viewed by social scientists like myself. Gluten is a protein! It is found in wheat, barley, rye, etc. and is one of the components that makes bread dough stretchy and and baked bread chewy. For most people, gluten is a 100% safe, digestible, natural protein. But an estimated 0.5 - 1% of the population has a condition called Celiac's Disease, which basically means that their immune systems see partially digested gluten as a threat and cause reactions in the small intestine similar to a severe food allergy (severe inflammation, stomach pain, diarrhea, severe gas buildup, etc.). However, Celiac's Disease is different from a wheat allergy in that it only reacts to partially digested wheat *gluten*, where people allergic to wheat react to any form or part of wheat products.

Even though it only affects a very small percentage of the population, modern food production methods have made it very difficult for people with Celiac's Disease to find gluten-free food, which until the gluten craze started, almost always meant avoiding any food with wheat in it. You'd be surprised how many processed foods contain wheat ingredients, such as Twizzlers licorice, pickles, blue cheese, salad dressings, and even sausages all frequently contain wheat gluten. For those living with this condition, having many gluten-free foods to choose from, especially when they go out to eat, really helps to make their lives easier and lessen the anxiety of possibly having a reaction to something.

It's unclear what triggered the explosion in gluten-free products within the past couple of years. It has been observed that early on, food companies looking to make their brand look healthy noticed that an increasingly large percentage of people who bought gluten-free products only bought them under the incorrect assumption that gluten-free made the food healthier and/or less fattening. Simply by labeling their gluten-free products as such began increasing sales, and as the number of gluten-free products began rising, so did the hype surrounding the mysterious idea of gluten-free food. Today, estimates vary on what percentage of the gluten-free market is being bought mistakenly by (non-Celiacs) people presuming that it's good for them, but it is safe to say that it is a very large percentage, and that the gluten-free boom would not have happened if it weren't for this widespread misinformation.

So unless you have Celiac's Disease or some other kind of wheat allergy, gluten is completely safe and healthy to eat in moderation. Gluten is NOT any more fattening than other wheat ingredients (though eating a lot of refined carbohydrates IS!) and is NOT dangerous or "bad" for the average person. In fact, some gluten-free foods are actually LESS healthy than the original foods because the recipes have to be reformulated to make up for the lack of gluten, which sometimes means adding one or more ingredients that are slightly less healthy substitutes. But do keep in mind that this recent trend has been enormously helpful to people with Celiac's Disease, who have probably spent most of their lives jumping through hoops to find safe food to eat every time they're hungry, so even if for the most part it's all just a way for food companies to make money from misinformed consumers, it has benefited certain people and should be considered a good thing for that reason. So if you don't have Celiac's Disease, don't pay extra for gluten-free. It won't affect you either way!

Source:

http://www.fitsugar.com/Surprising-Foods...

*With the rise in diagnosed cases of celiac disease and interest in gluten-free diets, consumers may be interested in gluten-free white breads. In the case of commercial white bread, "gluten-free" means that the product contains less than 20 milligrams of gluten per kilogram. Therefore, some gluten may still be present but poses minimal risk to celiac disease sufferers compared to conventional breads. Look for breads labeled "gluten-free" in the health food aisles of grocery stores.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/486465-gluten-content-in-white-bread/

*If you are just visiting this blog, and interested in reading about bread/gluten, I recommend my past post "What has happened to bread?" 

Sweet Italian Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya

Saturday night in Louisiana and havin Jambalaya.

 

Price per serving: $2.99

You will need to buy 1 pound of Italian Sausage or whatever sausage you prefer. I used Sweet Italian turkey sausage and paid $2.99 for the Fit&Active brand at Aldi. I like a little fresh shrimp in my jambalaya. Instead of buying a large bag of frozen shrimp that can cost anywhere from 7-15 dollars; I just buy fresh cooked tails. I ask the person at the fish counter if they can weigh out the amount I need based on whatever I think one person would like to eat - 6-12 pieces. For today, I have just six cooked shrimp tails and paid only $1.80.

I also bought a large2 lb. bag of Basmati rice also from Aldi for $1.89; from which I will get at least 8 - 10 meals from.

Take from the pantry list:
Coconut Oil
Olive Oil
Butter
Sea Salt
Red Paprika
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Red Pepper flakes
Dried Herb Seasonings
*rosemary, oregano, mint

Get about 2 cups of water boiling in a med stock pot to cook the rice. I like to use the high heat burner as that gets things really rolling.
While watching for the water to boil, I melt 3 tbs coconut oil and the same of olive oil in my covered skillet and immediately season the oils using the above recommended herbs/seasoning. When this starts to hiss and spit, I take the sausage into my hands and squeeze the sausage out from the casing and into the skillet in the shape or amount you would use to make drop cookies.
Once I have done that, usually getting about 15 ball size drops, I cover and let simmer on low.
The water should be ready to receive the rice. I also add to the water a pinch of salt and dollop of butter, cover and simmer on low. This entire dish takes only 20 25 minutes to cook.
Hold back the shrimp til the sausage balls are cooked. Then place the shrimp on top just to steam/warm up as they are already cooked.
When the rice is done, drain and pour out onto a serving platter (stir into the rice a 1/2 tsp of mild Louisiana hot sauce for a little color). Then take your sausage and shrimps from the skillet and place on top of the rice, pour over any remaining juices from the sausage and shrimp.
Get out your favorite hot sauces and beverage - and whew wee!

A Simple Breakfast Morning!

If you have left over bread rolls of any kind, you can make French Toast fast and simple.
I just use whatever rolls I might have left over from the week. I soak them in egg wash (about 3-4 eggs beaten til frothy) and pan fry in a blend of organic coconut oil and black walnut oil - two inches deep.
You can sprinkle powder sugar if you have or squeeze fresh lemon juice and then sprinkle organic cane sugar on top. Also, if you like, and I do, pour over your favorite syrup or jam, mmm blackberry or even homemade applesauce. I processed six quarts from the old apple tree out back.

Yes, I did write, black walnut oil.  We have a few large black walnut trees in our yard. The fruits can be a nuisance if you don't know what to do with them.

What can you do with black waluts? Make gourmet cooking oil.

The simplest way is to pick them when ripe (hulls are dark and dry). Crack open and take out nut meats.  Dice them up small

and place in a garlic press.

This however takes time if you want enough to cook with. If you want just for a salad, it is a quick and easy way. Now, if you have more time, a lot of eager helpers and some additional tools/equipment you can make more oil for yourself and friends.

Instructions:

1.      Pick Green and Dry 4 lbs. of black walnuts thoroughly. Once they have dried, wait another month before shelling them.

2.      Shell the walnuts and then grind them with a hand-cranked meat grinder or a stand mixer fitted with a coarse, meat-grinding blade.

3.      Put the ground walnut meat in a pot with a heavy bottom or a Dutch Oven. Cook over medium-low heat for a half hour, stirring constantly. Remove from the pot.

4.      Place the hot walnut meat in a press. Apply pressure until the meat stops releasing oil.

5.      Filter the oil through fine cheesecloth and then bottle it.

 If you want to see how the French do it, then watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV6s10amuHA