Emily's gumbo (one pot dish)

Emily gumbo (one pot dish)

1 1/2 c celery chopped
1 1/2 c bell pepper chopped
2 c onion chopped
these 3 ingredients are called the holy trinity in the south a must have in many dishes.
1/4 c garlic minced
1 c green onions (optional)
1 lb okra sliced
1/4 c parsley(optional)
1 chicken breast
1 lb sausage (optional)
2T chicken broth (or more to taste)
3C water (may need to add more if it starts to get to dry)
creole seasoning to taste (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
 Tabasco sauce to taste
 oil
directions:
get a pot with a heavy bottom and  to cook in.  start with cooking the chicken cook the chicken whole with some oil in the pot and a lid on top, while it is cooking cut up first 3 ingredients.
after a few minutes turn chicken over and cook other side.  When chicken is done set aside and let is cool so you can cut it up (you can cook chicken how ever you want this way is just to keep it a one pot meal).
when the chicken is out add a little bit more oil and then the first 3 ingredients let them cook till onion is clear.
then add garlic and okra
*okra cooks best when put into a hot pan so make sure the pan is nice and hot or you will get really slimy okra, the taste is the same, just less slime when put into a hot pan.

once all the veggies are cooked add meat chicken broth, and other seasonings.  At this point it could be ready or you could let it sit and simmer an hour or so to let the taste set in even more.
serve with rice or if you add a bit more water it could be a soup.

We also eat it with corn bread:
1 c flour
1 c cornmeal
1T b. powder
1/4 c sugar
3/4 t salt
1 c milk
1 egg
 1/4 c oil
mix dry ingredients then wet then mix together put in a greased  brownie pan, the kind smaller then an 9x13. Bake 400 for 20 min, until lightly brown,
tastes yummy with honey butter: 1/4c soft butter 1/2c honey mix and spread.

pita bread

 *notes
 when rolling your the pita balls make sure not to make them too thin, or they will not have the pocket, they will still be good just have no pockets.  also follow the directions well do not skip steps and they should turn out amazing, mine did.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast, or quick rising yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Preparation:

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine flour and salt in large bowl.

Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour yeast water in depression.

Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic.

Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it has been successfully kneaded.

Coat large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated.

Allow to sit in a warm place for about 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Once doubled, roll out in a rope, and pinch off 10-12 small pieces. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 500 deg F. and make sure rack is at the very bottom of oven. Be sure to also preheat your baking sheet.

Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.

Bake each circle for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up. Turn over and bake for 2 minutes.

Remove each pita with a spatula from the baking sheet and add additional pitas for baking.

Take spatula and gently push down puff. Immediately place in storage bags.

Storing Pita Bread

Pita bread can be stored for up to a week in a pantry or bread box, and up to a month in the freezer. Be sure to use freezer bags when storing in the freezer.
I got this recipe here.

I get a lot of people asking for my scrumptious salad recipe I've made for different things, so I am going to post it below. It is definitely yummy and easy to make. Make sure to add the dressing slowly because it usually doesn't need all of it- depending on the the amount of lettuce and your taste preferences.

Scrumptious Salad

Favorite Bag O’ Salad (We like Romaine or Spinach or both)

¾ Cup Craisins

1 Cup Almond Slivers

¼ Cup Sugar

Dressing Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. Sugar or Honey

1 tsp. Salt

¼ Cup Salad Oil

2 Tbsp. Vinegar

Mix up Dressing Ingredients, shake,  and refrigerate.  I  shake it whenever I get into the fridge.  For sugar to dissolve this should be done at least an hour before serving.

Sugar Covered  Almonds:

Place a piece of tinfoil down next to stove to pour the sugar covered almonds on immediately after cooking. Heat frying pan on high to medium high.  Pour Almond Slivers on hot frying pan to roast Almond slivers. This requires babysitting the entire time, use spatula to toss and turn for light browning on the edges. Dump ¼ cup sugar over the Almonds and continue to use spatula to help coat the almonds in the sugar.  You will see the sugar melt instantly and cling to the almonds. Pull off as soon as sugar is melted and clinging.  Pour onto the tinfoil and use spatula to help break up almond clusters. This will be immensely hot, let cool before popping

some in your mouth. I usually make several batches and then store in fridge for next time or for sheer pleasure.

Before Dinner,  Place Lettuce in bowl, coat with well mixed Salad dressing, (for a small bag – don’t use all salad dressing.)  Add portion of craisins and almonds. Stir. Cover top with remaining craisins and almonds.  Serve.

**Not good left over, the dressing dissolves the sugar in the almonds and wilts the lettuce, so make just enough to eat up.

Frosted Zucchini Brownies

Frosted Zucchini Brownies

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups zucchini (shredded)

--Chocolate Frosting--

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
 a few tablespoons of milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
for the brownies add dry ingredients mix and set aside, add oil sugar , and vanilla and mix then slowly add dry mixture, then fold in the zucchini and put in a greased and floured 9x13 sheet, this will be very crumbly and dry (the zucchini adds the moisture as it cooks) so just kind of smoosh the batter into the pan evenly.
bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, then let it cool as you make the frosting.

to make the frosting add all ingredients together EXCEPT milk, then a little at a time add milk the more you add the thinner the frosting.  If you want it to have the lemon flavor like it did last night then add a few drops of lemon extract to the frosting then keep mixing it up.
once brownies have cooled then you can frost them. WARNING:  THE BROWNIES ARE NOT YUMMY FRESH OUT OF THE OVEN, THEY STILL NEED SOME TIME TO LET THE ZUCCHINIS GIVE OFF ENOUGH MOISTURE FOR THE BROWNIES TO BE GOOD BUT IF YOU LET THEM SIT A FEW HOURS THEN THEY ARE YUMMY. I only warn you because the first time I made them I had one right after they came out and I was so sad that they where so dry and not yummy at all, but like 1 hour later I let Joe try them telling him they where not that good and he said they where great I tried them again and they where yummy, weird but true.

Zucchini lasagna

I made this for dinner and LOVED IT!  I got my lasagna fill without the carbs. So I did not follow a recipe I just made my lasagna same as normal (how ever you like to make yours) all you do is instead of adding noodles slice a zucchini to look like lasagna noodles and put them in place of the noodles, cook as normal and enjoy with much less guilt.

Cauli pizza and now zucchi pizza

cauli pizza

I found that you can also replace the cauliflower with zucchini and/or yellow squash just use about the same amount of zucchini as you would cauliflower and do everything else the  same.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza (adapted from here)

• 1 recipe of Cauli-Rice 
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella (I used part skimmed)
• 1/2 tsp fennel seed 
• 1 TBS. Italian seasoning 
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Toppings of your choice, tomato, pesto or Alfredo sauce, cheese, precooked meats* & precooked veggies*
Preheat oven to 450F.  Line a baking sheet with either a Silpat or parchment paper.
Place the cooked Cauli-Rice into a tea towel and squeeze all the water out of the Cauli-Rice.  It is important to get the rice as dry as possible so that there won’t be extra moisture in the crust which will prevent it from crisping up properly.
In a medium bowl combine the dry Cauli-Rice, egg, 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper and mix to combine well.  Press the cauliflower mixture into an even thickness on the prepared pan, either into a round or rectangular shaped pizza.  I kept the crust pretty thin, about 1/4-inch thick.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until the crust is firm and golden brown.  Remove the pan from the oven and turn off the oven and turn on the broiler and move the rack to up close to the broiler. Top the cooked crust with sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice.  Place under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and melted
Enjoy!
* Meats and veggies need to be cooked before placing them on the pizza as after the crust is baked, the pizza is only under the broiler to melt the cheese, not long enough to properly cook meats and veggies.


*Cauli-Rice

• 1 head fresh Cauliflower

Remove the leaves and hard center core of the cauliflower.  Cut into florets.  Wash and then allow the cauliflower to dry completely.  (You want the cauliflower completely dry and you will NOT be adding any water when cooking, this helps to cut down on the boiled cauliflower taste and smell.)  Once dry, fill the bowl of a food processor about half full and using the chopping blade and the pulse action, process the cauliflower until it looks like the size of grains of rice.  Add the processed cauliflower to a microwave safe bowl and repeat with the remaining cauliflower.  Once all the Cauliflower has been processed and added to the microwave safe bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or a lid.  Microwave on high for 7 minutes.  Remove from the microwave and fluff up the Cauli-Rice with a fork and if desired add a pat of butter, salt & pepper.

I found the basic recipe here

Farro Flour Tortillas finally found a tortilla recipe

I have been looking for years for a tortilla recipe and I think I found it, but a few things I want to mention are first I just used all white flour and it worked fine, farro is just a special type of wheat I am sure it is good I just did not have any when I made it, finally one way to get your tortillas to be softer: right after you cook each tortilla take it off the skillet, spray it with a mist from a spray bottle, like 1 spray on each side, then place it in a covered container i.e. a big container with a lid, I just used a plastic bag and fold it over to keep the air out, and stack each tortilla on top of the last in that same container, they stay soft that way.

Ingredients

4 cups fresh ground Farro
1 cup white flour
2/3 cup shortening or butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups warm buttermilk
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 T. smoked paprika

Directions

Cut shortening into flour, salt, baking powder, and paprika in the Bosch bowl using the cookie beaters. Change to dough hook and add the buttermilk until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 3 minutes. Divide into small balls. Roll out and cook in a tortilla press or cast iron skillet.
I found this recipe from here his web sight looks like a place I will visit again.