Honey-Baked Chicken

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Erin

Last summer, during our cookbook tour of Nourishing Traditions, I made this recipe which was divine. This dish made me think of the country-cousin to that recipe–a little less refined, less fussy, and more humble. Still, it was delicious. It wasn’t divine, but it was delicious. And it was easy.

I made very few changes to the original recipe. I used grapeseed oil instead of margarine. It would also be delicious with coconut oil, butter, or plain ol’ olive oil.

My oven also tends to run a little hot, so I ended up cooking it for about an hour, a little shy of the recommended hour and 15 minutes. As you can see from the photo, it was beginning to burn.

We served ours up with some rice and steamed broccoli. All tummies at the table were well-pleased and you can bet we’ll be visiting this dish again in our house.

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Honey-Baked Chicken

Source: More with Less by Doris Janzen Longacre

Ingredients

3 lbs organic chicken pieces
⅓ cup grapeseed oil or other preferred fat
⅓ cup honey
2 Tbs prepared mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder

Method

For instructions, see page 180 in More with Less by Doris Janzen Longacre **

** While it’s technically legal to repost recipes, we don’t feel it’s ethical to post copyrighted recipes from the same source for weeks at a time. I’m providing the ingredient list to use in creating a shopping list. We here at the Plan to Eat blog apologize for any inconvenience. If you don’t already own the cookbook, and don’t wish to buy it, most libraries have a copy on their shelves. Thanks for your understanding

Chickpea and Spinach Curry

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Erin

Whenever I’m looking for new allergen-friendly recipes, I like to search for vegan cookbooks. The recipes are guaranteed to be dairy and egg-free, and many of them will be gluten-free. It gets me a good bit of the way to a doable dish, and the rest I can usually adapt. It’s also an easy thing to add meat back in, if we’re feeling carnivorous.

This is from one of my favorite vegan authors, Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Her recipes are tasty and delicious and uncomplicated.

This dish is in constant rotation in our house. I can almost always pull it together (or a close-enough approximation) from what’s in my pantry. You can substitute other veggies (Green beans are good. So is cauliflower, or zucchini.) If we’re feeling like we need the extra protein, I top the bowls with half of a hard-boiled egg.

I typically use crushed or stewed tomatoes, instead of chopping up whole ones. It just shaves a bit off of the prep-time. Likewise, you could replace the fresh spinach with frozen, chopped spinach, but it really does taste better with fresh spinach.

I’ve made this in the crock pot a few times when my schedule needed me to. It was fine, but I do prefer the flavor from the stove top. The spices are more pronounced and it’s much more flavorful.

The asafoetida powder is optional here because you probably can’t find it at your corner grocer. You’ll find it at your local ethnic market though, and it’ll boost the flavor and authenticity of the dish. It also goes by the name Hing Powder.

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Chickpea and Spinach Curry

Source: Vegan with a Vengeance, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Ingredients

12 ozs can whole tomatoes in juice
3 tbsps oil
2 tsps black mustard seeds
1 organic oniondiced
4 cloves garlicminced
2 tbsps fresh gingerminced
3 tsps curry powder
2 tsps ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp asafoetida(optional)
3 cardamom pods
1 tsp salt
10 cups fresh organic spinachrinsed and chopped
4 cups chickpeascooked and drained

Method

prepare the tomatoes by removing them from the can, squeezing out the juice, and tearing them into bite size pieces. Place the prepared tomatoes in a bowl and reserve the juice in the can.
Preheat a medium saucepan over moderate heat; pour in the oil and then the mustard seeds. Let the seeds pop for about a minute, then add the onion; turn up the heat to medium-high and saute for 7-10 minutes, until the onion begins to brown. Add garlic and ginger and saute 2 more minutes. Add spices, salt and 1/4 cup of the reserved tomato juic; saute one minute more. Add tomatoes and heat through. Add handfuls of spinach, mixing each addition until wilted. When all the spinach has completely wilted and the mixture is liquid-y, add the chickpeas. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste, and adjust the spices if necessary. Simmer uncovered for about 10 more minutes, or until a thick, stewlike consistency is achieved.

Spiced Tea

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Erin

Maybe it seems odd to be posting a tea recipe here on allergen-friendly Monday. I once thought that all tea was free from major allergens. Alas, it isn’t so. Most commercial teabags have soy lecithin added. Some varieties include gluten (in the form of barley). It seems that not even the simplest concoction of herbs and spices is exempt from allergens.

Not only that, but if you deal with any digestive upset (and if you have food intolerances, I’m betting you do) hot tea made with just the right spices can be a tonic to your sensitive GI tract.

What are the right spices? Well, these ones.

Ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, and fennel all bring to the table their own contributions to good digestion. I’ve linked each of those spices to more information regarding how each one aids the digestive process. If you’re interested, spend some time reading about the fascinating world of spices and how they can stimulate different helpful reactions.

Apart from the health benefits, this tea is super-simple to prepare and it tastes great. It tastes a lot like chai. I like to make a double batch and keep it in a big mason jar in the fridge. I warm up a mug at a time, drop in a generous spoonful of honey, and sip away almost every evening. And yes, I totally notice that it soothes and calms my upset tummy.

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Spiced Tea

Source: Healing Foods by Sandra Ramacher

Ingredients

2 Tbs fresh ginger, roughly chopped
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp cardamom seeds, crushed
2 tsp fennel seeds, whole
5 cups water
honey to taste

Method

Place everything, except the honey, into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the tea. Serve hot, sweetened to taste with honey.

Tangerine Beef Stir Fry

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Erin

We eat out very rarely. But if it’s a special occasion, or if someone’s parents are in town and treating us all to dinner, the Sweetie Pie really likes to go to a local Chinese place. He always spends lots of time reading the menu, wavering between this dish or that one, and then–every single time–he ends up ordering the orange beef. He saw this recipe when the magazine came in the mail and he said, “Ooh, yum!” What else could I do? The dish had to be made.

I made quite a few ingredient changes. First, I used tangelos instead of tangerines. Whenever I’m using citrus zest in a dish, I prefer that it be organic. I couldn’t find organic tangerines, so I chose tangelos instead. I think this may have worked out better anyway, because the quantity of juice in a tangelo is much more than in a tangerine. Less reaming=happy mama.

Some of my substitutions were a matter of preference (using honey instead of sugar; reducing the quantity of scallions and red-pepper, to make it more child-friendly).

Other substitutions were allergen related. I can’t have corn, so I always use potato starch in place of corn starch. You could also use tapioca starch, or arrowroot powder, or any other thickener that suits your diet.

I substituted coconut aminos for the soy sauce. I’ve written before about the various things I use in place of soy sauce. Either of them would be appropriate here, but I chose the coconut aminos because I thought the sweetness would go well with the tangerine flavor.

Finally, a reminder to check your vinegar for this recipe. If you’re gluten-intolerant, vinegar is a sneaky source of potential gluten. Only buy vinegar that is certified gluten-free.

I recommend serving this up with a substantial green veggie. I used steamed broccoli, which was great. You could also use steamed snow peas or snap peas.

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Tangerine Beef Stir Fry

Source: Everyday Foods

Ingredients

3 pound organic beef sirloin, sliced very thinly against the grain
1 bunch scallions
6 Tbs fresh ginger, minced
¹⁄₂ tsp red pepper flakes
4 wide strips tangerine zest
6 Tbs fresh tangerine juice
2 Tbs potato or tapioca starch
¹⁄₂ tsp coarse salt
2 Tbs soy-less sauce
2 Tbs rice vinegargluten free
4 tsp honey or agave
4 Tbs cooking oil
rice, for serving

Method

Thinly slice two of the scallions. Cut the remaining scallions into thirds, discarding the white part.
In a bowl, combine the beef, thinly sliced scallion, ginger, zest, potato starch, and salt; toss to coat. In a separate bowl, combine juice, soy-less sauce, vinegar, honey, and 2 Tbs water.
Heat a large wok or skillet over high heat until hot. Add oil and swirl to coat. Add beef mixture and remaining scallions and cook, stirring constantly, until beef is browned, about 5 minutes. Add tangerine-juice mixture; cook, stirring, until sauce is bubbling and slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Serve over rice.

Cinnamon Thyme Chicken

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Erin

This recipe made a quick and delicious weeknight dinner. It’s just a simple marinade recipe, no fancy techniques, but the combination of herbs and spices was so unique that I had to give it a try. I’m so glad I did. I think this one is going to be revisited again.

I used the recipe’s suggestion of chicken thighs, but you could use any chicken pieces. You could probably pull it off with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but pieces that have the bones in and the skins on are going to give you the most flavor.

I’m a little suspicious about the quantity of oil in the recipe. I tried grilling these on my stove-top cast iron griddle and it made such a mess that I put them back into the marinade and roasted them in the oven. I liked the results this gave me, so will probably just use this method in the future. To cook them in the oven, just pop your baking dish in the oven, marinade and all and bake for about 30-45 minutes. The marinade doesn’t completely cover the chicken so the skin still gets nice and brown on top while the marinade keeps it juicy and tender.

If you want to grill them, I highly suggest either significantly reducing the amount of oil, or using an outdoor grill with a cover. I’m also suspicious of the grilling time; it seems awfully long to me. Since I didn’t grill them I can’t say one way or another, but I’d keep a close eye on them and check for doneness much sooner than 35 minutes.

Serve them up with rice and a green veggie.

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Cinnamon Thyme Chicken

Source: Havest Eating, by Keith Snow

Ingredients

2 Tbs fresh thyme minced (or 1 Tbs dried thyme)
1 Tbs ground coriander
2 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
sea salt and pepper
¹⁄₂ cup olive oil
5 organic chicken thighs bone-in skin-on

Method

Make a paste by combining herbs and spices with oil. Stir until smooth.
Pour the paste over the chicken in the bowl and mix well. Marinate the chicken in the mixture in a baking dish at least 30 minutes, or longer.
Cook either by oven roasting or grilling.

To oven roast: Leave chicken in the marinade in the baking dish. Cook at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until done through.

To grill: Grill the chicken over medium heat until fully cooked, approx. 35 (?) minutes