Monthly Archives: March 2012

Meal Preparation with a Chronic Illness

12 Monday Mar 2012

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There are days when living with a chronic illness makes it feel like you are holding things together with a very fragile spider web. (Photo taken this morning at Laguna Gloria)

With my health challenges, it can be really hard to make dinner some days, if not impossible.  Life with a chronic illness is akin to life with small kids, except on steroids.  I won’t even try to describe what life with a chronic illness was like combined with three small children who are less than three years apart in age.  Because of all of these challenges, I’ve developed many strategies to help keep healthy homemade food on our table.

One of the most important things we own is a full size freezer.  It lives in our garage, and it is an amazing help to us.  When its predecessor died a few years ago, there was no question about replacing it.  It was just a matter of seeing which store in town could get us a replacement as quickly as possible.   We keep a good supply of meat, potato products, tortillas, breads, fruits, and vegetables in there so that if getting to the store becomes a problem, we have more than enough frozen goods to keep us going for a while.  We also use it to stock up on sale items to save a little money when possible.

Equally important, we use the garage freezer to store meals that I have prepared and frozen.  When I cook meals like casseroles, soups or stews, I often make a double batch so I can freeze it.  I will freeze things both in family sized containers for full meals and in individual portions so that I have easy lunches for myself.  At times when I’m having a run of good health, our garage freezer gets rather full, but inevitably a bad spell will happen, and we will deplete the frozen food supply temporarily until I start cooking again.

In addition, the crockpot is my friend.  My energy level is at its highest early in the mornings; as the day goes by, I get more exhausted and my body becomes more painful.  Hence, if I can get a dinner started in the morning hours on days when I know I’m going to be fairly useless by dinner time, we still have a healthy meal.  During the summer, the crockpot is also a great way to make a hearty meal without standing over a hot stove or turning on the oven in the Texas heat.  I have quite a few crockpot recipes that are staples for us that I’ll be sharing as I make them.

There are still some nights when I just can’t make what I had planned earlier in the day.  I almost always have a Plan B going in the back of my mind so that if my health gives out during the day and I have to hand over meal preparation to someone else, there’s something simple and easy they can make rather than the more elaborate concoction I might have originally had in mind.  Mercifully, those days are becoming fewer as time goes by, but they do still happen.  There was a time when I was not able to do any of our meal preparation at all, and I am so glad those days are behind us now.  Cooking is one of my great pleasures in life, and I’m happy to be able to do it so often again.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Beef Chili

11 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Nut Free, Soy Free

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I am not a Texan.  I am a Yankee born and bred, but I have been in Texas for almost 20 years now which is over half my life time.  I have given birth to four Texans.  However, I am certain that the natives don’t accept me as one of their own.  I am definitely a transplant who still clings to many of her northern ways.

Take chili, for example.  I believe chili should have beans in it, though there are many in Texas who would declare that a heretical statement.  I choose to ignore them.  Where my extended family lived in the Midwest, chili is often served with pasta in it, usually elbow pasta at our house.  In other parts of the Midwest, it’s spaghetti.  Down here in Texas, when you suggest serving chili with pasta, you get some very strange looks.  One of my current family members prefers rice to pasta, so I’ll sometimes serve rice with it.  I like to dump vegetables into mine.  Last night I had zucchini in the fridge, so I sautéed it in olive oil and put some in my serving.  Other times I add defrosted frozen broccoli or eggplant or greens or whatever vegetables I’ve brought home from the farmers’ market.  Again, a heretical idea for a dish which some argue is all about meat, but tough.  It’s healthier my way.  🙂

The recipe below is a variation of the chili I ate as a child.  I make it frequently, but yet I was surprised to find I’ve never written it down.  That problem has now been rectified.  This is a double batch recipe.  I make a huge amount so we have leftovers for the next few days for lunches and/or so I can freeze some because it freezes well.  However, if you aren’t into large batch cooking, the recipe can easily be cut in half though that leaves you with half a can of tomato paste to figure out what else to use it in.

As always, I substitute with what I have on hand.  I have a hard time even following my own recipes.  I usually use green peppers, but I had some red and orange that needed to get used up, so I threw them into the batch pictured above.  I had been at Boggy Creek Farm and had some fresh green garlic, so I substituted four stems of that for the dried garlic cloves.  In the past when I haven’t had the beans I need in the pantry, I’ve been known to throw white or black beans in instead, but red and pinto are definitely my preference for this recipe.  One thing I don’t ever substitute is generic tomatoes or tomato paste.  I tried the store brand organics once, and that was a mistake I’ll never make again.  Canned tomatoes are one food item where the name brand is really a step above the rest.

Beef Chili

Olive oil for the pan (about 2-3 tablespoons)
1 large organic yellow or white onion, diced (about 2 cups)
2 organic green peppers, diced (or red or any mild pepper) (about 2 cups)
2 pounds 95% grass fed beef (bison works well, too)
6-8 cloves organic garlic, sliced into small pieces
2-15 ounce cans organic pinto beans, drained
2-15 ounce cans organic red beans, drained
1-28 ounce can Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes
1-6 ounce can Muir Glen organic tomato paste
1 cup water
2-3 tablespoons organic chili powder (depending on how spicy you like it)
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon organic black pepper

In a large soup pot, cook the onion, green peppers, beef, and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until the beef is browned.  While the beef is browning, open all the canned goods and drain the beans.  Mix the tomato paste with the water and spices—I usually use a two cup glass measuring cup so it’s easy to dump in to the pot.  Once the beef is browned, add in the beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, water, and spices.  Continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes on medium heat until the mixture is bubbly and the spices have had a chance to blend in a bit.

Makes about 4 quarts.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GF Cinnamon Berry Cake

10 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in Cakes, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegetarian

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Cinnamon Berry Cake with Organic Blueberries and Organic Strawberries

Last fall, my chiropractor had me remove almost all foods from my diet and slowly reintroduce foods one by one as we tried to pinpoint migraine sources that weren’t readily apparent.  It was a successful venture as we found things like green beans that I would never have suspected.  How many times do you hear, “Avoid green beans to limit your migraines”?  Right.  Just me.

Anyway, strawberries were one of the few foods I had not added back in yet because I was having a strange pattern of reacting to reddish fruits (including raspberries, blackberries, cherries, and watermelon).  Today I finally decided to risk the migraine and test them out because we were at Boggy Creek Farm, and they had fresh strawberries that I knew I could trust to be truly organic.  They were deliciously so worth the risk, and happily, I passed the test.  Strawberries will be able to be part of my spring diet.

To celebrate, I adapted a recipe that I made in a gluten version uncountable times in the past two years.  I have been told by someone who has tried a lot of my baked goods that I tend to be a bit perfectionist about my cooking, and it’s admittedly true.  I wasn’t going to post this recipe because it wasn’t quite up to my standards, but my boys LOVED it.  They didn’t complain it was gluten free, and they both went back for seconds.  I still plan to make another version of it with lemon instead of cinnamon, but it seems this recipe was a keeper from my boys’ viewpoint.

Cinnamon Berry Cake

Highly adapted from Smitten Kitchen

½ cup organic brown rice flour
½ cup organic tapioca starch
½ cup sorghum flour
½ cup almond meal
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
1 1/3 cups organic granulated sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) organic salted butter, softened to room temperature*
2 large organic eggs
2 teaspoons GF organic vanilla extract
1 teaspoon GF organic white vinegar
1 cup organic rice milk
2 cups fresh organic berries (any combination of raspberries, blackberries, diced strawberries, and/or blueberries works well)
2 tablespoons organic granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400F.  Oil the bottom of a 9×13” glass baking dish.  (I used organic canola oil.)

In a small mixing bowl, blend brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, almond meal, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together 1 1/3 cups sugar, butter, and eggs using a hand mixer.  Add in the flour mixture plus the vanilla extract, vinegar, and rice milk and continue blending on low speed with the hand mixer until all ingredients are blended.

Use a spatula to scoop the batter into the oiled pan and spread the batter out evenly across the pan.  Sprinkle the berries across the top of the batter.  Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar across the top of the berries.

Bake at 400F for 28-30 minutes.  Serve warm or cold—it’s delicious either way.

(This recipe can be cut in half and baked in an 8×8” pan.)

*To make this recipe dairy free, substitute organic palm shortening for the butter.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GF Lemon Chess Pie

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Gluten Free, Pies, Soy Free, Vegetarian

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Last week, my son T not so subtly said to me at the breakfast table, “I like pie.”  I asked him, “3.1415…?” He laughed and said, yes, he liked that pi, too (and he has it memorized to 28 decimal places at this point, so he really does like it), but he meant the kind of pie you eat.  I asked him what kind of pie he liked, and he said without hesitation, “Pumpkin.”  Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to making it for him last week.

Yesterday at breakfast, T once again announced, “I like pie.”  I again asked what kind he liked.  He replied, “Lemon.”  Since we had lemons on the counter that needed to get used up and I wanted to make a gluten free version of this pie so I could try it, T got his lemon pie yesterday.

This pie is intensely flavorful.  I like things like lemon cake and lemon bread, but this was too much for me.  I could only handle about two bites.  If you love lemon, then it’s for you.  All three lemon-loving males in the household love it.

When it comes to water measurements for pie crusts, I find them hopelessly useless.  I always get a small glass of water and slowly add it a tablespoon or so at a time (just dumping it in, not measuring) until I get the dough to the right consistency.  The dough should be soft enough to hold together in a ball shape but not so soft that it’s gooey.  Whatever water is left in the glass after the dough is made, I drink.  It gets more water in me which is always a good thing.

Pi to 28 decimal places as written in sidewalk chalk in front of our house

Gluten Free Lemon Chess Pie

Filling recipe barely changed from Phoo-d.com; pie crust of my own creation.

Makes 1- 9″ Pie

Filling Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups organic granulated sugar
Zest of 3 large organic lemons (about 2 tablespoons)
Juice of 3 large organic lemons (about ¾ cup)
5 large organic eggs
1/3 cup organic salted butter, melted and cooled

Crust ingredients:
5 tablespoons organic brown rice flour
5 tablespoons organic tapioca starch
5 tablespoons almond meal
5 tablespoons sorghum flour
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup organic palm shortening
1 organic egg
water

Directions:
To make the pie crust, stir together the brown rice flour, tapioca starch, almond meal, sorghum flour, xanthan gum and sea salt.  Cut the shortening into the flour using a fork until the mixture is crumbly.  Beat the egg in a small bowl and then stir into the flour mixture.  Slowly add water about a tablespoon at a time to moisten the dough.  It should form a ball but not be sticky.  Scoop the dough into a 9” pie pan and use your fingers to press it into the pan. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Place the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter in a food processor, and blend using an s-blade until combined.  Slowly add in the eggs (I use a 2 cup measuring cup to pour them in) while the food processor is running.

Pour the filling into the pie shell.  Carefully transfer the pie into the oven to avoid any spills.  Bake until the filling begins to brown, about 45 minutes.

Cool the pie and serve.  We prefer to refrigerate ours before eating.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

T’s Favorite Potato Salad (GFDF)

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian

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My oldest son (T) loves potato salad, especially this recipe which is one that I’ve created over the years.  He craves it.  Once the craving gets into his system, he pesters me mercilessly until I make it for him, although now that he’s old enough, I make him help with all of the washing and chopping.  We make a huge batch of it, and he’ll eat it for any meal of the day plus snacks until it’s gone.  I made a smaller batch once, and he complained it wasn’t enough.  I do like this potato salad, but I’m not quite as addicted to it as T is.

I like my mayonnaise to mustard ratio higher than T does.  He would probably prefer it if I reversed the amounts of mayo and mustard in this.  When I know I’m not going to be eating it, I will double or triple the mustard amount to make him happier.  Given that I used to eat mustard sandwiches as a child (mustard spread between two pieces of white bread– a thought that makes my stomach turn as an adult!), I can’t really blame him for his mustard addiction, either.

T would probably prefer I put crumbled bacon in this as well, but bacon is a special treat around our household since just cooking it often gives me a migraine.  Eating bacon is out of the question for me.

This is a great recipe for the upcoming months when potatoes, green onions, peppers, and dill are readily available at local farmers’ markets in Austin.  I substituted orange and red peppers in this batch because I wanted more color.  But generally speaking, I will use whatever peppers I have fresh and on hand.

T’s Favorite Potato Salad

~4 pounds of organic small red potatoes (Yukon Gold work well, too)
3 stalks of organic celery, sliced thin (about 1 cup)
2-3 organic green onions (about ½ cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh organic dill (do not substitute dried)
1 medium organic green pepper, finely diced (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons prepared organic yellow mustard
2-3 teaspoons sea salt
½ teaspoon organic black pepper
1 cup organic mayonnaise*
6 hard-boiled organic eggs, diced*

Wash and trim the potatoes, leaving the skins on as much as possible.  Place in a large oven proof pot with a lid, and add about 1 cup of water to the bottom to help steam them.  Bake covered for about 45 minutes at 400F, checking to make sure they are fully baked.  If not, bake for longer.  (I will often bake all of a 5 pound bag and then use the remaining potatoes for other recipes or to feed plain to my child who doesn’t like potato salad.) Take potatoes out of the pot and allow to cool.

While the potatoes are cooking and cooling, prepare the rest of the vegetables including the dill.  Once the potatoes are cool, mix together all of the vegetables with the potatoes.  Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, top with the mayonnaise and mustard, and stir well.  Add in the eggs, and gently stir one final time.

Makes an absurdly large amount of potato salad.

*To make this recipe vegan friendly, use a mayo substitute like Vegenaise and omit the hard-boiled eggs.  I will often forget to make eggs and so we will eat it eggless, though my kids prefer it with eggs.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Coconut Macaroons

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Cookies, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegetarian

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Merry 6th of March, y’all.  Yes, that is a Christmas serving dish.

Because of my health, I can’t host parties the way I used to.  I miss it a lot, but it’s something I know will change with time as my health continues to improve.  I have several serving dishes, especially Christmas ones, that my kids have never seen since we’ve never had a party at our house in their memories.

So last weekend, my kids and I were out at garage sales when we started discussing serving trays.  I told them I had a cookie server that had multiple layers, and they wanted to see it.  Today I finally figured out which cabinet it was in and pulled it out while these macaroons were in the oven.  I’m 99% certain I have another cookie serving tray just like this one but in my everyday pattern instead of the coordinating Christmas one.  However, it is probably in the back of a very deep cabinet, and that would have involved getting out a step stool and I just wasn’t willing to make the effort.  So the Christmas cookie serving tray came out to both show the kids what it looked like and to serve as the display for this photo.

And that’s pretty much how things roll around here.  If it’s easier to use a Christmas dish in March than find a plain one, we’ll celebrate Christmas again for a few hours.  At least we got the Christmas tree and the stockings taken down before February this year!

Everyone in the family loves this recipe, including my child with oral sensory issues who doesn’t eat a large percentage of the baked goods I make.  That amazes me because as a child, I thought coconut was a food that only grown ups liked.  I could not see the appeal.  I’m also not a big macaroon fan, but I think that’s because I’ve had so many macaroons that just taste like sugary egg whites.  These macaroons are sweet bits of coconut heaven.  They go really fast around here.

GFDF Coconut Macaroons

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

  • 2 2/3 cups unsweetened flaked organic coconut
  • 2/3 cup organic sugar
  • 1 T organic brown rice flour
  • 1 T organic tapioca starch
  • 1 T sorghum flour
  • 1 T almond meal
  • 1/8 t xanthan gum
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 4 organic egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, combine the coconut, sugar, flours, xanthan gum and salt. Stir in egg whites and vanilla; mix well.
  2. Form into 1 inch balls and place onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cool.

Makes about 20 macaroons

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Dill Burgers

05 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Nut Free, Soy Free

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A dill burger on a bed of organic lettuce from my massage therapist's garden served with a slice of an organic heirloom tomato

We eat burgers a lot because they are one of the few items that everyone in the house will eat.  They’re quick and easy and versatile in terms of accommodating different food sensitivities, too.  When dill burgers are on the menu, I usually make one pound of dill burgers and one pound of plain burgers since only four of our five family members eat the dill burgers.  That makes eight quarter pound burgers which sometimes all get eaten in one meal depending on how starving the kids are and how many sides we have.  Otherwise they take leftovers for lunch at school the next day.

I haven’t found a gluten free bun that I’m in love with, and I haven’t mastered a recipe of my own.  I just do lettuce wraps, as pictured above.  My family usually eats the Rudi’s organic whole wheat hamburger buns.

Dill Burgers

1 pound grass fed ground beef (I use 90% or 95%)
2 tablespoons organic Dijon mustard
1 organic green onion, minced
2 tablespoons fresh organic dill (do not substitute dried)
1/4 teaspoon organic black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 slices of organic cheese (cheddar, jack or swiss) (optional)

Mix all the ingredients but cheese.  Divide into four patties.  Broil, fry, or grill the way you normally would cook burgers.  We usually broil them in the oven, and we prefer our burgers well done.  I cook them for six minutes on one side, flip, cook for another six minutes, add cheese to any burgers that need them, and cook for another 45 seconds (12:45 total cooking time).

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

Gluten Free Cornbread Muffins

04 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Breads, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegetarian

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I gave up trying to get a picture without crumbs around the muffins. They dropped crumbs on the plate every time I made adjustments. This is just the way it is.

I am pretty fussy about my cornbread.  I don’t like it to be overly sweet which I feel like most recipes are.  Hence, has taken me quite a while to get a recipe that works well for me.  The rest of my family will happily eat these, too, even if they are gluten free.  They taste better made with butter (doesn’t everything?), but if you are dairy free, substitute shortening, canola oil or coconut oil and they will come out fine.

The original recipe calls for using paper muffin cup liners.  I hate them.  I feel like they are an environmental waste and that oiling a pan is just as good in most recipes.  I have only one recipe (nectarine cupcakes—they’ll show up on the blog next summer when stone fruits are in season) where I have to use them because the cupcakes fall apart too much if I don’t.  I also react to the cupcake liners when they are in the oven.  They give off something toxic when heated.  I don’t really want to add toxins to my food when I’m going out of my way to make sure it’s organic!

GF Cornbread Muffins

Adapted from The Food Network 

1 cup organic yellow corn meal
¼ cup organic millet flour
¼ cup organic brown rice flour
¼ cup organic tapioca starch
¼ cup sorghum flour
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1.5 Tablespoons baking powder
¼ c organic granulated sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup organic coconut milk (full fat)
2 large organic eggs
¼ cup organic butter, melted*
¼ cup local honey

Preheat oven to 400F.  Oil 12 muffin cups with canola oil or the oil of your choice.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the coconut milk, eggs, butter, and honey.  In a large bowl, mix together corn meal, millet flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and stir well.  Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.  Bake for 15 minutes at 400F.

*If making this dairy free, substitute coconut oil, canola oil, or palm shortening.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

About Flours and Sugars

03 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in General Ramblings, Gluten Free

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From left to right, the canisters contain whole spelt flour, all purpose flour, my gluten free millet flour blend, evaporated cane juice, my gluten free almond meal blend, and whole wheat pastry flour. The one with Sucanat is to the right out of the photo.

When I first tried to bake gluten free over a decade ago, it was a dismal failure.  I was using a cookbook that only called for brown rice flour with the occasional potato starch added in.  The recipes were terrible.  So I gave up.

Ten years later and with a far more developed internet, gluten free recipes abound.  I started trying other people’s recipes, and I was rapidly able to figure out what worked and what didn’t.  I tend to go for the “simpler is better” approach to life, but when it comes to flours and gluten free baking, more is better.  The texture and taste of gluten free baked goods are greatly improved by having a mixture of different flours.

I have two basic flour blends that I use a lot.  The first blend is almond meal, sorghum flour, organic brown rice flour, and organic tapioca starch, all in equal proportions to each other.  The second is sorghum flour, organic millet flour, organic brown rice flour, and organic tapioca starch, again in equal proportions.  I add ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum to each cup of gluten free flour that I use.  Because I bake so often and in such quantities, I have canisters with these flour mixtures on my counter so that all I have to do is scoop out as much as I need. It saves time for me.  When you read a recipe that calls for ¾ cup of four different flours, I’m actually just scooping three cups out of my canister.

In my pantry at this time, these are the gluten free flours and other mainstays that I use:

  • By Bob’s Red Mill:  Almond meal, organic coconut flour, sorghum flour, gluten free rolled oats, xanthan gum (all purchased at Whole Foods)
  • By Arrowhead Mills:  Organic yellow corn meal, organic brown rice flour, organic white rice flour, gluten free steel cut oats (all purchased at Whole Foods) and organic millet flour (purchased from Amazon)
  • By Let’s Do Organic:  Organic tapioca starch and organic cornstarch (both purchased from Amazon)

I grind my own flax meal using a coffee bean grinder (never used on coffee) and organic flax seeds.  I started doing this an eternity ago and just haven’t stopped.  I was also grinding my own organic millet flour until I found it at Amazon.  I eventually want to be able to grind all my own flours, but I’m not there yet.  It consumes time and energy that I just don’t have right now.

When I am baking with gluten, I often use organic whole spelt flour.  I preferred the taste of it to whole wheat when I was still eating gluten and found it often baked better.  At other times, I will use organic whole wheat pastry flour or organic all purpose wheat flour.  All of these come from the bulk bins at Whole Foods.

As far as sweeteners go, I will often use organic Sucanat (purchased at Whole Foods in bulk or in packages) which adds a rich flavor that helps compensate for the blander taste of gluten free flours when compared to wheat or spelt.  I also use Wholesome Sweeteners organic evaporated cane juice (aka sugar) which we buy in a huge size bag from Costco (as if Costco would sell anything besides huge size).  I use the Wholesome Sweeteners brand of organic powdered sugar because the 365 brand clumps too badly, and I’ve had to resort to running it through the Cuisinart which is effort I’d rather not expend.  For brown sugar, I use the 365 brand organic light brown sugar.

The canisters pictured above are on my kitchen counter.  The are available at The Container Store.  They are only aluminum and glass so that I didn’t have to worry about outgassing vinyl or rubber, plus I liked how snugly they line up on the kitchen counter.  However, the lids can be a real pain to get threaded correctly at times.  My kitchen counter doesn’t normally look that great:  There’s usually a stack of recipes, a bunch of supplements, bulk items that haven’t been transferred into storage containers, and my purse all piled in front of the canisters.  However, I like how much nicer it looks when I clean it up for photos!

©NaturallyElizabeth.com

GFDF Chicken Vegetable Soup

02 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Crockpot, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soups, Soy Free

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(While it’s a gorgeous 82F outside as I post this, winter will be back to Central Texas tonight with a colder and windy day forecast for tomorrow.  Soup season isn’t totally done around here!)

Like many parents, I struggle to get vegetables in my family.  I may serve the vegetables, but they don’t usually like them.  This is one of the exceptions to the rule.  My boys willingly eat vegetables in the form of soup.

This is a recipe I have been making forever and came up with through trial and error.  It comes out slightly differently each time I make it because I throw in whatever I have around.  I often put in zucchini or yellow squash.  This could easily be cut in half if you aren’t cooking for an army.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

organic canola oil
2 organic peppers, diced  (green, red, yellow orange– whatever is available) (about 2.5 cups)
6-8 stalks organic celery, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1 large organic white onion, diced (about 2 cups)
8 medium organic carrots, peeled, sliced and diced (about 3 cups)
1 organic jalapeno with seeds, minced (optional but recommended for cleaning out the sinuses!)
5 medium organic potatoes, peeled and diced (about 4 cups)
1 large organic sweet potato, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
2 lbs organic boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat but still whole
9 cups Mountain Valley spring water
1T organic garlic powder (or 6-8 cloves of garlic added with the onions)
2T sea salt
½ t organic black pepper
1 t organic dried rosemary
1 t organic dried thyme
1 t organic dried marjoram
2 packed cups of chopped fresh organic spinach

Coat  the bottom of an extra large pot with canola oil—I use a 7 quart Dutch oven.  Lightly sauté the peppers, celery, onion, carrots, and jalapeno over medium heat for a few minutes until the onions are beginning to become translucent.  Add the chicken, potatoes, sweet potato, water, garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram.  Raise the temperature to high and bring to a boil.  Reduce to medium.  Continue cooking until the chicken breasts are done and the potatoes are starting to fall apart.  (I cook on an electric cooktop that takes longer than other stoves, so it is about 45-60 minutes on mine depending on the day and how frozen the chicken still is when I put it in the pot, but that’s just a guesstimate).  Remove the chicken breasts from the soup, allow to cool for a few minutes, and dice.*  Return the chicken to the pot along with the spinach.  Allow to cook for a few more minutes to allow the spinach to soften.

This soup will freeze but because of the potatoes in it, it doesn’t freeze well.

A half-batch version of this recipe also works well in the crockpot.  I lightly sauté the onions and then add all the ingredients except the spinach to the crockpot.  I cook on low for 8-10 hours in my 17 year old crockpot that cooks slower than new ones.  I throw in the spinach about an hour before serving.

*I abhor dealing with raw meat, so I choose to dice the chicken after it’s cooked.  You could also dice it raw and then not have to do this step.

©NaturallyElizabeth.com