Cherries!!! Cherry Almond Muffins for Breakfast and Glazed Cherry Pork Chops for Dinner

I was excited to find fresh cherries in my Bountiful Basket this week! First, because my mom had sent me a recipe for Cherry Almond Muffins. Second, because cherries are anti-inflammatory and there are some studies that suggest that eating cherries can help relieve arthritis symptoms.

I haven’t talked about it yet… But, one of the reasons I haven’t been updating this blog much is due to some health issues. In February of this year things went downhill fast. I hadn’t been feeling great for some time before that. But… I wrote it off as stress. Too much work. Too little sleep. A lot of personal stuff going on… You know. Life. But, in February, my body started screaming at me that this was something more than just a bit of stress. All of the joints on the left side of my body started aching. The fingers on my left hand were twisted painfully and refused to relax. My hip and knee (left leg only) would occasionally give out and refuse to support me. I had a couple of falls and found it difficult to walk. Sometimes I found it difficult to even get out of bed. Yeah. My body was screaming for attention.

So far, I’ve seen several primary care docs, 2 neurologists, a rheumatologist, a GI doc, an OB/Gyn, a podiatrist, and an eye doctor. I’ve been diagnosed with advanced osteoarthritis in my spine and a case of iritis. I’ve been through a bunch of tests… ruling out several possible issues… but mostly just leaving more questions than answers.

So, instead of relying on help from doctors, I’m focusing on nutrition and seeing a Rolfer. I’ve had more improvement from this course of action than in four months of seeking help from doctors.

Cherries for Dinner: Cherry Glazed Pork Chops

I started looking around the internet searching for inspiration to use cherries in a savory application. I was extremely excited to find this recipe for Cherry Glazed Pork Chops. First of all, it was already naturally gluten-free. Second, it just looked really good. I only made some minor changes based on just what I had on hand. I had some beautiful bone-in pork loin chops fr0m the Meat Shop so I used those instead of boneless. I used marsala instead of port. I used yellow onions instead of shallots. I used red wine vinegar rather than balsamic. And… it was very, very good. I would like to try the recipe as written in the future, though… just to compare. And because cherries and pork are insanely good.

Since I already had the cherry pitter out… I went ahead and pitted extra cherries so I could make my mom’s Cherry Almond Muffins.

Cherry Almond Muffins

Use your handy-dandy cherry pitter to pit about a cup or so of cherries (I used about 2 cups of cherries)

Whisk together the dry ingredients:

• 385 grams Better Batter flour – remove about 1/3 C and add to the cherries. Toss to coat the cherries. Set the cherries aside.
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cream together in a stand mixer:

• 8 T butter, softened
• 1 1/2 Cups sugar (or equivalent amount of your preferred sweetener)

Add one at a time, incorporating fully after each addition:

• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 Cups sour cream

Then, add in the dry ingredients. I did this in about 3 additions, just to keep flour from flying all over my kitchen.

Gently fold in the cherries that have been tossed in 1/3 C flour.

Line a muffin pan with muffin cups and fill about 2/3 C full with batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

This made 24 small muffins for me. (My mom said it would make 12. Her muffin pan is probably bigger than mine : )

You can cool these on a wire rack and then enjoy warm – fresh out of the oven… or wrap and refrigerate or freeze. Gently warm the muffins before serving.

Enjoy!

Cooking Through The Decades: Cook Like It’s 1917

Jump ahead twelve years from the last Cooking Through the Decades project to 1917. I really don’t know much about 1917 except that it was the year the United States entered World War I.

Apparently Chicken a la King had been around for some time in the year 1917. The great people at America’s Test Kitchen spruced up the recipe for today’s cooks. And, because it’s what I do, I’ll make their recipe gluten-free.

Since they suggest serving this creamy chicken concoction over toasted supermarket Italian bread, my first step in making this dish gluten-free was to bake up a loaf of bread. You could also serve this over mashed potatoes, rice, or noodles. For a low-carb version, I would make up some cauli-rice or faux-tatoes… perhaps even serve with toasted almond bread. The recipe itself only contains 3 Tablespoons of flour, so this makes it pretty easy to make into a gluten-free or low-carb dish. In order to stick to the recipe as closely as possible, I decided to save de-carbing the dish for another time.

I had to watch over this bread closely as it cooled… Both of my kids were eyeing it like they hadn’t eaten in weeks! It didn’t help that the whole house smelled like fresh-baked bread.

Need a gluten-free bread recipe? Try this one or this one.

Back to Chicken a la King – As a first step, the chicken is marinated in heavy cream, lemon juice, and salt for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Prepping the veggies is next. Dice an onion, thinly slice mushrooms and red bell peppers. Bring oil to temperature in a large skillet and then cook the onion until golden. Add the red bell and mushrooms, some salt and pepper, and cook until the veggies have softened.

Once the veggies have softened, the recipe calls for 3 Tablespoons of flour. To make this gluten-free, I subbed the Better Batter flour for AP Flour. (To de-carb this recipe, almond flour might work here… I’ve had good results using almond flour as a thickener.)

Then, Madeira (or in my case Marsala) wine goes in the pan, followed by chicken stock and heavy cream. The sauce is allowed to thicken before adding the marinated chicken (along with its cream marinade). Once the chicken is cooked through, add some lemon juice and parsley and serve with toast.

Both kids liked this a lot. (And, so did I.) So, another successful Cooking Through The Decades recipe is completed. I wonder what the 1920′s will bring!

Cooking Through The Decades: Cook Like It’s 1905

America’s Test Kitchen has a fun weekly project going on right now. Each week they plan to feature a recipe from the past for us to make. By sending in a picture, you have the opportunity to win a book and apron. I’m in…

The first recipe is from 1905 and it’s called Cold Oven Pound Cake. The recipe appeared in Cook’s Country February/March 2008.

My first step was to convert their recipe to Gluten-Free. It was easy enough as the main ingredient to worry about was flour. Thanks to Better Batter, that doesn’t even phase me anymore. I use 120 grams of the Better Batter flour for every cup called for in a regular recipe (unless of course the recipe writers are nice enough to give a weight measure in the first place). So far so good.

Here’s an overview of what I did (including my substitutions):

The recipe calls for a 16-Cup Tube Pan. Since it was 10:00 on a Sunday night and I didn’t already own a Tube-Pan, I decided to use my Bundt Pan. If I like the recipe enough maybe I’ll go buy a Tube Pan… but then again, if I like the recipe enough, maybe I’ll just keep making it the way I did this time. It’s too soon to tell. The pan is in the oven right now.

Whisk together the 340 grams of Better Batter flour (or flour of your choice), 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt. Set aside.

Measure 1 Cup Whole Milk in a Liquid Measure Cup and add 2 tsp vanilla (make sure gluten-free!) Set aside.

In my stand mixer, I combined 20 T of softened unsalted butter with 2 1/2 Cups of sugar and turned the mixer to medium until I had a nice fluffy mixture. Then I added 6 eggs, one at a time, letting them work their way into the mixture before adding the next one. Sadly… on the fourth egg, I accidentally dropped part of the egg shell. Don’t worry… I think I got most of the eggshell out of the batter. And, well… you don’t have to eat it, do you? Yes. I could have started over with 20 more Tablespoons of softened butter and another 2 1/2 Cups of Sugar, but I didn’t. It was already late, and I didn’t want to wait for the butter to soften again.

After digging out the partial egg shell, I reduced the mixer speed to low and added the flour in 3 additions, alternating with the milk mixture (beginning and ending with the flour).

Then I prepared my Bundt Pan by greasing with shortening and giving a light dusting of about a Tablespoon of Better Batter. I poured the mixture into the prepared pan and placed it in the oven.

This is the neat trick about this recipe. You don’t pre-heat the oven. You put the cake in the oven and THEN turn the oven to 325 degrees. The directions state to bake until golden brown… about 65 to 80 minutes!

Once I got the cake in the oven, I sat down to write out this post. That way, I would be ready to take a picture, add it, try the cake, and post!

Hang on… I need to go check my cake…

Cold Oven Pound Cake out of the oven

The rest of the directions tell me that I need to let this cake rest in the pan for 15 minutes and then cool for 2 hours. Honestly. I’m going to be asleep in 2 hours. So, I will finish up this post in the morning and let you know how it turned out. At the moment, the cake appears to have a beautiful crust and the toothpick came out clean when inserted… More to come in the morning!

Update: July 2, 2012

Well, it’s morning. I can now tell you about the Cold Oven Pound Cake. This is a very moist, buttery cake. The best part to me is the crisp exterior promised in the recipe.

Yum!

I’m really looking forward to finding out this week’s Cooking Through The Decades recipe!

Maxine’s Salad

When I was growing up, there were various get-togethers each year that I always looked forward to… Mostly I looked forward to these events because of the food. A friend of the family, Maxine, always brought this salad to church potlucks. My mom got the recipe from her and it became a regular summer salad at our house. I’ve re-purposed the salad for Thanksgiving because I wanted a corn dish on the table. And, well… it’s just a good salad. After doing an internet search, I find that this salad is called shoepeg corn salad, and while I saw some similar recipes, I didn’t see the recipe the way Maxine made it. So, here’s Maxine’s salad:

In a large serving bowl, combine all ingredients:

1 C chopped celery

1 C chopped green onion

1 can Le Seur green peas

2 cans white shoepeg corn

1 4-oz jar pimientos

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C vinegar (I’ve used both red and white… both are equally good)

1/4 C oil (My favorite oil to use here is olive, but I’ve used others successfully)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Toss all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Thanksgiving 2011 Menu Plan

I can’t believe it is November again already.

I pulled out my Thanksgiving planner several weeks ago, but just had a chance to finalize my menu and make up my shopping list for this year. Usually I have this done before Halloween… but this has been a particularly busy year for me.

THANKSGIVING MENU

• Roasted Heritage Turkey (from Chiracahua Pasture Raised Meats – Willcox, AZ – Recipe from Local Harvest) Update: I wasn’t able to get my turkey from Chiracahua (hopefully next year!!!) as my deposit got to them after the last turkey got claimed. This year’s Heritage Turkey will be a Mary’s from Whole Foods.
• Gravy
• Heirloom Chestnut Stuffing (Recipe from Better Batter)
• Mashed Potatoes (Recipe from my mom)
• Sweet Potato Souffle (Recipe from my mom)
• ParkerHouse Rolls (Recipe from Better Batter)
• Creamed Spinach
• Green Bean Casserole
• Blueberry Salad (Recipe from my mom)
• Cranberry Sauce
• Maxine’s Salad (Recipe from Maxine – a family friend)

And… as always, make sure to save room for pie!

• Buttermilk Pie Filling (Recipe from my mom)
• Pecan Pie Filling
• Pumpkin Pie Filling
• Gluten-Free Pie Crusts (Recipe from Better Batter) Update 11/24: The pie crust was very successful. Will definitely be using this for all my future pies! It had a nice tender texture that I was told just could not be achieved from a gluten-free crust.

This is pretty much the same menu plan I had from last year. Hopefully, there will be fewer mishaps this year. And, maybe I’ll even be able to laugh about last year’s mishaps.

For now, here is my Shopping Plan:

Farmer’s Market Items:

• 2 dozen eggs
• 2 pie pumpkins
• 2 lbs green beans
• 8 ounces shitake mushrooms
• 8 ounces mushrooms
• 1 head garlic
• 4 onions
• 2 medium leeks
• 2 lbs spinach
• 2 carrots
• 1 bunch celery
• 2 bunches green onion
• 2 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes
• 5 lbs potatoes
• 1 1/2 lbs chestnuts
• 1/2 lb pecans
• apple
• orange
• 1 lb blueberries
• 12 ounces cranberries
• sage, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf

Any items that are not available at the Farmer’s Market will be picked up at the grocery store. Last year I was able to find all of these at the market except for the blueberries, chestnuts, and mushrooms. My favorite farmer at the market tends to be McClendon Farms.

Charcutepalooza – The Salt Solution

If you haven’t heard about Charcutepalooza yet, head over to Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s site for all the info, including a list of meat-loving bloggers, the Ruhls, the challenges, and much more.

The third Charcutepalooza challenge is all about brining. According to Ruhlman, in Charcuterie, “…if you like to cook, you will certainly want to have the brining technique (and a basic brine ratio) in your repertoire.” Well, I like to cook, so I guess this is my month to add the brining technique to my list of things I can do… For the salt solution challenge, which will be posted on March 15th, I am doing this post as a running journal of my brining experience.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Stopped by The Meat Shop to buy pork chops and brisket for Charcutepalooza. The shop was crazy busy – more customers than I had seen there at one time before. Yet, every one was still as friendly as usual. I ordered my pork chops – cut 1 1/2″ thick and a five-pound beef brisket and then sat back and chatted with the other customers. Through the large window, we could see into the butchering area – meat was being cut to order… What an amazing site! Customers came and went while Beth and a gentleman I had not met yet were behind the counter greeting people, taking orders, and checking people out. I sat talking to one of the vendors of the nearby farmer’s market while inhaling that amazing butcher shop smell. (Truly I love that smell!) 

When I got my order, I was surprised how big 1 1/2″ thich pork chops were. I’d never seen anything like that in a grocery store. They were beautiful. Suddenly, I couldn’t wait to brine these babies!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Today, I got up early to make my brines (should have started them last night so they’d have time to cool… But, I didn’t.) I read descriptions on twitter and in Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s post about setting the pots in the snow to cool quickly. Um, there’s no snow here. Okay, I’ll just let them cool slowly. Took a while, but the brines are now in the fridge. My plan is to make the Garlic-Sage Brined Pork Chops, Corned Beef, and Home-Cured Sauerkraut from Charcuterie. I’m thinking the Pork Chops will be ready for tonight’s dinner. One week (give-or-take) until I have Corned Beef and two weeks until the sauerkraut is ready. Really glad I was on top of things this month and started the Charcuterie challenge early! Now, to think of side-dishes to make some awesome meals. I was going to make homemade applesauce… but my son’s had other plans for the apples, so… while I wait for my brines to finish chilling in the fridge, I’m wondering what will go well with the pork. I’ll let you know how it turns out…

Okay… There should be a picture here. Right now I’m having technical difficulties getting my various accounts and media do-hicky’s to play nice together. So… To see a pic of these beautiful pork chops, fresh out of the brine, check out this entry…

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Last night’s dinner was amazing. The brined pork chops from the recipe in Charcuterie were very good. Both boys ate with gusto. On the side, I made a simple salad of just lettuce and a homemade mustard dressing and a baked bean dish that rocked. I think the older sous chef had six servings of that.

Baked Beans

• Cooked white beans
• Tomato Puree – I used Pomi
• White Vinegar
• Blackstrap Molasses
• Mustard
• Onion – Yellow
• Bacon – My home-cured bacon from last Charcutepalooza Challenge : )

I cooked up a large bag of Great Northern White Beans. About 1/2 of the cooked beans went into the dish. The other half are reserved for another purpose…

I sliced the onion and put it in the bottom of my baking dish and then covered the onions with the cooked beans. In a bowl, I combined molasses, tomato puree, mustard, vinegar, and salt to taste. I’m not entirely sure of my measurements… Just til it looked right and tasted good!

I cut a good-size slab of bacon into chunks and fried it. After adding the bacon to the beans and onions, I poured over the tomato-molasses-mustard mixture and gave it a good mix. This went into a 350 degree oven for about 2 hours. I always know something will be good when the older son is brought out of his bedroom to ask what smells good

Mustard Dressing

• Mustard
• Vinegar
• Mayo
• Garlic – minced
• Olive Oil – I used Queen Creek Olive Oil - go local!
• Honey – Again, local from Absolutely Delightful
• Salt, to taste

For my dressing, I started with a basic oil and vinegar mixture. To this, I added mustard, honey, and garlic. Not really sure of the proportions or measurements here… Again, I go by what looks right. Then, I add the mayo. If I want a vinaigrette consistency, I usually use just a Tablespoon of mayo. This time, I wanted a slightly thicker dressing, so I added mayo… you guessed it… until it looked right. Then, I added salt to taste. The older sous chef ate several helpings of salad, and even told me, without prompting, mind you, how good the dressing was.

The younger sous chef wouldn’t try the beans or the salad (I think he’s on a meat only diet right now… well, meat and ice cream…) But, he ate quite a bit of the pork chop. (Though, he kept calling it steak : )

All in all, the meal was very satisfying, tasty, and plentiful. There’s still some pork chop and baked beans left. Thinking about having some for breakfast!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

So, on day 6, I was supposed to pull my corned beef out of the brine and finish preparations… Sometimes life happens and 6 days of brining becomes 7 days of brining

I pulled the corned beef out of the brine solution, rinsed it, and prepared to cook… A bit more pickling spice plus some garlic went in the pot with my beautifully corned beef.

Now, how to serve this? Since I’m going to a corned beef dinner soon (complete with cabbage, potatoes, and carrots), I opted to make sandwiches. A stop by Gluten Free Creations for some of their mock rye bread was all I needed. A smear of mustard and layers of refrigerated corned beef on bread that tasted surprisingly how I remember rye bread tasting back when I ate gluten, made one incredible sandwich. Okay. I had two.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

My little one and I ate big chunks of corned beef for dinner tonight while cuddling together. At four years old, he surprises me with how much he can eat when he likes something. I can safely say that this corned beef has his stamp of approval… He ate all of his and then started picking at my plate.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Sadly, the home-brined sauerkraut did not make it… Little spots of mold around the top made me decide it was safer to pitch that experience. The weather has probably been much too nice and I doubt that the temperature stayed cool enough… Perhaps next winter. I mean, it’s technically still winter, but in Phoenix, winter just doesn’t mean the same thing as it does in other parts of the country.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

I had an awesome time this month with the Salt Solution Challenge for Charcutepalooza. Adding brining to my cooking skills has been a lot of fun. Wanna play along… Mrs. Wheelbarrow has all the details on the April Challenge… Looks like a smokin’ good time! Something tells me there may just be a home-smoked Easter ham in my future… I’ll let you know about my adventures with the Hot Smoking Challenge on April 15.

Pork Chops… And technical frustrations.

IMAG0580 a photo by pmsister on Flickr.

Pork Chops, brined and resting… Ready for dinner.

Sometimes, even when you remember to curb your hunger long enough to take a picture before you eat… It doesn’t always work out. I need to do a bit more research on how to make the pictures I have play nice with all this technology. I know it can be done, but right now I have the pictures on my phone and some of them uploaded to Flickr. So far, I have not been able to figure out how to get those pictures to the correct blog entry… So, for now… Check out these pork chops that go with my Charcutepalooza – The Salt Solution challenge entry…

Charcutepalooza – The Salt Cure

Bacon is amazing and one of my favorite low carb foods.

Too many of the pre-packaged bacons out there contain either gluten or other scary ingredients.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to make my own bacon. I also made some salt pork and preserved lemon while exploring the Charcuterie book that will have a regular place on my kitchen cookbook stand for at least the next year.

For now I have some pictures to share… With my favorite recipes to follow.

Edit: February 21, 2011 

Now that I’ve had a chance to try the bacon, I can say, “Homemade Bacon Rocks!” So far, other than just slicing off a few pieces and frying bacon, I’ve made pasta with creamy alfredo and bacon. Tonight we’re having baked beans with bacon. Yum. But, the recipe I can’t wait to share with you is… Buttermilk Biscuits with Bacon Gravy. Twenty years ago, a friend of mine (who, for whatever reason, doesn’t like sausage) taught me to make bacon gravy. Back then, it was store-bought bacon, wheat flour, and milk turned into very good gravy and spooned over those can-of-chemicals biscuits in a can. This week, I made homemade, gluten-free buttermilk biscuits and bacon gravy from my home-cured bacon, gluten-free flour, and milk. It was amazing! I’ll be fine-tuning the biscuit recipe and taking some better pics of the bacon gravy process before I share the final recipe.

My original post was sent from my phone (I kind of left the bacon curing to the last minute and therefore didn’t finish my bacon my bacon in the oven until about 2 hours before midnight on the posting date… sigh…) It’s been a busy month. So, I wanted to make sure to include a link for my favorite butcher in Phoenix… I’ve already told them that they’ll be my source for all things pork and beef for the Charcutepalooza challenges (and just about all of my meals, really…)

If you’re in the Phoenix area, take the time to check out The Meat Shop. The best days to go are on Friday and Saturday (Fresh Days). You can get your meat cut to your specificiations… They do it right there in front of you, well, through the big window where you can watch the process, anyway. While you wait, you are treated to that amazing butcher-shop smell. It reminds me of the butcher shop my mom used to take me to when I was little. Except that here, they’ll take the time to talk to you, swap recipes, make suggestions, and just be friendly.  They sold me a gorgeous pork belly to make my bacon, and even got the pink salt for me. And because I’m such a novice at all of this, they were able to give me some tips as well…

Next up for Charcutepalooza? Brines – The Salt Solution. Post coming March 15th… And this time, I’ve already started. Can’t wait to share next month’s challenge with you

Charcutepalooza January Challenge: Duck Prosciutto

The Year of Meat. Those were the words that got me. I mean, it’s a whole year of meat! What could be better than that? And charcutepalooza? Absolutely adorable name for a blogging event When I read the tweet from Mrs. Wheelbarrow, I was in. And since I had just been thinking that my New Year’s Resolution needed to be to get back to my blog, this was just the kind of commitment I needed to get the ball rolling. Did I mention that it is a whole year of meat projects?

And, just in case you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can check it out here for yourself. And, if you want to join in on the fun, you’ll find “the Ruhls” here. Ha. Ruhls.

The first challenge was Duck Prosciutto. Confession time. I’ve never actually eaten duck before. But, I’m the type of person who loves a challenge. I love trying new things. So, there I was… looking at the challenge details. Find a duck. Locally sourced and humanely raised if possible. This resulted in a series of humorous daydreams about me going duck hunting (I don’t have the shoes for it. Or the gun. Or the boat.) And the guy I get duck eggs from would have been hurt if I had asked for one of his ducks. They’re kind of like his pets. So, after several attempts to find local, humanely raised duck failed, I decided to go to a small, local specialty meat shop. The guy at the counter asked me if I knew of a recipe for duck breasts because there had been a rise in sales lately. I told him about Charcutepalooza.

So, duck found. Book borrowed from the library. (I’ll buy my own soon). Ready to make prosciutto.

Eight days later…

Yes. Eight days to make prosciutto. For seven of those days I had duck breasts, seasoned and wrapped in cheesecloth hanging in my garage. I had to park my car in the driveway so I didn’t end up with exhaust-seasoned duck prosciutto. Today I pulled them down, unwrapped them, and sliced a very thin slice for a first taste.

Rich. Amazingly rich taste. I’ve never actually eaten duck before, so I have no idea how this compares. I don’t know what I was expecting. But all I could think of was how perfect the taste was.

Ah, but making the Duck Prosciutto was only part of the challenge. Now, what to do with it? Saltimbocca, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, pasta with prosciutto… All these things sounded amazing. In the end, I decided to go with Braciole. So here you go… My dinner tonight courtesy of Charutepalooza:

Braciole

Disclaimer: I am not Italian. I have never made Braciole before in my life. I can’t even guarantee that what I made tonight IS Braciole. But every since I saw the Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Debra made Braciole, I’ve wanted to make it. From what I’ve read, Braciole is meat, pounded thin, filled with a variety of several fillings, browned, and then finished in tomato sauce. Which is what I made tonight…

Ingredients

Grass-fed Top Round Roast – from The Meat Shop in Phoenix, AZ

Duck prosciutto (recipe from Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Michael Polcyn) – duck breast purchased from Hobe Meats, Phoenix

Parmesan cheese

Garlic – from the Farmer’s Market

Parsley

Tomato sauce (made from fresh tomatoes) – from the Farmer’s Market

Carrots – from the Farmer’s Market

Onions - from the Farmer’s Market

Olive Oil – from Queen Creek Olive Mill

Here’s what I did:

Make tomato sauce: Heat olive oil in a sauce pan. Add chopped onions and cook until soft. Add cut tomatoes. Cook on low with pan partially covered until the tomatoes break down. Season to taste.

Make meat rolls: Butterfly the top roast and cut into individual servings. Pound thin. Pound thinner than I did. It would be helpful to have one of those meat pounding things for this. I didn’t have one, so I used my rolling pin. Layer each serving of beef with a layer of duck prosciutto followed by layers of any of the following: pesto, cheese, hard boiled egg slices, bread crumbs, ground beef. I used layers of ricotta cheese, garlic, parsley, and parmesan. Once layered, roll the beef and secure with a toothpick or tie with butcher’s twine. Brown the beef rolls in a hot pan on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.

Make sauce: Add a bit of olive oil and cook chopped carrots and garlic until soft. Add tomato sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings. Return beef rolls to pan and cover to finish cooking through.

I served the braciole with gnocchi verde, a salad with freshly made vinagrette and the extra sauce on the side. I recommend this. I am absolutely in heaven right now.

The duck prosciutto added a rich, salty flavor to the beef that was perfect. The soft pillows of spinach and ricotta gnocchi were the perfect compliment. I felt really good that the majority of the ingredients for my meal were from local sources.

Want to join the fun? It’s not too late. Mrs. Wheelbarrow has extended the deadline to sign up for Charcutepalooza. Start in with the next challenge that was announced today: bacon and/or pancetta. Make the duck prosciutto at some point as well. Please visit the fabulous bloggers who have commited to a year of meat. You’ll find the current blogroll here.

Sweet Potato Soufle

My mom had 2 different sweet potato recipes & would alternate which dish we had each Thanksgiving. Neither of them had the classic marshmallow topping… in fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever had the classic version. Both were good… but honestly, sweet potatoes were not my favorite Thanksgiving side.

Several years ago, my mom made a third sweet potato dish. I fell in love & it has been on my Thanksgiving table ever since. Finally, I had a sweet potato dish that I could look forward to each year… and it still didn’t have the marshmallows. I really am not a fan of marshmallows since I’ve given up processed food and refined sugars. Last year, I stopped using canned food as much as possible, so here’s my moms recipe with my gluten-free, can-free twist…

1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, cooked & mashed (I like to roast them, sometimes I steam them in a bit of cream & butter)
1 C sweetener (my preference is agave nectar… The original recipe calls for sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/3 stick butter
1/2 C milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients well & pour into a buttered baking dish. Mix together the following & crumble over the top of the souffle:
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C Better Batter flour
1/3 C melted butter
1 C pecans

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, uncovered.

Enjoy!