Cilantro Ginger Sauce

 In a blender:

2 C packed cilantro leaves

1/4 C + 1 T vegetable oil

1/2 jalapeño pepper

1" peeled fresh ginger root, finely grated

2 T lime juice

3 scallions, green part only

Hearty Stews

It's snowing! Time for hearty stew recipes. I'll post a quick and a slow. I made both yesterday, cooled them overnight in the fridge, and now I'm freezing them in cardboard forms that I made to fit in my crock pot. It's a cunning plan! I hope to unmold the frozen blocks of stew directly into the crock pot and reheat slowly, thus coming home to a delicious dinner.

Chicken Curry (a quick stew)

2 lbs chicken, deboned & cut in 1.5 -2" pieces
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 lb kale, torn off the stems and washed
1 lb baby cut carrots
1/2 lb snow peas or green beans (whole or in half)
1 bell pepper, chopped
3/4 C frozen peas
(these are the vegetables I had in the fridge yesterday; add what you have)
2 cans coconut milk (thin with water if necessary, at the very end)
red & yellow curry paste (available at Asian groceries, and so worth it)

Cook up some rice.

Pour a couple teaspoons of oil in a big stew pot on medium high heat. Add the sliced onions and stir until they're soft. Add the garlic and stir until the onions start to brown.  Take them out, add oil if necessary, and add the carrots. Brown them, and remove. Add oil if necessary, then add half the chicken. Let it brown by not moving it around for a few minutes, then turn the pieces over and brown the other side. Take the chicken out and repeat with the other pound, but instead of taking it out, add curry paste. I cannot possibly tell you how much to use, but I recommend 2 parts red to 1 part yellow. This stuff is strong, so whether you measure in teaspoons or tablespoons is up to your family's tolerance for heat.

Work the curry paste into the oil, splashing in coconut milk as needed. I use a whisk for this. Keep pouring in coconut milk until it's all combined with the curry. Put the remaining browned chicken and onions back into the stew pot, and add the carrots. Cook 10 minutes, then add the remaining vegetables. If you're going to freeze it, stir in the veg and take it off the heat. The freezer and reheating will cook them. If you're eating it now, cook 5-7 minutes. Serve over rice.

A note on vegetable cooking times: Onions, carrots and other root vegetables, and broccoli take more time than leafy greens, peppers, peas, corn, and beans. I pull all the veg I want out of the fridge/freezer and divide them into piles based on how long I want them to cook. You can also slice/chop accordingly - if it's going to cook longer, it can be a bigger piece. If you're using frozen spinach, it's basically already cooked, so add it at the end.

Daube (a slow stew)

2 lbs stew-cut beef or venison
1 large onion, sliced
6-8 cloves garlic, smashed
2 lbs baby cut carrots
1 bottle red wine (3 buck chuck is good)
3-4 T rice flour
3 T dried thyme
oil & butter to cook in (you can substitute oil for butter if you don't eat dairy)

For this one I like to bake it for a while, so I use a pot that can go in a 300F oven. If you don't have that kind of pot, you can simmer if stovetop on very low heat instead.

Pour 2 T oil into your stew pot.Add onions and cook until soft and starting to brown. Add garlic for just a minute, stirring constantly, then pull it all out of the pot. Add 2 T butter, then add 1/2 a pound of meat. Brown the meat quickly, remove it, and do another 1/2 pound, etc, until it's all browned and sitting on top of your onions. Make sure there's visible oil in your pot, 3 tablespoons or more, then dump in the carrots and cook for a few minutes. Sprinkle in the rice flour and thyme, scraping the mixture around the bottom of the pot. When your fat and flour are combined, pour in a little wine. Work your way around the bottom of the pot, deglazing with the wine, scraping up crusty brown stuff from the bottom, and mixing in the roux (cooked fat + flour), until you have a smooth, thick delicious wine broth. If you find that you are drinking wine, substitute some stock or broth for that glass you snuck out of there. Once all the wine and in and the pot deglazed, preheat your oven to 300F and add all meat and onions back in. Cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours. Traditionally this is served over mashed potatoes, but rice or a crusty Against the Grain baguette are good too.

Almond Oat Cookies

These are simple, delicious cookies adapted from the back of the Bob's Red Mill Oat Flour bag. The cookie dough tastes like cookie dough! I cannot express how excited I am about that. But I will tell you that about half a dozen cookies worth never made the oven.

1/2 C butter
3 T agave syrup
1 t vanilla
1 C almond meal
1 C oat flour*

Preheat oven to 300F and grease a baking sheet. Cream butter, agave, and vanilla together with a mixer. Sift in almond meal and oat flour. (I rub it through a mesh strainer to take out the lumps that the freezing causes.) Mix until dough sticks together. Form into 1-11/2" balls and place on baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes.

*If you are celiac, make sure to use certified gluten-free oat flour. Bob's makes it.

Coconut Snowballs

In the workplace, there are potlucks. It is a fact of the American work ethic. When you have dietary restrictions, the potluck is a minefield, peppered with conversations like this:
Me: You made a gluten-free cake?
TTBHOM*: Yes. It's a flourless cake recipe.
Me: What's the crust made of?
TTBHOM: Oreos.
Me: o_o

*Trying To Be Helpful Office Mate

So mostly I say "No, no, don't worry about me" a lot, and bring all my own food.

However, I have this one coworker who is determined to bring in things I can eat. She cares, and she's kind, and she's figuring it out. She found this recipe, and it's delicious! She found it at The Kitchn.

They were so popular at home, that they didn't make it long enough for me to grab my camera.

1 3/4 cups unsweetened shredded coconut or coconut powder, divided
2 teaspoons melted coconut oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Place 1 cup of shredded coconut in a food processor along with the coconut oil. Pulse, scraping down the sides periodically, until it begins to form a paste, or at least holds together.

Add the maple syrup, coconut milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and process until well combined. Add 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of shredded coconut and pulse until just combined.

Shape the mixture into 12 (1-inch) balls and coat with the remaining shredded coconut. Refrigerate for at least an hour** and up to 5 days. Bring to room temperature before eating. Makes 12. Not enough.

**Yeah, right. You'll just be popping these babies while you're still rolling. Yum.

My other favorite no-bake cookie is Elana's Pantry's Fudge Babies. So good!