Holiday Cookies!

The internet is full of link-rot, so if you haven't noticed, this gets to be my own personal archive of recipes, esp those where I'm worried about the original going away (or, in this case, the original has been recovered via the Wayback Machine). And where I've made modifications to the original so I have a chance on bad brain days of remembering what I was thinking.

In this case, I have two where finding them later is going to be an issue. 

These Eggnog Cutout Cookies (originally from Stop & Shop's grocery flier) have a couple of points in their favor: 1) They don't spread. Pretty much at all. Which means you can use the really elaborate cookie cutters and have all the details come through. 2) They're actually nice to eat, which is not something one can usually say of cutout cookies. However - a reasonably sized roll of parchment paper  is a must for any rolled GF cookie

Eggnog Cuttout Cookies

For the cookies;

• 3 cups GF all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• ¼ store-bought eggnog
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the glaze;

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• ¼ cup store-bought eggnog, plus more as needed
• Food coloring, sprinkles, colored sugar, etc, as needed

1) In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar 2–3 min., until light and fluffy, scraping bowl as necessary. Beat in the egg, then the eggnog and vanilla until combined, reducing speed as necessary to prevent splashing. In batches, on low speed, slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Put dough into a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least an hour, or until firm.

2) Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll out your dough between sheets of parchment paper, and then transfer the cookies over to the baking sheets. Bake for 9-12 min (depending on the size of the cookie), and they should just start to have color on the edges. Pull out and let cool completely before attempting to decorate

3) Make the royal icing/glaze. Add a couple of drops of appropriate food coloring and ice to your heart's content. Add sprinkles and colored sugar to the wet icing. 

And then we have the cream cheese dough for jam-filled cookies. I use this particular recipe for thumbprints, linzers, and hamentaschen. It's originally from the now-defunct Something Sweet blog, and I need to be able to find it again. 

Jam filled cookie dough

• 1 (8oz) pkg. Softened Cream Cheese 
• 3/4 cups Softened Butter 
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract 
• 1 cup (Organic*) Powdered Sugar 
• 2 1/4 cup GF All Purpose Flour 
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• Jams, jellies, and other preserves.

*Organic powdered sugar is mostly made with tapioca starch, because organic corn starch is much more of a pain to both make and keep segregated. So if you have a corn sensitivity like mine in your circle, just make the switch.

1) Cream cream cheese and butter until volume increases by about half. Then add the vanilla and sugar and mix until smooth. Slowly add in the flour and baking soda. Once you have a smooth dough, make it into a shape that can be wrapped in cling wrap or (my preference) stuck in a gallon freezer bag for 30 min in the fridge to chill

2) Preheat oven to 350. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Remember to roll between parchment sheets, you'll thank me later.

• For thumbprints, roll into 1" balls. Put into the oven for 5 min. Pull out of the oven, and either use your thumb or the back of a small spoon to make the indentations for jam, and quickly fill the hollow with your chosen jam, then stick back in the oven for about 8-10 min, until the edges start to get a touch of color.
• For hamentaschen, roll out to about 1/4in/0.5cm thick, then take your favorite round juice glass or biscuit cutter of at least 2.5in across. Cut out circles, put 1 teaspoon of filling in the middle, and pinch together the corners at three places to make a standing triangle shape. Bake for 10-12 min
• For linzer, you'll need the pretty round cookie cutters. Roll to 1/8 inch, cut out rounds with the linzer cutters (fluted, 4cm, annoying to find in the US). In half of the rounds, cut out a pretty shape from the middle - I find the decorative pie mini 'cookie' cutters work well here. Bake them all for 8-10 min. Once they're cool enough to be stable, spread a thin layer of jam on the solid cookies and sandwich with the pretty cookies, so you can see the jam layer. Sprinkle with more powdered sugar if desired.

Goat Cheese Pasta Sauce, with Chicken, Rosemary (and Spinach)

 I had asked Pinterest for recipes involving goat cheese, as I had a spare 10oz log in the cheese drawer after a Fancy Cheese Party last month*. It showed me this one from My Baking Addiction, and as I've never gotten a fail from them...

As per usual before I put things up here for archiving, we've made it a couple of times and have now made some...modifications to the recipe, based on hyperlocal availability of ingredients (aka, what's in my fridge, pantry, or freezer) and household tastes.

Goat Cheese Pasta with Chicken, Rosemary (and maybe Spinach)

1 pound dried pasta

1 quart half and half

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon of crushed garlic

10 ounces goat cheese

2 cups shredded roasted chicken

10 oz frozen spinach (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

1) Pour half and half into a large saucepan over medium heat, and add the garlic and the rosemary, stirring frequently (dairy wants to burn). Don't let it boil over. 

2) Place a large pot of salted water over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Add in the pasta and cook according to the directions on the box

3) By this point, your dairy should be close to scalded (with the ring of foam around the edge) to slow boil. If it's not yet, wait until you get there, then add the goat cheese and stir until it melts and incorporates. 

4) Turn heat on the sauce down to medium low, then add the chicken and, if using, the spinach. Once everything is back up to "hot", turn off and serve over pasta. 

*Fancy Cheese Party involves going to Aldi, seeing what interesting cheeses are available, and putting them out on the counter with charcuterie, crackers, and bags of dried fruit when I need to have a grazing lunch for a couple of people. 

Shrimp and Not-Grits

 Shrimp and Not-Grits

This is a variation on Shrimp and Grits that owes a lot to various restaurants in Charleston and New Orleans, some old friends from Mississippi, the cheese grits we had at church suppers growing up, and the brilliance of my partner.

Shrimp & grits involves more than the titular ingredients - these days, it's a robust almost-stew with bacon and vegetables served over luscious cheese grits. 

Discovering that my body no longer processes corn or oats correctly was devastating for someone who had shifted to polenta, grits, and oatmeal as the other base starches for meals. It left me with rice and quinoa as my “easy” options for side dishes, and at the time, quinoa was a) expensive and b) had some serious ethical concerns around consumption. Thankfully in the years since, the cost has come down a lot. This is due to other areas outside of South America starting and/or increasing production, which also relieves the ethical concerns of pricing a staple subsistence crop out of the means of those who depend on it. 

After I lost corn, I didn't make this for over a year. Fast forward until I was watching a food show with my partner and muttering about really wanting shrimp and grits. They had me start listing off what grains I had and if we thought it could work as a substitute. Millet & amaranth & buckwheat all have too much flavor of their own. Rice is just the wrong texture, and same with wild rice. At the back of the pantry, in a box marked as clearance, I found the forgotten quinoa. We looked at each other, and went, “It might work?”

Reader, it works brilliantly and is a lot better for my blood sugar than polenta ever was. 

This is one of the Foods of My People, and an easy weeknight supper. We have it at least once a month, it's in pretty heavy rotation in the winter. Like many of my recipes, it's all (our) pantry staples all the way down.

For the quinoa “grits”:

1c quinoa

1.5c chicken or vegetable stock

1c sharp cheddar

1/2c milk, half & half, or cream

For the shrimp: 

½ lb bacon, diced

1 14oz can diced tomatoes

1 tsp Cajun seasoning

10oz brick of frozen chopped spinach, thawed

½ lb cooked shrimp

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the quinoa and stock to a boil. Turn off the heat, put a lid on, and let it continue to cook while you work on the other half. 

In a large skillet over medium heat, start frying the bacon. When it's cooked (you can go to crispy. I don't, I just go to ‘no longer raw & floppy, about 5-7 minutes), add in the tomatoes and Cajun seasoning. Bring back up to a simmer. Throw in the spinach and shrimp. Let it just start to simmer, then turn it off. 

By this point, the quinoa should be done. You know because the tails “pop” away from the grain. Stir in the cheese & liquid dairy. Add more cheese if you think it needs it. 

Serve the shrimp over the quinoa. Makes about 4 servings. (Which is why we always make a double batch - we invariably go for seconds, and we both want to take it for lunch the next day.)

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

When my spouse moved in to my house almost 10 years ago, he informed me that soup is never a complete meal. It just doesn't have enough substance. 

It took him about 6 months to audibly revise that opinion and start asking for various of my soups for dinner. 

Personally, I have a soft spot for Broccoli Cheddar Soup - I grew up on the Panera (Ok, St. Louis Bread Co., Panera didn't exist yet) version in a bread bowl probably once a week during the busy season.  And last night, I pulled out the instant pot version I've been using for the last several years and went "you know, I should probably actually post my revisions somewhere for bad executive function days."

I started with this Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe from Whole Belly, but I've never been able to resist making changes. In this case, it is to skip the roux, add some protein, and make it easy on the stove. Even without the roux, this makes a...substantive soup.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

1 medium onion finely diced

2 cups roughly diced/shredded carrots

1T garlic minced (roughly 2 cloves, but garlic is a vegetable, add more if desired)

2 medium to large potatoes, roughly chopped

1 can chickpeas or white beans, drained

6 cups vegetable stock

1 tsp paprika

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

3 cups/2 crowns broccoli florets, divided evenly into 2 (a bag of frozen is the right size, even if they don't fit nicely into the cup measures) 

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded

½ cup milk

Put the onion, carrots, garlic, potatoes, beans, and stock on the stove on a medium high heat for 10 min after it comes to a boil or in the IP for 1 min of low pressure and quick release. Then add half the broccoli to the pot, then turn off the head, and blend. I use my stick blender so I don't have to transfer boiling hot liquid, but a food processor or counter top blender also works. Blend until mostly smooth. Add the rest of the broccoli, cheese, and milk and stir for a minute or two, until the broccoli cooks or thaws and the cheese melts. Makes 6-8 servings, technically. Usually serves 3-4 for dinner, as most people have seconds.

Cheese pie crust

 I've written before about doing gf pasties and how one needs to doctor the crust for robustness in handling - gf pie crust is just too light and flaky. 

A while ago, I started making my savory pie crusts with shredded cheese as the internal structure/scaffolding that was lost without gluten. 

You can use any kind of shredded cheese in this, my best results are in medium to hard cheeses. Also, because I'm cheap, the difference between store brand bulk cheddar and mozzarella and the fancy stuff is very much not worth it here. 

This is originally based on Bob's Red Mill GF Easy-as-pie recipe, but shifted. Different GF AP blends are more hydrophilic than others, so may want more liquid. Someone of them are less hydrophilic than wheat, so it all depends on flour and the ambient weather

Also, parchment paper is your friend when working with GF dough. Do your rolling between two sheets of parchment paper so it doesn't stick to most things 

Cheese crusts

1.5 cups GF AP or 1 to 1 flour blend

1 stick (1/2c) butter, grated or diced

A pinch of salt

1/2 c shredded cheese

1/4c milk (maybe more maybe less)

Mix butter and flour until the texture is that of coarse sand or polenta/grits. Add salt, cheese and milk, and mix until it comes into a dough. For a two crust pie: Divide 2/3s v 1/3rd between the parchment paper and roll out into your base crust. 

Flip one rolled out piece into your pie pan & roll out the remaining pie crust for the lid. Bake as normal for whatever recipe.

Spinach Pie

When you cook gluten free, it turns out that Spanikopita is impossible to find and a pain in the butt to make, because GF phyllo dough is the next thing to impossible. 

I've been making a medieval version of Spinach and Cheese Tarts for two decades, and it just last spring occurred to me that I could put spanikopita filling in a pie crust.

And then I had to find a filling recipe that I liked. 

And then tweak it...more than a little. 

Mostly because I started with Bon Appetit's spanikopita recipe and I don't have the budget or energy to go for fancy (fresh) ingredients, this needs to be made with what I consider pantry staples. 

So...most people don't consider feta a pantry staple, but I get an 8oz brick from Aldi and we make this just often enough that the sealed brick doesn't start to go off before one of us says "spinach pie for dinner?". You can also freeze it without major consequences to flavor or texture, it's just a pain to have to remember to thaw it before getting started on this recipe. 

I strongly recommend using a cheese crust for this, because it's a little bit more robust against the sogginess of the filling. On the other hand, if what you have is a pair of store bought crusts, use them. 

Fed is best. 

Spinach Pie: 

4 10oz bricks of spinach or 6 cups of frozen chopped spinach

¼ c olive oil

2 onions, diced/1.5 c diced onion/shallots/leeks

½ c pine nuts

Glob of minced garlic (at least 1T. Garlic is a vegetable. Increase as desired)

Salt and pepper

2 eggs

2 c crumbled feta and/or goat cheese

¼ c grated parmesan

1 T dried basil

1 T dried dill

2 tsp dried oregano

1 T lemon juice

2 pie crusts

Preheat the oven to 375. Start the spinach thawing in the microwave- we don't need it cooked, we need it to release most of the frozen water so we can drain it off. 

While the spinach is thawing, sauté the onion/scallions/garlic in the olive oil until translucent, then add the pine nuts for a minute or two before taking off the heat. 

Drain the water off the thawed spinach, as much as possible. Light squeezing is acceptable Add sautéed veg to the spinach and mix- this will cool down the onions/alliums enough that they won't cook the eggs/cheese when you get there, but also finish the thawing process on the spinach. Now add in cheese, eggs, herbs, salt & pepper, and lemon juice. If it feels runny/really liquid, add parmesan or flour or another egg to help as binder. 

Add filling to pie crust, cover with second pie crust, and bake for 40-50 min, until the crusts are starting to go tan. Then *let stand* for at least 10 min so that when you cut it, it mostly holds it's shape. 

Triple ginger gingerbread

This is another one of those recipes that has evolved over time from the original. I've been making gingerbread, the cake/bread version, for as long as I can remember. There was never a written recipe, Grandma just made it and it was my job to stir. 

I asked her once, and she said she'd started from her grandmother's recipe but it was in her hands now. That's...not particularly helpful, Grandma.

A few years ago, I went looking for a gingerbread recipe that worked in a sheet pan rather than a loaf- I was catering for 200 and had access to full sheet pans and an oven that could manage them. A lot of modern recipes are built for loaf pans or Bundt pans or even 9x13 pans- things with real sides. Put them in a standard jelly roll or sheet pan and they have a major overflow issue. So I pulled out my '52 Joy of Cooking and started modifying it to taste more like Grandma's recipe. This can be made with either 2 c of my standard recipe for gf flour (by weight: 2 parts sorghum flour, 1.5 parts brown rice flour, 1 part tapioca starch & 1 part potato starch) + 1/4t xanthan gum, or 1c Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose & 1c Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 backing flour. Ok, it can probably be made with 2 c of any of the GF flour blends besides Namaste - if you're working with any of the extremely hydrophilic gf flours that make everything taste dry, add half a cup of unsweetened applesauce. 

Triple ginger gingerbread:

1/2 c butter

1/2 c brown sugar, packed

1/2 c white sugar

2 eggs

Dry:

1 t dried lemon or zest of one lemon

2 c gluten free flour blend

1t cinnamon

1t soda

1t salt

2 t ginger

2-4T grated ginger

1/4-1/2 c candied ginger, minced fine

Wet:

1/2 c water

1/2 c molasses

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter & sugar until fluffy, then add eggs  Alternate adding wet and dry ingredients to butter/sugar/eggs, mixing after each addition. Line 1/4 sheet pan with parchment paper. Bake approx 30 min or until done. 

(This also does work nicely in 2 loaf pans or a Bundt cake pan, actually, you just have to bake it a little longer, and wait until a toothpick comes out clean, 40-50 min)

Gf pie crust

 To my everlasting horror, I just checked the Bob's Red Mill Easy As Pie gf pie crust recipe to send to someone, and they'd changed the directions! 

I will grant that it will make a better pie crust, but it's no longer the simplest failsafe recipe I know. 

For the record (so I can both find it and point to it), here's the original. 

Actual easy as pie crust recipe (makes 1 crust):

• ½ cup Butter cold
• 1 ½ cups Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
• ½ tsp Salt
• 4-6 Tbsp Milk cold

Preheat oven to 400. Cube or grate very cold butter. Mix with flour and salt until it resembles coarse meal, by hand, pastry cutter, or food processor. Add milk slowly while mixing until it forms a dough. 

Roll out two sheets of parchment paper. Place dough between parchment and roll out to 1/4", and slightly too big for the pie plate. Flip into your pie tin, line with parchment, and fill with pie weights*. If it is a filled pie, into the oven for 10 minutes before filling and dump out the weights, then fill and bake according to your recipe. If unfilled, them your dough needs 40 min or until golden.

This is one where I can hand it to a kitchen newbie and trust it will be fine. It also works Just Fine with wheat based flours, even though that's not my need. 

*Pie weights can be anything from a bag of dried beans to a bunch of ball bearings to the ceramic ones sold for purpose. The point is to mimic the weight of a filling with something that comes up to oven temp quickly and prevents giant bubbles in the bottom crust as the butter steams

Instant Pot Mexican Casserole

A few months ago, I came across this recipe for "Instant Pot Mexican Casserole" from Disabled Kitchen and Garden and decided it looked really interesting. The quantities looked all wrong, though- neither metric nor imperial nor the usual blend I'd expect from somewhere in the English-speaking Commonwealth. It used the metric equivalents of some of the common US quantities.* On the other hand, once I had that part figured out, we decided to try it.

As per usual in my kitchen, some things ended up with substitutions, and some things I looked at and went "...yeah, my hands are not up for that." Then there was the post-execution roundtable for opinions. And another round of testing, etc.

It's taken a while to get this where we like it, mostly because it makes around 4 qts of heavy casserole, and by the time we kill a batch, we don't want it for a while. 

Instant Pot Mexican Casserole

Makes 12 1c servings

1 lb ground beef

16 oz bag frozen peppers and onions

1 4oz can green chilies

2 14oz cans diced tomatoes

1.5 c rice (basmati by preference)

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp paprika

2 tsp table salt

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp black pepper

2 14 oz cans chili beans**

1 c water

Turn the Instant Pot to saute and brown the hamburger into crumbles. Add in the peppers and onions, and cook until everything has thawed and the onions are starting to go translucent but not brown. Turn off the Instant Pot. 

Roughly level off the surface of the meat & veg in the pot. Now later in everything else on top in the order in which it appears above: green chilies, tomatoes with their juices, rice, herbs and spices, beans, water. 

Put the lid on and set the Instant Pot for 20 min. When done, do natural release for 10 min, and then quick release. (Do not do quick release right away, your kitchen will not thank you, it is a giant mess.) Remove the lid and mix thoroughly. 

Serve by itself, or with sour cream and cheese, or in a tortilla or with corn chips and a lot of cheese as a nacho topping...there are many options. 

*The Vancouver folk took one look at it and went "Canadian." So that mystery was solved. 

**The original recipe called for 2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed. I was out. We've decided it's better with chili beans.

Mustard Soup

 Mustard Soup is one of those foods that sounds iffy, but is great and glorious. It relies heavily on which mustard you use for the final flavor, which is part of the reason that every town in the Netherlands has variations on this recipe- every town has it's own beloved mustard. 

Here, Spouse requests mustard soup by coming home with a new and interesting mustard and leaving it conspicuously next to the stove. I generally end up mixing half of one smooth mustard and one cracked or whole grain mustard for the texture. This is also good with a handful of bacon crumbles or cooked barley mixed in, or as a sauce over pork chops. 

The basic recipe isn't actually complex, just a little finicky because you have to temper an egg. I make mine gf by using rice flour.

Mustard Soup (serves 3-6, depending.)

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 stick of butter

2 c chicken or veg stock

2 c milk or half and half

4 Tbsp mustard

2 eggs

Over medium heat, melt the butter, then add the flour to make a roux. Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring up to a low simmer.

In a separate container, mix the mustard and eggs, until the eggs are well beaten and incorporated. Slowly temper the eggs by adding the hot liquid to them, whisking constantly. When they are warm, add back to the main pot. This takes about half the stock. 

Remove from heat & add the dairy. Taste. It may need more mustard. 

White chicken chili

 My mother keeps losing this recipe. I cannot count the number of times I've forwarded it back to her- one of our coworkers 20 years ago brought it to the office chili cook off, and it's been living in my email ever since. I cannot count the number of people I have sent it on to. I have, of course, made some modifications over the years. 

White chicken chili:

2 lb chicken breast - 1/2" cubes

1 medium onion - chopped

3 tbsp garlic

1 tbsp oil

4 - 15.5 oz cans Great Northern Beans - drained and rinsed

4 c chicken broth

2 - 4 oz cans chopped green chilis

2 tsp salt

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp pepper

2 cup sour cream/ plain yogurt

1 cup half and half

In large pan sauté chicken, onion, garlic powder in vegetable oil until done. (just enough oil to coat bottom of pan)

Add beans, broth, chilis & seasonings.

Bring to boil - reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in dairy

(These days, I add everything up to the dairy in the instant pot, cook for 4-6 min, turn the warmer off, and let it release. And then wait until it's cool enough I won't curdle the milk)

Makes 7 servings.

Weeknight Italian

 This is not a recipe for what my friend Evan refers to as Sunday Gravy. That takes 4-6 hrs, and fresh garden tomatoes. This is a recipe for 30 min on a weeknight when you want something several steps up from sauce in a jar. 

1lb italian sausage

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced (or 2-3 Tbsp pre-minced, no judgement)

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes

1 tsp italian seasoning

1 tsp onion powder (optional)

1 c red wine (optional)

Salt to taste

If you're me, start defrosting the italian sausage you forgot to start thawing last night.

Start a large (5-6qt) pot, 2/3rds full of water on the stove at high. Add a tablespoon of salt.

In a dutch oven, deep frying pan, or other large capacity pot, brown the sausage. Add the garlic while you're opening the tomato cans. Stir. Add the tomatoes. Stir. Add the italian season and optional ingredients. Stir. Turn to low. Taste to check salt level- it's not going to need much, if any. 

In an ideal world, your pasta water is boiling.* Follow the directions on the package, but yes, this makes enough to go with the whole pound of pasta. Add the pasta to the water, and stir both pots occasionally until the pasta is done. Drain the pasta. Serve, with or without parmesan. Makes 6-8 servings.

*On the other hand, if this is the point you go "I knew I forgot something", be at ease. The sauce gets better the longer it simmers. The extra 20 min are no big deal. Except to your blood sugar. Eat a piece of the sausage as Quality Control.

Instant pot Baked Potato Soup

You know those soup recipes where you look at a dozen and none of them are quite right, but you can always synthesize? Yeah, that's what happened here. I wanted baked potato soup, dang it. From stuff I had in the house already, for goodness sake.

Then I had to make it again. And a couple more times.

(Husband *really* liked it. Since he is not a soup person, I take it as a high compliment.)

My best friend, who doesn't see what all the fuss is about with bacon, admits that this is an acceptable use of a pound. Use a good set of kitchen shears to take it into 1" or smaller pieces.

This recipe is somewhere on the opposite side of healthy from a salad. I use Bob's Red Mill GF AP for the flour, but any GF starchy flour will do here. White rice, cornstarch, potato, etc. I make this in the instant pot, but there's no requirement for that besides time. This is a recipe that takes additions well- broccoli, chives, anything else you think goes on a loaded potato.

Baked Potato Soup

1 lb bacon, in pieces

2 tbsp flour 

1/2 onion, diced*

4 large potatoes, cubed

4 c stock (chicken or veg)

4 c milk

1.5 c sharp cheddar shreads

1 c sour cream or plain yogurt

Fry up the bacon and optional onion 7-10 min, or until cooked. Add the flour to the pot and stir for about a min. Add the stock and potatoes. If you are using the instant pot, set it for 4 min. If you are using the stovetop, bring to a simmer for 30 min. 

Remove from heat. Add all the dairy and stir until combined. The sour cream should be dissolved, but bits of cheddar are good. Serves 6-8. 

Gnocchi with bacon, spinach, and pecans

A long time ago (2014), Teresa Nielsen Hayden posted her recipe for pasta with fresh peppers and arugula. I went to my now-husband and said "does this sound good for dinner?"

It did, but the only things we actually had at the time were the peppers and the cheese. But bacon is *like* pancetta, spinach is *almost* arugula, and one can always substitute pecans for walnuts. As it happens, she'd recommended a ricotta gnocchi recipe a couple of weeks prior and we had a spare batch in the freezer.

Moving to New England, fresh peppers have become quite dear, so they dropped from the recipe a few years ago.  This is what has evolved from that original. You can still make it with pasta, peppers, arugula, and walnuts! It's quite good! Or even store bought gnocchi, but they're not quite the same as homemade. Just save the pasta water for the sauce.

We always make a double batch of the gnocchi, then I can freeze the other half to use later.

Gnocchi:

3/4 cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for baking sheet and work bench

1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely shredded, plus more for serving (about 1/3 cup)
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 cup (250 grams) whole milk ricotta cheese
1 large egg

Sauce:
1/2 lb bacon, chopped
1/2 c pecans
1 batch gnocchi
3 c parmesan, shredded (the good stuff)
1/2 c half and half
1/2c gnocchi water
4-6 oz (1 bag) of fresh spinach

Gnocchi: Put a quart of water on to boil. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Flour a flat surface and roll a snake about the diameter as your forefinger. Cut into 1 inch lengths and place on lightly floured baking sheet. Drop carefully into the boiling water in groups of 10. When they float to the surface, they're cooked through- pull them out and place in a collander to drain. Save at least a cup of the water for the sauce- the starchy water will thicken things quite nicely.

Sauce:
Over medium high heat, start cooking the bacon pieces. Once they're mostly cooked (about 5 min), toss in the pecans for another couple of minutes, or until toasted. Add in the gnocchi, cream, and pasta water and let it come to a summer.

Slowly incorporate the cheese a small handful at a time until you have what can only be described as a gooey mess. Add in the spinach, turn off the heat, and throw on the lid for 3 minutes. There should be a *lot* of spinach.

After the 3 minutes, fold it in to the rest of the gnocchi. It will have wilted slightly, but it's very definitely not cooked. Serve immediately. Makes about 4 servings.

Kofta Curry

Kofta Curry (cheater version)

It's a cold and rainy day here. There was snow this weekend. Snow! In May! I need something warm and hearty and spicy. Also, something that involves enough leftovers. I grabbed this base recipe a long time ago off pinterest, from the now defunct Zest and Zeal blog. We've made it for years, but recently that has involved using the Wayback Machine to grab it. So I might as well post it, but in the edited version that we've come to prefer here. We tend to take out half of the meatballs and sauce before adding the pickled lime, because my husband thinks it's the best and I am not a fan at all. We put it over rice.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients for meatballs -

• 1 lb ground beef 
• 1/2 diced yellow onion
• 2/3 cup almond flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• dash of cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil for cooking the meatballs in

Ingredients for sauce

• 1/2 diced yellow onion
• 1 can of full-fat coconut milk
• 1 cup organic chicken stock
• 4 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons pickled limes, chopped (optional)
• Red pepper flakes sprinkled just before serving

1. Combine all ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl.
2. Shape meatballs to desired size (golf ball, for us)
3. In a large skillet, melt coconut oil and add meatballs and half the diced onions and let them brown for a couple of minutes. 
4. Let the meatballs cook an additional 3-4 minutes.  Flip and cook another 3-4 minutes.
5. Mix the remaining ingredients for the sauce and cover meatballs with the sauce.
6. Cover the skillet and simmer until cooked through.
7. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.