Italian Wedding Soup

My first attempt at chicken stock worked out so well that I couldn't wait to try it again.

This time, I also used a rotisserie chicken carcass, but I omitted the apple.  I added carrot, onion, celery, and some kale that was soon going to go bad.  We were home all day, so it simmered on low for about five hours.

When the stock was ready, I strained it and then made Italian Wedding Soup with it.  I wanted to make something that was warm, hearty, and had lots of veggies and lots of meat (my carnivorous husband has been putting up with a lot of vegan cooking lately -- he's earned it).

10-12 cups of chicken stock (preferably home-made!)
1 pound of sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
1 piece of Ezekiel bread
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 egg whites
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup small, uncooked pasta, like ditalini
4 cups chopped dark, leafy greens (I used mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens, and spinach)

Rip the Ezekiel bread and put it in the blender to pulse into crumbs.  Put the crumbs, sausage, and egg whites into a bowl and then mush together by hand.  Form into 1-inch meatballs.  Put olive oil into a pan and brown the meatballs in batches.  [They don't have to cook all the way through, but they should be brown on all sides.]

Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside, but leave the oil in the pan.

Put the carrots, celery, and garlic in the same pan and cook for about 3 minutes.  Then put the chicken stock, the veggies, the meatballs, and the pasta in a large pot.  Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 45 minutes.  After 45 minutes, add the dark, leafy greens and cook for 15 minutes more.  Serve.

This meal made the whole family happy: veggies for me, meat for my hubby, and soft finger food (cut up meatballs, carrots, celery, and pasta) for the toddler and baby.  A winner!

Beef and Greens Masala

Lest I give the impression that I now eat exclusively home-cooked, from-scratch food for every meal, I wanted to share what I eat when I do eat packaged, processed food.  It's increasingly rare for me to eat this way, but we all have our busy weeknights when nothing else will work.

Trader Joe's is my saving grace.  I am a compulsive label reader for processed foods, and I find that Trader Joe's food is cleaner than most.  Their convenience foods are tasty, inexpensive, and -- for the most part -- up to my exacting standards in terms of lack of chemical ingredients and minimal added salt, sugar, fat, etc.

Tonight's dinner came together in one skillet in fifteen minutes.

1 pound Trader Joe's shaved beef
1 bag Trader Joe's "Southern Greens Blend" (mustard, turnip, collards, spinach)
2 jars Masala Simmer Sauce
1 cup of water

Put the beef in the skillet over medium-high heat.  Add as many of the greens as will fit (about half the bag).  When the greens start to wilt and there is more room, add the rest of the greens.  When the beef is just about cooked (5 minutes), add the two jars of sauce and one cup of water.  Simmer for ten minutes.  Serve.

Assuming four servings, you can expect to get the following nutritional value from this "fast food."
About 75 percent of your Vitamin A
About 50 percent of your Vitamin C
About 20 percent of your Calcium
About 30 percent of your Iron

Meanwhile, you will have consumed only:
300 calories (15 percent of a 2,000-calories a day diet)
20 percent of your daily value of fat
30 percent of your daily value of saturated fat
25 percent of your daily value of sodium

Who needs a Lean Cuisine?!

Garlicky Sauteed Collard Greens

This standard recipe works with pretty much any dark, leafy green.  I happened to have collard greens in my fridge.

First, I started a pot of water boiling.

Then I cut the stems out of the collard greens.  They're much too thick to eat.  I'd like to say I saved them for a veggie stock, but I didn't.  I still have a lot of chicken soup left over!

I stacked three or four leaves together at a time, rolled them up, and cut them into ribbons.  [Thank you wisdom of the Interwebs for that trick!]

I tossed them in the boiling water for about two minutes and then drained them.  From there, I dried them (not thoroughly, but I didn't want them to be dripping...) and then put them in a skillet with a teaspoon chopped garlic, a teaspoon of olive oil and some red pepper flakes.  I pushed them around with a spoon until they were coated well with the olive oil and the garlic was browned, about three minutes.

Voila!  A fancy and nutritious side that's easy enough to make on a weeknight.

Apple Cider Pork Burritos

This idea is totally original (scary!) and came to me as I thought about the produce and meat I still had remaining in the fridge from last week’s shopping (a pork tenderloin, collard greens, and apple cider).  They turned out exactly as I hoped they would!

1 lb pork tenderloin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onions
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 cups apple cider
2 cups cooked brown rice
large bunch of collard greens

Preheat the over to 350 degrees.

Brown the pork tenderloin on all sides in a small amount of olive oil and then transfer to a baking pan that has been lightly coated in non-stick spray.

Bake the pork tenderloin for 30 minutes or until done.

In the same skillet you used for the pork, add garlic and onion and cook until fragrant. Then add about two cups of apple cider. [I had some that I’d earlier spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.] Allow to simmer on low.

Remove the thick stems from a bunch of collard greens and blanch for about 30 seconds in hot water.

Cook brown rice so that you have about two cups, cooked.

When the pork comes out of the oven, shred into a bowl using two forks.

Then, pour the onion, garlic, and apple cider mixture into the bowl.

Put about a teaspoon of rice and a small mound of pork onto each collard green. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper and roll up like a burrito.

Enjoy!

These were sweet and satisfying; an autumn treat in a pretty, vibrant package.  I had come across many recipes online for vegan things wrapped in a collard green, but it was absolutely transcendent with meat.  Plus, it'll be hard enough getting my husband to eat this green thing, and he's much more likely to do it if there's the promise of pork inside.