The Fast Five (Whole 30)

Taped to the inside of my  cupboard doors are 5 recipes.  I always keep the ingredients for these recipes on hand for those days when cooking seems like a chore, not a joy.  The recipes can be made in 20 minutes or less. The recipes weren’t Whole 30 so I can’t use them on a round.  I really missed them.  So I decided before I did my second round I would have a Whole 30 version of my fast five.  This is what I came up with.  At this point,  I probably could add many more quick and easy recipes to this list.  Like cooking in general,  cooking a Whole 30 only has to be as complicated as you want to make it. Find the non Whole 30 recipes for my Fast Five under the title of What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking.

Sloppy Joes

Pan Fried Sardines

Teriyaki Chicken

 20 Minute Beef and Zuccini Stir Fry

Tuna Salad, 2 Ways

Rosemary Cheddar Soda Bread

Saint Patrick’s day is a  little over a month away so it is time for the annual lets find new flavors of soda  bread challenge.  Every year,  I host a small gathering of people who have the good taste to like corned beef and cabbage.  Every year, it is my job to bring one or two loaves of a new flavor of soda bread.   It’s getting harder and hard to find flavor combinations  I haven’t tried.

This year I was inspired by a bunch of fresh rosemary I was trying to find a use for,  I googled rosemary soda bread and the recipe for this rosemary an cheddar soda bread came up.   It sounds a little weird but tastes really good.

Soda bread is also a very forgiving thing to bake, you just can’t mess it up.  I got all the dry ingredients mix up only to realize I didn’t have any baking powder and what I thought was buttermilk was actually skim milk, fine for drinking but horrible for soda bread. A run to the store just wasn’t possible at 4 am.   Yeah, I bake at 4 in the morning.  It beats laying in bed and being pissed I can’t sleep.  So I tried some homemade substitutions I had in my notebook for sour milk and a home made baking powder.  The substitutions worked really well, except the baking soda left a light blue tint in some areas.  It was still good.

 

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted from Foodnessgracious

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp cracked black pepper

1 TBS   fresh chopped rosemary

1 cup sharp cheddar, cubed

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 TBS lightly beaten egg

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.   Spray a baking sheet with a non stick spray.  In a medium bowl,  add the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, pepper, rosemary and cheese. Mix well.  In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk and lightly beaten egg.  Mix well.  Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture.  Mix until it becomes a sticky ball.  Dump the dough out onto a flour dusted work surface and roughly knead the dough into a ball shape. It may be on the wet side so have some extra flour on hand for dusting. Place the dough onto the prepared baking tray.  Using a sharp knife, cut on x about 1/4 inch deep across the loaf.  Bake at 425 degrees for 25-35 minutes and the top is golden.  Let cool 20 minute before serving. 

Small Batch Chicken Broth In A Mini Pressure Cooker (Whole 30)

Calling all mini pressure cooker (3 1/2 quarts or less) owners.  There is finally someone creating pressure cooker recipes just for you.   Christina Lane, of Dessert For Two, is pressure cooking’s newest fan and she is creating small batch recipes for her Instapot mini and sharing them with us.

I really like this recipe because it is almost impossible to find a broth without sugar or soy in it. Why? Why? Why?   The batch makes enough for one reasonably sized batch of soup.

A Small Batch of Chicken Broth In The Pressure Cooker

Brussels Sprouts Salad (Whole 30)

Good grief!!!  How did it get to be Saturday and I haven’t posted anything?  It isn’t that I haven’t been cooking.   I think the problem is most of what I have been cooking isn’t mine to share.  I was picked to help recipe test for  a cookbook that is coming out in the fall.  Since the cookbook isn’t small batch I have sooooo many leftovers.   I will share more with you when I can.  For now I will tell you it is going to be an awesome  electric pressure cooker cookbook when it comes out.

In the mean time,  I am going to tell you about another cookbook that is already out and you should have in your cookbook library.  On Sunday,  I picked up a copy of Mark Bittman’s 10th anniversary edition of How To Cook Everything Vegetarian.   My love for Mark Bittman is no secret so it was no surprise,  I love this book.  The book isn’t just a reprint of the original How To Cook Everything Vegetarian.  The majority of the recipes are new.  The recipes have also been revised to rely less on dairy and cheese to fill out the recipes  so many of them can easily be made Whole 30 compliant, which has become important to me.   As usual,  Mark Bittman’s recipes use ingredients you probably have on hand already.

I noticed two things about this book that are different from his other How To Cook Everything books.  First,  there are absolutely gorgeous food photography.  Mr.  Bittman”s other How To Cook Everything books have  line drawings.   The second thing I noticed about this book is the recipes don’t have as many variations to each recipe as the original How To Cook Everything Vegetarian does.  I think this is in line with Mark Bittman’s adoption of a simpler style of eating and in no way detracts from the loveliness of this book.  `

Brussels Sprouts Salad

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted From The 10th Anniversary Edition How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

3/4 lb Brussels sprouts

salt

2 1/2 TBS olive oil

1 TBS lemon juice

1/2 small red onion

1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped

1/4 cup nuts, chopped

Using a paring knife thinly slice the Brussels sprouts.  Transfer the sprouts to a medium bowl.  Add a pinch of salt and gently work the salt through the sprouts with your hands.  Just left, separate the strands while rubbing the salt through it.   Add the olive oil, lemon juice,  red onion, cranberries, and nuts.  Mix well.   Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 6 hours.   

Salad Dressings (Whole 30)

A few days ago, a lady came through my line at work with a bunch of compliant things