Homemade Chicken Bullion Powder

For the past two years I have been stalking the grocery aisles and combing the internet trying to find a Whole 30 compliant chicken bullion. I have read dozens of labels and can’t

$++worry about it going bad.

So I started researching homemade chicken boullion and was amazed to find many people are as appalled with the crap in commercially produced bullion as I am. So many awesome choices out there. I tried making several. The recipe finally chose to adapt said it tasted just like commercially made bullion. I was very sceptical but I heated some water, added the bullion in the recommended amount and stirred. I took a drink and you know what? It wasn’t as good as commercially made bullion, it was better. I am so excited to start adapting some of my favorite non-Whole 30 recipes for my next Whole 30.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted From Cooking Jack

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1 1/2 TBS minced dried onion

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp rosemary

1 1/2 tsp thyme

1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

1 1/2 tsp marjoram

1 1/2 tsp sage

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 tsp celery salt

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

1 TBS paprika

Combine everything in a small bowl and mix well. Place 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture into a spice grinder at a time and grind into a fine powder. Let the powder settle for a minute before opening the grinder and transfer to small, airtight container.

To use: add 1 teaspoon bullion to 1 cup water and stir very well.

Muffin Mania #6 Cranberry Orange Soda Bread

I was going to start a Whole 30 on March 1st. Then I realized St. Patrick’s day is on March 17th. I know for most people St. Patrick’s day isn’t that big of deal but for me, it’s almost as big as Christmas, as far as food goes. I always have my friends who like it, over for a traditional corned beef dinner with several different kinds of soda breads and desserts.

My passion for St. Patrick’s Day started the second time I went to college. I know you are thinking green beer and a night out at the bar. It couldn’t be further from that. My second trip to college, I got involved with a group of people on campus who volunteered at the Presentation sisters annual St. Patrick’s day block party. Yep, I am so cool I partied with the Nuns. It was a big community party with tons of stuff for the kids to take part in and tons of corned beef, cabbage and soda bread to eat.

The first year I volunteered, I was in the kitchen with the older ladies. I didn’t appreciate it as much then as I would now because I was a long way from wanting to learn how to cook at that point in my life. But one of my best food memories is entering that kitchen for the first time and seeing row after row of craggy, rustic, rough looking soda bread. I didn’t know what it was but it was so pretty and smelled so good. I got one taste and was hooked for life.

The second year, the Nuns discovered my secret talent of being able to make balloon sculpture and moved me into the room with the kids entertainment. I never got to go back to the kitchen again.

Cranberry Orange Soda Bread

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted From Kitchen Treaty

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 TBS sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 TBS cold butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup plus 6 TBS buttermilk

3 TBS lightly beaten egg

1/2 tsp orange zest

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the butter and use two knives to cut it into the flour until the butter is the size of rice. Add dried cranberries and stir well.

In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Lightly flour a cutting board. Turn out the dough and knead a minute or two, until it all comes together.

Shape into a round loaf. Cut an x across the top about 1/4 inch deep. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

Muffin Mania #5 Chocolate Chip Soda Bread

This morning was a strange morning. Just before I left for work I took my garbage out. Just as I was tossing the bag into the dumpster, I stubbed my toe on a snowbank. For people who live where it doesn’t snow or snows very little, a snowbank shouldn’t actually hurt your toes. I looked down and saw something sticking out of the snow. When I pulled it out of the snow to toss it in the dumpster, I found a beautiful cast iron pan, complete with lid. Apparently, it had been there for a little while because it was covered with snow and had a light coat of rust on the surface. My cook’s heart was shocked that some one would treat an obviously expensive piece of equipment that way.

But wait, there is more. I am going up the back flight of steps to get my new treasure back to my apartment quicker when I, literally, tripped over a 8 quart stick pot some one left in the middle of the hallway. I waited a while to see if someone would come to claim it but no one did. So that went home with me too. I posted a note on both exit doors saying if you lost a piece of cooking equipment I found it. Come to apartment 7 to claim it. I know the pan was a left behind because of where I found it and the condition it was in. Given the location I found it and it’s pristine condition, the stock pot could have just been set down and forgotten about. If someone claims it I will gladly give it back. If no one comes to claim it, I will just as gladly keep it and use it.

Chocolate Chip Soda Bread

From Just About Baked

2 cups all purpose flour

2 TBS sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 TBS butter, cut into small cubed

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup plus 2 1/2 TBS buttermilk

1 egg

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt, mix well.

Add the butter cubes and use two knives to cut the butter into the flour until its pieces about the size of a grain of rice. You can also just get in there with your fingers and massage the butter into the flour. Add the chocolate chips.

In another medium bowl, add butter milk and egg. Beat to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Turn the dough out onto a cutting board covered with a little extra flour. Knead the dough for a minute or so, until it comes together.

Place the dough on a baking sheet sprayed cooking spray. Shape it into a round loaf. Use a serrated knife to cut an x about 1/4 inch deep on the top of the loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

It’s The Simple Things

Sometimes it’s easy to forget, any meal can be gourmet when it’s filled with love, laughter and friends.

Chicken Potato Hash (Whole 30)

Breakfasts on the Whole 30 are hard. Not only do they want us to give up everything we normally think of as breakfast, pancakes, muffins, cereal and the like, and they want us to replace it with vegetables. Ughhh!

Lets talk about the one traditional breakfast food you are allowed to have, eggs. By the end of your first round you are going to hate them, a lot. So leading up to my next Whole 30 in April, I am going to publish several quick and easy Whole 30 breakfast recipes that have no eggs or can be made without eggs. Most of these recipes where inspired by recipes in my big white binder of recipes for one or two. The idea for quick and easy breakfasts using simple sauces and spices came from Mel Joulwan’s 28 Day Paleo Plan magazine. Her Chicken Potato Hash has become one of my most breakfasts on and off round.

Chicken Potato Hash

• Difficulty: Easy
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From Mel Joulwan’s 28 Day Paleo Plan magazine

1 TBS olive oil

8 – 12 oz cooked chicken

1 cup cooked potatoes

2 – 3 scallions

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 lemon

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Meanwhile, dice the chicken and potatoes, add them to the skillet. Saute until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Slice the scallions and add to the skillet with the salt and paprika. Stir well and cook until heated through. Squeeze the lemon over the top. Stir and serve.