Black Eyed Pea Sausage Soup

Black Eyed Pea Sausage Soup

New Year’s Luck Soup (a soup version of Hoppin’ John)

2 lb dried black eyed peas

1 lb cooked link sausage of your choice (I used a chicken sausage – Adelle’s Pineapple-Bacon)

3 quarts chicken or vegetable broth plus water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 yellow onions, chopped

3 cups carrots, chopped

3 cups celery, chopped

6 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 bay leaves

1.    Sort through black eyed peas, removing pebbles, debris, etc.   Cover black eyed peas with water – about 2” above the level of the peas in your pot.  Soak for 4 hours or overnight.

2.    Caramelize onions in olive oil, then add the other vegetables and sauté them until all are tender.

3.    Add vegetables and bay leaves to stockpot and add drained, soaked black eyed peas.  Add broth.  Add more liquid as needed to keep the peas submerged during cooking.  Simmer several hours until peas are soft. 

4.    At this point, you may wish to remove several cups of the mixture and puree in the blender to make a creamier soup base.  Return the puree to the pot and add the diced cooked sausage and Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  Simmer 30 minutes longer, taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

5.    For my New Year’s Open House, I made this soup the day before and reheated to serve it from the crock pot.  The flavor seemed to improve the second day.

Shanghai Chicken Wings

Shanghai Chicken Wings

Adapted from “More from the Gluten Free Gourmet”

By Bette Hagman

2 ½ lbs chicken wings

1 cup honey
1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger root

¼ cup dry white wine (or rice wine)

¼ cup apple juice

¼ cup Tamari sauce (gluten free soy sauce)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pat chicken wings dry.

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, mix together the honey, ginger, wine, apple juice and soy sauce.

Place the chicken wings in a 9” x 13” pan or casserole.  Drizzle with the marinade.  Let set for at least 1 hour (may be marinated in the refrigerator overnight), and bake for 45 minutes, turning every 15 minutes until golden brown and tender.

Serve immediately, or cool, refrigerate and reheat the next day.

Serves  8 to10 as an appetizer.

* I confess, I do not eat these myself because the Tamari sauce does contain soy - which is a problem food for me.

Caramel Corn

 I have been making this recipe for many years.  This adaptation uses coconut oil.

Cindy’s Caramel Corn

About ¾ cup unpopped corn.  Pop and pour into a very large bowl or kettle (2­₊ gallon size)

Place up to 1 lb nuts on top (optional).  Raw Spanish peanuts, pecans or almonds are good choices if you choose to add nuts

Caramel:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

½ cup coconut oil

2 cups cane sugar

½ cup honey

1 t. salt

Add caramel ingredients to saucepan.  Stir constantly over medium high heat until boiling.  Boil 5 minutes without stirring.

Mix together 1 teaspoon vanilla extract with ½ teaspoon soda.  Stir this into syrup.  It will foam and bubble.  Then, pour syrup over popcorn, mixing lightly and trying to coat the popcorn (and nuts, if added).

Spread into two 12” x 18” baking pans (or equivalent)

Bake at 250 degrees for one hour.  Stir every 15 minutes, scraping syrup from the bottom of the pan and redistributing over corn and nuts.

Spread onto waxed paper to cool.

*  I have made this successfully substituting with 1 cup safflower oil  – completely eliminating the margarine/butter.

* To make  a "lighter" version of this recipe, just pop more popcorn.  Then, the coating is distributed over more popcorn, making a thinner coating.  The last time I made this, I popped up 1 cup of popcorn and used the same syrup recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup

 This is a recipe from Meshell.  She was gifted with a squash from Grandma's garden and she made this delicious soup!  I do not eat any food in the gourd family, so I was not able to enjoy it beyond a tiny taste.  Yum!

Buttercup Squash Soup
Adapted by Meshell Shumaker

1 medium to large size Buttercup squash
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 small, or 1 large, yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock

Generous pinch of ground ginger
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cut the squash in half, scoop out seeds and stringy insides, then prick flesh with a fork. Brush 1 tablespoon of olive oil on flesh and set halves face down in baking sheet in approximately 1/2 inch of water. Bake for about 45 minutes until flesh is soft.
3. While squash is baking, caramelize onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
4. After squash is tender, scoop flesh out of skin.
5. In a food processor, add roasted squash, onions, coconut milk, stock, salt, and pepper and process until smooth. Serve.

Makes approximately 8 servings.

Gluten Free Turkey Pot Pie (or Chicken)

My family looks forward to the leftovers from holiday turkey dinners.  I make as much gravy as possible in order to have enough left over for pot pie.  This is such a comfort food!

Turkey Pot Pie

I make this pie with whatever I happen to have leftover.  Quantities can be varied according to preference and availability.

1.    Lightly grease a 9 x 13” baking dish

2.    Sprinkle cubed cooked turkey or chicken evenly over the bottom of the dish, along with any other cooked vegetables you may wish to add.  If you have enough to fill the pan 2/3 full, you may not need to add more vegetables.

3.    If more vegetables are needed, peel and cube carrots, parsnips, potatoes, onion, celery and add them to a 4 quart pot.  Cover with water or turkey or chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes until tender.  If you want to add other vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, or green peas – add them for the last 5 minutes so they don’t overcook.

4.    If you have used water for cooking, drain off excess, if you have used broth, thicken it with a paste of equal parts brown rice flour and tapioca starch flower mixed with water. 

5.    Now, add whatever leftover gravy you have to the pot in which you cooked the vegetables and stir to heat it through.

6.    Pour the vegetable gravy mixture over the meat in the baking dish.

7.    Gently cover the top of the gravy, meat and vegetable mixture with a thin layer of crust (recipe below).  

8.    Bake at 400 degrees until crust is golden brown and gravy is bubbling around the edges of the pot pie.

Crust

2 cups brown rice flour

½ cup tapioca starch flour

1 tsp. xanthan gum

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

Cut in ¼ cup solid coconut oil (you can use any other solid shortening you like – even margarine is OK) until dough is crumbly – like a pie crust.

Add approximately ¾ cup water or dairy free liquid (I use coconut milk) as needed to make a firm dough.

Mix until the dough holds together, adding more liquid as needed.

Roll out between 2 sheets of waxed paper (dough is sticky)

Cut into 3” squares with a pizza cutter and use a pancake turner to transfer squares to the baking dish which is now filled with the turkey stew.  Overlap squares as needed to cover dish completely.

*Any leftovers are a treat sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and baked on a cookie sheet.