Pumped Up Creamy Tomato Sauce

Yesterday I found myself staring aimlessly at our cupboards trying to plan a meal for my crew. After a few days of soup I was craving pasta but we didn't have any sauce left. I whipped this up in about 10 minutes then set it in the crockpot.

1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas (rinsed)
2 zucchinis (peeled and sliced)
1 portabello mushroom (sliced)
4T quinoa
1T basil
Salt and pepper to taste
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream

I dumped everything but the cheese and milk into the crockpot on high for 3 hours. Once the zucchini and mushroom were fork tender I took out my trust hand blender and creamed it. For my picky kids, this is essential.  To be fair it spreads over pasta better too. Once it's creamy (watch out for those stray chickpeas!), blend in the cream and then the cheese. Taste it and spice accordingly. The chickpeas made the sauce creamy but also dulled the flavour, so the cheese and some pepper make a big difference.

We served this with tortellini last night. An easy, nutrient dense meal that the kids didn't balk at. Today at lunch I used it as the sauce for personal pita pizzas and it was a big hit again. I love no repeat repeats!

The Lord's My Shepherd

Recently you may have noticed our family is on a home made kick. Baby girl is 6 months old now, and I'm back to my characteristic level of energy and enthusiasm. We've been spending more at our local farmer's market than at the grocery store, which is a good sign that I've been doing more from scratch. With the exception of one loaf this week, I've made all our bread, pizza dough, and rolls entirely from scratch. Today, with the help of the three big kids (if you can call a 22 month old, a 3 year old and a 4 year old big), we made some beef stock from scratch. With the exception of a little bit of rice or pasta here and there, everything is made fresh from food we're picking up at the market. I don't want any of the busy and harried folks out there to think that I'm badgering you about it, or that I think you absolutely have to do it. First of all, it's not my business what you all do in your kitchens. It's a lot of work, it takes a lot of planning, and really forces a change of diet pretty much immediately if you go all in.

I'm not bragging, trust me. My dedication to our new meal plan really would have waivered and probably failed by now if it weren't for a few circumstances that have forced me to dig in my heels and make it work. First of all, we've gradually emptied our pantry and freezer of processed or ready-to-make foods. It's hard to reach for frozen pizza when there isn't one. With 4 kids and 2 adults, it's not exactly cheap to hit the fast food chains either. With that, I'm left with whatever is fresh that we bought. It's forcing me to follow my meal plan and I must admit I love not having to think about what's on the menu. There's no last minute running to the store for a missing ingredient, which is another bonus. Secondly, baby girl has started on solids, and I absolutely refuse to use bottled or packaged foods for her. Ignoring all the recalls on that stuff lately, I can't get behind all the added preservatives and things. What's wrong with a few sweet potatoes and an ice cube tray?

The biggest reason we haven't been stocking up on frozen pizza, canned goods, and questionable grocery store meats, stems from recent instructions from the dietition trying to help my husband through his stomach issues. He's a type 1 diabetic and has recently been blighted by paralysis of the stomach. It's not a highly common complication, but once the doctor's figured it out, it was like the puzzle pieces of the past 6 or 7 years fell into place. When I met my husband he wasn't well, and was having problems understanding random low and high blood sugars unrelated to meal times. It turns out his stomach has been holding food, and most of the time only allowing it into his intestinal track as much as a week later, which was causing random jumps in his blood sugar. He's been losing weight lately and in terrible pain. Luckily, the doctors have been able to prescribe him a cocktail of drugs that are working together to make his stomach contract so that it can empty. The medications are only one side of his treatment. The other side, the side that is the long lasting treatment, is a drastic change in diet. First on the list was to eat smaller, more nutritious quantities of protein. The second was to reduce the quantity of fiber he was ingesting (these days even most white bread is fortified to have higher fiber content, thus our homemade variety is safer). He also has to stay away from anything with a high fat content. They also suggested he eat more soft cooked veggies, particularly in the blended form in soups, and to avoid processed foods whenever possible. I could be wrong, but to me that sounds a lot like the meal plan my husband and I worked on together. With baby girl well on her way with solids, a lot of these foods were on our list for her too.

Once again I sit in the face of what should have been a sudden and scary situation that would have changed our lives drastically in a matter or days, but instead of fear I'm left with the deep convictions of God's providence. God has once again led us, so gently, so slowly, to exactly where we needed to be, having armed us with the knowledge we need to do what's right. When we first got the phone call about this major dietary change we were scared and upset, but as the days went on we realised we were already there. If I needed any more proof of God's abiding love and faithfulness to us in a time when all else is falling apart, here it is. In every hour, I find God holding me, carrying me through the rough times.

For our wedding mass, we chose the psalm "The Lord's My Shepherd". I feel like we have made that psalm the motto of our marriage. Thank you, God, for leading us gently, and for loving us in times of fear and struggle. Perhaps instead of 40 days and nights in the desert, God is choosing 40 days and night of rain for our lives. Either way I know at the end God's promise stands firm, as a rainbow in the sky and the Cross on a hill faraway.

I will trust in you alone. I will trust in you alone. For your endless mercy follows me. Your goodness will lead me home.

Mixed Veggie Egg Drop Soup

When baby girl was born hubby and I practically lived off soup. I would pop the ingredients in the crockpot and know we had a good nutritious meal waiting. Again, this one isn't so much as recipe as a guideline with a few suggestions.

Chop up whatever veggies are in season and fill up your crockpot about 3/4 of the way full. Add any spices you want or if you like, some pre-cooked sausage or bacon. If you want to have a starch, potatoes can go in now but things like rice or pasta will need to be in the last hour of cooking as they expand too much with extensive slow cooking. Fill up your crockpot with the stock of your choice, leaving about an inch at the top so the soup can bubble away. Cook on low for 8 hours. For the second day you can add a little more stock and cook it again for another 4-6 hours.

For the egg drop part of this soup to work it needs to be absolutely piping hot. If it's not, transfer 4 cups of broth from your crock to a pot on your stove top and bring that to a boil. Once it's bubbling away carefully stir in however many eggs you like (I'd go for 4 or even 6 for a meal to last two days). Make sure to break the yolks and lets it all spread about. Your eggs will cook right into the broth. If you've cooked them on the stovetop transfer it back into your crockpot and stir it in so it's evenly distributed. You'll notice the egg adds a really unique and delicious flavour to your soup while adding a kick of protein.

Sausage Meatballs

This isn't really a recipe, more like cooking instructions! The butcher's wife clued me into this amazing meal idea after I bemoaned the fact that I had ruined the handmade sausages I bought from Getaway Meat Mongers the previous week. Because these pre-spiced sausages are hand cased, they're so easy to use in a lot of different ways. All you have to do is gently squeeze and the sausage meat comes right out. At that point you can either shape them into patties and pan fry them, or, as I prefer, form them into several small meat balls. As I recall I got an easy five out of each sausage which was a great because it felt like less went further with each of us getting several. Portion control is in the eyes, as they say. Once I'd formed my wee army of meatballs I put them on a foil or parchment lined cookie sheet and baked them at 350F for about 15-20 minutes. The best way to check them is to make a victim of one of the meatballs and cut it in half to make sure it's cooked all the way through.

Once you've made your meatballs you can serve them on top of pasta with sauce, or with simple sides of veggies and potatoes, rice or even quinoa.

Dijon Spice Pork Tenderloin

This meal is a splurge so when we have it we really love it and savour it. For such a complex tasting dish it's surprisingly easy to prepare. In medium skillet roast 2 tablespoons each whole peppercorns and cumin. You'll know it's ready when the smell of the spices really hits you. Put them on a cutting board and crush them all with the back of your pan. When that's done cover your pork tenderloin with dijon mustard and then roll it in your crushed spices.

Place your fully coated tenderloin on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 400F 25 minutes, or until the juices run clear when you pierce it with a fork. Before you pick this delightful little roast up with your bare hands and eat it like a caveman make sure you let it sit for 5 minutes. By doing this you'll let the juices and flavours distribute evenly through the whole tenderloin. Slice into little tranches of meat and serve with seasonal veggies and buttered potatoes.

Crockpot Beef Stew

In the middle of today's craziness and chaos, I had a moment of pure delight. Well, several if you count the every day miracle that is the perfect love of a child multiplied by four. I was lucky to have one of those precious moments with each of my children today. Now, this was balanced by a level of general insanity that movies like "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Yours, Mine and Ours" can only attempt to rival. Let's just say, thank God the markers were washable, the clothes changeable, and the boo boos kissable.

Back to my moment of pure delight. This was the kind that had nothing to do with the kids, yet anyway. They were calmly playing for the moment so I went off to the kitchen to get a start on supper. Thanks to my trusty crockpot I knew 20 minutes of prep could make for a delicious supper that I didn't need to worry about burning while I attended to the needs of my 4 little ones. I had some beef that we'd picked up at the Seaport Market on Saturday. It was stew cut beef from sustainably raised, exclusively grass-fed cows, beautifully aged and expertly butchered by a real Butcher (baby girl's Godfather as it happens) that we purchased at Getaway Meat Mongers. Soooo good. Besides that we had picked up some vegetables from the Noggins Farm stall at the Market, namely potatoes, rainbow carrots, cremini mushrooms, and leeks. As soon as I saw the stew beef I knew I had to make a classic recipe from my Mom's cookbook: Beef Stew (or Beef Ragout). I made a few tweeks to her recipe but overall this is her version of the hearty classic. As I type this the smell of the rich spices and fresh produce are wafting through our house, covering up nicely the pile of wet diapers hiding in our livingroom. Here's the recipe!

1lb stew beef
6-8 cubed medium potatoes
6-8 rainbow carrots cut in discs
3 chopped leeks (green and white parts)
1lb sliced cremini mushrooms
2 28oz cans diced tomatoes
4 cups beef broth
2 bay leaves (remember to remove before serving!)
2 cloves crushed and minced garlic
1/2 tsp pepper
2 T Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp allspice
4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Combine everything but the meat in your crockpot. In a large pan put 1T olive oil on medium heat. Dredge your stew beef in flour. Shake off excess flour and brown all sides of your meat. This will seal in the juices and therefore your flavour! You will be able to tell your pan is ready by dropping a pinch of flour in. If the flour bubbles and cooks it's ready for your meat. Once your meat is browned, add it to the other incredients in your crock. Take a spatula and get all the juices from the bottom of your pan and put them in the crockpot too. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-7 hours. This is one that you can refridgerate and cook again on low for another 4-6 hours the next day. The sauce will reduce and get more rich!