Greek-style chicken with Lemon and Oregano

1/27/11
So yesterday I made this chicken, and it tasted like chicken.   That could be the end of this post.   I put it in the crock pot on low for 6 hours with the sauce and turned it a few times to get coated.  The sauce is 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 large cloves of garlic, juice of 2 lemons, 2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and you are supposed to garnish with lemon slices.
Tasted like a chicken.

The orignal recipe calls for you to put it in the oven at 350 degrees and pour the sauce over it.  Cook it for 30 minutes basting once, then flip and cook another 30-40 minutes.  IF you want you can put under the broiler for 2 minutes to crisp up the skin.  and garnish.
I didn't even take pictures, because it looked like.... you got it.  Chicken.

I was just hoping for some yummy flavors or something and there was nothing.  The sauce smelled so good when it was mixed.  I may at some point bake chicken breasts with this flavor combo and that would probably be good as a marinade, but roasting a whole chicken in it just doesn't do anything with the flavors.

We haven't had the best week this week, with Eli having a dry cough and runny nose, and the congestion has made him gag on his food a couple of times.  And his speech therapy today is cancelled because his therapist is sick (she sounds aweful on the phone).  I just don't have any appetite for some reason, just nothing sounds good. And Lyle said he felt a little sick to his stomach yesterday but didn't get sick. 
Also of concern is finances at the minute.  Seems like the first of the year is the only time we have a credit card balance.  So I'm not going to do new recipes this next week, but I still have the butternut squash to do.  One good thing though is that we will be going to Cincinnatti in a few weeks after my sister has my new nephew (no name) and we'll spend a chunk of change at Jungle Jim's to get things we can't find her locally to make things (especially flours and shortening I hope!)
So once we're back from that we'll be able to make muffins, pancakes, buscuits and more!

Turkey Meatloaf

So I was supposed to make meatloaf last night....and I didn't.  We went to Walmart and had a junk food run and didn't get back in time for the hour cooking meatloaf takes. 
So today while I was finally taking time to make Chicken Tortilla Bake for my sister's freezer (not Eli friendly. a recipe I got from my sister in law Patti before Ella was born as something to freeze and cook later) I mixed all the ingredients for meat loaf and put in the fridge so I had no reason to procrastinate again.  Part of the procrastination in truth is the fact that I've never tasted a meat loaf I really like, and the ground turkey is getting old and I'm tired of it!

So that said...look back a few posts for all the ingredients and mix them all in a bowl.  Put in a loaf pan or a deep baking dish and cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  This recipe makes a huge loaf, and I'm not sure it would fit in a loaf pan even if I could find mine!  Here's before cooking:

And here's after on the plate:

So the critics say:  Lyle thinks it's missing something but thinks all meatloaf is missing something...just not sure what.  (Translation: wants more seasoning, and since this only has salt, pepper, and parsley it wouldn't be hard to experiment).

I didn't think it was too bad...for meatloaf.  I  didn't feel like I was choking it down or anything.  And another point Lyle made was the Turkey meat was very moist and wasn't dry or hard like a lot of meat loafs.

Ella said "I actually like this mom"  High praise from her.

Eli ate more than half of his, so that's good...but he started scratching his hands after and I'm not sure if that's something messing with his skin or him just being itchy.

So long story short...I think we'll try again sometime and experiment with Italian style seasonings and extra veggies and Mexican style seasonings and veggies.  All in all a decent dinner.

Everyday Sweet Potato Bake and more!

1/20/11

My computer isn’t getting along with me today and I’m not sure why…so I’ll see if I can get this posted today.

Yesterday I made another big pot of the Lady from Naples Red Sauce that turned out yummy and I made a bunch of lasagna to go along with it.  This isn’t allergy friendly, Eli just had his noodles and sauce, but I made several to put in our freezer and two to go to my sister’s house since her baby is due within a few weeks. 

Also today, I made Everyday Sweet Potato Bake.  I took 3 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut them into one inch pieces.  I boiled covered in water 15-20 minutes until tender.  When the potatoes are tender, you drain them and return them to the pot.  You add 2 Tbsp of canola oil, ½ tsp cinnamon, 1 ½ Tbsp maple sugar(I used brown sugar), and ¾ cup of orange juice and mix with blender.  If you need, add a little more orange juice to make a nice whipped potato consistency.  Spoon whipped potatoes into greased casserole or loaf pan and arrange some orange slices on top.  Crumble a little more maple or brown sugar on top and a little cinnamon too.  Bake about 1 hour until sugar becomes caramelized and orange slices are cooked and tender.  I placed these in small, individual baking dishes because I have made this before and Eli is the only one who liked it, so this way I made one for tonight and the rest in the freezer for some other day!

I attempted to make a Indian Rice Pancake our speech therapist told me about...um it ended up just being a bowl of wet rice with some lentils.  It was supposed to be able to be made into a batter but it never happened after soaking for hours, so that idea is tabled.

I was going to make the Turkey Meatloaf finally, but I got tired of cooking and I ran out of time before dinner (forgot it takes an hour!)  So that’s on the menu tonight, and I plan on making another non-Eli friendly meal for the freezer for my sister again probably today.  I like cooking but yesterday I spent from 8 am until 12:30 cooking and had to do two loads of dishes and already have another load stacked up before starting again today-Booo!!!

Shopping list this week- Greek Style Chicken with Lemon and Oregano, Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup

So today with have 2 posts cause I swear I posted this yesterday!!!

Ingredients -
Greek Style Chicken with Lemon and Oregano-
  3 lb chicken, quartered
  1/2 cup olive oil
  juice of 2 lemons
  3 large garlic cloves, minced
  2 tsp oregano
  1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
lemon slices

Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup-
  1 large butternut squash
  2 Tbsp olive oil
  2 Tbsp maple syrup
  Spinkle of cinnamon

Simple and cheap this week! 

Ratatouille

So Saturday night I made Ratatouille while we watched Disney’s movie Ratatouille….and it didn’t convince Ella to eat it!  LOL!

So, see my last post for ingredients.  And this recipe like most of my others is from The Whole Food Allergy Cookbook by Cybele Pascal.

Here’s what I did:  Cooked garlic and onion in olive oil over medium heat in a big pot until soft, then add the medium eggplant cut in 1 ½ inch cubes and zucchini cut in ½ in rounds (I would cut a little smaller because they took forever to cook to the softness we wanted). Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add green peppers cut into 1 inch pieces and cover and cook 5 more minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper.  Cover and cook over low heat about 20 minutes until all vegetables are tender but not mushy (I had to cook ours nearly 40 minutes for the zucchini to be mostly tender and the tomatoes by then were a sauce.  Worked okay for us, but like I said before I should have sliced them thinner)

Remove from heat, stir in chopped basil, and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Reviews:

Eli liked it but had a hard time chewing the veggies because he only has a handful of little teeth that couldn’t chew.

I separated 1 of each veggie for Ella to at least try each one and she kept purposely gagging on them and almost made herself throw up once.  She got sent to her bed and no snacks.  She didn’t starve though because I served it with left over chicken on the side and she ate that before any veggies.

Lyle and I liked it but thought it was bland.  Lyle soaked his in hot sauce and I’m thinking throwing some either Mexican type or chili type spices might give it some good flavors.

So that’s Ratatouille.  Tonight I’ll probably just make some Cod I thawed and hopefully tomorrow I’ll try the turkey meatloaf.   I have hamburger thawed because Lyle and I were supposed to have dinner alone yesterday and have stuffed green peppers, something Eli can’t have and Ella won’t eat.  So much for in home date night!

Ingredients for next week- Turkey Meatloaf and Ratatouille

1/14/11

So this next week’s recipes:

Ratatouille- eggplant casserole that can be hot or cold, over rice, alongside pasta or with roast chicken.

                ¼ cup olive oil, 2 cloves garlic minced, 1 large onion thinly sliced, 1 medium eggplant cut into 1 ½ inch cubes, 6 small or 4 medium zucchini cut into ½ inch rounds, 2 medium size green peppers cut into 1 inch pieces, 4 large or 6 medium tomatoes coarsely chopped, ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley, ½ tsp dried thyme, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper, and ¼ cup tightly packed chopped fresh basil.

Turkey Meatloaf-

2 lbs ground turkey, ½ cup minced yellow or red onion, 1 cup crumbled unsweetened corn flakes (or rice or oat flakes), 1 ¼ cup red sauce, 1 ½ tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 2 Tbsp water, 1 tsp salt, ¼ cup chopped parsley, black pepper to taste. Ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, or mushroom sauce on top.

Mostly just fresh veggies on the list this week, and some new combinations for all of us!

"Black Bean and Spinach Burritos"

1/13/10
So last night I made Black Bean and Spinach Burritos, which smelled really good when I cooked it....
So you start with olive oil in a pan and saute onion and garlic for a few minutes to soften onion.  Add cumin, chili powder, and oregano and cook another minute.  Add 4 cups of baby spinach and cook until wilted. 

Then I added 2 cans of black beans not drained, juice of one lime, salt and 1/4 cup of water.

Mash about half the beans and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook at a slow simmer for abut 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently.

To assemble the burriots, heat your corn or frice tortillas about 30 seconds each side on high heat, but to warm.  Place the warm tortilla on a plate and put about 1 Tbsp of mashed avocado in the center, top with 2 Tbsp beans, top with 1 Tbsp salsa, and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.  Fold up an eat.

This is what one single burrito looks like....and it did not taste good at all.  Eli ate on bite, spit it out, and threw the rest on the floor.  Ella took on bite and made her normal I hate it face, we made her take one more bite and got the same response.  Lyle tried one without salsa and didn't like it, so he made a second one with salsa and still didn't like it.  He said it needed hamburger!  LoL!  Can't do that in our house!  I had about half of one.  The flavors didn't seem to penetrate the beans, so all that lovely aroma from the onions, garlic and seasonings were no where to be tasted.   Kind of sad....

So, here's Ella making a can of chicken noodle soup for us to eat (she did it all by herself!)

 Here's Lyle making himself a bologna sandwich and salad...

And here is everyone at the table ready to enjoy a better tasting dinner at 7 pm!

Eli had corn, turkey dog and fruit but he didn't eat very well, I think because he got so upset about the first meal. 
I don't think I'll be trying to change this recipe up, because I agree with Lyle that hamburger instead of beans would be good but I'm not sure I want to try turkey burger instead...at least not yet.
Check back tomorrow for my shopping list for next week.  I think I'm going to make Ratatouille and one other thing!!