riddlelove

Friday, August 31, 2012

A Grape Anthology

If you recall, it was late autumn when we first moved to the Riddle Ranch. Absolutely everything was overgrown. Nothing had been pruned or cared for in ten years. As we started hacking into vines, shrubs, and trees, we uncovered rock-bordered garden beds, a pomegranate tree, and even grapes. It really was like discovering a secret garden.

The grape vines are old so we weren't sure if they would produce anything. We didn't even know what kind of grape vines they were. With the pregnancy of our fifth (and all the sickness and exhaustion that comes with it), I never got around to trellising them. Trudging down the steeper part of the hill where the grapes grew was incomprehensible, so it remained a secret as to what kind of grapes we had; or if we had any at all.

Early this March while my parents came to visit and wait for the birth of our baby, my amazing dad took it upon himself to prune the vines once again. Now with a newborn, I still never got to trellising those grapes. Last week, I thought I'd take a little peek under the mounds of vines and to my surprise, there were pounds and pounds of gorgeous clusters of every grapey color! Red, purple, yellow, and green. What were they all? The unmistakable roundly dark purple ones were clearly concord. A dream come true! I'm still discovering what the rest of them are, but in the meantime I'm enjoying these late summer sunsets with my vines, clipping basketfuls of homegrown goodness. For now, they are all being de-stemmed and frozen; a favorite treat around here.

How benevolent of these ancient berries to bare fruit after being so neglected. Next year you will grow on a trellis, my beauties. I am determined.

I'm sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Simple Spaghetti Meat Sauce (Ragu) ~ A Skillet or Slow Cooker Recipe (GAPS & Paleo-Friendly)

Ah, spaghetti. It is the time of year where all the sauce ingredients are in season. This is the recipe I grew up enjoying. Whether you simmer it in a cast iron skillet or let the slow cooker do the work, it is a welcome, hardy sauce that can be enjoyed over regular noodles or spaghetti squash, making it gluten-free as well as GAPS & Paleo-friendly.

Today, I'm making it in a 12-inch cast iron skillet, where the tomatoes will absorb some of the iron, upping the sauce's nutritional content. First, we'll brown the meat along with chopped onion an bell pepper (I use the food processor to quickly get this done). Once the meat is brown and the liquid is down to a minimum, we are ready to add the herbs.

I ran out to the garden for some fresh herb goodness and employed some of the homegrown garlic. Next year I hope to make this sauce with all homegrown ingredients and I get quite a thrill just thinking about that; totally unashamed about my food nerdyness.

Stir in the herbs, a bit of sweetener to activate the tomatoes, and some tomato paste with water. Here's a lil' small-space, bulk-buying tip: use tomato paste instead of sauce. It is easily rehydrated and saves a lot of room in the pantry. Then we cover the sauce and let it fill the home with happy smells and allow it to simmer for an hour and a half. Enjoy it over rice noodles or spaghetti squash.

New to spaghetti squash? Here's whatcha do: preheat oven to 350º. Put about 1/2 cup water in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Cut the squash in half, lengthwise, and place the halves, open-serface-down, in the dish. Bake 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool, then scoop the "noodles" out with a spoon.

Meat sauce with spaghetti squash.

Simple Spaghetti Meat Sauce

Prep time: 20 minutes, cook time: 1 1/2 to 6 hours; Serves 6-8 (hearty servings)

1 pound ground meat of choice (beef, turkey, chicken, venison, moose...)
1 onion
1 bell pepper
3 jars BPA-free tomato paste (this is what I use)
3 cups water
1 cup olives, sliced or chopped, optional (if you omit olives, add 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt)
1 heaping tablespoon (2 if fresh) basil
1 heaping tablespoon (2 if fresh) oregano
3-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon honey

Finely chop or minse onion and bell pepper (I use the food processor for this). Brown meat in the skillet with minced onion and pepper.
Stir in remaining ingredients. To cook in the skillet, simply cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. To cook in crock pot, put sauce in the slow cooker and simmer on low for 2-6 hours.
Serve over noodles or spaghetti squash, garnish with parmesan cheese, if desired.

~ Browse more Riddlelove recipes here. ~

I'm sharing this at Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Weekly Menu Plan ~ More Back-to-School Breakfasts & Lunches

Grain-Free Dutch Baby Pancake

We survived the first week of school. New routines are still being learned and fine-tuned, but there were no tardies or late pick-ups, thankfully. I think this year will be the most structured we've experienced, and it feels like a happy change.

Monday:

To-do: soak sourdough tortillas

Breakfast: Grain-Free Biscuits (double batch) with Eggs & Bacon

Lunch: Sourdough Almond Butter & Homemade Jam Sandwiches, Hummus, Carrot Slices, & Raw Cheese Slices

Snack: Blueberry Bliss Smoothies

Dinner: Slow Cooker Meat Sauce (recipe coming this week) over Spaghetti Squash

Tuesday:

To-do: make sourdough tortillas, soak sourdough English muffins, thaw ground beef

Breakfast: Paleo Breakfast Bread

Lunch: Raw Cheese Slices, Fresh Grapes, Tortilla Chips, Paleo Breakfast Bread Squares

Snack: Strawberry Cacao Kefir Smoothies

Dinner: Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken