Chicken, Black Bean, and Cornbread Cobbler

We have a restaurant/take out budget of $50/month.  With prices being what they are, it usually provides us one just meal so we're pretty careful with our choices.  We're rarely adventurous with our treat money, tending to revisit the places we know we like rather than risk our allowance on something we might not care for.  

A take out bucket of chicken is a popular choice with us.  We can enjoy our treat meal, and get a couple more meals from the leftovers, while still staying within our budget. 

We've been buying our take out chicken at the same place for years.  It's tasty and affordable and we both enjoy it.  This time, though, we decided to strike out into new territory and try a place nearer our home; one that had been recommended by several of our friends.

Sadly, we didn't love the chicken.  They used scrawny birds and the pieces were very heavily battered.  There was no seasoning in the batter other than a copious amount of salt.  Not to our taste at all!

Ah well. We'll know now not to go there again.

After our supper and a lunch of leftovers the next day, we were left with 5 (very dry) chicken breasts.  I'm a waste not, want not kinda gal so - however unappealing they might be - I needed to find a way to use those chicken breasts up.

I peeled as much of the batter as I could from the chicken pieces, tore the meat from the bones and broke it into bite sized pieces.

Then I looked through my pantry and fridge to see what we had on hand that might give it moisture and flavour.

I ended up with these ingredients for my dish:

 

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 3 cups of crushed tomato (I forced mine through a sieve to remove the seeds, but that's optional)
• 2 cups of canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• chili powder
• cumin
• 2 cups of chicken breast pieces
• 1 cup diced zucchini
• homemade chicken stock (not pictured)
• granulated garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

I began by sauteeing the onion and celery in the olive oil, until the onion was translucent and began to take on a little colour.

I added in 2 cups of crushed tomato (I held some back because I wanted to be sure that the mixture didn't end up too wet), the black beans, corn kernels, a Tablespoon of chili powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin.

When the mixture reached to a boil, it turned the heat down to medium-low, put a lid on the pot and let it simmer until the celery was tender (about 1/2 hour).

When the celery was tender, I added in the chicken breast pieces and zucchini.  I also mixed in about a cup of cooked chopped spinach, found during a second search through the fridge.

The mixture looked a little dry at this point so I added in the remaining 1 cup of tomato and about half a cup of chicken stock.  

I let it return to boiling then tasted it and adjusted the seasoning, adding an additional 1-1/2 teaspoons of chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic, some sea salt, and some coarsely ground black pepper.  

I reduced the heat once more and let the mixture simmer for a few more minutes.  While it was cooking, I mixed up a batch of cheddar corn muffin batter.

Once the muffin batter was mixed, I ladled some of the chicken and black bean mixture into individual dishes.

(There was a lot more than is pictured here.  I saved the rest, in two 2-cup freezer containers, for other meals.)

I topped each dish with some of the cornmeal muffin batter

and turned the remaining batter into a buttered loaf pan.

I baked the dishes in a 400F oven until the top of the cornbread was lightly browned (about 20 minutes)

and then served the cobblers immediately, with a crisp green salad on the side.

We had the cornbread I baked in the loaf pan for breakfast the next day.

Cook's notes:

• If you don't want to serve this in individual dishes, you can turn all of the chicken and black bean mixture out into a buttered 9 x 13 inch rectangular baking pan and spread the entire batch of corn muffin batter over the top.  The baking time should remain about the same.
• Don't feel bound by my seasoning choices.  Adjust the quantities to your taste.
• We prefer our seasonings mild rather than hot but, if you like your food to be spicier, you can add some chopped chipotles in adobo sauce early in the recipe.
• I used chicken stock but vegetable stock, beer, or even strong coffee would work well in this recipe too.

Nature's Pantry: July 29 - August 11

My fella loves picking blackberries, and has been bringing home at least a couple of quarts (and often more) every day. Between the berries and produce from the farm market, that I haven't had much opportunity to do extra foraging the past couple of weeks, but I have gathered a few things:

We are continuing to gather Queen Anne's lace, using the roots in many of our fresh dishes that call for carrots.  Many of the plants are going to seed now.  As soon as the seeds dry, I'll be gathering them too.

I got one last cutting of fireweed this weekend.  I read recently that fireweed leaves can be used in tea too, so I'll be saving the leaves as well as the blossoms from this most recent picking in order to give it a try.

I was so busy gathering other things that I just about missed the yarrow this year, but did find some late plants on our last drive over to the west coast.  I'm glad I found it. 

Yarrow's an extremely useful plant; an excellent anti-inflammatory agent. I made a tincture from the flowers I gathered, which I will use to treat headache, and as an astringent to ease the itch and pain of bug bites and wasp stings.  Yarrow leaves can be chewed to relieve toothache.  A tisane (herbal tea) of dried yarrow can be drunk to relieve fever, treat menstrual symptoms, to lower blood pressure, and to treat coughs and colds.  Poultices can be made from the whole plant or from a powder of dried yarrow tops for use in treating cuts and wounds. 

Goldenrod is beginning to bloom.  Much of it is still in bud but I did find enough to gather a first batch. 

Goldenrod makes a beautiful, decorative dried flower.  The flowers can also be used to make a yellow dye, and the leaves can be used to make an herbal tea.  First Nations used goldenrod tea to treat bruises, urinary disorders, and intestinal complaints.  A tea made of just the flowers was used to treat colic. 

Dandelions continue to bloom so last week I gathered a big bucket of flowers and removed all the green parts, saving only the petals to make this dandelion jelly from Rock Farmer.  We haven't tried it yet, but it certainly brightens up the pantry shelves!

The seeds are starting to fall from the big leaf maple trees in our area and their leaves are already taking on the colours of autumn.  As I child, I loved throwing the"helicopters" up in the air to watch them whirl their way back down.  This is still a game I play with the littles in my life.  Now, I gather these beautiful winged seeds for use in crafts.  Look for a project on my blog soon.


Have you been foraging for food or medicinal plants or craft materials? 

If you are just beginning to forage you may be wondering how to dry your herbs.  Chris of Joybilee Farm recently shared excellent information on how to dry herbs for food, teas, and medicine.  You can find her blog post here.

I'd love to see what you've been gathering.  Please stop by my Facebook page or Twitter feed to share your finds.

Related posts:
Nature's Pantry
Nature's Pantry, July 21
Nature's Pantry, July 22 - 28
 

Basic Beading: Single Strand Necklace and Earrings

This is a great beginner's project.  With a grown-up on hand to provide little help with the finishing, even pre-teen children can make this necklace.  

If homemade gifts are on your agenda, this would be a fine choice.

Knowing how to make these necklaces has saved me quite a bit of money over the years. 

When I returned to office work I had to provide myself with enough business casual, work appropriate clothing to get through the weeks and the seasons without spending a great deal of money.  Changing accessories helped to add variety to my limited wardrobe, and learning to make simple jewelry allowed me more variety than if I bought it off the rack.  My homemade necklaces cost less than the store-bought stuff too!

I'm a big fan of long, single strand necklaces (6 feet or more) that can be looped two or three or even four times to create the appearance of several different strands of different lengths. There is no fussing with fasteners, and a minimal amount of specialized materials and tools are required to craft them.

To make this necklace, I used:

• Three 12-inch strands of 8 mm glass "pearls"
• Three 12-inch strands of 6 mm glass "pearls"
• 4 crimp beads (I chose glossy black)
• Seed beads of the same approximate size and colour as the crimp beads
• Multi-strand beading wire

I also used a sharp pair of scissors to cut the wire,a crimping tool to secure the beading wire in place after the necklace was finished, and a few dabs of E-6000 jewelry and craft adhesive.

I began by placing my beads in small bowls so I would have easy access to them while I worked, without having them roll all over the table.

I strung my beads onto the beading wire while it was still attached to the spool.  Doing so ensures that your beads won't slide off the other end of the wire while you're stringing, and it also eliminates the need to estimate the length of wire you might need to complete the necklace.

I strung a large glass pearl, then a crimp bead, then a small glass pearl, then a crimp bead. 

Once two crimp beads were in place I continued alternating large and small glass beads, with a seed bead in between each of the pearls, until only one large glass pearl remained.  

I finished the strand with that last large pearl, a crimp bead, a small glass pearl and another crimp bead.

When the beads were all strung, I cut the wire from the spool, leaving about 8 inches of extra wire at each end of the strand.

I carefully fed the ends of the wire strand through the beads so that two strands were overlapped inside all of the crimping beads. It's kind of hard to explain, so I made a diagram.  (Please excuse my poor drawing skills.)

I pulled the wire tight so there were no small spaces remaining between any of the beads, then crimped the crimp beads shut to secure the wire in place.  (You can find instructions on how to secure a crimp bead here.)

When the crimp beads had secured the wire, I put a small dab of E600 glue over each one as extra insurance against slippage. (This is purely optional, but I like to do it just in case.)

Because more 6mm beads will fit on a 12-inch strand than 8 mm beads will, I ended up with some of the smaller glass pearls left after I'd finished my necklace, along with quite a number of seed beads. 

I put most of the extra beads away for another project, but set two of the 6 mm glass "pearls" aside to make earrings.

To make the earrings, I also used: 

• Two black ear wires for the earrings
• A couple of short pieces of coloured scrapbooking wire (also sometimes described as jewelry making wire, depending upon where you buy it)
• A pair of round nosed pliers
• Wire snippers

I began by making a small loop at the end of each piece of coloured wire, to keep the beads from sliding off.  

I  slid the bead onto the wire and made another loop about 1/8 inch above the top of the bead.   

I slid the loop of the pre-made ear wire into the loop I made in the coloured wire, 

and then secured the coloured wire by wrapping it around the space below the loop.  When I'd wrapped it around enough to fill the space, I trimmed off the excess.  

(This process is called making a wrapped loop.  You can find detailed instructions on how to make a wrapped loop here.)

And that's it!  

Easy, wasn't it?  

Go forth and make jewelry.  :^)

Crafter's Notes:

• The more necklaces you make, the less each one will cost you.  Supplies like beading wire, ear wires, crimp beads, and glue are sold in greater quantities than required for a single project and, of course, things like pliers are purchased once but then used for many years. You'll have to pay to purchase all these things when you prepare for your first project, but they will provide enough material for several additional projects with just a minimal expenditure for additional beads.
• All of the supplies I used are available from craft stores in my area but beading supplies can also be purchased on line from many different sources.  Just be sure to read the descriptions carefully to ensure that what arrives in the mail is what you actually need to complete your project!
• Don't overlook dollar stores, scrapbooking stores, and hardware stores as possible sources of beading supplies.  Dollar stores often sell beads and beading wire.  Scrapbooking stores sell coloured wire and cute little charms.  Hardware stores sell copper wire much less expensively than jewelry supply houses or craft stores and you can also find all sorts of neat washers to incorporate into your designs. 

Thousand Island Salad Dressing

One of my Facebook friends, Susan Knows-Best (isn't that a great name!) requested my Thousand Island Salad Dressing recipe.
 
We make this dressing quite often at our house, using it as a dip as well as for salad.  It's super simple to assemble, and very tasty too. 
 
I know that not all of my readers have a blender or food processor, so I've included instructions for making this both with a food processor and without.
 
Thousand Island Salad Dressing is best made at least a couple of hours before you need it so that the flavours have a little time to get acquainted with one another. 
 
To make Thousand Island Dressing, you'll need:

• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1 cup homemade mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup finely diced onion
• 1/3 cup finely diced dill pickles

Optional but tasty:

• 6 to 8 finely chopped green olives
• cayenne pepper to taste

 
Begin by preparing the eggs.  If you're using a food processor, cut the eggs into quarters.  If you're mixing your salad dressing by hand, you'll want to break your eggs up as small as possible.  Mash them very finely with a fork and then use the back of a spoon to force the mashed egg through a sieve. 
 
Mix together the mayonnaise, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce. 
 
Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste, and cayenne pepper (if you're using it).
 
If you're using a food processor, add in the eggs and process just until they're incorporated.  Turn the mixture into a bowl. Add the onion, dill pickles, and chopped green olives (if you're including them) and stir just until they're mixed through.
 
If you're mixing by hand, add in the sieved egg, onion, dill pickles and chopped green olives (if you're including them) and stir just until they are mixed through.
 
Transfer your Thousand Island Salad Dressing to a mason jar or other storage container and store it in the fridge until serving time. 
 
As with all recipes containing eggs, refrigeration is required.  Maintain a storage temperature below 40F/4C, and use your salad dressing within 3 to 4 days. 

My Great Big Melty Italian Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Some days (or weeks) are better for cooking than others, at least at my house.

Last weekend was not a good cooking weekend for me. 

I was working on two new recipes and ended up displeased with both.  One will require further tweaking.  The other was just plain bad and won't be revisited at all.

I left chicken stock in the slow cooker over night on Saturday night.  On Sunday morning I lifted the ceramic liner out of the cooker and set it out to cool.  There was a resounding CRACK! and the liner split in half, leaking hot stock all over the kitchen. 

It was that kind of weekend. 

The best I can say is that the kitchen got a thorough cleaning!

On Sunday I went to make pizza crusts and discovered that I had no garlic left in the kitchen.  I'd used it all up making pesto the previous day.  There was no dried oregano in the cupboard either.  What I did have was a big bunch of fresh chives, given me by a friend.  I made my usual foccacia dough, omitting the garlic and rosemary and adding in chopped chives instead.  I formed one pizza crust and - being out of patience - balled up the rest of the dough and baked it off as a single loaf in a 12-inch, high sided cake pan.

The finished loaf looked like this:

 
The bread tasted really good.  It called out for sandwich fillings, and my mood required comfort food.  I wanted grilled cheese.  

I cut two big slices from the centre of the loaf.

I looked in the fridge and found some sliced provolone cheese that I'd bought on clearance at the grocery store that morning, some Genoa salami, and the pesto I'd made on Saturday.

I also found two almost-ripe Roma tomatoes too.  They were still a little pallid, and not particularly flavourful, so I decided to roast them before using them in my sandwiches.  

I sliced the tomatoes into thick slices, brushed on some olive oil and seasoned them with some freshly ground black pepper.

I roasted the tomatoes at 400F for about 15 minutes. 

When the tomatoes were done, I assembled my sandwiches.  

I cut each loaded slice of bread in half and set one half on top of the other to make the sandwiches, then buttered the top slice of bread on each one.

I heated up a frying pan on medium heat and set the sandwiches butter side down into the pan.  I buttered the top of each sandwich, then put a lid on the pan to keep the heat and moisture in, hoping it would help melt the cheese. 

When they were browned on one side, I flipped the sandwiches over and browned the other side.

The cheese was not completely melted by the time the bread was toasty so I put the sandwiches in a 300F oven for about 5 minutes, until they were heated all the way through.

My great big melty Italian grilled cheese sandwiches were messy to eat but oh! so good! The bread was very tender with a nice, mild onion-y taste from the chives, the mild, smooth provolone made a good counterpoint to the salami, and the pesto paired beautifully with the sweetness of the roasted tomato.

It's nice that at least one thing worked out well in my kitchen this weekend. :^)  I'll make these sandwiches again. 

Nature's Pantry: July 22 - 28

We've had an extraordinary stretch of bright sunny days, the likes of which we don't usually enjoy in these parts until mid-August and September.  Hikers and cyclists are out in droves, beaches are busy with sunbathers and swimmers, neighbourhoods are filled with the sounds of children at play.

 

All this bright weather is causing things to bloom and ripen more quickly than they normally would.  Wild foods usually enjoyed mid-August are ready for picking now. 

 

We've been enjoying huckleberries, thimbleberries, wild black raspberries, and trailing blackberries for a couple of weeks now and, this week, we picked the first of the Himalayan blackberries.

These berries grow wild in virtually every "waste space" here, seeming to spring up from nowhere.  They're not actually a native plant but are, rather, an invasive foreign species. Fortunately, despite their rampant growth, they fit well within our local ecosystem, providing for a great many different species and still bearing enough large berries for we humans to enjoy and put by for the winter months. We picked a couple of gallons this week and will continue to pick on our walks for at least four more weeks to come.

 

This week found us picking flowers and digging for roots along roadsides and trails, harvesting both Queen Anne's lace and chicory.

 

Queen Anne's lace grows so abundantly here that it's not unusual to find entire fields full of it.  It likes poor-ish, very well drained soil, so it frequently takes root along the edges of trails and roads.

 
The flowerheads of Queen Anne's lace are actually umbles; a round grouping of many small blossoms.  In the center of each umbel is a single red or purple bloom.

I mention this because it's important to note this characteristic when harvesting the plant.  Both water hemlock and poisonous hemlock - members of the same plant family - closely resemble Queen Anne's lace but their umbels do not have that single coloured blossom at the center.

 

I gather Queen Anne's lace flowers for pressing.  They're beautiful when mounted against a dark ground; their delicate umbels resemble snowflakes.

 

 

 

The grandparent of our cultivated carrot, the edible white roots of Queen Anne's lace are rich in vitamin A.  Extracts of boiled Queen Anne's lace roots have long been used in traditional medicine as a diuretic and to dissolve kidney stones.  The plant's seeds relieve flatulence.

As with any wild herb, it is important to use Queen Anne's lace with care.  Do not consume the seeds of this plant if you are pregnant.

 

 

Chicory is another wild plant that grows in abundance here and loves poor soil.  At this time of year, it adorns roadsides throughout our area, often growing right at the edge of the blacktop, where there is the most gravel and the road's banking allows for good drainage.

 

 

Chicory is related to Belgian endive and, in early spring, its leaves make an excellent salad green.
 

At this time of year, it's harvested for its roots, which can be dried, roasted, ground and mixed with coffee.  It was widely used as a coffee substitute during the Civil War in the U.S. and  during times of rationing during the world wars both here and in the U.S.

Chicory's pleasantly bitter taste became so popular that it has continued in use, mixed with coffee, into the present day.  

Ground chicory root is the ingredient that gives New Orleans coffee its distinctive flavour.

I've set aside a couple of chicory roots for cultivation, planting them in pots with black collars around them to exclude as much sunlight as possible.  I'll harvest the pale leaves when they are a few inches tall, allowing us to continue enjoying chicory greens until cool weather causes the plant to die back.

Do you harvest wild plants in your area?  What plants are you gathering now?

Stop by my Facebook page or Twitter feed to share news and photos of your foraging finds.  I'd love to hear from you.

Related posts:

Berry Pickin'

Blackberry Sour Cream Pie

Blackberry Chocolate Upside Down Cake

Blackberry Curd Tarts

Summer Pickin's Cake: Orange and Huckleberry with Oatmeal

Infused Vinegars

Summer Pickin's Cake: Orange and Huckleberry With Oatmeal

I'll 'fess up:  This cake started out as a muffin and became a cake because I made a mistake while measuring the ingredients.  

It's true.  

But I'm awfully fond of it anyway.  

Every summer, my fella and I forage for berries. In late July and early August we pick wild huckleberries, which grow in abundance in the sun dappled shade at the edges of our forests.  

They are tiny berries and grow spread out on each bush. Picking them is a time consuming process, but they have a wonderful flavour - both sweet and tart at the same time - that makes gathering them worth the effort.

Last weekend, my fella and I picked about a gallon of huckleberries.  That's a lot of picking! I put most of them in the freezer but kept about a cup of them out to make muffins.  

I've used the same recipe for my huckleberry muffins for years and years, but I was distracted while measuring the ingredients and added more liquid to the batter than I usually do.  It looked looser than I like my muffin batter to be, so instead of spooning it into muffin cups, I poured it into a cake pan and adjusted the baking time to compensate both for the wetter batter and the greater volume.  

When my cake had cooled, I dressed it up with Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting.

I offered my new cake to my fella with some trepidation.  It was much less sweet than a traditional cake and it had a slightly heavier texture, but I needn't have worried.  Neither of us are fans of very sweet cakes so we both enjoyed it very much.  

I think I'll make the recipe this way from now on.

To make Summer Pickin's Cake, you'll need:

• 1 large navel orange
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup buttermilk or whey (I use whey because I often have it left over from making yogurt
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup quick cooking (not instant) oatmeal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup huckleberries (you can use blueberries too)

Using the fine side of your box grater or a microplane, grate the zest from the orange and set it aside.

Cut the orange in half and squeeze as much juice as you can from the orange into a 1-cup measure.  Add in enough whey or buttermilk to make 1 cup of liquid in total.

Combine the orange peel, orange juice mixture, egg, oil, and sugar in a large bowl and stir them until they're well mixed.

  

Add in the oatmeal and mix it through.  Let this mixture rest for 10 minutes.

While the oatmeal mixture is resting, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in another bowl.

Add the huckleberries to the flour mixture and use a fork to gently stir them through.

Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.

When the oatmeal mixture has rested for 10 minutes, add in the flour mixture and stir just until the two are combined.  The ingredients should be moistened but the batter still lumpy.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.  

Place the cake pan on the center rack of a 350F oven.

Bake the cake for about 50 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned and the top springs back when lightly touched at the center.  A skewer inserted into the cake should come out clean.

 Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before turning it out and frosting it.  

Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator.