Aloha Salad (kidney diet)

I found this recipe in a cookbook for renal patients.  A lot of fruits and veggies are actually off-limits for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) because they're high in potassium (a good thing for the rest of us but with impaired kidney function, potassium will build up to dangerous levels in the body).  So finding CKD-friendly side dishes can be tricky.  Especially since I also have to balance a number of food allergies, sensitivities and preferences within my family.  One serving of this salad (pay attention to serving sizes!) is 112 mg potassium and 26 mg phosphorus.

This "salad" proved to be quite a hit (and about the only way I've found to get my 3 year old to eat carrots without squawking).  I am not a fan of describing anything with Jello as a "salad" but it seems to be a thing here in the Heartland (and also in many 1970's era cookbooks...but I digress).  However, this "salad" was more fruit/veggie and less Jello so I'll let it ride.

Since it's a gelatin "salad", you need to make it in advance so it can set up.  My favorite thing ;)  You can also prep this in stages if you need to, like if your baby is teething and NEEDS you to hold her CONSTANTLY except for when she dozes off for a few minutes at a time.  Just a hypothetical example.  Grate the carrots, measure and mix the dry ingredients, measure the liquid ingredients, and fridge each part until you're ready to put it together.

We are avoiding artificial dyes at my house (in addition to all the aforementioned food restrictions...I told you it gets tricky to plan menus), so I got to experiment with substituting a homemade, dye-free mix for the box o' Yellow 6, er, Lemon Jello.  It turned out very well.

The tricky bit about applying this substitute widely in recipes calling for a box of Jello is figuring out what to use for flavoring that doesn't skew the liquid ratio but still gives a punch of flavor, especially if you try to create flavors other than citrus.  In this recipe, I used a bit of lemon juice in place of some of the water called for in the OR as well as a lot of lemon zest.  To substitute for other flavors, I'd look into dye-free flavoring oils over juices or extracts...you'll get more flavor without adding liquids.  If your recipe calls for water, you can swap some or all for a juice or puree but you might need to pay attention to how the acid from your flavoring liquid impacts leavening reactions.

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Canned Mirepoix

Our garden has produced very well this year and since I am not spending my autumn pregnant or caring for an infant for the first time in a few years, I am really committed to harvesting, using and putting up what's out there.

Hence the canning.

We harvested 5 gallons of carrots, something I would want in the bleak midwinter for making delicious soups and stews.  So I've canned them and dehydrated them as elements for starters for soups and stews.  This involves pressure canning which I know is not everyone's thing, and these recipes could be preserved by freezing if you prefer.  I personally am running out of freezer space, egads.

The first thing I tried was the starter for a wild rice soup from Meals in Jars by Julie Languille.  It's a good basic mirepoix, although I choose to can it with regular strength chicken stock instead of concentrated soup base as the OR calls for.  That way, it's more versatile and can be used to start soup, pot pie or chicken and dumplings equally well (recipes to come...stay tuned).

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Risotto

I used shallots and celery for aromatics, tilapia for protein,
seafood stock, chopped fresh spinach for veggies, savory
for flavoring

I've worked with a delicious seafood risotto recipe for many years.  It's from a fundraiser cookbook called Dewey or Don't We published by the Dubuque Public Library.

I used to follow it to the T, and finally understood that really, it was more like guidelines (as so many recipes truly are).

And then I started being able to use the technique given in that recipe and substitute my own flavors and ingredients, depending on what was in season and available.

No matter what ingredients you use, this is definitely a prep-ahead-friendly recipe.  Chop and measure everything ahead of time, combining ingredients by category.  You can also freeze this as a meal kit...combine ingredients by category, put them in vacuseal bags or ziptop bags, and freeze.  Thaw before cooking.

The use-what-you-have components are:

• fat for sauteing: use butter, olive oil, canola oil, lard, mojo de ajo
• aromatics: use onions, shallots, celery, carrots, leeks or any combo thereof
• stock: chicken, seafood, veggie (not so much beef here)
• protein: fish, chicken, shrimp, scallops, crab (again, not so much beef)
• veggies: chopped bell pepper, snow peas, chopped greens, broccoli, peas, corn kernels, pre-cooked squash cubes
• flavoring: citrus zest, minced herbs

Some favorite combinations are shallots with shrimp, green peas and thyme; celery/onion/carrot with chicken, pepper and savory; crab, leeks, spinach and lemon zest.

Chop, measure, and fridge everything in advance for next-day or same-day cooking.  You can also freeze the components ahead.  To save space with liquids, either freeze wine and stock in ice cube trays beforehand to include in the freezer kit or pour the liquid into a ziptop bag, carefully press air out of the bag, seal and lay flat on a tray to freeze.

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Chicken Vegetable Croissant Loaf

Another recipe from my new cookbook, Fresh from the Farmer's Market.  I've fiddled just a bit with the recipe to make it a bit more svelte.  The OR calls for mayo, and I'm substituting light sour cream for a lot less fat and fewer calories.  I also skew the ratio of vegetables to chicken more heavily in the vegetable direction than the OR. 

Chicken Croissant Loaf with swiss chard

You can prep this dish ahead in a variety of ways.  Prepare the filling and fridge or freeze it (another benefit of using sour cream over mayo...mayo breaks badly in the freezer) separately from the dough, assembling and baking at the last minute.  You can also assemble the loaf up to the point of brushing the top with egg white and sprinkling with almonds and fridge it, covered in plastic wrap, until ready to bake.  I don't see any reason you couldn't freeze the assembled loaf, but I've not actually tried doing it so that is merely speculation.  If you fridge or freeze prior to baking, transfer the parchment paper and loaf to a room temp baking sheet rather than baking on the chilly sheet on which you stored/thawed the loaf.  You could also bake this off and reheat at 350F for 15 minutes or so.

A note on the croissant/crescent roll dough.  If you're a fantastic baker, by all means, make your own croissant dough.  Or another type of bread dough.  I buy 2 tubes of crescent rolls at the grocery store.  I have occasionally seen tubes of unperforated crescent roll dough...if you find that product, it's perfect for this recipe.  Otherwise you'll need to smoosh the seams on the unrolled crescent rolls to form a more-or-less solid sheet of pastry.

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Breakfast cookies

I was feeling stuck in a pancake/waffle/muffin/fruit/yogurt rut with the kids' breakfasts (and eggs before noon make me feel blarky), so I thought I'd give these a whirl.  I'm not sure I can say that this is an adaptation of the original recipe, since there are only 3 ingredients that are the same, but the *idea* comes from Natalie Haughton's Cookies.  You can store them in the fridge or freezer.  The kids scarfed them down this morning.

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Broccoli Rice Salad

I spent part of a summer in France many, many moons ago, and to be expected, my culinary world was transformed by the exposure to French foods and French cooks.  However, not so expectedly, my favorite foods from this trip are the French gastronomic equivalents of PB&J (which they do NOT have in France)...ham and butter sandwiches, grilled sausage served in split baguettes instead of hot dog buns, salads made of a single perfectly ripe and lightly dressed vegetable, fresh-picked plums (oh the plums!), and rice salads. 

I was one of about a dozen volunteers, both French and de l'étranger , and we took it in turns to cook for the group.  Several times we had salads composed of rice mixed with leftover meats, black olives, chopped fresh onion and peppers, summer corn, and just about anything else that needed using up.  Like I said, it's not fancy food, but it was revelatory for me.  I had no idea leftovers could be, well, delicious!  It holds at room temperature very well, too, so it's an excellent potluck/pitch-in/picnic dish.

The transition between the tough, outer
layers and the tender, light green "meat"
is clearly delineated.

As implied, you can make a rice salad out of just about anything on hand.  A few cups of rice (even that can be a leftover), a couple cups of cooked chicken, beef, pork, canned tuna, salmon mixed with a couple cups of vegetables (fresh or leftover), any herbs that are handy, some olives or pimiento and a little bit of salad dressing is all you need. 

The following salad uses up raw broccoli stems and is a vegetarian/vegan (depending on the exact ingredients of your salad dressing) dish.  To peel the broccoli, cut the bottom inch or so of stem off.  Stand the stem on its "floret" end (after removing the florets for another use), and use a knife to slice the woody peel away.  Then shred the broccoli using a food processor or hand grater. 

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Marinated London Broil and Carrots with dill butter

I hate the lack of standardized nomenclature for cuts of meat at the grocery store/butcher/farm processor.  Makes me crazy.  A "London broil" cut is basically a thick top round steak, but might be labeled "top round roast", "london broil", "round steak", "top round"...you'll know it when you see it though...about 1 1/4" thick and kind of rectangular.  This is adapted from the South Beach Diet cookbook.  The nutritional info is skewed a little high for calories, sodium content and carbs because the SparkRecipes website doesn't allow you to discount nutritional content from a marinade which doesn't get completely consumed as part of the final dish (or if it does, I don't know how to make it work).

I like this carrot dish (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens) since it jazzes up cooked carrots and can be frozen as a kit...no need for last-minute shopping to insure there's a vegetable side dish to go with your roast.  You can make this with fresh carrots, but if you plan to make a freezer kit, you'll still have to blanch the carrots to keep weird enzyme things from happening in the freezer.

Also, I don't know if I've ever mentioned that when I use butter, I use unsalted butter.  Makes a difference regarding sodium content and how strongly the dish tastes of salt if you add more.
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Roasted spring vegetable salad

I am a huge fan of warm or room temperature salads.  This is adapted from an aggravating recipe that I clipped out of the Washington Post a million years ago.  My adaptation involves many fewer steps and only uses vegetables that actually grow in the same season (the original included zucchini and asparagus...yeah, yeah, you CAN buy asparagus nearly year-round...doesn't mean you SHOULD). 

It really is helpful to the cook the beets separately so that they don't color the other vegetables, unless you like completely purple food.  That's today's edition of "I Screw Up So You Don't Have To".

Roasted vegetable salad
Makes 3-4 servings

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon pepper

Shake oil, vinegar and lemon pepper together.  Set aside.

Salad:
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tbsp butter, divided
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 lb. asparagus, tough ends trimmed and cut into 2" pieces
1 bunch beets, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 tsp lemon pepper, divided
1/2 tsp dillweed

4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1/4 cup parmesan cheese or goat cheese

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter over medium-high heat.  Saute onions and carrots for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add asparagus, 1/2 tsp lemon pepper and dill, and saute another 5 minutes, until vegetables are browned and soft.  Put vegetables into a bowl.

Heat 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter in the same skillet and lower heat to medium.  Add beets to the pan and season with 1/2 tsp lemon pepper.  Saute beets for 8 minutes, until soft.  Add beets to other vegetables. 

To serve, dress the lettuce with the vinaigrette, reserving some for serving at the table.  Put the vegetables in the dressed lettuce and sprinkle with cheese.  Pass extra dressing on the side. Pin It

Cranberry-glazed carrots

Clearing out oddments in the fridge.  I love glazed carrots (especially the kind made with madeira wine and a boat-load of brown sugar), but you're getting out of the realm of "vegetable" with that recipe and into the realm of "candy".  This is a less sweet option that conveniently uses up my weeks-old bottle of cranberry-pomegranate juice.

Cranberry-glazed carrots

Makes 6 servings

1 lb. carrots, washed and sliced

2 cups cranberry juice

2 tsp cornstarch + 2 tsp water

Bring cranberry juice to a boil.  Add carrot coins and cover pan.  Reduce heat to medium, simmer 15 minutes until carrots are soft.  Mix 1 tsp cornstarch with 1 tsp water and add to the carrots.  Cook 2-3 minute more, until glaze is thickened.

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