Butternut Squash and Fig Soup

6 cups chopped butternut squash
1 cup chopped carrots
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 Tbsp coconut oil (or other fat)
1/2 cup chopped figs
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

Spice blend:
1/4 tsp cinn
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp ground fennel
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves

In a small bowl, combine spices.

Put butternut squash, carrots and broth in a slow cooker

Heat oil in a pan. Add onions. cook onions on low heat for about 20-30 minute. you want them to turn translucent, but not brown. Add figs and cook for about 5 minutes, then add garlic, cook for about a minute or two, add spices, cook for about 30 second, then remove from heat and add onion mixture to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours. Add more salt if necessary. Puree with when finished cooking.

Braciole

 Braciole (pronounced bra-jole) is an Italian dish. It consists of steak that's pounded thin and stuffed. This version is gluten and dairy free, but it's typically made with breadcrumbs and cheese.


Ingredients:
1.5 lbs round or flank steak
7-9 slices of pancetta
Pesto
Marinara
salt and pepper
Some type of fat

Pound steak until 1/8 - 1/4" thin. Add salt and pepper. Spread pesto over steak then layer pancetta. Roll tightly and tie with kitchen twine. In a cast iron pan, add fat or oil and brown meat  Place in slowcooker the tomato sauce (make the sauce first). Set on low for 6-8 hours. Slice and serve over spaghetti squash or other pasta alternative.


For the Pesto:
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup arugula
1/2 cup fresh basil
1 oz walnuts or pine nuts
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp brewer's yeast (optional)
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in mini food processor.



Marinara:
1-2 Tbsp olive oil or other fat
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 28 oz can of tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp salt

Heat oil in large pan. add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic saute for about a minute, then add fennel seeds and saute for another 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add to the crock pot along with canned tomatoes, tomato past and seasoning. 

Boiled Bone Dog (or Cat) Treats

Halle

Step One: Make bone broth. I use the Balanced Bites recipe. It's simple and easy. Do not use onions to make your broth if you plan on feeding these treats to dogs. I'm not sure about cats, but I've heard that onions aren't good for dogs. The bones must be soft enough to grind, so if you're using bones from large animals (cows, bison, lamb, etc) make sure they have been boiled for a long time. You don't want to break your meat grinder!

Step Two: When you strain your bone broth, try to separate as much of the garlic from the bones as possible. You could omit the garlic to make this easier, but then your broth won't taste as good. The only vegetable I use to make broth is garlic. If you use carrots to make broth and they turn to mush and you can't separate them from the bones, it's ok. Garlic might not be good for dogs, but carrots are fine.

Step Three: Grind bones in a meat grinder. I use the meat grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer and it works fine. The bones are pretty mushy after boiling for 24 hours. Since I have a small dog, I use the coarse grind first and then run it through a second time with the fine grind. I've never tried a food processor for this.

Step Four: Line food dehydrator trays with parchment. Scoop pureed bone mush into desired size and shape. I like 1/8 cup for my 50 lbs pitbull and 60 lbs lab mix and 1 tsp - 1/2 a Tbsp for my 17 lbs pug. For fun, you can use cookie cutters to shape the treats. 

Step Five - Dry on 155 degrees for 12-24 hours depending on climate. I live in a vast desert wasteland so it doesn't take long for me.

Hazel and Jack

Step Six - make your pet happy.

Bolognese Sauce

I was so diligent about taking pics through out the cooking process, but I forgot to take a picture of the finished sauce. It tasted too freakin good, I just wanted to eat it. F--- pictures. I want to enjoy my food. Needless to say I had to make it again just to take pictures.

1 lbs ground beef (I used 15/85)
1 onion
3 large red bell peppers, roasted
5 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp Oregano, separated
1 tsp thyme
1/4 cup fresh basil finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil, separated
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 lb of cherry, grape or roma tomatoes, smoked.
 Salt, pepper to taste

In a large pan, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Saute onions until translucent, add garlic. After about a minute, add 1 Tbsp of oregano, thyme, fennel, salt, pepper and heat for 30 seconds, then add beef. Brown beef then remove from heat.

In a slow cooker or Dutch oven, add beef mixture, canned tomatoes, basil, 1 Tbsp oregano and vinegar then put on low heat. In a food processor, puree the red peppers. Add to slow cooker, then add tomatoes, 1 tbsp of olive oil and tomato paste. Cook on high for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve over zucchini linguini or spaghetti squash or whatever.

One week later, my kitchen still smelled like Bolognese.

Roo-gan Josh

Rogan Josh is an Indian Dish traditionally served with lamb. I just happened to have a small stockpile of kangaroo rumps that I ordered from Marx Foods. They only ship in bulk. I have a big freezer because I have the dream that one day I will actually go hunting for deer or javelina and I'll need some place to put it. But in the meantime, it's easier to sit at my computer and order exotic meats in bulk and have them shipped overnight.

Kangaroo is extremely lean so you're going to need to add some fat. I used lamb tallow, but coconut oil would also work.

3-4 lbs of kangaroo rump, cut into cubes
4Tbsp Penzey's Rogan Josh seasoning or make your own
1 can coconut milk
2 Tbsp fat, divided
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Brown the kangaroo in a cast iron skillet using 1 Tbsp of fat. I did it in 3 batches (1 tsp of fat at a time) because it was alot of freaking meat. Put meat in crock pot with all the other ingredients, except the shredded, dessicated, unsweetened coconut. Cook on low for 6 hours and add the coconut if you need to thicken up the stew.

Slow Cooker Carnitas

Nikos has been talking about carnitas for 2 weeks. I ordered a pork shoulder from US Wellness Meats to appease him. Pork shoulder is also called Boston Butt. Whoever named it that must have had his head up his ass. It's supposed to be a really fatty dish and I was afraid that the pork wasn't going to be fatty enough on its own and I didn't have lard, so I added 12 oz of bacon. When in doubt, add bacon.

1 Pork shoulder or Boston Butt 3-4 lbs (hehe, I said butt)
10 cloves garlic, pressed
1 orange, zested and juiced
12 oz bacon, diced
1/2 cup broth
1 4 oz can of chiles (I used hatch) or 1/2 cup roasted chilies, diced
2 tsp Mexican oregano
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste

Zest and juice orange. Add to the slow cooker with everything else. Cook on low for 6 hours. Once cooked, shred pork with 2 forks. Awesome with eggs or on tomato tortillas.

Ropa Vieja

Ropa Vieja is a traditional Cuban dish. It literally means "old clothes" and is probably called that because you cook it for a long time that the meat falls apart. It's freakin awesome with mashed plantains (aka Mofongo).

2 lbs flank steak
1/4 cup balsmic vinegar
2 cups beef broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried cilantro or 1 tsp fresh
1/2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

Marinate the steak in the balsmic vinegar and pepper over night. You could put some garlic in there too. I didn't because I was being lazy.

Put meat with vinegar in crock put. Add all the other ingredients. cook on low for 10 hours. Shred beef with 2 forks and cook for another 2 hours. Serve with plantains and something green.

Avgolemono (Greek Egg-Lemon Soup)

It really disturbs me that the place mat isn't centered, but this was the only pic I took of the soup.

Nikos asked me to make this for him when he was sick. I didn't actually get around to making it until he was better though. He got the onion soup when he was sick. That kicked some germ ass.

1 2.5-3 lb chicken
2 quarts water
1 head of garlic, peeled and smashed
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
4 eggs separated
4 lemons, juiced
more salt
pepper

Clean chicken and remove bag of inner bits. (Save them for another recipe.) Put chicken in crock pot with 2 quarts of water and cook on high for 2-4 hours. When chicken is cooked, remove it from pot and separate the meat from the bones and skin. Put chicken meat in the fridge for later; put bones and cartilage back in the crock pot. Add vinegar, 1 tsp salt, and garlic and cook for 12 or more hours on low.

When broth is done, strain out bones and garlic. If you're not making the soup right away, refrigerate the broth until you're ready to cook it. If you are making the soup right away,chop up the chicken very fine, almost shredded and put the chicken back in the crock pot and heat on low or warm.

Separate the eggs. in a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed, add in yolks and continue to beat. Slowly add lemon juice. Add lemon-egg mixture to soup and mix it all together. the creamy egg mixture will float on top. add more salt and pepper, serve warm.