Pasta Casserole

2 cups dried pasta (we use rice noodles), cooked and drained.

1-2 cups cooked tuna, salmon, shrimp, chicken, rabbit, turkey or pork (or 2 cans, drained) --can add more if desired

2 cups white sauce (gravy made with milk or milk substitute instead of broth--see recipe here)

Green peas (frozen are fine)

Salt & pepper to taste

Butter

Preheat oven to 375. Place cooked & drained pasta in casserole dish. Add meat, peas, and salt/pepper to white sauce on stove and mix well. Pour white sauce mixture over noodles and stir.

Dollop with butter, cover, and bake 30-40 minutes or until hot & bubbly.

Garam Masala Rabbit in Coconut Milk

Melt about 2 Tbsp coconut oil in a heavy frying pan (I like cast iron) over low to medium heat.

Add:

1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove diced garlic (optional)

Gently fry onion and garlic in the coconut oil.

Add:

1 and 1/2 tsp. Garam Masala spice mix (check ingredients to be safe)
1/8 tsp. ground yellow mustard
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Cook 2 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add:

1 cup coconut milk (I use Trader Joe's Light Coconut Milk)
1/4 cup apple juice (will probably leave this out next time, as it was a bit too sweet)
2 cups cooked diced rabbit meat (chicken or any other white meat will also work in this recipe--I cook it ahead in the crock pot with a little bit of garlic or chicken seasoning)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/8 tsp finely ground black pepper

Simmer for about 10-15 minutes to blend the flavors.

Serve over rice, couscous or pasta with a side of vegetables. We ate it over brown rice. This is a quick, easy and delicious way to use up leftover meat.

Rabbit or Chicken Enchiladas

4 cups cooked rabbit meat, coarsely shredded (you can also use chicken or any other mild white meat in this recipe)
2 cups sour cream
Two 4 oz. cans diced green chilies
3 cans condensed cream of chicken soup (I used Pacific Natural Foods organic cream of chicken condensed soup)
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup chopped green onions
12 (8-inch) flour tortillas

Mix sour cream, green chilies, and chicken soup to make a sauce. Divide sauce in half. To one half, add rabbit & onions. Spoon rabbit mixture equally onto tortillas. Roll tortillas and place seam side down in a 9X13 inch casserole. Cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly, or heat in crock pot on high until piping hot). 

For a pot luck dish, I put a smaller amount of filling in each to divide it among about 16 tortillas, stack them in a double layer in a large crock pot with half the remaining sauce and cheese on each layer (I grated a little extra cheese), cut the enchiladas in half down the middle of the crock pot, and heat on high for 30 to 60 minutes or however long it takes to get them piping hot.

Serves 12+

 Variations: Feel free to add or subtract things to taste.  Last time I made this without the green onions,  added mushrooms and roasted tomatoes,  used only two boxes of soup concentrate,  and substituted salsa verde for the chiles. It's wonderful garnished with red salsa and a little cold sour cream and cheese.

Jucygalicious Meat Sauce

My kids (ages 4-8) named this one. They're not fans of Italian-style marinara meat sauce, so I decided to try something completely different. It was a success.

This has a very complex, rich flavor. If you don't like fennel, feel free to leave it out.

The recipe can be gluten-free and/or grainless, depending on the starch chosen to serve with the sauce.

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Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef (or meat of your choice)
1/2 sweet bell pepper, diced (I used orange, but yellow or red would work also)
1 tsp crushed garlic (2-3 cloves)
2 Tbsp onion (I used freeze-dried red onion)

1.5 to 2 cups chopped tomatoes (I used Pomi canned tomatoes, about half of a 26+ oz container)
1 large carrot, grated
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground yellow mustard (dry)
1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
1 tsp sea salt
Scant 1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp fennel seeds (I ground them in a coffee grinder I keep for herbs and spices, but you could just slightly crush them)
1 Tbsp dried parsely (or 1-3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsely)
1/4 cup water or broth (I used 4 cubes frozen bone broth from my recipe here) (Note: for excitotoxin-limited diets, use water or homemade broth cooked only briefly)

Cooked pasta, rice, spaghetti squash, grain or other starch of your choice.

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Brown ground beef on stovetop. (I used a cast-iron pan.) Drain fat if desired. When meat is not quite done, add bell pepper, garlic and onion to brown with meat. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until vegetables are soft and flavors are melded, about 10-30 minutes. Add more or less liquid as needed.

Serve over pasta, rice, spaghetti squash, grain or starch of your choice. I used 12 oz. of Trader Joe's Organic Vegetable Radiatore cooked with a little safflower oil added to the cooking water.

So-Simple Oven-Fried Chicken

Here's our standby baked chicken method (I almost hesitate to call it a recipe because it's so simple). This amount of coating mixture will cover 10 to 16 thighs or 5-7 lbs. Just double or halve the amounts as needed for the quantity of chicken you're baking.

This is really easy--just pop it in the oven and ignore it for about an hour. It's pretty forgiving if you leave it in the oven, too, as long as you leave the skins on the chicken.

You can use the same recipe for boneless skinless chicken, but you'll need to reduce the baking time and watch carefully to make sure it's not getting too dry.

• Raw (thawed) bone-in chicken pieces with the skin on.


• 1/2 cup flour, any kind (I've used rice, whole wheat, or a combination of various alternative flours)


• 1 teaspoon RealSalt Organic Season Salt or 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of your favorite seasoning mix.


• One or more large baking dish(es)

Preheat oven to 425° F.

Mix together flour with salt. Put flour mixture in a shallow dish wide enough to roll a piece of chicken. This should be enough for 10-16 pieces of chicken, or 5 to 7 lbs.

Take raw (thawed) chicken pieces (I use thighs) and rinse with cool water if desired. Let any excess water drip off and roll the chicken pieces in the flour mixture to coat.

Lay the pieces into a baking dish. (Use a rack or a broiler pan if you want to minimize fat content, but I usually just use a plain glass baking dish). Bake at 425° F for 40-60 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 180° F.

You might want to cut the meat off the bones and save the bones in the freezer to make bone broth later. I'll be posting a recipe for bone broth soon!

Chicken cooked this way is good chilled, or can be frozen and reheated. I usually bake up a huge batch and freeze some for later.

French Onion Steak

Take some cube steak, or any other meat requiring long, slow, moist cooking. Put it into a baking dish. Add enough French onion soup to almost cover the meat, or about a cup of soup plus enough water to cover it. Put a lid on the dish or cover it with aluminum foil. Bake at 350(F) for about one hour or until tender.

Serve over rice, noodles, potatoes, squash or a stir-fry.

Don't be intimidated by the French Onion soup . . . all you need is an onion and some beef broth, and it can be made in about the time it takes to thaw steaks in the microwave. Or just throw onions, beef broth and a bit of salt in the pan with the meat. It won't taste quite as good, but it will work.

I used one package of French Onion soup that I'd made previously and frozen in serving-sized portions. I just laid the two big steaks out in a big glass baking dish, dumped in the thawed soup and some water, covered it and stuck it in the oven. So simple, but delicious!

Crock Pot Roast

This recipe is so quick and easy to put together in the crock pot, and then you can let it cook all day until the meat is tender and falling apart.

You can cook other types of meat the same way, but I usually use beef. The crock pot is a particularly good way to cook grassfed beef, as it stays more juicy and tender when cooked longer at a lower temperature.

It's great to eat as a roast, or you can shred it for other recipes or use it as lunchmeat in sandwiches. Sometimes I'll even put the roast in the crock pot the night before and then it's ready for sandwiches by lunch time.

When cooking a roast this way, the water becomes a rich broth in the slow cooker with the meat. You can use the broth as au jus for French Dip sandwiches, thicken it for gravy, or use it as soup stock. It's great to boil down for bullion cubes, too--just simmer it in an open pot until it's about half to a quarter of the original volume, then freeze in ice cube trays. You may wish to strain the broth to get out the rosemary leaves, and be sure to remove the tough bay leaf.

I vary the seasonings and sometimes add vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and celery. Some people like to add a tablespoon or two of an acid such as apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or red wine. Many cookbooks recommend that you brown the roast before slow-cooking it to lock in the juices and give a nice color and flavor, but I never do. I just plop the raw roast in the crock pot, throw in some spices and water (I rarely measure), and turn it on.

Easy Crock Pot Roast

Place in the crock pot:

1 beef roast (any size that will fill your crock pot at least halfway will do, but I usually use about a 4 lb. roast)

Sprinkle over and around the roast:

2 or 3 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp. rosemary
1 tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf (optional)
Salt to taste (I usually put in somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, I would guess)
1/2 to 1 medium onion (optional)

Add enough water or beef broth to just cover the roast. If you're using a small roast, use enough water to fill your crock pot at least 2/3 full, as it won't cook evenly otherwise.

Turn the crock pot on low and cook for about 8 to 12 hours.

Marinara With a Twist

This recipe is adapted from the "Unstuffed Cabbage" recipe in The Complete Food Allergy Cookbook. It's a bit spicy, but my preschool and kindergarten-aged kids loved it.

For a vegan version, you could add more Italian spices and some cooked (or canned) beans. If you can't tolerate or don't like tomatoes, just leave them out or add a cup of vegetable broth instead.

In a large skillet or wok, cook and stir until browned and broken into pieces:
1 lb. Italian sausage (I buy a safe uncured sausage made with just meat and fresh herbs at a local butcher shop [Butcher Boys' ground Italian or Breakfast sausage], or there are a few safe brands of chicken sausage available commercially)

Add and cook until tender:
1 medium to large onion, diced (I used a yellow onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press

If desired, spoon out the extra grease and discard it.

Stir in:
6 cups cabbage in bite-sized chunks (about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cabbage head--the normal round-headed green cabbage works well in this recipe)
4 medium carrots, shredded (2 cups loose or 1 cup packed)
1/2 teaspoon sage (I used about 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh snipped sage)

When the cabbage has shrunk enough to add something else to the pan, add:
1 can of Cento crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)
Salt and pepper to taste (I didn't add either salt or pepper, but the original recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper)

Cover (I used aluminum foil) and cook for 10 to 20 minutes or until cabbage is just tender, stirring occasionally.

Serve over noodles or cooked grain. We had it with rice noodles, and it was quite tasty.

Meaty Spaghetti Squash

This is one of my family's favorite meals--quite a feat since few of us really like (and several truly detest) squash of any kind.

You can cut up the veggies and cook the meat while the squash is baking, or you can do all the cutting, cook the meat and bake the squash ahead of time for a quick combine-and-heat dish that goes in minutes from refrigerator to stove. I like to use my food processor for the grating and dicing. It makes this dish surprisingly simple to put together.

I scrub and peel the carrots and zucchini, but if you use organic unwaxed produce you can leave them unpeeled for more nutrition.

I came up with this recipe by modifying the Savory Spaghetti Squash recipe from Casseroles (from the Eating Better cookbook series) by Sue Gregg. The original recipe calls for tofu marinated in a ginger/lemon juice/soy sauce mixture, along with a few other twists.

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash
1 lb. italian sausage (I buy a safe uncured sausage made with just meat and fresh herbs at a local butcher shop [Butcher Boys' ground Italian or Breakfast sausage], or there are a few safe brands of chicken sausage available commercially.)
2 medium carrots, grated
1 medium zucchini (use 2 if they're small), grated
2 stalks celery, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wash the outside of the spaghetti squash. Bake the whole uncut squash at 375 degrees until tender--about 1 hour. Turn it occasionally during baking (at least once) to get it to cook evenly. (Alternatively, you can cut it in half, scrape out the seeds, and cook it cut side up with 1/4 cup water in the microwave, loosely covered, for about 7-8 minutes per half (you'll have to do one half at a time). Spaghetti squash can also be boiled whole.)

Allow the squash to cool a bit, then cut it in half and scrape out the seeds. If the squash doesn't seem quite done when you cut it open, just add the strands to the rest of the recipe a little early and cook it a bit more on the stovetop.

Brown the meat in a large frying pan or pot over medium heat, crumbling it as you cook. When the sausage is just barely done, drain all but about 3 or 4 tablespoons of the fat (I never drain the fat, but I should for a less watery dish).

Add all ingredients except the spaghetti squash and saute briefly, until the vegetables start to get tender. Use a fork to scrape the spaghetti squash strands from the shells and add them to the meat mixture.

Stir until everything is blended and heated through, then transfer to a casserole or serving dish and serve hot.

This can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen, then reheated for serving. If you have the meat cooked in advance, reserve 3-4 tablespoons of the fat and saute the vegetables in it briefly first, then add the meat with the squash. Or you can use vegetable oil, but it won't be quite as flavorful.

Some sausages are spicier than others. If the recipe is too spicy for your family, try mixing the sausage with an equal part of unseasoned meat (I use ground beef if I get a particularly spicy-smelling batch of sausage) and using 1 lb. of the milder mixture in the recipe.

Serves 4 very hungry people as a one-dish casserole, or 6-8 moderate eaters with side dishes (a green salad would be a nice compliment to this meal).