Recipe Makeover: "Magic" Potatoes aka Potatoes Anna

Next Gen Magic Potatoes on "Celebrate" Dinnerware (photo by LivligaHome)

When I got married my mom handed me a red leather notebook full of her recipes and advice. It was called the "Magic Cookbook". She named it that because she never considered herself a great cook; instead, she figured if she could cook something it "must be magic". Hence the "Magic" of the Magic Cookbook. I have cherished it all my life. She passed away when she was only 57, before my third child was born. Her cookbook is one of the ways I have stayed close to her and her memory.

My children grew up loving the recipes from this book. One of their favorites was "Magic Potatoes". They were Mom's version of Potatoes Anna--thinly sliced potatoes smothered in butter and salt and baked until crisp. Over the years, as my life and cooking have become healthier and healthier, I have fixed this recipe less and less. Recently I decided it was time for a next gen recipe makeover.

The goal was to take out the butter and replace it with olive oil, lessen the salt while keeping the crispy, creamy potatoes. Before we used an entire stick of butter or 8 tablespoons in the recipe. The butter alone added up to 814 calories! Regardless, the taste had to meet the standard of special memories. Here is what I came up with:

Next Gen Magic Potatoes 

Ingredients~
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon Kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence, divided
Cooking spray, olive oil flavored

Directions~
1. Wash potatoes and thinly slice them in rounds, skin on.
2. Spray a casserole dish or, preferably, a cast iron skillet with cooking spray. Place half the potatoes in a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Drizzle 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil over them and spray with thin coat of olive oil cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 salt and 1/2 herbes de Provence evenly over top of potatoes. Repeat the process with the second half of the potatoes.
3. Place the potatoes in the oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until the potaotes are crisped on the edges and browned on top.

Serves 4; Serving size 1/4 of the potatoes. Calories: 105 per serving.

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Facebook Live Recipe: Turkey Bones and Root Soup

There are so many ways to make soup. Creating a homemade bone broth can add richness and health to the soup. The soup recipe below is made with a homemade bone broth. Bone broths are one of those “miracle” concoctions, good for our health and soul.

Chicken soup is the most well-known and commonly consumed bone broth. There are many other soups, however, that you can cook and enjoy that are made from bone broths. Bone broths are a great way to use up the excess bones you have. There is never any reason to throw those bones away again. Just make your own homemade bone broth to use in recipes, including soups. Pair it with a homemade bread or muffin and you have a hearty and healthy meal any time of year.

After Thanksgiving I always have bones leftover from the turkeys I roast. I put them in the freezer until I am ready to make a bone broth. Here is my recipe for the broth and then the soup I make with it. The cooking can be done in stages or in one day, if you have the time.

Turkey Bones and Root Soup

Broth

Ingredients

• 3 turkey legs
• Leftover turkey necks and bones
• 12 cups of water
• 1 large yellow onion, cut in quarters
• 20 whole peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a stockpot.
2. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.
3. Simmer semi-covered for 2 hours and the meat is falling off the bone.
4. Separate the meat from the bones. Cut the meat into medium chunks. Keep a couple of the largest bones to place in the soup, and then discard the rest. Set aside the meat and large bones to put into the soup.
5. Strain the stock, discard the onion and bay leaves and peppercorns. All the remaining broth will be used for the soup.

Soup

Ingredients

• 4 ounces salt pork, chopped
• 1 large leek, pale part only, cut in half, clean and then slice crosswise
• 1 large parsnip, diced
• 1 large rutabaga, diced
• 1 medium turnip, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 large potatoes, diced
• All the turkey bone broth
• 3 cups water
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ cup parsley, chopped
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

1. Spray a skillet with olive oil cooking spray. Add the salt pork and leeks, sautéing for 5 minutes on medium-high heat.
2. Add all other vegetables to skillet and sauté for 5 additional minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Transfer mixture to a slow cooker. Then add the meat, broth, water, thyme, salt and pepper. Place a couple of the larger bones into the soup. Cook on low for 5 – 7 hours.
4. Just before serving remove the bones and thyme sprigs then add the parsley and lemon juice. Serve immediately.

Serves 8     Serving size: 1½ cups

This is a great recipe to make a day ahead. The flavors in a bone broth based soup only improve with age. It can even be frozen to be eaten at a later date. Once the soup has cooled, skim off the fat from the top, then store in the refrigerator or freeze.

As for ratings on the soup. My husband gives this soup 5 stars. The turkey meat and rutabaga make the taste rich and the finish slightly sweet.

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

Download Our Free SOUPS eCookbook
and Enjoy Healthy Recipes All Year Long!

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The Cooking and Canning of Fresh Green Tomatoes

Prepping Late Summer Green Tomatoes

At the end of summer and right before the first frost our tomato vines are laden with tomatoes at all stages of ripening. At a certain point we decide we have to harvest what is left and prepare the beds for winter. This means picking buckets of tomatoes.

In reality we have already eaten lots and lots of tomatoes making fresh salads, adding them to many other dishes or simply roasting them for dinner. I’ve even developed chili recipes with fresh tomatoes. All are delicious ways to eat home grown tomatoes. With the final harvest, it is time to face preserving the remaining tomatoes—green and red.

Many people are not sure what to do with green tomatoes. There is the well-known way of “Fried Green Tomatoes” but you can only eat so many of those. With two buckets of tomatoes, many of them green, I decided it was worth it to try making Green Tomato Sauce and see if it was tasty enough to can and save for later, when we all dream of sunny warm days in the dead of winter.

Classically you peel the tomatoes you use for tomato sauce. I discovered this is particularly important with green tomatoes. Their skin is thick and tough. The way you skin tomatoes is to place them in boiling water for about 60 seconds. For green tomatoes you need to leave them in the water for about three minutes in order to get the skin softened enough to peel. After boiling you need to place the tomatoes in ice-cold water. The process is time consuming but when you are cooking and canning your own home grown tomatoes it seems to be worth it. Just make sure you start early in the day and leave open the remainder of the day so you have the time you need to get the whole process completed. Having someone help you also makes it a lot more fun.

 

Green Tomoatoes Cooking in my Dutch Oven

The recipe for Green Tomato Sauce is very similar to what I prepare for a strictly red tomato sauce. The difference is that I added much more garlic and a strong ⅛ teaspoon of red pepper flakes. I think this helped balance the tartness of the unripe tomatoes. Below is the recipe:

Fresh Green Tomato Sauce for Canning

Ingredients~

Olive oil cooking spray

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 garlic cloves, diced

2 small onions

12 cups green and red tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped

⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

2 bay leaves

Directions~

1. Spray olive oil cooking spray in a Dutch oven and add the olive oil. Put on medium-high. Put the garlic in first, browning for 1 minute. Then add the onion and cook for 3 minutes.

2. Place all the tomatoes in the pot, stirring to mix it with the onion mixture. Add all spices.

3. Place the Dutch oven, covered, in a 300 degree oven for 1 hour.

4. Cook for an additional hour uncovered. Thickening the sauce.

5. Remove bay leaves before canning.

Makes 5 pint-sized jars per recipe.  

Helpful Hints: Make sure to prepare your jars properly before canning. It is important to follow the instructions to boil them and the tops. Everything, including the sauce, needs to be hot when you can for proper sealing.

You can fill the jars with the chunky mixture to use as sauce or in other dishes that use stewed tomatoes. If you plan on only using it as sauce puree it in a blender before canning it. Just remember to reheat it before placing it in the jars to ensure a good seal. Or you can always puree it later if you want a smooth sauce for spaghetti.

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

Canned Green Tomatoes!

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Poached Salmon-- A Conerstone of Your Recipe Repertoire

Poached Salmon is a simple dish that can be a conerstone of your recipe repertoire (photo by LivligaHome)

There is something really wonderful about a simple dish. There is an elegance about them that you can't beat. It is its own art. Doing it well is trickier than it may seem. But when you get a simple dish down it ends up being a cornerstone of your recipe repertoire. Poached salmon is just such a recipe. It is simple, tasty and is the foundation for any number of menus or other dishes you might devise.

The challenge with a poached salmon is making sure it does not taste "fishy" or overdone. Ideally you want to buy the fish fresh the day you are going to poach it. Having it a little fattier is also good. The farm raised salmon rather than wild Coho works best. 

Here is a simple recipe to use:

Poached Salmon

Ingredients~

2 pounds salmon

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 cup sake**

Enough water to cover the salmon

Directions~

1. Rinse salmon and pull out any random bones with pliers.

2. Place salmon in a skillet with a cover.

3. Add all other ingredients.

4. Bring water to a boil and boil for one minute. Then turn off heat and let the fish cook in the hot water for another 7 - 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cut. When done the fish should flake with a fork and be a reddish pink. Remove from the hot water as soon as it flakes so it does not continue cooking.

5. Serve hot or cold. The poached salmon is also good to use in any any variety of recipes that call for a cooked meat or fish like salads, pasta, sandwiches, omelets or soups. You are only limited by your imagination.

**To be completely true to the Whole30 program substitute the sake for rice wine vinegar.

Serves 8.

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

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State of Slim Crowd-Pleasing Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili with a Livliga Flair

State of Slim Crowd-Pleasing Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili is Perfect to Serve Up for One or Share with Company!

The Colorado diet is easy to follow and easy to stick to, I have found. It is not a "quick loss" diet, it is more like a "slow and steady" lifestyle diet. For the first time in my life I am not waiting to get off the plan. I am enjoying the journey. I am actually enticed by how I can make it more interesting while keeping to the basic tenets.

The recipes are solid. They are also very helpful since ingredients are very specific to reigniting your metabolism and keeping you satisfied between meals. Trigger foods are also eliminated. There is nothing that qualifies as a dessert but there are foods that qualify as treats...like chocolate muffins and pancakes or smoothies. Carbs are virtually eliminated, mainly found naturally in the vegetables you eat.

For Perfect Portions Make Sure to Use LivSpoons!

One ingredient that is used a lot in the Colorado Diet is pumpkin. Pumpkin, as it turns out, has many health benefits. The high fiber in it keeps you full. The minerals, like potassium keep your muscles at high performance so you can avoid muscle cramping as you ramp up your exercise as part of the lifestyle plan. Then there is the fact that it is low in carbs and has the famous Vitamin "T". The low carbs don't spike your blood sugar which helps to encourage your metabolism to increase its fat burning. Vitamin T helps regulate your metabolism, keeping it revved up. Bottom line, we need to eat more pumpkin.

Pumpkin is easy to buy as a puree with nothing added. The State of Slim includes a few recipes that include it as an ingredient. One such recipe is the Crowd-Pleasing Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili. 

It is a tasty recipe but I thought I could make it a little more flavorful and give it a bit more texture with a few additions and changes. Here is the Livliga version:

State of Slim Crowd-Pleasing Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili with a Livliga flair

Ingredients
1 pound extra-lean ground beef or turkey breast
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 yellow bell peppers, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno chile pepper (optional)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 ounces) unsweetened 100% pure pumpkin puree
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili powder (or more to taste)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons thyme
pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Cooking Spray

Directions
1. Spray a cast-iron skillet with cooking spray. Place the chopped onion and garlic in the skillet and sautee for about 4 or 5 minutes, until the onion starts to brown.
2. Add the meat and brown with the onion mixture. Once the meat is nearly brown add the chopped celery and yellow pepper. Continue cooking for about 4 minutes.
3. In a 3 - 4 quart slow cooker add the meat mixture and all other ingredients. Set the cooker on low for 5 - 6 hours. Vegetables should be tender.
4. Serve hot. Top with a tablespoon of Greek yogurt and some fresh parsley for visual appeal.

Yield: 4 servings. Serving size: about 1½ cups.

Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili Served Up on Livliga!

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant! And Eat Mindfully.

Download Our Free SOUPS eCookbook
and Enjoy Healthy Recipes All Year Long!

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My Daughter's Crockpot Recipe-Pork with Apricots, Dried Plums, and Sauerkraut

Pork with Apricots, Dried Plums, and Sauerkraut (LivligaHome)

It is that time of year again when our crockpot comes out of storage. There is nothing better than an easy supper that has been simmering in the slow cooker all day emanating delicious smells of spices and garlic, making everyone eager for dinner. This week my daughter prepared Pork with Apricots, Dried Plums, and Sauerkraut. We don't often eat sauerkraut but my husband has been reading about its benefits in the book Cooked by Michael Pollen, so I thought I would track down a recipe to support his new found fascination.

As part of my research in tracking down recipes, I also read about the benefits of sauerkraut. There are many. Since sauerkraut is fermented cabbage, it is a natural probioitc that provides us with good bacteria while also inhibiting the growth of bad bacteria. This improves our immune system. It is a great source of vitamins C and K which both help our bones be strong. Additionally, vitamin C is an important antioxidant while vitamin K has a key role in blood clotting. Then there are the heart healthy benefits of sauerkraut because it is high in fiber. Last but not least, sauerkraut is packed full of iron which is important for our red blood cells and their role in providing oxygen to all our cells which gives us more energy to do the things we need and love to do. Sauerkraut definitely qualifies as a superfood!

How did the recipe turn out? My daughter found the recipe easy to follow and the ingredients super easy to assemble. After 7 hours it tasted delicious! The pork was moist and the sauerkraut and dried fruit made for a yummy sauce for the pork. Each serving has 261 calories. To make it a meal we added a spinach and strawberry salad for 136 calories a serving. The calories for the meal are 397. Everyone enjoyed the meal. It is a definite repeat.

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

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Baked "Wild Fries"—CAN"T BE BEAT!

For more of my Livliga recipes that are easy to use and print go to livligahome.com.

To make this recipe Whole30 compliant replace cooking spray with 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Live Vibrant! 

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Springtime Recipes-- Asparagus Vinaigrette

Marinated Asparagus@livligahome

There is nothing more delicious than fresh, seasonal produce. It is so fun in the spring to see the baby lettuce and the small stemmed asparagus. After the doldrums of winter it is a delight to be re-inspired by newly available foods. Good, fresh food does not need much preparation.

One of my family's favorites is to blanche (briefly steam for about 3 to 4 minutes) asparagus and then put a light vinaigrette on it. It is great as a salad or cold vegetable at any meal from brunch to dinner. We are even known to snack on the leftovers!

The main thing is to not put too much dressing on the asparagus. A light coating is all you need. You also don't need a heavy dressing with lots of oil. You can serve it right away or leave it to marinate and chill for a couple of hours or more in your refrigerator.

My easy, light vinaigrette is as follows:

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon olive oil
Pinch of dried basil
Pinch of sea salt

Put all of this in an empty jar (I save mustard jars). Shake until completely blended. Pour over the asparagus. You may only need half of the recipe amount depending on the size of the bunch of asparagus you prepared. Also, you can double the vinaigrette recipe easily if you think you will need a larger amount of the dressing. It is a very flexible recipe.

Enjoy! and Live Vibrant!

Innovative Idea: Want an easy way to serve up your dressings in single servings of 2 tablespoons (⅛ cup)? We have the perfect choice--LivSpoons! They come in 4 sought after serving sizes--1 cup, ¾ cup, ½ cup and ⅛ cup. They make measuring in the kitchen easy and they are so attractive you'll want to use them at your dinner table at every meal. Finally there are beautifully designed serving spoons that measure!

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