Onion Rings

This was breakfast! 

I have had a love/hate thing with onion rings.  I love onions and nothing smells better than onion rings....but I stopped eating them because they regularly disappointed me.....all batter, no onion.  I have never made onion rings myself before.  I have deep fried onions when already making fries, without batter, and they're tasty, but not the same.  These were light and crisp and just the right balance of batter and onion.

Ummmm, I think I need to go make some more....

Ingredients
1 medium Onion
1 medium Egg
Rice Flour for coating (or corn masa)
Salt
Coconut Oil for frying

1. Heat oil in deep pot.  Make sure to leave room from the top for bubbling oil.
2. Slice onion in rounds perpendicular to the stem/roots ends.
3. Remove skin and ends and save for broth in freezer.
4. Beat egg in small bowl.
5. Pop rings out of onion rounds.
6. Put some flour in a small, wide bowl or plate with sides.
7. Add some salt to the flour or egg at this point.
8. Dip rings in egg, then dip in flour, coating thoroughly. 
9. Place coated rings aside until oil is hot.  
10. Add coated rings in small batches to hot oil.
11. Cook for a few minutes, until desired color, but not too dark.
12. Strain out of oil and place on baking sheet or other wide, oven safe container.
13. Salt more.
14. Keep warm in oven until finished with all the batches.

Bonus step:  When you are finished making onion rings, add the remaining flour to the egg and add some sugar and possibly salt and cream of tartar, if needed.  Drop little balls of dough into the hot oil and fry up the extra.  They cook up fast, so don't turn your back. Oh, and don't forget to turn OFF the oil when you are done cooking.

See Ya In The Gumbo 
Monday Mania 
Totally Tasty Tuesdays 
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
Gluten Free Wednesday 
Real Food Wednesday

Simple Potato Soup GF, DF

Simple Potato Soup
Pot of potatoes (peeled and diced, cubed or sliced)
Broth/water to cover (Homemade is best, if you've got it)
Unflavored beef gelatin
Saturated Fat (Coconut oil, butter, tallow, bacon grease etc.)
Salt

Fill a pot with peeled and cut potatoes, add broth and cover with extra water, if needed, to cover.  Sprinkle gelatin on top for extra protein and as needed to balance any meat in the meal.  Add some salt and some kind of fat, depending on your needs.  Bring to rolling boil and then simmer for 40 minutes to an hour.  Correct with more salt, as needed.

Excellent as a base for other ingredients or as a easy to digest meal for healing/recovery/stress.  I like it with globs of melted cheese, leftover sausage or steak works too.


Simply Delish
Pennywise Platter Thursday
Monday Mania 
Superfood Sunday 
Real Food Wednesday

Orange Cranberry Gelatin (updated)

This is what I intended to make: No Stir Cranberry Sauce

• At about 6 PM last night, I discovered that my apple juice concentrate was from 2007 and it smelled/tasted horrible.
• I substituted frozen grape juice, mixed all the ingredients together (including adding a stick of cinnamon and star anise, in addition to cloves) and waited for the cooker to come up to pressure.  It smelled SOOOO good putting it in the pot, I was really looking forward to it.
• About 15 minutes later, I SMELLED the steam releasing from the pressure cooker.  Not good, it was burnt! It's been so long since I used the cooker, I think the burner was too high AND the gelatin was too sticky.
• After waiting for the cooker to cool, we cleaned and scrubbed (baking soda works GREAT, BTW!) and started over.
• Second can of grape juice concentrate was stinky too, cardboard container instead of plastic like the first.
• The chickens ate well last night........

This is what I actually made:  Orange Cranberry Gelatin

Looks more like strawberries than cranberries, doesn't it?

It tastes wonderful.  The only thing I don't like about it is the muddy red color it has compared to the vibrant, bright red I get with apple juice concentrate.  The star anise and cloves didn't smell right with the OJ, so I left them out.

Ingredients:
2 - 10 oz bags cranberries
1 can OJ frozen concentrate
1 cinnamon stick

1.5 cups beef gelatin
1 cup cane sugar
1 TBS COT
2 large pinches of salt
1 cup Apple Cider
or
1/2 -1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar####

Heat first 2 ingredients on medium heat in a pressure cooker until OJ is melted.  Blend remaining dry ingredients together, then sprinkle on top of wet ingredients.  I added some apple cider to the top because it didn't seem "wet" enough. DON'T MIX.  Put lid of cooker and bring up to 15 lbs pressure, then remove from heat. Let cool naturally.

When safe to open, remove lid and much cranberries with a ricer/potato masher (circular press with small square holes).***  Remove cinnamon stick and chill until set.  Can be made ahead and served at room temperature or gently warmed.  Serve with Turkey or Ham!


#### This year I didn't have any apple juice/cider, so I experimented. I LOVED the ACV in the cranberries, perked it right up, gave it some personality, like a chutney. I may have added a little extra sugar, I don't remember.


***If you have issues that make small seeds a problem, go ahead and strain out the berries instead of crushing them.  You will get all of the flavor without the future discomfort.

Simple Lives Thursday
Full Plate Thursday 
Ingredient Spotlight: Cranberries