Tenderloin

You know your daughter has been butchering when she says, "Mom, I don't know how else to say this but my tenderloin hurts."

:-) hahahahaha ... she makes me laugh.

She's become a butchering pro ... or at least a lot better at it than I am!! It's such a great skill to have and I am so thankful she has it. Praise the Lord.

Apple Butter Recipe using a bushel of apples

I do not have many photos for this one :) just a simple recipe using a bushel (approximately 48lbs) of apples. You'll want to use sweet apples such as Red/Gold Delicious, Jonathan, MacIntosh, etc.

Step 1: Make Applesauce
~ Wash and quarter the apples. Remove any rotten or bad spot. Also remove the cores if they look bad or have worms.
~ Place apples in a large, heavy bottom stock pot. Add a quart of so of water, apple cider or apple juice. Cover and simmer until the apples are soft, stirring occasionally to prevent the apples from burning to the bottom.
~ Run through a food strainer/sauce maker. Kitchenaid has an attachment that does an excellent job, or you may use a manual one (Victorio and Weston are two examples, however there are many different styles and models available). The manual options work well too but take more effort (which is ok if you are healthy and strong) and cause a bit more of a mess.
~ You may stop here and can as applesauce (waterbath 15 minutes per pint and 20 minutes per quart 0-1,000ft altitude; add 5 minutes per each additional 2,000ft of altitude) OR you may continue on with the apple butter.

Step 2: Make Apple Butter
~ Return applesauce to the heavy bottom stock pot. Add the following ingredients:

1qt honey

1/4c cinnamon

1/2T cloves

1/2T nutmeg

1/2T allspice

~ Stir until mixed thoroughly. Cover, bring to a good simmer, uncover, continue to simmer and BE SURE TO STIR OFTEN! You do not want it burning to the bottom. An alternate way would be to use a large electric roaster on a low setting, or a roaster in the oven on a low setting.
~ Occasionally taste the apple butter: is it how you want it? Maybe you desire more cinnamon? More honey? Adjust the seasonings to suit your likes, but remember it will get sweeter as it cooks down, so be careful not to add more sweetener in haste.
~ Continue simmering and stirring until the sauce has cooked down considerably and has changed texture; this can take SEVERAL hours, so be prepared. You might have to turn it off over night and continue in the morning; it will be fine sitting out over night. The general guideline to knowing when it's done is to drop a spoonful onto a plate - if no rim of liquid forms around the mound of apple butter it is done.

not quite done but getting close

Step 3: Canning
~ The first step can be done towards the end of the apple butter cooking time. Be sure to have all canning supplies on hand, including about 30 pint jars, lids and rings. Wash the jars and keep them hot in the oven (I turn mine on to 250*f). Bring the lids and rings to a boil and then cover and keep warm till ready to use.
~ Have your canning pot ready too! Be sure the water is at a full, rolling boil before adding the HOT, filled jars. 
~ Fill each HOT jar with the HOT apple butter, leaving 1/4" headspace. Remove air-bubbles, wipe the rims clean with a damp cloth or paper towel, add lids and rings.
~ Gently lower the HOT, filled jars into the boiling water (be sure there's a rack! If you do not have a rack simply place a towel at the bottom of the pot). Be sure there is plenty of water to completely cover the jars. It's good to have more boiling water on hand if you need to add any more to the pot while the jars are in there.
~ Boil half-pints or pints for 5 minutes, quarts for 10 minutes (0-1,000ft altitude). 1,001-6,000ft = add 5 minutes. 6,001 and above, add 10 minutes.
~ Carefully remove jars and allow to cool on a wire rack or a towel. Do not disturb for about 12-24 hours.

I got more than this but this is all that I photographed

Step 4: Clean Up and Storage
~ Remove rings and check seals. This can be done in a variety of ways, including,
1. Press the middle of the lid with your finger or thumb. If it springs up or down it is not sealed.
2. Tap the top of the lids, one after the other, with your finger. They should all sound the same, a higher-pitched, ringing sound. If the sound is a dull 'thump', it is not sealed.
3. Lift the jar up by the lid. This is not always fool-proof, so I do all three methods in the order listed here.
~ Re-process unsealed jars again (place in cold water, bring to a boil and process as above) or simply store in the refrigerator.
~ Wipe sealed jars clean with a damp cloth and store in a cool, dark room.

How To Make Sourdough Bread

In this video I share how easy it is to turn a simple sourdough bread into something gourmet :~) Next time I hope to share how to make sourdough crackers ... and be watching for a video on how to can apple butter, coming soon.

Enjoy!

Delicious Homemade Sourdough Biscuits

Better late than never I guess? I could have posted this a few weeks ago but never did get around to it. Sourdough biscuits are our most favourite sourdough products ... running a close first with sourdough crackers.

Here in this video I share how simple and quick it is to make these absolutely delicious biscuits. Enjoy!

D. I. Y. Homemade Deodorant that actually works

 After years of trying without results that pleased me well enough I am happy to report that I have finally developed a homemade deodorant that actually works.

Last spring I compared various homemade deodorant recipes, read about others successes and failures, and then developed what I thought would be the best formula. I wanted to do a post soon after using it but decided it would be best to try it out all summer long - the hottest time of the year and the best way to know if a deodorant actually works.

It is by far the BEST natural deodorant I've ever used ... MUCH BETTER than any natural deodorant from the store or online.

I purchased new, empty deodorant containers online but I also thought it would be nice to have a travel size deodorant for my backpack, so I purchased a travel size antiperspirant and attempted to wash it out. HORRIBLE MISTAKE. The junk never did fully come out, even with lots of dish soap and scrubbing, and what's worse, I smelled like the stuff for days. No thank you. I settled for a 4oz mason jar for my backpack.

This deodorant stayed solid until it got super hot. We do not have central a/c and our bathroom gets really warm. It was no problem for me though, I just used my finger and (to my surprise) actually preferred that way of applying it. I did adjust the beeswax amount in the recipe below - that should add a little more 'solidness' to it for the warmer months. If however you are concerned, just keep it in your fridge.

This is enough to fill 5 containers with a little extra (of course the size of the containers you get will make a difference on your yield. I used THESE containers).

Ingredients
180g baking soda
168g coconut oil
64g arrowroot
56g shea butter
45g beeswax
40 drops tea tree e.o.*
20 drops sage e.o.
20 drops rosemary e.o.
12 drops lavender e.o.
8 drops lemon e.o.
1/2t vitamin e oil (or about 4 caps)

* I chose the other essential oils based on their beneficial properties as well, however you may not have them all on hand. If this is the case and you are only able to afford one e.o., go with tea tree. Among other things, tea tree essential oil is antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, and is a deodorant. Some of the other oils have some of these properties as well, but tea tree has them all.

You might be wondering where to get all of these ingredients? I can tell you where I got mine, however you might have better options available in your area. I purchase from Rose Mountain Herbs (in this recipe, the shea butter), Azure Standard (baking soda, arrowroot, lemon, sage), Vitacost (tea tree and lavender), Costco (coconut oil), and Amazon (vitamin e and rosemary). We harvest our own beeswax.

Directions
The first thing you'll want to do is assemble all of your ingredients.

Next, weigh them out, putting the solid fats and wax together into a glass, heat-safe dish (such as Pyrex brand) or a double boiler. I do not have a double boiler, so I put my pyrex dish on top of a large mason jar ring in a pan of water. This elevates the dish enough and acts as a homemade 'double boiler' in a pinch. I've read in several places that microwaves may also be used, however we do not have one (nor do we want one).

Weigh the dry ingredients together and combine the essential oils and vitamin e into a smaller bowl or ramekin. Set aside until ready to use.

Now the next task is a bit tedious but once it gets going it goes rather quickly, so be careful! Gently stir your hard fats/wax in the double boiler/glass dish over steaming water (medium heat or so), until the wax and fats are melted. I started with just the shea butter and beeswax and added the coconut oil later since it was already liquid (it was pretty warm in my house).

The shea butter will melt before the beeswax. My beeswax is solid; you might purchase beeswax that is in little 'pebbles' called pastilles or pellets. These will melt much quicker than a solid chunk!

Once everything is melted and well combined, add the dry ingredients and mix well till thoroughly combined.

Allow this to cool a bit before adding the essential oil / vitamin e blend - you do not want to harm the beneficial properties of the essential oils with too much heat. Whisk these final ingredients in and pour into your chosen deodorant container. This will cool quickly,

Allow to cool completely before using (it's best to let it sit over night to be sure it's totally set). Store finished deodorant in a cool, dark place. If your home is warm, you may prefer to store in the refrigerator.

Home Canned Hot Sauce / Salsa Roja

I enjoy hot peppers and ours did very well this year. So, what to do with them all? Salsa Roja of course! I will still probably get a few more batches made before the summer gardening season is finished - though our peppers have done very well we only have 4 jalapeno plants and 4 cayenne plants and it takes 3lbs of chopped peppers per batch. It may not sound like much, but it takes a lot of peppers to equal 3lbs!! Especially the cayenne.

In this video I demonstrate how to make a batch of salsa roja. The recipe is in the video description as well as on the video. Enjoy!!
 

Sourdough Cake

In continuing on with our sourdough series, here is a video demonstration on how to make healthy, yummy, sourdough cake. The written recipe is in the video description on youtube - just click on the bottom right corner of the video where it says "youtube" and it will automatically take you to it, though you will probably have to click on "show more" to see the whole description.

Enjoy!!

PS - Next tuesday [Lord willing] I will post sourdough biscuits :~)

Dehydrating Peppers and Saving Pepper Seeds

Our peppers have done pretty well this year [especially the hot peppers :) but that's a post for next time - Home Canned Salsa Roja - stay tuned!!]. This year instead of dicing and freezing the peppers I decided to dice and dehydrate them. I am really trying to get away from depending on my freezer so much and since I only use the peppers for sauces, who cares if they are frozen or dehydrated prior to use?

In order to know exactly how much dehydrated peppers equals one serving (I consider one serving a half of a cup of small diced peppers) I simply put a half cup of freshly diced peppers on ONE tray and then filled the remaining trays as usual.

In all I got 4 full trays plus the one tray with one serving. Each tray contained 6-7 servings, so that's over 24 servings. Not too bad I guess? This yielded almost one packed quart of dehydrated peppers. 1/8c dry equals 1/2c fresh. To rehydrate, simply put 1/8c dry peppers into a half cup measuring device, fill with filtered water and allow to sit until rehydrated.

Saving pepper seeds is super easy. Hot or sweet, the procedure is the same: simply set aside the seeds to dry for about a week. Once dry, store in a cool, dry place. Be sure to label the drying seeds!! You can see below that I just set the bowls over a paper with the seed description. I then taped the paper to each bowl just in case it got bumped or moved around. Of course your seeds must be heirloom to properly reproduce.

Old Schoolhouse Free Digital Planners

There is a coupon right now where you can get all of The Old Schoolhouse's digital homeschool planners for free. I just did it and it works ... though I had to register with two different places (the place that the coupon goes through [educents] and The Old Schoolhouse). I'm not sure but they might start bombarding me with junk email and junk snail mail; I guess time will tell.

Here is the coupon if you are interested:
OLD SCHOOLHOUSE FREE DIGITAL HOMESCHOOL PLANNERS
It's good for 8 more days I think. Just go to the link and follow the instructions. An email will be sent to you with links to all the digital planners (5 total). You have to add each one to your cart and then enter the coupon code.

I have downloaded them all but have only browsed through the highschool one (they offer primary, middle, highschool, special needs and schoolhouse planners). The highschool one is a 401 page pdf with a TON of stuff in it, including 'must know' lists like science, math, English and other subject info, bible stuff, and more. Calenders, blank forms/sheets (like goals, to-do, assignments, hour tracking, community service log, etc), address book and so much more.

The "Schoolhouse Planner" is a zip file containing all sorts of things relating to homeschooling and housekeeping ... however I have not looked at it yet!

I hope this is of use to someone. Have a great day!

Healthy, Whole Grain Sourdough Pancakes

If you've never had REAL sourdough pancakes, you are missing out!! In this video I share how to make this healthy, delicious treat. Also, this is the first video in a series of sourdough videos. Coming up are videos on Sourdough Bread (sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and fresh rosemary sourdough bread!), Sourdough Cake, Sourdough Biscuits and Sourdough Crackers ... and maybe Sourdough English Muffins. We'll see how ambitious I get.

Now, on to the pancakes!

The Paleo Diet, Wahls Protocol, Vegetarian, Vegan, and more

Unless you are blind, deaf and/or a hermit, you cannot help but notice all the hype recently about "the Paleo Diet" or "the Caveman Diet" or other similar terms. The basic philosophy is to eat as our 'caveman ancestors did' ... which they say did not include grains, legumes or dairy. Does it work? What do you think? Well I'll tell you what I think (of course!).

Those advocating the paleo diet are strong against processed foods and sugar. It does not take a genius to put two and two together. ANYONE will do better when they eliminate processed foods and sugar. No more chips, fries, sodas, donuts, candies, chocolate, and the list goes on. And since grains are eliminated too, that cuts out a whole food product that is being grossly abused: breads and pastas ... which are usually consumed in a very refined form.

No more dairy either. Cheese ... very tasty and ok in SMALL AMOUNTS once in a while, however so easy to overeat. A 'serving' of cheese is only one ounce. In case you did not know, that tiny little OUNCE of cheddar cheese packs in 114 calories and 9.4 grams of fat (a whopping SIX GRAMS of saturated fat). You may cut those numbers nearly in half by consuming the same amount of part-skim mozzarella cheese ... but who only has one ounce of mozzarella cheese on their 2-3 slices of pizza? Or baked spaghetti? And if you're eating out, who knows if 'part skim' was used instead of 'whole'? Let's be real here.

On this kind of diet [IF followed properly] you will get high quality meats, some nuts and seeds, fresh vegetables and fruits, and many also stress LOTS of greens. Oh yes, and some strongly promote the consumption of lacto-fermented foods.

Take Terry Wahls for example. I am familiar with her and her work because we have MS in common, which she claims she halted AND reversed with what is called the "Wahls Diet", which is kind of 'paleo' but not really. In her recent book, The Wahls Protocol, she stresses the absolute importance of eating A LOT of vegetables every day as well as berries and some fruits (but only the ones with deep colors). At least 3 cups (packed) of leafy green vegetables, 3 cups of sulphur rich vegetables and 3 cups of colorful vegetables and fruits. And that's only the beginning. NO JUNK. NOTHING PROCESSED. NO SUGAR. NO DAIRY. etc. On her basic diet she does allow for some grains and legumes, but not much and certainly not gluten-containing. In her new book however she offers 3 different diet plans, or stages if you will. You may stay at the first stage or plan, which is the basic Wahls diet, or you may move on to the "Wahls Paleo" and/or the "Wahls Paleo Plus." Something for everyone I guess.

I was not too excited about seeing the term "paleo" or "paleolithic" all over her book and other similar books [there are plenty of them being published right now]. It's akin to the fairy tale beginning, "Millions of years ago ...." and it certainly does NOT convince me that this is the way to go.

So yes, you WILL feel better on a 'paleo-type' diet because you will be eliminating all of the junk. But this is true for so many other diets out there.

What 'paleo' and 'caveman' diets really come down to (in my opinion anyway) is that someone is making money ... and it's NOT the dieters. So many are jumping on the money-making bandwagon; a quick search on the internet will turn up all sorts of 'paleo sites'. Some are just explaining the diet, but others are actually selling 'paleo food'. Really? Yes.

I've been in to health and diet for over 10 years, which I believe is long enough to see many of the trends and fads. I will never forget the Atkins craze. Like all diets, there were those who actually followed the good, healthy parts of it and then those who pushed the limits in any way possible but yet felt better about themselves because they were 'dieting'. What do I mean? Well, case in point ... two real life examples of Atkins eaters. Back in my corporate world days I worked with a man that was on the Atkins diet. A group of us went out for lunch. He ordered a steak, broccoli, some other vegetable and did not eat the bread. Another man I knew, on the same diet, was hungry one time while a group of us were out. His wife went to the store to get him a snack: a package of processed salami lunch meat. Which one do you think did better on the diet? Which one do you think saw lasting improvements to his weight and health?

And then there are the vegetarians / vegans and all the variations in between [we'll call them veg'n]. Some think they are doing something great by going veg'n. They swap their meat for processed soy patties, nuggets, slices and crumbles and their milk for processed, sugary soy milk. Instead of cheese they use a processed soy-based look-alike. To their credit, this is not all their fault; many are promoting these processed veg'n foods as healthy. Not much thought is given to fruits or vegetables. Junk food is still consumed as long as it's veg'n ... cookies, chips, candy, soda. But then there are the vegetarians and vegans who eat whole foods instead of the processed junk. Instead of meat and dairy they get their protein and calcium from a variety of whole foods like green vegetables, seeds, legumes and grains. Instead of processed foods they snack on something whole ... like carrots, an apple, a handful of nuts. This diet includes a lot of fiber, is low in fat, very nutrient-dense and yet it's veg'n just like the junk-food diet. So which one do you think is healthier?

I say just use some common sense. You don't need to purchase a book or do a whole bunch of research. Just eat as close to how God created it as possible. God did not make twinkies, soda, candy, and the like. He made vegetables and fruits. He did not make soy burgers or soy milk. He made some animals to eat. He gave us honey for a little sweetener. The bible has a lot to say about food; why not start there? Surely the Creator of the universe knows what is best for us. But sadly, man is always trying to 'one up' God. In the case of food, it's processing, preservatives, GMO's, pesticides. Why do we think we can thrive on these things? Yes, you may eat them when you have to, but if you don't have to then why not just choose the best option available to you?

And I believe that is the key: don't be afraid to eat them if you have to ... but when there is a choice, choose the better option.

Don't succumb to all the hype. Save your time and money. Just use common sense.

update on the Bees and Honey

Here is an update on our bees :)

We had our first official honey harvest this past june and now are ready for another ... and another. Of course we could just leave the full honey supers on the hive but I think we are all too excited to do that!

We got nearly 3 gallons from the first harvest and are hoping to have at least that much this time (the frames are in our living room ready to be extracted). Corban tried making a home-made spinner ... however his test-run was not so successful and time did not allow for adjustments. We thought of just extracting the honey again by hand like we did with the honey someone gave us however time did not allow for that either.

We decided to borrow our 'bee mentor's' electric extractor. It only holds 2 frames and is kind of big and clunky, but it worked great! Here are a few photos of that process ... for your curiosity and for our memories.

First they used this little handy gadget to puncture the caps. Since we were saving the comb for one more use, we thought this would be the easiest way to uncap the honey.

uncapping roller

uncapping the honey

Next the frames are put into the machine - the frame holders (?) pivot 90* so both sides get exposed.

Now turn the machine on and hold on! It seemed the slightest bit would make it off balance, but that could have been our crooked floors :) I was quite noisy. 

 
The process is continued till all are spun. We used a few rubber scrapers to clean out the barrel.

Honey comes out the bottom :) YUM!

The stars of the show. Our hive is doing very well. We should have split it in the spring but now we might just do it in the fall. We'll see what our bee mentor says.

I prefer to store things in glass ... but once it's all said and done we'll have several gallons of honey and that's a lot of glass. If you have bees, how do you store your honey?

Homemade Beef Jerky using Ground Beef

We really like beef jerky, however we do NOT like the high sodium nor the toxic preservatives and flavorings. Seriously, have you ever researched the stuff? If not, I encourage you to. These things are there for a reason - not only to excite your taste buds but to prevent the growth of bacteria, mold, fungus, etc. and also to keep it from going rancid too quickly - but at what cost to our health? Yes, we do still eat store-bought jerky from time to time, however recently I decided to experiment with making my own using organic, grass-fed GROUND beef someone gave us. No more store stuff for us! Making it at home is easy and affordable (especially if the meat is free), and the results are tasty and nutritious. 

Ingredients

2lbs ground beef (grass fed, organic is the best if you have access to it)
2T Bragg's or soy sauce

2t liquid smoke
2t salt

1t garlic
1/2t onion

1t cayenne

1/2t black pepper

Directions

Place the beef in a bowl with the liquids. Mix the dry ingredients separately and then pour over the beef/liquid and mix well with hands. Spread on to parchment paper, waxed paper, teflex or paraflexx sheets, or whatever other kind of sheet you have that is used for this purpose, score with a pizza cutter to desired size (see photo below), and then transfer to the dehydrator tray. If you do not have a dehydrator, I suggest using parchment paper placed on cooling racks. A baking sheet will work too, but only for the initial 4 hours or so (see further instructions below). I found it was easiest to use my hands, however you might prefer a rolling pin or some other device. Or maybe you have a jerky gun? Whatever the case, just be sure it's thin and even.

According to the settings on my Excalibur, the temperature for jerky is 145*, though some do it at a lower setting (I've seen instructions as low as 105*). If you do not have a dehydrator it is possible to use an oven set at 170*. Some ovens only go down to 200* ... that will work too but the results will not be as nice.

Side note: The USDA recommends heating the meat to 160*-165* PRIOR to dehydrating because of the potential risk of Salmonella and E. coli. I personally believe this is silly, just like a lot of what the USDA recommends, however you must do whatever you feel comfortable with. If you are concerned about things like this, here is the USDA website with further information.

Dehydrate for about 4 hours, or however long it takes to dry the jerky enough to keep it together while flipping it over. Turn it over on to a dehydrator tray (or cooling rack or the rack of your oven if it will not fall through the slats). Remove the teflex sheets, parchment or whatever you used for the first phase. Place dehydrator tray lined with teflex or parchment (etc) on the bottom of your dehydrator or a baking sheet on the bottom rack of your oven to catch any grease that might spill. Continue dehydrating till jerky is done, about 6 additional hours or longer. Thinner jerky with higher temps will obviously require less time than thicker jerky at lower temps.

Blot off excess grease, break along the scored edges and taste it. What do you think? Have others taste it as well. Note any changes you would like to make to the seasonings for next time. Maybe you will prefer more salt? More garlic? Less bragg's? No cayenne? Whatever. Just make it suit YOUR likes.

Remember, this is preservative-free jerky so the storage method and time will be a little different than the store jerky loaded with nasty stuff. Vacuum sealing is the best option and travels well, however a Ziploc freezer bag works too [yes, I am brand-loyal to Ziploc]. Whatever the case, just be sure it's an air-tight container. Keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 months unless travelling - it will last outside the fridge but as a general rule, keep it refrigerated - or in the freezer for longer periods of time (be careful for freezer burn though).

And if you were wondering, 2lbs of raw meat produced about 10.5 ounces of jerky. Not bad at all!

Note to self ...

Do NOT use strong extra virgin olive oil as the oil in homemade mayonnaise. It is nasty. Really.

I love evoo and use it in nearly everything I bake, including cake and bread ... so naturally I thought I'd like it in homemade mayo. Nope. Thankfully I just scored roasted walnut oil at the discount store and that turned out very good.

Now what do I do with 2c of evoo mayo? Any suggestions? Maybe use it on baked chicken??? (if so, how?) Or what else?? Help me! I want to use it ... just NOT in my egg salad!

;~)

I'm still here...

Just checking in to say I'm still here but not here. We've been out of town a few times, including right now, and there has just not been time to post on this blog but I'll be back next week, Lord willing.

Fermenting the Harvest ... Corn Relish, Pickles and Curtido

There are a variety of ways you can preserve your harvest ... canning, freezing, dehydrating and, a more traditional but not as used method today: fermenting. A handy dandy guide that I appreciate a lot is a book called "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fermenting Foods" by Wardeh Harmon.

While I do not follow her recipes and methods exactly, I do use this book as a reference tool. It is an excellent place to start if you do not know much (or anything) about fermenting foods.

With that said, here is what I did today and yesterday.

Today I made corn relish, cucumber pickles, and an experiment of pickled green beans. These were just the green beans that were ready to pick RIGHT NOW in our 'city garden'. I'm not sure what's going on at the country garden (where our main green bean crop is) but our city garden only has a few pole bean plants and only a handful were ready today so I threw them in a pint jar with a garlic clove and a slice of onion, covered them with brine and they are good to go.

The corn relish I have never done before but it smells wonderful so far! Fresh corn picked yesterday, cilantro and jalapenos picked today, and onion and tomato ... from the store ... my tomatoes are not ready yet.

And the cucumbers ... yum. I picked those today along with fresh dill in the garden. The garlic and onions came from the store.

These are not the best pictures, but here they are ... also, these were both taken right after I put the food into the jars. This time tomorrow I suspect it will look a little different. Maybe I'll update with photos?

Fermented Corn Relish

Fermented Green Beans and Cucumbers

Curtido is such a tasty dish!! I have never made it fermented but it smelled SO GOOD yesterday while I was getting it all ready. Cabbage from a friend's garden, organic carrots from our bulk food order, cayenne peppers and oregano from our garden and onion from the store. The ratio of salt to produce is 3T/5lbs. In order to keep things simple, first shred and chop everything except the cabbage. Put it all in a bowl and weigh it ... subtract that from 5 pounds and weigh out the missing amount of cabbage. I used nearly 3 heads of cabbage, but it really just depends on how large/small and lose/tight the heads of cabbage are. The last thing to be shredded is the cabbage. I usually use a chef's knife to shred cabbage, however since I just got my kitchenaid I tried out the shredder attachment. I am pleased enough with the results to do it from here on out.

After all the vegetables are chopped or shredded and ready to go, sprinkle on the salt and mix well. I allow mine to sit for an hour or so to give the salt time to draw out the juices in the vegetables. This also gives me time to go help my old lady friend ;) In order to protect the vegetables from offending flies while I'm away, I put a rack over the bowl and cover all with a bread towel. You might have a lid that fits your bowl ... which would be convenient.

Come back later, stir well and pack tight into a glass gallon jar or other vessel good for fermenting. Weigh it down with a piece of plastic and a glass jar filled with water (or a heavy plate and rock if your vessel lacks a neck). Put the lid on, write the date on the jar with a sharpie (it will rub off), and allow to ferment on the counter till it is to your liking, but let it sit at least three days. Our ferments usually sit for a week or two or three, depending on the temperature in the house and what we are fermenting. It's really warm in our house right now so the whole process will be a bit quicker.

When done, store in a cool place (preferably a cellar) or in the fridge if no such place exists in your home.

Here are step-by-step photos of that process. Some were taken with flash and some without. My kitchen has terrible lighting it's hard to get nice photos!

The ingredients

Mince the oregano and cayenne; finely slice the onion

Shred the cabbage and carrots (not pictured!); add 3T salt

Mix well and top with a rack or other device to hold the towel

Cover and allow to sit an hour or two

Pack into a gallon glass jar or other vessel

Have ready a piece of plastic that will fit snug into the jar; I cut this lid to size

Layer the plastic lid (pack down tight), jar of water and anything else needed to fill up the space - I had to top off the lidded-jar with a mason jar ring for extra height. I like it to reach the gallon jar lid so it packs down. To prevent spoilage, be sure everything is well under the liquid!!!

Top all with jar lid and add the date

There you have it! Simple. I did this yesterday and it is already nice and bubbly ... about 24 hours later here is what it looks like (I used a flash yesterday; this is without the flash so it looks a little different but the colour is the same in reality):

~24 hours later - lots of bubbles forming

I'm anxious to try it!! We'll make pupusas again as soon as this is ready.

I made this recipe up based on how I like curtido to taste (it's not hard to do) however today when I was browsing through the book mentioned above I saw she had a recipe as well. It was somewhat different from mine, but I'm going off my personal tastes ... though I've never used cayenne in it before. We all like cayenne around here and we are so thankful our 4 cayenne plants are thriving. I'm not sure if 3 was enough?? I left the seeds in. I'm also wondering if I should have used more oregano? We'll see what happens and I'll try to remember to update this post with the results and any changes I might make in the future.

Do you ferment foods? If so, what are some of your favourites? Do you have a recipe to share?

Homemade Hummus

homemade hummus / homemade pita

I really like hummus :) so for today's 'tasty tuesday' I'm sharing how I make them. The word "hummus" is actually an Arabic word for "chickpeas" ... how appropriate, right?! I eat hummus just about any way they are to be eaten - as a dip, in a pita, as a spread, a side dish/condiment, and sometimes just by the spoonful. For a bit of trivia, visit this HUMMUS wiki page ... I thought it was very interesting and besides, it contains a few nice photos of various ways hummus can be served.

For those who cannot view the video below, here is the recipe in print:
Ingredient list:
3 1/2c chickpeas/garbanzo beans (rinse and drain)
1/4c tahini
1/4c fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4c packed fresh parsley
1/8c braggs liquid aminos (or 1t salt)
1T extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic (crush or press)

Blend all in a vitamix or food processor till smooth.
Serve as a dip or sandwich/pita spread.
Feel free to change / add / or leave out various ingredients.
For example, add 1t cayenne, a little cumin, omit the parsley and stir in when done, etc.

This is a very healthy dish, easy to make and tastes great. Enjoy!! 

2014 Garden Update

Well, things are going along nicely for our little garden this year. I probably mentioned before that we were not going to have a country garden this year but instead do only what I think I can handle by myself ... and if someone helps, great! But if not, I can still take care of it alone. This has worked out wonderfully ... and usually I have some help too ;) Here are a few photos, more for my records than anything else!

Oh yes, and on a side note, Tylor did plant some corn and blue lake bush beans at the Sarcoxie Nursery ... so I guess we do have a little bit of a 'country garden' this year, though I am not sure how that's going. I'll try to get over there to take a photo soon, or see if someone else can.

We have no easy access to water at our garden because it is so far away from our house ... there is a road and the church in between the garden and our home. We've been filling up 5 gallon buckets and using the wheel barrel to transport the water, but those days are over now thanks to Corban's rig. He attached a spigot to this old barrel with the top cut off and then put the barrel on his lawn mower. This morning was our first time using it and we were so thankful for it :)

watering rig

cucs and zucchini

herbs - dill, cilantro and basil

jalapeno and cayenne peppers

sweet peppers of various kinds

pole beans

one of our potato beds

one of our tomato beds

Here is a photo looking from the garden to the church (The Church of Monett) ... those are our peach trees that are not producing fruit this year due to a late frost. We tried to save them but I guess our efforts did not work. Oh well! One of the apple trees in front has a lot of little apples on it though :)

Here I doctored up the above photo ... maybe we'll put it on the church website?

Have a great day!