Sour Success!

My second attempt at making sauerkraut went a lot better than the first attempt.  The first attempt had to be tossed. This time I used a recipe from "The Pioneer Woman." I followed it closely except I added a kohlrabi to the cabbage.  It's delicious!  I feel good about this accomplishment!  Fermentation is good for the gut!

Recipe Eggs Easy Over

Ingredients: two Americauna chicken eggs laid yesterday, 2 TB onions chopped, 1/3 cup broccoli sprouts, 3 baby bella mushrooms chopped, 1 TB kerry gold butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Melt butter in cast iron skillet. Add chopped vegies and saute for 4 minutes. Lay eggs over the vegies. If the yolk breaks the yolk breaks. What is, is. Cook for 3  minutes. Carefully turn vegies and eggs over.  Turn off stove. Move skillet to cool spot. Continue to let eggs remain in skillet for another 3 minutes while you make the toast. Season with salt and pepper. Savor every bite. The eggs taste better when you know where they came from (a chicken's patootie).

Zucchini Chips

A friend of mine gave me a yellow zucchini and a recipe for zucchini chips. These are to die for! Three years ago I thought I didn't like zucchini except grated in sauces or in bread. I was so wrong. Lucky for me the weather is perfect for heating an oven to 450 degrees! Bonus that I had all the ingredients at hand.  Bonus Bonus that the bread crumbs and cheese were Sicilian!

Ingredients for Kim's zucchini chips: a sliced zucchini, 2 scrambled eggs for dipping, 1 C. bread crumbs, 3/4 C. grated Parmesean cheese, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder. Mix together. Dip in egg then bread crumbs mixture. Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes. 

Ingredients for zucchini chip sauce: 1/3 C. mayo, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Strawberry Jam

I got a quart of chemical free strawberries on Thursday and still had half a quart left on Sunday. I love fresh strawberries and I have been eating a full quart a week for the past month. But yesterday I took the rest and made about 6 ounces of strawberry jam preserves.  I didn't use Sure-gel. Grandma always used Sure-gel.  Turns out you don't need Sure-gel if you work the strawberries like a chemist. I found a recipe on the BBC website that I liked although I never looked at the list of ingredients or paid any attention at all to the amounts I was supposed to use.  Recipes are more like guidelines anyway. If I used Sure-gel I would have to have 7 cups of fresh strawberries.  I would have to mash the berries. I thought this recipe would work no matter the amounts. And I didn't mash them. I didn't add Sure-gel (besides, what is in that stuff anyway?) I used as much sugar as I thought would be good. I liked the line in the recipe where I don't rinse the strawberries but wipe them gently with damp kitchen paper (the words the Brits use for paper towels).  I read a line about  putting two saucers in the freezer and that confused me. I had to read the instructions 7 times before I figured out you test the doneness of the jam by putting a dab of what you think is fully cooked jam on a cold plate, wait 30 seconds, push it with your finger and if the jam returns to the shape before you poked it, it's done.  See what I mean? Chemistry. The reason I didn't eat the strawberries fresh and plain like I usually like them or with my home made Greek yogurt is also chemistry. For the past month my mouth has felt weird. I constantly feel thirsty but water and other liquids don't quench it. Cabernet Sauvignon quenches it but that is another story. My tongue frequently massages my teeth. I feel thirsty but I'm not thirsty. My tongue felt slightly swollen. My teeth stick to the inside of my lips. My mouth and tongue felt sore. I avoided salty foods because they hurt. Most telling of all I just had my third consecutive canker sore under my tongue. My body was telling me to cut back on the strawberries but it took not one, not two, but three canker sores before I received the message. I wish I was the type of person who paid more attention to her body but you know that hypochondriacs suffer too so maybe it's all even. What kind of cosmic horse laugh is this that I become sensitive to strawberries right after I paid money for a quart a week for many weeks? I don't know if it's the strawberries or the acid that bothers me. I always thought of citrus fruits as acid.  Guess who just bought a three pound bag of oranges? Yeah, that is right. I bought three pounds of oranges. I could put out orange halves for the orioles but I know the squirrels will eat them. I knew grapefruit bothers my mouth and that is why I limit it to one grapefruit per month.  Perhaps it's the combination of the strawberries and the kefir I have been fermenting that is the problem. Maybe if I preserve these delicious red berries and dole them out over the winter I will be able to tolerate them better. Or maybe not.  I looked up a list of the alkaline foods and the acidic foods.  I love food on both lists. I think the fad diets that emphasize alkaline or acid foods are bogus. I'm sure my body and most healthy bodies has found a way to keep our ph balanced. I guess I could be a generous person and give the berries away.  Hold the phone!  I'm not that generous! I could make more strawberry jam. I had a piece of toast this morning and this strawberry jam tastes better than any other batches I have made in my life.  Oh, I got an idea. I could sell these berries on the black market and make a fortune!  I could be rich! Red market perhaps?  You can take away my strawberries, my oranges, my coffee (also acidic), and even my chocolate, but don't come near my tomatoes. That one cherry tomato on the deck will be ready by tomorrow or the next day.

Red Cabbage

Mathematically beautiful and delicious, red cabbage has anti-cancer properties. Eaten raw and chopped in rush hour traffic through Coon Rapids on the way home from work, red cabbage is the snack that makes you live longer.  Delicious too!

Healthy and Nutritious!

Here is a photo of a bowl of healthy soup in my lap.  I'd give you the recipe but I didn't make it.  I know it's called broccoli cheese soup but I also know there are other ingredients such as squash, garbanzo beans, onion, garlic and turmeric.  I also know that sitting in my recliner eating a bowl of delicious and healthy and brightly colored soup made for an absolutely great lunch yesterday.  I could actually feel the healthy ingredients disperse within me!

Veggie Loaf

I made a delicious veggie loaf for my family this holiday season.  Ingredients:  1/2 cup sauteed celery, 1/2 sauteed onion, 1/2 cup sauteed mushrooms, 4 chopped sauteed garlic cloves, 1 cup cooked red lentils ( I cooked the lentils in veggie broth), 2 TB ground flax, 1/2 cup vegie broth, salt and pepper to taste.  Mix the above ingredients.  Place parchment paper in a loaf pan.  Press the above mixture into the loaf pan to form a loaf.  Top with ketchup (I use hot and spicy Heinz ketchup).  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.  Let cool 15 minutes before slicing.  This was a delicious veggie loaf.  The problem came because I buy bulk stuff from my local coop and I can't tell red lentils from red quinoa.  The loaf I made for the holidays didn't contain any lentils at all.  I didn't figure this out until it was almost all gone and I found the bag of lentils in my pantry.  Today I made the above recipe again, using lentils, and it's not nearly as tasty as quinoa.  Both are good but red quinoa is better.