Greens with Chicken Sausages and Cashews

Since I am still fairly new to this meat eating business, I have found the easiest way for me to add meat protein to meals is by adding chicken sausages. I start with one of my favorite vegetarian dishes, add cooked sausages, and voila! A complete meal! This is by far my favorite easy meal to make when I have greens around. It works best with kale or collard greens, but a hearty spinach would also work (you would just want to cook the spinach less). My favorite is collard greens!

Ingredients:
-1 Medium leek, sliced in half the long way to remove dirt, then in to 1/4 slices up the leek

-2 Chicken sausages, sliced into coins

-1 Large bunch greens, ribs removed then chopped or sliced into ribbons

-2 Tbls. Cooking fat (clarifed butter, olive oil, animal fat)
-Handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (8-10)
-1/2 Cup cashews
-Garlic salt to taste (start with 1/2 teaspoon)
-1/4-1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

-Honey (optional)

Directions:
-Melt cooking fat over medium heat, then add in the chopped up leek.

-Cook for 3 minutes or until a bright lime green.

-Add in the sausages and cook for another 5 minutes.
-Turn your skillet down to low and add in your first batch of cut up greens. You will not be able to fit all your greens into the pan, so add some in and mix it around to cook it down, then add in more. Continue to do this until all the greens are in the pan. 

-It will take approximately 10-15 minutes for the greens to cook.
-Depending on what greens you cook with you may want to add a sweetener if the greens are a little bitter. I prefer to add a little drizzle of honey, but you could use sugar if you would like.

-Add tomatoes, 1/2 cup cashews, garlic salt, red pepper flakes.
-Cook a few more minutes until the greens are cooked to your liking.

This makes two servings. This is my favorite go-to-meal! I CRAVE it! If you are a fan of greens, give it a try. After you make it a few times, you could do it in your sleep.

Carolyn's Salsa

I have never met Carolyn Walsh, but I will tell you she makes the best salsa! My husband and the co-author of the two books they wrote, Jim Draeger, stopped at her house to spend the night while they were researching one of their books (Carolyn is Jim's sister). My husband came home with a couple of jars of her salsa, and I was determined to make it. She thankfully gave me the recipe, and I have been given permission to share it! In her honor, our house salsa is 'Carolyn's Salsa'. It is the only thing I hot water can, that is how much we love it!

It all starts with the tomatoes. The tomatoes you see above came from our local CSA Crossroads Community Farm. They came in two 5/9 bushel boxes. One box I will use for the salsa, the other box will be for freezing. Honestly, I planned to hot water can all the tomatoes in some form, but ran out of time and found the freezer space for bags of chopped up tomatoes.

I decided to break up the canning into 2 days as I am not a morning person and did not want to work from sun up until midnight to get this all done in one day. Between getting the tomatoes prepped and everything else ready, making the salsa and doing the actual canning, it took me about 10 hours total. By all means, feel free to do it in one day if you like.

Day 1:

I cleaned up all the tomatoes, cut off the core end and x'ed the blossom end. 

I dunked them in simmering water for 1-2 minutes until the skin started to peel away.

This is what they should look like after you carefully take them out of the water with a slotted spoon. I put them on a cookie sheets to cool down. Some recipes say to put them in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then dunk them in cold water to make the skin start to peel off. I find this step unnecessary. By cooking a little longer, the skin comes off on its own. I usually watch them closely, and when I start to see the first peels starting to pull off the tomatoes, that is when I start taking them out.
I should also note that if you don't mind the peels in your salsa, you can completely skip this step (you just need to cut off the tops and chop them up). I take the peels off for my husband who I love so much that I will do this extra step for him!

For my recipe I found that one 5/9 bushel box was plenty for my salsa. I peeled them, chopped them and stuck them in covered bowls in the refrigerator for the next day. I had an additional box and no time to can them. So I pulled off the skins like I did for the salsa, chopped up the tomatoes, and put them in BPA-free quart size freezer bags. I weighed them out to be approximately 28 ounces, which is what the large cans of tomatoes are at the grocery store. Though I am a big fan of just cutting off the ends, halving them and throwing them in freezer bags (unpeeled), this way does save space (and my freezer is starting to fill up with vegetables).

Day 2:

I pulled out my favorite canning book and read the section on how to can. Even though I am going to give you a recipe (that is not in the book), I highly recommend the 'Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving' seen below as a guide. Every year I need to look at it to remind myself how to can properly. It also has some great recipes, if you decide you love to can. 

Here it is! I would describe this salsa as a little sweet and a little spicy, and completely delicious!

Carolyn's Salsa

I have doubled the original recipe. You can obviously cut the recipe in half again. 

This made (2) quart jars, (14) pint jars and (6) 1/2 pint jars. 

Ingredients:

-1 Cup diced hot peppers (I remove the seeds from half of them, you could leave them or remove all of them depending on how hot you like your salsa)

-6 Cups diced bell peppers (I like to use red peppers)

-8 Cups diced white or yellow onion

-20 Cloves garlic, minced

-28 Cups Roma tomatoes 

-36 Ounces tomato paste

-3 Cups apple cider vinegar

-4 Teaspoons Oregano

-4 Tablespoons Chili powder

-4 Tablespoons Cumin

-4 Tablespoons Salt

Directions:

-Blanch and peel tomatoes (this I did on day 1).

-Combine onions, both kinds of peppers, garlic and tomatoes in a large kettle (I believe mine is a 12 quart).

-Mix together the vinegar, oregano, chili powder, cumin and salt in a bowl, then mix into the vegetables in the large kettle.

-Simmer for 1 hour. 

-Add tomato paste and simmer on low for 20 minutes, stir often.

-Put in clean jars and add boiled lids. Put in hot water bath with water covering jars.

-Boil for 20 minutes, then turn off heat and take off lid and let the jars sit in the water for 5 minutes.

-Remove carefully so as not to tip the jars and store in a draft free area for 24 hours (you can lightly cover with a dish towel).

-After 24 hours check to make sure seal is good. 

-Store for up to 1 year.

Note: If this is your first time canning, PLEASE buy a canning guide for more details, above is just the basics, I still look at my Ball canning guide for more info.  

All the vegetables in the large stock pot ready to go!

The spices and vinegar added.

The salsa canned and ready to be stored.

The photo below makes me so happy! As I was canning this year I realized I was using some of my Grandma Leona's old canning jars. She gave them all to me about 5 years ago as she can no longer can. She used to have a huge garden, plus they lived on a farm. She used to can everything! I knew these were her cans because I have only purchased the Ball brand, and you can faintly see the Kerr on these. Though the salsa would be too spicy for her, I know she will be happy when I tell her I have used her old jars!

Eggs with Sautéed Sungold Tomatoes and Side Pork

When I did my first Whole30 I discovered side pork. It is what they make bacon out of, but it is just the meat (no added sugar or nitrates). I love to bake it in the oven, then keep it in the refrigerator for a few days. I use it by itself, or in other dishes, like this egg "frittata".

Ingredients:

Organic virgin coconut oil (or other cooking fat) enough to coat pan, 1-2 tablespoons

10-12 Sungolds, halved

3 Slices pre-cooked side pork ( or bacon), chopped

3 Eggs, mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

-Heat oil over medium heat, add bacon and tomatoes (cut side down). I like to lightly salt the pork and tomatoes at this point.

-Cook the bacon and tomatoes until the tomatoes start to get golden on the cut side and the bacon starts to crisp.

-Turn the heat down to low and pour in eggs. Gently move the eggs towards the center so that the wet eggs run off to the outside of the skillet.

-When the eggs are mostly set, I like to take a large spatula and divide the eggs into quarters. I then carefully flip each quarter. 

-Once you have flipped each quarter over, turn off heat and let the eggs finish cooking.

I like making my "frittatas" this way, instead of finishing them off in the oven, or trying to flip it whole onto a plate and sliding it back into the skillet. I don't want to have to turn on my oven, and my skillet is too heavy to flip over. What makes this so tasty is making sure the tomatoes are browning, this makes them almost caramelized. 

This makes one large serving, or two with an addition side. Serve with a lovely cup of coffee and enjoy your morning!

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable "Salad"

AKA fajita fillings

AKA pasta toppings

AKA frittata fillings

So, this is not a typical salad, nor is it a recipe. It is a suggestion.

Whenever we go to our cabin I try to make cooking as easy as possible. A lot of times this involves grilling. I love this because my husband is the household grill master ( less cooking for me, which I love at the cabin). When figuring out the menu for the cabin, we always include grilling extra vegetables for future meals. During our last trip we made the "salad" shown above.

Here are some other ideas:

-Our favorite thing to do is make fajitas. We make sure to grill extra peppers, onions and chicken. The next night for dinner we heat this up with fajita seasoning and stuff it in crisped corn tortillas or put on top of lettuce for a salad. We top either with avocado/guacamole and salsa and have one of our favorite meals! It reminds me of my favorite salad from a tex-mex chain named after a pepper.

-The second most common thing we do is add extra grilled vegetables to eggs the next day. Scrambled or in a frittata, it takes a few minutes to heat up the veggies then pour in the eggs. I like to add in some cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs (like flat leaf parsley, basil, cilantro or lemon thyme).

-The last thing we like to do is mix grilled vegetables into pasta. If you have extra grilled chicken that is tasty too. I use Jovial, which is a gluten free pasta made out of brown rice. It is made in Italy and tastes as close to real pasta as possible. It can be spendy, $4 something a box, but every three to four months our local Willy Street Co-op has it on special for around $2.50. I use it sparingly as a treat, and use about 2/3 vegetables to 1/3 pasta. 

I am sure there are other ideas I have forgotten. The point is, be it traveling or at home, making extra vegetables and proteins to create another meal just makes sense. It's like having leftovers, but better because you are not eating the same meal!

Who Has Time to Keep a Journal?!?

All right. I am guessing a lot of people faithfully keep journals. I love the idea. I have bought (or been given) beautiful journals in the past all excited to start journaling. I mean, I like writing. Plus, my memory is not the best, so of course I should write important things down. The problem is the guilt that comes with it. After awhile I can't keep up with a daily journal, then I start to feel guilty. Then I write in it because I feel I HAVE to. 

After our daughter was born was the last time I attempted a daily journal. At first it was fun! I would write about every amazing thing she did. Then over time I realized a lot of days were the same and I was really searching for something new and exciting to write about. Daily entries turned into weekly, then monthly entries. 

See the problem is, I need to do something daily (like walking) to create healthy habits. I think this applies to most people. If I am going to keep a journal, I need to do it every day, and without the guilt hanging over me. 

I have found the perfect solution: the one sentence journal. You do not need to write a story of your day. Just one (or two) sentences that remind you of the day.  It does not have to be poetic, in fact, that would be a waste of the few lines you are given.

Below is an article written by the author of 'The Happiness Project'. She is also the creator of the one sentence journal seen above. I love it! Not only is it small and friendly to use, it is so pretty sitting out on a table (where I will remember to use it). 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gretchen-rubin/happiness-tip-of-the-day_b_105605.html

So, if you want to keep a journal, but don't have the time, think about trying this. I mean, even on my laziest day, what excuse do I have to not write one sentence (especially if I have the time to post to Facebook).

Write on!

Dragon Tongue Beans in Garlic Butter and Parsley

You could technically make this with any kind of beans, but these are the ones our CSA is giving us right now, and they are tasty! If you do use green or wax beans, your cooking time will be a few minutes less. Feel free to use a different nut and/or herb. Basil and pine nuts, cilantro and peanuts, parsley with cashews or hazelnuts. If this is your main dish, adding sliced up chicken sausages is a nice way to add some additional protein. This makes a great side to a burger!

Dragon Tongue Beans in Garlic Butter and Parsley
2-4 Side servings

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons of clarified butter
2-3 Garlic cloves, sliced
1 Pound dragon tongue beans, cut in half or thirds
1 Small to medium tomato, chopped
1 Small bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 cup roughly chopped almonds
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
-Sauté garlic in butter over medium low heat until it browns. This should only take a few minutes, stir often so it does not burn. Remove garlic with slotted spoon and set aside.
-Add beans and chopped parsley. Cook covered over medium heat for 5-7 minutes.
-Uncover, add almonds and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper,stir to combine everything.
-Cover, cook for 3-5 more minutes.
-Uncover and stir. Cook a few more minutes uncovered until tomato pieces have broken down and coated the beans, and beans are starting to brown. Add in reserved garlic and take off heat.

Sweet Potato Hash with Pecans

On our recent trip to the cabin I decided to make my sweet potato hash with pecans. It is the first time my husband had had it, and I am proud to say he found it quite tasty!
An important thing I learned this weekend is that cooking on an electric stove in a non-stick pan is COMPLETELY different then cooking in my cast iron skillet on a gas stove.  The hashbrowns were tasty at the cabin, but they did not get as crispy as they do at home in my skillet. They also had to be watched way more closely as the cooking heat did not seem to be consistent on our electric range. At home I can walk away from my gas stove for a few minutes and know things will not burn, at the cabin I can not. Keep this in mind if you decide to try this recipe.

Leftover sweet potato hash with pecans used as an omelet filling

Sweet Potato Hash

3-4 Servings

This is one of my favorite breakfast sides to make. I usually make it for myself once a week. Because it makes a few servings, I then have leftovers for the next couple of days. On the first day my favorite way to eat it is as a side, or on top of spinach with crumbled bacon and a couple of fried eggs also on top. On the following days I love it as a filling in a 2 egg omelet.

Ingredients:

-1 Large or 2 small sweet potatoes, diced 

-1 Large or 2 small white potatoes, diced (if you are avoiding white potatoes, use more sweet potatoes)

-1 Small onion, diced

-1/4-1/2 Cup chopped pecans

- Garlic salt to taste (optional)

- 1-2 Tablespoons cooking fat (bacon fat is delicious!)

Directions: 

-In a large skillet heat the cooking fat over medium heat until melted, then add onions and both kinds of potatoes. Move around to coat everything in the cooking fat.
-Cover and let cook for 5 minutes. This helps steam the potatoes and also keeps the cooking fat from splattering.
-Uncover and stir. If your potatoes have softened and are starting to brown, leave off cover so they can continue to brown (a splatter screen is handy here).
-Season with garlic salt ( if using). Cook a few more minutes, then add chopped pecans. Stir, continue cooking until potatoes are desired crispness. Watch the hash carefully at this time as the pecans and sweet potatoes can burn easily. 

Enjoy!