Fermented Salsa

This is a great fresh tasting salsa with all the benefits of being fermented. Great alternative to cooked/jarred salsa. This is pretty spicy since there's a whole jalapeno in one quart jar of salsa, but that can be omitted if you don't want it so spicy. This is a great snack you don't have to feel guilty about!
This is adapted from Sally Fallon's book "Nourishing Traditions"

Fermented Salsa
by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle

4 organic tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1 medium organic onion, diced
1 organic jalapeno, chopped
6 cloves organic garlic, chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 ts dried organic oregano
Juice from 2 lemons
1 TB real salt
4 TB whey (only homemade whey. Sally Fallon says you can subsitute with an additional TB of salt but I think that would be pretty salty, but worth a try(
1/4 cup filtered water

To peel tomatoes easily, boil water in a pot and dip tomatoes in for 5 seconds, they should peel easily at this point.
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and stuff into a wide mouth quart size mason jar.With a wooden spoon or pounder, press down gently on the mixture so the water rises above the veggie level. If the water doesn't rise above the salsa, add a little more water. You want atleast an inch between the top level and the rim of the jar...it will expand....and leak all over your counter if it's not. Put the cap on tightly and leave at room temperature for 2 days and then transfer to the fridge.
Enjoy!

Blueberry Jam

Nothing says summer in NY like blueberry picking! Now I must say, blueberry picking is not my favorite thing but I do enjoy the benefits. It just seems to take forever to fill those buckets. But it is peaceful and quiet, unless my kids get bored and start running up and down the aisles...or hubby decides to start throwing "accidentally picked" green berries at me. So I had a plan this year. Due to a death in the family I had to take a trip to California for a couple days. So hubby took time off work to hang with the kids. I thought it would be great if he took them blueberry picking. I'd hate it if we missed blueberry season while I was in Cali ;) But after giving him directions 4 times and telling him friends he could call for help, he never found the place. Alas, my plan didn't work. He gave up and took the kids to the park.
This last weekend we picked 50 lbs of blueberries. When we got home I realized I still had 5 gallon size bags from last year =/ Not sure how that happened. Sooo....blueberry jam it is! I'm not an expert jelly/jam maker but I have made it many times over the years and this is the easiest I've ever made! So get out there and pick some blueberries and make this!

This made almost 4 pints of blueberry jam. Feel free to increase or decrease as needed. Some like to do it in half pint jars...not me, we go through a lot of jelly/jam and I don't want to be constantly going to get a new jar.

Blueberry Jam
by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle

4 lbs blueberries
2 1/4 cup organic sugar
1 cup water
4 sterilized pint jars and lids, keep warm while making jam

Wash and pick through blueberries, removing stems and leaves. Place in a large stainless steel pot. With a potato masher, crush the blueberries. They don't have to be completely crushed, just mush about a layer of them leaving some whole. Add water. Cook over medium heat, simmering until berries are tender. Add sugar and stir well. Boil rapidly, stirring often, until it reaches the jelling point.

Jelling point can be determined many ways, do your research. But I like to use a thermometer to keep an eye on it until it's almost there. At sea level the jelling point is around 220 degrees F. Before it hits 220, I place a small plate in the freezer. Once the temp gets close I pull the plate out and put a small spoonful of jam on it and place back in the freezer for a few minutes. To avoid overcooking you may want to remove the pot from heat while you wait to check it. When you pull it out, run your finger through the middle. If it runs right back together, you need to cook longer. If it slowly runs back together it will be a soft mold. For a harder mold you want it to not come back together but leave the line down the middle.

Once you've reached the jelling point, spoon jam into warm pint jars leaving 1/4 inch head space and put lids on. Process for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Garlic Scape Pesto

I had some garlic scapes from our CSA share. I had been using them in various dishes in place of garlic or onions. I came across a recipe for a grilled cheese with pesto and thought, hmmm, I could make pesto with the garlic scapes! I used this for a sandwich spread so I didn't make it too liquidy like you would for pasta. So if you want to through it on some pasta, add more olive oil. We warned this is a spicy pesto. If you don't want spicy you can sub basil for a traditional pesto or parsley for a twist. If you are using basil or parsley add a clove or two of garlic.

Garlic Scape Pesto
1 cup garlic scapes (about 6 or 7) chopped into small pieces, flowers removed
1/3 cup organic cashews, or you can use pine nuts (I can't get organic pine nuts)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, organic (approx. 3/4 cup if you want it for pasta sauce)
1/2 ts good salt
pepper to taste
Shredded Parmesan to taste (I used a couple TB)

Put scapes and nuts in the food processor and process until smooth-ish. Drizzle olive oil in until well combined and smooth. Remove from processor and stir in salt, pepper, and Parmesan. Spread on your sandwich bread and enjoy!

Homemade almond butter

Making your own almond butter is so easy. Buy almonds in bulk and you'll save tons of money compared to jars of almond butter. I like to add a little salt and maple syrup or honey, but that's totally optional. Enjoy some almond butter in a sandwich, with apples, or anywhere you'd use other nut or seed butters.

Raw almond butter

2 cups raw organic almonds
pinch of real salt, or to taste (optional)
1-2 tb maple syrup or honey, or to taste (optional)

Place almonds in food processor. Note: if you keep them frozen, thaw them first. Process in food processor, scraping down sides as needed. Once it gets past the floury stage and starts getting paste-like, add the salt and sweetener. Process until smooth and creamy. This usually takes about 10 minutes, then you have fresh raw almond butter to enjoy!

Copycat Baja Salsa

There are many things I miss about living in California....My family most, my friends, Trader Joes, Year round farmers markets....AND BAJA FRESH!!!! When I was pregnant with my oldest there was NOTHING else I wanted to eat except bean and cheese burritos from Baja. Literally I ate at Baja 5-6 times a week during that pregnancy....poor hubby! He was such a great hubby and indulged me...most of the time. There were times when he put his foot down and said I had to get some other nutrition into my body...which I am thankful for. So sometimes I would get a tostada from Baja ;) In all seriousness, I did have a smoothie and carrot juice for breakfast, and would limit myself (most days) to only eating at Baja once. That being said, we referred to our oldest as "Our little pinto bean" for quite a long time. Most women who crave something so much during pregnancy don't ever want to even smell that food again...yeah, not me. I would probably still eat there "almost" every day given the chance. Sadly for me the closest Baja to us is 5 hours away. That's actually probably a good thing for my waist line and overall health considering the white flour tortillas and most likely gmo corn tortillas =( Not to mention they probably also use canola oil which is highly gmo'd also. Soooo, now that I've talked myself into thinking it's a good thing I don't live near a Baja....I think I've nailed copy-catting the brown Baja Salsa! I did a lot of research into this recipe and kept finding copy cat recipes where the author would say "Well I've never actually eaten at Baja Fresh, but here's a recipe for the salsa...." Um, you've never eaten there but you're going to say this is a copy cat recipe? Weird. I found several recipes that included chicken broth. That too was weird to me. Granted, Baja could totally use chicken broth in theirs, I have no idea. But to me, salsa should be vegetarian. I also truly hope they do not put it in theirs since I ate it for years while a vegetarian =/ Either way, it doesn't matter. I combined several recipes I found and tweaked it myself and I really think I nailed it! This is in NO WAY the recipe Baja Fresh uses (though wouldn't it be hilarious if it was and I totally made it up??? HA!) But it VERY much tastes like theirs and satisfies my craving! Not to mention, I  know I'm using organic ingredients, Score! So if I haven't lost you after all this rambling, and I hope someone is still reading because this recipe is AWESOME....Here goes....


Copy Cat Baja Fresh Salsa (Organic Ingredients are ALWAYS recommended)
7 tomatoes, 1 diced, 6 sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 jalapeno
2 garlic cloves
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 onion
1/2 cup water
Handful cilantro
1 ts salt

Preheat broiler to High. Place the 6 tomatoes you sliced into rings on a baking sheet along with the jalapeno, stem removed. (Most recipes I saw actually did this on a grill. Well it's freezing outside, so I used a broiler =) I also tried a cast iron gridle once....didn't go that well and set off the smoke alarm one too many times while the kids were napping, so I axed that idea too) Place baking sheet under broiler and broil until blackened (about 20-30 minutes). Flip tomatoes and pepper, add one clove of garlic, and place back under the broiler again until blackened on the other side (Probably another 20 minutes but check often) Pull them out of the broiler and cool. Place tomatoes and pepper into blender with the other ingredients except the one diced tomato, and blend. Place diced tomato in a bowl and pour blended mixture over it, stir.
Go ahead and taste it if you want. I highly recommend letting the flavors blend for 6-18 hours in the fridge. The first batch I almost nailed tasted MUCH closer to right after sitting in the fridge for 18 hours. The 2nd batch (recipe above) tasted almost perfect right away, and tasted completely awesome after sitting in the fridge for awhile! Enjoy with some organic tortillas chips or on a burrito!

Note: Baja Fresh makes their salsa much more liquidy. If you would like it to be more like theirs, add more water, a little at a time until it's the desired consistency. I left mine not so liquidy so it would scoop on chips better. (Darn spell check really doesn't think "liquidy" is a word....seriously??? Whatever, ha.)

Make your own butter

I get my cream by letting my raw milk sit and separate from the cream. Then I slowly pour it off the top. To start, you can culture your cream first, or not. Cultured butter does have an excellent taste. But, homemade butter, in my opinion, is great either way! There are many ideas out there on how to culture the cream. I've seen that you can just leave the cream at room temperature for about 12 hours. I've also seen you should stir in 1/3 of a cup of buttermilk or plain yogurt, and then let sit for 12 hours. For me, sometimes it's just easier to let the cream come to room temperature and then have at it. Either way, you want your cream at room temperature when you start.
Then pour cream into a food processor with a dough blade, or in a stand mixer with a dough hook. I like to add a tiny bit of salt, but you don't have to. Turn on. It's going to probably take 10-15 minutes but check it occasionally. Once there are hard chunks floating in the buttermilk, you're probably good. Taste it, does it taste like butter? I then take a fine strainer or cheesecloth, and pour off the liquid. Some people like to rinse the butter at this point. I've rinsed sometimes, and sometimes I don't. I think if you rinse it will last longer, in my experience. Scoop your butter into a covered container, glass or ceramic. You can serve immediately or refrigerate until needed. Serve with some fresh bread, you won't be disappointed!

Mango Guacamole

A unique take on the standard guacamole. Try it with tortilla chips or just by the spoonful!

Ingredients:
1 mango, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 green onion, chopped
Pinch of sea salt
2 ts evoo
1/2 cumin

Gently toss all ingredients together. That's it...super easy!

Make your own vanilla extract

 Ok, this is so awesome! We go through a ton of vanilla in this house. Hubby likes to put it in his coffee, not to mention baking, etc. Here, a 4 oz bottle of organic vanilla extract costs about $8. I was chatting with a friend who told me she makes her own and it's super easy. I immediately ordered a bunch of organic vanilla beans, you only need 6, but I wanted extra. Order them here They have good prices. In my grocery store it costs $7 for TWO beans. Check out beanilla's prices, SO much better!
So here's what you need:

6 organic vanilla beans (See note at bottom, I added another bean later)
2 cups organic vodka (if you can find it, otherwise a mild tasting vodka)
1 clean jar with a tight fitting lid. I used a bottle with a cork because it's pretty =)
1 2 or 4 oz amber bottle (beanilla sells these too)

Take a sharp paring knife and slice your beans down the middle leaving an inch attached.

Place all beans into your jar.
Pour in the 2 cups of vodka.

Put the lid on and shake it.

Take your jar and place it in a dark cupboard. It will need to sit for 8 weeks. When you think about it, give it a good shake. After 8 weeks you can now pour some off into your amber bottle. This is what you will use daily. Leave the jar with the beans in the dark cupboard. NOW here's the great thing....you can keep topping off the jar with more vodka and this will last you for years! If you ever notice the color getting lighter, slice another bean and throw it in, give it a shake (It'll probably be a year before you need to add another bean). Isn't this great! So economical!

Commercial vanilla has a simple syrup added it to it, you can do this if you want but I didn't. If you're using it in baking you won't even notice a difference.

At one week

6 Weeks

10 Weeks (I added an extra bean at 8 weeks because it wasn't as dark as I wanted, and then let it go 2 more weeks)

Now you can pour off into your amber jars for daily use. Keep your large container in a dark cupboard. Add more vodka as needed.

Cilantro butter spread

I love cilantro! So what better than to add it to butter as a spread for veggies. Though I've also thought it would be great on chicken too!

Ingredients:
1 stick of organic softened butter (Even better, make the butter yourself from raw milk!)
2 cloves of organic garlic, minced
1/4 ts sea salt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Mix it all up and spread! Great on veggies!
I love it on corn:

How to make mayonnaise!

This is the best mayonnaise I have EVER had! I never met a mayonnaise I wanted to eat by the spoonful until I made this one!

2 eggs (see note below)
1 tsp dry mustard (you can use more for taste if you wish)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar because we like it, use whatever you like)
2 TB lemon juice, usually about half a lemon
sprinkle of paprika
1 cup oil (more if necessary to thicken more) ( I use light olive oil, evoo is very strong!)

Blend all ingredients except oil in a blender until mixed. IMPORTANT: if you have a vitamix, use setting 6. Use the lowest setting only on a regular blender!

As you are mixing the ingredients in the blender, pour oil in a thin stream through the lid while blender is going. Keep slowly pouring until some of the oil floats on the surface. If mayo is still runny (though it will thicken when chilled) scrape the sides and start again adding more oil.

Note: Please be advised that the eggs are raw in this recipe. Use of organic farm fresh eggs is highly recommended. Commercial eggs have a very high rate of Salmonella. Farm fresh organic free range eggs have a very low rate of Salmonella.