Appetizers

Ahh summer. I love this time of year because the garden is overflowing with scrumptious vegetables to sink my teeth into. We always enjoy an over-abundance of tomatoes from July through September thanks to our CSA share from Shepherd’s Valley Farm.

When I was in high school, one of my best friends was from a large Mexican family. I loved going over to their house and learning how to cook from her mom and grandma. I have forgotten much of it, but their “granny’s” salsa recipe has always stuck with me. It was fresh and didn’t require cooking because it was gone before they had a chance to can it. The minute she poured it into the bowl, the boys descended like a pack of wild dogs. We had to fight for our portion.

The last couple of weeks Shepherd’s Valley has provided nearly everything needed to make granny’s homemade salsa including jalapeño peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes. All I have to add is salt, lime juice and cilantro.

Cut the tomatoes and onion into quarters. No need for a fine chop. The food processor does all of the work for you.

My food processor does most of the work for me. I just do a rough chop on all of it, throw it in the bowl, and watch it whirl. My mouth is already watering.

The whole process takes less than 10 minutes – just a little longer than it would take you to open a jar of the over-processed stuff. Plus, it doesn’t include preservatives or high fructose corn syrup. You can’t beat that.

Recipe

4-5 large tomatoes
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded (or leave them in if you like hot salsa)
1/4 cup cilantro
juice of one lime
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sugar (optional – I don’t add sugar but some prefer it)

As shown above, rough chop everything and put it into the bowl of the food processor with the chopper blade. Chop on low for about 45 seconds or until it reaches your desired consistency. Take a quick taste and determine if you would like more salt. If it is too hot, use the teaspoon of sugar and throw in an extra tomato.

Serve room temperature or chilled depending on your preference. All of the portions above are estimates. I suggest experimenting and finding the combination that you and your family like the best!

My husband’s father is having surgery soon and will be on a liquid diet for 4 weeks. I can’t imagine only drinking broth and other liquids for 4 weeks. I think I would go crazy. 4 weeks!

Let me ask you a question: Would you rather fast on store bought, salt laden stock with who knows what additives and chemicals or home cooked stock with real ingredients? Yep, me too and that is what I’m doing today.

I have learned over the years that my way of helping people in a time of need is to cook for them. When my mom was on hospice earlier this year, I helped out by making sure that her and my dad had plenty of food. I would take a day and make all of their food for a week so they would never have to worry about it. Now I can do the same for my sweet father-in-law.

I’m making chicken and beef broth today and I can’t believe how easy it really is. The great thing about broth is that none of the vegetables have to be cut perfectly. Give them a rough cut and throw them in along with water and bones. The hard part is smelling that yummy goodness for hours. These are great recipes to make in the middle of winter when there is snow on the ground and you don’t want to get out of your house.

I’ve learned that bone broth is actually very good and healing for the body. Learn more about this from my favorite PCOS health guru Amy Medling.

The chicken broth recipe comes from the PCOS Diva and I’ve changed it a bit for my personal taste.

chicken carcass
3 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 large bay leaf or 2 small leaves
15 peppercorns
1 onion
6 cloves of garlic
Handful of parsley
1- 1.5 tablespoon salt depending on taste
4 quarts of water
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

All of the ingredients for the perfect chicken stock

Throw everything into a stock-pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 3 hours.

I like to use filtered water for the broth.

The fun part comes when you strain everything from the new broth. I like to use a cheesecloth in a strainer. That way when all of the liquid is strained you can fold up the cloth with the large bits and throw away without a lot of mess.

Cheesecloth makes it easy to keep all of the veg in an easy packet to be thrown away.

Let the broth cool to room temperature and put into the fridge overnight. Scrape off the fat from the top before serving or using in a soup.

After the broth cools, you can skim the fat from the top. Use as a base for soup or as a meal replacement when you are ill.

I took the beef broth recipe from Emeril Lagasse. I couldn’t think of a better chef to reference for this important recipe. I didn’t dice up all of the veg like it calls for in the recipe. I did a large rough cut on all of them.

The red wine and the tomato paste bring out the taste of the beef.

The recipe calls to roast the meat in the oven. For sake of time I skipped this step. Next time I will and it will give the broth a better depth of flavor.

Right before being strained. Look at that beautiful deep red color!

As I mentioned above, I will strain this stock in a similar fashion.

I can’t wait to bring these broths to my father-in-law tomorrow and assure that he has good nutrition during his fast. Plus, I can’t wait to see his face when he tries the recipes!

Summer Means Salsa!

Recipe

That’s a Whole Lotta Broth!