This is a great recipe to use when your garden is bursting with cucumbers and tomatoes or when you just need a tastes of summer. It’s also an easy dish to take to potlucks and gatherings. You can make it ahead and refrigerate and it tastes even better. This recipe is very forgiving. If you have more or less of something or another garden favorite, you can adjust freely.
Combine black eyed peas*, cucumber, tomatoes, pepper and parsley in a medium bowl.
Add olive oil to coat.
Add lime juice and salt to taste.
Can be served immediately or refrigerated to allow flavors to marry.
To sprout black eyed peas, rinse thoroughly. Cover with warm filtered water, place a lid on vessel, and allow to soak for 2-4 hours. Drain completely. Rinse with fresh filtered water and drain completely. Replace lid and place in a warm spot. Repeat the rinse and drain 3 times a day until sprouted.
This is a quick and refreshing watermelon salad to bring to your next barbecue or picnic. Lime and mint give this salad a mojito-like flavor with a watermelon twist. Be sure to serve ice-cold for best results!
Toss cubed watermelon with lime juice and chopped mint. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Right before serving, sprinkle lightly with salt.
Carrots, summer squash, green beans, onions, and a bouquet of herbs really got along nicely in your trusty cast iron skillet. Add a bit of healthy fat to help your body absorb all the nutrients these beauts have to offer along with some protein thrown in and you’ve got yourself a complete meal of summery goodness. And talk about easy on the ol’ grocery budget. Succotash was popular during the Great Depression for a reason. This can also be made in your cast iron on the grill.
Brown sausage in a large pan (I used a 10-inch cast iron skillet)
Meanwhile, while the sausage is browning (be sure to stir it occasionally), prepare the veggies: peel and dice the onion and carrots. Snap the ends off the green beans and snap or cut them into thirds. Cut the potatoes into 6 wedges each and the squash into coins chopped in half. Mince the garlic.
Once the sausage is done browning, add all the veggies to the pan, give it a mix, and place the herb bouquet on the top. The flavor will infuse into the vegetables. Place a lid on the pan, set the burner to medium (maybe slightly higher, but not too high), and allow to cook until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the mascarpone or cream cheese into tablespoon-sized slices so they will easily melt when stirred into the dish.
Turn burner off, remove and compost herb bouquet, and mix in salt, pepper, and sliced mascarpone or cream cheese.
Sprinkle grated cheese on top and serve warm.
Lavender not only classes lemonade up and gives it a smooth finish, it renders it’s soothing, stress-relieving properties to de-frazzle the nerves. This soft purply herb has a very strong flavor, so all you have to do is drop a bouquet of it into a jar of lemonade and it will infuse beautifully. If you don’t have access to fresh lavender, simply use one of those reusable tea bags, fill it with dried lavender, and place into the recipe.
Place all ingredients except lavender in a blender (you’ll get the smoothest results from a high-speed blender like a vita-mix). Blend on hight for 45-60 seconds. Pour into a pitcher or a 2-quart mason jar.
Use cooking twine to tie together the lavender. Drop into the lemonade & allow it to steep a few minutes before serving. The longer it steeps, the stronger the flavor gets. Once the lemonade is gone, you may tie up the lavender in cheese cloth (pictured below) and place it in the tub to bless the next bather with a soothing, fragrant bath.
Pesto is a great marinade for meat dishes, especially chicken. Serve it with soaked rice or the pasta of your choice. It is a quick and easy dinner.
Preheat grill to 400 degrees.
Salt and pepper chicken and place in a non-reactive, preferably glass, baking sheet.
Make Pesto
In a food processor place basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, romano, and lemon juice. Blend until all is finely ground. While the blender is going drizzle is olive oil until a thick paste is made. Reserve 1 C of the pesto. (This recipe make more than you need, so freeze the remainder until you need it again.)
Rub pesto over seasoned chicken and marinate 30 minutes - 1 hour.
Grill chicken 5-7 minutes on each side until done. Serve immediately.
My dad makes THE best barbecue sauce that is both tangy and spicy. He always gets rave reviews every time he serves it (which is pretty much whenever anyone eats dinner at their house). After several failed attempts to make my own barbecue sauce by mixing up various spices and sauces in the kitchen, I recently asked him for the recipe so that I could have my own stash of the stuff.
Of course, I decided to “real-foodify” (yes, I did just make up a word) it. Over brewed, or surplus kombucha adds the perfect tangy flavor in barbecue sauces. Yes, the good bacteria perish when they are cooked, but the flavor remains. Plus, you can always serve the meat with extra barbecue sauce that hasn’t been cooked, thereby serving up some probiotic goodness unbeknownst to your guests.
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until well combined. Taste and add additional seasonings as required for your taste.
Pour into a 1/2 gallon mason jar. Cover and allow to sit out at room temperature for about 12 hours to allow the good bacteria to multiply. (You can skip this step and use it right away, but it definitely increases flavors.)
Divide and pour into smaller jars and store in the refrigerator.
Baste on your favorite meats before barbecuing and during. Serve more to dip on the side!
This will keep for up to a year in the refrigerator and the flavors only develop more and improve with age.
**If you don’t particularly enjoy spicy barbecue sauce, start with 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and increase to taste.
Click the below banner to learn how you can start brewing kombucha at home or to order kombucha supplies!
Kids love this sweet and savory crunchy carrot salad. It’s a nice alternative to the traditional cabbage slaw. Simple to make and tastes even better after a day to marinate.
Grate the carrots by hand or using the grater attachment on a food processor or mandolin. Toss with the celery, onion, ginger, raisins and apples.
Mix in the homemade mayonnaise (try this [url=”http://eatnourishing.com/recipe/easy-no-fail-mayo/”]easy no-fail mayo recipe[/url]). Season with unrefined sea salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour before serving.
A nice big thick cut bone in rib eye is grilled to prefection and stuffed with blue cheese. This giant steak will feed a family of four on a special occasion.
Heat the grill to 550-600 degrees F. You want a nice high temperature to sear the meat quickly.
Sear each side of the meat for 7-8 minutes (sear it a little longer if you want it cooked more than medium or a little less if you want your steak more raw)
Butterfly the steak by slicing the steak in half starting with the opposite end of the bone. Cut down the middle towards the bone. The steak should still be held together on the bone end.
Sear the inside of the steak for 5-6 minutes (cook the meat a little longer if you want your steak cooked more than medium or a little less if you want your steak more raw).
Cut perpendicular lines (cut against the grain of the steak) ¼” deep inside the butterflied portion of the steak. Stuff the blue cheese inside the incisions. Close the steak so the meat sandwiches the blue cheese in the middle.
Turn the temperature of the grill down to 325 degrees F.
Cook the meat for 4 minutes or until the cheese is almost melted. Do not let the cheese completely melt on the grill because the cheese will spill out.
Let the steak rest covered at room temperature for 5 minutes before cutting.
Enjoy with corn of the cob, a glass of dry red wine, and a piece of crusty bread.
My daughter and I came up with these one day after a conversation about how deviled eggs were one of our favorite ways to eat eggs. We decided that since they were so great, variations to a favorite had to be made. After a quick look in the fridge, we decided to make a green deviled egg using lime and cilantro. Man! Were they yummy! Even my not-a-deviled-egg-fan husband enjoyed them. I think he’s a convert!
Peel the boiled eggs and slice in half lengthwise.
Remove the yolks to a small bowl or food processor. Using a food processor will create a creamier egg with more uniform color like that pictured, but mashing and mixing with a fork is just fine.
Add remaining ingredients and blend well until mixture is smooth.
Spoon or pipe into the cavities of the white halves.
Garnish with extra cilantro.
Grass-fed flank steaks are thin and best when marinated to make them extra tender. This particular recipe uses kombucha as the acidic medium that tenderizes the steak. The ginger and tamari are particularly enjoyed with flank steaks because their flavors can penetrate the meat all the way through.
In the morning, or at least 3 hours before you plan to cook the flank steak, combine the coconut oil, kombucha, tamari, honey, garlic and ginger in a small bowl. It helps to drizzle in the coconut oil while whisking to avoid clumping of the oil as it cools.
Place the flank steak in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over the steak. Allow to marinate for at least 3 hours, but preferably 6, turning it occasionally.
Heat a barbecue on medium low or get coals ready and hot.
Remove the meat from the marinade and pat dry. Grill 6 inches from hot coals, if using wood or charcoal. If using gas or propane barbecue, turn heat to medium-low. Grass-fed steak should be cooked at lower temperatures for longer. Cook the steak about 3-4 minutes on each side for rare, 5 minutes on each side for medium. Grass-fed steak is best enjoyed on the rarer side.
Carve the meat across the grain, into this diagonal slices.
Serve with your favorite stir-fried vegetables and soaked or sprouted brown rice.
These iced onion rings are best served as a salad alongside any summer barbecue. Cool, crisp and refreshing, they must be served ice cold. Soaking them in ice water reduces their pungent flavor slightly. A part of the allium family, onions are rich in fructo-oligosaccharides which stimulate the growth of bififobacteria and other good bacteria in the gut while suppressing harmful bacteria.
Put the onion rings into a bowl flilled with ice and water. Be sure all the rings are below the water. Place a dish, or something on top to help keep the onion rings submerged if necessary. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving. Drain and serve immediately.
Seriously tastes like an awesomely flavorful, chewy, full-of-sugar candy. I am so excited to have discovered these treasures. My kids took them to school today and all their friends were jealous, so they look appealing too! Pineapple is a super sweet fruit and dehydrating concentrates the sugars, so it would be really easy to eat too many. They are an excellent substitute for candy, but if candy is your weakness, these will be too, fair warning.
Cut off the top and the bottom with a sharp knife and carefully trim around the sides. These slide through a madoline really well, but you could also slice the rounds with a knife. I used three mm slice, but am going to try some seven mm as well. I laid them out on dehydrator sheets and dehydrated for 12 hours on 130 degrees. You could also lay them on cooling racks and lay out in the sun on a hot, dry day. Oven temperatures do not typically get low enough for fruit.