Fermented Salsa--Probiotics and Enzymes the natural (and free!) way

I did it! I made fermented salsa! It really tastes pretty much like salsa, but it's got great probiotics in it. Let me share my recipe.

Add to Mason jar (makes almost a quart):
6-8 organic tomatoes, peeled, seeded & diced
1 med vidala onion, very finely diced
1 med green pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 med jalapeno, mostly seeded (gotta have a few for spice) and finely diced
roughly 1 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro
1 clove of minced Garlic
roughly 1/2- 1 tsp dried oregano
1 TBSP sea salt
2 lemons' worth of juice
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar (Bragg's or another raw vinegar)

Add enough water to cover top of veggies after smooched down. Cover jar. Let sit 48hrs or so on the counter to ferment. This turned out more like Pico de Gallo (how do you spell that?), but if you put it in the blender for just a second it's more like traditional salsa. If you blend very long at all, it turns into liquid, so be careful! Or you can blend half of it so you keep some nice pieces, but get more liquid. Refrigerate after 48 hours.

The last 3 ingredients are key to making sure it develops good bacteria, not bad, so don't skip any of those. Make sure your tomatoes and green peppers are organic (or homegrown, un-sprayed) and you use the raw vinegar.

Why ferment? There are lots of health benefits, but do you know that traditional food was fermented to preserve it. So, refrigerators let us cheat and skip the fermenting part and it's made it hard on our health. That's why people need digestive enzymes and probiotics--we don't eat fermented food! But do you know that yogurt, pickles, sauerkraut, vinegar, and many other "normal" foods were originally fermented. Now they have the taste (from processed vinegar) but none of the health benefits. I think that's why a lot of people do better on a raw vegetarian diet--they get more enzymes. But I think the traditional diet is actually best b/c of the fermented food!

If you try my new recipe, be sure and let me know what you think!

Homeschooling

I wanted to invite you to visit my homeschooling blog. You can read all my thoughts, experiences, and encouragements about being a chronically ill homeschooling mom.

Lymeade Homeschool

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program....

My new menus

As I mentioned, I've been re-doing my menus--boy, I'm not getting through this project very fast. I'm being too much of a perfectionist on trying to get my recipes just right, etc. My goal is to finish my first set of recipes and grocery list today. But I did want to share my menu list--as requested :). Maybe it will help you think of recipes you can eat.


Week 1
Bean Burritos (Double Portion and Freeze)
Javanese Dinner (Double Portion and Freeze)
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Chicken Broth/Tomato Rice Soup

Bread: Tortillas, 2 Loafs, and Cinnamon Rolls
Lunch: Cashew Chicken Salad

Week 2
Fajitas
Hamburger
Tomato Zucchini Pasta
Chicken Curry

Bread: Tortillas, 2 Loafs, and Hamburger Buns
Lunch: Farmer’s Omelet

Week 3
Mac and Cheese
Easy Lasagna
Tuna a la King
Taco Chip O’le (Double and Freeze)

Bread: Biscuits, 2 Loaf and Rolls
Lunch: Fried Rice

Week 4
Chicken strips
Pizza (Left over chicken for pizza?)
Quesadillas
Quiche

Bread: Tortillas, 2 Loafs and Pizza Crust
Lunch: Taco Salad



Extras to freeze or just as an extra menu :
Chicken Tetrazzini
Barbecued Franks ‘n Beans
Sausage Strata
Enchilada Casserole

Majority of my recipes come from Sue Gregg cookbooks--especially Main Dishes and Meals in Minutes. The Meals in Minutes cookbook is full of recipes to fill your freezer. Amazon has it (as listed in the box on the left side) or Sue Gregg has her own website.

Yes, this is a lot of cooking--everything is homemade--but that's why I plan the menus out so that I can save time on the planning, shopping, preparing end (as well as only making mistakes once!) and put it into the cooking. B/c of my health--my husband helps out with a lot of this (another reason to plan it so it's all laid out) and I may be just dreaming that I'll actually make the bread each week! But my 7 year old is really excited about learning to make bread and she can grind grain all by herself (just pour, turn a switch and watch until it's done!)

Also, we eat "breakfast" for dinner as an unplanned meal (eggs, pancakes, or in an emergency, Ezekiel cereal!) and usually at least one meal can be eaten 2 nights a week. And leftovers and sandwiches for most of our lunches. Hope this helps as you evaluate what you actually eat and plan for healthier, easier meals. I'd love to hear about any healthy menus you plan out.