"Good Broth Resurrects the Dead"

I made the NT chicken stock recipe last weekend. Below are my recipes. A South American Proverb says, "Good Broth Resurrects the Dead." I'm just hoping it will help my family fight off all the bugs.

Chicken Noodle Soupy Soup
Follow NT Chicken Stock recipe - page 124
I used a broiler from Sweetland Farm

For the remainder of the soup:
Saute chopped onion, chopped celery, chopped carrots, sea salt, seasonings (your choice) until a little soft.

Add to a portion of the chicken stock. Add your choice of noodles. Add chopped parsely.

Tip: Make A LOT. We ran out in two days since I was giving it out like meds to people. My son ate it for lunch and dinner for two days straight.

Speaking of Out of This World Burgers - Adpated Cafe Lurcats

In our previous lives, we loved, loved, loved Cafe Lurcat's burgers and fries. I always thought I'd have a heart attack when I ate their burgers because they are loaded with butter in the actual burger itself (not to mention the cabernet shallot butter you add to the top of the burger). AND, the bearnaise sauce you dip your french fries in is beyond belief. Now that I've seen the light, it is so fun to convert my favorite recipes. See the recipe below. Enjoy to the fullest.

Cafe Lurcat Burgers with Red Wine Shallot Butter - Trad Food Redux

2 lb Ground Grassfed Beef (I used Sweetland)
1/2 lb butter (I used Organic Valley unsalted)
2 tbsp bacon grease (I used the grease I save from Lucky Pig) - this is an adaptation
1 large yellow organic onion, minced
1 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh organic thyme
1 1/2 tsp cracked pepper
1 egg (I used Sweetland)
1 1/2 tbsp sea salt - might need to add more
Fresh chopped parsely

Red Wine Shallot Butter (a make ahead item)
1/2 cup organic shallots - minced
1 tbsp sugar (this is a must - choose your poison)
4 cups red wine (used merlot)
1/2 lb butter (Organic Valley)

Burgers:
Using half the butter, sweat the onions until translucent. Remove the onions from the heat and cool to room temp. Add the thyme, pepper, egg, and salt to the onions. Whip the remaining half of the butter and the bacon grease until smooth and add the onion mixture and ground beef. Lightly mix just until combined (note: You can easily overmix ground beef - handle it gently and don't "overpack" your burgers or they will become dense and tough). Form patties and chill for at least an hour. Fry burgers to desired until rare - medium rare. Top with red wine shallot butter and parsley after you flip. Serve on a toasted bun.

Butter:
Combine shallots, sugar and wine in a saucepan. Simmer until reduced and thick so it's almost dry (this step takes about an hour). Cool to room temp and mix with whipped butter until incorporated throughout. Using plastic wrap, roll into cylinders and chill until firm. Slice butter and use to top burgers.

Bacon Addiction

I've always like bacon, but I've never loved bacon - as in craved it. Last night, I made some big salads with lots of yummy bacon and blue cheese on the top. The next thing I did would make the OLD me cringe and balk. I actually took some bacon fat and drizzled it on top of my salad. When you are eating such yummy goodness such as Will Winter's bacon you can't resist eating the fat that's left in the pan too.

I try to work bacon into at least two meals a day. Bacon on salad or bacon on a burger. And almost every morning, bacon for breafast. We recently took a road trip and I brought cooked bacon and hard boiled eggs as our snack - it was the perfect travel food!

The Best Salad Dressing You'll Ever Eat

Oh, I wish I had more time. To cook and to blog.

Tomatoes are in full swing and they are so delicious. We typically make our own salsa at this time of year and eat it on everything and with everything. This year, we developed a salad dressing using our salsa base and I seriously could not get enough of it. It is wonderfully smokey and creamy. Salads are great, but how many times have you finished a salad and then want another big serving? That's how this dressing is. Read below for all of the yummy details.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes
Onions ( preferably vidalia)
garlic
Red bell peppers
Olive oil
Kirkland all-purpose organic seasoning (no msg)
Sea salt

Cooked bacon
Bacon grease
Limes
Cilantro
Honey
Hain Safflower mayo (or your own, but you don't want the salsa to get "soupy")
Sour cream
Sea salt

Quarter the onions and keep garlic cloves in their paper. Mix tomatoes, onions, garlic and red bell pepper together with olive oil, seasoning and sea salt. Grill (we added wood chips to get a little smoke flavor). Make sure you put the peppers in a paper bag and let sit for 10 minutes or so and then remove the skin. I also remove the skins from the tomatoes, but you don't have to.

In a food processor, add your veggies (you might have to do this in batches depending on how much you are making) and pulse. Then add lime juice, cilantro, honey, bacon, bacon grease and salt. Pulse some more. Add a couple dollops of mayo and one dollop of sour cream. Pulse. Taste and adjust your seasonings (more salt? more lime? more honey?).

Enjoy summer!

Two-Day Baked Beans

Last weekend I made the bakeds recipe from Nourishing Traditions, page 497. It took two days - one day for bean soaking and most of a day for cooking (yes, the NT recipe calls for you to bake them for 6 hours!). The smells in my house were AMAZING.

The baked beans were really good and we served them with my husband's smoked baby back ribs and steamed broccoli. While the recipe itself was good, I did have to doctor up the flavor quite a bit. My mom and I decided it was because we are so used to dishes being laced with flavor-boosting MSG and copious amounts of sugar. Below are the extra ingredients I added after I completed the NT recipe. Give the recipe a try and then share some of your love-filled food with a friend.

NT Recipe - page 497
I used pinto and cannelini beans

Added extra:
- Raw apple cider vinegar
- Organic molasses (be careful - just add a titch more as the flavor is strong and can overpower your beans)
- Dry mustard (I added approx 1 1/2 tsp and it made it spicy - yum!)
- Sea Salt
- 1 tbsp Wilderness Family Naturals Raw Cocoa Syrup (obviously optional, but this was a good add)
- Extra water - I probably added 1/4 to 1/2 c.

My beans were cooked at 5.5 hours and I probably could have taken them out of the oven at 5 hours.

Seafood Crepes

We made seafood crepes last night - yum! Crepes are one of those things that people think are tricky, but they really are not. If you don't have access to sprouted flour, substitute organic whole wheat or spelt for the crepes.

Seafood Crepes
Crepes
3/4 c. sprouted flour (or sub as noted above)
3 large eggs, beaten (free-range organic)
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted melted butter (organic valley)
3/4 c. plus 3 tbsp whole raw milk

Whisk together the beaten eggs, milk and then slightly cooled melted butter. Add to the flour and mix. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat a heavy 6-inch skillet over medium high heat until hot. Brush lightly with a light coating of melted butter and ladle about 1/4 c. of the batter into the pan, tilting skillet to coat the pan evenly with batter. Cook until the bottom is golden brown and the top is beginning to look dry, 1 to 2 minutes. Using a wide spatula, carefully flip the crepe and cook just until the bottom colors slightly, about 30 seconds. Repeat until all the batter is used (should make about 12 crepes).

Seafood filling
6.5 oz. wild caught crab meat
8-10 wild caught medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
4 tbsp chopped cilantro
4 tbsp chopped italian parsley
2 tbsp chopped chives
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 c. whole grain breadcrumbs
Sea salt
White pepper

Gently mix together.

Bechamel Sauce
4 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons spelt flour
2 1/2 cups raw milk
6 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Organic all-purpose seasoning


In a saucepan melt the butter. Whisk in the flour until smooth and continue to cook for 3 minutes, being careful not to brown. Slowly whisk in the cold milk, and cook, stirring, until the sauce comes to a boil and thickens, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking until the floury taste is gone, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add cheese while stirring to melt. Season with salt, pepper, mustard and all-purpose seasoning.

Butter a baking dish. Place seafood mixture in the middle of a crepe and roll. Continue to stuff crepes and add them to the baking dish. Top with sauce and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Garnish with parsley and chives.

Grilled Chicken Burgers

Chicken "burgers" are a staple in our summer menu. Free-range organic ground chicken is pretty easy to find at co-ops or Whole Foods (it'll be great when Sweetland Farm is ready with their chicken). Making ground chicken is easy in the food processor, so find the best chicken you can to start with.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground chicken
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 green onions, minced
1 tsp thai red chili paste
2 tsp Kirkland organic seasoning (all ingredients are listed on label - nothing funky like "natural flavors" or other "spices," which usually means MSG)
1 free range organic egg (preferrably right from the farm)
1/4 c. organic whole grain bread crumbs or a variation

Mix together and form four patties. Grill to 160 degrees.

Variations:
Make your own teriyaki sauce and glaze the chicken patties while grilling:
1/2 c. naturally fermented soy sauce
1/2c. rapadura or honey or both
mnced ginger
minced garlic
arrowroot powder mixed with a little water
Cook until slightly reduced and it starts getting thick

If serving on sprouted wheat buns or pocket bread, use homemade mayo recipe from Nourishing Traditions, page 137. Serve with avocado slices, red onion, lettuce, tomato.