Ketching Up

Here is a quick and easy recipe for home made ketchup.

Ingredients
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 1/4 cups water
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together in a large pot over medium high heat. Allow to simmer while occasionally stirring until it reaches ketchup consistency (10-15 minutes). Done!

JumpUp Jambalaya

This Jambalaya makes you wanna jump up and dance, it's that good! It is creamy, spicy, meaty, and tomato-ee. It can be served all on its own or with a side of french bread or salad. (For a healthier version, replace the heavy cream with 1+3/4 C. Milk + 1/4 Half and Half, replace the Andouille sausage for Jennie-O turkey sausage)

Ingredients
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
2 Chicken Breasts - cubed
2 Andouille Sausage links - sliced
1 lbs Jumbo Prawns
2 Cups Trinity (equal parts diced white onion, celery, green bell pepper)
2 Tbs. Crushed Garlic
1 (6 oz) Can Tomato Paste
2 Roasted - Sweet Red Italian Peppers
2 C. (1 pint) Heavy Cream
1 Lb. Orzo Pasta

Cajun Spice
6 large Dried Bay Leaves
1 Tbs. Smoked Paprika
2 tsp. Fennel seeds
1 tsp. Tarragon
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp. Salt (or to taste)
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper


Before you begin cooking, prepare the Cajun spice. I like to throw it into a little coffee grinder to crush up the bay leaves and fennel, but it's not a must.

Begin by heating a large saute pan over medium-high heat and starting the Orzo according to cooking directions. When the saute pan comes to heat, add olive oil to coat the pan, then add chicken chunks. Brown on both sides, then add the sliced sausage links. Stir occasionally until browned. Add pawns, cook until pink. Add the trinity and crushed garlic. After about 1 minute of cooking, add the cajun spice. Allow to cook until trinity becomes soft.

While that is cooking, in a blender or food processor, mix tomato paste and roasted red peppers until smooth. Stir in heavy cream. Reduce heat on saute pan to medium-low. Add tomato-cream mixture to saute pan.

When the Orzo is finished cooking, add it to the saute pan and serve!

Unorthodox Handmade Tortillas

Get authentic tasting tortillas, the unorthodox way! This recipe substitutes coconut oil for the traditional lard. It does leave the tortillas tasting a little bit coconutty, but I actually appreciate the extra flavor when using them for quesadillas or fish tacos. Yields approx. 8 medium tortillas.

Ingredients
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Tablespoons Salt
1/4 Cup cold coconut oil*
1 Cup Cold Water

In a medium sized bowl, mix first 3 ingredients. Add the coconut oil. Use a pastry cutter, or the whisk attachment on your mixer, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cold water and mix until combined. Once all ingredients are combined, turn out onto floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Set aside for 30 min for easier shaping.

Shaping:
Divide dough into golf ball sized rounds. If you have a tortilla press, use it! If not, press dough into small disc and place on well floured surface. Starting in the center of the dough and working your way out, use a floured rolling pin to flatten your tortilla. Give your dough about an 1/8 of a rotation and repeat. If you keep both sides of your tortilla well floured, you should be able to flatten it to nearly the thickness of a few sheets of construction paper. A little thicker won't hurt, but try to get them as thin as you can. As you work, remember to keep your unused dough and your uncooked tortillas covered; otherwise you will end up with crackers, not tortillas.

Cooking:
using a Wok:
Here is the unorthodox part of our unorthodox handmade tortillas. I cook the tortillas on the underside of a Chinese Wok. I turn the wok upside down and place it over my gas burner, thus making a little cooking dome. I turn the burner on full heat and let the wok get as hot as it can. Then you just drop a tortilla on top of the dome and wait for about 1 minute; then flip it over for another minute.

using a cast iron skillet:
Heat skillet on med/med-high heat. Once heated, toss the tortilla in and cook until it is nice and bubbly. Then flip it over for another minute.

using an electric griddle:
I set my cheap-o griddle to 400 F (the highest setting). I have a hard time believing that it ever reached that temperature though. Just toss your tortillas on the griddle and cook until bubbly, then flip and cook for an additional minute.

The trick to cooking tortillas is to cook them fast enough that they don't turn into crackers, but not so fast that they burn. It may take some experimentation. I also recommend using either a tortilla warmer or two large plates (one turned upside-down) to store the finished tortillas before serving. If you end up with crackers, instead of tortillas, you can often times save them by placing lightly dampened towel at the bottom of the stack of tortillas.

*You can substitute lard for an authentic tortilla.

Breakfast Cookies

I have been working on this recipe for a while. It's hard to get a cookie texture without using any flour or butter. But I finally did it. It's perfect with coffee or just as a little pick me up snack. Warning: These guys are little, but eating two equals eating a full breakfast. They are packed with fiber though (eating 2 gives you 50% of your daily fiber intake), so you won't find yourself feeling hungry anytime soon.

Ingredients
4 Cups Old-Fashioned Oats
2 Cups Flax Seed
1 Cup Almonds
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
1 Cup Apple Sauce
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Craisins
1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
2 t. Cinnamon
2 t. AllSpice
2 t. Nutmeg
1 t. Salt
4 Eggs

Preheat oven to 250 F.
Mix oatmeal, flax, and almonds in a large casserole dish. Melt the coconut oil and mix in with oatmeal. Put apple sauce, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture is reduced by half. Remove from heat an stir in with oatmeal mixture. Place in oven for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Sprinkle with salt. If you just left it here, you would have some pretty great granola. But that's not us. We don't just stop all willy-nillie. We must soldier on! Mix the eggs and pour them over the granola that you just made. Now add the craisins and chocolate chips. Mix it all up. Get your hands all up in there (just make sure everything is coated with eggs).

Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Spray a 1/4 cup measuring cup with cooking spray and pack in some of the mix fairly tightly. Drop the mix out onto a cookie sheet (it should hold it's form). Bake the cookies for 15 minutes.

yields 24 cookies.

Nutrition per 1/4 cup cookie:
calories 250 - sugar 8g - (good) fat 13.6g -(bad) fat 1.4g - fiber 7g


(you can eliminate all of the bad fat by not adding the chocolate chips, but I think that they are worth it)