Restaurant Styled Organic Salsa.... mmmm...

There is this blog that I follow pretty much religiously. I think she is the pips. This Pioneer gal is my role model. She home schools her kids, lives on a huge cattle ranch, has a hunky husband (just like me!), has two bassett hounds and is equally obsessed with them as I am with Izzie, and she cooks, writes books, gardens, and eats delicious food. She is awesome. 


While stalking... I mean.... perusing her website I stumbled across her recipe for home made restaurant styled salsa. It seems that she is just as picky and obsessive about salsa as I am. I gave the recipe a shot a few months back and it was pretty spot on. I am a spicy kind of girl, so I added some extra kick to mine to satisfy my needs. 

Flash forward to now. While at the grocery store this morning I was struck with inspiration to make it again. Few things compare to delicious home made salsa! This time, knowing now what I know, I bought organic veggies. Yum! 

I have been trying to learn how to do things from scratch when cooking so instead of using out of the can ingredients like she suggests I bought some roma tomatoes and tossed them into a pot of water and set it to boil.

I sent my cilantro, jalapenos, and onion through my food processor and waited for the tomatoes to be soft enough to turn into tomatoey mush. 

With the tomatoes ready to make said mush. I tossed them into the food processor and made mush.

Combine all the ingredients. Throw in the spices that she suggests (mmmm cumin) and give it a stir. Because I made such a large batch I had to up the ante on the spices to make sure it all came out right. I love that I have been cooking for long enough that my measuring spoons are pretty much dust collectors. A dash of this, pinch of that, glob of this... that's how it works these days. 

After mixing the ingredients together I tossed it back into the pot to simmer. Roasted salsa is so delicious... mmmmm..... 

Once it is nice and toasty, you let it cool a moment, plop some in a nifty bowl, and dig in. As for me... I canned the rest - Three 16 oz. mason jars of salsa to put up on the shelf. Yum.

Siesta Time!
~ Birdie


Neat little find: GMO Free tortilla chips! It's a good day.

Also. Izzie isn't a fan of the pressure cooker.

Sad eyes.

Ada, however, doesn't care.

Please note my little darling's tongue... which is sticking out. That is how much she cares.

Canning Christmas Leftovers

When my dad came down from Oregon for Christmas this last weekend he had this ingenious idea. Let's buy a ham. So off to Costco we went to get a ham... on Christmas Eve. Much to my surprise Costco was not nearly as busy as I thought it would be and much to my dad's surprise they were taste testing Patron. It was love at first sight for him... Arizona was my dad's new best friend. Because, really, a Costco that taste tests Patron? That's unusual. Ham in cart along with a bottle of white wine, wheat thins, and some Artichoke dip, we stood in line for a short time and made our way out to the car. We were in and out of Costco in a matter of 30 minutes... it must have been some kind of record. Now, I bring all this up because I was preparing Christmas dinner for three this weekend- two of which ate meat (me being the vegetarian in the family). That's a 9 pound ham for two people. Needless to say, we had a ton of ham leftovers and what better way to ensure those leftovers don't go to waste, but to can it in some soup? We had some packages of dried split peas and red lentils already in the "pantry," some carrots and celery leftover for Christmas dinner ingredients, and a bunch of yummy spices in the cabinet- perfect for making batches of Split Pea and Ham soup AND Lentil and Ham soup. Yum! I chopped up the ham and veggies and set the lentils and peas to boil in two separate pots. Then I added the veggies and ham and let the lot simmer. We were a little worried at first that we would run out of mason jars (oh what a dilemma!), but by the last batch we were safe and sound with some empty jars left on the shelf. I also made some Paste e Fagioli with Orzo for Christmas Eve dinner so I canned those leftovers as well. Nothing was to go to waste in our refrigerator!

In all we came up with:
2 pints of fagioli
8 1/2 pints split pea with ham soup
6 1/2 pints of lentil and ham soup

Yum Yum Yum!! (says the vegetarian)



From Left: Split Pea; Lentil (In the middle); Fagioli



One batch of Split Pea was still in the pressure cooker.



My remaining jars of Garden Vegetable Soup. Yum!

 Happy (and safe) Canning!
~ Birdie

Pasta e Fagioli with Orzo

MMMMMMmmmmmmmm! I have been venturing into the world of soups, chowders, and chilis lately and have found some very tasty results. My most recent discovery? Pasta e Fagioli with Orzo. MMMMMMmmmmmm! It was quick to throw together, a total for 30 minutes of preparation time and that was it! It makes for a wonderful Fall dish too, the color alone screams Autumn. I found a recipe online and went shopping for ingredients... it wasn't until I got home and started to prepare it that I realized that the recipe was incomplete. I had to search for a similar one (thankfully the dish isn't too unique) and found a great complimentary recipe. So what ended up happening was the ingredients of the first recipe met the cooking method of the second. In the end, I was very pleased.

Pasta e Fagioli with Orzo:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 1 14.5 ounce can stewed tomatoes
• 2 15.5 ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 8 ounce box orzo
• 1 Rosemary Sprig
• 1 Celery rib
• 1 carrot sliced
• 1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Crumbled goat cheese

In a large saucepan, bring the stock to a boil. Add the orzo, cover partially and cook until the orzo is al dente, about 6 minutes. Strain the broth into a heatproof bowl. Reserve the orzo separately.

Wipe out the saucepan and heat the olive oil in it. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, rosemary, crushed red pepper and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Add the stewed tomatoes (pureed in a food processor) and the strained broth, cover partially and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Discard the rosemary sprig.

Add half of the beans to the soup. Puree the soup in a processor and return to the saucepan. Add the remaining beans and the reserved orzo and cook until heated through. Season the soup with salt and pepper. Stir in the goat cheese and serve.

I cannot wait to can this meal. It is hearty, warm, and subtly delicious!

Autumn Greetings!
~ Birdie

Garden Vegetable Soup

With a sink full of dishes, minimal counterspace, and a mass of canning jars on the shelf- it is time to get cooking!

Let me be the first to say: "I am not a cook." I am no Martha Stewart or Betty Crocker. BUT I do try and when I am successful it is worth celebrating. My Beau recently purchased me a pressure cooker so that I could begin canning our own soups, chilis, and other goodies and needless to say, I was excited! I had been making homemade vegetable soup from scratch for a few years now, but I always made too much for us to eat which lead to it being thrown away after about 8 days or so- one can only eat so much vegetable soup in a week! The pressure cooker was a great way to fix that. Now I can make a huge batch of soup, eat some for dinner, and can the rest! Forget the Progresso or Cambels soup on our shelves- we have only the best in our house!! I have included a rather vague recipe below to help anyone interested in creating their own- I apologize in advance, as I don't really have measurements- I go off of sight, not my measuring cups!

Organic Garden Vegetable Soup
2 Carrots
6 Red and Russet Potatoes (total)
1 lrg Heirloom tomatoes
1 bunch Cilantro
3 Bay Leaves
1 cup Peas
1 cup Corn
Garlic
Kidney Beans
3 stalks Celery
1 medium Yellow Onion
Broccoli
Kale (optional)
Rose Mary
Crushed Red Pepper
Pepper
(There is no need for salt, your vegetables will provide all the taste you need!)

• Chop all vegetables into pieces smaller than bite size, but not minced. 
• Fill large stew pot 2/3 full with water. Bring to a boil.
• Place potatoes into the boiling water and continue to boil.
• After about 10 minutes, add the other vegetables one at a time.
• If using Kale, sautee in a pan first, then add small pieces to the soup.
• Add garlic, bay leaves, other spices into the pot to taste.
• Place a lid on the pot and let gently boil for 1 hour (if canning, boil for 20 minutes, then begin canning process- WARNING: Cilantro will be very hot to the touch. Do not get on skin.)

Viola! It's just that easy!

For those of you who are canning your left overs, I recommend using Ball Mason Jars or Kerr. Make sure your jars are crack free and don't have any sharp edges.

Place your jars and sealing lids in hot water. Ladel soup into the jars and tighten the lid on the jar. Place jar on the rack in the pressure cooker. Fill your pressure cooker with jars and seal the lid. My pressure cooker requires 10 PSI and 1 hour and 15 minutes of cooking. Check your pressure cooker's manual to see what it requires for the amount of water needed in the cooker to help with the pressure and how to tell when your cooker has reached it's appropriate pressure mark.

If you have any questions, leave a comment and I will be sure to answer it for you.

Happy Cooking,
~Birdie