Eat Veggies, save the planet

I can’t believe I haven’t posted about making sauerkraut yet.

I went to the first annual and the second annual Fermentation Festival here in Austin and both times I learned new things. This year I bought a jar lid that goes on a ball jar and that you fill with water.. I am trying it out now. I also learned you can put a plastic bag full of water in a 1/2 gallon ball jar to keep the sauerkraut from the air. I tried it and it worked. I have previously made sauerkraut in a crock and used a plate with a quart jar of water over the plate for a weight. This kept the sauerkraut submerged.   It works, but I am constantly skimming off bacteria growth. The plastic bag works better for me

When I made the sauerkraut with 3 Tbsps of salt it was too salty. 2 Tbsps is just right.

I have made this recipe 5 times now. It uses what I learned in My Ayurveda Professional  3 week Module at the Natural Epicurean in Austin, TX. I suggest you grind the coriander, fennel and cumin from whole spices as this will give you better flavor.

Ingredients

•  a large butternut squash
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 TBSP garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp. ginger, grated
• 1 cut of fresh or frozen tomatoes, chopped.
• 1 Tbsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp. ground fennel
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 tsp.. chopped fresh oregano
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
• 12 ounces of vegetable broth left over from steaming the squash
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp.  pepper
• optional- red pepper flakes

1. Peel butternut squash, remove seeds and cut into large cubes.
2. Steam squash until almost soft. Put aside. It should measure at least 4 cups.
3. Heat a  2 qt heavy pot on medium. Add oil and then add onion garlic and ginger.
4. After 2 minutes  add tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes more.
5. Add coriander, cumin, fennel turmeric, oregano and rosemary. Stir .
6. Next add the squash cube, the vegetable broth, the salt and pepper
7. Cover and cook on low for 10 minutes.
8. Serve over rice. Or refrigerate and reheat later.

I have not recommended a product before , but the Kuhn Swiss peeler saved me yesterday.

My daughter the blogger, captiousvegetarian@word press.com gave it to me over 2 years ago and it just sat in the back of my drawer while I used my 2 other peelers.

As you can see I have over 100 butternut squashes to eat(and give away) and I found a recipe I really like, but it entails peeling the squash and steaming them (I will post it next.)

when I found the Kuhn peeler, I tried it and all of a sudden the squashes peeled easily. What a difference!

Get one, imho.