How to save your herbs!

    You can save yourself time and money in the kitchen by freezing your herbs for future use! It's easy and they are very handy. Saves time on chopping herbs later. 

    These herbs freeze well: parsley, chives, dill, rosemary, thyme and bay. 

    There are a few different ways to freeze them. The best way to freeze rosemary, thyme, bay and dill is right on the stem, freeze then break off what you need. You can also make an herb butter by chopping the herbs, mixing with softened butter, rolling in wax paper and freezing. Just cut off a chunk of the frozen herbed butter as needed. Or you can freeze with water or olive oil in an ice cube tray. Just chop up your herbs, pack down in the cubes and top with water or oil. Once frozen just pop them out and store in a freezer bag and use as needed. Frozen herbs are perfect for soups, bone broths, or just about anything you're cooking. And of course you can always dry your herbs and then store them in jars for future use. 

    It's always sad to buy herbs and not use them up. Next time, try one of these methods so you don't waste food or money. Bonus is it can save you some time in meal preparation. 

    What are some ways you save time and money in the kitchen? Please share! 

~Janet ✌

Sesame mahi mahi sticks and Quinoa with peppers and onions

    

    Easy to make, kid friendly and pretty quick to whip up. I used mahi mahi and I think it turns out better than most other fish because its meaty and has a light flavor. 

    I made a tartar sauce to go with these. Here's the recipe:

          •1/2 cup mayo

          •2 tbs diced pickles

          •1 tbs apple cider vinegar (or a wine vinegar)

          •1 tbs capers

          •1 tsp grain mustard

          •salt and pepper to taste

Just mix all the ingredients in a bowl and store in the refrigerator. I think it taste better after a day so you can make it in advance and it will have more flavor!

    For the fish I start with a plate of sesame seeds and I sprinkle a little garlic powder, salt and pepper in with it. 

I slice up the mahi into little sticks and pat them dry with a paper towel. 

Then I roll the mahi in the sesame seeds till they are coated on all sides

Next I heat up a little coconut oil (or whatever oil you'd like, I use a mix of ghee and coconut oil) and I toss in the mahi (careful not to knock off all the sesame seeds)

Brown them on all sides and take them off to sit on a paper towel to absorb any oil. 

    Next I make my quinoa. I use 2 cups of water and a dash of salt with 1 cup of quinoa. Cook until you see a little ring around the quinoa. 

    While I cook that I sauté peppers, onions, kale and garlic in a pan. 

After the veggies are all cooked, I throw it in with the quinoa and mix it all together! Easy and very healthy! When it's all finished, this is what I've got:

Very good and very nice for summer! I hope you enjoy :)

~Janet ✌

Fresh tomato, basil and avocado salad

This salad reminds me of summertime! It's so colorful, cool and refreshing. If you grow your own tomatoes and basil (which are so easy and can be done in pots if you don't have much space) this salad is will cost you next to nothing to make :). I make enough to eat a nice portion and have a little bit to save for later. Here is what I do (so many different things you can add, tuna, chicken, different veggies, a squirt of lemon instead of balsamic vinegar)

          •1 avocado diced up

          •2 tomatoes diced

          •handful of basil chopped

          •1 clove of garlic minced

          •sea salt & pepper to taste

          •drizzle of olive oil & balsamic vinegar

I toss the avocado, tomato, basil and garlic. Then sprinkle a little corse sea salt and pepper. Then spray (or drizzle) with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Toss together and that's it! No cooking and it's filling and full of vitamins. This salad is fun to add different things to. As a dinner I like to add goats cheese, pine nuts and tuna! 

Do you have variations of a salad like this that you enjoy? If so, please share them!

~ Janet ✌

          

Royal jelly for your health

    I am honestly, in love with bees. I enjoy learning about them and how they live. Something fascinating about how hard they work and how they treat their queen bee, it's just unexplainable! We've recently started keeping bees and I am learning more and more each day. For years now I've kept royal jelly in the refrigerator and my husband and I take little tsp full a few times a week. I believe there are benefits that we still don't know about from things like royal jelly, bee pollen and propolis. 

    Royal jelly is produced by worker bees in their pharyngeal glands. Its fed to the larvae  while they grow. The queen is fed royal jelly her entire life. She grows bigger than the workers and lives for years (the worker for about 6 weeks). Here are some reason I take royal jelly:

        

          •rich in amino acids, protein, fatty acids, iron and calcium

          •contains vitamins B, C, D & E

          •helps balance hormones

          •helps maintain a healthy menstrual cycle

          •helps reduce the signs of aging

          •can reduce inflammation

          •immune system boost

          •boost fertility; a study showed a 40% increase in fertility when taking royal jelly. 

     If you have an allergy to bees, you should avoid taking any bee products. However, if you have no allergy, I believe there are lots of health benefits to bee products. Honey, royal jelly, propolis and bee pollen, they all have so many different uses and benefits. I only enjoy the taste and texture of honey, my propolis, pollen and royal jelly, I take quickly and usually have a chaser ready ;) but I know I feel good taking them. 

     Do you take any bee products? 

~ Janet ✌

          

Homemade chocolate syrup

 

   Sometimes we need a sweet treat! Here's a delicious chocolate syrup that could be used on ice cream, on fruit or to make chocolate milk and hot chocolate. And although it has sugar, it's a lot better than the store bought chocolate sauces. You can make sure to use good organic cane sugar and good cocoa too, so it's made with the best ingredients. It can store in the refrigerator for weeks. It's very easy to make. Here's what you'll need:

           •1/4 cup water

           •1/2 cup organic cane sugar

           •1/4 cup cocoa

           •1/4 tsp vanilla extract

           •pinch of salt 

Bring water to a quick boil on a high flame. Turn heat to medium, add sugar and cocoa and mix till its all dissolved. Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt. Mix well and serve or refrigerate. 

    For chocolate milk we use about 1-2 tbs syrup for a cup of milk. I'm not sure where we got this recipe but its great for hot chocolate in the winter on a cold day and over vanilla ice cream in the summer 😃. I hope you enjoy! Do you have any homemade sweet treats that you enjoy in your house?

~ Janet ✌

Garlicky avocado dressing

    This is one of my favorite dressings, it's perfect as a veggie dip and sandwich spread too! Everything in it is great for you and I love anything that helps me get some raw garlic into my life. Takes a minute to whip up. Here's what you need:

        1 avocado 

        2 tbs plain yogurt

        1 clove of garlic chopped

        1/2 lemon juiced

        4 tbs water (might need to add a little extra if its too think)

        Salt and pepper to taste 

Add everything to you blender, this is perfect in a magic bullet kind of thing. Blend until smooth. Add water if its too thick for you. Use right away on salad or sandwich or as a veggie dip. It will store for a little while in refrigerator. Enjoy!

~ Janet ✌

London broil with horseradish mashed potatoes, sautéed greens and cinnamon carrots

    Happy Friday! I posted the finished picture of this meal earlier in the week, on my Facebook page (the green kitchen 24_7) now here is the recipe! This could be done to any meat, I'm feeding 5 people and a London broil works great for us. As always, I would say please stick with pasture raised grass-fed meat, no antibiotics, no vegetarian fed....big difference between vegetarian fed and grass fed. A nice grass fed piece of London broil won't be too much either and if you don't eat it all, you can make a great salad with the cold meat the next day. Here's how I prepare the marinade:

    Marinade: 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

                     1/8 cup soy sauce

                     1/8 cup olive oil

                     1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

                     3-4 cloves garlic chopped

                     1 1/2 tsp rosemary

                     1/2 tsp thyme

                     Sprinkle of salt and pepper

                     1-2 lb London broil

    This sauce is certainly enough to cover up to 2 lbs of meat. Next I mix everything together then pour over the meat, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 1/2 hours. (I try to do 4-5 hours but don't always have that much time) After that I take it out and let it sit for about 30 minutes to warm up a bit. Set the over to broil, put the meat on a baking sheet (i use an iron one that can handle the heat of the broiler so make sure your dish can) I pour the juice over it and put the meat in for about 6 minutes each side (we eat ours medium rare so keep yours in longer if you like it more well done). After the time is up I take it out and let it sit 10 minutes before cutting. 

Just poured on the marinade:

After being refrigerated for a few hours and let to sit at room temperature getting ready to pop under the broiler:

Just out of the oven and ready to sit:

    Next up, horseradish mashed potatoes:

                  8 large red bliss potatoes, cleaned not peeled then boiled till soft

                  1 1/2 tbs butter

                  1/2-3/4 cup plain yogurt

                  1/8 cup milk

                   Salt and pepper to taste

                  1-2 tbs creamed horseradish (depending on your taste. 1 tbs adds a good amount of flavor so start there and add more as desired.) After potatoes have finished cooking (fork slides in easily) drain them, put them in a mixing bowl add the rest of your ingredients and mash up with a spoon or whisk. You can use a mixer, whatever's easiest for you. I like using a whisk. Mash them up and make sure all ingredients are mixed in well. 

    Now for the veggies:

These greens were a mix of kale and rainbow chard. A healthy bunch of both. Cleaned, deveined and ripped up. You can substitute any green you'd like. 

          Healthy bunch of greens

          5 cloves of garlic minced

          1/4 cup diced onion

          1 tbs bacon fat

          3-4 tbs water or stock

Add bacon fat to the pan to melt, toss in the garlic and onion to open the flavor. Now add your water, turn the flame up a bit so it starts to boil then toss in your greens, cover and turn down the heat. Let it sit a minute then mix it up. Should only take a few minutes to finish these, you don't want your greens over cooked  or they will have a bitter flavor. 

    Cinnamon carrots:

I used some little carrots from the garden for this so I left them uncut and just removed the tops. You can cut your carrots however you'd like them. I usually as a rule use about 1 carrot per person if they are normal size. I also leave them unpeeled because there's plenty of good stuff in that skin, cleaning them work just fine.  

             1 tbs coconut oil

             Salt and pepper to taste

             1 tbs honey or maple syrup

             1/8 cup water or stock

             1/2 tsp cinnamon

For this I melt the coconut oil, add the carrots, salt and pepper. Then I put in the water or stock, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Then I sprinkle on my cinnamon and cover and cook on a low  flame. But check to be sure you don't cook off all the liquid while they cook, if it is getting low add a bit more, you don't want them to burn. I leave my carrots a little crisp in the center, don't want to over cook them.

Everything ready and waiting to cut the meat

Nice combination of flavors, plenty of vitamins and minerals and even with getting organic veggies and grass fed meat, this meal won't cost you much. And it comes out looking so pretty and colorful! 

I hope you enjoy this.  If you try it, let me know what you think! 

~ Janet ✌