Green Tomato Salsa

What do you do with the green tomatoes just before the first frost??  Make green tomato salsa or fried green tomatoes.  Both are very yummy!  Every year we have a ton of green tomatoes right before the frost.  So we have made green tomato salsa and it is so yummy!  What a fun salsa and very different than the typical red salsa we are all used too.  My husband asked me what should we do with them and my first thought was fried green tomatoes.  And that is not a healthy option so we made this!  I made a double batch of this because I am feeding a few more people right now.  It is very easy to make.  And we enjoy it with just tortilla chips, in a salad, in burritos or any other Tex-Mex dish.

As you can see it is very green with the green tomatoes, cilantro, onion, and jalapeno.

I used fresh lime in this one which is very good but the bottled lime juice will work also.  Except for the cilantro (because it has already died) and lime everything came from the garden.

I like to chop up the cilantro very fine.  Remove the leaves from the stems because the stems can make it kind of bitter.

Mince up the green tomato, onion, garlic and jalapeno.  And juice the lime and mix it all together.  I used a 'as seen on tv' chopper because it makes all of the vegetables the same size and I like that.  Makes it very pretty too!

Green Tomato Salsa

4 medium green tomatoes, minced
1 small red or white onion, minced
1 small jalapeno, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c cilantro, chopped fine
2 TBS lime juice
1 tsp cumin
salt to taste

1. Mince the green tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and garlic cloves and add to a bowl.
2. Remove the eilantro leaves from the stems and chop the cilantro very fine and add to the bowl.
3. Juice 1/2 of a lime or use bottled lime and add the lime juice, cumin and salt to taste.
4. Mix well and serve with chips or on a salad.
5. Enjoy!

Gazpacho the cold soup!

My husband is the Gazpacho lover!  He made it for me when we were first married.  What a fun soup!  Very odd but very good.  It was one of those that I did not know what to expect.  It is not your warm and inviting soup that one thinks of eating in the middle of fall and winter on a cold day.  This is a soup for a hot, summer day and it is very refreshing!  When you have an abundance of produce from the garden this is a great soup to make.  Or if it is getting to the end of the season and you need to pick your produce and do something with it then make this soup.  There seems to always be a lot of tomatoes in the garden and I always have a lot of herbs.  Even when we lived in the RV I had a little kitchen garden with lots of herbs and tomatoes.  Even my kids liked it a lot.  Another great thing I learned is it does not need much salt if any.  I just used some dried cayenne in mine, so it was like a spicy V8 with some chunks!

What the soup looks like.  Very red.  My husband said to use only a few chunky vegetables and it does make a difference.

Just the vegetables I used.  All from the garden.  And very colorful!  Heirloom tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, onions, cucumbers (I removed the seeds), red & orange peppers, garlic, basil, parsley. 

Blend up 8 tomatoes, 1/2 of the onion, 1-3 garlic cloves (garlic tends to make it spicy when used raw), and 1/2 c basil.

I like small pieces so I used our vegetable chopper, then they are all the same size and it cuts them perfectly small.  And I add that into the blended tomatoes and herbs.

I minced up the parsley.  It is nice to have it in small pieces also.

Then I added chopped yellow tomatoes for a fun color.

See some of the vegetables.  This is in the big bowl of soup.

Gazpacho Soup

8 tomatoes, blended

1 medium onion, 1/2 blended and 1/2 minced

1-3 garlic cloves, blended

1/2 c basil, blended

1 medium cucumber, remove seeds and minced

1/2 orange pepper, minced

1/2 red pepper, minced

5-7 little yellow tomatoes, minced

1/4 c parsley, minced

Salt &/or pepper to taste

1. Blend tomatoes, 1/2 onion, garlic cloves, basil together and pour into a bowl.

2. Chop/Mince cucumber, peppers, yellow tomatoes and 1/2 onion.

3. Mince parsley and add to the bowl.

4. Stir well and serve with crackers or crusty bread.

'Salad' The Main Dish!

When I started working as a Health Coach back in 2005 I didn't know how it would change my life and the lives of my family, my friends, and my clients.  I remember when I first started working as a Health Coach & teacher and it brought me so much joy!  It is a blessing when a job can bring one so much joy!  Working in the health field is definitely my calling and passion!  Then I was introduced to Dr. Joel Fuhrman and his book 'Eat to Live' when I started working full time for Christian Care Ministry.  Great book and great information!  It was a lot to take in at first because it was a lot of information.  But the information was great and we have incorporated it into our lifestyle.  My favorite health book is 'Super Immunity' by Dr. Fuhrman and I read that in 2011 when it came out and it really changed my life for the good.  It taught me a lot about the micronutrients vs. macronutrients which helps with combating and preventing viruses and diseases.

One of the biggest changes was making salad the main course.  Most meals are based around a meat/protein or a starch of some sort.  Try making salads the main dish and add fun things to it.  Salads can be a lot of fun and can be very nutritious.  They do not have to be boring but can be colorful and full of crunch!  Most of my clients said they would be so hungry but your body gets used to eating this way.

Salads can be so much fun to make and create!

A salad should start with a base like spinach, spring greens, kale, cabbage or any combination of cruciferous vegetables.  Then add favorite vegetables like onions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, celery, zucchini, etc... Then add a healthy fat like sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.  I sprouted my sunflower seeds for several days ahead of time to release more nutrition.  And then a final fun to the salad... add beans!  I like hummus in my salad or my roasted red pepper spread.  I like the spreads because it is the dressing.  I have had a lot of clients who do not like salad and load on the salad dressing.  Most of the time salad dressings are high in fat, salt and unknown ingredients.  So the bean spreads are a good alternative and they are tasty and it is a complete meal.  If grains are desired a little bit of brown rice, wild rice, quinoa or barley are good in a salad too.  A small amount goes a long way. 

Soak 1 cup of raw sunflower seeds in 2-3 cups of water for 4-6 hours.

Allow to sprout for 2-3 days.  Rinse 2x a day.  Until they look like these.  Just a small sprout or a tail out of the end.

The vegetables I used for this salad.

I like head lettuce because it is crunchy.  Kale and cabbage are yummy too.

Chop up vegetables into your favorite shapes and sizes.  And mix all together.

Add about 1/4 cup of the sprouted sunflower seeds.  And a few dollops of hummus or other bean spread.

Simple Salad w/hummus & sunflower seeds

2-3 cups of salad greens

1 tomato, chopped

1/3 onion, sliced

1/2 cucumber, chopped

1/2 pepper (any color), chopped

3 mushrooms, sliced

4 green onions, diced

1/4 cup sprouted sunflower seeds

1/2 cup hummus

Mix together and enjoy!

Salad can be fun!  Be creative and eat healthy!