Cabbage Soup

I Know!  Cabbage Soup doesn't sound very enticing does it?!?!?  But believe me you wont be sorry if you try this soup, and your bodies wont hate you either!!!  I'm sure you've all heard of the Cabbage Soup diet, right?  Well this is that, but on steroids and tastes way better!  My mom used to make it a lot and so I've never had a problem with it and I actually really liked it!  And just recently I had stinky cabbage in my fridge that had to be cooked asap, so I started searching for recipes, and combined my moms recipe with a few extra ingredients and absolutely LOVE this soup!  And so does Chris if that tells you anything!  Most recipes don't tell you to put ground beef in it, but I think it's a must and it definitely fills your belly a lot quicker!  This recipe is PALEO.  If you are crazy strict paleo and think beef broth from a can is bad for you, then go ahead and make your own beef broth.  But I let this one slide :)

1/2 lb ground beef
2 bottles stewed tomato's - blended
1 Can Beef Broth
1 Cup Chopped Cabbage
1/2 Cup chopped zucchini
1/2 Cup Chopped onion
1/2 Cup sliced carrots
1/2 Cup chopped celery
1/2 tbsp olive oil
Oregano - 1/2 tsp - to taste
Basil - 1/2 tsp - to taste
Salt & pepper to taste

Start with Browning your beef with your onion.  I like to do it in my big stock pot so I only have to use one pan.  Once beef is browned add your olive oil and the rest of your vegetables.  For the carrots, this time I just used baby carrots and stuck them in my salad shooter and sliced them thin so they would soften fast.  For the stewed tomato's, I used my own bottled tomatos and blended them in my ninja, juice and all and add it to the stock pot.  Add your beef broth and your seasonings to taste and let simmer for 20-30 min.  Long enough to let the flavors marinate, and the veggies to soften up.  Enjoy!

Stromboli

Once again, another fabulous recipe I aquired from Bunco a good 3 years ago!  This meal is a great meal to make when you want to bring a meal to another family and keep some for yourselves because it makes two loaves!!!  So actually that is the only time I make this dinner!!! Or if I want to invite people over for dinner.  This might sound weird to most but this pizza stromboli doesn't actually have pizza sauce in it, which is probably why I love it sooo much.   I've always had a hard time finding a pizza sauce that I liked.  This one is  smothered in egg and oregano!! 

You start by splitting your dough into 2 equal parts, and rolling into large rectangles.

 Then you mix your egg and oregano and smother all over both rectangles.

 Add your pepperoni

 mozzarella cheese

 ham

 provolone cheese

 Roll it up and slit holes in the top.

 Bake until golden brown

 Then slice up and serve!!! Yum

Dough:
5 3/4 to 6 1/4 Flour - I always use 1 cup of Whole Wheat flour
1 Pkg. Dry Yeast
2 1/2 Cup Milk
2 T Sugar
1 T Butter
1 tsp Salt
Stromboli:
2 eggs - seperarted
2 T flake Oregano
70 Pepperoni - 1 Package
1 Med Bag Mozzarell Cheese - shredded
8 Deli Ham Slices
8 Provolone Slices

For the Dough, put 3 C flour in a mixing bowl along with your yeast and sugar.  Scald 2 1/2 C milk (Dont get the milk too hot or it will kill the yeast).  When milk is warm enough add 1 T butter and 1 tsp. salt.  Stir until melted together.  Add to flour mixture & stir until blended. (Mix on low speed for approx 2-3 min)  Then using 1/2 cup at a time slowly add in the remaining flour until you get a tacky texture.  Turn out on floured surface and knead for a min.  Let raise for 30-45 min.
Cut dough into 2 equal parts and roll in a rectangle shape.  Take your egg and oregano and mix together well and brush onto the dough.  Next lay out your pepperoni then cover in mozzarella cheese.  Add your ham slices then your slices of provolone.  Roll up like a cinnamon roll (pictured above).  Close the ends.  Do an egg white wash (using 1 egg white and water and stirring quickly until slightly foamy and brushing over the the entire roll.  Sprinkle with flake oregano.  Cut about 4-5 slices on top of loaf to allow the heat to escape while baking.
Spray or grease cookie sheet.  Place loaves on cookie sheet with seams down.  Bake at 375* for about 40 minutes uncovered..
You can make this ahead and freeze in aluminum foil.  Grease foil before you put loaf on it to prevent sticking.  Prior to cooking take out of freezer and allow to thaw.  Bake Uncovered.

Homemade Salsa - Canning

If your like me, I'm ALWAYS on the hunt for the perfect Salsa!!!  I've found some good ones along the way, some vinegary ones, some sweet ones, some spicy!  Some that I like and my husband doesn't, but this one my friends, was the perfect consistency and taste, and we BOTH love it!!!  Thank you Jen Casey for providing me with this yummy recipe whom she got from a relative in Idaho!  A recipe well worth passing on to others and to store on my blog!!!

I actually halved this recipe, and changed up the peppers and used what I had!  I'll give you the original version along with my tweaks!!!  MY VERSION FIRST!!!
Karie's Version - 1/2 recipe - Made 10 pints

16 Cups chopped tomatoes -  Blanch for 20 sec in boiling water to remove skins first.  Then I chopped and  stuck in the ninja and pulsed a couple of times
3 green bell peppers - chopped
1 red bell pepper - chopped
3 jalepeno peppers - chopped
1 hot yellow pepper- chopped
1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped celery
2 Medium size onions - chopped
3 cloves garlic - chopped fine
1/2 TBLS paprika
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup vinegar
1 T ground pepper
1/4 Cup pickling salt
1 tsp cumin
2 small cans of tomato paste.
I just simmered everything together for 1 hour.  The processed in pints for 25 minutes!  YUMM

Makes 30 pints - Shaunna's Salsa

10 quarts tomoatoes, peeled and chopped.  (Blanch in boiling water for 20 seconds to remove skins)
6 red or green bell peppers
6 yellow peppers
5 jalepeno peppers
4 long 6-8 in. green peppers
4 long 6-8 in. red peppers
1 quart diced celery
4-6 diced large onions
6 cloves garlic
Remove seeds from peppers and dice.  Add to tomatoes along with celery, onions and garlic.  Cook all together for 1 hour until soft.  Add the following:
1 T paprika
3/4 cup sugar
1 C vinegar
2 T course ground pepper
1/2 Cup salt
2 tsp. cumin
2 quarts tomato paste
Simmer for 1 hour.  Bottle in pints and process for 25 minutes.