Monday, July 23, 2012

Processing and Cooking Beet Greens

Processing and Cooking Beet Greens
as well as battling squash bugs and a short garden update.





After the dust storm, we got busy catching and squishing squash bugs as well as harvesting from the garden. This week, we'll show you all how to process and cook beet greens.

Beet Greens are very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol (we make up for that in the bacon we add). It is also a good source of Protein, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A (220% in only one cup of beet greens), Vitamin C (eat two cups and you'll get 120% of your daily minimum), Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.

There's only about 40 calories in a cup of greens. If we throw in one ounce of bacon, we only add about 130 calories and a TON of flavor. If you add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, you'll add 120 calories. You'll save in saturated fat if you go the olive oil route.

There is no specific recipe:

Hand full of Chopped Beet Greens
Chopped Onions
Chopped Bell Peppers
Bacon (for the fat) Could use Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

ENJOY!

Links:



Thursday, July 19, 2012

Quick Sauerkraut

Back to the Homestead - Quick Sauerkraut




Directly translated, Sauerkraut means "sour cabbage." Sauerkraut is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid that forms when the bacteria ferment the sugars in the cabbage. It is not to be confused with coleslaw, which consists of fresh cabbage and may receive an acidic taste from vinegar (so says Wikipedia).

Vitamin C in Sauerkraut: 100 Grams has 15mg
Vitamin C in Cabbage: 100 Grams has 37mg
Vitamin C in an Orange: 100 Grams has 53mg

Sauerkraut wonderful all by itself. I especially enjoy sauerkraut mixed up in salads and even cooked into other recipes (though the benefits of the homemade sauerkraut is lost during cooking).

Here is my recipie:

3 Tablespoons of Sea Salt to 5 Pounds of Cabbage.

In the video, I had 3 pounds of cabbage that I prepared. When considering 3 pounds is 60% of 5 pounds, we used 60% of the salt needed for 5 pounds of cabbage.

1 Tablespoon = 3 Teaspoons
3 Tablespoons = 9 Teaspoons

60% of 9 teaspoons is 5.4 teaspoons. We used 5 teaspoons because we were just shy of 3 pounds.

Links:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerkraut
http://www.germanfoodguide.com/sauerkraut.cfm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_vitamin_C_is_in_an_orange
http://cashsunshine.blogspot.com/2008/09/cabbage-rich-source-of-vitamins-and.html