Italian Sausage Soup

This recipe makes about 6 quarts of soup. I used my 6 3/4-Qt cast iron enameled dutch oven and it was the prefect size.

ingredients:

• 2 T oil for sautéing (coconut, olive, or avocado oil)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound Italian Pork Sausage (buy local and/or grass fed pork when possible!)
• 2-4 stalks of celery, chopped (depending on your love of celery)
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 1 pound riced cauliflower - or dice up some fresh cauliflower or sub in another veggie
  (I used the frozen riced cauliflower from Costco)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 -3 tsp Frontier's Vegetable Seasoning (I love this seasoning, its a great spice blend that works in many recipes. You could easily use Italian Seasoning or another favorite spice blend)
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (fennel is my favorite flavor in Italian sausage, so sometimes I add a little more to make sure that flavor does not get lost. However, you many choose to omit this.)
• 1 -16 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1- 16 oz can tomato sauce 
• 1 quart broth of choice
  (I use homemade bone broth. A major perk of buying local meat from a farmer is that you can generally get a lot of bones as well! I got two large boxes of bones with my last purchase of a 1/4 cow)
• Add water for desired consistency
• Any other veggies are welcome as well! 

directions:

• Cook onions in oil on low till onions are transparent 
• Once onions are transparent, add pork sausage and cook together with the onions till pork is cooked. Add celery, carrots, cauliflower, garlic, vegetable seasoning (or your choice of seasoning), fennel seeds. Stir together and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. 
• Add dice tomatoes, tomato sauce and broth, stir, cover and bring to boil, then turn down to simmer for 15-20 minutes till veggies are as soft as you would like.
• Add water to thin soup to desired consistency
• Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy! 

This is a great soup to use up veggies. You could easily add leftover roasted veggies, green beans, frozen peas...whatever you have. I really enjoyed the riced cauliflower in this soup, it almost felt like tiny pieces of pasta this soup. Oh and this soup was toddler approved! That always make me happy! 

Pupusas - A Taste of El Salvador

Over Easter weekend my family had the privileged of learning to make Pupusas from an El Salvadorian friend. We had a great time learning the art making Pupusas and enjoyed eating them afterward. They are absolutely delicious hot off the griddle. This recipe involves a lot of dumping, pinching, and dalloping and not a lot of measuring. So I estimated approximate amounts, but you may need to make alterations for taste and texture. Use the pictures to help reach the needed texture of the corn flour dough and the amounts of each ingredient in the slaw topping.

Ingredients/ Tools:
electric griddle
spatula
small bowl of water
small bowl of olive oil

shell:
about 2.5 pounds Masa (corn flour)
about 1 cup of water
1/2 cup tomato juice (from blending whole tomatoes)
1 T tomato soup bouillon

filling: (You could use chicken, beef, or omit meat if desired.)
3 pounds of meat
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tomato, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
salt to taste

shredded white cheese

slaw topping:
dried chiles (amount depends on your spice tolerance)
1/2 cabbage head, raw, shredded
1-2 beets, cooked, chopped
2 carrots, raw, chopped
1 onion, raw, chopped
1/2 cup juice of jalepenos in oil
1 tsp oregano
2 T white vinegar
2 T olive oil

tomato topping:
4 tomatoes blended together in a blender

Directions:
Filling:
1.  Prepare filling ahead of time. This can be prepared the day before and left in the refrigerator to meld flavors.
2.  Slow cook meat for about 1 hour with a small amount of water, garlic cloves, and salt.
3.  Once meat is cooked through and tender, Blend the following ingredients in a blender: tomato, onion, bell pepper. Drain meat and fry just a bit to help dry it out. Blend up meat with the pureed mixture. When the meat filling is ready, it should look something like the picture below.

slaw:

1. Prepare ahead of time and store in the refrigerator till ready to serve.

2. Fry dried red chiles in a small amount of olive oil (save oil), Then chop chiles.

3. In a large bowl, mix together all slaw ingredients and oil from chiles. Add more vinegar or oil if more liquid is needed. Add more chopped veggies if more are needed. The slaw should look something like the picture below.

shell:
Mix Masa, water. tomato juice and bouillon together with hands in a large bowl. Add more water or masa to reach the texture pictured below.

To fry pupusas:

1.  Preheat electric griddles to 375 degrees and coat lightly with olive oil.

2.  Roll a ball (2 inch diameter) of the masa mixture in your hand, then form a cup. Like pictured below.

3.  Put a small handful of the meat mixture and then a layer of shredded cheese. Close up the pupusa and flatten with your hands. Like pictured below. You may need to dab your fingers in a small bowl of water and/or olive oil as the dough gets sticky.

4.  Fry on the griddle till warm and golden brown. Add more olive oil as needed.

5.  Serve with slaw topping and drizzle of tomato topping.