Dill and Spicy Fermented Veggies

Ingredients: 

• mixed raw veggies (carrots, cauliflower, bell peppers, cabbage chunks or slices - whatever you have)
• 1 onion, chopped or sliced
• 1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded if you like mild or leave in the seeds if you like hot
• 2 T course sea salt (I like Celtic Sea Salt for fermenting)
• 1 T fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dill
• 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, quartered
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns

Directions:

1.  Fill a half gallon mason jar about half full with filtered water. Add salt, dill, peppercorns, garlic jalapeno, onion and enough raw veggies to fill the jar within one inch of the top. Add more filtered water if you need to in order to cover the vegetables.

(If you don't have a half gallon jar, just use two quart jars!)

2. Make sure your veggies stay under the liquid. Weigh them down with a weight or small jar if needed. Screw on the mason jar lid and ferment on your counter for 5 to 7 days. (Whole veggies take longer to ferment than shredded, so I like to leave mine for about 7 days) Refrigerate to stop the fermentation process and enjoy!

Experiment with different veggies till you find your favorite combination! 

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!