January 12, 2014 at 1:09 AM (Grilling, Homemade Condiments, Homemade Seasoning Mixes, Recipes, Whats for Dinner?)
Tags: cajun, cooking, DIY, Easy Recipes, frugal, Health, homemade, kitchen, Meat, Nutrition, organic, paleo, real food, recipe, seafood, seasoning mix
Cajun Spice Mix
- 1 Tbsp Sea Salt
- 1 Tbsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Fresh Ground White Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Oregano
- 1 Tbsp Thyme
- 1 Tbsp Basil
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Cayenne
- 2 Tbsp Paprika
- 2 Tbsp Chili Powder
- 2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
- 2 Tbsp Onion Powder
Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container. I always make spice mixes in large quantities, because I cook more than the average bear. Feel free to halve or quarter this recipe if you aren’t a slave to your kitchen like I am 😉
This is good on a whole lot of foods, but will blow your mind on seafood. Grilled Cajun Shrimp anyone? Why not try it with Homemade Cocktail Sauce?
Related Posts:
Worlds Best BBQ Sauce (sugar free)
Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
Tender Grilled Brisket
Homemade Probiotic Teriyaki Sauce
Cajun Smothered Pork Chops (Robs Favorite!)
Recipe Index
7 Comments
January 11, 2014 at 1:02 AM (Grilling, Homemade Condiments, Homemade Seasoning Mixes, Make It Yourself, Whats for Dinner?)
Tags: beef, chicken, cooking, Garlic, homemade, kitchen, organic, paleo, Recipes, seasonings, spice rubs, Venison
Sweet & Smokey Spice Rub
- 3 Tbsp Coconut Oil- softened
- 1 tsp Garlic- minced
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar or honey
- 2 tsp liquid smoke
Mix all ingredients. It makes an ugly, brown, mushy paste. Rub all over meat. Cook meat.
Sounds too simple right? Not enough ingredients, way too fast. No way this is going to taste good…..Oh but you’re wrong!
We have tried this on wings, steak, ribs, a pork roast and several cuts of venison. It is delicious! It has a deep smokey flavor with just the slightest hint of sweetness. Very delicious!
Related Posts:
Coffee Spice Rub
Perfect Barbeque Dipping Sauce
The Worlds Best BBQ Sauce (sugar free)
Homemade Seasoning Salt
How to Peel a Head of Garlic in 10 seconds
Homemade Fajita Seasoning Mix
Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix
Homemade Italian Seasoning Mix
Recipe Index
2 Comments
May 25, 2013 at 5:51 PM (Grilling, Homemade Condiments, Recipes, Sauces, Stocks and Gravies, Whats for Dinner?)
Tags: barbeque, bbq, cooking, grilling, Nutrition, paleo, recipe, Sauce, sugar free, tomato
Perhaps you have figured this out by now, but we love a big hunk of roasted meat around here. So we get pretty excited when barbeques season finally arrives. Here in Michigan, it lasts for about 5 minutes, so we take full advantage. I came up with this dipping sauce a few years ago and we fell madly in love. The charred vegetables give it a smoky flavor that is so addictive! This sauce is great on any kind of meat or fish. I particularly love it on kabobs. Mmmmm kabobs….
Sugar Free Roasted Dipping Sauce
3/4 lb cherry tomatoes
8 cloves garlic
6 chile peppers, stemmed ( we like Serrano or jalapeno)
2 shallots, halved
1/2 red pepper, seeded
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
- Place vegetables (tomato, garlic, chiles, shallots and peppers) on hot barbecue grill (or broiler) for 8 -10 minutes until blackened and charred.
- Place garlic, chiles, shallots and peppers in food processor.
- Pulse until chunky
- Add tomatoes, pulse until incorporated, but not pureed
- Stir in cilantro, fish sauce and salt.
Serve warm or cold alongside your favorite barbecued meat. This is a very versatile sauce. We have used it with grilled steak, pork loin, kabobs, shrimp, bass, trout, and chicken. It is also great served with any Mexican dish!
Let me know what you think!
Related Posts:
Worlds Best barbeque Sauce (sugar free)
Tender Grilled Brisket
Coffee Spice Rub
Homemade Cocktail Sauce (and how to prepare horseradish)
Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
Homemade Probiotic Teriyaki Sauce
Lake Trout with Morels
homemade Seasoning Salt
Ginger Beer: A Probiotic Summer Drink
IHerb.com Coupon: Save $10
ALL Recipes
2 Comments
May 29, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Grilling, Homemade Condiments, Homemade Seasoning Mixes, Whats for Dinner?)
Tags: barbeque, brisket, Coconut oil, Cook, food, grilling, Health, Nutrition, paleo, real food, spicy
I love recipes that can be placed on the grill and left alone for hours. This recipe is one of my favorites. Resulting in a sweet and spicey, very tender and juicy brisket. Sliced thin, it is barbeque at it’s finest! If you have a freezer full of venison or other wild game, this works great with a big thick backstrap or steak as well.
Tender Grilled Brisket
6 cups mesquite wood chips
1 4-5 lb beef brisket
1 Tbsp coconut oil
Paprika
Coarse sea salt
Black pepper
Red pepper flakes
Thyme
- Before grilling, soak wood chips in a bucket of water.
- Brush brisket with oil and sprinkle with all spices. I never measure. Rub spices into meat.
- Drain wood chips and light charcoal in grill. Place 1 large handful of wood chips over charcoal.
- Place brisket on grill. Cook 3 to 4 hours, adding another handful of wood chips every 30 minutes or so.
- Remember for extra tender meat, never pierce the meat with a fork. Use tongs!
- After meat is cooked, brush with homemade barbeque sauce and serve hot.
Mesquite Wood Chips
For a spicy Barbeque Sauce you can try my usual or this new one I’ve been playing with:
Hot and Sweet BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup onion, chopped
6 fresh jalepeno chile peppers, seeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (make your own here)
1 tsp dry mustard
In saucepan heat oil and saute onion, pepper and garlic. Stir in all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Makes 3 cups.
This is great with a basket of grilled fresh veggies, corn on the cob or green salad. The leftovers are excellent as a sandwhich, and I also love it served hot over cornbread.
Related posts:
The Worlds Best BBQ Sauce
Baked Beans
Perfect Cornbread
Sweet & Spicy Glazed Tuna Steaks
Spiced Ribs
Cajun Smothered Pork Chops
Venison Backstrap with Coffee Spice Rub
Pacific Lime Chicken
How to Cook the Perfect Steak
Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
10 Comments
May 16, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Homemade Condiments, Make It Yourself, Recipes, Sugar Free, Whats for Dinner?)
Tags: Bake, baking, Barbecue sauce, casserole, chicken, Coconut oil, Cook, cooking, DIY, easy, Easy Recipes, food, frugal, Frugal Recipes, Health, Home, homemade, homemade condiments, kitchen, low carb, no carb, Nutrition, paleo, Pork, real food, recipe, Recipes, Simple, sugar free
It is grilling season, so it’s time to whip up my secret weapon. I have been adapting and changing this recipe for so many years that I don’t remember what I originally started with. All I remember is that I had a half used can of tomato paste in the fridge I was trying to get rid of, and this recipe was somehow born. I love that it has no sugar, but still tastes sweet and has this great spicy kick that goes well with just about any meat. I also really love the base of nourishing bone broth, which you can never have too much of. Tonight we’re grilling bone-in pork ribs from our local farmer with some cornbread. Mmmm, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!
The Worlds Best Barbeque Sauce
makes 2 cups
1 Tbsp grass-fed butter or coconut oil
1 cup sweet onion, diced small
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock (or beef or vegetable)
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2-1 tsp stevia powder (or sweetener of choice)
Heat butter/oil in sauce pan and sauté onion for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. You can serve it just like this, but I like to boil it down to thicken it a while. I turn down the heat, cover the pan and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so. I also find the longer cooking time melds the flavors, and it turns out even more delicious.
I have used this sauce on every cut of pork, beef and chicken that I can think of. It is a great marinade, basting sauce, oven baking glaze and dipping sauce. If you are feeding young kids or someone who doesn’t like spicy food you may want to add the chili powder a little bit at a time and taste as you go.
If you want to make this even healthier, you could let it cool and add 2 tbsp of whey and leave it on the counter over night. Then you would have a sugar-free probiotic condiment.
This keeps for 3 weeks in the fridge, and also freezes very well. If you eat as much meat as we do, it won’t last you that long 🙂
Related Posts:
Coffee Spice Rub
Tender Grilled Brisket
Real Food Taco Soup (in the crockpot)
Real Food Chili (in the crockpot)
Real Food Lasagna (SO Simple)
Stuffed Green Peppers in the Crockpot
Country Fried Steak
Real Food Meatloaf
The Worlds Best Chimichangas!!
COMPLETE LIST OF REAL FOOD RECIPES
59 Comments
May 9, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Fast, Homemade Condiments, Make It Yourself, Recipes)
Tags: Blue cheese dressing, Cook, DIY, Easy Recipes, food, Frugal Recipes, Health, homemade, kitchen, Nutrition, paleo, real food, Roquefort, Salad, Simple
We’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with salads and dressings lately. I have noticed an amazing change in my tastes since I bought a juicer last month. I start the day off with a 12-16 ounces of fresh vegetable juice. Now I am actually craving vegetables. Crazy huh? So we have been really enjoying all of the fresh salad greens that are in season right now.
Blue Cheese Dressing
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Red Win Vinegar (or lemon juice)
4 Tbsp Blue Cheese (or Roquefort if you can find it)
1 tsp raw honey
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup thick yogurt (or mayo or sour cream)
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and funnel into an old salad dressing bottle. We like ours chunky, so I just mix it up with a fork. If you like it creamy, you can purée until smooth. Delicious!
5 Comments
May 6, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Homemade Condiments, Make It Yourself, Recipes, Simple, Under $1.00)
Tags: Cocktail sauce, cooking, DIY, Easy Recipes, Frugal Recipes, Health, Horseradish, Nutrition, real food, sea food, Simple
We do love our shrimp around here. We have actually just had shrimp with cocktail sauce and a few bits of crackers and cheese for dinner before. Delicious.
Cocktail Sauce
1 cup ketchup (i actually still buy this from the store, because we hardly ever use it)
1 Tbsp horseradish, pureed in the food processor
1 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp homemade Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
Mix all ingredients and keep in an airtight jar in the fridge. Keeps for 2-3 weeks. This also freezes very well. Rob loves his really spicy, so I usually purée a whole piece of horseradish, so he can add more to his plate.
To Prepare Horseradish
Wash and peel the root with a veggie peeler
Cut into chunks
Place in food processor and add 1 Tbsp of water. Puree (protect your eyes!) and add 1 Tbsp white vinegar and a dash of salt. Add more water if you like it thinner. This will keep for 30 days in the refrigerator. It also freezes very well.
A word about shrimp. Well, a few words….
#1 Choice: Wild Caught off the coast of the Pacific Northwest or the Northeast coasts of the USA and Canada, using live traps (not trawlers). Our favorites are Bay Shrimp, Cocktail Shrimp, Northern Shrimp, Pink Shrimp and Rock Shrimp. They are slightly more expensive, but the taste is worth it! And you are supporting fisherman who believe in treating the animal, and the ocean with respect. Instead of big trawling boats, these people use old-fashioned live traps and no other fish are harmed or killed in the process. A few good sources are U.S Wellness Meats, Fishhawk Fisheries, Hallmark Fisheries and Pacific Seafood Group Inc.
#2 Choice: Wild Caught off the coast of the Pacific Northwest or Northeast, using trawling methods (very wasteful, all the other fish caught in the net are thrown out)
#3 Choice: Organically farmed in the USA (strict regulations and pretty close nutritionally)
#4 Choice: Wild Caught off the Gulf of Mexico. They say the shrimp are safe to eat after the oil spills, but I’m still not comfortable with it.
Avoid at all costs: Any seafood farmed in Asia or Latin America. They have no regulations and use very complex chemical cocktails, containing many pesticides and antibiotics. They are also doing much harm to the surrounding environment using devastating farming practices. Unfortunately 90% of shrimp sold in the USA comes from these sub-standard shrimp farms. Red Lobster endless shrimp days anyone?
Shrimp season is from April through October, so buy high-quality shrimp in bulk during that time to save money.
10 Comments
May 3, 2012 at 1:01 AM (Homemade Condiments, Make It Yourself, Recipes, Under $1.00)
Tags: Cook, DIY, Easy Recipes, food, Frugal Recipes, Home, homemade, housekeeping, kitchen, real food, recipe, Simple, Worcestershire sauce
I held out on making this one for ages, because I thought that Lea & Perrins had some magic recipe that only they were allowed to use and I would be banished to culinary hell if I tried to steal it. Well, if this is hell sign me up, cuz this is delicious! 🙂 I have seen many complicated recipes online for worcestershire sauce, and I hate going out to buy a whole bunch of specialty ingredients just to make one recipe. I mean, what the heck is tamarind concentrate anyway? This is a cheaper, simpler version.
Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp Thai fish sauce
2 Tbsp raw honey
1 Tbsp molasses
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
Mix and store in an air tight container for 2-3 weeks in the fridge. This is an excellent seasoning to use in a marinade and goes well with any meat.
Related posts:
Homemade Fajita Seasoning
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Coffee Spice Rub
Homemade Baking Powder
Homemade Taco Seasoning
Homemade Italian Seasoning
Homemade Seasoning Salt
22 Comments
April 18, 2012 at 1:33 AM (Homemade Condiments, Recipes, Sauces, Stocks and Gravies, Simple)
Tags: Cook, DIY, Home, homemade, paleo, real food, recipe, Soy sauce, Teriyaki
I love marinating fish in teriyaki sauce. It adds such a unique flavor. If you have checked out the stuff in the store, these are the type of ingredients you’re likely to find:
- Soy sauce (made with GMO soy beans)
- High Fructose Corn Syrup (made with GMO corn)
- Vinegar (made with GMO corn)
- salt
- spices (code word for MSG, see the whole MSG story here)
- onion powder
- succinic acid (a fermented sugar acid used as a sweetener)
- garlic powder
- sodium benzoate (an additive that is a known carcinogen and linked to hyperactive disorders in children)
First of all that is way too many GMO ingredients for me thank you very much! Plus I like the challenge of making something myself. Start with buying a high-quality unpasteurized soy sauce. I really love Ohsawa Organic Nama Shoyu Unpasteruized Soy Sauce (wow that was a mouthful). They naturally ferment their soy sauce in cedar kegs for four years! It is delicious! You can find it at Whole Foods, or online at Amazon.com. It contains all of the natural enzymes and beneficial bacteria that you would expect from a traditionally produced, raw food.
Homemade Probiotic Teriyaki Sauce
2 tsp ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp raw honey
2 Tbsp whey (learn how to make yogurt & whey here)
1 cup Ohsawa Organic Soy Sauce
Mix all ingredients together in a jar. Cover loosely with a cloth and let sit out at room temperature for 24 hours. This will keep for 2 months in the refrigerator.
It makes an excellent marinate for sea food and chicken. I will post a delicious Oriental Tuna Steak recipe tomorrow. Enjoy!
18 Comments
April 11, 2012 at 3:27 AM (Almost Free, Fast, Homemade Condiments, Recipes, Under $1.00)
Tags: beneficial bacteria, cooking, DIY, Health, lacto fermenation, probiotics, real food, Recipes, Sauerkraut
If you like sauerkraut, this recipe is the ultimate. It is also incredibly easy! This is best eaten raw as a condiment, heat would kill the beneficial bacteria. We love to eat it with kielbasa from our farm co-op. Yum!
Lacto Fermented Sauerkraut
1 small head of organic cabbage
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1/4 cup whey (from your homemade yogurt)
- Shred the cabbage in a food processor (or cut into tiny pieces). It will look like way too much cabbage. Trust me it IS going to fit in the jar!
- Place cabbage, whey, salt and caraway seeds in a 1 quart wide-mouth canning jar. You may need to add half now, and half after you have pounded it down a bit.
- Using a meat hammer, take out your aggressions by pounding the heck out of the cabbage. You want to release a lot of juice. So much juice, that it comes up to the top of the jar and covers the cabbage.
- Leave it sit out on your counter, in a warm sheltered location for 7 days.
This was delicious after the 7th day, but as it sat in the fridge it really developed a wonderful flavor over time. We finished the jar right around the 1 month mark, and it was even better! Because this was the original way to preserve foods before refrigeration, this stuff lasts for ages in the fridge.
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