Guava Sauce ... Apple Sauce Style

I published a guava sauce recipe in 2015 and have found it to be useful when guavas are in season. Guavas that fall off the tree when picking and get bruised are great for turning into sauce. An abundance of guavas that ripen at once is a great way to use them before they go bad. The apple sauce formula can be used for any fruit ... the addition of cinnamon is an option to add flavor and a diabetes fighting and memory inducing spice.

Ingredients:
Fresh guavas diced
Cinnamon optional

Directions:
Add diced guavas to a saucepan with a small amount of water (a few tablespoons for a small amount of fruit...up to 1/4 cup for a full pan)
Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to simmer
Cook until fruit softens
Mash or put in a food processor (to create a smoother texture)
OPTION: Add cinnamon to taste

Pesto – Walnut Style

I love making homemade pesto when my garden produces a bumper croup of basil. I have made traditional pesto with pine nuts and have experimented with using a variety of other nuts to create my sauce. I have also experimented with creating pesto sauce with a variety of greens like carrot greens and arugula. Playing with food and testing recipes is something I enjoy.

This recipe for BASIL Pesto is made with WALNUTS instead of pine nuts. Recently the bulk walnuts have been on sale at the local grocer and I have been purchasing quite a bit of them. I try to take advantage of sales on foods I enjoy and find recipes to use those products when they are plentiful in the store. I try to shop economically, while also shopping to find the products that are organic and/or local.

Textures are important to me when I eat. If textures of sauces determine whether you eat them or not, consider the following: a thicker pesto is made by adding more basil and/or reducing the oil and, conversely, a thinner pesto is a result of less basil or more oil, or both.

Base Ingredients:
Basil – 3 cups rinsed and patted into a measuring cup
Garlic – 5 pieces
Cheese (Italian Blend, Parmesan, or Pecorino Romano) – 1 cup
Nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, or cashews) 1/ 2 cup
Olive Oil – 1 cup

Increase your recipe as needed based upon the volume of basil you are using. For the pictured recipe, I had 6 cups of basil from my garden!

Instructions:
Add ingredients to ingredients to a VItamix, food processor, or blender. Blend until a thick liquid is formed.
Store pesto in an airtight container in the refrigerator…it will keep up to three months.

Homemade Tomato Sauce for Pasta

I love to cook from scratch when time allows. A friend of mine gave me a bag of tomatoes that needed to be used ASAP as they were, almost, over ripe. My garden has a healthy crop of basil so I decided to turn the tomatoes into a pasta sauce.

Oftentimes, I purchase a jar of pasta sauce and add vegetables to it so it becomes a bit healthier rather than spending the time to cook down the tomatoes. It does NOT take that much time to create a good sauce, I should do it more often. What it does take is the “right” tomatoes and I do not find them as often as I would like.

This recipe allows many avenues for customization. Enjoy playing with your food and making a different sauce each time, or work on perfecting one recipe. Just remember, each tomato has its own flavor profile; appreciate the flavor you get with each batch of sauce as you might not be able to replicate it. This can be made as a marinara sauce or a meat sauce; you decide!

Base Ingredients:
Tomatoes that are VERY RIPE.
Onion or Shallot
Garlic
Carrots
Basil
Olive Oil
Meat is Optional

Steps:
PREPARATION:
1. Rinse and dice the tomatoes into quarters. You can create the sauce with virtually any quantity that you have a pot large enough to use; I just do not make the sauce unless I have at least 4 cups of tomatoes after dicing them into quarters.
2. Dice 1 onion or 2 shallots for every 4 cups of tomatoes
3. Dice 3-5 cloves of garlic for every 4 cups of tomatoes

OPTIONAL: Dice 1 carrot per 4 cups of tomatoes to add a “sweet” flavor to your sauce.

COOKING:
1. Sautee the onion (or shallot) and garlic in 2-4 tbsp olive oil until translucent. Add the tomatoes, cover, and turn the burner to simmer and let the tomatoes cook down. Stir from time-to-time to check on progress. Depending on the quantity you are cooking this may take 30 minutes to a few hours.
2. Once the tomatoes have cooked down you may wish to add salt, pepper, or crushed red pepper to taste.
3. Some people prefer a “smooth” texture to the sauce and may with to pulse it in the blender to achieve the texture of choice.

Serving Suggestions:
• Serve the sauce over your favorite gluten free pasta (or a combination pictured here).
• You can add sautéed meet or additional vegetables to your sauce based on personal preference!
• Top with grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano (Imported cheeses are more flavorful)
• Garnish with basil

Sesame Hummus

I came across Artisana Organic Raw Tahini and decided to use it in my hummus recipe. I modified my original recipe Hummus Your Way and came up with a hummus with an enhanced SESAME flavor.

Base Recipe:
2 cups of chickpeas or other white beans (if using a can, 1 can)
2 TBSP lemon juice
4-6 cloves of garlic (depends on size and your taste)
1/2 cup toasted sesame oil
1 tsp ground cumin
2 TBSP Artisana Organic Raw Tahini
1/4 cup water

Instructions:
Blend the ingredients in a food processor or VitaMix (as I use)

Serve:
Garnish with sesame seeds, cracked pepper, or crushed red pepper depending on your desire for heat.
Serve with vegetables, Gluten Free crackers, or as a sandwich spread.

Variations:
Add 1 or 2 roasted red peppers to the base recipe

Carrot Green Pesto

I do not like to waste food. For years I have been buying carrots and discarding the greens. It finally dawned on me that there could be a use for the greens. I searched online and found several uses for the greens. Two of the uses resonated with me wight away! One use was to add the greens to soup and another was to make pesto.

Therefore, I decided why not use the carrot greens ALONG with the carrots next time I buy the carrots.

Base Recipe:
4 cups of carrot greens (washed)
1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of cashews
4-6 cloves of garlic (depending on size)
1 cup olive oil

Blend in a food processor.Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Variations:
Substitute another nut for cashew (pistachios work very well as do peanuts BUT walnuts work best if you use arugula)
Substitute Romano of Asiago Cheese for the parmesan
Substitute Basil or Arugula for the carrot greens

Prep Time from set up to clean up 20 minutes or less.

Pasta Sauce in a FLASH

We can all open a jar of pasta sauce and create a quick meal from the jar. Perhaps we wish to add a few ingredients so the meal is semi-homemade. I am TRYING to eliminate packaged foods from my diet, at least as many as I can. This way I can control the ingredients that I am using. I admit it, I also enjoy the creativity of coming up with new flavor profiles.

My PASTA SAUCE in a FLASH is a recipe that can be changed COUNTLESS ways...

Start with:
Tomatoes, onions, and garlic

From this point on the fun begins...
Adding carrots adds sweetness
You can add Basil or Oregano for spice

Directions:
Roughly chop the tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Add to a saucepan with a 2 TBSP of olive oil and water to coat the bottom of the pan. The ratio I like to use is 2-4 large tomatoes per onion. Then I add 4-6 cloves of garlic depending on size. The carrot in the picture was exceptionally large, otherwise I would have used two regular width/length carrots.

Simmer in a covered pot till the tomatoes cook down, carrot softens, and the onion and garlic "sweat".

You can keep the sauce chunky or blend.

You can add mushrooms or peppers at this point. They take less time to cook and need to be just heated through. This will add texture to your sauce.

You can add meat or meat substitute as well.

Serving:
If blended, can be used as sauce for a homemade pizza. Store extra in an airtight container.
As a dipping sauce or topping for Amazing Amaranth Fritter or Ploenta.
Use with pasta (Gluten Free Varieties I find hold up well are Delallo and Ancient Harvest ... cook till al dente)

Guava "Apple" Sauce

What do you do when you have more fruit then you can eat before it spoils? COOK with it!

One thing I like to do is make guava sauce. I follow the same steps I use to create apple sauce...with one addition...I run it through the food processor to break down the seeds!

Directions:
First I cut the guava into slices
I put the slices into a pot with 1/4 tsp of unsalted butter
I add 6 TBSP of water
I cover and cook on low for a few hours...stirring from time to time.

Taste...do you want something more?

I add cinnamon to taste.

Once the guava sauce cools...I add to the VitaMix (food processor is fine and immersion blender will not work as well) and grind till the seeds break down. The consistency will be think and creamy.

Serve as you would applesauce...it tastes good warm or cold!

Note: If you prefer a smoother consistency...cut out the seeds in the future.

NOTE: Can be used as a substitute for applesauce in recipes!