Cultured Cranberry-Orange Relish

This is even better than my usual cranberry relish, plus it has probiotics...LOVE.

2 bags of fresh cranberries (organic if you can find them--we did!)
2-3 fresh oranges, ditto
1/4 C. organic sugar (or less--I didn't actually measure.) (You can use a bit of honey if you prefer)
fresh ginger, grated, if you have it...less than 1 tsp. unless you REALLY like ginger...

1/4 cup Basic Whey

(...which you make by putting whole organic yogurt in a strainer lined with clean cloth, over a big bowl.  Let it drain overnight, now you have whey in the bowl and Greek-style yogurt in the strainer--voila!)

Grate the cranberries coarsely in your blender or food processer.
Peel oranges, separate into sections and cut in small chunks. 
Mix everything well and pack into clean glass jars.
Put a lid on it!

Let it rest on the countertop 2-3 days or so (culturing takes longer when it's cold out)...it will develop a lovely flavor.  Taste it and if suits you, refrigerate!

(Sort of) Lola's Broccoli Salad...

A friend has brought this to our gatherings a couple of times, and it's delicious!  So of course I begged the recipe and then proceeded to change it...so it's now organic, pretty Paleo, and even more delightful:

SORT of Lola’s Broccoli Salad

It uses quite a bit of bacon, so we actually planned it for the main dish, but remembered we had a piece of Joseph's leftover mustard-glazed salmon.  It goes well with pickled eggs, too, these from Amish Wedding Pickled Beet Eggs.  (We often make our own, but these are really almost as good, and so easy!)


So let's get at it--it's easy!

1 head of organic broccoli chopped bite size
1/2 to 1 onion
1 C. raisins more or less
1/2 C. dried cranberries (optional)
1 C. organic raw sunflower seeds more or less (other nuts or seeds would be fine, too)
1 pkg. of nitrite and nitrate-free bacon (that's 12 oz., these days)
2 T. organic sugar
1 T. honey (optional)
3/4 cup mayonnaise (I used Mark Sisson's new Primal Kitchen mayo, but sometimes we make our own.)
1 T apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste, or try Pepperman, a mix of various peppers

Cook the bacon so it's crisp, let cool and crumble.  Try not to eat too much of it before you make the salad.  Yum.

Mix the chopped broccoli florets, onions, raisins, cranberries, sunflower seed and bacon together.

Mix the sugar, honey, vinegar and mayonnaise, blend well and pour over the mixture.  Stir till coated.

A lovely picnic on the back deck kind of meal...