Kickin' it with Karen : Beyond Sauerkraut

Taco Tuesday is a THING in our household. YES, WE LITERALLY MAKE TACOS EVERY TUESDAY FOR DINNER! My husband and I LOVE Tex-Mex and this is the one meal we both can agree on that this is a weekly MUST! The good thing for me is that TACO's are gluten free. And even if my husband wanted flour tortillas, I don't have to have that. Tacos are cheap enough that we can afford both flour and corn tortillas. But, before we get into the recipe: Let's learn a little bit about the TACO! Where the taco originated, nobody really knows. Katy June Freisen, of Smithsonian.com believes they come from Mexican miners. She states, " My theory is that it dates from the 18th century and the silver mines in Mexico, because in those mines the word “taco” referred to the little charges they would use to excavate the ore...The first references [to the taco] in any sort of archive or dictionary come from the end of the 19th century. And one of the first types of tacos described is called 

Back in the beginning of December, I was boo-hooing and  lamenting in my post  about my Thanksgiving Blues. I stated, "I have a cabbage waiting for me, ready to be turned into sauerkraut. Not just any sauerkraut, but an Apple Jalapeño Red Sauerkraut. I have Apple Ginger and Orange Ginger Beet Kvass waiting to be bottled. I have a batch of Apple Cider Vinegar that is ready to be placed in a secondary fermentation vessel. And it's Kombucha time! I am ready to make some Pomegranate Kombucha (TO DIE FOR!!!). Oh, and lets not forget the Fermented Green Chili Sauce -SOOOOOOOO GOOD!" I had so many good projects waiting and so little time to complete them all. As I look at that list, I see that I have accomplished much of it, but not allthat I had hoped. I have made the Apple Jalapeño Sauerkraut and it was DELICIOUS. I have made the Apple Ginger and the Golden Ginger Turmeric Beet Kvass. The Apple Ginger Beet Kvass was perfectly sweet, savory and salty!  This past weekend I

See on YouTube: It's Kombucha time! Ahhhhhh, Kombucha. What is it and what is that THING that floats at the top? A mushroom? A living being? What is it? Why, it's a SCOBY of course. A SCOBY is a "Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast". It's all those bacteria and yeasts that are good for our gut all slopped into one big slimy  GELATINOUS film.  A SCOBY forms when oxygen and the liquid containing the bacteria and yeast intermingle. SCIENCE... I guess. A SCOBY is the essential ingredient in Kombucha. It helps transform an otherwise simple sweet black tea into the very complex flavors in the slightly fizzy beverage found in the hands and homes of most of today's Millennials. Oh, and some of us elders who took a chance on something that looked absolutely GROSS and tasted slightly like vinegar. You can find a tremendous variety of Kombucha on the shelves of virtually every major grocery store or food co-op. The flavors can vary from fruity, to spicy, to

Nashville, Tennessee has got to be one of the most interesting cities in the United States. And as soon as I can upload my pictures, I will write a complete post, pictures, videos and all. For now. Hang tight. I'll be back with a piece of writing that thoroughly reviews my experience there this holiday season. Here is a Sauerkraut video to watch while you wait. Enjoy. And please join me over on YouTube .