How to "filet" a grapefruit!

This may seem like a silly post but I enjoy my grapefruit so much more since I have mastered this technique. You may find it is true for you or you may prefer your old method. But consider if this may be something that helps you enjoy grapefruit.
Grapefruit is one of the healthiest fruit especially for people that have blood sugar problems because as you may guess it does not have as much fructose and does not spike your blood sugar as much as other sweet fruits would. It also provides Vitamin C, calcium, iron, potassium, folate and lycopene (if they are red or pink).
One grapefruit has 12 grams of fiber if you eat it like an orange. That is with the skin around the individual segments. My technique removes the flesh from the walls so does not provide the fiber. The walls make it more bitter tasting, so you need to decide what you prefer.


After removing the first piece cut right on the other side of the skin wall.
Then twist your knife back 180 degrees and cut back out along the next skin wall (Your sharp side of the knife should come out first right next to the segment wall.

Voila!

You should be left with clean walls. The flesh wants to come free of the walls once you get it going.
Once I have all the segments out I take the rest of the grapefruit and squeeze all the juice out of it, and there usually is a lot! Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Yum!

And here you have your reward for your work. A bowl of segments ready to enjoy without further fussing!

So here is a series of photos that show you how to prepare your grapefruit so you can just sit down afterwards and enjoy it.

Basic Chicken Stock

No nourishing household should be without this powerhouse of a simple nourishing food. It takes some planning and some being home but otherwise is not time-consuming and so rewarding. By simmering a whole chicken all day you are making the most of this animal because you are getting all the minerals out of the chickens bones and all the gelatin out of the cartilage. Home-made Chicken broth is the number one source for non-dairy calcium. If you are sick you absolutely have to have home-made broth to recover quickly and that is not the time to start making it, so having some on hand is a good insurance especially in the winter. Homemade broth is a better alternative to gatorade when you need to replenish electrolytes. So here is the recipe. It will be second nature before too long and routine in your life and you won't want to miss the flavor of soups made with real chicken stock.



1 whole chicken, preferrably organic or local pasture-raised, can be cut up

1 onion

2 carrots

3 stalks celery

4-5 quarts water

vinegar and parsley, optional



You will need a fairly big stock pot for this. Cut the chicken apart into legs, arms, wings. Don't add the giblets, but do add the neck. Pour in the water. For a small chicken I use 4 quarts for a bigger one 5 quarts. It's up to you. Chop up the vegetables and add to water. At this point if you want to fine-tune you add a shot of vinegar which pulls the minerals out of the bones more. Bring to a boil and simmer 6-24 hours. The longer the better for taste and mineral content. If you want to fine-tune again add a bunch of fresh parsley for the last ten minutes before turning it off. It adds some more nutrients (I forgot which ones).

I usually take the chicken meat off after 2-3 hours and return the rest of the bones etc. into the pot to cook. Now you have some wonderful cooked chicken for chicken salad, enchiladas, quesedillas, soups or whatever recipe uses cooked chicken.

Enchilada sauce

Enchilada sauce from the store is usually full of unhealthy soybean oil, MSG and a long list of other additives. When I started to look into making it myself I was pleased to learn that it is really pretty simple. I don't think I have hit on the final version yet but I will post my first attempt here as an encouragment to try it yourself.

2 Tbsp. oil ( I used coconut oil, I wonder if butter would work?)
2 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder (more if you like it spicy. This amount was good for the kids.)

Make a roux out of these ingredients, i.e. melt oil, stir in flour and powder into a paste.

1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 cups water or broth
Pinch salt
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder

Add the rest of ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes to thicken. I started this sauce with water and it really tasted watery to me so I added a healthy boullion cube. Next time I would just use 2 cups broth instead.

Another option is if you have too much juice in a crockpot after making a roast. It makes a great base for an enchilada sauce. I will be tinkering with this recipe some more to perfect it but for now, this came out delicious when I made enchiladas with the chicken out of the broth pot mixed with the sauce and wrapped in home made tortillas smothered in more sauce and cheese.

It would be easy to make more of this and freeze it in the right proportions. This makes about enough for 2 batches of enchiladas in a 9x13 pan. Depends on how much sauce you like.