Fancy Watermelon

If you are going to a Labor Day picnic today and just aren't quite sure what to bring, let me suggest a watermelon.

It may sound a little dull, perhaps lame, and slightly too easy.

Well, jazz it up. Make your watermelon look like a fortune.

1. Cut your watermelon open. I suggest shaving off a quarter of the top of the watermelon. Don't saw the melon in half. You want to leave room for the actual fruit that you will scoop out.

2. If you have a melon scoop, by all means, use that handy kitchen utensil. I do not. So, I used my coffee scoop!


3. After scooping out all of your watermelon, grab a sharp knife. Pretend you are carving a pumpkin and slice triangles along the edge of your watermelon. Put the fallen triangles in your compost bucket!


4. Dump your fruit back into the bowl. You won't even have to worry about leaving your container at the party!

Homemade Ketchup

Most everyone has grown up on Heinz Ketchup. A hamburger isn't a hamburger without this red tomato condiment. Hot dogs would blend in with their (hopefully) whole wheat bun. Ketchup is good on skillet potatoes, french fries, and omelets. In college, I had a friend who would eat ketchup by the spoonful. (I wonder what nutritional deficiency she was experiencing to make her crave this carefully concocted grocery store food.) When we lived in India, I used ketchup all of the time, except it was spicy.

Did you know that ketchup can actually be made in your kitchen? In fact, it has nutritional proprieties and aides in digestion, if prepared properly. Though easier to flip open, your store bought Heinz ketchup does not benefit your gut. Not to mention, homemade ketchup produces rich and strong flavors on your tongue as it navigates your taste buds, that can't be beat.

Your Ingredients:




3 cups canned tomato paste (this translates to four 6 oz cans)
1/4 cup whey (the yellowish liquid on top of yogurt--see below for extraction directions)
1 tbls sea salt
1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff from the tree)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed
1/2 cup fish sauce (can be found in the Asian section of your grocery store)

Mix all of the above ingredients together until thoroughly blended. Pour or plop mixture into a quart-sized mason jar. You will want to use a wide-mouth mason jar. There should be at least 1 inch of room from the ketchup to the top of the jar lid. I would recommend using the traditional metal lid versus the new plastic one-piece lids. Leave on your counter for two days before moving it to its chilly home, your refrigerator.

Want to know how to procure whey? Obtain a cloth napkin or cheese cloth. Place it in a strainer and put the strainer over a bowl. Allow it to drip for several hours at room temperature and then continue to let it drip in the refrigerator. The liquid will be your whey and the solid is cream cheese!

I will show you how to make mayonnaise and mustard another day!