Sweet Potato Recipe

by candace

Again, from Joel Fuhrman's Eat for Health book

Made this tonight and it was tasty. I think the kids would like it too.

Healthy Dinner

by candace

Dinner was pretty successful tonight so I thought I'd share:

(Both of these are from Joel Fuhrman's Eat for Health book)

Cranberry Roasted Brussel Sprouts — these are really good!

Cut off ends of 3 c Brussels sprouts and cut them in half

Combine with 1/4 c coconut oil (I used 1/8 c and think you could omit it all together) and 1/4 c organic pure maple syrup and sea salt to taste. Place in casserole dish and roast in oven at 350F for 20-30 minutes until slightly browned. Add 1/4 c cranberries the last 5 minutes and serve hot!

(Recipe from Graci...don't know where she got it)

Smoothies

by candace

So here are some of my smoothie recipes/tips...

Always start with water (1-2 cups) and then fill your blender with greens...the more the better. Mix that up then start adding fruit.

In my opinion, every smoothie is better with banana. Then I either add some apple or some orange, then I add the fruit that I want to be the main flavor.

Protein is optional. Dave was feeling like he needed more protein so he now adds it to his smoothies. We buy the Garden of Life Raw Vegan Protein. Looks like this:

http://www.gardenoflife.com/Products-for-Life/Foundational-Nutrition/RAW-Protein.aspx

There are comparable ones...this was the cheapest last time I bought it so that's why I went with this one. I think Stef said Green Smoothie Girl sells in bulk in the fall and it's much cheaper so maybe that's a good option.

We usually add Chia seeds and Flaxseeds to our smoothies...about 1 tablespoon of each per serving.

THE SMOOTHIE DAVE MAKES EVERY MORNING (1 serving)
Water and greens
1/2 frozen banana
1/3 to 1/2 apple
Blueberries—not too many
Lots of frozen mangos—maybe a cup

(Protein, flaxseeds, chia seeds)

CHOCOLATE MINT SMOOTHIE (from Stef) — love this one, it's like dessert

1/2 cup coconut milk (or almond, flax, etc)  —  Candace uses Almond

2 spoonfuls of avocado 

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1/2 cup or more of spinach

2 packed tsp of mint leaves

2-3 drops peppermint oil

1/2 banana

8 ice cubes

Blend well then add 2 tsp cacao nibs and briefly blend

BERRY LIME SMOOTHIE

Water and greens

1 banana

1.5ish cups of frozen mixed berries

1 T lime juice

(Protein and seeds)

FESTIVAL BLEND SMOOTHIE

Water and greens

1/2 - 1 banana

Some apple or orange

1-2 cups of the Festival Blend mix from Costco (Papaya, Mango, Pineapple, Strawberries)

(Protein and seeds)

These last two are nothing special—just trying to show you some of the things I've tried that have been good. They are not quite as good as the mango one above. We love mango in our smoothies so we use them a lot. I don't love the smoothies as much when I dump a bunch of random fruit in. I like them more when one flavor is stronger. And if you've made a smoothie and you don't love it add more banana. That usually helps.

FISH FAVORITES

by Stefanie

My favorite thing to eat--hands down--is a cookie.  (Actually not a cookie, but cookies--one is never enough.)  I think most of my family would say cookies are one of their favorite things as well.  We didn't have a lot of store bought treats growing up, but my mom did make homemade cookies and pies.  She loved to make chocolate chip cookies and eat the dough...who doesn't?!  She always had a stash of chocolate chips in food storage room--I think specifically for cookies--and I stole more than my share for midnight snacks.

Unfortunately, cookies are not the most healthful thing, so I've tried many recipes of healthful alternatives--none so great that I would make them again and again.  When we are hunkering for a treat at our house, we default to our Mrs. Field's oatmeal, chocolate chip recipe.  I've made it so many times I can do it without the recipe, with my left hand, and with my eyes closed.  Tonight I experimented (again) with the recipe trying to make it a little more nourishing.  A woman told me about a flour mix--equal parts of spelt, barley, and brown rice--that she uses in place of white flour in all her cookies and cakes.  She claimed her kids love the substitution, and she never makes her cookies with white flour anymore.

Well, I thought I would give it a go since I will eat just about anything that has chocolate chips in it.  I happened to have those three grains on hand, so I ground my own instead of buying the flour.  (For those of you in Utah, you can get the flour mix at the Bosch kitchen store.)  I didn't want to chance ruining a whole batch of cookies, so I still used half of the white flour.  And...THEY TURNED OUT DELICIOUS!  Here's my modified recipe:

3 cubes of butter, softened
1/4 cup coconut oil
4 eggs
2 cups organic sugar (at Costco!)
2 cups brown sugar (and if you're daring you can substitute sucanant)
1 T real vanilla
Cream together in a Bosch or Kitchen Aid mixer.  Then add:
2 cups organic white flour
2 cups of the spelt-barley-rice flour
(The original recipe calls for 4 cups of white flour.  I've also modified it by doing 3 cups of white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour without my kids noticing.)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
Mix. Then add:
4-5 cups of rolled oats (part of this can be quinoa flakes!)
2 cups coconut (raw, shredded, unsweetened to be most healthful)
1 1/2 - 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Then if you wish, you can add raisins if you are weird like me or if you are like my mom, you would add nuts.  If you do add these extras, I would stick with only 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips.
Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 9 minutes.  Enjoy!

SEE FISH FEAST

by Stefanie

How fun is a post with no pictures? NOT! But I ate my salad so fast--and am now so full--that I forgot to take a picture.  However, I still wanted to share this amazing entree salad with you.  I'll call it Ginger Steak Salad.  The dressing is where it's at so, make it up first:

1/2 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
2 T fresh ginger root (finely grated or just peeled and coarsely chopped if you are making this in a high powered blender that will blend it smooth)
3 T honey
4 cloves of garlic (minced or blended)

On a bed of your favorite organic greens add all or some of the following chopped veggies:
cucumber
red onion
avocado
zucchini
sweet bell peppers
mushrooms
cilantro
sprouts

Then cook up some high quality steak, cut it into strips and toss into the salad.  I marinated and cooked my meat in teriyaki sauce.  Here is a recipe for homemade teriyaki:

1/4 c Bragg Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
1 c water
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t garlic power
5 T sucanant (or brown sugar)
1-2 T honey
Begin to heat on stove and add 2 T cornstarch mixed with 1/4 c cold water as a thickening agent.

Well, of course the last thing you do is pour your delicious dressing on your salad.  You might want to make extra because you'll be craving it the next day!  Enjoy!

SEE FISH BAKE a healthful treat

Well, Amy's post on pumpkin muffins motivated me to make this pumpkin cake recipe that I have been wanting to try for awhile. I always procrastinate making something new that is supposed to be both super nutritious and delicious because it works less than 50% of the time. Plus I hate wasting my time and expensive, healthful ingredients on something that no one wants to eat. This time, however, it was a success! and I'm going to share it with you:

WHOLE WHEAT PUMPKIN CAKE--slightly adapted from The Diet Rebel's Cookbook, Eating Clean and Green by Jillayne Clements and Michelle Stewart (These girls are right up my ally--I highly recommend their book.)

2 cups sprouted soft white wheat flour (it's ok if yours happens to not be sprouted)

3/4 cup dehydrated cane juice (sucanat)

1 1/2 tsps. baking powder

2 tsps. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

4 eggs

1/4 cup water

15 oz. pumpkin puree

3/4 cup butter or coconut oil (I used both)

1/4 cup pure maple syrup or honey

*Mix the wet ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Combine both mixtures and mix well. Pour the batter into an ungreased 9 x 13 glass baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool completely. In the meantime, make the topping:

12 oz. cream cheese (I used cream cheese that I made from Greek yogurt that was non-fat. See my post "See Fish Experiment")

3/4 cup butter

3 tsps. pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 cup sprouted (then dried) chopped almonds--optional

*Blend all of topping ingredients, except the almonds, with a mixer. When cake is cool, frost it, sprinkle almonds on top, and refrigerate.

See Fish Bake

By Amy - the former home economics teacher and unhealthy cook

So it's that time of year again. We are fully experiencing the splendor of fall where I live. That also means it is the beginning of the baking season! From now until just before Thanksgiving I will be endlessly making buttermilk cornbread, tomato soup, beef stew, mac and cheese, hot chocolate, apple pie (actually my husband makes that but I eat it), chili, and PUMPKIN MUFFINS. I have been told that you cannot call something a muffin if it includes frosting, but by calling it a muffin I feel better watching my kids consume tasty bite after tasty bite. If it's homemade you can eat as much as you want right? Somehow the sugar and fat must be minimized if you make it at home.

PUMPKIN MUFFINS
WITH CREAM CHEESE AND VANILLA BEAN FROSTING

Pumpkin Bread
Cream the following ingredients:
3 c. of white sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 can of pumpkin, 15 ounces or whatever is closest

Sift together the following ingredients:
(I never sift them because I am a lazy baker -- I don't even usually measure, but I did today to make sure it was right)
3 1/2 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. allspice
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves

Add the dry ingredients alternately with 2/3 cup of water. Mix well after each addition. Don't over mix because it causes your muffins or bread to peak and/or crack. Fill muffin liners 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 12-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (I feel like such a hypocrite giving you my home ec style instructions when I follow none of them -- I actually just touch the tops to see if they are done). This also makes two large loaves and they take about 75-90 minutes to bake.

Frosting
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 block of cream cheese, softened
4-5 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk or more if you need
1 t. vanilla bean paste (You don't need this; I just think it is fancy.)

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar until you like the taste. Add milk if necessary and vanilla bean paste if desired. You can frost them however you want. I cut the corner off of a plastic bag and pipe it into little circles.

Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste
So I love this stuff. You can use it interchangeably with vanilla ( it is more expensive) and it gives you the vanilla bean flecks I think look cool. It is much easier than simmering vanilla beans in milk and scraping them out. I use it all the time. I can find it at the higher-end grocery store here and they have it at Williams-Sonoma.

This recipe is adapted from the back of a Del Monte pumpkin can.

SEE FISH COOK...healthful

by Stefanie—fish #2

So I can't make many things in the kitchen without trying to pack them with nutrient-dense ingredients. I think this is nobel and good, but the things I make aren't always palatable—or they're just a one time thing that I will never make again. I decided I would write about successful food attempts: recipes that I will make again and again because everyone in my pond enjoyed them and because they are wonderfully nutritious. Here are some successes from this past week:

Whole Wheat and Oat Blender Pancakes

This recipe is adapted and doubled from a common recipe of whole wheat blender pancakes--you may want to half the recipe if you think it's too much for your blender.

Combine in blender (I use a Blend Tec, which for me is an absolute essential kitchen appliance!) and mix on high until smooth:

1 cup whole wheat berries, 1 cup oat groats, and 2 cups milk (or almond milk)

Then add the following ingredients and blend well:

4 eggs

2/3 cup walnut oil

2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

*optional: 2 tablespoons chia seeds or ground flax seed

can also add fresh blueberries...or chocolate chips if you need to keep the kids happy :0)

Cook on a medium hot griddle coated with coconut oil, butter, or ghee

* add more milk if too thick

(These are delicious with pure maple syrup, but I also like them with sliced bananas, organic natural peanut butter, hemp seeds, chopped pecans, quinoa flakes, etc....and then the maple syrup!)

Creamy Vegetable Soup

(This is adapted from Joel Fuhrman's "Golden Austrian Cauliflower Cream Soup" which is in his book Eat to Live.)

1 head cauliflower cut into bite-size pieces

Approximately the same amount of broccoli cut into bite-size pieces

3 carrots, coarsely chopped

2 leeks, sliced thin (tip: cut lengthwise first to wash out grit and then slice)

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon evaporated sea salt

2 1/2 cups carrot juice

4 cups water

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Place all ingredients in a pot. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

In a food processor or high powered blender, blend two-thirds of the soup (or all of it if you don't want any vegetable chunks) and 1 cup raw cashews until smooth and creamy. Yum! If you want to be extra healthy you can return the soup to the pot and stir in some steamed shredded kale or other greens like spinach, Swiss chard, or collards.

To your health!