Favorite nutrition book reviews

Most of you know that I've gotten really interested in nutrition ever since Karis started eating food. The most thorough book in that arena is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and I highly recommend it. I learned so much from reading it and it totally changed my mindset about food. However, it is long and a little overwhelming. It makes you want to completely change your diet, but its just too much to do at once. So it should be on your reading list, but just not the first book you pick up. There are a couple of others I'd recommend first:

Another one of my favorite books is Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Mary Enig. This book is an easy read and is awesome! It explains why the current low-fat diet is so bad for you and why your body needs "good fats" like high quality coconut oil, olive oil, and butter. And guess what? Eggs are awesome, too! (See why I like this book? :) The book also contains a bunch of good recipes that I use regularly, especially the cereal and granola recipes. I'd recommend this book to anyone, whether he wants to lose weightor not!

I've just discovered a new favorite author: Nina Planck. She wrote 2 books about nutrition that are easy to read, thorough, and actually make you feel like eating healthily is feasible. These are the 2 books I'd recommend anyone start with. Real Food: What to Eat and Why is the best nutrition book I've read for someone just learning about nutrition. She is honest about her journey to understanding nutrition and very personable and understanding. My only complaint is that she comes from somewhat of an evolutionary mindset, but her research is good nonetheless.

Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby's First Foods is a book I wish I had read before I ever even tried to get pregnant. Did you know that your body actually needs fat in order to conceive? Or that soy products can cause infertility? Or that pregnant women need meat and salt, not iron supplements? Delaying the introduction of certain solid foods doesn’t prevent allergies. Cereals are not the best foods for tiny eaters; meat and egg yolks are better. From conception to two years, the body’s overwhelming needs are for quality fat and protein, not for carrots and low-fat dairy. Yep, I learned a lot from this book and cannot recommend it highly enough if you are thinking about getting pregnant or have a baby under 2 years. It's my new favorite book!

Still here; just busy :)

Sorry for my lack of posting. I'm sad to admit that we've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to find new recipes, let alone try them out! It'll probably be another couple of weeks before things calm down again, but I'll see what I can do :)

Sourdough pancakes

I'm so excited to use my sourdough starter to make pancakes! My husband really liked these and they are really healthy :)

The night before your breakfast, place the 2-3 cups of starter in a medium size mixing bowl. Add 2 cups warm water and 2 cups flour. Beat well and set in a warm place, free from draft, to develop overnight. In the morning the batter will have gained 1/2 again its bulk and be covered with air bubbles. It will have a pleasant yeasty odor.

Set aside 1/2 cup sponge in the refrigerator jar for your sourdough starter the next time. To remaining sponge add:

1 or 2 eggs
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. sugar (I used honey instead :)

Beat with a fork and blend in all ingredients. Add 2 Tbl melted fat. Bake on a hot griddle. Turn once. Serve.

Recipe found at: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/sourdough-recipes-for-ya

Fried Tacos

We make these all the time because they are so easy, especially since I keep taco meat in the freezer most of the time. The key ingredient to making them super yummy is the cream cheese! My family thinks fried tacos are so much better than plain old tacos :)

Ingredients
tortilllas
cream cheese
taco meat
beans
cheddar cheese
Olive oil
whatever else you like on tacos

Directions:
Put oil in a pan on stove on medium heat. Spread cream cheese on a tortilla, then taco meat and whatever toppings you like. Put 2nd tortilla on top. Place in pan and fry in oil, flipping when crispy. Cook other side til crispy. Enjoy!

Updates

I realized that I've tried several things lately and you might want to know how it went...

1. Kombucha -- Yay! It worked wonderfully! My hubby's still not a huge fan, but Karis and I are loving it! I tried making it apple, cranberry-apple, and grape flavored, and we still like the grape the best. It came in handy because Karis and I were congested last week and didn't want to drink milk products, so it was nice to have a drink that felt good on our throats and didn't have sugar in it. Plus, all that healthy bacteria probably helped us to get better more quickly! And I can use it instead of juice in themornings to get Karis to take her cod-liver oil :) We drank a ton of it! Pretty easy to make. I was a little worried at first because I couldn't get the mushroom to stay on top for anything, but it turns out it didn't matter. It was quite happy floating around the bottom of my jar and still worked great!

2. Sourdough bread -- this worked as well! The first time I tried, however, I didn't double my cheesecloth and a fruit fly got inside so I had to throw away my starter on day 7 :( So frustrating! I did it again, though, and the bread turned out well! I'm getting ready to try using the starter to make pancakes!!

Like Lara Bars -- My new favorite snack! Of course, I didn't follow the recipe very well... I just kinda took the idea and threw in whatever I had that sounded good. And I didn't measure anything (I hardly ever do - it just makes too many dishes :) So I threw in a bunch of dates, almond butter, coconut oil, shredded unsweetened coconut, home-made granola, and yes, even a few organic chocolate chips :) YUMMY! I thought they were good enough without any sweetener. And they really do give me a boost when I need it. I call them my Power Balls because I actually shaped them into balls and froze them so I could grab one whenever I needed it. I eat them straight from the freezer! (I think they are actually better frozen because the coconut oil melts and gets greasy if I leave them at room temperature too long.) Oh, and the best part? My husband loves them as well! He takes them with him for some extra energy when he plays tennis.

Strawberry dreamsicle smoothie

Karis had a fever on Monday and didn't want to eat anything. So we made some yummy healthy smoothies out of what we had on hand and we all loved them! Next time I'm going to triple the recipe to use up all the O.J. and make popsicles out of the leftovers :)

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk (so very good for you and yummy, too!)
1/3 can of frozen orange juice concentrate
about 1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
raw honey to taste

Other healthy add-ins we tried:
cod liver oil
big dollop of coconut oil
Grapefruit seed extract

Just blend it all together and add anything else that sounds yummy!

Weekly meal plan 5/24/09 and 5/31/09

I know, I know -- I totally missed posting this last week and now I'm really late this week. I actually did write it out last week, but just didn't have time to do all the links :) So here's what we had and what we are going to have the rest of this week :)

Week of 5/24/09
To Do:
Make granola, crispy almonds

Monday
Breakfast: Chocolate muffins and scrambled eggs
Dinner: CORN night (MellowMushroom leftovers -- YUM!)
Tuesday
Breakfast: pumpkin muffins and fried eggs
Dinner: barbq ribs and mac and cheese (opps, never got to it last week :)
Wednesday
Breakfast: waffles and bacon
Dinner: "Layered Chicken Cordon Blue
Thursday
Breakfast: Apple omelet
Dinner: Pizza!
Friday
Breakfast: Hot granola with milk and currents
Dinner: CORN night (I know, twice in one week, but we have to clean out the fridge before we go out of town! :)
Saturday-Monday: out of town

Week of 5/31/09

To do: Sourdough bread, make Kombucha, make Lara Bars
Monday:Out of town!
Tuesday
Breakfast: fried oatmeal cakes
Dinner: Turkey and cheese hot pockets (from freezer :)
Wednesday
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, fruit:
Dinner: Chicken strips (hubby's request :) (from freezer :)
Thursday
Breakfast: home-made granola and yogurt
Dinner: Super Baked Ziti
Friday
Breakfast: quinoa with maple syrup and currents
Dinner: Stir-fry
Saturday
Breakfast:Oatmeal date muffins (from freezer)
Dinner: Pesto chicken
Sunday
Breakfast: Apple omelets
Lunch: meatball subs
Dinner: Sweet N Sour Chicken over quinoa

Karis' favorite pumpkin mini-muffins

Ok, so these wouldn't fall into the healthy category, but Nina makes them for Karis everytime she comes to visit and my girl can't get enough of them! So I had to post the recipe :)

Ingredients:

3 1/3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 and ½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinn.

1 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups sugar

1 cup veg. Oil

4 eggs

2/3 cups water

1 16-oz. Can pumpkin

Directions: Heat oven to 350. Stir dry ingredients together evenly. Add the rest of the ingredients all at once. Mix at medium speed for 3 minutes or until well blended. Use 2 greased, but not floured 9x5 loaf pans. Bake 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Layered Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole

Wednesday night I was planning on making our favorite chicken cordon blues. But my kids were clingy and I just didn't have the time to flatten the chicken, dip it in the bowls, roll it up, etc. I was lucky to get my chicken trimmed. So I decided to layer the ingredients to save time and we all loved it! Addition: the next time I made it I added in a layer of diced pineapples! Yummy!

Ingredients:
4-6 chicken breasts, cut into whatever size pieces you want (strips, nuggets, etc. :)
ham
swiss, provolone, or mozzarella cheese
sliced pineapples if desired
Garlic if desired

Directions: Place chicken in pan; sprinkle with garlic powder. Chop up ham and cover chicken. Cover ham with pineapples and cheese. Bake at 350 for about 45 min, til chicken juices run clear.

Healthy Hint: Drink Kombucha!

Kombucha is incredibly good for you and can be yummy if you have the right flavor and get used to the bubbles :) I tried several different flavors and the only store-bought one I liked was grape. The home-made version I tried was milder and I liked it better. For me, Kombucha was an acquired taste :) I had read so much about its health benefits and wanted so badly to get my family away from drinking sodas and juice. So I kept trying til I found a flavor I could tolerate and the more I drank it, the more I liked it! And you will probably like it more than me initially because I hate any carbonated beverage and the bubbles annoyed me at first. But now I'm used to it and think its great!

Enough about my journey to loving this drink -- why should you drink it? Basically, it cleanses the body from toxins and aids in digestion and metabolism. I was going to explain in great detail, but once again, others say it much better than I could so here are some great links:

Food Renegade gives a great explanation
so does Sarah at How I Nourish My Family

Where to get it? Ok, the downside to this great drink is that is it pretty expensive to buy. I got mine at Whole Foods, Earth Fare, or newer Food Lions that have an organic section. But I couldn't make a habit of it at that price! The good news is that you can make it yourself for only 50 cents a gallon! Yay! It works wonderfully! Karis and I are loving it! I tried making it apple, cranberry-apple, and grape flavored, and we still like the grape the best. I was a little worried at first because I couldn't get the mushroom to stay on top for anything, but it turns out it didn't matter. It was quite happy floating around the bottom of my jar and still worked great!

Passionate Homemaking
Food Renegade

And if you have issues with making it yourself, THIS WEBSITE should have all the answers you need :)

Easy BarBQ ribs

GirlTalk (a fabulous blog!)had an easy recipe for BarBQ ribs and I wanted to remember it:

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds country style pork ribs
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 cup barbeque sauce

Directions

1. Place ribs in a large pot with enough water to cover. Season with garlic powder, black pepper and salt. Bring water to a boil, and cook ribs until tender.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Remove ribs from pot, and place them in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour barbeque sauce over ribs. Cover dish with aluminum foil, and bake in the preheated oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until internal temperature of pork has reached 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Home-made "Lara Bars"

Mark really needs filling snacks he can eat on the run at work. So I was excited to see these healthy bars on one of my favorite blogs. She gives 2 great varieties. My family loves them! And I didn't measure anything (I hardly ever do - it just makes too many dishes :) So I threw in a bunch of dates, almond butter, coconut oil, shredded unsweetened coconut, home-made granola, and yes, even a few organic chocolate chips :) YUMMY! I thought they were good enough without any sweetener. And they really do give me a boost when I need it. I call them my Power Balls because I actually shaped them into balls and froze them so I could grab one whenever I needed it. I eat them straight from the freezer! (I think they are actually better frozen because the coconut oil melts and gets greasy if I leave them at room temperature too long.) Oh, and the best part? My husband loves them as well! He takes them with him for some extra energy when he plays tennis. Here are the original recipes:

Better than Lara Bars

10-12 pitted dates
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (more may be necessary)
handful of raisins
1 cup of shredded coconut (plus more for coating)
1 TBS Raw Honey (or other liquid sweetener)]
Liquid Stevia to taste
handful of chopped crispy nuts (macadamia nuts or almonds are great)
1/3 cup of coconut oil or butter

1) Place dates into food processor and process until you have a paste.

2) Add raisins, peanut butter, honey, and coconut and process until mixture forms a big mass.

3) Add your coconut oil now, as well as the protein powder, if using. Mixture may seem a bit "wet" from the coconut oil. This is okay,but if it seems too runny, add more shredded coconut. Taste for sweetness, and add a few drops of stevia (or more honey) to acheive desired sweetness.

4) At this point, add the chopped nuts.

5) Form pastey mass into balls or bars and roll in shredded coconut (or rapadura or cocoa).

6) Place bars on parchment-lined baking sheet and chill in freezer for about 10 minutes.

Notes: This is a pretty forgiving and versatile recipe. Try subbing raisins for any dried fruit (apricots or cherries would be great!) The coconut oil is not absolutely essential to the texture, either. You can get by without it, but it adds some good nutritional properties! You also don't need nuts, the peanut butter is enough!

These are amazing! They are full of healthy fats, complex carbs, and protein! Enjoy for breakfast on the run or for dessert with a glass of milk!
http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com/2008/07/better-than-lara-bars.html


Cinnabun Lara Bars!
crispy nuts (I use almonds)
raisins (any dried fruit will do)
cinnamon
coconut oil
coconut
salt


Process:

1) Place about 2 cups of crispy almonds into the food processor. Add 1.5 - 2 cups of raisins and process until you have a paste. It should be sticky.

2) Add about 2 TBS (or more) of coconut oil and process until smooth.

3) Add salt (to taste) and about 2 tsp of cinnamon (add more if you need to). Ginger and cloves add a nice flavor too.

4) Add about 1-1.5 cups of shredded coconut until you have more of a thick, dry paste. You are looking for a rounded, "doughnut-shape" in your food processor.

5) Remove dough, press into parchment-lined jelly roll pan. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!!
http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com/2008/11/cinnabun-lara-bars.html

Weekly meal plan 5/17/09

Other Food To Make:
Sourdough bread :)
THIS Birthday cake for Karis with THIS icing

Monday
Breakfast: Cinn-Apple Omelets
Dinner: CORN night (leftover Sweet Potato Chicken Curry)
Tuesday
Breakfast: Cranberry Oat Muffins
Dinner: turkey and cheese hot pockets (from freezer)
Wednesday
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and leftover muffins
Dinner: Stir-fry with quinoa
Thursday
Breakfast: Leftover quinoa with maple syrup and raisins
Dinner: BarBQ ribs and mac and cheese (hubby's request :)
Friday
Breakfast: home-made granola with bananas, milk, and currents
Dinner: Out with my folks
Saturday
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast
Dinner: Grilled chicken with pineapple marinade (new recipe!), grilled veggies
Sunday
Breakfast: French toast
Lunch: Taco Soup
Dinner: Home-made pizza with THIS CRUST and THIS SAUCE

Healthy, Yummy Chocolate Frosting

One of my favorite blogs posted this recipe for chocolate frosting and I can't wait to try it! I'm planning to use it on Karis' birthday cake :)

Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Because this frosting is based off of coconut oil, it may start to melt in warm weather. Keep that in mind if bringing it on a picnic on a hot day. Since the frosting is more like the texture of a ganache, it makes a rustic frosting. Many use ganache for the filling between two layer cakes, and a fluffier frosting on the outside.You could definitely play around with the ratio of sweetener to make it less sweet for a more bittersweet chocolate ganache.

1 cup of cocoa powder
3/4 cup of virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup of honey
dash or two of sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

1-Gently melt the coconut oil in a saucepan (you don’t want to heat it, just melt it)

2-In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients and pulse until well combined.

3-Scrape into a small bowl and place in the freezer or refrigerator until it has hardened to desired consistency. It took about 15 minutes in my freezer.

4-You can use a hand mixer to fluff the frosting up (you may need to do this if the frosting has become too stiff as well).

Spread on desired baked good and enjoy!

Chocolate Orange Ganache Variation: Add 1 tablespoon orange zest with the rest of the ingredients. Continue on with the rest of the directions.

Recipe found at: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/05/chocolate-fudge-ganache.html

Healthy Chocolate Breakfast Cake

Did someone say "chocolate for breakfast?" Count me in! I was excited to find this on one of my favorite blogs. Its not tooo chocolatety or sweet, but perfect for fixing that chocolate craving first thing in the morning :) My toddler loves muffins and they freeze well, so thats what I made. The recipe doesn't make too much, so I'm going to double the recipe from now on and freeze a bunch for a quick breakfast.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 - 1 cup natural sweetener
1/2 cup butter or coconut oil (or combination of both), in its solid state
1-2 Tbsp cocoa powder (as desired, we use 2 Tbsp)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
dash of cloves
1/2 cup nuts, if desired
1 cup cultured buttermilk, kefir, whey, yogurt (or your preferred acid medium for soaking)

SOAKING STEP: In a large bowl, combine flour and acid medium (buttermilk, kefir, whey or yogurt, as desired). Cover and allow to soak for 12-24 hours.

After soaking, combine remaining ingredients. Pour into a greased 8 x 8 pan and cover with chopped nuts, if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

If you want to skip out on the soaking, follow these directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour and sugar; cut in the butter/coconut oil until crumbly. Add cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and cloves; mix well. Make a well in the center; pour in the buttermilk and stir until moistened. Transfer to a greased 8 x8 baking pan and sprinkle with nuts. Bake as instructed above.

Recipe found at: http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2009/03/chocolate-coffee-cake.html

Pineapple marinade

I've been wanting to switch from our normal Italian dressing marinade to something more healthy and found this recipe at one of my favorite blogs. I LOVE anything with pineapple so I think I'm going to love it! I hope to try it this week :)

Ingredients:
• 10oz canned pineapple in its juice (about 1/2 a can)
• 1/2 sweet onion roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Blend until thoroughly mixed. Marinate the chicken for several hours. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes to an hour. To grill chicken, heat the grill to medium heat, cook for three minutes per side, then move to indirect heat and grill for an additional 45 minutes, with the lid closed. As leg quarters tend to be fattier than breasts, watch for flare ups.
Use a thermometer to ensure the leg quarters reach 165F.

When grilling, I like to use some of the marinade as a baste. It’s important to note that this is marinade I set aside for this purpose. Never reuse any sauce or marinade that has touched raw meat.

Recipe found at: http://www.home-ec101.com/pineapple-grilled-chicken/

Weekly meal plan 5-10-09

To make: Sourdough starter, granola, crispy almonds

Monday
Breakfast: homemade granola with currents
Dinner: Baked Enchiladas (from freezer)
Tuesday
Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal with maple syrup and bananas
Dinner: CORN night
Wednesday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, toast with coconut oil and cream cheese
Dinner: Game night covered dish -- I'm going to make some kind of chip dip... :)
Thursday
Breakfast: Apple cinnamon Omelet (Husband's request!)
Dinner: Chicken Strip Salad (chicken strips from freezer)
Friday
Breakfast: Strawberry Cream Cheese Overnight French Toast
Dinner: Fried Tacos (meat from freezer)
Saturday
Breakfast: Fried eggs with bacon and cheese toast
Dinner: Zesty Chicken Packets (New Recipe!)
Sunday
Breakfast: Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes
Lunch: Sloppy Joes (from freezer)
Dinner: Chicken Sweet Potato Curry (new recipe!)

Healthy Hint: Eat "real" sourdough bread!

Ok, so I've been making bread products for my family for a while, but we just haven't found a healthy (soaked grain) sandwich bread recipe that we love. I've recently read a lot about how sourdough bread is really good for you if it has been prepared correctly (not-overprocessed :). Even people who are gluten-free can eat "real" sourdough! If you are interested, read THIS great article about the benefits of sourdough. Then join me in making your own sourdough starter. Its super easy with very little cost (the only thing I didn't already have on hand was a cheesecloth). One of my favorite bloggers gives a great daily tutorial with pictures of what your starter should look like every day. It made it really easy to make my own starter:

Click HERE for Day1
Day 2
Day 3
Day4
Day 5
Day 6 and 7
Day 8: Making Bread
Other Sourdough Recipes

Zesty CHicken Packets

My friend Sandy makes these and they are yummy! I think these would be even better grilled!

4 chicken breasts
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Italian dressing
Four pieces of aluminum foil

In each piece of aluminum foil, put 1 tsp of olive oil and 1 pat of butter
Put in chicken, peppers and onions
Salt and pepper
Cover with Zesty Italian dressing
Bake on 400 for 1 hr
http://dealmeals.blogspot.com/2009/04/zesty-chicken-packets.html?showComment=1239819960000#c6718989359531964884

Weekly Meal Plan 5/4/09

Other things to make: 5-min Artisan Bread, cheese crackers , laundry detergent

Monday
Breakfast: Banana Stuffed French Toast
Dinner: Dinner out with hubby's tennis team
Tuesday
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and cinn-raisin toast with cream cheese
Dinner: Cheesy Chicken Strips (double and freeze)
Wednesday
Breakfast: Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes
Dinner: Stir-Fry
Thursday
Breakfast: Cinn Apple Omelet
Dinner: Bierocks (husband's request!)
Friday-Sun: Eating with my folks :)

Grilled Silver Turtles

My friend Amanda makes these and they are so easy and so good! Put a hamburger pattie on top of a slice of onion, then slice some potato to put on top of the hamburger (and add carrots if you like them :) Wrap em up in foil and grill 15 minutes on one side, 10 on the other...The meat comes out sooo tender.

Banana Stuffed French Toast

This is a great recipe for an easy, healthy breakfast without added sugar. We used cinn-raisin Ezekial bread, which made it quite yummy. My husband is apparently not a huge fan of cooked bananas, but Karis and I loved it. The bananas weren't so great the next day, though, so next time I'll probably cut it in half for our little family. Actually, next time I think I'll use strawberries instead, with dollaps of cream cheese dispersed throughout. And in the fall, I think it would be great with pumpkin puree!

Ingredients
1 loaf of brown rice bread (or 1/2 loaf whole wheat bread or Ezekial bread)
10 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup apple juice (or 1 cup applesauce)
2 small ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
1. Tear bread and place in bottom of glass 9x13 baking dish.
2. In large bowl, whisk eggs, rice milk, apple juice, vanilla, bananas and cinnamon.
3. Pour egg mixture over the bread. Cover with foil and refrigerate at least 2 hours (I recommend overnight).
4. To cook, remove foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until eggs begin to golden on top.
5. Let cool a few minutes before serving. Serve with side of fresh fruit or juice.

Other goodies you could add into the mixture...dollops of natural PB in with the bread pieces. Or spread PB onto the bread before putting it into the dish. Do the same with cream cheese. Add in fresh (or frozen) strawberries after you pour the egg mixture over the bread. Garnish with mixed berries after it's baked.
http://www.5dollardinners.com/2008/12/banana-stuffed-french-toast.html

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients
Roma tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
½ bell pepper
1/2 zucchini, sliced
1 t oregano
1 t Italian seasoning
1 T EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 T Coconut Oil
1 t salt and pepper


Directions
1. Stew tomatoes in large pot
2. Once soft, spoon tomatoes into food processor and add zucchini, bell pepper, garlic, seasonings, and oils.
23. Puree and store as you wish. I am not into canning (yet!), and so wish I was! I will store this sauce and use it for spaghetti, pizzas, lasagna or any other “Italian” dish!

Found at: http://www.5dollardinners.com/2008/09/homemade-spaghetti-sauce.html

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies

3/4 to 1 cup sliced frozen bananas
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon peanut butter

Blend in the blender until smooth. The above makes about 13-15 oz.
Found at: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/11/40-menu-qa-aldi-menu-planning-recipes-and-our-budget.html

Crispy Cheese Crackers

¼ cup butter, softened
¼ t. sea salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, room temperature
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ t. baking powder
1 T. cold water

Use beaters or food processor to mix butter and salt until creamy. Add cheese. Mix well. Gradually add flour, baking powder and water, mixing until dough begins to form a ball. Form dough into a ball with hands.

Roll the dough into 1/8 inch thickness onto a cookie sheet. (I find that placing the dough between two pieces of parchment paper helps me to roll them out more easily.) Cut the rolled out dough into 1 ½ inch squares. Bake 15 minutes at 350° or until lightly browned. Turn off the oven and leave the crackers inside to crisp up. Store tightly covered.

Found at: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/high-five-recipes-crispy-cheese-crackers

No sweeteners, please :)

My friend Lauren has a sweet, adorable toddler who (they just found out) cannot eat ANYTHING with fructose and sucrose. That pretty much cancels out anything processed at all. I have a hard enough time just trying to figure out how to substitute natural sweeteners for sugar in recipes. But can you even imagine trying to cook without any sweeteners at all? So I'm on the lookout for snacks, breakfasts, anything without sweeteners. I'm thinking it will have to be recipes with lots of fruit, coconut, and other naturally sweet foods. Please send me an e-mail, comment, or facebook me if you have a good one! Thanks!

Helpful hint: Make your own vanilla extract!

I did this last November and it worked great! Its healthier and saves money, too :)

Commercial vanilla extract usually has simple syrup (sugar water) added to the extract to give it a sweet aftertaste. You can do this if you want, but if you are using the vanilla for baking, there really is no need.

Ingredients
• 3 vanilla beans
• 1 cup vodka
• glass jar with tight fitting lid

Method
1 Use kitchen scissors or a sharp paring knife to cut lengthwise down each vanilla bean, splitting them in half, leaving an inch at the end connected.
2 Put vanilla beans in a glass jar or bottle with a tight fitting lid (mason jars work well). Cover completely with the vodka.
3 Give the bottle a good shake every once in a while. Store in a dark, cool place for 2 months or longer.
Lasts for years. You can keep topping it off with vodka once in a while as you use it, just remember to give it a good shake.
You can also make vanilla sugar by putting a split vanilla bean into a jar of white, granulated sugar. Great way to infuse the sugar with vanilla flavor for baking

Meal Plan 4-26-09

I'm going to start making a meal-plan for lunch on Sundays because its the only day Mark is home for lunch and he appreciates something more than leftovers :)

Snacks to make: Healthy Chocolate candy (I'm going to add sunbutter to some of them and shredded coconut to others and see if we like those flavors as well :)

Monday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, toast with coconut oil and cream cheese
Dinner: Sweet N Sour Meatballs over quinoa (double and freeze meatballs)
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Quinoa with cinnamon, vanilla, raisins, and maple syrup
Dinner: Chicken Curry Soup (*oops, didn't get to it last week :)
Wednesday
Breakfast:Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes (new recipe to try!)
Dinner: CORN night
Thursday
Breakfast: Oatmeal Cranberry muffins
Dinner:Grilled Italian Chicken with creamy alfredo sauce (hubby's request!)
Friday
Breakfast: Leftover muffins
Dinner: Taco Soup (double and freeze) (yeah, I know its hot outside, but its easy and we love it :)
Saturday
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast
Dinner: Chicken divane (from freezer)
Sunday
Breakfast: Home-made hot granola with apples and cinnamon
Lunch: Meatball subs
Dinner: Manicotti (from freezer)

Peanut Butter Squash Brownies

1 egg
1 cup peanut butter or sunbutter, smooth or chunky
½ cup honey
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup frozen butternut or winter squash puree, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 square pan and set aside. In a bowl, beat the egg with a whisk and then add the peanut butter and honey. Beat until smooth. Add the baking soda and squash and whisk until mixed. Pour into pan and bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

You can increase the sweetener if your family hasn’t weaned down on their sugar intake yet.

If you’d rather make your own puree instead of buying the boxed puree, cut a butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place cut-side down in a greased roasting pan or 9x13 and pour in a little water. Bake at 350 degrees until tender. Cool, cut off skin and puree in a food processor.

http://www.tfrecipes.com/forum/showthread.php?p=524

Peanut butter Banana Pancakes

My husband wasn't a huge fan since he doesn't like cooked bananas, but my toddler loved these and I loved the fact that no sweetener was necessary. We just drowned them in coconut oil :)

Ingredients
1 very ripe banana, mashed
2 Tbsp. salted peanut butter (I'm going to use sunflower butter)
3 eggs

Method

Blend all of the ingredients together with a whisk or hand mixer. Pour onto a greased (I use ghee) griddle that's been preheated to "medium". Cook until done on one side, flip and watch carefully as second side seems to cook more quickly. http://grainfreefoodie.blogspot.com/2009/02/pancakes.html

Oatmeal cranberry Muffins

I double this recipe and freeze ots of muffins for quick breakfasts. And any dried fruit will work nicely -- I've even used dried figs :)

2 Cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 Cups yogurt (plain or vanilla only, please)

2 large eggs, beaten

1 Cup brown sugar (I'm going to use maple syrup)

2 sticks butter, melted and cooled

2 cups flour (I've used both white whole wheat and all purpose with great results)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I recommend almonds, walnuts or pecans)

In a large bowl combine oats and yogurt and let stand 12-24 hours.

When ready to cook muffins, first melt butter and then leave to cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and grease muffin pans. At this time, measure cranberries into a glass measuring cup and add hot water to cover. This will plump up the dried cranberries and make them softer in the muffins once baked.

Add egg, sugar and melted butter to oat mixture, stirring until just combined. Sift on top of creamed mixture the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda and stir until just combined. Drain cranberries and fold in to batter along with chopped nuts.

Divide batter evenly among muffin pans. Bake muffins in middle of oven until golden and toothpick test comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Makes two dozen muffins.

http://sarahs-musings.blogspot.com/2007/10/on-menu-oatmeal-cranberry-muffins-and.html