Lunch feast and a GF hamburger bun hack

Today lunch was a feast! At least, I thought so.

Leftover hamburgers with pancake buns, bananas, olives, leftover apple pie. Everything is gluten, dairy, egg free.

Of course as soon as the kids were done, they were asking what else they could have. I don't know what I am going to do with them when the apples from the end of our csa. They are my go-to snack/ add on to meals right now.

I started making pancakes when we have burgers because it is so much easier than making GF buns. It works great! I would not reccomend oat flour, however. They were dense and chewy and never dried out really. But leave the batter on the thicker side so they fluff up and stay thick. Then you can easily slice them in half to use as a bun.

Allergy friendly lunch

You're gluten and dairy free? What DO you eat?

Yes, we are gluten and dairy free, and, in fact, the baby is also egg and nut free right now too. And you know what? There are still (some) things to eat.

Today for lunch, john is having: half a banana, some asian pear, broccoli, a few chips, a date, sauerkraut, and cranberry relish.

For the other kids, I didn't give them banana, but I was prepared to offer eggs to anyone who was still hungry. Ellie also had some oatmeal because she didn't have any at breakfast. No one complained of being still hungry, so I didn't have to make eggs. And I forgot to add walnuts to the cranberry relish when I served it.

I was even planning to make crackers but ran out of time. And as I type this I remember I even have crackers in my cabinet!

In conclusion, there ARE things to eat when you are dealing with allergies. It may just require thinking outside the box. And more fruits and vegetables. :-)

Food Journey Update 5.12.13

I just wanted to make it official that we took Ellie off of dairy in addition to gluten about two weeks ago.  Since then, her itchies have gone away almost completely.  It is amazing.  I wish I had taken pictures to show you.

As for what am I doing about milk?  I have been making her nut milks homemade and only using them with her.  The recipes I found online were pretty consistent:  1 cup nuts to 3 cups water.

I am in need of a nut milk bag, as I have been straining them with my fine mesh strainer, and they are a bit more gritty than they would be with a milk bag. But in general I am happy with it. Two years ago, I balked at making my own nut milks but now it seems like no big deal.

Why make my own verses buying the store brands?  Mainly, the extra ingredients in the store brands.  Many have added sugar, although you can buy unsweetened versions.  Also, there is the thickener carageenan in almost every nut milk on the market.  Carageenan is a known carcinogen that has been approved for use in foods, even organic ones.

 It is amazing the journey on which God has taken me with our food... I really feel that He used our time two years ago being gluten and dairy limited and also used the meal plan Chris bought me for Christmas to prepare my heart and my abilities to handle this. I am thankful that I can do this for the health of my family!  And I am looking forward to further refining our diet to be as healthy as possible! It is an ever-changing journey, to say the least!

Breakfast

Pumpkin pancakes made with leftover pumpkin. Saving eggs for later, so we made a vegan version. 

Coffee leftover from last night.

Not pictured: smoothie made with 1/2 carrot, 1 handful spinach, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1 banana, 4 dates and 1 scoop of enriching greens.  

Still have the rest of that pumpkin to bake and cook into something delicious!

why I've been away

I've been reading. 

A book. 

A great book about food. 

Why YOU should feed your family healthful, nutrient rich food. 

And teach them about it too. 

It's called Disease Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right by Dr. Joel Fuhrman

It has been amazing.  All the things I have been leaning towards, with scientific studies cited, recipes to try, and even a suggested meal plan. 

Dr. Fuhrman advocates a vegetarian or near-vegetarian diet that is high in fruits and vegetables, low in fat, sugar, and salt, and non-dairy.

The book centers around how much of the disease in our country is a direct result of the food we eat.  If you could lessen your chance or your child's chance of heart disease or attack by simply changing your diet, wouldn't you? 

There are some things that I don't know if I will do that he suggests in the book, like cut back almost entirely of salt and oils.  But, I have realized from this book that we are in a good place in our family, but there are still steps we have to take to eat more healthfully.  I have been getting comfortable, and even slipping into habits to which I had not wanted to return.  This book really helped me see that and deepen my desire to feed my kids and my family the best food possible.  I also took the next step towards cutting out cheese and butter from our diets almost entirely.  I will try not to have cheese in the house, and I will keep only a small supply of butter for special occasions (and frying eggs, because seriously, what else can you fry an egg in?)

Anyway, I am here today to encourage you to get the book and check it out.  He is a family practitioner and encourages whole families to take small steps toward eating more healthfully.  It is a journey for everyone; we are all on a different path, at different stages, but there is always something you can do to eat a little more healthfully.  Maybe it is resolving to have one more piece of fruit each day.  Maybe it is resolving to go completely vegan. 

Anyway, I am here today to encourage you to check out the book.  I have been so busy reading it I haven't had time to blog.  It's an encouraging book-- there IS hope!  Check it out!

"Ice Cream"

K, so tonight I stumbled upon this blog with all these vegan recipes.  I was looking for a recipe for corn cake.  I don't know. I've never heard of corn cake before, but today, it sounded good to me and I wanted to see if it even existed.  Well, it does, and I am going to try it soon!

Anyway, on the top of the page was this amazing looking sorbet.  So I clicked on it and it looked so delicious.  I decided I wanted to try the blueberry banana recipe after dinner.  During dinner I presented this idea to Chris who made a face, and when I asked what was wrong with that idea, he said, "Well, first of all, there's the banana and the blueberry."  Ok, so the banana blueberry wasn't going to fly.  But I still wanted ice cream. 

After dinner, we were in the kitchen, and all the kids were asking when we were having ice cream (and I think Ellie was yelling something like, "NOW" in her sassiest voice), so I just started throwing things into the blender. 

Beet Blueberry Strawberry Sorbet
One small (fresh from the garden!) raw beet, shredded finely
Half cup of blueberries
One cup strawberries
About 1/3 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup coconut milk
Splash of lemon juice
Splash of rum or something (optional, keeps it softer after you put it in the freezer)

Put all ingredients in the blender.  Blend until desired consistency.  Taste for sweetness. Adjust if necessary. Eat right away, or put in ice cream freezer.  Then eat. 

It went over well.  There was none to put in the freezer.  There are lots of newly stained clothes in my house, though!  Enjoy!

Green Trail Mix Pancakes

Yes, that is actually the name of one recipe.  How exactly did I marry Green, Trail Mix and Pancakes?  Why exactly would I do that? 

Yesterday when I asked Ben what he wanted for breakfast (he was the only one up at the time), I expected a 'normal' answer-- oatmeal, Ben's cereal, pancakes, french toast.... you know, normal breakfast food. 

Ben said, "What we had yesterday for lunch: almond butter and jelly, strawberries, peppers and chips."  I started to say, "That's lunch food!  We can have that for lunch-- what do you want for breakfast?"  But instead, I decided it didn't really matter.  Who cares if you have a sandwich for lunch or breakfast? We had the same thing again today for breakfast, too.  :-)

So, today for lunch, I decided to have breakfast.  But, I wanted it to be healthy and packed with delicious things.  So I came up with Green Trail Mix Pancakes! I used my basic pancake recipe and just added a bunch of stuff to it. :-)

Green Trail Mix Pancakes
1 cup flour
3/4 milk or water
2 TBS oil or butter
1 egg (or 2 TBS flax meal)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 TBS honey or sugar or maple syrup (I don't always put sugar in but today I wanted to go syrup-less, so I added a bit of sweetness to the batter)
1/4 cup oats
1 cup blanched, pureed spinach
2 TBS raisins
2 TBS chocolate chips
2 TBS sunflower seeds
1 TBS hemp seeds
1/4 fresh blueberries

I blanched the spinach and then put it in the blender with the water and the egg.  Then I transferred it into a bowl and added all the other ingredients and mixed well.  Finally I cooked them in my cast iron skillet.  Delicious!

Think of the possibilities!  You can add anything to pancakes!  And it could be a meal!  What would you add?

"Remember that time when...."

".... when I made that awesome bread and it was so moist and delicious and we didn't want to stop eating it?"
...."Yeah...." Chris replied, wistfully.

Today is one of those days that in a couple of weeks we'll be thinking back and having the above conversation. 

You see, although I have been making bread pretty regularly for four years, I am just not good at it.  Well, let's be honest: I am not careful enough when making bread to do the same exact thing every time over and over. It just seems so... boring.  Until I make bread and it is perfect and I relish every bite (especially with butter!) and it is gone in less than 24 hours.

In conclusion, this post is mostly for me and only a little bit for you.  :-)  I will write down what I did today, so next week, (or tomorrow) when we need bread again I can look at this post and say, "See, Janet, you can make delicious bread and all you have to do is follow these short simple steps!"


Bread from today
2 cups warm water
2 1/2 tsp yeast
2 TBS honey
1/4 cup gluten
1/4 cup olive oil
5 1/2 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour
2 tsp real salt (not 'fake' salt, as Ben calls all other salt!)

Add the water and yeast to the mixer.  Let sit for two or three minutes. Add honey and stir for 5-10 seconds to swirl it all around. Add gluten, olive oil and 5 cups flour.  Mix until it pulls into a wet dough.  Add salt and mix some more.  Add enough more flour until the dough is the right consistency.  My husband calls it 'post-it note' wet. Knead for 7-8 minutes.  Let sit in the mixer for about a half hour. (My mixer bowl is plastic and the dough doesn't stick, but if you have a metal bowl, you might want to coat it with oil before letting it sit.) Grease two loaf pans.  Divide the dough roughly in half and put each half in each bread pan.  Let rise in a warm oven for about a half hour.  Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes.  Try to be patient enough to wait five or ten minutes before cutting into your beautiful, delicious loaf of bread and slathering it with butter.  Enjoy!

Thankful for delicious bread to go with dinner tonight! :-)

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

My Baked Oatmeal

I finally made a perfect (in my opinion) baked oatmeal for breakfast the other day.  I am not really great at looking up recipes all the time, especially at wee hours of the morning.

1 stick of butter
1/3 cup sugar (I use sucanat)
2 TBS flax seeds
3 cups oats
vanilla
cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp powder
1 1/2 cups milk

cream butter and sugar.  add flax seeds, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and powder.  add oats.  add milk.  pour into 8x8. bake at 350* for 30 mins.  or until you start to smell it because you have forgotten you put it in the oven in the first place.

I usually go by the smell rule.  :-)

This recipe is the best I've made, in my opinion.  Now, this recipe isn't super sweet.  I've seen comparable recipes that call for 2 CUPS of sugar.  That is gross-sweet if you ask me.  But, try it and find out what works for your family.

I also love baked oatmeal with fruit.  Sometimes I put frozen blueberries in, or cut up apples. You can even use applesauce or frozen strawberries, or peaches or ANYTHING that sounds good to you!  Try it.  This week we had fresh strawberries, and I drizzled almond milk on it too.  Yum.

:-)

ps.  check out my other oatmeal ideas here and here.  Oh, and this is a good one too!

Brownie experiment

Okay, so I wanted brownies for dessert today. Not brownies made out of dates, nuts and chocolate, but ones made with flour, sugar and chocolate.  I looked around for a recipe that suited me, and this is what happened.


Go here to see the original recipe.

Here is how my batch turned out.  I halved the recipe, so as to not have brownies hanging around my house all week. :-)

3/8 c. cocoa powder (1/4 c. + 2 TBS)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. boiling water
2 TBS + 2 tsp coconut oil (you could use melted butter or vegetable oil)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. sucanat (sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc)
2 TBS + 2 tsp coconut oil
2/3 c. rice flour (or wheat)
1/8 tsp salt

Mix cocoa powder and soda together.  Add boiling water and oil. Add egg, vanilla, sucanat, oil.  Mix in flour and salt until just combined.  Spread into greased 8x8.  Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.

I used rice flour in this recipe.  It was kind of an accident. I waited until after dinner to make these brownies, because I ran out of time during dinner preparations.  I was going to use the 'flour I had leftover from something I had made this weekend' that was still in my mill... but then I opened the mill to retrieve said flour, and alas, there was none!  I did NOT feel like grinding flour and taking all that extra time (seriously?!  what does it take, thirty seconds??!), but I DID have some left over rice flour from something-or-other sitting on my counter... and it was just enough!  So, I used it.

The result was crumbly, chocolatey, coconutty, brownies.  (You couldn't even tell I used HALF the amount of sugar called for in the original recipe!) The rice flour was definitely the cause of the crumbles.  Next time, if I have this rice-flour-only dilemma again, I might lessen the amount of flour by a bit (1/2 cup maybe?) and use half butter and half oil to try and increase richness.  But, I would not consider these to be fudgy by any stretch of the imagination.

They DID fill my brownie craving, and that's what counts at this point, right?

Vegetable Soup

Okay so I am posting this recipe today because of how I love that it comes together very quickly!  I love this recipe because it is so simple and easy!  I usually pull it out when there is an hour until dinner and I haven't the slightest clue what to serve!  I almost always have the ingredients on hand, so it's simple to throw together.

I cannot take any credit for this recipe, though!  Chris' Pap Pap told me how he makes his, and this is pretty much it.  If I am wrong (family who is reading this) please correct!  One thing that I learned is essential to this recipe is the cabbage.  The first time I made vegetable soup for Chris, it didn't have cabbage, and I definitely heard about how wrong that was!!

Pap Pap's Vegetable Soup
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 28oz can tomatoes
1-2 bay leaves
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup frozen green beans (or fresh ones cut to 1")
1-2 cups frozen peas
1-2 cups frozen corn
1/4 head of cabbage, sliced thinly


Throw everything into the pot and let it simmer for one hour.  Okay, so other than the bay leaves, I literally hardly season this!  The tomatoes I use have basil in them and a significant amount of sodium, so it doesn't usually need salt.  I put maybe 20 grinds of black pepper in... and that's it.

It tastes so delicious!  My kids love it, and so does my husband.  It goes well with fresh bread or biscuits or a salad or nothing at all! If you don't have all the ingredients listed, just leave them out! Or substitute with another vegetable.  Enjoy!  :-)

Fruit Bars!

We made the most DELICIOUS BROWNIES (ahem,... I mean totally nutritious, healthy, filling fruit and nut bars) for an afternoon snack and dessert today!

These bars were inspired by my lovely friend, Monica (who also has a food blog-- check it out!). 

As I was making the recipe she sent me, I kept thinking, these are SO similar to the brownies I posted on this site! Well, I just had to modify them a bit-- to be more like brownies!  

They were 'scarfed' down readily by three hungry vultures and two adults. (And then the adults had two more after said vulture/children were in bed!)

Basically, it's a larabar, without the hefty price tag. The following recipe is based on the recipe Monica sent me. Here it is:

Chocolate Cherry Delight!
1 TBS coconut oil (or some other, light oil)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
8 large dates (12- 16 smaller ones)
about 1/2 a bag of dried cherries (maybe 3oz?)
1/8 cup cocoa powder

Blend first three ingredients in food processor.  Add each additional ingredient one at a time, and blend until it's a fine, moist meal-like consistency. Press into 8x8 and chill until firm.  Or, scoop right out of the food processor with a spoon, and eat with a spoon. (Like we did this afternoon.) Taste will not be affected!  :-)

This made a thin bar.  I would probably 1 1/2 or double this recipe to make a nice, thick bar.

I'm sorry, I have no pictures of this bar!  Please accept my apology and enjoy this picture of a cutie pie instead!

Broccoli, Chicken and Rice Casserole

Here is a post that I started a couple of weeks ago and never completed!  I just rediscovered it, so I will try to recreate the dish for you.

I needed to make some dinner.  I had not many veggies left.  I had leftover rice. (At least, in my foggy brain mind, I think the rice was leftover.  Maybe I just whipped it up in my pressure cooker.)

I found two recipes (Chicken Divan and Broccoli Rice Casserole) in my handy-dandy Betty Crocker that I wanted to get married.  And become one. Forsake all others? Maybe we won't go that far.  It's only food after all, and I like broccoli in other things.  And rice, too.  Like, beans and rice. :-) And Broccoli Salad!


Recipe:
Two or three cups of cooked rice
A bunch of broccoli spears, cooked
leftover chicken (it may have actually been turkey) pulled out of the freezer (1-2 cups, shredded, cubed, diced, chopped, however you like it!)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour (Could use some gluten free flour, like rice flour in this)
3 TBS mayonaise (I use Spectrum cage free egg and expeller pressed oil-- use veganaise to make this vegan!)
1/2 cup(ish?) milk (I used unsweetened coconut milk)
Garlic powder
Onion powder
1 TBS lemon juice
salt
pepper

Cook rice. Cook broccoli. Defrost and cut up chicken. Melt butter. Add flour.  Cook a bit, til it starts to brown and smell nutty. (Not nutty crazy, like me, but nutty like almonds or something!) Add the milk, mayo, garlic, onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cook until thickened, season to taste. Put rice, broccoli and chicken in 9x13 pan.  Pour sauce over it.  Cook for 20-30 minutes in 350* oven. Grate Parmesan cheese over just before serving (or don't, if you are going to dairy-free/ vegan route). 

This turned out way better than expected, and the pan was gone!  It can be gluten free. And dairy free.  AND vegan.  With minor adjustments.  It's free of MSG, and condensed soups, which many casseroles like this usually call for.

Enjoy!

Homemade Sauerkraut and Papaya Sorbet

Chris made homemade sauerkraut two weeks ago, and this past weekend it was ready for tasting!  It was a little mild, so we are going to let it ferment awhile longer, but boy was it good!  So we celebrated by buying hot dogs (a real treat for us, as we only buy Nature's Promise ones with no nitrates or nitrites) to eat with our sauerkraut!  It was so delicious!

Also I have a quick new recipe to share that I made up because my kids did not want to eat the last half of the papaya we had and it was going to go bad!

Papaya Sorbet
Half of a papaya, cut into chunks
1/2 cup or so of almond milk (any milk will do!)
2 TBS maple syrup (or honey, agave)
1 TBS hemp seeds (optional)
1/4 tsp almond extract (or vanilla)

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.  Add more milk if you want it thinner.  Now, you could pour it in a glass and enjoy!  Or, I filled my muffin pan up with the smoothie and put it into the freezer.  When they are frozen, I will pop them out of the pan and put them in a bag, waiting for some day when I want to pull a quick, delicious snack out of the freezer. For my kids. Or myself!

Chili

Chili.

There are so many different versions!  Here's my version, which I use most frequently.  But, it's never the same!  I am always adding new weird things (like I did tonight), or too much cumin (I did this tonight, too!) or SOMEthing. 

Chili a la Janet
3 cups dried beans
5 1/2 cups water
3 green peppers
1 or 2 onions
4+ cloves garlic
(today I did 2 shredded carrots and 1/2 head cauliflower)
28oz can crushed tomatoes
2+ tsp salt
pepper
1 TBS cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp chili powder
(2 tsp kelp powder-- adds a little salt and nutrition, totally optional!  I only use it because I have it)

Soak beans. Cook beans, peppers, onions, garlic, other veggies in a pot for 2-3 hours on the stove or 8-10 hours in the crock pot.  Add the tomatoes and the spices after the beans have cooked. Adjust spices to your liking.  Sometimes I brown 1 lb. stew meat and put it in with the beans, or sometimes 1 lb ground beef.

We used to put all kinds of stuff on/in our chili-- macaroni noodles mixed with chili with a healthy dose of cheese, sour cream and hot sauce on top is my favorite way to eat it!  But, since we have cut back on dairy, we haven't had cheese or sour cream in the house.  And since I stopped buying white flour noodles, I haven't had macaroni in the house, either.  I still enjoy a great bowl of chili with hot sauce.  Especially on a cold, rainy day like today.

Do you  make chili?  What do YOU like in your chili?  Do you use toppings?

Beet and Parsnip Quinoa

Cool new recipe for you!  I developed this as a quick side to go with our first grilled steaks of the season.  MMM.

I used black quinoa in this recipe because I saw it at the store and wanted to try it.  But, you can use whatever kind you like.  And, in fact, I didn't really like the black quinoa because it is a bit crunchy-ish, even after it is fully cooked.  Kind of like steel cut oats never quite get all the way soft... My kids didn't care for the texture.  But the overall dish ended up quite good, in my (and Chris'!) opinion.  (I always get excited when Chris likes something new I just made up!)

Beet and Parsnip Quinoa
One Beet, diced into half inch cubes (with the skin taken off first)
One parsnip, skin off, diced into half inch pieces
One cup Quinoa
Half an onion, diced
One or two cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
3-4 cups water

Over medium high heat, cook the onion, beets and parsnips in olive oil, about 5-7 minutes until they start to get soft.  Add the garlic, and cook for 30 seconds to a minute (Don't burn the garlic). Add the quinoa and water.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 15-30 minutes until the quinoa is cooked and the water is absorbed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When I made this, it simmered for a good 30 minutes.  The beets were just barely soft-- not crunchy, were still firm.  I really liked them that way.  If you want them more cooked, just simmer longer, adding a bit of water as necessary.  One note, though is that the black quinoa did not get mushy as it simmered longer.  White and red will get mushy if they cook too long, so consider starting the beets earlier than everything else if using white or red and you want really soft beets.

Enjoy!

Our Food Journey Part VI

Finally!  We get to this year!  If you haven't read the rest of our journey, catch up here.

This year we have seen so many really drastic changes to our diet. 

It started with the boys' ears being so clogged from colds, etc, that we mostly cut out dairy.  Not completely, but mostly.  I started buying almond milk, rice milk and coconut milk (mostly for Ellie) instead of our fresh, raw milk.  And I stopped buying cheese, which is a favorite food in our house.  At first I wondered how in the world our lives were even going to go on or exist at all without dairy.  But you know what?  They did.  And I learned/ am learning dairy alternatives every day!

Next, Chris wanted to avoid all sugar, wheat, and gluten.  I wasn't exactly on board with that one right away.  How am I supposed to feed my family anything when we aren't eating dairy, sugar, wheat, or gluten. I really resisted this change to our diet.  I knew that Chris was going to be more strict with it than the kids or I could ever be.  I did finally have a heart change and chose to submit to my husband.  Even in the realm of food it is so important to submit to our husbands, if we are to be truly a picture of the church submitting to Christ. But, I digress from the topic of food... :-) Anyway, once I finally did choose to submit my will to Chris', you know what? God blessed it.  I had a HUGE burst of creativity in the kitchen!  We had all kinds of amazing food that week!  I even came up with the sesame cracker recipe that I'll share below. 

ANOTHER change we have made here in the Good household since the beginning of the year:  eating more raw food.  My mother-in-law got the book The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet for Christmas.  I was immediately interested in these crazy people who were insane enough to eat ONLY RAW FOOD.  Chris and I knew right away that we needed to be incorporating more raw foods-- at the very least more vegetables-- into our diets pronto. I have been learning so much about raw food and the benefits of eating raw, but also the benefits of cooking certain foods.  We are still working towards a balance in our house on this one.  It's tricky working with little ones-- finding things to eat raw that are beneficial for and also realistic for our children.  We also got another book on the topic, Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets, which has helped a great deal in figuring out what is best for our family.  There are also a bunch of great recipes/menu plans! One last book I should mention on this topic is Breaking Free: Truths for Healthy Living.  This book also has a great, balanced approach with a lot of really helpful recipes, some of which I even tried out these last two weeks! It has a great chapter on feeding our children as well. 


Okay, so as if all these major changes were not enough, there is one more.  I have spoken about soaking grains a little bit on this site before.  My heart right now is to really prepare all my grains, legumes, beans having soaked or sprouted them first.  This breaks down the phytic acid in the bran of the grain, unlocking many nutrients that are inhibited by the presence of phytic acid in digestion.  I haven't done this much yet.  I would like to experiment with sprouting wheat (and then dehydrating it before grinding it into flour) instead of soaking it, to see if that is a better option.  This last soaking part of our journey is going to be a real learning curve.  I don't know too much about what I'm talking about... YET!  I intend to find out as I go and I will  clue you in to my findings as well.  So far, the best site I have found with information on soaking is KitchenStewardship.com. Katie has done extensive research over the past year-- comparing soaking methods and sprouting, interviewing all kinds of experts on this topic.  If you are interested to know more, go here. 


Whew!  Glad to get that all down for you folks to read!  I hope our journey from simply giving up soda to a dairy/gluten limited, low sugar, more vegetable laden, soaked grains diet will inspire you to go out and take that first step in your life!


And finally the recipe I promised: 


Sesame Rice Crackers (Dairy free, gluten free, vegan)
3 TBS oil or palm shortening (Oil can be coconut, vegetable, light olive oil, or any other mild flavored oil)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups rice flour (I have also used a rice/millet mix)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or pressed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp tumeric
1/8 tsp paprika
2/3 cup water


Combine the oil, sesame seeds, rice flour, garlic, salt, tumeric and paprika. The result will be almost like a pie crust before you add the water-- crumbly, but moist.  Stir in the water. Turn the dough out onto a cookie sheet. Press it out until it is a relatively even layer on the sheet.  I like to use some plastic wrap on top of the dough, so my hands don't get really messy.  Score the crackers (a pizza cutter works really well!) into whatever shape you like.  Ben likes sticks, but Chris likes crackers, so I usually make a combination.  Bake at 250* for an hour or so.  Check after 40 minutes to see if they are done.  They should be crispy, but not brown.  Because of the turmeric, these crackers will be yellow.  Last, a note about oil vs. shortening: The crackers were more... oily (for obvious reasons!) and dense but less likely to fall apart when made with oil and were kind of flaky (reminiscent of pie crust) when made with shortening.   


Enjoy!  These usually don't even get 'put away' at our house-- everyone just snacks on them right off the cookie sheet until they are gone!

New Recipes! Sourdough Oatmeal Apple Cake and Spinach Soup

Hi, I tried two new recipes today!  (Even kind of made them up!!)

The first is an experiment with my sourdough starter.  I started it because it is supposed to be the best way to break down the phytic acids in the grains (allowing the most nutrients to be available to your body).  One note about soaking grains:  If you use white flour only, then there is no need to soak your grains/flour.  The nutrients blocked by the phytic acid are in the bran, which has been removed from white flour.

I knew last year, right before Ellie was born that I wanted to do primarily sourdough preparation of my grains, but it has taken a long time to get there.  :-)

So, last night while I was washing dishes (when I do my best thinking) I was trying to brainstorm a new breakfast using my sourdough starter.  It needs a little work still, but I was too excited to share it with you to wait until I perfected it!

Sourdough Oatmeal Apple Cake (could be dairy and gluten free and even vegan)
1 1/4 cup flour (used wheat last night, spelt tonight)
1 cup starter (used 1/2 cup tonight)
1 egg (could substitute banana if you want to go vegan, and it would sweeten it a bit, too!)
1 cup milk (almond, coconut, cow's,...)(used half water tonight)
1/2 cup oats
3 TBS coconut sugar (will use 1/4 cup tomorrow)
2 TBS your favorite oil/fat-- butter, coconut oil, light olive oil, vegetable oil, etc.
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp soda
1 apple (half sliced, half chopped)(trying a pear tomorrow)
cinnamon for sprinkling
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

The night before:
Combine flour, starter, milk, oats and leave on the counter


In the morning: 
Add egg, melted butter/oil, sugar, salt, soda, chopped apples and 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Mix together and pour into 8x8 pan
Arrange apple slices on top and sprinkle with cinnamon
Bake at 350* for 30 minutes

Okay, on to the spinach soup!  I have been trying to figure out a way to get my little ones to eat spinach. Sam gags on it, and has even thrown up at the table from trying to swallow it. Ellie just looks at me like I'm crazy. This soup was a hit with everyone tonight!

Spinach Soup (dairy free, gluten free, vegan)
2-3 TBS butter
5 oz. spinach, chopped
Coconut milk (any milk will do, even cream if you want to make it really rich!)
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a sauce pan.  Add the spices and stir them into the butter.  Add the spinach and let it wilt. Pour in the coconut milk (I probably used about a cup or 1 1/2 cups) and stir. Remove from heat and use blender or immersion blender to make it smooth.  Add coconut milk until you think it's the right consistency. Taste, add salt or pepper if necessary. Put back on the stove to warm, and serve! 

Do you have a sourdough starter?  Let me know what you think of this breakfast?  Have little ones who won't eat spinach, or don't like it yourself?  Let me know if these recipes worked for you!

Banana Pudding for Breakfast

My children are obsessed with having oatmeal for breakfast.  Everyday they wake up and ask, "Are we having blueberry oatmeal today? Or peach?"

Oiy.  I am tired of oatmeal!  So, I have been trying to dress it up a bit recently.  Also, in my endeavor to go more raw, I wanted to try oatmeal raw.  Plus, in my musings with soaking grains, I wanted to try soaking my oatmeal. And then eating it raw. But at the same time, making it taste delicious.  I came up with Banana Pudding for breakfast!

Now, some of you are saying "Ew!  Why would you eat oatmeal raw?!" And the rest of you (who made it past the raw oatmeal) are thinking, "What is soaking grains??!!"

Cooking food kills the enzymes in the food that are good for you and help you digest it. So, eating raw food helps with digestion and with most foods, is more healthy.

Soaking grains helps to unlock some of the other enzymes/properties of the grain that make it more easily digested and more nutritious.  (Ever feel bloated after eating some really delicious, processed white bread?) Soaking the grains before eating them, or even cooking with them can help stop that feeling... I don't know a whole lot about the whole process, but Katie from Kitchen Stewardship has done a great deal of in-depth scientific research on the subject.  You can read all about it here.

All that to say, here is my newest recipe:

Banana Pudding Breakfast

2 Cups Oats
1 cup water
2 TBS yogurt (Or 1 TBS apple cider vinegar, if you want to do the vegan thing)
2 bananas
Milk, of any sort or water or juice would work, too!
spinach (Optional!)
Toppings: Walnuts, almonds, raisins, craisins, coconut, etc.

Mix 2 cups of oats, one cup water and 2 TBS yogurt in a bowl the night before you want to eat this for breakfast. Leave it on the counter until the morning.  In the morning, blend the bananas, spinach and the milk or juice in the blender until just smooth.  Try not to make it too thin.  Add the oats and pulse until desired smoothness. Pour into bowl and add desired toppings.

This recipe is SOO good!  The bananas are so sweet that you don't even need any other sweetener.  You can even hide good-for-you things in the pudding like spinach that will be willingly gobbled down with everything else.  My kids LOVE this!  Like I said, they go nuts for oatmeal, and love having toppings!  It's almost like having a sundae for breakfast.  (almost.)

Eggplant Chips!!

As I mentioned in the video about the broccoli salad, we have been trying to incorporate a lot more raw food into our diet lately.  When I post the whole story of how I got to where I am today on my eating journey, I will go into more detail.  :-) Let's just leave it at we have been reading, researching, and learning A LOT about raw food this year. One place we love to look for information is YouTube.  We have been watching TheRawFoodWorld TV show.... Well, we came across this recipe for eggplant chips that we just had to try!  

Neither Chris nor I like eggplant in its traditional, fried-'til-it's-greasy or baked-and-mushy state.  So this seemed like a real possibility for us as an alternative, and better yet, it's raw.  I based my recipe on the one seen on TheRawFoodWorld, but I made some changes due to our likes/dislikes/what we had on hand.  Feel free to do the same! 


Eggplant Chips with Sunflower Basil Spread
2 eggplants, sliced and cut to the size chips you want (I halved my slices)
a generous dose of kosher salt
1-2 cloves garlic
olive oil

Sunflower Basil Spread:
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 TBS (or 2) sesame seeds
1-2 TBS apricot seeds
1 cup(ish) basil (fresh is best, but I used frozen from our garden)
1 cup(ish) spinach (again, fresh is best but I used frozen loose leaves)
1/2 head of garlic (yes, it was 5-6 cloves!!!)
almost 1 tsp. salt
pepper
juice of 1 lime
1 cup hot water


First, slice eggplants and put in a colander with a generous dose of kosher salt to 'sweat' the eggplant. (Put it in the sink so all the liquid drains.) Next, move eggplant to a bowl, press the 1 or 2 cloves of garlic into the bowl and toss with olive oil to coat.  Let marinate for an hour or so.  Make the spread: Put in blender.  Blend until smooth. This takes awhile. Finally, arrange eggplant on the dehydrator trays and put desired amount of spread on each slice.  The thicker the spread, the longer it will take to dehydrate.  Dehydrate at 115* for 10-14 hours, or until they have reached desired crispiness. 

Findings:
 Okay, so here are my findings on the eggplant chips.  We did not like the first batch very much...  the skin was very tough to chew and the eggplant got rubbery due to the marinating in olive oil.  The spread was yummy, and the boys ate the chips, after we removed the skin.  Chris said he still had not found a way he likes to eat eggplant.  We decided these needed some further testing. 


The next day, I made some more.  I skinned the eggplant with a peeler before slicing it.  Then I salted half of it for an hour before putting in the dehydrator, and the other half I just put into the dehydrator right away.  I put spread on on most of the slices but left a few plain just to try them.  I also sliced some zucchini and added the slices to each of the groups. 


Chris still did not like them. The boys ate them-- Sam more willingly than Ben.  I liked them.  The eggplant did not get as crispy as I was hoping.  I wanted a chip, but what I really got was a dried out slice of eggplant. The spread, however, was really good, and I want to make it again and put it on something else!  (I just haven't figured out what, yet!)


So, all in all, the eggplant 'chip' experiment was a good... experiment.  I will probably make them again at some point, but not often.