Homemade Applesauce

Well, I love to make fresh applesauce, but we got a HUGE amount of apples from a friend's tree, so we decided to can some so it lasts longer. We just made it up as we went along, and the results were great. Here are the details:

Slice apples- I didn't take the skins off, but most people do. I have a Vitamix that completely pulverizes EVERYTHING!

Put them in a large pot with just a cup or two of water to steam them until they are soft.

Blend them until smooth. I added a bit of honey and cinnamon.

Pour into the cans, and can in a water bath canner. Applesauce takes about 20 minutes (for pints and quarts) in the canner. Cool and Store!

**Fresh applesauce is even better tasting and better for you, and will last about a week in the fridge. Just cut up the apples and process in a food processer with honey and cinnamon until it is the consistency you want (you can put it in the blender for really smooth- we use the fp so it is a bit chunky).

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Savanna and I made this yesterday- SOOO good! Not really one of my healthiest recipes, but it's seriously good!

Ingredients:

• I package of organic frozen spinach, defrosted
• 7-8 artichoke hearts, chopped (you can use the marinated kind or I just bought a bag of frozen hearts at Trader Joes and defrosted them)
• 1/2 cup of grated mozzarella cheese (you can use any kind you like- if you use soy cheese, use the Follow Your Heart brand. It's the only kind that melts. We actually used goat cheese- sounds weird, but it's really good).
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 container of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
• garlic powder and sea salt to taste

Saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil on low. Add the defrosted spinach and artichoke hearts. Stir in the Tofutti cream cheese and grated cheese and whatever spices you want until well mixed. Put this mixture in a baking dish and bake at 325 degrees until hot and cheese is melted all the way through- about 15- 20 minutes. Super fast, and super delicious!

***A friend of ours has a goat farm and she was telling us all about the benefits of using goat products over cow products. Now our family doesn't eat very much cow dairy, and I'm trying to get away from using soy products a lot, so we thought we'd give it a try. Goat's milk does have some lactose, but it does not have Casein, the protein in cow's milk. Casein is a huge allergen, and two out of the three of my kids can't tolerate it at all. Savanna really liked the goat cheese, and it tasted just like regular cheese in this dish. Even James thought it was great and ate it up- and that says a lot!

Sun Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs of Roma tomatoes


• 4-5 minced garlic cloves (depending on the size- I like a lot of fresh garlic)


• 1 tsp of sea salt


• 1 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper


• 2 1/2 tsp of dried Italian seasonings


• 1/2 cup cold-pressed olive oil

Cut off the ends of each tomato. Slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. Carefully cut out all of the seeds. Gently stir/mix the sliced tomatoes with all of the above ingredients. Marinate for 8 hours or overnight. Spread out on dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 115 degrees for several hours (the amount of time will depend upon the texture you are looking for- the longer you dehydrate the chewier and dryer the tomatoes will get). It takes about 8-10 hours, depending on how you like them.

I store them in glass jars. These are the best sun dried tomatoes I've ever had. They are great in salads, sandwiches, pasta dishes- my kids even like to eat them plain. Sometimes, they don't even make it to the dehydrator!

Cashew "Ranch"

This dressing is SO good. For all you ranch lovers who think you could never go vegan, try this recipe! I have made this so many times that I just eyeball it now. I can't find the original recipe that I began using years ago, so just play around with it until you get what you like. The amounts will vary depending upon the consistency and spice that you enjoy in your ranch.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cashews (soaked for four hours or overnight)
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1/2-3/4 cup water (more or less depending on the thickness desired)
• lots of seasonings- I add garlic powder, sea salt, ground pepper, lots of dill, parsley, Italian seasonings, and a few fresh basil leaves
• Optional- some recipes call for one small avocado. This adds the fat to the dressing and gives it a creamier taste. Warning: it does turn your pretty white "ranch" kind of a drab green (The first picture above is a batch with avo, the second, whiter batch, is without).
  

Blend all the ingredients in a blender, and then chill in a glass container. Will stay good in the fridge with avocado one week, without avocado up to two weeks..

Let me know if you like it!!

Counting Soup

We also got this recipe out of "Salad People" by Mollie Katzen. We modified it a bit, but here are the ingredients we used:

• 2 cups of peas (we used frozen and rinsed them under water until they thawed)
• 2 cups of corn (same thing as above- you can use fresh peas or corn and lightly steam them as well)
• 2 cups of grated carrots
• 1/3 pound green beans, steamed and cut into small pieces
• 2 cups of cooked noodles (whatever kind you like- we used the pasta shells)
• 2 cups of vegetable broth, heated (you can make your own or use the "box" kind)
  
  Put the peas, corn, carrots, green beans and cooked noodles in separate bowls on the counter with individual spoons in them where your child can reach. Here is where the counting comes in:
  
  Hand him ONE bowl. Allow him to scoop TWO spoonfuls of shredded carrot into his bowl, THREE spoonfuls of peas, FOUR spoonfuls of corn, FIVE green bean pieces, 6 spoonfuls of noodles, you pour the heated broth in the bowl and have him blow SEVEN times, and lastly, he stirs all the ingredients EIGHT times and eats! Very cute, very fun, and very nutritious!

Crunchy Fruity Granola

We make homemade granola every other week or so. We use different types of grain (from oats to rye flakes or barley flakes), different chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, etc.) or dried fruits, and different sweeteners (usually agave nectar, honey, maple syrup or molasses). I found this great book at the library titled, "Salad People and More Real Recipes" by Mollie Katzen. It's a great book with recipes to do with your kids using fruits and veggies. This granola recipe was in here, but there are dozens online, or just create your own! Here is my little sous chef, Benjamin. Can you tell, he has been sampling???

Ingredients:

3 cups of rolled oats
2 cups of seeds or chopped nuts
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup of oil (coconut is the best!)
1/2 cup of honey
1/3 cup of brown sugar (I use agave or maple syrup or more honey)
1 Tb of vanilla extract
1 cup of assorted dried fruit (we use rasions, or dried blueberries or cranberries)
We always add a couple Tbs of cinnamon too

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl (except the dried fruit). Mix the wet in another. Combine, and spread on a greased baking tray. Bake at 325 or 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown. Mine took a bit longer. Stir every 5 minutes or so. Let cool and become crunchy, and then add the dried fruit. Yields 6-8 cups.

Nut Milk

As promised here is not only a picture of my nut milk bag (I know it sounds totally weird), but instructions on how to make any kind of nut milk. My favorites are almond milk and hazelnut milk. You can also use Brazil nuts, cashews, hemp seeds, or sesame seeds (I'm sure there are others, but these are the main ones I've tried).

Okay, so this is super simple and quick. I can make a batch and clean-up in about 5 minutes. Take 1 cup of the nuts of your choice (soaked in water for about 4 hours and then drained) and put it in the blender with 4 cups of fresh drinking water. And blend very good.


Pour the contents of the blender into your nut milk bag until fully strained. If you do not have a bag, you can put cheese cloth over a bowl and use that as strainer, but it is much harder and messier.


Next, squeeze the bag to get all the liquid out. Just keep squeezing until nothing else is coming out.

You will be left with a bowl of milk. I usually pour this back into the blender and sweeten the milk with a little raw honey or raw agave nectar and a few dashes of cinnamon. You can also add a dash or two of vanilla, if you like that. Blend for a couple of seconds and chill in the fridge.


The remaining pulp in the bag can be saved in the fridge for a couple of days. You can make garden burgers out of them or dehydrate them into flour for other recipes. I usually just save the pulp and add it to one of our green smoothies as a protein boost.


There you have it. A beautiful, delicious, nutritious, dairy-free milk!!