Veggie Pasta Salad

This recipe is so simple and so good! You can really add whatever you want. You can make it vegan, vegetarian, or throw in some ham or salami chunks. It is perfect for picnics, pot lucks, sack lunches, or even main dishes. I hope you like it as much as we do! Here is what I threw in there today:

Ingredients:

1 lb of whole wheat pasta, cooked, drained, and rinsed with cold water

2 cups of black olives, sliced

1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

8 (ish) green onions, sliced

2 cups of raw broccoli and 2 cups of raw carrots, pulse chopped in the food processor

8 oz of Kerry Gold (grass-fed, Irish, SUPER yummy) cheese, cubed- optional

1/2 cup (or so) of Italian dressing (homemade or bottled)

Combine all of the ingredients. Season with sea salt, if necessary. Chill for one hour. Re-taste and add more dressing, if needed. Dressing should coat the ingredients, but not make the dish too soupy. Enjoy!



Summer Salad

Is it just me, or aren't salads beautiful? I love the different flavors and colors you can throw into a salad. This is one of our all-time favorite salads. We actually learned the recipe at a Pampered Chef party I threw a few years back! It is delicious and filling, and is the perfect meal or side dish for a warm summer day.

Ingredients:

Mixed greens- I used Romaine, Butter Leaf, Red Leaf, and a little Spinach

Strawberries, sliced thinly

Shredded Carrots

Red Onion, sliced thinly

Cucumber, sliced thinly

Blueberries

Pecans, chopped (I think I used walnuts in this picture because we were out of pecans)

Poppyseed Dressing (We love Brianna's Rich Poppyseed Dressing)

This looks beautiful in a large, glass, Pampered Chef trifle bowl. Layer all of the ingredients evenly throughout the bowl, top with the dressing, and it is ready!

Pumpkin/Turkey Chili

As promised, here is the recipe I borrowed (and tweaked just a little) from Primal Mama Cooks...and Dishes on Life (http://feedmepaleo.blogspot.com):

Seriously, this is the easiest and yummiest chili. Very festive too for this time of year- a must-try recipe for the holidays! Let me know what you think. :)

Ingredients:

3lbs. Ground turkey (or grass fed ground beef)

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced (I like red, yellow or orange)

1 14oz can of canned pumpkin (make sure it's just pumpkin)

2 cans of organic black beans

2 cans of organic pinto beans

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 jar chipotle salsa

1 box of Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

1 tsp cumin

"Cook the ground turkey, diced onion, and pepper in a large pot until the meat is crumbly and no longer pink. Drain. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer for one hour."

Easy Peasy! Enjoy!

The Snacking Box

I have talked about the success of our "snacking table" several times on this blog. This is my lazy version. We haven't had time to put fresh fruits, veggies, and other snacks out so I have a created a quick, easy "snacking box" for the kids. If they are hungry between meals, they go here or they can always eat any fruit we have on the counter as well.

This week: organic brown rice cakes, Lara bars, sprouted almonds, dried seaweed snacks, raisins, banana leathers, and snap pea chips. It gets the job done and keeps tummies full while I'm running around!

Fruit Kabobs

I have been reading the classic nutrition book, "Fit for Life." I absolutely LOVE all the recipes in this book. They are mostly vegetarian and are all properly combined to aid in digestion and eliminate a lot of the stomach issues people experience frequently (bloating, gas, heartburn, etc.). Really fascinating information.

The basic tenets of this book state that there are 3 distinct cycles our bodies go through every 24 hours. From Noon to 8pm is the Appropriation Cycle where we take in nourishment (Eat), from 8pm to 4am is the Assimilation Cycle where our bodies absorb and use the nourishment, and lastly from 4am to 12pm is the Elimination Cycle where our bodies cleanse and detoxify themselves (this final cycle is extremely important in preventing illnesses, acute and chronic, and also ridding ourselves of unwanted fat).

Although all 3 phases are extremely important and build upon each other, I have been trying to implement this 3rd cycle more often in our home. In order to aid your body in proper elimination, the authors suggests you eat nothing but fruit or fresh, fruit juices before noon. I have added greens to this list as well because they practically digest themselves, and we drink large green smoothies every morning any way. We don't usually make it until noon, but my goal is to at least have the children (and myself) drink our smoothies and eat some fruit before they eat anything else. It actually has really simplified our mornings. The kids were a little bored after the first couple of weeks, so we decided to take all the fruit we had in the house and make fruit kabobs.

They each made them themselves. I personally would rather just sit down and eat fruit instead of cutting up every piece and putting it on a stick so I can just take it off the stick and then eat it! But, that's just me. They were very proud of their creations and stopped whining about the fruit rule for the day! You can do this with any fruit you have on hand. :)

Mexican Rice Bowls

This is a Fit For Life recipe, and has quickly become one of our favorite, quick, "go-to" recipes when want something fast, filling, and very easy!

Ingredients:

4 cups of cooked brown rice

4-5 cups of chopped romaine lettuce

guacamole

fresh salsa

sliced olives

shredded cheese (optional)

alfalfa sprouts

lemon juice

(You can also add your favorite steamed veggies, fresh corn or cilantro).

To assemble, just layer the ingredients you choose beginning with a generous helping of rice and romaine and dinner is served! We like to leave all the ingredients out, so that everyone can make it just how they like it.

Serves 6

Black Bean Burgers

I made these black bean burgers the other day for lunch and they were a big success. Very tasty, healthy, and is an inexpensive way to serve burgers.

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked black beans

1 1/2 cups of cooked brown rice (I used cooked quinoa)

1 cup of bread crumbs (I took a piece of sprouted wheat bread and pulse chopped it in my food processor until it was the consistency of bread crumbs)

1 egg (or egg substitute- you could use ground flaxseed- 1 Tb of ground flax to 3 Tb of water mixed well until it is the consistency of an egg)

4 Tb (or so) of mild salsa

A handful of grated cheese (optional)

garlic powder and sea salt to taste

Mix all ingredients well. I put them in my food processor to chop up the beans a bit. Form into patties. Fry over medium heat in a pan with a little olive oil until brown and crispy on both sides.

Serve on buns with all the normal burger toppings. We used lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard, ketchup, and red onion.

*This batch will make 10 to 12 burgers depending on the size. It is better to make the burgers smaller and serve each person two or three. The batter seems to hold together better this way then when I tried making larger burgers.

**Beans plus rice equals a complete protein. Quinoa is also a complete protein so even though this is a vegetarian/vegan dish, it is very filling.

Cashew "Mock" Chicken Salad

These next few recipes are dedicated to my good pal, Lara. It's fun to have someone so excited to read my food blog and actually try my recipes! Plus, I'm very excited that she is making so many positive changes in her health- love you girl!

Savanna and I made this recipe this morning. It's one of my favorite raw recipes. It tastes very similar to chicken salad. I usually serve it stuffed in a raw red bell pepper or over lettuce. You can put it on bread like an actual sandwich or with crackers like we did today.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of sunflower seeds

1 cup pecans

1 cup cashews

1 cucumber, cut in chunks

1 stalk of celery

2 diced green onions (optional)

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp dill

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse chop until medium fine. Chill and serve!

Banana Berry Freeze

Not the best picture, but this was really good. We actually made it for breakfast (you'll see why when I post the ingredients). I modified this recipe from a book I recently finished by Dr. Joel Furhrman, "Disease-Proof Your Child." He is another whole foods, mostly plant-based diet advocate, but he is also an MD so he gives some great medical background as to why diet can alleviate or prevent many illnesses (for my friends with kids with ADD or ADHD or severe allergies- he gives specific dietary guidelines to help). He is a bit extreme in his views, but that doesn't mean that I think he is wrong...just means you might have some BIG changes to make after reading his book! He has a ton of recipes in the back. We've tried some and really like them, others...not so much. This one was a winner!

Ingredients:

(per serving/person)

1 1/2 frozen bananas

1/4 cup non-dairy milk

1/4 tsp of vanilla

handful of frozen blueberries, strawberries or raspberries

tsp of ground flax seed

chopped nuts of your choice

Blend the frozen bananas, milk (we used almond milk), and vanilla - it will be thick like ice cream, especially if you have a Vitamix or other good blender. Top with frozen berries of your choice (we used blueberries and raspberries), the ground flax, and some nuts (we used slivered almonds). Enjoy!

Sweet & Sour Veggie Stir Fry

This is one of my favorite dishes to make. It is really simple, and really delicious. Whenever I eat chinese food I always order something with the Sweet & Sour Sauce. This recipe really duplicates that taste very well, and is much healthier! You can add meat to this dish if you like. We used tofu in this one.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tb cornstarch or arrowroot powder
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 3 Tb of rice vinegar
• 3 Tb of turbinado sugar
• 1 Tb ketchup
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 Tb olive oil
• 4-5 minced garlic cloves
• 1 diced onion
• 2 sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 diced green or red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup pineapple chunks
• 1 14oz package of extra firm tofu, drained and cut into 1 inch cubes

In a large bowl, mix together the cornstarch and veg broth, then add vinegar, sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, ginger, and cayenne until mixed well.

In a large skillet or work, stir-fry the garlic, onion, and carrots in the olive oil about 5 minutes until carrots begin to soften. Add the tomatoes, pepper, mushrooms, and pineapple and stir-fry another 2-3 minutes.

Add the veg broth mixture to the veggies and cook until mixture thickens, about 5-7 minutes. Add tofu and allow to cook at least 5 minutes more. Serve over brown rice and enjoy!

Vegetarian Chili in the Crock Pot

I took this picture when it had only been cooking a few hours. All the liquid was absorbed and the end result is a very thick, hearty, and tasty chili. The lentils kind of break a part and resemble the "meat" of the dish. My kids loved it, and even my finicky pregnant taste buds enjoyed it!

(Again, this is from www.weelicious.com).

Serves 16- I'm not sure what size crock pot this girl has, but we halved the recipe and it filled up my pot- it makes a LOT!

Ingredients:

2 Cans Organic Chopped Tomatoes

2 32 oz Boxes Vegetable Broth

6 Cups Mixed Beans (Lentils, Yellow Split Peas, White Beans) (If using large beans, soak the night before)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Onion, minced

5 Cloves Garlic, minced

6 Celery Stalks, chopped

6 Carrots, chopped

1 Bell Pepper, chopped

2 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 1/2 Tbsp Cumin

2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Sweet Paprika

1 Large Bunch Dinosaur Kale, chopped

1. Turn slow cooker (crock pot) on high. Set it for 12 hours. Pour all liquid into the pot.

2. Heat olive oil over medium flame and saute onions for 5 minutes. Lower heat if they start to brown. Add garlic and continue to saute another 2 minutes. Pour the onion mixture into the crock pot with the remaining ingredients. Stir.

3. Cook in the pot for 12 hours.

*For baby food: Cool, puree, and serve or freeze in baby cubes.

**Freezing Instructions: Allow to cool, place in appropriate container or Ziploc bag, label and freeze up to 4 months. When ready, defrost in fridge for 24 hours or place in pot and heat through under low-medium heat.

Spinach Dip

Another great summer recipe. I love it when I don't have to turn my oven on. This can be made a variety of ways and garnished and eaten with whatever you like. Here is what I put in this one:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of fresh spinach
• 1 large avocado
• 1/2 Tb of lemon juice
• Sea salt to taste

Blend in a food processor until smooth. Chill and eat! This is simple, but really good. Another great way to sneak in some greens!! (Again, from Alissa Cohen's "Living on Live Food")

Trail Mix

Okay, so trail mix is kind of a no brainer. But, this batch turned out SO good that I had to share it.

Ingredients:

• Raw Pecans
• Raw Walnuts
• Raw Almonds
• Raw Sunflower Seeds
• Raw Cashews
• Golden Raisins
• Coconut Shavings
• Vegan Carob Chips
• Dried Cranberries

Toss and eat ! The boys had a bowl of it for breakfast with their yogurt. It may not last very long!!

* I did sprout most of the nuts (for more on sprouting, see my previous post- "More on our Snacking Table (& Why We Sprout)"). Pretty sure the carob chips aren't raw, but everything else is!

Avocado Chutney

This is a great summer recipe. It's fresh and filling, and super healthy.

(This recipe is from Alissa's Cohen's "Living on Live Food"- slightly modified by me)

Ingredients:

• 2 large avocados, diced
• 3 ears of sweet corn (corn cut off the cob- don't use frozen or canned)
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 teas of cumin
• 1-2 teas of oregano
• sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, chill, and serve over lettuce or with crackers or just eat it by itself! This amount fed my family of five and we had 3-4 servings left the next day. It saved surprisingly well overnight in the fridge, but I wouldn't recommend waiting too long to eat the leftovers...you probably won't have much any way!

Quick Lunches that Will Impress

This is one of my boys' favorite quick meals (and mine too- I've been on a hummus kick lately). Simply slice cucumber into thick rounds (or you can use zucchini, squash, etc.), top with a generous scoop of hummus and an olive. It was the day before our weekly shopping, so I just threw some leftover grated carrots in the middle for decor, but they ate them up too!

More from our snacking table, but this turned into more of a snacking lunch. Bradley cut up the cucumbers and added the hummus to our jicama, snap peas, and melon ensemble. It was very quick, very filling, and very tasty!

Food for Thought

I just had to share this little tidbit I learned this week. I just finished reading Michael Pollan's"Food Rules" book, and am about halfway through a book by Dr. Furhman called "Disease Proof Your Child." Both are great reads on feeding your children and family a whole foods diet- basically just feeding them real, unprocessed foods. Dr. Furhman said that at the beginning of each day they cut up some fresh fruits and veggies and put them in bowls on the kitchen table along with some selections of raw nuts. They leave this food out the whole day for the family to snack on. It's really a simple thing, but I tried it out this week and it had amazing results.

Especially since we home school, my kids seem like they are eating 24-7. And, not always the best of choices. But, I cut up several different types of raw and steamed veggies, one big bowl of fruit, and put out several different types of nuts throughout the week. The result: They stopped asking me for food between meals. They would just go over and eat what was out. They were eating raw fruits, veggies, and nuts all day long too! I found that my husband and I were going over and snacking on the produce too. And since the whole family was eating good stuff throughout the day, I didn't find myself worrying or nagging them to eat up veggies at mealtimes. I still served them, but it wasn't like that was all they were going to eat for the day, so it made me feel really relaxed.

When I got home from the market, I took about 30-40 minutes and washed all the produce and cut it up and put it in containers in the fridge. Each morning it took me all of about 5 minutes to set stuff out. I made sure to put out different stuff every day and put out stuff I know my kids like, plus some foods that they've never tried. I learned this week that Benjamin loves red bell pepper. Over the course of a couple days he ate 2 raw bell peppers himself! Bradley ate an entire jicama this week, plus an array of other great foods. Savanna really like the broccoli and kale salad. I found that I really like raw celery and carrot sticks. I've never eaten too many veggies without some sort of dip or dressing, but since they were all just out solo, I found I was munching on them throughout the day.

This week our snacking table consisted of: carrots, celery, jicama, bell pepper, kale, artichokes, peanuts, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, strawberries, oranges, cucumber, tomatoes, apples, cantaloupe, and peas...isn't that cool?!? Just thought I'd pass on this little tip!

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!

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!

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!!