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!



Arugula Salad with Orange Juice Vinaigrette

Yes, another salad. But it's summer and I don't have to turn on my oven! Plus I am lucky that my children will all gobble up salads- just have to vary it up a little and they are happy, healthy campers. :)

Ingredients:

1-2 heads of Arugula

1 head of Butter Leaf

2 fresh mangoes, diced

2 avocados, diced

Several Tbs of sliced almonds per bowl

Chop arugula and lettuce coarsely and top with fruit and nuts.

 

Vinaigrette:

I just kind of eyeballed this ,but I added approx 4-6 Tbs of O.J. concentrate to approx 2 Tbs of rice vinegar to approx 1 Tb of olive oil. I did add a small amount of water too, but you can just mix and keep tasting it until you like it. We like it tangy with a hint of vinegar so we add more O.J.

Like I said, super easy but really, really good!

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!

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. :)

Homemade Italian French Bread

Savanna and I learned to bake our own bread from our friends at church. It is SO much better than store bought, and it's way cheaper too. Takes a little bit of time, but not much effort. And for the record this is not my healthiest recipe, but I did modify it a bit to make it more so. I do like that there is only 6 ingredients, all of which I can pronounce and know what they are! I am going to post the original recipe and I'll put my changes in parenthesis.

Ingredients:

(makes two large french loaves)

• 2 1/2 cups of water
• 2 Tb of yeast
• 5 Tb melted Crisco (I substitute olive oil)
• 3 Tb sugar
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 6 cups of flour (we did 3 cups of whole wheat & 3 cups of white flour- any more whole wheat than that and it becomes very heavy)

Mix 3 cups of flour, the Crisco, 2 cups of the water, sugar and salt.

Dissolve the yeast in the remaining 1/2 cup of water and add to the flour mixture.

Beat in the 3 remaining cups of flour very gradually. The dough should be sticky to the touch, but should not remain on the skin and should pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl.

Let rest (covered with a damp rag) for 10 mins. Punch Down. Let rise 15 mins (still covered with a damp rag). Punch down. Repeat 4 times.

Divide dough into 2 parts. Roll the dough flat into a rectangular shape. Roll up into a long loaf, pinching the edges as tight as you can.

Place both loaves on a greased cookie sheet and let rise 40 mins (cover again with the rag). We decided to put one long loaf and one smaller loaf on a cookie sheet, and one loaf in a regular loaf pan. It's the same amount of bread- just different shapes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

The results were great!

Maple Syrup Cornbread

Savanna makes the best corn bread muffins! She made a batch this morning, and so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Ingredients:

(Makes 12 muffins)

• 2/3 cup of real maple syrup (grade b)
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1 cup rice milk (or soy milk)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup fine organic cornmeal
• 1 Tb baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt

Stir wet ingredients together.

In another bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.

Mix wet and dry together.

Pour into greased muffin pans.

Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees, until tester comes out clean.

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")

Banana, Orange, Flax Crackers

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of whole golden fax seeds (soaked in 2 cups of water for 4 hours or overnight is fine)
• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 large oranges, juiced

Place ingredients in a food processor and blend well. Smooth onto Teflex sheets on top of a mesh dehydrator screen. Spread batter into thin sheets about 1/8 inches thick. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 10-16 hours (Flip them after about 7-8 hours).

My kids love to eat these crackers plain or smothered in almond butter. We had some leftover crushed strawberries from our jam making and we added them to the crackers this time. They aren't ready yet, but my house smells SO good!

(Also from Alissa Cohen's "Living on Live Food" book)

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!

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!

More on our Snacking Table (& Why We Sprout)

Our snacking table is still a success! We are getting more foods from the farmers market, and eating all of it by the end of the week. The nagging for snacks between meals has stopped almost completely too! Here we have cucumber, carrots, sliced apples, almond butter, raw corn on the cob (yes raw- it's straight from the farm and super sweet- no cooking or butter needed!), and steamed broccoli.

Here: Snap peas are a great snack since you eat the entire pod and they are sweet and crunchy, plus more watermelon, some lightly steamed broccoli with sea salt, and sprouted sunflower seeds.

A quick word about sprouting nuts: What are sprouted nuts, and why would someone want to sprout them? I learned about sprouting from Alissa Cohen's "Living on Live Food" book. Her explanation is great, so I'll just post it here:

"There are some very good reasons to soak and sprout. Soaking nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes removes their natural enzyme inhibitors: phytates and oxalates.

Sprouting greatly increases the nutritional value of these foods and makes them far more digestible because their protein is broken down into amino acids, their starches are changed into simple sugars, and their fats are converted into soluble fatty acids.

Sprouting increases the enzyme content of these foods. Even though they are initially raw, their enzymes are lying dormant. Sprouting activates them. If you do not sprout them, your body has to use its own enzymes to break up these foods.

Soaked and sprouted nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes are highly nutritious and produce an amazing amount of nourishment than otherwise would not be available."

Also, I've noticed with Brad's allergies that food he normal reacts negatively to doesn't bother him if sprouted. For instance wheat breads and tortillas bother him, but he does fine with sprouted wheat breads and tortillas. The same goes for some nuts he eats.

How do you sprout? Well, that is another post entirely. Certain foods can simply be soaked, others actually need to be sprouted. For most of the nuts and seeds we have been using at our snacking table, I simply put them in a large bowl and cover them with enough filtered water so they expand, then let them soak overnight on the kitchen counter. The next morning, rinse them well and they are officially "sprouted." The soaking obviously makes them soft, so I throw them in my dehydrator and season them (sea salt mainly, but you can use oil or other seasonings to spice them up- lime and Chile powder are good on pistachios and cashews!), and they crunch back up. This way we can receive the benefit of raw, sprouted nuts but enjoy the taste of roasted, crunchy, salted ones!

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!

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).

Kale Chips

I don't ever remember eating Kale as a child. I personally don't like the taste of Kale, but have been putting it my green smoothies for awhile now because of its nutritional content.

Diana Dyer, a dietitian and author on the subject of cancer survival, has this to say about kale on her blog http://www.365daysofkale.com/: "The standouts are the high content of calcium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), vitamin K, potassium, manganese, copper, and even the plant form of omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid). In addition to the carotenoid beta-carotene, kale contains other very important carotenoid molecules called lutein and zeaxanthin (both necessary for eye health) and numerous others (probably too many to count, and maybe even yet identified)."

In other words, Kale is REALLY good for you. And, I finally found a way to eat kale that I like- Kale chips! My kids also love these Kale chips and best of all, it's another super simple, quick recipe! We make big batches of these every other week.

Kale Chips:

• 2 bunches of kale (I like the Dino Kale- the Kale with the huge leaves. Savanna likes the curled types of kale- those are the ones you often see as garnish on your plate at restaurants- she says they make crunchier chips)


• Olive Oil (approx 3 Tb, depending on the amount of Kale used)


• Sea Salt (approx 2 Tb)


• Apple Cider Vinegar (optional- a dash or two)

I usually just eyeball this recipe, so you'll have to bear with me. First, cut the leaves off of the stalks. Set the stalks aside (you can save the stalks for soups or smoothies). Cut the leaves into chip-sized pieces. In a large bowl mix the leaf pieces with a fair amount of olive oil and sea salt and just a dash or two of acv. I like to massage the leaves to make sure that each chip is covered in the marinade. They taste better if you allow them to marinate for about 20 minutes. Spread onto a baking sheet in a single layer and bake on the lowest setting of your oven. Check after about 30-40 minutes. They will wilt at first, and then crisp up.

I usually don't bake them in the oven, so they I'm not positive how long that will take- on the lowest setting, it could be a while. I bake my chips in my dehydrator at 105 degrees for several hours until they reach the desired crispiness. They store really well in the gallon-sized Ziploc bags and do not need to be refrigerated. You can play around with the amount of oil and different types of seasonings.

Enjoy!