Monthly Archives: February 2007

Simple Whole Wheat Bread-Karen

Posted on February 23, 2007 by Jenni| 2 Comments

This is the recipe I use every week to make bread, it is very good! I usually bake one loaf and then freeze the other batch (or three if I do the double batch) of dough before the last rise. I just place the dough in a plastic wrap lined loaf pan and wrap it up as best as I can and then place in the freezer. Thanks Karen for this recipe it has definitely been a blessing to our family!

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

Single – 2 loaves

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast (4 ½ tsp.)
1/3 cup honey
5 cups whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Double – 3 large loaves

6 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
4 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast (~3Tbsp.)
2/3 cup honey
10 cups whole wheat flour
6 tablespoons butter, melted
2/3 cup honey
2 tablespoon salt
6-7 cups whole wheat flour
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions for double batch:

1. in a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 2/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups wheat flour (a cup at a time, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.

2. Mix in melted butter, 2/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole-wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole-wheat flour until not real sticky – just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.

3. Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch, about an hour.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes; do not over bake.

Another simple variation-rolls. Do everything the same up to step three:

3. Punch down, and divide into several small pieces (size depending on how large you want the rolls). Knead into small rounds, place creased side down onto a greased baking sheet, with space between each roll. Allow to rise until dough has doubled, about an hour.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown; do not over bake.

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Posted in Breads, Bulk Food Preparation, Side Dishes, Whole Foods, Whole Grain

Gallo Pinto (beans and rice)-Costa Rica

Posted on February 22, 2007 by Jenni| 1 Comment

Gallo pinto
When I lived in Costa Rica this was a staple that we ate about three times a day! Very tasty and good for you! I use brown rice and cook a little longer, it tastes great that way. Now we enjoy this meal at least once a week for dinner and a couple times a week for lunch.

Ingredients:

1 lb (450 gr.) Black beans. Fresh are best but most likely you’ll find them dried.
8-10 sprigs cilantro (coriander leaf) fresh or frozen, not dried!
1 small or medium onion
½ small red or yellow sweet pepper (optional, sometimes I add purple cabbage if I don’t have any sweet peppers)
3 cups (700 ml) chicken broth or water
2 cups (350 ml) white rice (I use brown rice and it’s just as good)
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
1-3 Tablespoon oil to fry the Gallo Pinto

Directions:

If beans are dried, cover with water and soak overnight, if they are fresh, just rise them off. Drain the beans and add fresh water to an inch (2.5-cm) above the top of the beans, salt, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and reduce heat to very low simmer until beans are soft (~3 hours).

Chop cilantro, onion, and sweet pepper very fine.

Add 1 Tablespoon oil to a large pan and sauté the dry rice for 2 minutes over medium high flame then add half of the chopped onion, sweet pepper and cilantro and sauté another 2 minutes. Add water or chicken broth, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer until rice is tender (20-35 minutes). This is also the recipe for Tico rice used in other favorites like tamales.

Once the rice and beans are cooked you can refrigerate or freeze them. Keep a significant amount of the “black water” with the beans (½-1 cup 120-240 ml). This is what gives the rice its color and some of its flavor. Sauté the rice, beans reserved chopped onion, sweet pepper and cilantro together in vegetable oil for a few minutes. Sprinkle with a little fresh chopped cilantro just before serving.

Once the rice and beans are cooked you can also refrigerate or freeze them. Make up small batches of Gallo Pinto when you want it by simply sautéing them together.

In Guanacaste they sometimes use small very hot red peppers instead of or in addition to the sweet. Some people add a tablespoon or so of salsa Lizano or Chilera to the beans while they’re cooking. Our friend Mercedes always simmered the beans very slowly all-day and preheated the water or chicken broth for the rice.

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Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Healthy Snacks, Lunch, Meatless, Whole Foods, Whole Grain

Lentil-Curry Soup

Posted on February 22, 2007 by Jenni| Leave a comment

I made this the other day and it turned out lovely! Makes great left overs for lunch or dinner!

Ingredients:

Same vegetables as Hearty Vegetable Stew

1 1/2 cups black, brown, red, or green lentils
3 teaspoons curry powder(or more to taste)
1 bunch cilanrtro, chopped (optional) or 4 whole bay leaves chopped (optional)

Boil the vegetables, lentils, and curry powder in a large pot ans simmer until the lentils and carrots are cooked through(about 45 minutes). Top with the cilantro or bay leaves, if desired.

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Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Soup

Hearty Vegetable Stew

Posted on February 22, 2007 by Jenni| 1 Comment

8 large carrots, chopped
5 stalks celery, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 head broccoli, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup okar
1/2 medium onion
Equal parts water and Pacific vegetable brothe to cover vegetables (about 6 cups)

1/2 serrano chili (optional)
Spike to taste
Curry powder to taste
Celtic sea salt to taste
Place the carrots, celery, leek, broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, okra, onion (and any other vegetables you desire) into a large pot with the water, broth, chili, and spices. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer until the carrots are semisoft.

As with all homemade soups, the longer the vegetables soak in the water(even while in the refrigerator), the more flavorful the soup will become. For a thicker soup, you may blend half the mixture then add it back to the batch.

Great served with a hot slice of homemade bread!

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Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Meatless, Soup

Liquid Gold Elixir

Posted on February 22, 2007 by Jenni| Leave a comment

This is a great and refreshing dressing. Next time I make it though I am going to cut the recipe to 1/3 of all the ingredients as I will not be able to make it through this amount of dressing even using it twice a day for two weeks!

2 cups fresh lemon juice
3 whole cloves garlic
3 tablespoons minced ginger
3 tablespoons Nama Shoyu soy sauce
3 heaping tablespoons raw honey (more if desired)
1 1/2 cups cold-pressed olive oil

Place all of the ingredients except the oil in the blender. Begin blending at normal speed. As the mixture is blending, slowly add the oil until it’s completely blended. This recipe should last about two weeks in the fridge.

Makes 4 cups

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Posted in Dressing, Lunch, Raw, Salads, Whole Foods

No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies-Vegan

Posted on February 19, 2007 by Jenni| 3 Comments

This is a variation of a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com, I made these tonight with the boys, they helped with a few of the ingredients and then mostly helped by scooping the contents onto the foil. These turned out really well and I was surprised at how much they tasted like the “real” ones! Will definitely make these again, makes a great after-dinner snack, a great replacement for a bowl of chocolate icecream! :)

Ingredients

2/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil (or other shortening of choice)
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a saucepan over medium heat combine the maple syrup, oil, cocoa and cinnamon. Boil for three minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, rolled oats and vanilla until well blended. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto waxed paper (I used foil and sprayed it so they wouldn’t stick) and chill to set, about 30 minutes. Keep refridgerated.

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Posted in Healthy Snacks, Low Sugar, Sweet Things, Whole Foods, Whole Grain

Smooth Mama Shake

Posted on February 14, 2007 by Jenni| 2 Comments

Since I started the Raw Food Detox Diet I’ve been drinking one of these shakes every morning. I was quite surprised at how well it tastes! She suggested this shake especially for women who are pregnant and starting the diet. I was also surprised to find out how much it filled me up, and I’m not hungry for anything else until my midmorning snack which might include a handful of nuts, piece of fruit, an organic rice cake, a piece of whole wheat toast or something like that.

2-3 teaspoons of Sun Chlorella Powder
1 banana
Splash of freshly squeezed juice or water
2-3 tablespoons of raw walnuts

Blend together and drink immediately.

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Posted in Breakfast, Drink, Low Sugar, Raw

A new adventure…

Posted on February 11, 2007 by Jenni| Leave a comment

Our family has been on a journey of learning how to eat more healthy for the past 5 years, ever since we got married Chris and I have been trying to figure out how to eat right. We’ve made some great progress, we feel, in that journey already. We mostly eat whole grain foods, make most of our own breads, no white flour or sugar, eating more fruits and veggies every day. So yesterday when I was given some money for my birthday I decided to look at a book store for a book on Detox. I found one that looked good, it’s called “The Raw Food Detox Diet” by Natalia Rose. I’ve started reading it already and am pleased with what I have read so far. It’s easy to understand, not too long, has great simple recipes that will be easy to adapt to our style of living/eating, gives really easy steps for anyone to follow. I’m just really impressed and feel very hopeful. Do we plan to go 100% raw foodists? No, nor do we plan to become vegetarians or vegans. We enjoy all those foods too much to face the thought of never eating cooked food/meat again. We do plan to change a lot about the way we eat, and for the first time I really feel like I have been handed a really simple tool to help us achive those goals. I’m excited about what this means for us as a family. It’s a journey, a lifelong journey I believe, of discovering what it truly means to be a faithful steward of this body, this “temple” the Lord has blessed us with. Should be fun to report the things we learn along the way, the struggles and the victories. Now I’m off to find some needed sleep after a long but fun birthday weekend, my family blessed me with a fun shopping day with my husband yesterday. I was able to purchase a few fun things that I’ve been wanting (including a couple shirts to accommodate our growing baby-he/she has outgrown almost all of my other shirts :). Isn’t it amazing how many wardrobes a woman can go through during her childbearing years?!

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Posted in Uncategorized

Juicing recipes

Posted on February 9, 2007 by Jenni| 6 Comments

I’ve been wanting some good juicing recipes, my friends Rana and Nicole shared these ones with me that they like. I plan to start juicing a lot more.

1. My favorite:
2 apples
2 oranges
6 medium carrots
1-inch chunk ginger

2. Waldorf Salad:
2-3 celery stalks
2 Granny Smith apples

3. Cleaning out the fridge:
Carrots
Beets, with greens
A little broccoli
Celery
Kale or collards or wheat grass, if you want extra greenery
Garlic, if you are battling a cold

4. Pop:
Blueberries
Grapes
Ginger
Sparkling water

5. Green Lemonade-Nicole
1 head of romaine lettuce
2 stalks celery
1 lemon
Few sprigs of kale
1 or 2 apples
1-2 inches of fresh ginger
Other veggies if you want, carrots, cucumber, squash

Can always add a little honey to sweeten

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Posted in Drink, Healthy Snacks, Low Sugar, Raw

Buckwheatie Bars

Posted on February 9, 2007 by Jenni| Leave a comment

We like to have healthy, preferably raw snacks around the house for those moments when one of us is thinking about being naughty sometime before the next meal! This is another recipe my friends Rana and Jana shared with me from Serene Allison’s raw cookbook “Rejuvenate Your Life.” A cookbook that I need to get my hands on! Jana gave me a taste of hers and they were very tasty!

Buckwheaties are the base for this recipe: Sprout buckwheat for two days. Rinse and drain well. Dehydrate thoroughly.

4 cups buckwheaties
1 c. raw honey
1/2-3/4 c. tahini
3/4 c. or more of golden flax meal (golden flax seeds ground in your coffee grinder)
Goodies (raisins, chopped dates, un-sulfured apricots, chopped walnuts and almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, whole flax seeds, Goji berries, pine nuts, Go wild!)

Mix all together. If it seems too dry, add more tahini and flax meal to bind. Put it all in a greased Pyrex plate. Freeze. When it is frozen, score into granola bars, and place in covered container until you want some. Keep frozen or refrigerated.

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Posted in Healthy Snacks, Low Sugar, Raw, Whole Foods