Creative Counterpart

I adapted a better for you brownies recipe to fit a whole foods lifestyle and wanted to share.

Better For You Brownies

1     cup butter
1      cup honey
1      cup sugar (or another 3/4 cup honey or other sweetener)
2     teaspoons vanilla
4     eggs
1/4   cup milk
3/4     cup cocoa
1     cup whole wheat flour
1/2     teaspoon baking powder
1/4     teaspoon sea salt
1     cup chopped nuts or sunflower kernels (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 13×9×2 inch baking pan.
3. Melt butter in microwave.
4. Stir in honey, sugar, vanilla, milk, & cocoa.
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
6. Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat until well blended.
7. Stir in nuts, if desired.
8. Pour batter into pan.
9. Bake 30-35 minutes.

The other night, I had some peas from our Garden that I wanted to prepare. I decided to make a yummy stir fry. Here is what I did:

You will need:

• Cooked Rice
• Peas, Shredded carrots, onion, and any other veggies you want to use.
• Cooked Pinto Beans
• Oil (Olive Oil or Peanut oil work well and are whole food options) OR Butter
• Soy sauce

First saute some green onion in butter, then add shredded carrots & peas. Saute until the vegetables start to cook well.

Then, add the pinto beans. Stirring often, saute until the vegetables are close to done. You can cook the vegeatables as crispy or soft as you like.

Pushing the veggies to the side of the pan and adding more butter and soy sauce, I add the rice and begin stirring constantly until the rice is hot.

Serve with soy sauce and enjoy!

I also made some Homemade sourdough bread. This recipe turned out a little too sour for my families liking, although we do enjoy it with some honey on it to sweeten it up.

I’ll be looking around for a different sourdough bread recipe that my family will enjoy more as a sandwich type bread.

It’s finally here! Yesterday I picked up Nourishing Traditions from my local library. I have been waiting for it to arrive from Inter-Library loan for about 1 week. I’ve been so excited to read it, because I wanted to get started on the basics of changing my family’s eating habits.

If you havn’t already read it, Nourishing Traditions is way more than just a cookbook. It is full of studies and research findings that challenge our modern nutritional thinking and the “politically correct” nutrition that we have been taught. It brings us back to the traditions of our grandparents and great grandparents nutrition, introducing more whole fats back into our diet  that kept our forefathers healthy and nourished.

We now use full fat butter and cream instead of margerine. Surprisingly, even many modern day doctors are willing to admit that margerine and vegetable oil spreads are detrimental to our health. We aim to avoid prepackaged foods, soft drinks, frozen foods, and fast foods which often contain large amounts of sugar, hight fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated and highly processed vegetable oil, and refined flour. Other dangerous ingredients include MSG and hydrolyzed protein, both known neurotoxins that serve as dangerous substitutes for properly made meat broths.

This book is full of wonderful recipes for making your own dairy cultures (buttermilk, yogurt, etc), condiments (replacing commercial junk condiments), meat stocks, desserts, main dishes, and loads of other recipes supporting a whole foods. I love the list of Superfoods in the back that can be used as natural supplements, as opposed to vitamins that can cause nutrient imbalances. Three of these superfoods that I would like to implement are cod liver oil, kelp, and evening primrose oil (which I have taken during pregnancy.)

I highly recommend this book to ANYONE. I could go on about the information contained in this book, but it would be pointless. I could not do the book justice; And well, you just have to read it for yourself. It has changed my entire outlook on how I cook for and nourish my family.

This makes a wonderful Christmas gift to last all year long. Who doesn’t love Hot Cocoa? Mix up a batch or more for each family you gift to. Each “batch” makes 16 servings. Throw in some marshmallows for an extra treat.

• 3 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1 cup powdered nondairy creamer
• 1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder

1.) In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Store in airtight container.

Instructions for making a cup of Hot Cocoa:

For each serving, place 1/3 cup mix in a mug and add 3/4 cup boiling water.

I thought I would share another little recipe from our gluten-free adventure. Since starting this new diet, I found out that Rice Chex are now gluten-free. You can find a whole page of gluten-free recipes on their website. Something I have indulged in as a child is what I call “puppy chow”. Other’s might know this as Muddy Buddies or Monkey Munch. I thought it’d be a fun treat for me to throw together this week on our diet adventure.. and I even got little man to pose with his “chocolate” as he so excitedly exclaims!

In an attempt to figure out what is causing our son’s digestive problems and iron deficiency, my husband and I have put him on a gluten-free diet for the moment. I have taken hold of this challenge and consider it a new life experience and an opportunity to acquire new skills in preparing food. I hope to share some of my gluten-free findings with you on my blog. First off, I’d like to share a great peanut butter cookie recipe that is just slightly crunchier than the flour variety, and super easy. Enjoy!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

(Recipe from Gluten Free Girl)

One cup creamy peanut butter
One cup white sugar
One teaspoon baking powder
One egg

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Cream the peanut butter and sugar in a bowl. (As much as I love my KitchenAid, I have found that this is a hand-stirring job). Beat in the baking powder. Add the egg. Mix until it is all well combined.

The dough will be sticky, so be prepared to get your hands messy. Roll some dough into a ball. (How big? That depends on you. I have found, however, that the smaller these cookies are, the better they hold together. Eat two instead of one!) Roll the ball into white sugar. Line a baking sheet, covered in parchment paper, with sugary balls of dough. Press down with fork.

Bake in the oven for about ten minutes. You will know the cookies are done when they feel coherent, but still a little soft. Take the tray out of the oven and let the cookies rest for at least five minutes. Afterwards, carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. After ten minutes or so, they will have hardened and be glistening with sugar.

Eat them.

Makes ten to twelve cookies.

I hadn’t had these cookies in quite awhile. Mainly because my husband does not like oatmeal, so he won’t eat these cookies; But, I grew up making them with my mom and I still enjoy them today. They are easy peasy and quick. I really wish all cookies could be this simple. If they were, I would make more of my husband’s favorites more often. Don’t be too sad for him, though. He’ll be getting rice krispie treats this week.

Now for the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened.

A TIP for those that complained about the texture…it’s all about the boiling time. If you underboil you will get cookies that won’t set, if you overboil, you will get cookies that will crumble and not form at all. This recipe calls for 1 1/2 minutes. My suggestion for the perfect cookie is to time it from a FULL boil and do 1 1/2 minutes from that point.

I made this pumpkin bread in a Zojirushi bread machine, but it should work with any standard size bread machine with a cake or quick bread cycle. I mix the ingredients in a bowl first to make sure they’re well combined.

PREPARATION:

Spray bread machine pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a bowl, mix first 4 ingredients together until well blended; stir in the baking powder, soda, salt, spices, and flour just until mixed. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and set on the cake or quick bread cycle.

Add chopped nuts at the beep, if using. Carefully loosen the loaf and turn out onto a rack to cool.

Bored? Stuck inside? Need something to entertain the kids? Make play dough!

Mister Rogers’ Easy Play Dough 

• 2 cups flour
  
• 1 cup water
  

Mix together well. You can put dry Kool-Aid or Jell-O in the mix if you want colored dough.

Find more play dough recipes here.

Every week, like a faithful little shopper, I would buy those boxes of prepackaged rice mix. They were a staple for my family as quick and easy meals. With a side of veggies, they are a quick meal for a busy day.

Then I realized how much I was actually paying for convenience, and how easy it is to make your own mix. The best thing? You don’t even have to make it ahead of time! I have included some easy mixes that my family uses below. Experiment with them and other ingredients, and you can make up any kind of rice mix you like.

Just Remember: 1 part rice & 2 parts water… so if you want to make 1 cup of rice, use 2 cups water, and no raising the lid on that pan all the time! Keep that lid sealed until the rice is done.’

Dirty Rice ~
Hamburger (precooked)
Rice
2 pinches of Red pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon beef bouillon or 1 cube
pinch of salt

You can add in extra spices if you like… creole seasoning, etc.

Chicken Rice ~
Cubed Chicken (precooked)
Rice
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon or 1 cube
1 teaspoon of dried onion flakes