Cabbage & Apples

You’ll Need:
1 medium cabbage, coarsely chopped
2 tart apples, cored, diced
2 medium onions, quartered and sliced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed
½ cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons spicy mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 Apple slices for a garnish

Method:
1) Sauté the onions, chopped cabbage, and apples in the olive oil for about 5 minutes.
2) Toss with the salt and pepper.
3) In a cup, combine the apple juice concentrate, chicken broth, and mustard and pour over the cabbage mixture.
4) Cover and cook on low for another 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

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You’ll want to be sure that you have already cooked brown rice in your refrigerator, before you make this recipe.

2 cloves minced garlic

8-10 ounces of frozen chopped spinach (if you use fresh spinach, saute spinach until wilted)

28-ounce can of tomatoes

2 cup already-cooked brown rice

½ cup raisins

1) Sauté 2 cloves of minced garlic in olive oil.

2) Squeeze out the water from of defrosted frozen spinach, add along with one 28-ounce can of tomatoes, ½ cup raisins for a little sweetness, and 2 cups already cooked brown rice.

3) Stir and heat everything for just a few minutes.

4) Serve topped with grated mozzarella cheese.

Mmm, just the way I love it! Eating is believing!

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Method:
1. Grease a baking dish and set aside.

2. In a medium pan combine the pepper, onion, carrot and olive oil. Sauté for about 10 minutes.

3. In a large mixing bowl stir together the corn, milk, flour, and 1 cup of the cheese, and eggs. Stir in the cooked vegetables. Transfer mixture to your prepared baking dish.

4. Bake uncovered in 325 degree over for 45 minutes, or until the center is set. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.

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Humus is a great dip for rice crackers and veggie strips.
It’s not expensive to make and when you make it yourself, you can control how spicy it is.

2  15 ounce cans of garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 chopped red pepper
1 Teaspoon cumin
1 Teaspoon tahini
Salt and Pepper

Method:
1) Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans.
2) Place all the ingredients in your blender.
3) Secure the lid and process on high until smooth.
4) Serve with rice cracker and veggie strips.

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Don’t know what kind of sandwich to make without nitrate-filled luncheon meats?

You can make delicious sandwiches for a school lunch or for a picnic. Be sure to pack with an ice pack. Not only are these sandwiches nitrate-free, but they’re less expensive than processed meats!

This recipe makes 4 sandwiches and works equally well for egg or chicken or tuna salad sandwiches.

These sandwiches are made using the same method:

1½ cups of either chicken (you may use canned chicken), 12 ounces chunk light tuna, or 4 hardboiled eggs. Finely chop the eggs, chicken, or tuna. In a mixing bowl, add ¼ cup each chopped celery and ¼ cup green onion or onion, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ½ cup mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons mustard, ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper

Spread the mixture on four slices of toasted whole-grain bread. Top with sliced tomatoes; place a second piece of bread on top.

Mmmm. Tasty and nutritious

Method:
1. In a large pan, sauté the onion, celery, and pepper for about 10 minutes in olive oil or chicken broth. Add the garlic the last 2 minutes.

2. Wash and drain the lentils.

3.  Add the lentils, salt, pepper, bay leafs, and the broth to the vegetable mixture.

4. Bring to a boil; then reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, until the lentils are tender.

5. Cook the small shell macaroni and add to each bowl of soup.

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There’s nothing like a nice hot bowl of soup on a cold winter’s day. Soup is winter comfort food. Unfortunately, most soup consumed is the processed variety, full of additives.

Today, homemade soup is a rarity, because of the time involved. Cooking a soup stock can take hours. So, we rely on the canned and dried varieties of soup. No matter the brand of processed soup, the flavor is never the same as one cooked from scratch.

You can make yummy soups in a fraction of the time, using premade chicken broth. Chicken broth will give your quick soups depth of flavor. In fact, it may be hard to discern a 30-minute soup from one that’s simmered for hours.

If you purchase organic, free-range chicken broth, you’ll avoid many of the additives in canned soups and other broths. Look for chicken broth made from grain-fed chickens, raised without hormones or antibiotics. Also, in this broth the salt content will be lower.

On the next cold winter day, make a hot sweet potato soup that’ll warm you from the inside out!

Sweet Potato Soup
This recipe takes only 30 minutes to complete from start to finish. It’s so tasty, you’ll think that your eating at a fancy restaurant! Serves 4

You’ll need:
3 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb)
1 medium onion
1 medium carrot
1 stalk of celery
32 ounces of chicken or vegetable broth
½ teaspoon each of sage and pepper
1/3 cup heavy cream or canned organic coconut milk

Method:
1. Coarsely chop the veggies and potatoes.
2. Place in a pot with the chicken broth and seasonings.
3. Boil until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and cool for about 5 minutes.
5. Alternatively place veggies and potatoes in a blender with 1 cup of the broth. You control the texture of the soup with the amount of broth used. (We like it thick and creamy.) Puree, until the consistency is smooth.
6. Repeat until all is pureed and ladle into bowls.
7. Add most of the coconut or cream to the soup.
7. Drizzle remaining cream or coconut milk in each bowl.

Make these yummy oat bran muffins and your meal will be complete!

Oat Bran Muffins
Yield: One dozen muffins
Heat oven to 400 degrees
1¼ cups oat bran (pulse 1 cup rolled oats in your blender to make oat flour)
1 cup whole-wheat flour
or pastry wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup milk
¼ cup honey
2 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter
or coconut oil
½ cup raisins or blueberries

1. Put paper muffin cups in a muffin tin (or coat with coconut oil or butter).
2. Chop fruit into bite-size pieces
3. In a mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
4. In another small bowl combine applesauce, milk, honey, eggs, and oil.
5. Make a well in the center of dry mixture. Add wet ingredients. Stir until moistened.
6. Spoon batter into greased muffin tin. Fill each about 2/3 full.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for about ten minutes
8. Remove from oven and cool.

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2 cloves minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped basil
Pinch each of salt and pepper
2 15-ounce cans Great Northern Beans, drained

1.) Heat olive oil on medium, add minced garlic, stir for one minute.

2) Add the chopped basil, salt, and pepper.

3) Mix in the drained beans and heat.

Older children can make these Oven-Fried Potatoes by themselves, younger children will need your assistance. Have your helper sit on a kitchen chair and move the trash can so he can comfortably hold  a potato over it. With a potato peeler, let him get to work peeling 4 medium potatoes. Be sure to rinse them off when he’s finished.

1) Cut 4 pealed potatoes into ¼ strips. Then dry the strips with paper towels. (Even a younger child can help dry the ptoato strips.)

2) Place the potatoes on a cookie sheet; let your child toss them with about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon each of pepper and garlic powder with her fingers.

3) Spread the potato strips in a single layer and place in a preheated 475 oven.

4) Turn potato strips after 10 minutes. Bake for another 10 minutes, until golden brown.

Remember to make cooking fun! Always tell your child how much you love him and how much you enjoy your his company. Remember to tell him what a good job he did helping you make dinner! Finally, take the taste test. These are outrageously yummy!

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Take along a yummy broccoli and cauliflower salad. This recipe makes enough for a crowd and it’s easy to make.

Cut 1 head broccoli and 1 head cauliflower into bite-size pieces. Place in a colander and rinse and drain.
Finely chop 1 medium red or yellow onion and 1 medium bell pepper.
Add ½ cup red wine vinegar and ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder and ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Optional: 4 thinly sliced radishes and about 6 ounces of sliced black or green olives.

Stir everything together. Chill and serve.

Another variation is to substitute mayonnaise for the vinegar and oil.

Remember that mayonnaise needs refrigeration.