Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I borrowed this cookbook from my friend Beth today, and I am so excited to learn how to make healthy bread! And it really seems like after you learn the principles taught in this book that making healthy bread will become delicious and easy. I may just have to buy this book...My dough for the week is rising on the counter now :)

Start Your Day With Peace, Energy and Joy

For about a week, I've been waking up earlier so that I have time to pray, meditate, read scriptures and do yoga before John wakes up (sometimes he wakes up in the middle of it, but by then I am grounded with more patience and love than I usually have if I sleep until he wakes up.) This is the guided morning meditation I have been using. 

Seriously, you need to try this!!! Do it! Tomorrow! You will feel better, and your day will go better.

PB and Strawberry Banana 'Milk'shake

PB and Strawberry Banana 'Milk'shake
Makes about 30oz. or 4.5 cups

Ingredients
- 1.5 cups frozen strawberries
- 1 ripe frozen banana
- 1/4 cup natural peanut butter (or almond butter or 1/4 c. raw pecans)
- 1-2 Tb. pure maple syrup (or honey or agave)
- 1.5 cups or 12 oz. almond milk (or soy milk)


Directions
1. Blend all ingredients in high powered blender (Vitamix's are the best!!!)





Tips
1. You don't really need to measure everything in the recipe unless you want to. As Rachael Ray says, "I just eyeball it."

2. I usually make a milkshake similar to this for John (obviously not this much) instead of giving him whole milk. Almond milk has 50% more calcium than dairy milk (is also fortified with Vit. D) and your body can digest it better. You pump up the calories and protein with the nut butter, and I occasionally use soy milk to pump up the calories and protein even more!

3. I am careful about not using a ton of soy milk all the time. It's good to trade off. Soy contains phytoestrogens that can sometimes mix up male hormones if consumed in very large quantities (and I mean a large daily amount), but we want to play it safe and reap the benefits but not any side effects.

Fruity Salad Smoothie

Fruity Salad Smoothie
Makes 50-60 oz. or 6-7 cups

Ingredients
- 1 cup pineapple 
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 1 cup strawberries
- 1/2 a ripe banana
- a whole (peeled orange)
- 2 large carrots (quartered)
- 2 stalks celery (quartered)
- 1 apple (quartered with seeds removed)
- 1-2 cups of spinach, chard or kale
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 Tb ground flaxseed (or chia seeds)
- water (or you can use part apple cider/apple juice and part water)

Directions
1. Blend all ingredients in high powered blender (Vitamix's are the best!!!), using enough liquid to help your blender along and reach your desired consistency. I usually add a cup at first and add a half a cup as needed.

Tips
1. You can use fresh or frozen fruit, whatever you have available
2. And if you have fresh fruit, I strongly urge you to wash it first! You can scrub it with water, or you can also use Fit Wash, which we love!
3. And seriously, don't hesitate to substitute! If you don't have and orange, but you have some peaches or half a lemon, go for it. Smoothie recipes usually don't need to be exact.

Note, the color of the finished smoothie would be a bit darker, but I ran out of spinach today :(

Garlic Roasted Breaded Mushrooms

Perhaps I'm on a roll! I had a bunch of mushrooms left over from some soup I made the other day, and needed to use them tonight. We always keep onions and garlic around, and all the rest of the ingredients are pantry staples. It smelled so good, even before we put it in the oven! Seth said it smelled like an Italian restaurant. Mushrooms aren't Seth's favorite, but he said that this is the best way to eat mushrooms that he's tried. That's a compliment to remember :)

Garlic Roasted Breaded Mushrooms 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• • 4 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 4 teaspoons)
  • 1 tsp. dried rosemary
  • 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 Tb. melted margarine (or you could use olive oil)
  • 1 Tb. ground flaxseed (any health food store has it usually in bulk) mixed with 3 Tb water (until egg white consistency)
  • 1/2 a medium onion (white, sweet or yellow), finely diced
  • about 5 cups baby bella (or any type) mushrooms, wiped clean
  Topping
  • 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 2 Tb. nutritional yeast (any health food store has it usually in bulk)
  • 1 Tb. lemon juice
  Garnish
  • Chiffonade fresh spinach, parsley, or basil for garnish
  
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (rack in the center)

2. Then in a large bowl, combine all ingredients except onion and mushrooms. Whisk together, then add mushrooms and onions and toss until everything is coated in the dressing.

3. Pour mushrooms into a (lightly greased) large  baking dish in a single layer and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

4. In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients with a fork.

5. Stir the mushrooms, spread Panko bread crumbs over them and continue roasting until Panko is golden brown and mushrooms are tender (10-15 more minutes)

6.Garnish with fresh herbs or spinach

Tips:

1. This is a very flavorful dish. It would be excellent if you serve it over a grain like quinoa, rice or cous cous, and a green salad on the side you can make it the main dish.

2. I served this with a spaghetti squash (that we grew in our garden, whoohooo!)mixed with spaghetti sauce from a jar. It made for a pretty easy meal :)I'll post about making spaghetti squash sometime in the future.

Pineapple Stir-fry Salad

 

Pineapple Stir-fry Salad

Serves 4-6

Stir-fry Ingredients
- 2 Tb. veggie stock or water
- 1 large onion, rough diced
- 2 bell peppers, rough diced
- 4 cups broccoli (fresh or frozen), rough diced
- 1 large carrot, shredded
- 1 cup pineapple (fresh or frozen, or canned....but only if you have to)

Sauce Ingredients
- 1 Tb. garlic, minced
- 2-3 Tb. agave or honey
- 1 Tb. lemon or lime juice
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2-3 cup pineapple juice (fresh or frozen, or canned....but only if you have to) (or if you don't have juice, just increase pineapple chunks in stir-fry ingredients to 2 cups)
- 1/8-1/4 cup water (as needed to leave enough juice for the sauce)

Cous Cous
- 1.5 cups cous cous dry
- 1.5 cups water or veggie stock
- 1/2 Tb. olive oil (opt.)

Salad
- 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 2 (packed) cups spinach, torn or chopped

Garnish
- 1-2 avocados
- 1/2-2/3 cup cashews or pecans, rough chopped

Directions:
1. In a large pan or wok, (with veggie stock or little water) over medium high heat, saute all veggies and pineapple chunks  until onions are translucent and other veggies are tender. Add all the Sauce Ingredients as soon as you get all the Stri-fry Ingredients into the pan.

2. In a medium sized saucepan, bring 1.5 cups water (and oil if using) to a boil; add cous cous; remove from heat and cover; let sit for 5 min. Then fluff with a fork.

3. To assemble salads split all the ingredients into 4-6 portions (in large bowls is best) (do 4 portions if this is your whole dinner, 6 if you have another side) Add them in this order:
1. salad
2. cous cous
3. stirfry
4. garnish

Tips:
- I invented this recipe just with items that I had in my fridge that needed to be eaten, and items that I always have in my pantry/fridge or freezer. So be creative and substitute with whatever you have! For example, you could use 
oranges for pineapple, 
almonds for the nuts, 
rice or quinoa for the cous cous, 
etc.
- Obviously, if you want to add meat or beans, go for it! The possibilities are endless, this is stir-fry we're talking about!