The Apple of My Eye

Hi all, sorry I've been on such a long Hiatus, but health concerns have definitely been taking their toll as of late.  Hopefully I'm back and will resume posting regularly.  I missed you guys!  Also, thank you to everyone who's been so patient and understanding while I recouped a bit :)

I actually have a lot of recipes I've been saving over the last weeks, just for you all, but I just HAD to post what I just made this afternoon, because the amazing aroma is just that, AMAZING!   Besides, who can pass on a good 'ol comfort food recipes made healthier? Hmm?
So here goes...

The Apple of My Eye, cooked apples

Total Time: 45 min

Prep            10 min

Inactive      10 min

Cook          25 min

Yield:         6 servings

Level:        Easy

 

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Organic cooking apples
• 3/4 cup Palm sugar 
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup coconut oil(or other dairy/salt free butter)

    * This recipe is adapted to be low in sugar, and free of Gluten and dairy.  Substitutions can be regular sugar (Palm sugar has a very low glycemic index, and has a lovely taste similar to raw sugar) and for those of you that can use dairy, substitute Unsalted butter.   I was a little heavy-handed on the cinnamon personally, but it's so good for you!  It even can have the wonderful effect of helping better control your glycemic index also, so doubly good news!

Directions

Core and quarter apples (do not peel). In a large heavy sauce pan combine all ingredients and bring to a boil, covered, over high heat. As soon as ingredients begin to boil, lower heat to a simmer. Simmer apples, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let apples stand, covered, for 10 minutes before serving.

I was very please with how these turned out.  You can really taste the apples and the sauce was a wonderful consistency.  Cooked apples are great as a side dish, served on various meats, served alone for a light, healthy dessert after your grill out, or try it on some creamy ice cream. Yum! 
Thank you all for stopping by today.  Remember to always be thankful for the opportunity to rise and greet the day, and "Eat to Live, and Live to Eat!"

It's All About Kale (Going Greens)

I thought Id share some yummy Kale recipes I've collected or created, in response to queries like "What do I do with stuff?  I've heard it's so good for you."  Well, that it is!  Kale is one of the healthiest cruciferous vegetables you can eat! What are cruciferous vegetables you ask? Only the best and the brightest vegetables of the bunch, with the most impact for great health!  Read more here (http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/super-veggies-cruciferous-vegetables) Back to our Rock star, Kale. It is loaded with vitamins, especially K, A and C, and has 45 different flavonoids with both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.  It also lowers cholesterol and is proven to help reduce one's chances of cancer.  What's not to love?!  Oh, and the taste, I'm loving it!  Kale is also wonderfully versatile.  You can sautee, steam, dehydrate into chips, add to soups or eat it raw, just to name a few.  Today, I'm going to share a few of my favorite recipes that are really easy to make and super tasty.

Sauteed Kale/Greens

You can have a lot of fun with this one.  I always try to keep some fresh Organic Kale in the fridge because I love how useful it is and eating cruciferous vegetables at least 2-3 times a week is ideal to keeping one really healthy.  Besides, I like it ;)

Kale has rather leathery leaves and come in various varieties.  Typical green Kale will work splendidly for most recipes, but have some fun with the other varieties too, which come in various colors or style of leaf shape and size. All are very good for you and taste great.  As I was saying you can have fun with sauteed Kale because you can add a variety of other greens with it, such as spinach, Swiss chard, collard greens, beet greens, turnip greens, etc.  You can also play around with the ingredients you add while sauteing.  I'll give you two different ways to make this dish, for starters.

Catherine's Garlicky Greens With a Kick!
 (This also works great with Swiss chard or Beet Greens)  

                 Example of greens starting to cook in the pan, don't cut them too small
Ingredients:


8 large Kale leaves
1-2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced Garlic
1/4 teaspoon dried chilies
1 Tablespoon soy sauce (or alternative)
1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Remove the stems from the leaves of the Kale.  If you chose the use the stems, chop them into 1/2 inch sections and set leaves aside.  Saute the stems in the olive oil on medium heat until the start to become tender,  about 10 minutes.  Coarsely chop the leaves (I use a 1 inch chiffonade cut).  Add the garlic, peppers Kale leaves and soy sauce and cook until tender.  This goes pretty fast, do not overcook.  They should still be a brilliant green.  Turn off the heat, add the lemon juice and toss.  Enjoy!

                                                   Made with red Kale
 

 A variation:
I substituted the Kale for beet greens from 4 beets and 1/2 bag organic spinach.  I've made this same recipe with 10 Swiss chard leaves also (definitely use the stems) and it came out beautifully.

                                                       

Catherine's Garlic Ginger Greens with Pine nuts

Ingredients


4 large Kale leaves
5 Rainbow chard leaves, or equal amount of another green. 
1-2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced Garlic
1-2 Tablespoons soy sauce (or alternative)
1teaspoon dried ginger (fresh would be awesome too!)
1/4 cup Vegetable broth
1/4 cup pine nuts


Remove the stems from the leaves of the Kale and Swiss chard (leave spinach leaves whole if used). Chop stems into 1/2 inch sections and set leaves aside.  Saute the stems in the olive oil on medium heat until the start to become tender,  about 10 minutes.  Coarsely chop the leaves (I use a 1 inch chiffonade cut).  Add the vegetable broth, garlic, ginger, greens and soy sauce and cook until tender.  Once again, as soon as they seem tender and are still a lovely green, remove from heat, add pine nuts and toss well.  
*Note:  I used the sesame seed oil based "un-soy sauce" from a previous blog and this smelled and tasted Amazing!!

Another variation:

                                  Kale, Rainbow Swiss chard and spinach, with Garlic
                                                            Isn't it Gorgeous?!

I seriously considered adding my fresh Kale salad to today's blog, since we're in the spirit of Kale BUT, I think we'll add that to salads (you're going to love this!)....coming up SOON!  I've got to alter Mom's lovely Kale soup also, but that will be another day ;)
Now go out buy yourself some lively looking,Organic greens and get creating.  Have some fun, add some color, and eat to live, one bite at a time!

The Simple Egg Rises to Royalty

Now going on almost six years ago, after a severe case of food poisoning, I decided to go Vegetarian.  Yep, you guessed it.  I got extremely ill from eating meat.  It wasn't the first time, but it certainly was going to be the last!  My family didn't take me seriously at the time, thinking I'd go back to eating steak in a few weeks but I stuck to my word and began researching healthy meat free recipes.  I can think of all the people throughout the years that said "You don't eat meat?  What do you eat?!"  My simple reply, "Anything but!" with a big grin on my face. 

People appeared "uncomfortable" for quite awhile, and actually seemed to be in a state of panic, especially at big holiday dinners, not knowing what to feed me.  I'm still bewildered at their apparent state of extreme anxiety about my diet.  There were even instances where I wasn't invited because they had no clue "what I could eat!"  Seems a bit extreme, at the very least.  I am SO delighted Vegetarianism is slowly becoming more popular.  It really is a healthy way of life!

I digress.  Why am I telling you all this?  I'm now going to introduce the dish that soon entered royalty among my friends and family, especially at big dinners.  Not only did I start getting a lot of invitations to dinner parties but this became the featured dish people desired to see on the table.  My younger daughter even requested we skip her birthday cake and just make this because she loved it so much!  What is this marvelous mystery dish delivered in a pan?  I introduce you to the fluffiest, tastiest egg dish you'll ever want to let pass your lips that donned me the "Queen of the Quiches".

Quiche?!  Are you serious?  ABSOLUTELY! Not so many years ago you wouldn't catch a man touching that sissy stuff.  Well, thankfully times have changed.  Another question you may be asking is, "Wait, I thought you said you can't eat eggs anymore?!"  Well, that's true BUT, I had so many people requesting my recipe and this IS a food blog, so I figured, why not?   I don't want to hide a treasure like this.  So, here's my famous quiche recipe, pre-realization of Gluten and egg allergies.  I hope it becomes a family favorite for your clan also.

*Note: Watch for a posting of my Gluten and egg free Quiche in the very near future, for my allergy sisters and brothers.  I want to perfect it first :)

Catherine's Famous Quiche

                                                                Isn't she a beauty?

Ingredients

* 4 extra large eggs, lightly beaten  (5 Large)
* 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (half and half works great too)
* Salt and pepper
* 2 cups chopped fresh Spinach
* 1 cup sliced mushrooms (I'm generous on the mushrooms personally)
* 1/2 of a small onion, diced
* 1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
* 1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust, fitted to a 9-inch glass pie plate

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine the eggs, cream, salt, and pepper in a food processor or blender until it just looks "bubbly", so you get a light fluffy quiche.  Be careful not to over blend or the protein in the eggs will cause them to become hard.  Layer the cheese, spinach, onion and mushrooms in the bottom of the pie crust, then pour the egg mixture on top. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the egg mixture is set. Test with toothpick. Let cool for a few minutes and cut into 8 wedges.  Enjoy!

Substitutions and tricks

First of all have fun with making your quiche.  Try different variation of vegetables, cheeses and yes, if you'd really like, you can add meat, such as ham.  Try Asparagus with mushrooms and Swiss, or broccoli with cheddar.  I  even added Vegetarian friendly chicken or bacon in the past.  It's pretty hard to make a "bad" quiche.

                                    Top: Broccoli cheddar   Bottom: Asparagus, mushroom Swiss cheese
You'll also notice I use stoneware.  I think quiche comes out much more moist and fluffy in a stoneware pan.  The cooking times may change compared to cooking in glass, so monitor your delicious dish.  Also, with stoneware, it stays hot longer, so it will continue to cook a little while after removal from the oven.  Allow for this extra cooking and take it out before it gets too done.
Frozen vegetables work great also!  Fresh veggies are sometimes hard to come by at times and have a short shelf life, whereas frozen is always nutritious (flash frozen right after picking), are a good back up, handy and simple to use. 

Quiche is a wonderful way to step out of the ordinary meal and really wow your family with a delicious Vegetarian alternative.  Quiche is really great to warm up the next morning for breakfast and freezes well too.  Now go out and get some eggs, cream and veggies.  You're going to love adding this to your library of recipes and seeing the smiles on your family, while you learn how to eat to live, one bite at a time.

Cheers
~Catherine

Yam Fry bread - Gluten and Dairy free

I happened to have some lovely Organic Yams that I baked the other day, sitting on the top shelf of my refrigerator, calling me to be used in today’s creation.  I thought sure, why not, but I want to do something "different".  A friend of mine had talked about making some delicious Gluten Free Fry Bread last week, so I hunted down the recipe and went to altering it.


What is Fry bread you say?  This is a traditional food of Native American origin, and is commonly found throughout the United States, but was a major food staple for many of the Plains tribes. It’s a flat dough fried in lard, oil or shortening and has yeast or baking powder for leavening.  Fry bread is delicious eaten alone, with honey or a variety of toppings including meats, cheeses and fresh vegetables.
Now for something a little different!

                                                  Aren't they a delightful color? 

Ingredients

• 1 C Organic Yam Puree
• Ener G Egg Replacer equal to 2 Eggs
• 1/4 C Organic Coconut Flour
• 1/2 C Sweet Sorghum Flour
• 1 C Almond Flour
• 1 tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 1 Tbsp Dried Chives
• Fresh Cracked Pepper
• Olive Oil margarine for Cooking
• Aprox. 3/4 C filtered water 

Substitutions: 

2 real Eggs
Tapioca Flour (instead of Sorghum)

Onion powder (instead of Chives) 

real butter or margarine.
This recipe works really well with Butternut Squash also, but omit the additional water.

Directions

1. To make the Yam puree, simply cook the yam in a manner you prefer, let it cool (remove the skin) and blend it up.  You can add a little of the water to help the blending process, if necessary.  Save the remainder of the water.

2. In a small bowl combine the yams and egg replacer.


3. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (do not add the margarine).


4. Add dry ingredients into wet and stir to combine. 
The consistency should look like a rather thick pancake batter, if still too stiff add additional water in small amounts while stirring.  You do not want it too runny.

5. Preheat 1 Tbsp of margarine in a heavy bottom pan on the stove top, over medium to medium high heat.


6. Spoon aprox. 2 Tbsp of the batter for each Fry bread, into the preheated pan and allow to cook for about 2 minutes on the first side. (Watch for the edges to start turning golden brown).
Flip the fry bread over and gently flatten with the back of the spatula. Allow the bread to cook an additional 2 minutes until nicely browned on both sides and warmed through.  Make sure your heat is not too high or it will scorch the outside and leave the inside uncooked.


7. Remove from pan and enjoy warm!

(Variation of an original recipe found at fastpaleo.com)

I have, in the past, made and eaten traditional Fry bread and it is quite tasty. Although this creation is definitely a few steps from the traditional, I was delighted in how it turned out.  
Sometimes eating is all about the enjoyment of beautiful sights, smells, textures and tastes. Having a little fun creating our delicacies, only adds to the indulgence. 


Cheers!
~Catherine
 

A day of Experimentation with "un" soy sauce!

This afternoon I was excited to finally try out an amazing new recipe my friend had sent me.  I happily pulled out the recipe box, collected up the ingredients, and came….. to a screeching halt.  Yep, there was an ingredient, a rather important one at that, which was something I could not use, due to the Gluten and soy it normally contains.  So, being the resourceful person I am, I started hunting for alternatives.  This led me on a windy little road of exploration and experimentation.

The problem child for the day was Soy sauce, or more specifically, Tamari.  Tamari is made with more soybeans, resulting in a smoother, more balanced, and complex flavor than the typical soy sauce seen in most restaurants and stores.  Okay, that was your food lesson for today, let's get back to the ingredient problem. ;)  My new recipe needed Tamari and I had none I could use, so I must create one. Oh joy!  I get to create! I dug up two recipes and crowned them the best of the feeble bunch and got down to the next portion of research and development.  My list of ingredients seemed odd, but promising.  Here is trial number one; it ended up looking and tasting fairly similar to real Soy Sauce.

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons vegetable broth + aprox. 1/2 tsp salt to taste
• 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons raw dark blue Agave
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 pinch white pepper 
• 1 pinch garlic powder
• 1 1/4 cups water

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together the broth, balsamic vinegar, Agave, ginger, white pepper, garlic powder and water. Boil gently until liquid is reduced to about 1 cup, about 15 minutes.

Substitutions:

4 T beef bouillon instead of vegetable broth and salt. Add ¼ c water if you use bouillon.
Molasses instead of Agave.

Any fresh ground pepper will work. 

   

(This recipe was created from a variation to a recipe from allrecipes.com) 

 

For recipe number two, I ended up with a very different, but extremely tasty sauce.

 Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 Tablespoons Vegetable broth + Aprox. 1/3 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 Tablespoon dark blue Agave
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pinch ginger
•  1 pinch garlic powder
  
  

I followed the same directions as above to simmer it.

Substitutions are the same as above, but the author stated she tried Canola oil.  Personally I would try and stick to the Sesame seed oil, it smells Amazing!

For both recipes, store refrigerated in an air tight container (I prefer glass)

(This was a variation of a recipe originally from RecipeZaar.)

Now that I have two new great Gluten free Soy Sauce substitutes, it opens a wide range of possibilities for more creations to come.  That, and I can make the other recipe I wanted to try out earlier today.  Catch you soon, good eating to you.

 

Welcome to my Blog

Most people feel in today’s fast paced world, it can be quite a challenge planning a healthy, beautiful and delicious meal that is simple and quick to make. Add in having chronic illnesses to that mix, ease and short duration are absolutely essential. We live in a world of processed, easy to grab and eat foods that are packed with salt, fat, sugar, chemicals and preservatives that are definitely making the American waistline expand, and it’s effects are adding to health costs and personal suffering, unnecessarily. For the huge population of people dealing with health conditions that sap their energy or prevent them from standing at the stove for hours, they resort to a lot of unhealthy, prepackaged foods. 

Well I say, throw down those old thoughts (and that bag of chips) and listen up! I’m going to offer some really healthy, easy to make recipes and ideas that will change your mind about eating and cooking, so you’ll want to pick up that frying pan and spatula again.  You’re going to learn how to eat to live, one bite at a time!