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Some people can take or leave oyster crackers. Often overlooked when they arrive with your soup or salad, I say that these little hexagonal nuggets of salty, starchy goodness are completely underrated. This recipe, passed to me by my mom via her godmother, has been not only a party hit but a comfort food when I’m craving something savory.

Click to continue reading Ranch Oyster Crackers Recipe


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poundcake

Cake. We can all agree that it’s awesome, correct? Good. While it’s undeniably easy to stop in your trendiest neighborhood bakery or pick up a boxed mix and a tub of frosting (and please just… don’t), making a cake from scratch is not nearly as intimidating as you might think. In fact, I’m fully confident that anyone with a mixer and a bundt pan can successfully bake this cake. Besides, starting from a recipe as great as this one, you don’t have to be an expert baker, you just have to have good notes from the real recipe experts - in this case, grandmothers.

Click to continue reading Recipe: Dave’s Grandmother’s Pound Cake


Monkey picked teaWe know, it sounds odd. Why would anyone want to drink tea that has bee picked by a monkey? Does it make it taste any better? As the story goes, this is some of the best tea available, but the trees it grows in are too high, and the mountain face where the trees are is too steep. However, the tea is so delicious that the locals had to have it - so they trained monkeys to pick it. Fast-forward to today, and the practice of monkeys picking tea has pretty much died out, except in one small village where the tradition continues to this day.

Each package is about 2 oz, and we hear it is just about the finest loose tea you’ll ever taste. Each bag makes about 28 servings. Go ahead and pick up a bag over at ThinkGeek Caffeine. Find it under the drinks area.

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ThinkGeek Caffeine


Carbonara Pasta

Carbonara


Ingredients:

1 lb Bacon, fried
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 pint of heavy cream
1 lb Chicken sauteed until done
2 cups Parmesan or Romano cheese, shredded

Click to continue reading Recipe: Carbonara Pasta


No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

Our family likes to make up a batch or two of these healthy to keep in the freezer, they work great for when we are feeling like something sweet but not wanting to be “bad.” They make a healthy for the whole family, and they are so easy to make. I make these cookies if I am wanting to do some cooking with the kids but don’t have time to make something that is really involved. Because you don’t have to bake these cookies, they make up in less than 30 minutes.

Vegan No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil (or other shortening of choice)
  • 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, less if you don’t like a really rich flavor
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. In a saucepan over medium heat combine the maple syrup, oil, cocoa and cinnamon. Boil for three minutes, stirring constantly.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, rolled oats and vanilla until well blended.
  3. 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 refrigerated.
Blueberry Pecan Whole Grain Muffins

I made these last night to go with our dinner and, wow, they were awesome! The kids loved them—in fact, I think they would have preferred to just have muffins for dinner! I got this recipe from All Recipes and altered it quite a bit. I was very happy with how they turned out, very moist and full of flavor. If you want a little sweeter muffin, add more honey, or just drizzle a little honey on your warm muffin. These were great, we will be trying them again soon.

Click to continue reading Recipe: Blueberry Pecan Whole Grain Muffins


Strawberry

Many people would love to buy produce, organic meat, and live a more wholesome life. But what stops most of us? Money, time and space. The mindset I’ve struggled with is, “I can’t buy organic because it’s too expensive,” or “I don’t have the space to have a because we have such a small yard.” My husband, Chris, found this website called Path to Freedom, that really challenges those limiting mindsets. The website is put together by a family who lives in urban Pasadena, California. This family has turned their small 1/5 acre lot into a rich garden with around 400 varieties of edible plants, supplying nourishment for them as well as a sustaining organic produce company. I found this site interesting and extremely inspiring. Take a look at their site and see if it doesn’t inspire you to turn your rose bushes into string beans!

Read More | Path To Freedom

Blackberry Dressing

My friend Crystal is a creative cook, and she came up with this recipe when we were over for dinner the other day. It was amazing! I was so glad when she shared the recipe with me. We enjoyed this dressed over a lush bed of greens tossed with candied pecans and dried cranberries, the was to die for! I plan to share a pasta recipe from Crystal later this week.

BLACKBERRY DRESSING


Ingredients:

  • 2 cups blackberries
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/2 -3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2-34 cup apple cider vinegar

Directions:
Puree,  douse a bed of delicious greens, and enjoy.


Sprouted Wheat

and seeds is easy and fun. The health benefits are well worth the extra work. You can sprout berries, barley, buckwheat, alfalfa, sesame seeds, and flax seeds, to name a few. When the seed or grain sprouts, nutrients are released during the growing process that are not present in the seed or grain by itself. By sprouting, dehydrating, then grinding your grains, you are creating flour that is many times more nutrient rich than any flour you can purchase in the store. I love watching my food grow, it’s inspiring!

Step 1: Soaking
The first step is to soak the seeds or grains. Place the seeds or grains in a large pot overnight (the size of the pot depends on how much flour or sprouts you will need, keep in mind that soaking causes the grains to expand as they absorb the water).

Step 2: Rinsing
After the overnight soak, you will want to pour your grains into a colander, about half full, and rinse. When I rinse them I like to get my hands in there to mix it up to make sure that all the grains are well rinsed. Do this 2-3 times a day until the sprouts form, you want the sprout to be about 1/4 inch in length. Each seed and grain has a different germination phase. Wheat berries take around 48 hours while quinoa sprouts in as little as 12 hours.

Dehydrated Wheat Sprouts

Step 3:
Depending on what you are planning to use the sprouts for, you may or may not choose to dehydrate your seeds or grains. I use my sprouted wheat to make bread flour and buckwheat to make Buckwheatie Bars. Dehydrating is simple. Just give the sprouts one last rinse and place them on the dehydrating trays. It usually only takes around 4-6 hours to dry. Use your dehydrated sprouts quickly, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to a month or so.


Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

About three years ago my family took the plunge and left white flour behind. We have switched from using white flour to using only   flour. It’s been a slow process, I began with exchanging portions of white flour for wheat in recipes that called for all purpose flour. This slow change allowed our palates time to get used to the change in flavor and texture. Now we use almost 100% whole wheat in all our recipes. Most people who prefer the taste and texture of white flour, will be surprised that these   are made from 100% whole wheat flour. In fact my neighbor told me, “I think these are the best chip cookies I’ve ever eaten!” I adjusted this recipe from an old church   from my childhood. These have definitely become a family favorite, but we try not to make them too often, you can’t just eat one!

Click to continue reading Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe


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