Category Archives: Healthy Whole Food Blog

Quick and easy recipes for the busy home cook.

Roasted Broccoli and Garlic

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Roasted Broccoli and Garlic

Roasted Broccoli and Garlic

 

Trying to get my daughter to eat and love broccoli has not been easy.  This whole food texture thing she has is more trouble than I initially thought.  I mistakenly thought that since she loves roasted cauliflower then roasted broccoli would be a no-brainer—apparently not so with her.  Despite her refusal, this roasted broccoli and garlic dish has become a new favorite for my husband and I.  We both love it! Not only do we love it, but I served it to some friends, and they loved it too!  I’m just going to have to keep trying with my daughter, she has not been won over by a love of broccoli–yet!

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Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

 

Ingredients:

2.5 cups of broccoli sliced

3 large cloves of garlic sliced thinly

Coconut oil spray or 3 tablespoons of olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

 

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 400F degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil and spray it with coconut oil. Add broccoli, and sprinkle with sliced garlic.  Season with sea salt and black pepper then spray the broccoli generously with coconut oil spray.  If using olive oil, add broccoli to a bowl with olive oil and toss until broccoli is coated, then add it to the sheet pan, sprinkle sliced garlic, season with sea salt and black pepper.

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Place in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes or until broccoli starts to brown a bit.  Remove from oven, serve and enjoy.

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How to make Condensed Milk–Condensed Coconut Milk

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How to make Condensed Coconut Milk

How to make Condensed Coconut Milk

 

It’s not often that a recipe that I concoct requires the use of condensed milk.  Condensed milk is definitely one of those products that has a very specific use.  When I was a little girl I remember looking in my grandmother’s refrigerator and always seeing a can of the Eagle brand condensed milk.  Given that the same can was always in her refrigerator, I don’t think she had many recipes that required it’s use either.  I’m not exactly sure what is in the super sweet concoction sold in the can now, but when  I was making up the recipe for my Coconut chocolate bars, I decided that I needed to prepare my own. I’ve done this with almost every kind of milk, cows, coconut, and almond.  All come out perfectly.  If you are going to do this, then I suggest doing so when you have a few hours to spend at home.  Doing this over low heat, allows you more freedom to do other things while it cooks.  If you want to speed up the process, you can use higher heat, but that will require much more from you in terms of stirring and keeping a watchful eye.

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Prep time: none

Cook time: 2 hours

Total time: 2 hours

Ingredients :

2.5 cups of coconut milk (or milk)

3/4 cup of maple sugar (can use whatever sugar you’d like)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of butter (optional)

Directions: Add milk, and sugar to a sauce pan and simmer over low heat for 1.5-2 hours, or until the milk is reduced by half.

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Once the milk has reduced(condensed) whisk in butter and vanilla extract. Pour into a container and let cool.

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It will thicken on it’s own as it cools. Allow the milk to cool completely before adding it to a recipe.

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Strawberry Apple Fruit-roll ups

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Strawberry Apple Fruit Roll-Ups

Strawberry Apple Fruit Roll-Ups

Now that summer has arrived we are constantly on the go.  Which means that we spend much more time in the car.  My daughter does surprisingly well on car rides, however, she does better if I am armed with plenty of games to fill her time, and of course snacks don’t hurt.  She is extremely fond of apple strings–apples that I run through my vegetable spiralizer on the spaghetti attachment, however they oxidize so quickly after making them, I like to save those for home snacks.  Enter fruit roll-ups, she loves them and they are extremely travel friendly.  If you follow this blog, then you know I have several recipes for fruit rolls ups my tropical punch fruit roll-ups are my absolute favorite, but the pineapple, or strawberry fruit roll ups are equally as delicious!

 

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Ingredients:

10 ounces of strawberries stems removed

2 medium sized apples, cores removed

Directions: Place the strawberries and apples in a blender and blend until smooth.

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Pour the mixture out onto a parchment lined sheet and smooth into a thin layer.

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Place in a dehydrator on 134 for 4-6 hours, or in a oven on the lowest setting for 4-6 hours.

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Fruit roll-ups are done when you can peel them off of the parchment without them sticking.

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White Bean Salad with Lemon Cumin Vinaigrette

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White Bean Salad With Lemon Cumin Dressing

White Bean Salad With Lemon Cumin Dressing

This salad represents all that this blog is about.  It’s lazy in every sense of the word lazy and it’s fresh and vibrantly flavorful.  I was talking to a girl friend  of mine the other day about food and little ones.  She was in need of some advice about healthy choices for her little one. We went through the list of what she currently feeds her little one.  On her list was a simple salad of canned white beans drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil.  I thought it sounded delish, and I set out to make my own version of that salad.  I make a lentil salad that is similar to this, but I think this one is much better.  Pair this salad with a crusty piece of sourdough rubbed with a little garlic and grass-fed butter and you’ve got a rustic and delicious meal,which didn’t require you to turn on the stove.  Lazy–yes, absolutely! But it tastes anything but lazy–that counts right?;-)

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Ingredients:

15 ounce can of Organic White beans (drained and rinsed)

1/2 cup of feta cheese crumbled

1/2 cup of organic rainbow radish diced

1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes quartered

1/2  cup persian cucumbers diced

1/2 cup of red bell pepper diced

1 Tablespoon of fresh organic Thyme leaves

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

 

Vinaigrette

5 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 teaspoon of cumin

1 medium clove of garlic finely chopped

Sea salt to taste

Directions: Add all of the ingredients except for the sea salt to a large bowl and toss well.

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Add all the ingredients for the vinaigrette to a mason jar cover and shake until well combined.  If you don’t have a mason jar, just whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a bowl, and set aside. Salt the salad ingredients just before serving, this will prevent the tomatoes and cucumbers from becoming soggy, toss, then drizzle with a generous amount of the vinaigrette, toss  again to combine, serve and enjoy!

Smokey Paprika and Lime Chicken Kabobos

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Smokey Paprika and Lime Chicken Kabobs

Smokey Paprika and Lime Chicken Kabobs

I think that there is definitely an art to marinades. I’m still learning that particular art. I recently purchased the highly acclaimed Modernist Cuisine book set. It’s massive and filled with information–extremely useful information. I’m only on the second book about 1000 pages into this probably 7000 page set, and the information that I’ve learned has completely changed the way that I view cooking.  This set is amazing! If you’re interested in the how’s and why’s of cooking, from a scientific perspective—then you want this set. If you can save the $550 plus dollars it costs to buy this book set then I highly recommend it.  Or just stay tuned to my blog, lot’s of changes are coming.  Not to mention appliances. One is the immersion circulator that I’ve been wanting for years.  Another is a vacuum chamber sealer.  I returned my Food saver in preparation for this machine.  This machine makes marination super easy, and effective.  It sucks out all of the air in the chamber and compresses everything in it. Thus making pickles in a matter of minutes, and  infusing steak or chicken and fish with marinades in minutes. Long gone will be my days of marinating anything over night.  I’m really excited for my vacuum chamber to arrive. Not having my Food Saver or a vacuum machine has been torture, but life goes on.  This particular marinade is a mixture of dry and wet ingredients.  It’s really delicious, and so flavorful, that it doesn’t need more than a few minutes to flavor the chicken–gotta love a quick marinade with no fancy equipment.

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Ingredients

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of lime juice

1 lb of skinless boneless chicken thighs, cubed into one inch pieces

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

 

Directions: Add the onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, olive oil and lime juice to a small bowl and mix well.

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Season the chicken generously with sea salt and black pepper, add it to a large bowl.  Add the marinade paste to the chicken then toss well to cover the chicken with the marinade.

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Place chicken on skewers and grill cooking until chicken is cooked through about 10-12 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!

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Cucumber Tomato and Feta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

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Cucumber Tomato and Feta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Salads are my go to lazy girl side.  They require minimum effort and absolutely no cooking.  It doesn’t get much better than that in my book, and salads are good for you.  Salads also go with practically everything.  My husband is a big fan of salads in general, he’s one of those people who has to have a meal anchored by vegetables or he doesn’t feel like he has gotten a complete meal.  I’m like that too.  When we traveled to Puerto Rico several years ago, we were both impressed with the food: steak, chicken, rice and beans, peppers, plantains. However, the food was always missing that anchor of vegetables, which we are both accustom to.  We always asked if there was a vegetable dish that we could order to round out our meal. We never found a vegetable dish, but they always had a basic salad.

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Prep time: 7-10 minutes

Cook time: none

Total time: 10 minutes

 

Ingredients:

1 medium cucumber sliced thinly or cubed

1/2 cup of organic cherry tomatoes sliced in half

1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese

Ingredients Balsamic vinaigrette:

Sea salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

4 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar

1 small clove of garlic chopped finely

3 tablespoons of olive oil

 

Directions: Add the cucumber and tomatoes to a medium sized bowl, top with feta and set aside. In a small bowl whisk the ingredient for the vinaigrette, spoon over the cucumber salad and enjoy!

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Grilled Asparagus

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Grilled Asparagus

 

Asparagus season is almost over here. If you are not paying attention the season can pass in the blink of an eye.  One of my favorite ways to make asparagus is on the grill.  The smokey flavor from the grill pairs well with the fresh crispness of this stalk green. Grilled asparagus has many fans in my house.

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Prep time: 2 minutes

Cook time: 8 minutes

Total time: 10 minutes

 

Ingredients:

1lb of asparagus bottom stalk portion removed

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

sea salt and black pepper to taste

1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

 

Directions:  Lay asparagus on a flat plate, drizzle with coconut oil, season with sea salt and black pepper, and roll to spread seasoning.  Place asparagus on a hot grill, and grill until done about 8 minutes. Remove from grill, drizzle with a little bit of lemon juice, or with my spicy mustard vinaigrette and enjoy!

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Flourless Chocolate Meringue Cookies

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Flourless Chocolate Merengue Cookies

Flourless Chocolate Meringue Cookies

 

This heat has definitely made me a Starbucks fan. Everyday I find myself going there to buy a shaken green iced tea, and since I’m there, I pick up  a treat–their flourless, gluten free, chocolate cookie. It’s probably the healthiest treat option in their refrigerated showcase, and my daughter and I love it. However, this afternoon tea and cookie thing is getting expensive, at $5 a day–$7 when we indulge at Disney–it’s getting a bit out of control. I love treating myself, but I hate mindless spending too. I’d much rather spend that $200/month on a new kitchen gadget–like a Searzall, or a chamber vacuum sealer to go along with the new immersion circulator that my husband got me for Mother’s Day.  So what’s a girl to do? Buy a box of organic green mint tea, and make the meringue cookies myself, of course!  The best thing about these cookies is that besides the cream of tar tar, I already had all of the ingredients.  These cookies are chewy, gooey and light all at the same time–just like the Starbucks cookies, but unlike the Starbucks version, these contain no added oil, so they are super low-fat, low-calorie and gluten free! Score!!!

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Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time : 10-12 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

5 ounces of bitter sweet dark chocolate (60%)

1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar

3/4 of powdered sugar(I used maple sugar see how to powder it here)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

 

Directions:  Pre-heat the oven to 375.  Melt the 5 ounces of chocolate in a double boiler and set aside.

 

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Add the two egg whites to a stainless steel bowl and beat on low until bubbles form, add the cream of tar tar and beat on high, add in the sugar one tablespoon at a time, and beat until peaks are stiff and fluffy—-  you can turn the bowl upside down with out the mixture running.

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Pour in the melted chocolate and fold it into the egg white fluff–be gentle– fold until the white streaks disappear.

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Fold in the chocolate chips, then spoon onto  a parchment lined cookie sheet.

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Bake for 10-12 minutes, the cookies should be soft and pliable.

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Let them cool for 10 minutes, then move them to a cookie rack to continue cooling 5-7 minutes.

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Serve and enjoy with an ice cold glass of mint ice tea;-) Share with me some of your favorite afternoon snacks.

 

Grilled Steak Salad with Spicy Mustard Vinaigrette

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Grilled Steak Salad With Spicy Mustard Vinaigrette

Grilled Steak Salad With Spicy Mustard Vinaigrette

Boy has it been hot here! For the past 2 weeks temperatures here have stayed above 100 degrees and that’s in the shade. When it gets this hot, the last thing I want to do is move, let alone cook. The grill has definitely been a life saver for us these past few weeks. It allows me to push all the work of cooking onto my husband. He loves grilling–thank The Lord! Since he is so happy to cook on the grill, I thought I’d make a steak salad, which requires little effort from me other than cutting veggies, and marinating the steak in my FoodSaver. Oh and making a vinaigrette to go on the salad. All easy, peasy, lemon queasy;-)

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Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 5-7 minutes

Total time: 17 minutes

Ingredients:

1lb of flank or skirt steak

3 cloves of garlic pasted

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

5 cups of mixed organic salad greens

1/2 cup of  organic cucumber cubed

1/2 cup of organic orange bell pepper sliced

2 small organic  heirloom tomatoes sliced and quartered

1/4 cup of radish sliced thinly

Ingredients for  Spicy mustard vinaigrette

1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)

1 small clove of grated garlic

4 tablespoons of olive oil

1/8 teaspoon of Worcester sauce (optional)

1/2 teaspoon of maple sugar (can sub with maple syrup, agave, or honey)

Sea salt to taste

Directions: in a small bowl whisk all the ingredients for the vinaigrette together and set aside.  In a large bowl toss together the mixed greens, cucumbers, bell peppers, and tomatoes and set aside. In another bowl Mix together the pasted garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. Season the steak generously with sea salt and black pepper, then pour the lemon and garlic marinade over both sides of the steak. Grill the steak for 5-8 minutes on each side, let it rest for 5-7 minutes, then slice on a bias, and serve over the salad. Top with a few spoonfuls of mustard vinaigrette and enjoy.

 

Tofu Scramble

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Tofu Breakfast Scramble

Tofu Breakfast Scramble

 

My daughter loves tofu–loves it!  Lately she has been refusing to eat breakfast, I think mainly because she tires of having the same thing over and over.  One of my favorite natural restaurant’s serves a tofu scramble which I adore.  I thought I’d give it a try in my own kitchen, in hopes that my daughter would enjoy it–she did.  She actually thought this was a real egg scramble–she kept saying “mmmm egg’s are good for you?” This is equivalent to her seal of approval.  So everyone is happy when I make this;-) Mommy win!!

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Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

7 ounces of soft tofu

1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric

1/2 cup of diced onion

1/2 cup of diced red or green bell pepper

sea salt and black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Directions: Heat oil in a skillet, add bell pepper and red onion and saute until the onion is translucent, about 4 minutes, add in the tumeric and cook for 20-30 seconds:

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Add in the tofu and break up with a fork, mix until the tumeric, onions and bell pepper have been well incorporated into the tofu, and the tofu has been warmed-about 3-4 minutes.

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Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy.

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