Saturday, February 18, 2012

quick catch ya up

Valentine flowers

Cosmic bowling

Helping grandma cook

Crazy sleeper


Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Friday, February 3, 2012

cream OF.... soup! :)

Cream OF...... soup


This is an amazing substitute for cream of ______ soup.



  • 3 tablespoons wheat flour, or all purpose
  • ½ cup veggie broth, or 1/2 cup water with a veggie bullion
  • ½ cup prefered milk substitute
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon butter substitute, coconut oil, or other.

Variations

  • ¼ cup sauted diced celery (optional)
  • ¼ cup sauted diced mushroom (optional)
  • ¼ cup sauted diced onion (optional)

Directions:

  1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
  2. Stir in flour; a little at a time; stirring until combined and smooth.
  3. Remove from heat and add the broth and milk, a little at a time, stirring to keep lump-free.
  4. Return to heat.
  5. Bring sauce to a gentle boil and cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens.
  6. Taste and adjust seasonings.I added some garlic power and onion power.
  7. Stir in optional ingredients if desired.


This is amazing!!! LOVED IT!! I used it in a broccolli rice casserole and it was PERFECT!!!!



Saturday, November 19, 2011

here is a gift since I havent posten in a while! AWESOME minestrone soup!

Minestrone Soup

Every body is a fan!

Ingredients

    2 tablespoons olive oil
    3/4 cup minced white onions (about 1 small onion)
    1/4 cup chopped zucchini
    1/4 cup frozen cut italian green beans ( or regular frozen green beans with italian seasoning)
    1/4 cup minced celery (about 1/2 stalk)
    2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
    4 cups vegetable broth (Swanson is good *note: Do not use chicken broth!*)

    1 (15 ounce)can red kidney beans , drained
    1 (15 ounce)can small white beans or great northern beans , drained
    1 /2 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
    1/2 cup carrots , julienned or shredded
    2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
    1 teaspoons dried oregano
    1 teaspoons salt
    1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
    1/2 teaspoon dried basil
    1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
    1 1/2 cups hot water
    3 cups fresh baby spinach
    1/3 cup small shell pasta ( We used whole wheat spiral pasta, whatever works. And we used probably about a 1 1/2 cups)


Directions

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot.

Saute onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes or until onions begin to turn translucent.

Add vegetable broth to pot, plus drained tomatoes, beans, carrot, hot water, and spices.

Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes or until desired consistency.

Makes about eight 1 1/2 cup servings.

Number of Servings: 8

Ruth's Additions: We LOVED THIS!! I ADORED IT!! It is soo full of yummy healthy stuff and it is AWESOME! It is perfect for a snowy day and not that hard to make. TRY IT!! Infact, my mouth is watering thinking of having left overs for lunch!! Thanks TARA for the recipe! I LOVE IT!!! Keep the recipes coming! :)

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Granola


Granola


The perfect stack for my kids...
Yet another good grab and go breakfast for Jeremy.
5 cups oats
1 cup brown rice crispy cereal
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup sliced or slivered almonds (optional)
1 cup Sucanat
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup honey or agave
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix together until combined. Press into a pan greased with coconut oil. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes . Be sure to remove from pan when still a little warm.

Ruth's additions: This is pretty versatile, play with it and enjoy! :)

Banana Oat Muffins



Whole wheat, Oat, banana bread!


My family loved these, they didnt last long...
Jeremy has asked me to make more
for a good grab-n-go breakfast




Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used heaping 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce)
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs (I used 3 egg whites form my mother-in-law's chickens, but can use egg replacer too)
  • 1 cup mashed bananas
  • 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (I did half oat flour)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 cup hot water
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chopped nuts. Spread batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. (We did muffin tins)
  3. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes (if doing muffins its 12-15 min). Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing
Ruth's additions: This is PERFECT, with the adjustment that I have noted, this is a SUPER healthy, SUPER yummy, grab and go breakfast for busy husbands, or kids! It is a super snack. I am thinking about trying to add some shredded zucchini or carrots to it! :) We will see.... ENJOY!!!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Waffles worth the calories... but there are hardly any! :)

SUPER DUPER YUMMY OAT AND WW WAFFLES

I ADORE THIS.... Karver and Kason wouldnt stop eating.. and Jeremy has yet to try it!


2-3 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup Oat flour (I just blended a heaping cup of oats in a blender)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (the non-aluminum kind of course;)
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup Sucanat

Mix the above ingredients together then add:

1 cups rice milk
1 teaspoons vanilla ( I love vanilla so I always add more)
2 Tablespoons coconut or olive oil
water to desired consistency (usually about 1-2 cups... but really just eye ball it)

Add wet ingredients and stir add just enough water for the consistency you like. These make good pancakes, and FAB waffles.

We ate ours with a YUMMY raspberry spread!!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Zucchini Casserole



Zucchini Casserole

This was SUPER good! Jeremy said "wow this has a lot of flavor"
I said "good flavor?"
He said "Yup! :)"


1 1/2 cups +1/2 cup rice milk
1 rounded Tablespoon veggie bullion
3 heaping Tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 Tablespoons Nama Shoyu
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (the healthy kind;) (optional)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

4 cups grated zucchini
6 cups COOKED brown rice
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup grated carrots
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained (we didnt use these)

1/2 cup sunflower seed sour cream
1/2 cup Vegenaise
1/2 Tablespoon fresh Lemon juice

5-6 slices of whole wheat bread
3-4 Tablespoons coconut oil


In a medium sauce pan, on medium heat stir together the 1 1/2 cups of the rice milk, the bullion, and garlic. While mixture is heating up, place flour and the other 1/2 cup rice milk in a small bowl or cup and whisk together. Then slowly pour into the sauce pan whisking to prevent lumps. Stir until it thickens a bit then add the nutritional yeast, Shoyu and Worcestershire sauce, stir and remove from heat.

In a large casserole pan place all vegetables and the COOKED brown rice.

Mix the sunflower seed sour cream, Vegenaise, and Lemon juice together. Add to the warmed rice milk mixture. Pour the final mixture onto the casserole mix to be sure everything is well coated.

Melt coconut oil and break bread into small pieces and coat with the coconut oil. Place the oil coated bread crumbs on top of the casserole. Or you can just not worry about the oil and just put the dry bread crumbs on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bread is browned on top and casserole is bubbly.

Prep time: (time you will spend in kitchen cooking ;) 20 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes


Ruth's additions : We really liked this, we halved it and it was still a little much for our little family! It is really tasty, we are going to try a bit more rice next time!! YUM!!!!