I Lost My Ham Fried Rice...

I Lost My Ham Fried Rice

4 eggs from a healthy chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-1/2 cups cold cooked brown rice
1-1/3 cups diced fully cooked ham (optional)
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash pepper
2 dashes chili powder
1 tablespoon liquid aminos
frozen peas
1 small onion
4-5 large carrots

1. Saute onion in olive oil. Once the onion is translucent, add carrots. Cook carrots until they are soft and tender. Add spices, rice, liquid aminos, and peas.

2. In a separate bowl, mix eggs. Pour egg mixture over rice and veggies. Cook until eggs are done.

3. Eat. Eat. Eat.

Chip Soup - Pumpkin Black Bean Style

Chip Soup - Pumpkin Black Bean Style

3 (15 ounce) cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil/earth balance
1 1/4 cup chopped onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 cups vegetable broth


Saute onion, garlic, and olive oil until onions are translucent. Add salt, black pepper, vegetable broth, black beans, and diced tomatoes. Cook until warm. Carefully transfer to blender in small batch and blend until smooth.

Lazy Saturday Morning Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

Lazy Saturday Morning Oatmeal

1/3 cup of oats
1/2 cup of soy milk
1 small apple cut into bite sized pieces
big dash of cinnamon
little dashes of ground ginger and nutmeg
2 tsp of dark molasses
1 large scoop of peanut butter
chocolate chips - bittersweet

Directions:

Heat milk in a saucepan on low heat. Mix in spices, oats, molasses, and apples - cook until tender. Serve with a big scoop of peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Next time, I plan to soak the oats overnight with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 tbsp. yogurt/kefir. In the morning, the oatmeal would be prepared in the same manner, only the 1/2 cup of soy milk would no longer be necessary.

Peanut Butter Cups

Peanut Butter Cups

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sucanant
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda

Mix together peanut butter, sucanant, egg, and baking soda. Place little balls of dough in a greased mini-cupcake pan. Top with chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degree for 10 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Pretzel Towers

I have a lot of fun building these pretzel towers for snack time.
I have even more fun watching my boys try to fit a five story pretzel tower in their mouth.




I love these snacks. Wrapped in pure pretzel bliss these little snack secretly containing peanut butter, bananas, raisins, bittersweet chocolate chips, etc. A very filling snack food.





Little fingers love building these snacks.

Peanut Butter Hummus

1/3 cup natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons tamari sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons water
1 cup celery, finely chopped


Mix the peanut butter together in a bowl with the lemon juice, tamari sauce, garlic, and water until smooth. Stir in the celery and toss until evenly blended. Spread on your choice of sliced bread.

Coconut Rice Breakfast

Coconut Rice

6 cups water
3 tablespoons kefir or plain yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups brown rice
1 can coconut milk
2 cups blueberries
½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Soak rice in 3 cups water plus 3 tablespoons kefir/yogurt overnight (6 to 12 hours). Strain and rinse rice. Bring 3 cups water to a boil, add salt and stir in rice. Cover and allow rice to cook until soft and tender. Stir in coconut milk, shredded coconut, and maple syrup. Allow extra fluid to evaporate by cooking on low heat for a minute or two. Top with blueberries and watch the rice turn blue.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Hummus

adapted from My New Roots

Sweet Potato Hummus

2 cups cooked chickpeas
3 Tbsp. lemon juice concentrate
3 small sweet potatoes
1 tsp. ground cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
2-3 pinches sea salt
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp. liquid aminos


Directions:
1. Place sweet potatoes (with the skin on) in a baking dish in a 400 F oven and bake until very soft, about 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on their size.


2. Let the sweet potatoes cool down so that you can easily remove their skins - they should just peel off. Place them in a food processor with the remaining ingredients and blend on high to mix.

3. Serve on homemade tortillas, crackers, or vegetables.

Blender Gingerbread Pancakes

Gingerbread Pancakes

1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon yogurt - plain works best
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup raw whole grain spelt or wheat 1/2 cups oats

1. Combine the above ingredients in your blender and blend for 3 minutes if using whole grain. Cover and allow to sit (outside of the refrigerator) for 8-24 hours.

2. In the morning, add the following ingredients and blend for 1 minute.

1 egg
3 1/2 Tbsp sorghum syrup or molasses
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

3. Finally, very briefly blend in the leavening ingredients below.

2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt

4. Prepare the pancakes on a warmed, lightly greased griddle. Serve with pure maple syrup or agave nectar.

Whole Wheat Tortillas

3 cups white wheat flour
1 cup warm filtered water
1 Tbsp acid medium (kefir, whey, buttermilk, yogurt, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice)
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

1. Combine flour, water, melted coconut oil or butter and 1 Tbsp of acid medium. Cover and allow to soak at room temperature for 12-24 hours.
2. After soaking, add baking powder and salt to soaked flour mixture, kneading in the flour until the dough is workable but not too stiff.
3. Shape into 8 – 10 balls and let stand 10 more minutes.
4. Roll to form a 10 inch circle or use a tortilla press.
5. Bake on a lightly greased griddle till done (not browned). Toast for about 20-30 sec. per side.

Yield: 8-10 tortillas.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip & Pecan Granola Bars

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip & Pecan Granola Bars
adapted from the browneye baker

Yield: 10-12 granola bars

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Bake Time: 40 minutes

3¼ cups traditional rolled oats
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ cup sucanat
½ cup pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin)
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup cinnamon chips
½ cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8×8-inch baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the oats, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. In a medium bowl whisk together the sucanat, pumpkin, applesauce, honey and vanilla extract until combined and smooth. Pour the mixture over the oats and use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to mix until all of the oats are moistened. Stir in the cinnamon chips and pecans.

3. Evenly press the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure not to underbake! Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars and serve. Leftover bars can be individually wrapped in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container and kept at room temperature.