RECIPES Archives • Page 27 of 68 • New Nostalgia

RECIPES/ Sweets

Uncle Sam Cereal Mallow Bars

We all know everyone loves a good Krispie Rice Marshmallow Bar. Kids love their gooey sweetness and crunch. Mom’s love the ease of making them. The only thing we didn’t love around here is how unhealthy they are, so I set about figuring out a way to change that!

Typical krispy rice cereal has very, very little fiber in it, and basically turns to sugar after ingesting. This spikes blood sugar levels, which is never a good thing. I knew I had to find a cereal that had lots of fiber & protein in it, and whole grains. This would keep blood sugar leveled & be much more filling.

Uncle Sams cereal is made of 4 ingredients. It fit the bill for my recipe. We also added a bit of o’s cereal. You all know how much I like the circle shape around here, so I added those just for pretty.

I like that this recipe added nutrition to calories. A plain krispy rice mallow treat is just empty calories. These still have the sugar from the marshmallows, but it also gives the body some nutrition, so no more empty calories!

They are made just like regular krispy treats. Super easy! My kids thought I was super mom when they tasted them. They loved that they were yummy, I loved that they were nutritious!

Uncle Sam Cereal Mallow Bars

3 tbsp butter (I used Earth Balance)
4 cups miniature marshmallows (or a 10oz pkg of regular marshmallows)
6 cups cereal

In a large pan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

Using wax paper or buttered spatula (or buttered fingers!) spread evenly into a 9×13 inch buttered pan. (My bars were thinner as I used a larger pan). Let cool completely and cut into squares.

Brunch/ Healthy Eating/ RECIPES

My Top 5 Go-To Healthy Breakfasts

I’ve been asked lots of questions about what exactly it is that I eat, so I thought I would start with sharing my top 5 Go To Healthy Breakfasts.

I have slowly been changing the way I eat over the last 3 years since my cancer diagnosis. I have embraced what is called Nutritarianism and I have LOVED every minute of figuring out how to eat this way. I love food and I do not feel deprived at all as a Nutritarian…it is the opposite. I feel like I am experiencing a variety of foods and have developed a taste for wholesome, healthy food!

What is a Nutritarian?

(source)

A nutritarian is a person who has a preference for foods that are high in micronutrients.

The term “nutritarian” was coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. In his book, Eat to Live, he offers this health equation while describing the nutritarian approach to health:

Health = Nutrients/Calories (or H= N/C for short).

In other words: the more nutrients you consume per calorie, the healthier you will be.

Breakfast is a great way to get nutrients. Many breakfast foods are naturally high in nutrients. It is my favorite meal of the day.

My 5 Go To Healthy Breakfasts

Oatmeal Freezer Pucks
These are a staple for me. I always have them in my freezer, whether they are homemade by me or bought from Trader Joes. I always add some frozen berries to the top of mine, then warm it a few more seconds in the microwave. I also add cinnamon as it is surprisingly a very nutritious spice. I eat this breakfast at least 3 times a week. It keeps me full, regular & gives lots of energy.

Chia Oats
Oh how we love our chia oats around here! They really don’t need to sit overnight, but you will need at least 15 minutes for the oats to soften and the chia to swell and soak up the milk, which thickens the pudding. We use them as a snack almost more often than breakfast. We have them for breakfast at least once a week. These are incredibly healthy for you, with loads of fiber, protein & omega’s. To read more on the benefits of chia, and 13 more ways to eat it, click here.

Qia
This is my new go to breakfast and the one I have been eating most often lately. Talk about easy…2 tablespoons of cereal, top with milk and let sit a few minutes. Stir and eat. It is amazing how sustaining those 2 tablespoons of cereal are. I feel as full as if I ate a huge bowl of oatmeal. It is a bit pricey, but lasts a long time and well worth the health benefits that you get from this. They have a few flavors…the Cranberry Vanilla Qia is my new favorite flavor.

Rips Big Bowl
ALL 3 of my girls LOVE this breakfast. It is multiple healthy cereals, oats & chia plus fruit, all in one bowl. Click through to read more about this intriguing breakfast. I think you are going to like it!

Berry Pancake Bites
These are a weekend go to breakfast for us, and a great afternoon snack. It uses a whole grain pancake mix. Make mix according to directions for pancakes, sprinkle top with berries, and bake. Couldn’t be easier, and these are so good my girls have started eating them without syrup, which is a bonus. Saves sugar calories and the grocery budget!

RECIPES/ Sides

Maple Cinnamon Butternut Squash

When eating the Nutritarian way, vegetables are a BIG part of everyday meals. Because of this, I am always looking for the most simple but delicious ways to make them. This recipe certainly qualifies for simple AND delicious!

I ate this butternut squash with a side of lentils and a green smoothie for lunch today. It was so delicious I felt like I was eating dessert!

I bought the squash already cubed, fresh in a bag from Trader Joes. The bag it comes in allows you to steam it right in the bag. If you don’t have a Trader Joes and want the convenience of already cut squash, I know most grocery stores sell frozen, cubed squash.

The cinnamon and maple syrup are the perfect sweet to go with the squash. Add butter and salt and you have the perfect salty/sweet side dish. Delish!

Maple Cinnamon Butternut Squash

12 oz peeled, cubed butternut squash, steamed
3 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

Toss cooked butternut squash with the rest of the ingredients & enjoy!

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This makes 4 servings. In just 3/4 cup serving, you get 180% of your vitamin A! It is also a great source iron, potassium & vitamin C.

Books/ Cancer Journey/ GF, Vegan & Raw/ HEALTH/ Healthy Eating/ How-Tos/ RECIPES

Nutritarian – A High Nutrient Way Of Eating

{image inspired by Dr. Joel Furhman’s Food Pyrimad}

I have been on a journey of health since my cancer diagnosis in 2010. I big part of pursing health has been in what I choose to eat. I strongly believe what we choose to put into our bodies can play a big part in our overall health. After much reading and many small changes in my diet, I have embraced Nutritarianism.

What is a Nutritarian?

(source)

A nutritarian is a person who has a preference for foods that are high in micronutrients.

The term “nutritarian” was coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. In his book, Eat to Live, he offers this health equation while describing the nutritarian approach to health:

Health = Nutrients/Calories (or H= N/C for short).

In other words: the more nutrients you consume per calorie, the healthier you will be.

Nutrients in the numerator (top part of the equation) include vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. Since these are found in small quantities in food, they are considered to be micronutrients. Caloric sources in the denominator include the macronutrients: fat, carbohydrate, and protein. We need to meet our caloric needs without consuming excessive calories.

A high N/C diet is also called “nutrient-dense” or “nutrient-rich.”

In the Standard American Diet (SAD), about 6% of the total caloric intake comes from nutrient-rich foods.

Nutritarians eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, onions, mushrooms, whole grains, beans, and berries, and particularly consume leafy greens, which are the most nutrient-dense foods. A nutritarian strives to consume at least 90% of their diet from these foods.

A nutritarian diet will lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and even such conditions as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Nutritarians do not necessarily exclude animal products. Many nutritarians do choose to be vegan (excluding all animal products). Many vegetarians, however, are not nutritarian, if they frequently consume products containing processed grains, oils, sugars, or salt.

It takes a bit of education to become a nutritarian. One must learn the relative nutrient density of various foods. For instance, many people are surprised to learn that bok choy has more calcium per calorie than whole milk, and even than “2% fat” milk. The same is true for many other leaf greens.

—————-

{Dr. Fuhrman’s Website}

I love the idea of getting “more nutrient bang for caloric buck.” I love thinking about food in terms of nutrients, and it feels good to know I am doing something positibe for my health by simply being mindful of the nutrients my food contains.

I have been eating this way for almost 3 years now. It was a gradual change, but especially over the last 2 years, I have been pretty close to being a vegetarian/vegan. I never knew what to call myself until reading Dr. Fuhrman’s Book– Eat To Live. I HIGHLY recommend this book. Dr. Fuhrman has so much knowledge and his words are easy to read and absorb.

Most of the recipes I now feature at the blog reflect the change in our eating habits. My whole family is now eating this way, which happened slowly and over time. With my kids, it truly was educating them as to why I eat the way I do, and they have slowly adapted the changes themselves. When we are home, we eat Nutritarian. When we go to others homes or out to eat as a family we eat more “normal.” When Todd and I go out on dates, we prefer places that allow us to eat Nutritarian. It it crazy how tastes buds change– we have found that we prefer whole, natural, high-nutrient foods.

Other resources that have highly influenced my way of eating:

Forks Over Knives by Gene Stone
The China Study by T. Colin Campbell
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn
The Engine2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn

So…again…what is a Nutritarian?
~They eat lots of high-nutrient, natural plan foods. Vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts & seeds.
~They eat fewer animal products and choose healthier versions of these foods.
~They eat much less or almost no foods that are empty of nutrients: sugar, sweeteners, white flour, processed foods & greasy fast foods.

———–

Got questions for me regarding the Nutritarian lifestyle? Ask away! It may spur on more posts in this series.

Brunch/ RECIPES

Berry Pancake Bites

I saw a pin on Pinterest that showed muffins made from pancake mix. It suggested using your favorite box mix, adding whatever toppings you desire, and baking them in muffin tins in the oven. I was drawn to the idea, because my kids love pancakes, but I don’t always love standing in the kitchen at the griddle flipping pancakes.

Multigrain Baking and Pancake mix from Trader Joes

I used my favorite Mutigrain Baking and Pancake Mix from Trader Joes. If you do not have a Trader Joes nearby, another favorite pancake mix of mine is this one from Bob Mill.

Eggs, oil, milk, and pancake mix in a bowl

Mix according to your pancake mix directions. The mix I used called for eggs, oil & milk.

Takes just seconds to mix up. My kind of recipe!

I decided to sprinkle mine with frozen raspberries and blueberries. The original source for this idea topped some of hers with bacon, some with chocolate chips, some with fruit…you can get creative with these if you want to.

My girls devoured these. They loved them! Honestly, they really did not need much maple syrup. We dipped them a bit the the berries gave them so much flavor that they really did not need much else.

This really is a no recipe, recipe. Just follow the directions on your mix, then bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. I used a muffin pan that is only half the depth of most muffin pans which were the perfect size, so I bakes mine for abut 8 minutes.

I plan on making a triple batch and freezing them. They would make great after school snacks. I love a health food that can double as breakfast and a snack!

GF, Vegan & Raw/ RECIPES/ Sweets

Raw Chocolate Slice

Not many people turn down a piece of chocolate slice. Even though they say, “oh I shouldn’t ” but still take a piece and perhaps feel a little guilty afterwards.

Well, this raw chocolate slice is made from whole foods – no artificial junk in here. So go ahead indulge with no need to feel guilty about it.

This was one of the first raw recipes I came up with and it has always been one of my favorites. It’s easy to make with no oven needed. It will keep for ages in the freezer, but if you are like me it won’t last long! The freezer is where I like to store it, it can be devoured straight from the freezer.

All you are going to need are the raw ingredients, a food processor, a container to put the slice in, and your fridge or freezer to let it chill.

Ingredients

6-8 Fresh medjool dates

¼ cup of sultanas (raisins)

1 cup of nuts plus a few extra to sprinkle on top of slice (they can be mixed nuts, I like to use macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts or walnuts)

pinch of good quality salt

1 Tbsp of melted coconut oil

1/3 cup of raw honey

2 Tsp of water

½ cup of raw cacao powder (different than cocoa powder, see *below)

1/3 cup of raw cacao powder for the icing

Directions

Place your nuts into your food processor and process until crumbly.

Add your dates and sultanas and process again. Now add to the mix your salt, cacao and raw honey and process till it starts to come together. If the mix is too dry add a little water a bit at a time till the mix sticks together when pressed into a ball. Press this mix into a small lined container. And pop in the freezer while you make the Icing.

For the icing add 1/3 cup of raw cacao powder along with melted coconut oil, raw honey and a pinch of salt to bring out the flavor. Process until it all comes together. If the mix is too thick add a little water to make it thinner. It should be a runny silky icing, which will firm up in the freezer.

Pour the icing onto the raw chocolate slice and sprinkle with crushed nuts. Pop back into the freezer till the icing firms up then slice and enjoy. This slice keeps great in the freezer if it lasts that long.

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So…got a chocolate craving? What are you waiting for? Go make this slice and tell me how you like it!

*Organic Raw Cocao Powder is made by compressing raw cacao beans and extracting the fats. Raw Chocolate contains more than 300 nutritional compounds including: Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc, sulphur (the beauty mineral), Tryptophan (the love chemical), Anandamide (the bliss chemical), Phenylethaylamine (PEA, the joy molecule), Polyphenols (heart-nurturing), MAO inhibitor (appetite suppressant).

(source)

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Raw Foods Contributor

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Fruit Salad With Honey & Lime Zest Dressing

This recipe for fruit salad is my kind of recipe. Healthy, beautiful, simple & easy!

I invited a group of women over today and this fruit salad was on the menu. These women are friends of mine, and we all had a wonderful experience together at a weekend retreat called Jumping Tandem Retreat.

I’m excited to share with you all what God has been doing in my heart since the retreat, but that is for another post. Let’s just say that the theme for the retreat was “your big, amazing, ridiculous dream” & I have been dreaming ever since I got home!

I was too nervous to do much dreaming there, as I was one of the workshop leaders and public speaking is something I’m just getting used to doing, so my brain was preoccupied.

But, something I was not too busy to notice was the authenticity of each and every woman there and the beautiful connections being made.

It was a place where we could all just come, be who we are, be encouraged that we can be all that God made us to be, and lay down whatever was weighing on our hearts.

In one of the sessions we were encouraged to anonymously write down our prayer requests, and today this group of women and I ate together, then spent time in prayer over these precious prayer requests.

It was an honor to be in possession of them and to be trusted to lift them up to God. There was much need in some of these stories, some have stayed on my heart all day and I will be taking them before God more than once, that is for sure!

Back to this lovely fruit salad…I wanted to keep things light but also knew our meeting time of 11:00 was a time that stomachs start growling. I kept the food simple, here is the menu:

~Fruit Salad With Honey & Lime Zest Dressing
~Pretzels Chips & Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (Trader Joes)
~Tortilla Chips & Peach Salsa (Trader Joes)
~Wheat Thin Type Crackers & Fiesta Lime Chicken Salad (Trader Joes & Health Food Store Deli)
~Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds With Sea Salt (Trader Joes)
~Hot Coffee
~Hot Tea

I told the ladies they were welcome to bring a snack to share, or just show up…whatever was best for them. I had a friend bring some scones which rounded out our menu quite beautifully!

Notice the only thing I had to make was the fruit salad & coffee, and that was SO easy. The fruit salad was delicious.

The dressing adds a touch of something special, a tangy but sweet citrus flavor. It also gives the fruit a great shine.

Our time of eating and prayer together was beautiful. I’m so very blessed to have such great women in my life!

Fruit Salad With Honey & Lime Zest Dressing
{Inspired by Oh! You Cook!}
1 pt. container strawberries
1 pt. container blueberries
1 bunch (about 1 1/2 lbs.) seedless grapes (green, red or a mixture of both)
3 clementines (could use an orange)1/3 cup honey
juice from 2 limes (about 2-3 tablespoons)

zest from 1 lime

Rinse strawberries, blueberries and grapes.
Gently pat dry the fruit. Hull strawberries, then cut each in half; if large, cut into quarters.
Remove stems from blueberries, if any.
Remove grapes from stems.
Peel & separate clementines. (or peel and chop orange)Gently combine all three in a large bowl or aluminum tray. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together honey and lime juice. Pour over fruit.

________

To meet my wonderful friends who joined me in prayer today, see below:
Michelle DeRusha
Lelia Chealey
Helen Fagan

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