Smokey Hot Vegan Red Lentil Soup

This recipe for Smokey Hot Vegan Red Lentil Soup is so easy to make. It cooks up quick, tastes delicious and is kid approved.

Our tomatoes are ripening almost faster than we can pick them. I should add, we planted 16 cherry tomato plants, and 34 other tomato plant varieties. Don't ask me what I was thinking. Really, I can't give you an answer, other than we started them from seed and I couldn't handle the idea of "wasting" one of our precious baby plants.

We gifted quite a few plants to friends and I've been busy canning salsa's and diced tomatoes like it's my job. I plan to give a few gallon sized bags of cherry tomatoes away, but I also want to use up and save as much as I can too.

This recipe is perfect for those of you who may have an over-abundance of cherry tomatoes coming in from the garden right now.

It's also perfect for those of you wanting a nutritious, filling plant-based meal option. We are not Vegans (though I was a strict vegan for a while in my past), however we do make plant based meals multiple times each week. It's incredibly healthy, sustainable and less expensive than a meat based meal.

Scroll down to make this easy, tasty vegan lentil dish.

Smokey Hot Vegan Red Lentil Soup

2 TBSP Avocado Oil

1 Large Red Onion Chopped

2 lbs Cherry Tomatoes Cut in Half

1.5 Cups Red Lentils

4 Cups Vegetable Stock

1 Tsp Smoked Paprika

1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper Flakes

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Fresh Basil (for garnish - optional)

1) In a large stockpot or skillet with a tall edge, sauté the chopped red onion until caramelized over medium/high heat.  Season with salt and pepper.

2) Reduce heat to medium and add the tomatoes. Let simmer for a bit until most of the juices have been released.

3) Add red lentils, smoked paprika and pepper flakes, followed by one cup of vegetable stock. Simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed and then add another cup of stock. Continue doing this until the lentils are soft and tender.

4) Serve hot and garnished with fresh basil if desired. We found the basil added depth to the dish and really was a great addition.

Easy Beet Hummus Recipe

** Make this easy beet hummus in just a few minutes - it's so good! **

 It's safe to say I'm the only person in my house who LOVES beets.

My kids could take them or leave them, and my husband won't go near them. That being said, I try not to go crazy planting them. I only have a few left to pull  (more seeds will go in the ground in a couple weeks for a Fall harvest) and this afternoon I realized I hadn't made my favorite beet hummus this summer. The coolest thing about hummus, aside from being delicious, is that you can freeze it. I didn't know that until last year. So now I can make a huge batch of this and freeze portions to enjoy during the winter. This recipe is super simple, all you need is a food processor or high powered blender. I used my Vitamix for this.

**Scroll down for the detailed recipe**

Here's everything you need. I'm a visual person and enjoy seeing process photos, so incase you are too, here you go.

See, I even put everything in a bowl and arranged it to look nice, just for you. Normally I would just toss everything in the blender and go.

My very trepidacious taste tester and hand model.

The fact that she ate this, knowing it had beets in it, and went in for a double-dip makes this a mom win for me. Remember, no one else in my house likes beets...

Here's the best part - you can freeze it! I line a cookie sheet with either this slipat or parchment paper, plop a large spoonful of hummus on it and then put it in the freezer. A couple hours later, just pick them up and put them in a freezer baggie. It's all portioned out, so it won't go to waste if no one else in your house likes beets either. It thaws perfectly in the refrigerator.

Beet Hummus Recipe

3 Cups Garbanzo Beans (or 2 cans)

2 Cloves of Garlic minced

3 Roasted and Cubed Beets

3 TBSP Olive Oil

1/4 C Lemon Juice (about 2 lemons)

1/4 C Toasted Sesame Seeds (or 2 Tbsp Tahini)

3/4 Tsp Cumin

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/4 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1/4-1/2 C Warm Water

1) Toss everything in the blender or food processor and pulse until the hummus has a semi-smooth consistency.

2) Slowly pour in the warm water while blending/processing until it is super smooth.

That's it!

Balsamic Roasted Radishes - Recipe

Oh my yum! Really! I'm not much of a radish fan, but when my daughter asked to plant them this year I couldn't say no. Especially because I know they are super easy to grow and it would be so exciting for her to watch her hard work and effort pay off.

She planted the entire package.

Pretty sure every single radish grew.

You can see the small seedlings coming up here. The second bed wasn't even filled yet and we had sprouts of radishes.

This is our second harvest. The first she ate right at the garden bed after spraying them down with the hose. There's no way I would tell my kid not to eat a vegetable, even if it still had some dirt on it. If you look below the radish bunch to the right, you can see our spinach almost ready to go. It really is so exciting!

 Just for fun, here's my youngest doing her garden work. She's such a trooper. Always wanting to help and do whatever her momma is doing. I love having the help too!

Ok, on to the actual recipe...

Balsamic Roasted Radishes

1 Bunch of Fresh Radishes

1 tsp Coconut Oil

3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Salt & Pepper to taste

1) Set oven to 450. If using a cast iron skillet, grease it with the coconut oil and place in the oven to warm up.

2) Cut off the root tips and discard (or feed it to your chickens like we did). Cut off the tops and set aside for later.

3) Halve or quarter each radish and put in a large bowl. Add balsamic vinegar to the bowl along with a few dashes of salt and pepper.

4) Mix everything together until the radishes have all been coated with balsamic. Place in a cast iron skillet or roasting pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5) After 10 minutes, add the radish tops to the skillet or pan and continue to roast for another 5 minutes, making sure to move them around at least once during that time.

Remove from the oven and enjoy!

The Best Blueberry Lemonade Recipe

At least once a week, I find myself in the kitchen mixing up something new. It usually involves soon to expire something or another. I'll be honest, most of my kitchen experimentation turns out to be a flop. My family is so good about it though and continues to try my "new recipes" in hopes the next one will actually taste good. Really, it makes me love them even more.

So, that being said, my youngest took the first taste test and declared it amazing and then asked to eat the mushed up blueberries. Ha! Fair enough. When my older two came home from school, they were all over it and insisted I needed to patent the recipe. Wow, huh? So even though lemonade is pretty hard to mess up, I'll take this one as a win in my book and go out on a limb and call it the best blueberry lemonade recipe. It's super easy to make, only takes a couple minutes, tastes amazing and in our case is almost completely organic.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

What you need:

Quart size mason jar (or other container of that size)

Small Pot

Fork or Spoon

Mesh Strainer

1/4 Cup Sugar (sub Honey and cut amount in half - or use stevia to taste to make it sugar free)

1/2 Cup Lemon Juice

1/2 Cup Frozen Blueberries

1 Cup Warm Filtered Water

1 3/4 Cold Filtered Water

1. Warm up your 1 cup of water in the pot on the stove. Dissolve sugar completely in the warm water.

2. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the lemon juice, stir, then add the cold water and stir again. Taste test at this point to see if it is tart enough to your liking or the sweetness needs to be adjusted.

3. Add frozen blueberries to your mixture and allow to sit for a few minutes until they thaw completely.

4. Using spoon or fork, mash the blueberries up against the side of the pot. Once the have all been smashed, stir again and let sit for at least 10 minutes in the fridge to let the flavors blend.

5. Place the mesh strainer on top of the quart sized container and pour the liquid from the pot into the container. All of the blueberry pieces should be caught in the strainer. Discard (or eat - they taste good).

That's it! It's sounds more complicated than it really is.

Don't want to miss a post? Sign up with your email and get them delivered to you.

Take care!

Lisa

Strawberries and Cream Yogurt Popsicles

I've found myself in a mad dash to use up all those strawberries I told  you about the other day. Unlike store bought, these only last a couple days. I really didn't want to just freeze them because I let them sit too long in our refridgerator already. So, with Austin gone at boyscout camp, the girls and I had fun playing around with new recipes. Some were really, really good, and some, well, not so much.

I think the favorite of our new found recipes had to be these frozen fruit pops. They taste great and really are a breeze to put together. In fact, my kids loved them so much, they asked to have them for breakfast. My first knee-jerk reaction was a giant NO. Then it dawned on me that they were only pureed fruit, and a bit of juice. Not much different than a smoothie. Needless to say, I let them have popsicles for breakfast and I was declared "The greatest mom in the world". My only qualm with these, is that even though they are all fruit, and fruit is healthy, it is still sugar. So to reduce the potential blood sugar spikes and energy crashes, I've added some fat and protein. Below is a recipe for our own strawberries and cream popsicle. They are so good, you almost forget they're actually healthy.



I think popsicle smoothies may become our summer breakfast of choice.

Strawberries and Cream Yogurt Pop's

What you need:

1 Cup plain yogurt (or canned coconut milk if you want it dairy free)

1 Cup quartered strawberries

1 Tbsp Raw Honey (or more to taste)

Equipment:

Potato masher

Popsicle mold

2 Large spoons

1) Mix the raw honey with the yogurt until completely blended.

2) In a separate bowl, mash the strawberries.

3) With one large spoon, put one full spoonful of yogurt mixture into the bottom of each pop mold. With your other large spoon, put one full spoonful of mashed strawberry mixture into each pop mold. Continue in this fashion until each mold is filled.

4) Follow directions for your specific popsicle mold. Mine goes right in the freezer and we left them there over night.

If you substitute a layer of mashed blueberries, these become a super cute and healthy 4th of July treat.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Grain Free Banana Bread Recipe

I thought a recipe post would be a nice break from the Eat Well on a Budget Series. I'll have Part 3 available for you soon. In the mean time, you should go make this Grain Free Banana Bread Recipe  - it's so easy and tastes delicious!

**This post was originally written for a blog I ran for a short time and is no longer online. I thought it would fit well here.**

We try to vary our diet as much as possible, especially when it comes to grains and starches. If you follow the Standard American Diet, think about how many times a day you ingest wheat (probably at least 5 servings, and that's a really low estimate). Now, imagine you were to replace every time you ate wheat in a day, with eggs. Would you really eat that many eggs in one day? Probably not. Just like you wouldn't eat that many potatoes in a day or apples and so on.

Variety is key to a balanced, healthy, nutrient dense diet. So while we do eat some wheat (and we change it up from Hard Red, Hard White, Spelt & Einkorn), we don't typically have more than one serving a day.  We also regularly eat oats, corn, buckwheat and other starches like beans. We have recently added organic coconut flour to our diets - it's a rich source of fiber, protein and healthy fats. It has a natural slightly sweet flavor, which reduces the amount of sweetener you need in baked goods and a little bit goes a long way.

This recipe is a HUGE household favorite. An entire loaf disappears in less than a day. Thankfully it's really easy to make and is loaded with healthy ingredients. You can find the original recipe here.

Grain Free Banana Bread
4 large Bananas
6 Pastured/organic eggs
8 Whole pitted dates (Unless you're using medjool dates, then cut in amount in half)
1/2 C Coconut Flour
1/4 C Chia Seeds
2 tsp Pure Vanilla extract
1/4 C Organic Coconut oil
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder

Optional:
Unsweetened coconut flakes
Dark chocolate chips


1) Preheat oven to 350

2) In a food processor, combine bananas, eggs, dates, oil, cinnamon, vanilla and baking powder. Puls until creamy and fully combined.

3) Add the coconut flour and chia sees, pulse until fully combined and then let rest for 5 minutes.

4) Use coconut oil to grease a loaf pan, then line with parchment paper so that it folds over the sides.

5) Pour the batter into the loaf pan. If you want to add dark chocolate chips, gently fold them into the batter after it is in the loaf pan. Garnish with cinnamon and unsweetened coconut.

6) Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Chocolate Coconut Energy Bites

Goodness! It's weird to be blogging again.

I stopped blogging for so long. I considered just stopping for good. But I can't do that. I love it too much. I can't promise I'll be here often, but I do plan on posting at least semi-regularly. A lot has happened over the last year or so, and I'll write a catch up post soon.

However, I felt sharing this recipe with you was much more exciting.

These little chocolate bites are so delicious and nutritious as well! They are packed full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and healthy fats. I plan on writing more about the health benefits of everything in these, and when I do, I will link them to this post. Just rest assured that they taste good, and you should definitely get to your kitchen and start mixing these up pronto - trust me! I've been swatting my kids away from them just to try and get a picture.

What you need:
1 Cup Coconut Oil
1 Cup Cocoa Powder (preferable not Dutch Process)
1/3 Cup Raw Honey
2 tsp Vanilla extract (gluten free)
1/2 Cup Chocolate Nibs
1/2 Cup Raw Pumpkin Seed Kernels
1/2 Cup Raw Sesame Seeds
1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries (without added sugar)
1/4 Cup + 1 tbsp Dried Goji Berries
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt to taste


1) Start by melting the coconut oil in a small saucepan.

2) Once coconut oil is completely liquified, add cocoa powder, vanilla and honey. Mix until you have a smooth consistency and everything is incorporated. Remove from heat.

3) Now add everything else except the sea salt and mix well.

4) Here you can choose to either spread the entire mixture over a parchment lined baking sheet and place it in the freezer to set, or you can spoon it into silicone molds. Once the chocolate mixture is spread out or the molds are filled, generously sprinkle the sea salt on top. I started with the mold option and instantly regretted it. The end result is by far prettier, however it's messy. One silicone mold held 30 bites and half my mixture, so I took the other half and used the baking sheet method. Unless I'm bringing these to a party or making them for a special occasion, I will probably just stick to the baking sheet.

5) Once your bites are set (about 10 minutes in the freezer), either pop them out of the mold, or if you used the baking sheet method, break them into uniform pieces. I took a large knife and scored the top of the chocolate to make my bites more uniform in size.

I store these in the fridge because they melt quickly. Because everything in these is fairly shelf stable, they should last in the fridge until they are all eaten up.

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

10 Ways to use Rolled Oats

 

My family of five has pretty hearty appetites. It use to only take a few days before most of the food in our cabinets started dwindling. 

 

To counter this, we've started buying quite a bit of our staples in bulk. We have tall metal shelving in our basement that houses large sacks of grains and flour, bags of dried fruit, jars of sauces, jams and preserves. It's a nice feeling, needing something and being able to just walk downstairs and grab it.

 

It's also an easy way to loose money on food - if you don't make an effort to use it all up before it goes bad. I haven't really ran into that problem yet, but I am diligent on keeping an ongoing inventory to avoid it.

 

I thought it might be fun to do a series on all the different ways to use up what you've got stored.

 

First up - Rolled Oats

** Recipes are linked to each use **

 

I was able to buy a 10 pound bag of oats for $6.80

 

 

10 pounds is a lot of oats, let me tell you! I have had this bag for a few months now, and still have more than five pounds left. Thankfully, dried grains have a long shelf life.

 

 

 

 

10 Ways to Use Rolled Oats

 

1). Fruit Crisps - you can use just about any fruit - I always grab whatever is close to going bad - before it actually does of course.

 

2). Granola - this is so versatile and so much better for you than store bought cereal. We make and use half a gallon of granola a week. You can find our favorite recipe here.

 

 

 

3). Breakfast Cookies - my kids love these! I'm sure half the reason is in thinking they get to have a "real" cookie for breakfast. I love them because they're quick, easy and freeze well.

 

4). Oatmeal Cookies - our whole family's favorite cookie! Try the recipe with tart cherries and chunks of dark chocolate instead of raisins - yumm!

 

5). Oatmeal - okay, okay, kind of obvious, but it really does make a great warm hearty breakfast for hungry kids. You can make a big batch and then add each person's favorite ingredients to their bowl. It keeps everyone happy.

 

6). Oat Bread - Oats add depth and chewiness to bread. If you've never had oat bread, make some, you may never eat normal bread again!

 

7). Fish or Chicken Breading - use rolled oats instead of bread crumbs.

 

8). Meatloaf extender - Instead of using 2 lbs of ground beef in meatloaf, use 1 lb and then add 1 cup of oats to the mixture.

 

9). Oatmeal Pancakes - Super easy and has more fiber than traditional pancakes.

 

10). Apple Oat Muffins - Make for an easy and quick breakfast on the go.

 

 

 

How do you use your oats?

Cardamom Pear Waffles - Recipe

 

I'm always trying to find new ways to sneak healthy food and spices into my children's diet. I always let them know what they've eaten after they decide if they like it or not. I've found that works better than announcing it ahead of time. When I do that, I'm usually greeted with crinkled noses and loud "Eeeeew!'s"

 

If they do end up liking the food, I make sure to tell them exactly all the good stuff that was in it - so in the future, they will remember those things (hopefully) and associate them with pleasant tastes and thoughts of good food.

 

 

 

Cardamom has a slew of health benefits. It's a cancer fighter, lowers blood pressure, and can prevent blood clots just to name a few. It also has a strong ginger-like flavor that doesn't always sit well with the younger crowd.

 

I put together this recipe for cardamom pear waffles. So far I am happy to report it has been a hit with my kids - they loved it!

 

 

 

 

Cardamom Pear Waffles

 

What you need:

1 C Unbleached flour

1/2 C Whole Wheat flour

1/4 C Golden ground flax meal

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Cardamom seed powder

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar or honey

1 1/4 C Milk

1 egg - slightly beaten

3 tbsp melted butter

1 peeled and grated bosc pear

********************************

1 bosc pear - thinly sliced as garnish (optional)

Whipped vanilla coconut (optional)

 

 

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, flax meal, baking powder, cardamom, salt and sugar (if using honey, add that later with the wet ingredients).

 

2) Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add milk, egg, and melted butter (add honey now if using). Mix well.

 

3) Fold the grated pear into the mixture.

 

4) Follow the instructions for your waffle press. You could also turn this batter into pancakes by adding an extra 1/4 cup of milk to the batter.

 

5) Garnish with sliced pears and whipped vanilla coconut. Drizzle a bit of maple syrup or honey on top if desired.

 



 

 

Can you tell my 4 year old loved this?

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

- Lisa :)

 

** This post is part of a natural livng link party over at Frugal by Choice **

Tuscan Orange Muffins - Whole grain

 

I love these muffins, but only make them when I have too many oranges. That doesn't happen a lot in this house. I try to savor these as much as I can because just like our oranges, they are usually gone in a day.

 

 

You can view the original recipe here. I have adapted it to meet our family's needs and feel it's different enough to share here. Our version is below.

 

 

 

1 1/4 C Unbleached Flour

1/2 C Whole wheat flour

1/2 C Organic Evaporated Cane Juice (or sugar)

2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 - 1 C ricotta (I try to use up what's left)

1/2 C water

1/4 C Coconut oil - melted

zest from one orange

juice from one orange

1 egg slightly beaten

sugar for sprinkling - optional

 

Pre-heat Oven to 350 - yields 12 muffins

 

1) Combine the first four ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk (all the dry)

 

2) Place the rest of the ingredients in a separate medium bowl minus the the sugar for sprinkling (all the wet) and mix well with a fork until it's a smooth consistency.

 

3) Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until just combined - a few spots of dry flour here or there is just fine, you don't want to over mix this or it will become very dense.

 

4) Grease muffin tin if not using liners, and then fill each until the batter is used up. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Check muffins by inserting a toothpick in the center of your largest muffin, if it comes out dry, they're done.

 

 

 



How to Make Calzones - Recipe

 

The holiday's are fast approaching and it seems like the closer we get to them, the busier our days become. This can easily turn dinner time into stress-time or take-out-time.

 

I try to do a little damage control early in the season by pre-making and freezing a bunch of easy dinners. And while I have quite a few recipes that make the cut, our calzones are by far the favorite.

 

They are easy to make, inexpensive and freeze perfectly. Pair that with this awesome no-rise-time crust (and my favorite at that!) and you have an easy, fast and healthy meal.

 

Have your kids make their own and they will likely love them even more.

 

What you need:

Pizza crust - I use this recipe
Pizza sauce - click here for my recipe

Mozzeralla cheese

Toppings of choice

 

 

1) Prepare the dough recipe. Divide into eight balls by breaking the large mass in half, and then both of those in half, and then those again in half. You should end up with eight equal sized dough balls. I left one large here for Chris.

 

 

 

2) Roll the dough ball out on a lightly floured surface and try to create an oval shape. Add about 1 tbsp of sauce to the bottom half of your oval.

 

 

3) Add your topping and cheese on top of the sauce. If you look closely, you can see the frost crystals on my cheese. I forgot to thaw it out, but that's the beauty of freezing cheese, it doesn't seem to matter. By shredding my own blocks of natural cheese, I end up paying about 50 cents per cup, which is about half the price of the pre-shredded generic versions. So worth it!

 

 

My calzone was made with pesto instead of sauce and shitake mushrooms - yum!! 

 

 

4) Pull the back of the dough over the top of your calzone and create a sandwich out of  it. It should look like the photo below.

 

 

5) Press the edges together to seal them and then roll them up and press the inside of the roll down to seal again. See the picture below for referance. 

 

 

 

6) Most of the time, I have the kids helping me when I make these, so they make their own. We take a knife and carefully mark each calzone so we know who's is who's. Even if you don't need to label your calzone, you still need to put one or two cut marks in the top to allow air to escape while it's baking. 

 

 

7) Bake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then enjoy!

 

 

Candied Cranberries - Recipe

 

 

It never fails. The temperatures start dropping, the leaves have all but fallen, the sun starts turning in much too early and I find myself spending more time in the kitchen. Maybe it's the shorter days, I don't really know. All I do know is that every year, around this time, I start craving comfort foods. Warm, fresh baked bread, rice pudding, roasted chicken and candied cranberries top my list. Pumpkin everything has been going full swing by now and it's time to bring in new flavors.

 

I never seem to be able to transition slowly into this either. I'll wake up one day, and boom! I NEED to make all these foods TODAY. Seriously, I wonder about myself sometimes. This year, that day came yesterday.

 

Soooo, today I wanted to share one of my favorites with all of you. Candied Cranberries. Loooove these, and most of the time I end up eating almost all of them myself.

 

They are so easy to make, it's hard for me not to make them all the time. They do have a lot of sugar though, so I'm forced to keep them as a sometimes food.

 

This recipe does require overnight soaking, so plan ahead. Don't worry, they are worth it!

 

 

Candied Cranberries Recipe

 

1 Cup Maple Syrup

2 Cups Fresh Cranberries

1.5 Cups Organic Sugar

 

1) In a small sauce pan, warm the maple syrup (do not bring to a boil, just make it luke-warm or the cranberries will pop).

 

2) Rinse and dry cranberries.

 

3) Place the cranberries in a stainless steel or ceramic small bowl. Cover with the maple syrup and then cover the bowl with a towel and allow to soak overnight in the refrigerator.

 

 

 

4) Once the cranberries have soaked overnight, remove them from the fridge. Using a large spoon, scoop up a few cranberries and allow as much syrup to drain out as possible.

 



 

 

 

5) Put the drained cranberries in a bowl filled with sugar and lightly push them around until they are coated in sugar.

 

 

 

 

6) Place them gently on a parchment covered baking sheet. Continue this until all of the cranberries are on the sheet. Allow to dry (about 1-2 hours) and then refrigerate.

 

 

 

 

Does this time of year put you in the mood to cook or bake? What's been on your table lately? I would love to hear what your favorite dish is!

 

 

Take care!

-Lisa

Pumpkin Pie French Toast - Recipe

 

I love all things pumpkin. Especially this time of year, and I know I'm not alone. Our family has a slight addiction to these pumpkin scones, and I'm always left with unused pumpkin. Last year I found I could make pumpkin butter with the exact amount left in the can. That was great, but we can only eat so much pumpkin butter. I wanted another option. And so, our Pumpkin Pie French Toast was born!

 

This is sooo good! The best part, in my opinion, is that my kids gobble this up and there is no added sugar. So you can opt to leave off the maple syrup and know that it's a wholesome breakfast (or in our case dinner) with lots of healthy vitamins.

 

 

 

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

 

1 Cup pure pumpkin puree

6 eggs

1/3 C milk

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

dash of ground cloves

 

Bread

 

 

1) Whisk together eggs and milk.

 

2) Add pumpkin and whisk until smooth. Add nutmeg, ginger and cloves and mix well. The mixture should be thick and have an almost custard like appearance.

 

 

 

3) Dip your bread slices in the mixture, making sure to coat both sides.

 

4) Cook on a griddle or frying pan on medium heat until both sides are lightly browned.

 

 

Homemade Chicken Broth Recipe

 

Welcome back! Today is the final day in my week of immune-boosting recipes! If you missed the previous days, be sure to check them out here.

 

I'm sure at some point in your life, when you had a cold, someone suggested chicken soup. I think most of us just chalk it up to an old-school recommendation. Believe it or not, chicken soup actually does help cure a cold. Read more about that here. It has to be homemade though.

 

This is another easy recipe, it just takes some time and a little planning ahead.

 

 

What you need:

 

1 Cooked Whole Chicken - meat picked off

1-2 bay leaves

Peppercorns

1 large onion sliced

2-3 Carrots chopped

1-2 Stalks of celery chopped

6 Cups of water

Large Stock Pot with lid

Colander or mesh sieve

 

 

 

1) Put the whole picked over chicken in the stock pot and cover with the six cups of water. Add bay leaves, peppercorns, onion, carrots and celery.

 

2) Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 1 hour, skimming off any fat that rises to the top. I usually cover mine with a lid.

 

3) After an hour, remove from heat and pour the liquid into a heat safe container or another pot, with either a colander or fine mesh sieve.

 



 

 

That's it! Super easy, just a little time consuming.

 

 

I buy our free-range chickens from a local farmer and end up paying about $12 each. That may seem like a lot, however I can typically get about two real dinners out of the chicken meat, and I end up with 4-6 cups of stock for soup and cooking. So if you were to add all that up, I think it's a pretty good deal.

 

If you want to make chicken soup, all you have to do is add some noodles, extra veggies and salt and pepper to taste. We make these noodles.



 

Pair your soup with some crunchy homemade bread or rolls and you've got a quick, nutritious and warm lunch or dinner!

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

-Lisa

Garlic and Oil Saute Recipe

This is day four in my week of immune-boosting recipes. If you missed the other days, be sure to click here!

  Garlic is a great health-booster, and in my opinion necessary in a healthy, balanced diet. It has been used medicinally for thousands of years. Garlic lowers blood pressure and LDL Cholesterol. It helps regulate blood sugar and prevent blood clots. It also has anti-viral properties and antioxidants. It has a lot more health benefits, click here to read more.

  You need quite a bit of garlic to reap all those rewards. A super easy way to get a large dose of garlic is to saute veggies and pastas in garlic and oil. If you've never sauteed, don't be intimidated, it's actually really easy!

  Below is my go-to easy garlic and oil saute recipe...

What you need:

Large frying pan or saute pan
Olive oil (organic if you can)
Sea salt
Pepper
Minced Garlic
Wooden spoon
Any raw or lightly steamed veggies or cooked pasta


1). Pour enough olive oil into your pan to thinly cover the entire surface area.

2) Turn on your stove to med-high heat and sprinkle 1/4 tsp sea salt and 1/4 tsp pepper (or more to taste). Add 1-2 Tablespoons of minced garlic - again, depending on your tastes and how garlicky you want your dish.

3) Allow your oil mixture to heat up for about a minute and then add your veggies. Push the veggies around in the pan with the wooden spoon while they cook to avoid burning. Continue in this fashion until your vegetables are tender.

4) Turn off the heat. If you would like to add pasta (it must be fully cooked), now is the time to add that to the pan and again push everything around with the spoon to avoid sticking and burning.

5) Transfer everything to a bowl or serving dish and you're done!

This is so so good and has endless possibilities!