Tofu Scramble

Veggies for breakfast???    Yes! eat veggies all day every day!   The bottom line is the more vegetables you eat the healthier you will be, so try to incorporate as many vegetables as you can into every meal.
  
Serves: 2 to 4
Prep time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients:
2 onions, finely chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped or thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped or thinly sliced
1 clove garlic
2 tomatoes, diced
1 lb firm tofu, cubed
1 cup spinach, chopped
1 cup kale, chopped
black pepper to taste
1 avocado, sliced
a dash or two of hot sauce (optional)

Instructions:

Chop and slice all the veggies and the tofu.  Saute the onions, peppers, and garlic in a large saucepan with a little water to keep it from sticking.  When the onions and peppers are soft add everything else, and cook until the greens are cooked, and everything is hot.  Finish with a little black pepper to taste.  

Fill up a bowl and top with sliced avocado and a dash or two of hot sauce if you like.  The result is a healthy, delicious, sustaining breakfast that will start your day off right.  

Enjoy!!

Thai Peanut Salad Dressing

My kids will devour a salad at the Thai restaurant, mostly because of the Thai peanut salad dressing. I would like them to eat just as much salad at home, so I've been experimenting at making a healthier version. I think I have got it! Everyone at home loves this dressing and it is very easy to make too!

Ingredients:

4 Medjool dates (or 8 Deglet Noor dates)
6 tbsp water
2 tbsp all-natural peanut butter (salt-free, only ingredients should be peanuts)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp Braggs amino acids

Instructions:

If the dates are not soft, I usually soak them in the water for at least a half hour before hand to make them softer. Next, put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. It's best if the dressing is liquidy enough to pour when finished. If it's too thick it will solidify when stored in the refrigerator. If you find it is too thick, just add some more water.

We keep the salad dressing in the fridge for about a week. We all like it so much it usually doesn't last that long though! I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!

Black Bean Soup with Kale and Mushrooms

As if Black Bean soup isn't already good enough, I added Kale and Mushrooms to push it over the top!!

I started with a Black Bean soup recipe from allrecipes.com (link), and changed it up a bit.  What I ended up with is below, and it's been a huge hit with our friends and families so far!  It's a hearty soup that covers 5 of the 7 GBOMBS (Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, and Seeds) that we are suppose to be eating every day.

Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 min
Cook Time: 45 min

Ingredients:

2 medium onions

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

black pepper to taste

4 cups low sodium vegetable broth

8 cups (or 4 15 oz cans) black beans

2 cups sweet corn (frozen is fine)

1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 bunch Kale, chopped

a dash or two of hot sauce (optional)

Instructions:

In a large pot over medium-high heat add onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms and garlic and cook for 10 minutes or so, until the onions and mushrooms are cooked. 

Add chili powder, cumin, and black pepper.  Stir, and cook for 3 minute or so before adding the vegetable broth, 4 cups of beans, and corn. Bring everything to a boil.

While that's cooking combine the remaining 4 cups of beans and the crushed tomatoes in a blender, and blend until smooth. Stir the blended beans and tomatoes into the boiling soup mixture, reduce heat to medium.  

Add the chopped kale, and simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

If you want to spice it up, which I almost always do, add a little hot sauce when serving!  Delish!!

Onions, Celery, Carrots, Mushrooms, and Garlic in the pot!

All stirred up and cooking nicely, just before adding the spices.

Fast forward, and it's finished and ready to eat!!

Apple Guacamole

What?  Yup, that's right, apple guacamole!

It actually sounds more complicated than it is.  I basically make a traditional guacamole and add diced apples.  We've been making mango guacamole in the summer time for years.  I was recently making guacamole to bring to a party and I didn't feel right adding mangos with snow on the ground, so I went for a fall fruit.  The result is something pretty special!  Give it a try for yourself, and let me know what you think!

Apple guacamole with sweet pepper scoops!

Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 min

Ingredients:
- 6 avocados
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 small red onion
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1 apple (honeycrisps work great)
- juice from 1 lime
- black pepper to taste
- 1 jalapeno pepper (optional)

Instructions:
Scoop the avocados from their skin and put them into a large bowl.  Dice the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, apple, and jalapeno, and add everything to the avocado in the bowl.  Juice the lime over everything, and add some black pepper to taste.  Using a large fork mash and mix everything together until it's mixed well and gets really creamy.

It's all in there, ready to mix!

We don't eat chips, so we usually serve it with thickly sliced peppers, cucumber slices, carrot sticks, or occasionally toasted whole wheat pita.  It's also great on top of chilli, or added to a home made veggie burger, or a lentil sloppy joe sandwich.  Seriously delicious!!

In the summer time try adding mango instead of the apple for another delicious combo!

Banana Apple Oatmeal

We love Oatmeal for breakfast, especially when it's loaded up with lots of fresh fruit.  We used to add fruit at the table, to each of our bowls individually, until I tried adding fruit while the oatmeal is cooking...  The result is AMAZING!!  The flavor and natural sweetness from the fruit is absorbed into the oats as they cook, making every bite absolutely delicious!

Banana Apple Oatmeal, topped with pecans and cinnamon

Serves: 6
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 - 40 min

Ingredients:
- 9 cups of water
- 6 bananas, sliced
- 3 apples, diced
- 2 tbsp. cinnamon
- 2 cups of steel cut oats (not rolled oats)

Instructions:
Put water, sliced bananas, diced apples, and cinnamon into a large pot and bring to a boil.  Let it boil for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it starts to break down the fruit.  Once the bananas are swollen and very mushy add the oats and bring back to a boil.  Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until it reaches the desired consistency.

Add to bowls, top with nuts, cinnamon, or more fruit, and enjoy your delicious breakfast!

Experiment a little!
The recipe also works great with frozen blueberries, peaches, pineapple, or strawberries.  Add whatever fruit you like, and if it works well add a comment so I can give it a try too!

Bananas in

Apples in

The fruit is cooked.  It's time to add the oats!

It's ready!

Lentil Sloppy Joe

This one is a REAL crowd pleaser.  You could serve this to anyone and I would expect them to like it.  It's got that tangy flavor that I remember from so many years ago, and the texture works really well.  The kids like it, my parents like it, and my friends like it.  Give it a try for yourself and I think you will like it too!!

The recipe is slightly adopted from the Forks Over Knives web site. (link below)  I just cut back on some of the salty stuff, and removed the sugar.  http://www.forksoverknives.com/sloppy-lentil-joes/

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 15 min 

Cook Time: 35 min

Ingredients:

3 ⅓ low-sodium vegetable broth

1 onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 ½ cups red lentils

1 15-ounce can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 tablespoons braggs liquid aminos

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Instructions:

Put 1⁄3 cup of the vegetable broth in a large pot, and add the onions and bell pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften slightly. About 5 minutes.

Add the chili powder and mix in well. Add the remaining liquid, lentils, tomatoes, and the rest of the seasonings. Mix well, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over greens, on sprouted grain bread, or in a whole-wheat pita.  We usually top it with sliced avocado or a dollop of guacamole, whether it's in a sandwich or not.   

You must try this, it's so good!

Lentil Dahl Soup

This dish is soooo easy and so delish it is a staple in our house these days. 50% of our kids like it! Okay, that is only one kid, but that is still pretty good!

This is my sister-in-law's friend's recipe, but I have modified it a bit:

Ingredients:
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 2 lb canned, chopped tomatoes (I use Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes)
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup red lentils
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 small can coconut milk
- 1/2 bag frozen peas
- Chopped cilantro & Lemon slices for optional garnish (which I never do!)


Pretty much I cook the onions, garlic and spices in water for a bit to mix the flavors, then I add everything else and cook for about a half an hour or so until the lentils cook and are soft. Red lentils cook *much* faster than brown lentils.

We usually eat it over some steamed spinach. Yum!