Engine 2′s October newsletter had a short list of healthy alternatives to the tradition Thanksgiving dishes. The one that caught my eye was the Pumpkin Pie recipe.

I tried this easy, vegan Pumpkin Pie recipe and absolutely loved it.  It was so light and creamy that it made me think of a mousse.

The only cooked item was the pumpkin itself. The rest of the ingredients were nuts, dates and seasonings. I think baked sweet potatoes would be a wonderful substitution for the pumpkin. Using sweet potatoes would make this pie a bit sweeter. Read more

Pears are in full swing around here in the South and with all the low hanging fruit we are preparing for homemade pear butter and pear cobblers. Read more

Yikes! It’s been awhile since my last post. Life happens and it lasted for a couple of months for me. Well, I have a great recipe to share! If you are looking for a healthy snack you can toss in your bag to eat on the go or pack in lunch boxes…I am with you and I may have what you are looking for.

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I am finding more and more alternates to cow’s cheese. By this, I do not mean fake cheese made from soy or rice products. We tried this when we discovered our family was allergic to Casein, which is a protein found in cow’s products (cheese, sour cream, yogurt…).  We did not care at all for these ‘fake’ products. We just did without cheese and cheese products.

A few months ago, I found sheep cheese at an International Food Shop. It was quite pricey, but I thought I’d give it a try. Then I found goat cheese at the same shop. I tried that. It was different at first, with each cheese having it’s own distinct flavor. Then, it kinda grew on us. I liked the way it melted and I was able to use it in dishes I had not been able to make such as real lasagna or paninis or pizza with cheese that melts. Read more

Zoku Recipe and Review

July in the south is HOT! Especially in the Texas heat. While visiting friends and family there this month I got to play with the Zoku Quick Pop Maker and make some delicious frozen pops.

I had never seen one of these little cool freezers before and instantly began a love/hate relationship. Read more

How To Make Tomato Sauce From Fresh Tomatoes?

This summer we had our finest crop of tomatoes. Read more

My daughter has been wanting to make donuts for a long time. We rarely buy donuts and have fried pop-biscuits only a few times in their lives, and that was a looooong time ago. I knew there was a better way.

When we came across a Whole Wheat Cake Donut Recipe she jumped on it.  We found the recipe on Heavenly Homemakers.com. We used coconut oil instead of the melted butter and opted to bake instead of fry. Read more

At my house, we love pancakes and waffles and all things you might put syrup on. Needless to say we can easily go through lots of Maple Syrup.

I try to keep some around and often blend fruits sweetened with the Maple Syrup to pour over pancakes, to stretch the syrup and decrease the amount of sugar in the early mornings. Read more

My neighbor gave us some cucumbers from her garden. They were so beautiful and tasted like summer.

I grabbed one to cut up and put the rest (in the baggie) in the fridge.

I don’t know what your fridge is like, but I only have one refrigerator and it’s cram packed with fresh fruits and veggies, leftovers, milk of all assortments (almond, coconut and goat) and bits of milled grains (like flax, wheat, wheat germ), ingredients for bread making (Vital Wheat Gluten, yeast…) and of course the endless supply of condiments you use only a few times a year. But, most of all it’s full of fruits and veggies (lettuces, spinach, carrots, blueberries, celery, bell peppers…it’s an endless rotation of these items).

All of this to say…my fridge is cram-packed and it freezes often. Read more

One of the best parts about summer time is having a Popsicle. The weather is heating up and the days of swimming are upon us…as are the “Mommy, can I have a Popsicle?”.

There is nothing like having a Popsicle poolside after a great game of Marco Polo.

But, do I really want to pump my precious children full of sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup? NO WAY! Read more

Andrea Primm is a Raw Food Chef and Instructor. She has a Raw Chocolate Cake instructional video on YouTube that is fabulous.

The cake literally took less than 10 minutes to make. After watching the video I immediately decided to give this a try in my Blendtec Blender.

The original recipe called for processing walnuts in a food processor. I do not own a food processor, but know my Blendtec can BE a food processor too. Read more

For those of us who are making our own loaf bread, it’s a great challenge to find a whole wheat bread recipe that can stand up to a loaf of store-bought bread in texture and taste.  This recipe and baking method accomplishes both and the technique is easy to learn.

Feel free to skip to the video below.

In my two or three years of making bread I have tried several whole wheat recipes and eaten lots of hard, stiff, crumbly, bread.  In bread making…persistence pays. I know I am very fortunate to have found a great bread recipe early in my bread making career. Read more

Once again it’s approaching 5:00 and I have no clue what’s for supper.

I looked around my kitchen, hmmm.

Earlier today I covered some raw cashews with water. I did not have a special plan for the cashews, I just knew I needed to use them. I had seen a video earlier this week of an Alfredo sauce using cashews as a base. Cashews make a wonderful creamy base for soups and sauces, that I do know!

So now I have a plan. A creamy sauce using the cashews that were soaking. Read more

I have posted a form of this smoothie some time back, but just had to do it again since this was our featured smoothie of the day!

It was requested by one of my children!

We drink a lot of smoothies in our house, but it’s on a rare occasion that one is actually asked for.

One of our first green smoothies, back when I was blending in my first blender…the Magic Bullet, was an excellent blend of lemon and fresh ginger. I had never used fresh ginger before blending it, by the way. And the Bullet did an okay job of blending the greens. It must have been more than okay if this smoothie recipe had such an impression on my children.

Lemons and ginger and greens are high in disease fighting nutrients and contain immune boosting properties. You can’t go wrong with this trio. Read more

Spring is upon us in the south and I love it! The colors are so beautiful and vibrant.

It got me thinking of these colors…

Pink Strawberries

Green Spinach

Purple Blueberries (yes, they blend up purple) Read more

This quick and easy Green Smoothie is full of vitamins, protein and nutrients. And tastes great!

So, what exactly is in this beautiful Smoothie?

Kefir:

• High in immune boosting B Vitamins.
• Contains an abundance of beneficial  bacteria and yeasts.
• Helps keep the digestive tract clean and healthy.
• Benefits are nearly endless for kefir.

Pineapple :

• Pineapple is high in manganese, a mineral that is critical to development of strong bones and connective tissue.
• High in Vitamin C
• Contains an important enzyme called Bromelain, a useful anti-inflammatory, assists in reducing swelling and assisting in the treatment of sinusitis, sore throat, arthritis and gout. Read more

I’ve had my kefir grains for several months now and they are growing well. I may have several tablespoons now.

I also have access to raw goat’s milk which is excellent for making kefir. My research has found raw milk to be the best for drinking homemade kefir (if you were going to drink animal milk) .

We began our kefir journey by purchasing kefir in the healthfood store, or where ever I could find it. Then I looked into making my own kefir so I would have complete control over the milks we were using.

Raw Goat’s Milk is more digestible for those who have problems with cows milk or casein. Add the millions (or billions?) of good bacteria to this (from the kefir) and it makes an excellent, nutritious drink. Because of the abundance of enzymes in kefir, the health benefits of this drink are tolerable for even the lactose intolerant persons and an indispensable aid in digestion.

How do I begin the Kefir Making Process?

Start by pouring milk onto your grains. The amount of milk depends on the amount of grains you start with, as does how long you keep the milk on the grains. I started with about 1 Tablespoon of grains and 1/2 cup milk. Increase the milk as the grains grow.

Below I explain the process:

I begin by pouring my kefir milk off my grains. Right here I am using the last of my raw Goat milk. (I will run tomorrow up to the farm to purchase more).

I have read you should use a plastic strainer, but my metal one works just fine. I don’t have a plastic one.

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Need a healthy pick-me-up? Try this great tasting Mocha Smoothie to kick start your morning or afternoon.

This sweet frozen treat is sugar free and sweetened with bananas. Read more

I don’t know what it is about baking potatoes twice, but it just seems to spruce them up quite a bit. It’s not much more effort to make this recipe because the blender does most of the work for you.

I used my blender to make the potatoes smooth and creamy. Every time I have blended potatoes they have an interesting ‘sticky’ consistency, but after cooking you can’t really tell. And this certainly does not effect the taste. Maybe it’s the fact that I am not using dairy milk or butter…not sure.

The roasted garlic adds an excellent flavor to these potatoes as well. No one will be able to tell it’s a vegan version of the high fatty twice baked potatoes with butter and whole milk.

Roasted Garlic and Potatoes

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Kefir Smoothie

Today is a spring-like day in the south. Just normal for this time of year. Next week it will be winter again…then spring then so on until it’s hot! I love the South! The perfect day for a Spring-like Smoothie.

I found lots of beautiful ripe-red strawberries…among other goodies at the vegetable/fruit stand yesterday. Even the strawberry tops were pretty and green. So, I tossed the whole strawberry in my smoothie, tops and all. Did you know you can do that? I washed mine well, by the way … these were not labeled organic.

Beautiful Ripe Strawberries

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