simplest snack – ever

Leave a comment March 18, 2015 nourishinggrace

Looking for a healthy easy snack for the Fast, or just any time? If you have an avocado, a little salt and pepper and just a squeeze of lemon, you have the world’s easiest snack, complete with it’s own bowl.

Halve and put the avocado, squeeze half a lemon atop of it, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon it right out of the peel. It is delicious, a good source of fiber, vitamin B, C and E. They are also a source of good fat (monounsaturated) and contain plenty of potassium. Besides that, they are just delicious!

Lenten sesame truffles

Leave a comment March 17, 2015 nourishinggrace

Everyone likes a snack, and these nutty truffles are a delicious treat to keep on hand during Lent and really any time of the year. These sesame butter truffles are low in sugar, taste great and also a nice project for the kids.

Over the years we have really tried to cut down our sugar. When I began studying holistic nutrition and learning about just how depleting sugar is to our bodies I felt compelled as a mom to put that into action in my home. So, I have steadily been working at drastically reducing the sugar in our recipes, as well as changing the types of sugar we eat.

To give you an idea, we have a coconut cream pie recipe that called for 2 cups of sugar. Through trial and error, we have settled on just 1/2 cup of sugar – that is the point the family says, “hey, it’s doesn’t taste right.”

Why reduce the sugar content? There are a lot of reasons and of course blood sugar swings is just one of them. In the past hundred years, the average person has gone from from eating just about 2 pounds of sugar per year, to close to 150 pounds of sugar per year. That is a massive increase, and it’s questionable whether our pancreas and bodies were designed to handle such an onslaught. Excess sugar intake can contribute to a weakened immune system, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and increased risk of diabetes and acidity in the digestive tract. That acidity creates an atmosphere conducive to pathogenic bacteria and yeasts.

Did you know that for every molecule of sugar you consume, your body needs 55 – 65 molecules of magnesium just to metabolize it. And that’s just magnesium. The digestive demands of sugar leech other vital nutrients from our bodies, such as chromium and copper and also interferes with the absorption of calcium.

Our kids today get sugar in most everything and as a nation we are generally depleted of magnesium, which is necessary to process carbohydrates. Among other things, deficiencies of magnesium can lead to decreased energy. Magnesium works together with calcium so that your muscles contract and relax. So muscle spasms (think charlie horse) can arise from magnesium imbalances.

Paleo recipes recognize that impact of sugar in our health and that’s why you won’t find much sugar in them. None the less, they are delicious and provide a guilt free tasty treat!

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Lenten & Paleo Sesame Truffles

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons raw tahini paste. You can get roasted, but it will change the flavor. See which you like best.
8 tablespoons coconut butter (also called coconut manna)
2 tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut
4 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon maple syrup
pinch sea salt
seeds from two vanilla pods or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds for coating
2 tablespoons coco powder for coating.

Melt coconut manna over the stove. Add softened coconut butter, sesame paste (tahini), maple syrup, sea salt and vanilla bean (vanilla extract) and mix until smooth.

Form into bite sized balls and roll in coco powder or sesame seeds. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet or plate and refrigerate for about an hour to set.

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Additional Resources:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/20/sugar-dangers.aspx
McBride, N. (2010). Gut and psychology syndrome: Natural treatment for autism, dyspraxia, A.D.D., dyslexia,

A.D.H.D., depression, schizophrenia. Cambridge, U.K.: Medinform Pub.]. (111-112)

Nancy Appleton; G. N. Jacobs. Suicide by Sugar: A Startling Look at Our #1 National Addiction. Kindle Edition.

panang curry Lenten soup

Leave a comment March 13, 2015 nourishinggrace

A very good tip for the fast, that we discovered some years back, is to make meals that were meant to be vegetarian or vegan in the first place. We wanted to embrace the fast with joy, as we are taught… but each fake hamburger, or look a-like taco made us just wish we were eating meat.

My first visit to an Orthodox monastery was five or six years ago and it was during Great Lent. The food on their table was simple and great. The meals also seemed very traditional – recipes that were meant to be Lenten. I had my four year old daughter with me. She loved everything they served! So the next year, we decided to eat fasting foods that were never intended to contain meat in the first place – a lot are asian or middle eastern or Ethiopian inspired. We didn’t want fake cheese or burgers or other imitations. We wanted real food.

Finding recipes that are meat free to begin with has made a joyful difference at our table.

I hope you will like this delicious Thai coconut panang curry soup. It is made from simple ingredients – and the vegetables can be rotated to what is in season in your area, or to include any specific varieties that you especially enjoy.

This is the way we like it, if it is too sour, just reduce the amount of lime.

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Ingredients

2 cans coconut milk – Native Forest is a great brand
1/4 red onion diced
1/4 cup lime juice
Thai red curry paste – to taste
one container firm organic tofu (very important to get organic. Trader Joes has a fermented organic tofu)
1 cup green beans, ends cut of and sliced into bite sized portions
1 cup chopped portabello or other mushroom you like
1 cup baby bok choy, chopped (about 4 small baby bok chops)
2 inches ginger root peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 cups vegetable broth, plus a little extra to deglaze pan.

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Preparation

Open tofu package and cut into small squares. Lay these flat on a thick layer of paper towels. Cover with another thick layer of paper towels. You can leave it like this, or place a cutting board on top of them. This is to drain the excess water away. Otherwise it just gets soggy.

Prepare all of your remaining ingredients and have them by the stove. This is the step that dramatically changed the results of our cooking. Having the mis en place staged so that you can concentrate on cooking rather than cutting and watching the stove at the same time reduces the possibility that your dinner will burn.

If you have a wok, then this is a good recipe for it. If not, a large frying pan – well seasoned cast iron or non stick is good.

Over medium heat, add toasted sesame oil and coat the pan. Add the tofu and cook until the sides are brown, About five minutes. Remove from pan and lay on paper towels so that it can drain.

In a soup pot, pour coconut milk, vegetable broth, sliced ginger and lime juice. Let simmer while you cook the vegetables.

Add mushrooms to wok/frying pan. Cook over medium heat. If you are using a wok, move to the side and add the bok choy and green beans. You’ll want the mushrooms well done, the bok choy and beans still a little crispy. If it gets dry or if the veggies start to stick, add in some of the vegetable broth.

With a strainer remove ginger from the broth. Sample and add salt to taste.

Add one heaping teaspoon of panang curry paste and taste. I purposely have not added a measurement for the curry, because frankly different brands vary widely in their flavor. Make this tasty for you. We actually add the curry straight to the soup bowls, the younger ones don’t want as much so they just get a hint of it.

plating the vegetables and tofu

Now you can add all of the vegetables and tofu into the broth, or begin to plate the vegetables into the bowls separately – like we do – and add the broth on top of it.

Claudia and Kates soup

We plate the veggies and tofu separately into the bowls because, in my family, we have three girls, some of who like mushrooms and onions and some who don’t. The one who doesn’t like them, really really doesn’t like them. So the mushrooms and onions go to the bowls in the measure of how well each one will enjoy it. Though we have a general rule in our house that you have to try everything, I have to admit that as a girl, I did not like mushrooms… not at all.

And during the Fast, well, it just seems better to have mercy and give them what they will like, so that they too will embrace the Fast with joy.

Erika’s Soup

lenten winter curry squash soup

Leave a comment March 7, 2015 nourishinggrace

This lenten curry squash soup is born out of several squashes from our CSA box that have just been sitting on the kitchen counter. You really can use any winter squash variety. We used a sugar pumpkin, butternut and acorn squash – so this is more of a triple squash soup.

Use whatever winter squash you have on hand, or that you can find in the market. Kabocha squash would be great in this spiced squash soup too.

A note about the curry paste. We used to buy our curry paste from the local Thai market (oriental grocery stores have awesome spices). Sadly, our local Thai market closed. So for now I am using the Taste of Thai brand. It is not as spicy and flavorful as the brand in the Thai Grocery, but is still good.

The base of this soup is the vegetable.mineral.broth. That is why there is no salt in the final recipe. If you are not fasting, chicken stock will work nicely here too.

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Ingredients:

4-5 pounds winter squash : kabocha, acorn, butternut, pumpkin
1 medium onion chopped
3-4 cups vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk
2 tablespoons red curry (or more to taste)
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375F. Cut squashes in half and spoon out seeds. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet and place in oven. Bake for one hour or until tender. Remove from oven and spoon out squash meat into separate bowl.

Sautee onion over medium heat. Add 2 cups of vegetable broth and cooked squash. Add spices and coconut milk. Using an immersion blender, mix the soup until it is entirely pureed. Check the consistency, add more broth if it is too thick.

Garnish with cilantro, avocado or parsley.

Enjoy.

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Alternatively, you can make this a sage and thyme based soup. Omit the coconut milk, use an extra cup of vegetable broth and add to the sautéing onions one tablespoon of fresh sage and thyme.

There are so many variations to this soup, play with the ingredients and find what you like best.

mushroom leek soup

Leave a comment February 25, 2015 nourishinggrace

During Great Lent we eat almost 40 days of soup. Mostly, this is because it’s simpler to prepare our foods in this way.

This mushroom leek soup is one of my favorites – a hearty mushroom soup, made with just a few ingredients. This is easy and nourishing and has many variations.

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Mushroom Leek Soup

serves two as a main course, with a nice big salad!

Ingredients

10 ounces of your favorite mushrooms (we just get the assorted pack with shiitake, cremini and portabello

2 leeks sliced thin, green and white parts

4 cloves garlic, minced

6-1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Optional items:

1 strip kombu / seaweed

brown rice noodles

dash of toasted sesame oil

soy sauce or sirachi hot sauce to taste

you can use any combination of herbs that you prefer, like sage, bay leaf, oregano

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Preparation :

In a pot over medium low heat, add sliced leeks, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Chop mushrooms and place in soup pot. Let the leeks and mushrooms sweat for about 10 minutes. This will draw the water and flavors out of them.

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Add garlic and water. Place lid on pot and let simmer for 30-45 minutes. This really depends on how tight the lid on your pot fits and whether a lot of steam escapes.

5 minutes before ready to eat, add two nests (they come bunched together and it looks like nests) of rice noodles to the mushroom leek soup. You can take it off the heat and place the lid on, or continue to simmer. They will cook either way.

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The final consistency I like is more on the stew side.

You can add any of the optional items or enjoy it as is.

Enjoy.

lemon zest cookies

Leave a comment March 21, 2014 nourishinggrace

These super easy cookies are a tangy delicious treat, and a great addition to the kids lunch. Gluten-free and and naturally sweetened, they are a cinch to make and can be enjoyed baked or raw.

ingredients

1-1/3 cups almond flour
1 cup unsweetened coconut
zest of one lemon
pinch of sea salt
3 tablespoons raw honey or maple syrup
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
extra coconut for rolling

preparation

Mix all ingredients in food processor and blend until a paste forms. Scoop out dough and shape into balls about one inch in diameter. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet.

You can eat them as is, or bake in 250F oven for twenty minutes. Makes about 30 little cookies.

Note: Raw honey should never be given to infants as they lack sufficient stomach acid to combat the possibility of bacteria.

Lenten Greek Bean Salad – Fassolia Salata

Leave a comment February 28, 2014 nourishinggrace

“But unless humility, simplicity, and goodness adorn our lives, and are associated with prayer, the mere formality of prayer will avail us nothing. And this I say, not of prayer only, but of every other outward exercise or labor undertaken with a notion of virtue.” —Saint Macarius

Lenten menus tend to feature beans…. lots and lots of beans.

We have two favorite local Greek restaurants, The Plaka and Nostos. For any locals, this dish is inspired by our local Greek Restaurant in Tyson’s…. Nostos which has a wonderful menu with some very traditional dishes, way beyond gyros and souvlaki. The recipe below is modified from the one found in Foods of the Greek Islands, by Aglaia Kremezi, which is more of a salad with a dijon mayonnaise base than this version.

In every recipe in which you use dried beans, take the time to soak them- either in plain water or even better, with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar added to the the beans and water. That this is similar to the traditional methods your grandmother or great-grandmother might have done. They knew a thing or two about cooking and those traditions, well…they lend to maximum digestibility and nutrition.

Traditional peoples whose cuisines were based on legumes prepared them with great care. Beans are soaked for long periods before they are cooked – some varieties in acidic water and some in neutral or slightly alkaline water. The soaking water is poured off, the beans are rinsed. As the beans cook, all foam that rises to the top of the water is skimmed off. Such care and preparation in cooking ensures that the beans will be thoroughly digestible and all the nutrients they provide well assimilated, because such careful preparation neutralizes phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors and breaks down complex-sugars. (Nourishing Traditions)

How did they know this without nutrition fact panels? One reason might be that at that time their food supply had not become so laden with toxic and artificial chemical ingredients and sugars – so our ancestors actually knew how foods made them feel on a more subtle level than do we. They had a cleaner more pure food supply, so their bodies – not having the daily nutritional noise and non or even anti-nutrition -coursing through them -knew when something didn’t sit right. We, on the other hand, are fairly used to not feeling nourished, so it just goes unnoticed.

Soaking also allows the beans to be more agreeable in other ways (if you get my drift!) because it helps break down some of the more complex sugars which are gas causing.

Especially for those larger kidney, northern whites, chickpeas and black eyed peas, a good soak is in order. Soaking your beans does the beans and yourself a favor. First of all, dried beans are a fraction of the price of those canned, so in big families this is a budgetary boon. Further – the soaking neutralizes phytates and enzyme inhibitors that bind the nutrition of the bean, such that we can not absorb it… in some cases, large amounts of phytates can bind to the minerals in the rest of our meal and making them unavailable.

One other note- canned beans do not offer the same benefits as soaking. Canned beans are high in sodium are canned under very high pressures. This does not neutralize phytates and the danger is that such processing denatures proteins and other nutrients at the same time. We do use canned beans in a pinch, but sparingly.

Ingredients:

2 cups dried white beans (great northern work well), soaked over night and drained

1/2 cup finely diced shallots, red onion or spring onions

1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsely

1 garlic clove minced

3-4 tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

optional: 1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation:

Place beans in large pot with cold water covering them by 2-3 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about one hour or until tender.

Combine the beans and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Stir well and let sit for the flavors to combine (about 1 hour).

Serve as a side dish to your favorite meal.