Fresh Pesto Sauce on Cooked Noodles

Fresh Pesto Sauce
3 Tbs Fresh Basil
1 Tbs Fresh Parsley (Can use Cilantro instead)
1/4 cup of Toasted Almonds or Pine Nuts (or Walnuts)
3-4 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Small clove of Minced Garlic (1 Tbs)
3-4 Tbs grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper

Process all ingredients in a food processor or blender.  Add more olive oil if pesto sauce is too dry.  You can dip fresh bread in it or I mixed mine with cooked noodles and grated a little more cheese on top.  Tasty stuff!

Easy Delish French Onion Soup

First of all I want to thank my friend Oded, for teaching how to make this amazingly simple Onion Soup.  This is his recipe and I just wanted to share it with others who might also really enjoy it :).

Ingredients;  Butter, oil, Fresh sliced Onions, Minced Garlic, Flour, Beef Broth OR Chicken Broth, Pepper.

In a large pan melt butter with a Tbs of oil (I use a cold pressed safflower or other kind).  Add sliced onions (I used about 3 really large ones) and saute for at least 10 mins.  I think I cooked them for about 15 mins.  I wanted to make sure they were tenderly sweet :).   Then I added one Tbs of minced garlic and cooked for just 1 min.  Then stir in enough flour (1/2 cup or so) to lightly coat onions.  Cook for a couple minutes.  Slowly add the broth (several cans at least or a large cartoon of broth) and stir the soup.  I let it simmer the flavors together until it tasted done, probably a few mins and seasoned it with pepper.  This is by FAR the easiest soup ever and so simply Delicious!  Our friends taught us to serve it with a slice of cheese toast added directly into the bowl of soup. YUM!

Pasta Italiana or Italian Flag Pasta

Pasta Italiana (Italian Flag Pasta)

This dish has the 3 colors of the Italian Flag in it- White=Cheese, Green=Basil and Red=tomatoes

Ingredients;
Ditalini noodles (small cylinder noodles)
Mozzarella cheese
Dried Basil
Olive Oil
Roma Tomatoes (others work as well)
Balsamic Vinegar

Cook noodles until barely done. While the noodles are cooking, cube tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. (Smallish cubes) When noodles are done add a large amount of olive oil until noodles are well coated then add large amount of Dried Basil. Then add the cubed tomatoes and cheese. Serve hot with a dash of cold  Balsamic vinegar.  I usually cook up some meat to go along with this meal and sometimes we eat just this because it is fast and easy to make.  (This was a big hit at a Family reunion I went to this summer and did this as a cooking demonstration.) 

Sorry no working camera currently :(  So you will just have to try it out and see if you like it :)

Artichokes and a Veggie Pasta dish

Artichokes are very easy to cook and fun too. Just watch out for the pricklies :)
Take a fresh artichoke and cut a little off of the bottom stem, then rinse in water and place in a pan with with a lid and some water. Sometimes this requires a big pan. We sometimes either use 2 pans or cut our artichokes in half when they are done so that everyone gets some. Turn on your stove and let it cook until the outside leaves start to peel away from the stem and the bottom is soft. Hope that makes sense, it could take anywhere from 1/2 hour to 1 hour with the lid on. To eat it, you will need some melted butter with salt and pepper in it for added taste. We put ours in little glass/ceramic bowls or cups (our melted butter). Peel a leaf of and dip the bottom part of the leaf in the butter and scrape away the meat. The closer you get to the center the more meat will be on the leaf. Also when you get almost all the way to the center, where it turns really prickly, don't eat it, scrape off the pricklies (looks like a thistle blossom) and eat just the root and stem in butter, yum! Hope all this makes sense, kinda hard to describe it, without showing you. Since you eat this with butter it is great to have just a side of meat cooked, I have cooked steaks or fish or something of that sort to add to the meal.

Veggie Pasta Dish

Cook noodles according to package direction in boiling water. In a sauce pan add a generous amount of olive oil with some minced garlic and finely chopped onion then add cut up zucchini and cook for a couple mins, then add diagonally sliced asparagus and stir another couple minutes and then add some frozen peas, cook until desired tenderness of veggies. When noodles are done toss the veggies in with it and serve. Can be topped with some grated Parmesan cheese or not.

Egg Frittata Sandwitch and ideas for baking fish

This was a fun recipe to create.

Egg Frittata Sandwich
1 minced garlic clove
1 small diced onion
2 small chopped zucchini
1 large handful of spinach
3 medium diced roma tomatoes
7 eggs
1 heaping Tblsp of Sour Cream (I use fresh made Piima cream)
Whole wheat English muffins
Mozzarella cheese slices

In a cast iron pan on the stove, melt about 2 Tbsp of butter, add all the veggies and saute until barely tender. In another bowl, mix eggs and sour cream. Then pour into the veggie mixture and put into the oven that has been preheated to 350 F and bake for about 20 mins or until done (might be less). In the meantime cut apart whole wheat English muffins and line them in a pan. Place a slice of mozzarella cheese and toast until cheese is melted in oven. When Frittata is done cut out a piece to fill the sandwich. Very tasty!

Two different flavoring for baked fish ideas (can use any kind of fish)

*We took some fresh caught steel head and put them on my baking stone, then lightly brushed with smoke flavoring and then sprinkle lightly with celery salt. Bake until fish is moist and flaky (varies on the size of fish, 5 mins to 45 mins)

*My friend told me about this and I am excited to give it a try! Tear off a large piece of tinfoil, place fish in the center and pour on top Italian salad dressing and then add sliced real lemon pieces. Enclose the fish and seal and bake in oven until done.

Yogurt Cucumber Salad

Yogurt has so many health benefits and I am always looking for ways to incorporate it into our diets. I use it in place of sour cream in recipes too. (Until I start making my own sour creme or Creme Fraiche). To cook the steaks I just heat up a frying pan slightly and place in pan and season with a steak seasoning that is MSG free and cook until they are done. The brussel sprouts were steamed a little and then I stir fried them in a mushed black beans and minced garlic.

Yogurt Cucumber Salad
Peel and cut cucumbers
Stir in a heaping spoonful of plain yogurt
Sprinkle with dry dill

Flavourful Meatloaf, Easy Homemade butter and Buttermilk

My sister Kimi was staying with us this last week and she claimed that this was the best meatloaf she has ever had! I have been reading a lot of different books that one of my friends introduced me too on nutrition and getting the most from our food. This meatloaf was in one of those books where I slightly changed the recipe. One of the things it talks about is healthy fermentation. (Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon) I know sounds crazy, but it totally makes sense and we have been fermenting some of our foods for over a month and have had no ill effects from it. This healthy way of fermenting things helps introduce healthy bacteria in our intestines that make food digestion go smoother and allow our bodies to absorb more nutrients (that is only a couple of the incredible benefits!) I will continue to include more recipes that I hope you are brave enough to try ;)! We are actually in the works of getting our own milk cow soon and are excited to make "fresh" dairy products. But in the meantime try to find milk that has no hormones and is in its most natural form possible. Have you ever noticed that when your milk jug is empty and it sits for a day that the spec of milk on the bottom is instantly rancid and bright green or yellow. That is the formaldehyde that they put in it to preserve it. (not good!) In SE Idaho we have access to a little better milk from Reed's Dairy. But once milk is heated up to process it, it looses all the natural enzymes that the body needs to digest it better (thus a lot of dairy intolerance)

This is the Simple Homemade Butter and Buttermilk recipe; (Makes 1/2 lb of butter and 2 cups buttermilk)
1 quart of heavy cream (I used 1/2 heavy and 1/2 light since that was all I had) Place into a glass jar at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours, cover with a paper towel. (I let mine sit overnight) The next morning I put my cream into my kitchen aid (can use a regular mixer as well) and used the beater attachment. I beat the cream high at first and then on a slower speed for several mins. As the liquid starts to separate transfer it into a glass jar to be stored in the fridge. Continue until all liquid is out of the butter (at this point I added a tsp of sea salt) and press with a wooden spoon if needed. Roll butter into a ball and place in a glass or ceramic bowl, cover and chill. Butter can be frozen.

This is so creamy with no added preservatives either! You should only cook with Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Real Butter, coconut oil and occasionally cold pressed Flax seed oil. Every other oil and margarine, has no nutritional value from being processed in the high heat and so many other bad things. Store bought Salad dressings are also very bad for the body, so if you can make you own, you are 100% better off. ( I am still working on finding ones that we really like)*Just found out that some people use their blender to make butter :)

Flavourful Meatloaf- *Don't use the lean beef, in the end when it is cooked the percentage of fat is only 5% and lean or extra lean beef are less nutritious (from no fat) and more dry.

Saute in butter until soft
1 finely chopped medium onion
2 peeled and finely chopped carrots
2 finely chopped celery stalks
In a separate bowl mix
2 lbs of ground beef or other red meat
1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup of homemade buttermilk (it will smell very sour)
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of whole grain bread crumbs
1 Tbs of minced garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp of dried red or chili pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
-Then add the cooked veggies and I find it is easiest to mix with my hands.
Place in a 9 x 13 pan and cover the meatloaf with a light layer of tomato paste and pour 1 cup of water around the meatloaf. Bake at 350 F for 1 1/2 hours.

*And the final tip for today is about sea salt. It should be brown or tan in color. White sea salt has been bleached, and the nutrients then have also been bleached out. Regular table salt is processed with Chlorine (not good, like we need more of that in our bodies!)

Fresh Herbed Cold Tomato Soup

I have never made a cold soup before. Some of my kids liked this and some of them did not. I found it delicious and refreshing!
Fresh Herbed Cold Tomato soup

1 bottle of tomatoes (liquid and all) or you could use 3-5 fresh tomatoes
3 large celery stalks
1 red bell pepper
1 Avocado
1 handful of fresh Basil
1 handful of fresh Parsley
1 clove of garlic
1 tbs of fresh lemon juice.

Blend all together and thin with hot water (I did not use any hot water). I also used leftovers of this soup as the sauce in a quick burrito. It made the burrito vary tasty with cheese, meat, lettuce and this soup.

Fresh Veggie and Chicken Corn Tortillas

This is so good that it is hard to not eat it every meal and when I first told my kids that was what we were having for dinner one night, they were less than enthused! But it even got raving reviews from them in the end :)!Fresh Veggie and Chicken corn tortilla's
Olive oil
Corn tortillas
1/2 cup to 1 cup cooked cubed chicken
1 cup cooked brown and wild rice mixture
1 cup cooked beans (Black or Black eyed)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped cucumber
MSG free seasoned salt and celery salt
Plain yogurt

In a small pan lightly toast corn tortilla's (I use a smidgen of butter only at the first). In the meantime saute in a little olive oil, cut up cooked chicken pieces (another great leftover chicken dish), a Tbsp minced garlic, brown wild rice mixture (another great leftover use), and some leftover beans (our favorites are black eyed beans or black beans) and last add in chopped green pepper and I use a little MSG free seasoned salt in the mixture and celery salt to taste. When this whole mixture is heated through remove from stove. Take the toasted corn tortilla, fill with filling, then top with chopped cucumbers and a dollop of plain yogurt (this part really scared my kids at first). Enjoy! I have to limit myself to making these only once a week! Now I just need to find my own recipe for making fresh corn tortilla, I think I might know someone that might have that recipe.

Whole Chicken Bake and Chicken Lettuce Salad

Baked Chicken Dinner with Veggies
First what you do is buy a couple whole chickens (I didn't get any pictures of this meal) You put them in a pan to bake for an hour or more. Make sure they are covered and just season them with a little season salt or Mrs. Dash Herb Blend, I also stuffed the inside of the chickens with a handfull of peeled garlic cloves. When the chicken is about done, cook any desired fresh or frozen veggies and serve with the chicken. Then save the chicken bones and broth and garlic that was inside the chicken. (The next meal will be posted later that uses the leftover bones, etc)
To make the Chicken Lettuce Salad
With some of the leftover chicken (that is why you need to bake more than one whole chicken) top a fresh green salad with spinach, leafy lettuce, Slice purple cabbage, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash Table blend and a tiny bit of olive oil.

Fish, Brown rice and Wild rice and Broccoli and Cauliflower

Well just like the title this is a simple nutritious, balance meal. Cook the Brown, mixed with wild rice until done. Steam fresh cut Broccoli and Cauliflower until tender. And bake any kind of fish (I just buy a variety of bags of frozen ones from the grocery store) Season the fish with Mrs.Dash Herb blend on the top of the fish before baking. Check fish every 10 mins, until it flakes and is still moist, and not hard.

Pottage

This is a recipe we learned in France. It is very simple and we traditionally have it as one of the 5 courses on Christmas Eve Dinner. Pottage
6 large carrots, peeled and chopped
5 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 medium sized onions, peeled and chopped

Cook with about 4 cups of water until all the veggies are super soft. Blend in blender and add more water if needed for a thiner soup. (This soup tends to be a bit on the thick side) add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with a large dollop of sour cream.

Hawaiian Haystacks

When I end up with left over cooked brown rice, we like to throw together this simple meal.

Hawaiian Haystacks;
1-Make a chicken gravy or sauce with cooked chicken chunks and either chicken bouillon and a little corn starch and water; or I just use MSG free chicken gravy packets and throw in the cooked chicken.
2-Top your rice with the chicken gravy and any of the following or whatever you choose;
Diced tomatoes, grated cheese, chopped hard boiled eggs, chopped green onions, crushed pineapple, green peas, chow mien noodles, hamburger, etc.. My kids all wanted their own masterpieces photographed!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese and Asparagus

I usually use macaroni noodles, but could not find the open container of them. So I used Penne noodles this time. Different noodles have different effects on your dish, the texture and size all play a part.

Macaroni and Cheese

Cook noodles in boiling water until just barely softened through, drain

Make a white sauce during this time (Have the cheese grated before hand)
Put 1/2 cup butter in pan and melt
stir in 3/4 cup of flour, then add milk slowly until desired thickness is acquired (1-3 cups)
Melt in cheese (1-3 cups, depends how cheesy you like it and any kind of cheese(s) does the job)
Season with salt and pepper then pour into pan with the noodles and stir until blended.

An alternative that we make for fun is called Penny Mac. When cooking the noodles the last 3 mins., I add chopped hot dogs into the boiling water. Also my hubby's way of making home made mac and cheese is to cook the noodles, while hot stir in milk and grated cheese. (I prefer my version;0)

Fake Chicken Cordon Bleu

This recipe comes from an old family cookbook that I got when I was a teenager. One of my cousins posted it. And when we were starting off with our little family, I made it and we have been hooked ever since! We changed just a couple basics that made it even faster and easier, but not much. Below it is served with baked fresh garden squash and frozen petite peas.

* To cook any kind of squash to keep it moist- Cut it open and scoop out seeds then place upside down in a large pan, like a 9 x13 with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water. Bake in oven at 350 until when you press the fork in the squash it has become soft (the squash). Can take 1/2 hour to a over an hour. Fake Chicken Cordon Bleu
Real butter
Smallish cubed chicken breast
Smallish cubed Ham
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese

Melt butter and cook cubed chicken breast (sometimes I cube it after it has cooked) Cook until just tender. Then add the cubed ham cook for a minute. Add soups, cheese and sour cream and stir until cheese has melted. Don't boil after adding cheese and sour cream. Serve over cooked rice.
*How to cook brown rice; In a pot with a lid, place 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil covered, stir once it starts to boil and turn down stove to allow it to simmer for 1/2 hour or a little more with Brown rice. (Don't lift lid to check until it is about done) The brown rice I use is the Basamiti, I can get it in bulk and it is one of the most nutritious rices. White rice has been stripped of all its nutrients. Rice is also considered a grain.

My mothers Shepherds Pie

Another great recipe from my mom! Now that I have my own family we love to make homemade mashed potatoes and when we do, we make a huge batch. And fresh mashed potatoes on shepherds pie is the best. After I had had my 2nd child, we were given 3 different varieties of shepherds pie as meals! Some of them had fake mashed potatoes, and it just isn't the same!

The Most delicious Mashed Potato recipe; (our old next door neighboor gave us the idea of adding garlic and we decided to add onion too)
Peeled and cut potatoes
Put into a large pan with one or two cut up onions and about 4 to 6 whole garlics. Cover with water and cook until potatoes are very soft. Blend with beaters and add a little milk and real cube of butter.

Shepherds Pie
1 Onion
1 lb Hamburger
2 cans of drained green beans
1 can of tomato soup
Mashed potatoes
Real Cheese Mozzarella or Cheddar (opt)
Pepper

Saute a finely cut onion then cook 1 lb of Hamburger. Turn off heat and stir in can of tomato soup, cans of green beans, add a dash of freshly ground pepper. Put it into a 9 x 13 pan and top with mashed potatoes. Can add grated cheese on top. Cook at 350 F for 1/2 hour. This gets devoured fast and company always loves it too!

Baby Red Potatoes and Pork Chops

Pork Chops- Add a little olive oil or butter into a heated frying pan, add pork chops, sprinkle a little pepper, garlic powder and salt, cook until meat has no pink inside and outside has a nice browned look. Take red potatoes (the small baby ones work perfect for this dish) scrub clean with a brush, cube larger red potatoes if you don't have enough small ones. Cover in pan with water and boil until tender through. Drain water, add butter and sprinkle fresh or dryed parsley and stir.

Very basic and easy. I also served this with a green salad.

Fresh garden creamed potatoes, carrots and peas

I had never had this until a few years ago when my mother in law was saying it was one of her favorite meals. I fell in love with it too! But it is hard to get all the things fresh together, so sometimes we improvise. Creamed Potatoes, Carrots and Peas;
Scrub dirt off red potatoes and cube
Scrub carrots and chop
Cook until tender remove from heat, then add
Remove desired amount of peas from pods ;)

Basic White Sauce; (Can use this for clam chowder, and mac and cheese recipes)
1 cube butter- melt in pan add
3/4 cup flour, stir well, add
milk and stir to desired thickness. Season with salt and pepper

When done stir in veggies

Summer Vegetable Strata

Have you ever brought a loaf or two of fresh french bread and then forgot you had it? Then the next day it is crispy! This is a great recipe for the day old french bread.

Summer Vegetable Strata
Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cut a loaf of french bread in 1/2 and put into the bottom. In a bowl mix 3 cups of milk, 8 eggs, salt, pepper, garlic and basil leaves.


In a frying pan heat up about 3 Tbsp of Olive oil, add 1 small finely chopped onion and cook for 1 min. Then add 2 to 3 medium Zucchini slice into quarters and then sliced again. Cook about 5 mins. Take off the stove and stir in 3 seeded tomatoes that are chopped coarsely. Spread evenly over french bread and then pour egg mixture over top. Top with grated cheese and bake in oven at 350 F for 45 mins. Even my three neices ate it up, having never had it before!

Hearty Beef Veggie Medley Soup

This is probably the last soup of the season, we were having a very cold day and then it started to snow again and the kids said their throats hurt. So this is what I came up with as an tasty, healthy immune booster (garlic is a great boost to the immune system). It worked, no sore throats the next day!
Ingredients;
1 lb Hamburger, 2 large carrots, 4 celery stalks, 1 medium onion, 1 green pepper, 3 large cloves of garlic, 2 portabella mushrooms(opt), 6 fresh small tomatoes, 1 box of beef broth, 1 can of drained garbanzo beans, 1 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa, Fresh Basil, Rosemary, Thyme and Parsley (can be dried), salt and pepper, water

In a large soup pan; I cooked 1 lb of hamburger until slightly pink then I added a box of MSG free beef broth. Then I added 2 peeled and finely chopped carrots, 4 finely chopped celery stalks. Let them cook and in the meantime, I warmed up some olive oil (a couple TBLS) in a sauce pan and sauteed 1 finely chopped onion, 3 large cloves of minced garlic, and one finely chopped green pepper. Saute about 3 mins then add to soup. I then added 1 can garbonzo beans, 1 1/2 cups cooked Quinoa, 6 cut up fresh tomatoes and optional 2 large chopped portabella mushrooms. For spices I added in a bunch of fresh and chopped Basil (6 large leaves), Rosemary (1 handful) and Thyme (1 TBLS) (dried can also be used). Then I added dried parsley(2 TBLS) and salt and pepper to taste and more water to taste. Cook until desired satisfaction.