Recipe for Eating a light dinner your kids will love!

My kids are big fans of a "light dinner".  We love doing this after eating a late lunch or if we get home late from being out and the kids need something to eat before bed.  Try muffins and smoothies.

Yogurt, Date, and Oat Muffin Recipe

1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup agave nectar or honey or raw organic sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup sunflower oil
mix well
1 T flax seed meal
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup chopped dates (nice to soften in hot water first)
1 cup spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix for 2 min.

Spray muffin tins and fill 3/4 full.
 Bake at 350 for 12-15 min

Try this "Hulk Juice" smoothie with it.

2 quarts grape juice
1/2 cup pineapple
1 banana (frozen or fresh)
5 frozen apricots (or canned)
5 kale leaves
3 comfrey leaves or comfrey leaf powder
3 red chard leaves
1 tsp spirulina
large handful of spinach leaves
handful of frozen blueberries

 Blend thoroughly.  Serve with a straw.




This light dinner is full of vitamins and minerals.  The muffins are a perfect fiber source along with Omega Fatty Acids.  The hulk juice is high in antioxidants, magnesium, calcium, vita C, B vitamins, iron, protein, and more.

Muffins are my go-to-food.  If I'm craving a treat or if we need something light to eat, muffins are perfect.

Birthday cake-no dairy, no sugar, low gluten recipe

My daughter ,Tallyoop turned 3. I experimented with some recipes for her cake.  She really wanted something with  strawberries.  So I made an applesauce cake, cut up strawberries and drizzled with cashew nut cream. 
I liked it.  My kids liked it.  My husband didn't like it.  I guess you can't win them all but if you need to cut out dairy because of allergies, cashew cream is a great option and if you don't want to use sugar, applesauce cakes are always a good option.

Applesauce Cake

1 quart of unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup agave nectar (don't need if you use sweetened applesauce)**can use honey or organic sugar.
3 eggs
1/2 c oil (I used coconut oil)
t tsp vanilla
mix together well

Add 2 cups spelt flour (or whole wheat, can use oat flour for 1/2)
1 T baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Mix together

Put in pans and bake at 350 for about 20 min (depending on pan size)

Cashew Nut cream

soak 1 cup of cashew pieces for a couple hours in enough water to cover the nuts
blend in blender
add 1 T of agave (I added too much and it wasn't as good)
add 1/2 tsp vanilla (if desired, I like it better without)

Cut up strawberries.

Voila!!! My baby's birthday cake.

Use FRESH HERBS

I use fresh herbs in my cooking.  It just makes food taste so much better.  I love using tarragon, sage, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, peppermint, etc.  Of course, I love summertime when fresh herbs are accessible in my garden.  This year I clipped herbs and put them in zip lock bags.  I've stored them in the freezer.  They are easy to get to.  I also buy the little plastic boxes of fresh herbs and keep them in the freezer.  I think it's hard to always have fresh herbs because they don't last very long in the fridge.  (If you do store parsley in the fridge, clip the ends and put in a cup of water and then cover it with a plastic bag.)

Try storing fresh herbs and using them next time you make a meal. 

Best Chili recipe ever--well at least to my family

 My sister asked me to share my recipe so here it is.

I think what makes my chili taste so good is I use fresh herbs and I make everything from scratch.

I soak the beans overnight in my slow cooker filling it 1/2 full. I use half pinto and half black beans sometimes I'll use Kidney beans or white beans as well.

The next morning I'll rinse the beans and start cooking them in my slow cooker on high. Be sure you put enough water in it. Add 3 or 4 bay leaves. I just keep these in my fridge. Then I add 4 or 5 cloves of garlic. I leave it cooking all day.
(this is perfect on those days you go to work or have to be gone all day).

Beans are done when you can squeeze them in your hand. I add some salt and pepper at this point and keep the slow cooker on but then I turn it to low.

If you eat meat, you can cook the ground beef, drain fat. I saute 1 onion and 1 green pepper and 1 zucchini.

Add meat and veg to beans.
add 2 quarts of tomatoes (drained if you want chili to be thicker)
(I use crushed or diced because my family doesn't like huge chunks of tomatoes)
Add 1 C chopped fresh parsley
1/3 - 1/2 C chili Powder
2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp or more pepper

Add all the ingredients to beans and cover. Let it steam and simmer for another 1 hr or so. Then uncover and let cook until desired thickness.

Serve with tortilla chips or cornbread.