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Apple Pecan Salad
Salads in our house usually come together with whatever we have on hand and each persons salad looks a little different. Some salads are simply lettuce, some are lettuce and dressing and then some contain a few more textures and ingredients. With the kids we just keep building upon flavors and textures that they have become a custom to. This one is a favourite of nearly everyone in the house and goes well with either our Perfectly Pomegranate or Poppy Seed Dressing. Print Apple Pecan Salad From: Mommy Kristi A wonderfully sweet & savoury salad topped with a healthy and whole foods no oil added Pomegranate dressing. If your kids are not fans of the red onions, then try the sweet wala wala to get them accustom to onion flavours. Ingredients Romaine (cut or torn) or Mixed Baby Greens Lettuce Apple such as Gala, Honey Crisp or Golden Delicious (sliced thin) Red or Sweet Wala Wala Onion (sliced thin) Pecans (light toasted or not) Raisins or Dried Cranberries (optional) Cooked Beans of choice or Baked Chicken Breast (optional) Blue Cheese (optional) Perfectly Pomegranate Dressing Method If you desire, warm pecans on stove or in the oven at 350' (but watch carefully not to burn them). If you are adding beans you will need to have them prepared ahead of time. If you are adding chicken you can either slice and water saute in a pan or bake in the oven on a cookie sheet at 350'F for about 25 minutes or cooking to an internal temperature of 160 and 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the ingredients to the bowl in the order listed. Can top with beans or baked & sliced chicken breast & or a little crumbled blue cheese for the adults in the family. The cheese would be added on rare occasions and remember to think of the chicken as a condiment, NOT the main dish. 3.2.1255...
read morePerfectly Pomegranate Dressing
Ok so you know you’ve created a keeper when your child literally drinks a whole jar of dressing when your not looking right after she just finished 3 bowls of salad. No Joke! Let’s just say we’ve taken new measures to prevent such an incident from happening again, lol. The 3 bowls of salad previous however, were indeed big drops in my happy bucket that day. This no added oil dressing (aside from what’s in cashews of course) is again one of our favourites. If you’ve ever had an Apple Pecan Salad from Wendy’s with the Pomegranate dressing from there…then I think you will be pleasantly surprised with this one as it was my inspiration for a healthier alternative. Apple Pecan Salad is one of our favourites. A few tips: 1) You can use fresh squeezed orange juice from the same orange that you get your orange zest or you can just use orange juice from the fridge if you are really in a hurry 2) You can use either fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, but to give myself a break, I often use POM pomegranate juice. 3) On any regular occasion I just make the dressing as is and the color isn’t the most appealing as the cashews dull the brightness of the POM juice, however when I see it in the store I will often juice a cactus pear and that turns it a nice pink without changing the flavour as is demonstrated in this picture. (Especially when we have guests coming over.) You could also use a little beet juice but that may alter the flavour slightly. Print Perfectly Pomegranate Dressing From: Mommy Kristi A no added oil, sweet and citrusy dressing that pears great with Romaine Lettuce, Red Onions, Apples & Pecans. The color can be enhanced by added a little cactus pear or beet juice. But beware that beets will alter the flavor a bit while cactus pear will not. Ingredients 8 Medjool dates ½ Cup Pomegranate juice (fresh or POM) ⅓ Cup Cashews (raw) ¼ Cup White Wine Vinegar ¼ Cup Orange Juice (fresh squeezed or store bought) 2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar 1 tsp White Vinegar ¼ tsp Orange peel zest ½ tsp Shallot (or red onion) ⅛ tsp Mustard powder ⅛ tsp Onion powder Juice from 1 Cactus pear (optional) or Juice from beets (optional) Method Combine all ingredients in blender Blend until smooth Makes about 1.5 Cups of dressing. 3.2.1255...
read moreWhole Grain Blender Pancakes
My daughter has this thing for pancakes. It doesn’t matter what time of day, thats what she wants to eat. I took an old family favourite that my sister Deb shared a number of years back, changed a few things and created a new family favourite that I feel completely comfortable feeding to my little flapjack girl! Although this picture does not show it, adding blueberries or any other small fruit like black berries or raspberries is a welcomed addition straight into the mix. If you prefer it to be vegan you can substitute the egg with a flax or chia egg no problem. Simply mix 1 tablespoon of flax or chia with 3 TB of water about 5 minutes prior to making and it will gel up. Then substitute this into the recipe in place of the egg at the time the recipe calls for it. Just make sure your blender is strong enough to blend wheat kernels to a smooth consistency. The blendtec can do this no sweat! Print Whole Grain Blender Pancakes From: Mommy Kristi inspired by sister Deb Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 15 mins A great & fast whole grain pancake recipe from scratch that is quick and our family favourite. Ingredients 1 Cup Whole Wheat Kernels 1,1/2 Cup Almond milk (or other non dairy milk of choice) 1 Eggs or 1 Flax egg (1 TB flax & 3 TB water) 1 TB Coconut Oil ½ tsp Salt (optional) 2 Medjool dates 1 tsp baking powder (no aluminum) ½ cup blueberries (or other small berry, optional) Method Combine 1 cup of whole wheat grains with 1 cup almond and blend in high powered blender for 2 minutes Add additional ½ cup milk, egg, coconut oil, dates & salt (optional) and blend for another 1-2 minutes until smooth Add the baking powder & pulse for 3 seconds to mix. Pour into a bowl & stir in the blueberries if you are adding them. Drop by quarter cup onto a medium heat nonstick or cast iron pan (if using cast iron will need a very little additional amount of coconut oil to cook). Try not to burn the pancakes & turn over when you start to see little air bubbles coming up on the surface. It should only take a few minutes to cook. Serve with apple sauce, fruit or other favourite nutritarian topping. 3.2.1255...
read moreApple Sauce
If you are looking for a yummy sweet dip idea for kids, I don’t think it gets any easier than making your own homemade apple sauce. It is so versatile that we use it in multiple ways. Our latest favourite is as a dip for whole grain blender pancakes instead of your conventional breakfast syrup. We try our best to make sure that when the kids are eating anything sweet, it is complimented by something high in fibre as well to help regulate the glucose (sugar). Apple sauce is great because it contains the sweetness kids love with all the fibre from the apples as well. Combined with our favourite blender pancake recipe it makes for a great & hearty meal. Some other ways to use apple sauce are to replace oil in baking recipes such as muffins, dehydrated into fruit roll ups, as a dip for crackers or vegetables such as celery & lettuce, as a spread for “lightly” toasted bread, in peanut butter and apple sandwiches or wraps & even on oatmeal. Of course eating it plain by the spoonful is just fine too and it’s a GREAT baby food. I usually end up freezing at least half of the recipe in ice cube trays and then transfer to a sealable container afterwards for small unit servings. So without any specific measurements here’s how to make it: Print Apple Sauce From: Mommy Kristi Quick, clean & easy applesauce. I end up freezing most of it in ice cube trays & transferring to a sealable container to use as baby food or as unit servings add to other recipes at a later date. Ingredients Your favourite apples (we like gala or honey crisp) Lemon juice (just a squeeze) Cinnamon (optional) Water Method It's up to you whether you want to peel your apples or not. Not peeling them is ok if you have a high powered blender to blend it up well but most times I peel them. So peel and chop your apples into rough chunks Place in a pot with a little bit of water (1 TB) to prevent sticking Add a sqeeze of fresh lemon. (Enough to prevent the apples from turning dark brown but not so much that it becomes sour and looses the sweet flavour. Add cinnamon to taste if you like...I usually do Cook on medium high stirring often until the apples start to break down. You may have to add more water a little at a time to help prevent burning or sticking to your pan but just keep cooking until all the apples are very tender. Transfer to your high powered blender and blend to desired consistency. Sometimes we leave chunks sometimes we make it smooth. Depending on what we are using it for. You can store right away or I sometimes transfer back to the pot and cook just a little longer. You can make raw apple sauce as well without cooking at all in your blender but cooking it just pulls out the sweet flavour a little more and you get an even smoother result. Experiment with your favourite kinds of apples or other fruit such as peaches, pears, plums and other available or in season fruit. But the riper the better because it will taste more sweet....
read moreThai Peanut Curry & Brown Rice Bear
I would have to say that Thai food is one of my very favourites and my little family enjoys it as well. I’m not sure if it’s just their personalities or if it’s because I ate a lot of spicy foods when pregnant and nursing that my kids like spicy, but they REALLY do. Even at two and three years old they were loving it. This dish has a little bit of spice but not so much that you can’t enjoy the wonderful & colourful flavours. If you really like spice you could add more curry but I would try it as is first. Obviously it’s not a recipe for those with peanut allergies but a great & hardy meal to satisfy any Thai food cravings. If you’ve never had curry before, this would be a great way to enjoy it’s flavour for the very first time. You could also swap other veggies such as sweet potato for squash and perhaps add some mushrooms, depending on what you have on hand and you can use fresh or frozen veggies but frozen veggies will cook a little faster. Print Thai Peanut Curry & Brown Rice Bear From: Mommy Kristi Recipe type: Inspired by http://menumusings.blogspot.ca Cuisine: Thai A wonderful recipe to satisfy the Thai craving for the whole family but not so overwhelming that children won't eat it. Even at three years old our children love this one. The fish sauce really adds an excellent flavour but recognize that it is very high in salt and as you know, I always put salt as optional because too much salt can be a very bad thing. We try to keep our additional daily salt besides what is in natural foods to under 100mg. Ingredients 1 Block Extra Firm Organic Tofu (cut into half inch cubes) or Chicken 1 Cup Green Beans (fresh or frozen, cut into 1 inch pieces) 1 Cup Peppers (I usually use red & green sliced & cut into 1-2 inch pieces) 1 Cup Acorn or Butternut Squash (cut into 1 inch chunks) 1 Medium Yellow onion (chopped) 1 TB coconut oil (optional) 1 Small Can Water Chestnuts (sliced) ½ Cup Cashews (roughly chopped) 1 Handful of Raisins or Currants Chopped Cilantro (for garnish) Unsweetened Coconut (for garnish, toasted optional) Lime wedges (for garnish) Sauce: 1 Cup Coconut Milk (if light kind, use 1,1/2 cups coconut milk & ½ cup broth) 1 Cup Chicken or Vegetable Broth ⅓ Cup Peanut Butter (Natural & Not Roasted) 1 TB Red Curry Paste 5 Medjool dates (pitted) 2 TB Lime Juice & Lime wedges to garnish 1 TB Corn starch or Arrow root powder (optional) 1 tsp Fish Sauce (optional) Method Cook tofu or chicken in a pan with either coconut oil or using a water saute method which is simply adding a table spoon of water to the pan as needed to keep the tofu from burning. Set aside when done. In a separate pan or after you have removed the tofu/chicken, water sauté the green beans, peppers, squash and onion. Place a lid on top for about 3 to 4 minutes until the squash is slightly tender. Mean while combine all the sauce ingredients except for the cashews, raisins, water chestnuts & cilantro in a blender and blend until smooth. When vegetables...
read moreChocolate Dip
Not only did we sort of fall into this recipe but we also fell in love with it rather quickly. I had purchased some fresh figs from the market and knew if I didn’t get them all used right away, they would be going bad soon. So we started to have fig everything…fig salads, fig smoothies and fig desserts. This is a delicious chocolate dip, pudding, spread or what ever you want to call it. All I know is that I hardly got it out of the blender before it was all gone once the kids discovered it. It is great for a fondue party: dipping fresh fruit like strawberries, apples & banana’s or as a healthier alternative to spreads like Nutella… and sometime it’s just a great pudding on it’s own. We also use it to make our version of Chocolate Haystack Cookies. We like it with fresh figs but they are not always available so dried figs work as well. You can also replace all the dates with just figs if you like. If you decide to use dried figs you may need to add a little more liquid and depending on the blender the seeds might not blend. But this is ok as it adds a little bit of pop & texture in your mouth. Our kids like it either way and so do their non nutritarian friends. Print Chocolate Dip From: Mommy Kristi Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 5 mins A very versatile chocolate dip, pudding or spread. Our favourite ways to eat it are as a warm fondue dip for all kinds of fruit like strawberries, apples, banana's and pineapple, or refrigerated into a chilled pudding treat just as is. Ingredients 4 fresh figs or 4 dried figs (if you use dried, you might need a bit more milk) 5 medjool dates (soak in the almond milk for just a little while if too hard) ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk ½ cup cashews 6 TB cacao (or cocoa) Method If the dried dates & figs (if using dried figs) are too hard, then soak with the almond milk for a little while. Combine all ingredients in a high powered blender and blend on "soup" mode. It should be creamy like pudding or maybe slightly thicker. You can adjust the liquid level to your liking. If using dried figs you may have to add slightly more liquid but it's totally up to you. Blended on soup mode and served right away is perfect for making a warm fondue out of the sauce but you can also refrigerate and eat it as a spread, pudding or dip later. 3.2.1255...
read moreBanana Dunkaroo (with Sprinkles)
Ok so it may not be your typical dunkaroo cookie, but dippin’ and dunkin’ banana’s is just as fun with this simple, healthy snack idea that’s packed full of nutrients. Especially if you’ve got some fun dipping bento picks to go with it buuuut….a fork, toothpicks or little sticky fingers work just fine too. Print Banana Dunkaroo (with Sprinkles) From: Mommy Kristi Prep time: 3 mins Total time: 3 mins Serves: 1 Quick, healthy snack that's fun to eat and great for lunches! Ingredients 1 Banana 1 TB Peanut Butter 1 TB Hemp Seeds (Hearts) Container with separate compartments Method Cut banana into bite size chunks (1 inch rounds) and place in one compartment of container Put natural peanut butter (no added oil, salt or sugar preferred) into another separate compartment Place hemp seeds in a third compartment. With a fork or fun bento pick/toothpick, pick up a banana chunk, dip in peanut butter or spread some on with a butter knife, then dip in the sprinkles (hemp seeds), eat and repeat! 3.2.1249...
read moreCheese Please Sauce
I never thought i’d see the day when we could go without dairy cheese in our home but surprisingly that day actually came. We still love those cheesy flavours but we satisfy them in different ways these days. This is a great cheesy sauce that is as versatile as cheese itself. We use it poured on all sorts of vegetables especially broccoli and kale, in mac-n-cheese, on baked potatoes, or as a nacho cheese dip. If you are not a fan of spicy then just leave out the jalapeño all together. This recipe can be made raw vegan but we prefer to do a quick water saute on the onions, cashews, garlic & jalapeños and roast the red peppers before blending. So the next time your kids say “Cheese Please”….don’t hesitate to serve up this beautiful and tasty substitution. Even the big kids will like it…as does my husband who prefers it poured over a portobello mushroom burger with sautéed onions. Print Cheese Please Sauce From: Mommy Kristi inspired by Forks Over Knives No Cheese Sauce Recipe type: Nutritarian A tasty and versatile vegan cheese sauce that tastes great raw or cooked. Ingredients 1 large yellow onion (rough chopped) 1 large red pepper (raw, roasted or sautéed) 1 cup nutritional yeast 3 TB cashews 1 TB tahini (sesame butter, optional) 2 cloves garlic (chopped, optional) ¼-1/2 jalapeño (seeded, optional) ¼ tsp salt (optional) Method If you choose to roast the red pepper, put on a pan with parchment in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes turning once, or you can buy them already roasted. If you choose not to roast then sauté them with the onions. Water sauté the onion, cashews & red peppers (reserve 1 tablespoon red pepper ) in a pan until the onions & red peppers are tender. Once ready, pour the onion mixture into the blender with the nutritional yeast, tahini and salt and blend until smooth. Mean while, do a quick water sauté on the last 1 TB of red pepper (small chopped), jalapeno & garlic while the mixture is blending. Add this to the blender and do about 5 quick pulses to blend but not too much as we want to see little bits of red & green fleck for visual appeal. If you prefer no spice, then just leave out the jalapeño and sauté all the red pepper and garlic with the onion. Best served warm but not necessary. If you want it raw then just throw everything in the blender straight way and serve. 3.2.1249...
read moreGetcha Ketchup
It might surprise you to know that it really isn’t hard to make your own ketchup and one that tastes good too. When you are converting your kids to healthier whole food eating, this may be a good transitional recipe for you to try….if you have to go as far as putting it in a traditional ketchup bottle then do it….whatever it takes. When I first introduced my kids to this ketchup, I had to secretly put it on their plates so they wouldn’t notice that it came from a different container than the original Heinz ketchup. My daughter Mo hesitantly dipped her finger in the sauce and said, “Mmmmm this tastes just like the ketchup we get in the VAN!” We do a lot of traveling, and to her that meant, this is the same ketchup we would get when we went through a drive through or at any other restaurant that has traditional ketchup. Well hey, if she actually believes that, then I’m pretty sure it’s a go to keeper. The trick to getting a good ketchup taste is to cook it for a long time at a simmer, stirring frequently being sure not burn. A high boil is not a good idea because the dates tend to burn at that point. This recipe also stores well for a long time in the fridge. Pack in little single dose sealable cups for ketchup on the go. Print Getcha Ketchup From: Mommy Kristi (Inspired by Dr. Fuhrman's Ketchup) Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Making a ketchup that tastes great and is a healthier alternative to traditional ketchup. Ingredients 7 dates 1 cup water 2 (6oz cans) tomato paste (no salt added) ¼ cup vinegar ½ tsp onion powder ½ tsp garlic powder 2 pinches allspice 1 pinch salt (optional) Method Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. Pour into a sauce pan and heat on medium high till bubbly, then turn down and simmer for at least 20 minutes taste testing along the way. You want to cook long enough that the fresh tomato taste is gone but be sure not to burn as the dates will change flavour and become unfavourable if over cooked or cooked at a high boil. 3.2.1249...
read morePoppy Seed Dressing
Poppy seed dressing is our kids favourite dressing by far so you can understand why it was on my list of dressings to recreate. Well I have to give the hubby props for this one because I was having a bit of trouble getting it right without needing too many ingredients. He was able to make a few small adjustments while keeping it rather simple. You will probably begin to notice cashews in a lot of our dressings. The reason for this is because we typically don’t add isolated oil to any dressings. The only oil that gets added comes in its whole food form such as when we add nuts like cashews for a creamy texture. This dressing is great combined with pecans, strawberries and red onions over a bed of spinach or leaf lettuce. You can also add a few fresh strawberries to the blender when preparing for a great twist on the original. If you ever become concerned about too many nuts. I really wouldn’t worry about it because when following a nutritarian eating style, this is your main source of healthy fats. If you were trying to aggressively lose weight, then yes, you are going to want to limit nuts to about 1 oz a day, but for kids, I don’t stress about this sort of thing. Kids need a good dose of healthy fats. Moderation in all things is the key. Print Poppy Seed Dressing From: Daddy Li'i Recipe type: Nutritarian A sweet and summery nutritarian dressing recipe to replace traditional poppyseed dressing that stores well in the fridge for up to two weeks...That is if it lasts that long. Ingredients ½-2/3 red wine vinegar (depending if you like a more vinegar taste or not) 1 cup water (or slightly less) ½ cup cashews 8 dates 1 TB red onion 1 tsp dry mustard 1 TB poppy seeds Method Combine red wine vinegar, most of the water, cashews, dates, red onion and dry mustard in blender and blend until smooth. Taste test to see if you need to add a little more vinegar or a little more water. When satisfied pour into a storable container (we use glass mason jars with screw on BPA free plastic lids). Add poppy seeds and stir to mix well. Serve over your favourite salad VARIATION: Add 2-3 strawberries at blending stage to create a fun summer twist on the original. 3.2.1249...
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