Carrot Almond Patte

 Okay so every month I pick up a free magazine at Harmon's right by the front door.  It is call Delicious Living.  I love it!  It is full of recipes and healthy living articles.  I put a link at the bottom of this post so please check it out and all of their recipes.  I made this one back in the spring and we ate it all summer, even took it with us to Disneyland. My husband likes it as a sandwich I like to eat it like a dip with sliced cucumbers or serve as an appetizer.  I hope you enjoy.

http://newhope360.com/recipes/6-quick-power-lunches
Carrot-Almond Pâté
1/3 cup whole almonds
2 large carrots (8 ounces), peeled and cut into ½-inch rounds
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 clove garlic
½ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 ciabatta rolls, halved, or 6 slices whole-grain bread
6 roasted red pepper halves
3 slices Monterey Jack cheese (optional)
1 cucumber (6-8 ounces), thinly sliced
1. Preheat oven to 350º. Scatter almonds on a baking sheet. Toast for 15 minutes, until fragrant. Cool completely.
2. Meanwhile, steam carrots 10–15 minutes, until very tender. Cool completely.
3. Put almonds, carrots, salt, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, garlic, and cilantro in a food processor. With motor running, add lemon juice. Continue to process until mixture is spreadable, scraping down sides as needed. (Pâté will be coarse, not completely smooth.)
4. Spread 2 tablespoons pâté on each bread piece. Top three halves with peppers, optional cheese, and cucumbers. Repeat with remaining peppers and cucumbers. Top with remaining bread; cut in half.
PER SERVING (1/2 sandwich): 229 cal, 8g fat (4g mono, 2g poly, 1g sat), 0mg chol, 8g protein, 33g carb, 6g fiber, 516mg sodium

No knead bread

Because I got tired of looking at the Wart Removal post I decided to hijack a post and put up something new. Now, in no way is this bread the nutritious, healthy, wholesome kind of stuff that usually gets posted on here but it is horribly carb filled and oh so yummy.

No Knead Bread

yield One 1 1/2 lb loaf

3 cups flour, more for dusting

1/4 tsp yeast

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 5/8 cup water

a bit of cornmeal

Combine your flour, yeast, salt and water. Stir until mixed, it will look very sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on your counter for 12-18 hours. (yes you read that right) You have to remember to start this the afternoon or evening BEFORE you want it.

The dough looks kind of bubbly when it's ready. Dust your counter top with flour and plop the dough out of your bowl. Fold the dough over on itself a couple/few times. Remember, it's NO KNEAD bread. (it's best if you remember to take your rings off)

Shape the dough into a ball and cover with a towel. You can do this right on your counter or on a cookie sheet.  Let rise for 2 hours.

4. Heat oven to 450 degrees, find a heavy pot, I love to use my enameled cast iron pot. Flip/plop the dough into the pot and put the lid on. Bake for 30 min and then take the lid off and bake for another 10 to make the top a beautiful golden brown.

5. Take the loaf out and let cool on a rack.

It's perfect with some yummy homemade soup!

Wart Removal, all natural, affordable, and quick

I wish I had a great picture to show you but of course I didn't think of it until it was too late.  So a great neighbor of mine, Robyn, told me about this trick and much to my surprise it worked!  So my 4 year old had a wart on his foot for almost a year that that I had been battling with duct tape and over the counter wart removers.  No Luck:(  so here is what you do.  At night before bed soak up some apple cider vinegar onto a cotton ball, place cotton ball on wart and secure with band aid or medical tape.  Go to bed remove in the morning.  Repeat the next night.  That is all I did for a small to medium sized wart.  I forgot the third night and when I came back the fourth night it was BLACK.  I though ohh how gross, but I gave it a nudge with the tweezers and the entire wart fell out.  It left a little crater but that filled up in a week or so with good healthy skin.  I have told others who have said it worked for them as well.  Totally painless and cost pennies and is quick.  I guess it has something to do with the PH in your body, but all I care about is no wart and no painful Dr. visit. So give in a try.

Black Bean Brownies

Okay so I am so sorry that I have disappeared for a month.  This is a new favorite of mine and if your kids are not suspisious like my two older kids (who won't even try them because they don't trust me anymore)  they will love them ( like my younger two).  I have become a really big fan of black beans.  It all started with Megans black bean soup which is now a comfort food.   However to save money I started cooking a big pot of dry black beans each week and then we just had them there to add to our meals.  It is amazing how many things are better with black beans. So give these a try they double really well in a 9x13 and no one I have given them to has known any difference.  They are pretty fudge like so if you like your brownies more cake like just add a couple tablespoons of flour. 

Black Bean Brownies:
3 eggs
1 can of low sodium  or salt less black beans or 15 oz. of cooked dry beans.
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts
I don't do nuts in brownies so I added penut butter chips and that is my favorite of all the variations I have tried.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place all ingredients excepts chocolate chips and nuts in food processor and blend until smooth.  Stir in chocolate chips, pour into 8 inch baking dish and bake for 30 to 35 min.

End of Year Teacher Gift

Every year I scratch my head trying to decied what to do to say thank your to  great teachers.  This year I did something maybe a little cheesy but hopefully useful and healthy.  As you can see my card said "You sure can PRODUCE great strudents".  Then I bought a plastic chip bowl for $1 and then filled it with fresh fruit and veggies.  Mini watermellon or cantalope, bag of baby carrots, bananas, cucumber, lemmon, limes, apples and bell peppers.  Hopefully they can take that home and get so good use out of it.

Delicious healthy soups

http://www.organicspark.com/recipes/

Above is the link to my new favorite blog. She has some of the best recipes, this is her Healing Soup. I have made it many times and it truly is delicious and healthy. I have made the hummus and the carrot ginger soup and below is the salmon and millet cakes. All very very tasty. Go over there and find something you like.

Fruit and Grain Bar

http://www.digthischickmt.com/2011/03/figgy-figgy-figgy-cant-you-see.html

I tried these fig breakfast bars off of Dig This Chick. They are good, I did struggle to find figs in my area, I probably could have at the whole foods markets but I felt that I wanted to keep the cost down so I used apricot and prunes. I also couldn't find an affordable carrot juice until after I had made them so I used straight grape juice off of my own vines which might be a little too tart, but so far everyone eats them when I get them out. Also she said on hers she didn't use all the fruit filling. Of course I didn't listen and thought more is better, but trust her and me it is not, then they are like an overloaded PB&J and messy for the kids. Next time carrot juice and not all the filling. I do feel like it is healthier than the granola bars, but not as affordable unless you are able to dry your own apricots which is what I will have to do with mine this year.

Recipe:

3 Cups whole Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp. baking powder

3/8 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup ground flax seed

dash ground nutmeg and ground cloves

1 stick butter, cold

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup honey

2 eggs

Filling

2 cups dried figs

1/2 cup dried apricots

2 cups juice ( carrot-orange, I used grape any thing 100% juice)

1 cup water

Follow the link to get all the directions.