A Cheap, Nutritious Staple Food

As the weather gets colder, soups make the perfect dinner. Chicken noodle soup is known to help when you're feeling down or have a bad cold or feel a flu coming on. Did you know that homemade chicken broth is not only just warm and comforting, but actually has healing properties? The inner lining in our intestinal system is part of our nervous system. When it is damaged or pulled away- from a weakened immune system or too much bad food, we feel sick. Homemade chicken broth is the most natural way to heal, nourish, and repair your body.

Homemade broth from beef bones is extremely nutritious as well. It contains minerals from the bone, marrow and cartilage. Chicken broth and beef broth (again, I'm talking about homemade, not the cubes or cans you buy in the store) also contain gelatin. First, and most important, this aids in your digestive system. It also is a protein...not a complete protein, but it does contain amino acids that help your body digest and absorb other proteins better.

You can make broth from pork bones, turkey and even though I've never tried it, fish bones. And it's so simple to make!

Place the bones in a large pot and completely cover them in cold water. Add a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (best option) or distilled white vinegar and let it sit for about an hour. This will help draw out minerals like calcium and magnesium.

Bring to a boil. You can scrap off the bubbly stuff that rises to the top. Turn down to a simmer and cover. If you want more flavor to your chicken broth, you can also add some carrots, celery and onion here. Let everything simmer for a minimum of 6 hours. I normally let mine simmer at least 12 hours.

Pour everything through a strainer. And now you have your broth! I usually leave some in the fridge and freeze the rest in 2 cup baggies.

Squash!

Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a farm and pick vegetables for free. The lady who owned the garden is a friend of a friend and she said she literally had more squash than she knew what to do with and we could pick as much of anything that we wanted. I filled up two big boxes with summer squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, eggplant, and all different peppers plus, a full bag of fresh herbs. I had so much fun! When I got home, I suddenly realized I had no idea what to cook with all these veggies before they went bad. Of course, I made a lot of baby food, I cut up some of them and froze them, but what about the rest? Well that just meant I got to find new recipes and experiment in the kitchen. Yay! That's one of my favorite things to do! Thankfully I also have a wonderful husband that is willing and eager to try everything I make....plus, he's a pretty amazing cook too.

First off, I tried a couple saute recipes and stir fry. Those are so easy because you can add anything to it and just a couple different spices and seasonings make it a completely different meal.

Next I tried Ratatouille. Zach doesn't normally like eggplant, but he loved this dish!
Heat 1 tblsp olive oil in skillet. Add garlic, onion, diced eggplant, chopped zucchini & bell peppers, and tomatoes. Cook until tender. Add some basil, parsley, salt, and black pepper.
Delicious! Since I was cooking for Zach too and he needs a meal that contains more than just veggies, I found a recipe called Pasta Rolled Ratatouille Baked. Follow the directions above, but also:
Cook lasagna noodles. Roll Ratatouille in noodles. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Another winning squash recipe is Vegetarian Lasagna. Zach said he like this lasagna better than the lasagna I usually make! I followed my same lasagna recipe, but used long slices of zucchini instead of pasta.

Next, you layer the lasagna. Start with the zucchini, pour half a can of tomatoes and half a can of tomato sauce. Add garlic, onion, basil, parsley and oregano. Mix some cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese in a bowl (Zach did say the one thing that would make this even better is some mozzarella cheese. I'll do that next time.) and add a layer of that next. Also, since Zach was coming home from the gym when he was going to eat this, I added some kidney beans to his side to give him the protein and complex carbs. Yes, I made each of us two different sides. LOL

Repeat the layers one more time and top with Parmesan cheese and more garlic if you like garlic like we do. :)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes and dig in!

Ice Cream...You Will Scream!!!

I was staying with my grandma in December and saw this article in one of her nutrition books. I made a copy of it, and it is one our refrigerator now. Did you know what was in your ice cream?!?!

"Ice cream manufacturers are not required by law to list the additives used in the manufacture of their product. There is hardly any ice cream flavor that does not have a chemical substitute. Some artificial flavors are poisons, powerful enough to cause liver, kidney, and heart damage.

-Peperonal is used in place of vanilla flavoring. This is a chemical used to kill lice.
-Vanillin is also used to produce a vanilla flavor. It is a chemical made from the wastes of wood pulp, and it has no relationship to the vanilla bean.
-Benzyl acetate is a synthetic chemical that imparts a strawberry flavor. According to the Merck Index (an encyclopedia used by chemists), this substance can cause vomiting and diarrhea. It is also a nitrate solvent.
-Ethyl acetate is used by many manufacturers to give their product a pineapple flavor. This is a substance that can cause liver, kidney, and heart damage. It is used as a cleaner for leather and textiles, and its vapors have been known to cause chronic lung, liver, and heart damage.
-Amylbutyrate replaces genuine banana flavoring. Amylbutyrate is an oil paint solvent.
-Aldehyde c 17 is an inflammable liquid used in aniline dyes, plastic, and rubber. It is also the flavoring in cherry ice cream.
-Butraldehyde is used in nut-flavored ice cream. Butraldehyde is an ingredient in rubber cement.
-Diethyl glycol is used in antifreeze and in paint removers. In ice cream, it replaces eggs. According to the Merck Index, it is sufficiently toxic to cause liver and kidney damage.
-Chemical additives such as propylene glycol (the antifreeze constitutent), glycerin, sodium, carboxy methylcellulose (a cellulose), monoglycerides, diglycerides, disodium phosphates, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, polysorbate 80, and dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate are all permitted by law."

GROSS!! Not to mention all the sugar, high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup!
I am a huge ice cream fan. I've been having fun trying out recipes to make our own, healthier ice cream choice. It still has sugar and it still has fat, but they are made from real ingredients that you can actually pronounce and NO white, refined sugar. I posted a dairy free, chocolate frozen yogurt recipe earlier and I'll post two more today.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

4 cups milk (the recipe called for 4 cups raw milk which is thicker and creamier than the milk you buy at the grocery store. So I used 2 cups milk and 2 cups whipping cream)
1 cup peanut butter (we only had chunky peanut butter, but I think creamy would be better)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sweetener (I used coconut palm sugar)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix everything together and pour into ice cream machine!

Strawberry Ice Cream
4 cups milk (see note above)
2-3 cups mashed strawberries
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey (also note that it will lose some of it's sweetness when frozen. I did 1/4 cup maple syrup plus 3 Tbsp honey)
Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Place in your ice cream maker. Yummm!

Tuna Casserole

I've been experimenting for awhile to find a good tuna casserole recipe that didn't have cream of mushroom soup! They never turned out that great and were always lacking the creamy-ness that you get when you use the canned soup. But the other day I found the solution...make your own cream soup! I made the tuna casserole yesterday and it was just what I've been looking for. Zach loved it too. I bummed I didn't think to take a picture though. Anyway, here is the recipe for making your own cream soup.


2 Tbsp. butter (I use real butter. The only ingredients being cream and salt. And I also get the unsalted version which makes it have hardly any salt. I used to get fat-free margarines, but have you tried reading the ingredients?!?!)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
2 cups of milk (use less if you want it thicker. I used whole milk)

-Heat butter and oil then add flour and salt. For cream of mushroom soup, add 12 fresh mushrooms, chopped. To make cream of celery soup, add celery. For cream of chicken soup, add 1 tsp chicken base (like bouillon) and substitute half the milk for chicken broth. Mix together for about a minute on low heat. Add milk and stir until thickened. This equals two 10 oz. cans cream soup. 

Next time I'm going to make a big batch of this and try freezing it in individual baggies so I won't have to make the soup each time. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Tuna Casserole


Whole wheat pasta (I used half a box of wheat rotini pasta, but just use whatever you have) 
About a cup of veggies (I used frozen peas and carrots)
2 cans of cream soup (The recipe above. I didn't make it with mushrooms or celery or chicken broth since I didn't have any of those! It still turned out great)
2 cans of tuna packed in water (Rinse it first to get rid of excess salt)
Dill (Not sure on the measurement. Just mixed it in until it looked/smelled good)
Onion (I used about a 1/2 cup of a frozen white, yellow and green onion mix we have)
Whole wheat breadcrumbs
Parmesan cheese (optional)

-Cook the pasta. In a large bowl, mix together pasta, veggies, soup, tuna, dill, and onion. Top with breadcrumbs and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.