Pad Thai

Ingredients:

pad Thai rice noodles (about 4 cups cooked)

1 cup tofu (or meat of your choice)

1 zucchini, sliced

1 cup Thai peanut sauce (or more to taste)

3 green onions, chopped (optional)

handful of cilantro (optional)

Cook noodles according to "fried noodles" package directions. Put noodles, tofu, zucchini, and peanut sauce in wok or large frying pan and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until tofu and zucchini are slightly brown and noodles are tender. Top with green onions and cilantro.

Serves 4

Thai Peanut Sauce with Honey

(please pardon the poor quality photo, I liked this so much I started putting everything in containers for lunch

before I remembered to take a photo.) Original recipe can be found here

Ingredients

1/4 cup honey or agave nectar

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter (optional)

3 tablespoons soy sauce, Bragg's, or coconut aminos

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Stir together the honey, peanut butters, soy sauce, rice vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Serve with pad Thai noodles, spring rolls, or rice.

Coconut Milk - Milk Chocolate Pudding

As you can tell by my posts of late, I have been obsessed with making a pudding that doesn't make me miss the sugar or the dairy. I think this recipe is the winner. It's really easy and it tastes like milk chocolate pudding. I can't wait to go home for a visit and make it for my sister!

(adapted from Couldn't Be Parve)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 cup water
2 cups Thai coconut milk
2 ounces* good quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine the cornstarch and sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in the water, continuing to whisk until smooth. Set aside. Place the coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes back to a simmer and thickens. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla.

Strain pudding through a fine-mesh strainer into a serving bowl or into a large measuring cup with a spout and pour into individual serving dishes. Cover pudding with plastic wrap. If you do not want pudding skin make sure the plastic is completely touching the surface of the pudding. To make pudding skin, simply pull plastic wrap over the top of the serving dish before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days. (I skipped this entire paragraph and ate the pudding warm - it was delicious!)

*If you want dark chocolate pudding, use 4 oz of chocolate

Makes 7, 1/2 cup portions

Chocolate Pudding (Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Egg Free, Soy Free)

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups rice milk (reserve 1/4 cup rice milk for later)

1/2 cup unsweetened baking chocolate chips (I think it's about 3 oz unsweetened chocolate)

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup agave nectar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

Fresh raspberries, optional

Directions:

1. Combine 2 1/2 cups rice milk, chocolate, agave and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk well, heating until the chocolate chips are completely melted and combined with the rice milk. Keep just below a boil, to "scald" rice milk. Remove from heat.

2. In a bowl, combine cornstarch and salt. Whisk well.

3. Add remaining 1/4 cup rice milk to cornstarch mixture, stirring until smooth.

4. Add to rice milk/chocolate mixture, stirring with a whisk. Continue whisking until pudding thickens to the consistency that it coats the back of a metal spoon.

5. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract.

6. Divide evenly among 4 ramekins or custard cups. Chill. Serve as is or topped with fresh raspberries.

Serves 4 - generously.

Dark Chocolate Fudge Pie

Crust:

choose your favorite gluten free crust. I used the following, but it didn't turn out that great:

1 1/2 cups hazelnut meal*

3 tbsp canola oil

2 tbsp coconut palm sugar

Filling:

3 ripe avocados

12 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup coconut palm sugar

1/3 cup agave nectar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup almond milk*

Crust:

Mix hazelnut meal with oil and press into pie plate. Bake at 375 for 8 min.

Filling:

Blend avocados, lemon juice, vanilla, and milk in food processor or powerful blender. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or on very low heat and slowly stir coconut sugar into chocolate. Add agave to chocolate and stir. Once everything is incorporated, put chocolate in food processor/blender and blend until smooth. Place mixture in pie plate and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

This is a very rich dessert, so I would recommend serving it with fresh strawberries or raspberries.

Serves 8-12

*Easily substitutable with similar ingredients

Notes:

I plan on tweaking this to try and make it more like milk chocolate, because I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate.

I never was able to get the coconut sugar to dissolve, my chocolate ended up being a lump of chocolate in the double boiler, but when I blended it with the avocado, everything became smooth.

This was super thick, so near the end of mixing, I ended up taking everything out of the blender and mixing it by hand.

Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (such as Sriracha)

1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger (or 1/4 tsp dry ground ginger)

1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind

2 garlic cloves, minced

Dash of sea salt

1 bunch green onions chopped

1 can water chestnuts, drained & diced

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cut into chunks (or 1 pkg tofu)

Cooking spray

8 Boston lettuce leaves (butter lettuce)

Toppings:

1 cup fresh mint leaves (optional)

1/2 cup bean sprouts (optional)

1 lime, cut into 8 wedges (optional)

Chopped cashews or peanuts (optional)

Preparation

Combine first 9 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Reserve 2 tablespoons oil mixture. Place remaining oil mixture in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken breast halves; seal and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour, turning occasionally. I was so hungry when I made this that I just tossed the chicken in the marinade and cooked it immediately. Remove chicken from bag, and discard marinade (if any is leftover).

Heat a large nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; grill 12 minutes or until chicken is done. Add water chestnuts to pan. Stir until warm. Divide chicken evenly among lettuce leaves; top each lettuce leaf with green onions, sprouts, cashews or peanuts, and about 1 teaspoon reserved oil mixture as desired. Serve with lime wedges.

Healthy Breakfast Smoothie (2)

For a creamier version of the Healthy Breakfast Smoothie try this one:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Almond Milk

5 medium Strawberries

1/2 medium Bananas

1/2 Zucchini

1 tbsp Ground Flax Seed

5 pieces Frozen Mango Chunks

1 cup (large handful) Baby Spinach

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Directions:

Cut banana and zucchini into chunks and place everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 shake

Calories 229

Calories from Fat 59.0

Total Fat 6.56g

Sodium 136.78mg

Total Carbohydrate 40.51g

Dietary Fiber 10.49g

Sugars 24.35g

Protein 6.27g

Amish White (or wheat) Bread

This is an adaptation of a recipe from allrecipes.com. I don't like kneading dough, so I use my Bosch and have included the instructions for using a mixer (Kitchen-aid works too). You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/4 cup white sugar (or honey)

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

6 cups bread flour (or whole wheat flour)

1/2 tablespoon butter (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar (or honey) in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. If using honey, the yeast will not foam up as much as it does with sugar.

2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Add 4 cups of flour to the mixer (using a dough hook) and mix for 2 minutes on speed 2. Then continue adding remaining 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time until mixture forms a ball on the hook and cleans the side of bowl (about 2 more minutes.) Then, beat continue beating on speed 2 for another 2 minutes.

3. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

4. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

6. For an extra delicious top, spread butter over the crust while it is still hot.

7. Once the bread is cooled, I highly recommend using an electric knife to slice the bread. I just invested in one ($10 at Ross) and it has made all the difference! No more mangled bread slices.

Yield: 2 loaves (24 slices)

Dough immediately after being place in pans (above). Dough after 30 minutes of rising (below).

I wish I had a picture of the baked bread, but I'm always too anxious to eat it and slice away before I can take a picture. Last night I made the Honey Whole Wheat version of this recipe and it was amazing!

Amish White bread:

Calories: 142 per slice

Fat: 2.6 g

Sodium 186.52mg

Total Carbohydrate 24.29 g

Dietary Fiber 0.21g

Sugars 2g

Protein: 4.29g

Amish Honey-Wheat Bread:

Amount per Serving

Calories 134

Total Fat 3.1g

Sodium 187.4mg

Total Carbohydrate 26.95g

Dietary Fiber 3.21g

Sugars 5.33g

Protein 4.29g

Healthy Breakfast Smoothie (1)

I started thinking the other day, that I haven't been getting enough vegetables in my diet, but there is only so much I can buy without wasting it. I decided to try adding the vegetables I love for dinner, to my breakfast and see how I like it. Most of this recipe came from my mom, but I had some flax in my cupboard and decided to use it. The roasted flax seed overpowers the spinach and adds a nice nutty flavor, so it tastes like a fruit and nut smoothie, rather than a spinach smoothie.

Ingredients:

1 can Dole 100% Pineapple Juice (6 oz)

5 medium Strawberries

1/2 medium Bananas

1/2 Zucchini

1 tbsp Golden Roasted Flax Seed (whole seeds)

5 pieces Frozen Mango Chunks (Trader Joe's)

2 or 3 handfuls of baby spinach (I think that's about a cup of spinach)

Directions:

Cut banana and zucchini into chunks and place everything except spinach in a blender and blend until smooth. Then add spinach and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Calories: 269

Dietary Fiber: 6.15g

Protein: 4.75g

Plum Jam (cooked)

Ingredients:
5 cups of plums, chopped and pitted
2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 packet powdered fruit pectin
1 cup honey (depends on the sweetness of the plums. Increase/decrease as per taste. I used honey instead of sugar to try something new, but you can use sugar)
1/2 cup water


Mix the plums, pectin and lemon juice in a large pot and cook on medium heat. The plums will start liquefying slowly. While slightly mushy, add 1/2 cup water, stir well and cook until it comes to a boil. Remove the foam that forms on the top (mine didn't actually have very much foam, so I just let it be). Add the honey or sugar, mix and cook for another 10-15 minutes until it all starts coming together as one thick syrup consistency.

The Canning Process (if you've never canned before, this is a great place for a tutorial):

Alternatively with soapy water, clean the jam can well, along with the lid. Lightly dry it and then drop them in a big pot of water. Bring them to a boil. Make sure your jars are submerged well.

Lift them carefully and lightly dry them with paper towels. They should be hot so that the bottle does not break when you pour the boiled jam inside. Slowly pour the jam into the jar and leave a 1/2-1/8 inch space between the jam and the top of the jar.

Close the lid tightly and invert the bottle to help the Jam set for about 5 minutes.

Now slowly place the jars, straightup, inside the hot boiling water and leave it for another 5-8 minutes. This is necessary to kill the bacteria in the jam. If you live in higher altitudes, then leave the jars in for about 10min. Keep in mind, too much boiling can make the jam runny.

Remove and refrigerate the jars once completely cooled.

Serve on toast or with toasted Trader Joe's ciabatta bread and Brie cheese. Yum!