Baked Oatmeal Squares

 

These are Great! But really, how would I know, my kids never let me have any! I really need to start doubling this recipe and use a bigger dish. Literally I get a few bites. I actually usually make this for lunch, and I eat leftovers, which most of my kids aren't fond of, so we're all good! This makes a great breakfast though if you have the time! Super yummy! It even reheats well, if you have any left =)

Ingredients:

 2 bananas, sliced

1 cup blueberries

1/4 cup organic raw agave or honey

1 cup organic quick cooking oats

1/4 cup raw organic sunflower seeds (other nuts and seeds could be substituted)

1/4 cup organic chia seeds

1 ts organic cinamon

1/2 ts aluminum free baking powder

pinch of good salt

3/4-1 cup organic milk (3/4 if using frozen blueberries, 1 cup if using fresh)

1 organic egg

1 ts organic vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x9 inch glass baking dish. Spread sliced bananas covering the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with half the blueberries, 1/2 ts cinnamon, and half the agave or honey. Invert another 9x9 dish and place on top of dish to cover (or use a dish with a lid). Bake for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together oats, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, the rest of the cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, mix together milk, egg, the rest of the agave or honey, and vanilla. Mix well.

When banana dish has softened in the oven, pull out and sprinkle oat mixture evenly in the dish. Pour milk mixture evenly over oat mixture. Sprinkle with the rest of the blueberries. I sometimes add chocolate chips too. Bake uncovered for  30-40 minutes until lightly brown and firm-ish. 

Variations: You could mix up the fruit in this to whatever you have. I've done sliced apples and blueberries. I've done sliced apples and dried cranberries. Sometimes I add chocolates chips, sometimes I don't. Be creative!

Veggie Wash

White vinegar, bet you're saying "Really, another cleaning recipe with vinegar, is she serious?" But yes, yes I am. White vinegar has amazing cleaning and disinfecting properties. Not to mention it's natural so it makes a great veggie wash! All you have to do is mix equal parts water and distilled white vinegar in a spray bottle. Spray on your fruits and veggies, rub, rinse. With soft skinned fruits it's better to soak in a bowl of cleaning solution and rinse. Don't buy expensive veggie wash, try this! It's great! Very economical!

Mommy-ade (homemade gatorade)

Mommy-ade was lovingly named by my husband, since I make it, and I'm the mommy =) Sometimes you just need a thirst quenching, electrolyte replacing, yummy drink. Most would reach for Gatorade, or the more "natural" version Recharge. This home version is much healthier with natural ingredients, no food dyes, and doesn't have that silly side effect of the store bought ones that actually can dehydrate you. Weird, huh. Do not under any circumstances use iodized table salt (for real, don't use it EVER, but here would totally defeat the purpose and would probably dehydrate you). We use this for the days when you are working hard and need a lift, especially if it's hot out (Ahhh, hot out, oh how I dream of hot weather knee deep in February). We use it for sporting events, brought it to soccer, baseball, and especially wrestling tournaments that are ALL day draining events. I like it especially in the winter when the dryness is overwhelming and I have days where I just cannot consume enough water. This little drink does the trick! Puking bug visiting, works great!
My suggestion on the lemon and lime is to do it by taste, start with less and if you want more flavor, add more. I do that every time because you never know how flavorful a lemon or lime is going to be.

This recipe makes a half gallon. You can multiply it as needed.

Ingredients:

1/2-1 cup lemon juice, I use about 5 lemons to start
2 tablespoons lime juice , 1-2 limes
1/4 cup sucanat (or 1/3 cup honey, or maple syrup) Start with less and then add more to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Water to make 1/2 gallon, and ice if needed

This is my starting point. With the lemons, limes, and sugar/honey, I taste it and then add more if needed to get a good taste. 

Mix all together in a half gallon container.

Cranberry Avocado Salad with Balsamic Onion Dressing

A light and refreshing salad filled with veggies, protein, and good fats! What more could you ask for? The cranberries add a wonderful hint of sweetness to this savory salad.

Ingredients:
Dressing-
1/3 cup organic balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup organic olive oil
1 ts organic ground mustard
1/2 ts organic paprika
1/2 ts good salt
pinch organic pepper
1 tb organic poppy seeds
1 tb organic sesame seeds
A quarter of an onion diced
(Note: the kids enjoy this dressing with a few tb of honey mixed in. Hubby doesn't like sweet dressings so he doesn't. I like it both ways. So honey is optional depending on if you are looking for a sweet or savory dressing)

Salad-
2-3 large handfuls organic mixed salad greens
The rest of the onion from the dressing, sliced
2 avocados, diced
A handful or two of organic dried cranberries
1/4-1/2 cup organic sunflower seeds

Combine dressing ingredients and mix or shake well. Set aside while preparing salad. Mix salad ingredients in a large salad bowl. Toss gently with dressing.

Getting started Juicing

Do you want to start juicing but don't know where to start? Juicing is such a great way to get nutrients quickly into your system. The best place to start is with carrot juice. Carrot juice has so many healing properties. An 8 oz glass of juice can contain up to 800% of the rda of vitamin A, in beta carotene. This is great for tissue and bone growth. It is excellent for good vision. Also, an 8oz glass will also provide up to 35 % of rda of vitamin C. Vitamin C has so many benefits including collagen production of the mucous membranes, skin, bones, and teeth. It is also a good source of potassium and calcium. It improves the health of the liver and digestive tract. It contains vitamin E which is known to help in the prevention of cancer.

 Carrot juice has a very sweet taste so it's widely accepted and loved. A nice glass of carrot juice in the morning can give you tons of energy to tackle the day ahead. Do you have picky kids and don't think they'll go for it? My suggestion would be to juice a couple apples to mix with the carrot juice. That will give the kids a "familiar" taste along with the new taste. Plus the apple juice makes it even sweeter. Are they really really really picky? Try a combination with just a little bit of carrot juice and mostly apple juice. Every once in awhile, when they aren't looking, up the amount of carrot juice and lessen the apple juice. Eventually they will be used to the taste and hopefully will eventually take carrot juice on its own. If you're a family with very young kids start them right away! My kids have been getting carrot juice since they've been allowed food other than momma milk. They love it and look forward to it.

A couple times a week we do a veggie juice blend too. I've finally got my 2 year old drinking that! When you hand a kid a glass of puke green juice, they tend to look at you like you are crazy. My older kids just drink it because I say so. I've learned with 2 year olds you need to make them think it was THEIR idea =) It took a couple months of me regularly offering it to her before she would just pick it up and drink it. She often asks for more! The first day she did that my jaw hit the floor as I happily poured her another glass. When I make a veggie juice blend, it always varies what I put in there. I buy whatever organic greens are available and that's what we have that week. This week was a great week for greens for some reason...knock on wood, don't want to jinx it that it was a fluke that the store had such a variety! I was able to get organic kale, red chard, green chard, and spinach. Living where I live, I feel lucky if I can get organic kale! Boy do I miss Cali produce. I remember the health food store I shopped at there would have an entire wall of organic greens, it was beautiful! So back to the juice, I do whatever greens I can get, plus carrots, celery, beets and some apples. Sometimes I put fresh parsley in there too.

Start off with small portions, 4-8 oz of juice for adults, 2-4 for kids, at a time. The best time to start is NOW. Why put it off? Juicing will make you feel so good and full of energy. Your body will thank you =)
Start juicing!

"Sour Cream" and Onion Kale Chips

I love Kale chips, they are strangely addictive...seriously, it makes no sense to me, but they are! Before this recipe, I had just made kale chips with evoo, salt, and pepper, and loved them just fine. Then I tried this recipe from Douglas McNish, head chef of Toronto’s Raw Aura organic and raw food restaurant, but with some changes of course =) These are soo soooo yummy. You must try them!

“Sour Cream” and Onion Kale Chips

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups raw organic cashews, soaked for 2 to 3 hours**

Juice of one lemon

1 1/2 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste (more can be added after dehydrated)

1 organic onion, chopped

3 cloves organic garlic

1-2 bunches of organic green kale

1/2 cup filtered water

Remove kale from stems. Tear leaves into approximately 2- to 3-inch pieces.

In a blender, combine the soaked cashews, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, onion, salt and 1/2 cup water until creamy and smooth. Sauce should be the consistency of a salad dressing. Add more water if necessary.

Toss the sauce with the kale until thoroughly combined (use your hands) and lay out on dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for approximately 8-10  hours or until crispy.

**I've substituted sunflower seeds for the cashews because they are cheaper. They weren't as good as the ones with the cashews but they were still amazing. At first they had a very strong sunflower seed taste, but after a day I didn't taste it anymore. So if the price of cashews is a concern, try sunflower seeds! 

Cold buster tonic

It's inevitable, sometimes no matter how well you eat and take care of yourself, you're going to get sick. Around here it's inevitable that myself and all four kids are always sick at the same time. Fun times up in here. Granted, we're blessed that it only happens once or twice over the winter. Along with a ton of freshly crushed garlic, vitamin C, vitamin D, sovereign silver, tea ,Lung Tonic and lots of rest, drinks like these help too:

In a blender combine: (I've found if my kids are sick and textures bother them, it's better to run all these through the juicer. Sometimes blended drinks make them gag when they are sick, but regular juices do ok.)
2 oranges, peeled
1 lemon, peeled
2-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup mango, peeled and chopped
2 kiwi's , peeled
2 tb chia seeds
2 tb raw honey
Water to cover

Makes about 40 oz, in a blender.

English Muffins

These are great! It's amazing to be able to make English Muffins at home. So many store bought english muffins have high fructose corn syrup, soy products, bleached flour, etc. Even if they don't have those ingredients, they still have preservatives and way too many odd ingredients. So here is the answer, make them at home! You can make these the day before. Don't make the mistake I did the first time and start them at 9am on Saturday morning...yeah, it was noon before breakfast was ready. When I read through the directions completely and saw that the batter needed to sit for an hour, I let the kids have a bowl of cereal while they waited. Once they were finally done though, they were wonderful!
This recipe is a variation of Alton Brown's recipe from Food Network.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
1 cup hot organic milk
2 1/4 ts dry active yeast
1/8 teaspoon organic sugar
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups  white organic whole wheat flour (unbleached unbromated un-enriched, you could probably use whole wheat too), sifted
Non-stick vegetable spray
Muffin rings, or mini tart rings, or wide-mouth canning lids


In a bowl combine the hot milk (heat in a pot until steaming but don't let it boil), 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and shortening. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool. In a separate bowl combine the yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar in 1/3 cup of warm water and rest for 10 minutes. Add this to the milk mixture. Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 45-60 minutes, longer means more nooks and crannies!!!
Preheat a skillet, you want it on about medium low, my electric stove does them perfect at "3", and brush the bottom of skillet with a thin coat of oil. Cook one muffin as a tester muffin before filling your skillet with as many rings as you can. Because the muffins cook for 6 minutes per side, they are easy to burn. You want a temperature that will allow the outsides to brown nicely while the insides are just cooked.
Once your dough has rested, add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt to mixture and beat thoroughly. Coat the metal rings with vegetable spray and place them on the skillet. Using an ice cream scoop, place 1 scoop of batter into each ring and cover with a lid or cookie sheet and cook for 5 or 6 minutes.  Remove the lid and flip rings using tongs. Cover with the lid and cook for another 5 or 6 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack, remove rings and cool. Split with fork and serve. Do make sure you split with a fork or you won't have nooks and crannies!
Note: I only had two rings so I cooked two muffins to start, covered them with a small lid, then flipped them and removed the rings so I could start two more. I didn't cover the first two with the small lid again, just covered the skillet with a lid and put the small lid on the two new muffins I was starting. Looks like this (minus the big lid on the skillet):

The muffins didn't come out "perfect circles" not keeping them in the rings, but they were almost perfect, so it was ok. If you have more rings you can keep them all covered with a lid that will cover them all. I keep meaning to buy more rings. Some people use tuna cans where they've taken the ends off both ends....but I worry about bpa in the cans, so I don't recommend that.
Take a look at the label for Thomas English Muffins:

Sorry about the flash glare, I took the pic quickly, people in the store were looking at me rather funny. Look at all these ingredients!!! Soy bean oil and soy flour, both which are not organic and are more than likely GMO. The only soy you want to consume is organic fermented soy products. Then there's the added wheat gluten which is probably one of the causes of rising gluten intolerance. The enriched flour with synthetic vitamins is not a good option. Using your own ingredients is a much better option!

Mom Rules

Mom's are given such a special job, to raise their children. You are their mom, teacher, and friend. You are their first love, first kiss, and the person that knows them the best. I'm so unbelievably blessed to be a Mom to four absolutely amazing children. Every day they make me laugh, smile, melt, cringe, gag, panic, and sometimes cry. 

I have the BEST job in the world!

1. Laugh with them! It might seem silly to you, but to them it's the funniest thing EVER, so give them a good belly laugh to go along with their giggling. Most of all, laughing with them shows them that life is fun and you enjoy it.

2. Hold their hand...not only in parking lots or crossing streets, hold their hand when you're snuggling on the couch, or brushing their teeth.

3. Put aside special time with just mommy. Every kid needs memories of alone time with their Mom's...and Dad's for that matter. So even if you have 10 kids, find time to spend alone with each of them.

4. No matter how busy you are, have days where you ask them what THEY want to do....and do it.

5. Let them have a pet. Every child should know the joy of having a pet and learn the responsibility of taking care of something. There's no better feeling than having a dog that you grew up with. We have a new puppy right now and I keep remembering the puppy we had when I was 10. I have no memory of the stresses I feel with this dog. Housebreaking a dog is tough. Feeling strapped down like I have an infant is tough. I don't remember that with my childhood dog, and I'm guessing my kids won't either. They will have memories of this companion that they love.

6. Teach them to eat veggies. Don't just hide veggies in their meals and snicker when you "pulled a fast one" on them. Start when they're young and they will learn that veggies are an important part of a healthy diet.

7. Read with them. Then teach them to read. Start them early to love reading and that will open up a world of knowledge to them for a lifetime.

8. Hug them. Hug them often. Hug them every.single.day. Hold them tight. Teach them to give good hugs back.

9. Teach them to love. Show them how much you love their daddy. Show them how much you love them. Teach them to have an open heart and love.

10. Teach them to cook. From an early age let them help in the kitchen. Give them kid friendly easy recipes to make on their own. Teach them young so they grow with a love of cooking. Their spouses will thank you =)

11. Teach them homemaking skills. Whether you have boys or girls, or both, knowing how to do dishes, laundry, and vacuuming will help them as they go off on their own and again, their spouses will thank you.

12. Take the back road. Don't always get on the highway and drive as fast as you can to get where you need to go. Sometimes, take the back roads. You may come across a cute little farm stand, or a herd of cows or sheep, or a pretty lake. There's a back road my kids love because there are tons of steep hills. It's not my favorite road to drive on but I can't resist the squeals and "Weeeeeeee's" I get when I come down those hills.

 13. Take them to the store. I cringe every time I hear a mom scream at her kids "See, this is why I never take you shopping!!!" It makes me so sad. Teach your kids good behavior in stores so you can take them anywhere. Going to the grocery store can provide so many lessons...healthy eating, label reading, price calculating and comparison, etc.

14. Teach them to be men/women. Be a good example of what they should strive to be when they grow.

15. Let them be little. They are only small for so long, let them live that life. Let them make forts in your living room. Let them slide down the stairs in sleeping bags. Let them play in the mud. Give them a tire swing, every kid should have one. Let them run around with their dogs. Take spontaneous trips to the park. Play games with them. Let them run, let them play, just let them be little...don't make them grow up too fast.

16. Teach them to work. Hard work is important in every part of life. Teach them early to work hard. Have them help daddy with tasks around the house. Give them age appropriate chores. But keep in mind that #15 is equally important...let them play hard too!

17. Expose them to music, art, and dance.

18. Teach them to grow plants, especially food bearing plants. Gardening skills are a gift that can last a lifetime. Being able to grow your own food not only teaches a child where their food should come from, but helps them to learn healthy eating habits. Everyone needs to learn how to get their fingers deep in the dirt and produce wonderful organic vegetables...hopefully.

19. Let them wear costumes and play dress up, often. Kids imaginations can soar when they have a costume on.

20. Take them camping. Don't like camping? Well sometimes as parents we need to do things we don't like to give our kids the experiences and memories that will last a lifetime. Have a camp fire, make smores, hike, wade in creeks, catch those creepy things that swim in creeks, cook your food together, teach them to pitch a tent and collect wood, etc.

21. Take them to new places. It broadens their mind to see new places and have new experiences. Not to mention the memories you make also.

22. Teach them about nature...and get out in it. Play outside with them. Take them on hikes and nature walks. Teach them about wild plants. Pick wild berries, and eat them.

23. Teach them to play well with others. If they have siblings, teach them to play together. If they don't, get them together with other kids, often. No mother can concentrate on anything else if their kids are fighting all the time. Teach them to love each other and work together.

24. Let them get dirty. Some of the best times are had getting dirty. When I was little I would say "Mom look how dirty I am, I must have had lots of fun!" Splash in puddles, fingerpaint, roll down grassy hills, etc.

25. Teach them manners. Please, thank you, excuse me, bless you, open doors for others, hold doors for others, use quiet voices when necessary, respect others, etc.

I couldn't resist adding this picture

Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake

Kids always like mac n chz but sometimes it's nice to have some variation. I'm always looking for something like mac n chz, that isn't JUST mac n chz. Sometimes I add jalapenos and turkey bacon. Sometimes I do a beefy mac n chz.This chicken variation is super yummy for kids and adults both! This makes one large baking dish full.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb organic whole wheat penne pasta
3/4 lb organic chicken (I used thighs), cubed
2 tb coconut oil or evoo
1 lb sliced mushrooms
2 tomatoes diced
6 cloves organic garlic, minced
3 tb organic butter
3 tb organic whole wheat flour
3 cups organic raw milk
8 oz block organic jack cheese, shredded
1 cup organic shredded parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add oil. Cook cubed chicken until fully cooked, season with salt and pepper. While chicken is cooking, boil water for pasta, and cook pasta. Remove chicken from pan and saute the mushrooms in the same pan for a few minutes. Heat a medium sized pot over medium heat and add butter. When melted, stir in flour and garlic. Cook for a few minutes. Whisk in milk. Cook for a few minutes to let thicken. Add tomatoes and mushrooms to sauce and cook for a few minutes. Add shredded jack and half the Parmesan and stir in until melted. Toss together the sauce, cooked chicken, and pasta. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Pour into a greased baking dish. Top with the rest of the Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes.

A gorgeous winter day and a walk in the woods

It has been a gorgeous winter! Well...according to me, some folks actually like piles of snow everywhere. We have had more 50 degree days over this winter than I have ever experienced in NY, keeping in mind I've only lived here for four winters. I'll take it! Today has been one of those days, almost 50 degrees, and you can see the gorgeous blue sky in the picture above.

Once we finished school and had lunch, of course we had to go outside and get some sunshine and fresh air. The boys have all been dragging and tired, too many late nights lately and not enough sunshine vitamin. We supplement with a good vitamin D, but there's nothing like the real stuff! Before I even had socks and shoes on, they had already dragged their 2 year old little sister up into the woods behind our house, along with both dogs. When I caught up with them they insisted the dogs made them do it. So we all went walking through the woods, the boys following the dogs, Abbie and I following the boys. Walking at the speed of a two year old, the boys and dogs were soon out of sight. What I am really enjoying about having such a nice winter is that we can hike through the woods without the danger of bees, wasps, snakes, or other scary, icky things. There aren't even any flies to annoy you.

The most annoying thing I've found is that the burdock is ruthless. I don't understand what that was every created for (Yes I know burdock has medicinal properties, but I'm talking about those stupid wiry balls that hang on the plant). I mean it has to have a purpose, but those sticky annoying balls drive me insane! They get stuck to everything. The dog comes in with them all over her and then embeds them in the carpet. Do you know how hard it is to get every little piece out of the carpet? Then there was the time that Abbie was cuddling with the dog, who had burdock all over, and it stuck in her own hair. She has the same color hair as the little burdock balls so I didn't notice it. But she kept coming up to me and telling me her neck hurt. I finally found the burdock all in her hair and it had made a huge rash all over her neck, shoulders, and upper back. That stuff is evil I tell ya. Today was no different, it got stuck everywhere. As I'm strolling through the woods thinking about burdock, I remember hubby saying a few weeks ago that he bets Velcro was inspired by burdock. So I looked it up, and it absolutely was! Wikpedia says: "The prickly heads of these plants (burrs) are noted for easily catching on to fur and clothing (being the inspiration for Velcro^[3]), thus providing an excellent mechanism for seed dispersal.^[2] Burrs cause local irritation and can possibly cause intestinal hairballs in pets. However, most animals avoid ingesting these plants." So isn't that interesting? And yes I caught the part about how the annoying little balls are an excellent mechanism for seed dispersal, bla bla bla, whatever...still seriously annoying.

Anyway, so back to our hike. Once we caught site of the boys again, I realized I was on a completely different path and had to find our way down a very steep hill (ok not THAT steep but covered in leaves and mud it's pretty slippery so it seemed really steep). As we get closer to them and I'm prying my shoes out of ankle deep mud, I wonder why in the world I would follow a group of boys following two crazy insane dogs. Abbie sees the boys doing this:

 Mountain climbing fallen tree roots. She squeals and runs toward them. You can see her head in the bottom of this pick. Then her feet sink deeply into the mud and she falls face first into the mud. Sorry there isn't a picture of that, for once I did the right thing and ran after her to help her up instead of laughing and taking a picture first =) Both of us covered in mud I decided it was time to head back. Of course the boys take a route back that you have to wade through a muddy stream. So I did the right thing this time and did NOT follow them. I took myself, Abbie, and the white puppy who I didn't want to have to bathe when we got back, up and around the creek.


We're almost back to the house and Lacey discovers this:

 Sorry about the blurriness on the left side of the pic. Abbie had my camera and I didn't notice the BIG fingerprint on the lens until a couple pictures later.

Then the cat did this:

Even from behind, doesn't it look like she's hissing?
Then Lacey says "oooh it's a game!" And does this...

 Took awhile to get her back in the house! She had too much fun chasing her. Better a cat than a chicken though!

I hope everyone is having as beautiful of a day as we are!

Check out my guacamole football field

Just wanted to share a picture of the guacamole football field I made for a Super Bowl party yesterday. I saw a similar picture on pinterest and knew I had to make one! It's so easy too!
You just fill the center of your dish with guacamole and fill your end zones with some other dip. I chose salsa but you could also do queso or bean dip or whatever. Then using a frosting decorating bag, pipe on sour cream to make your field. If you don't have a frosting bag, you could use a zip lock bag (fill it with some sour cream and then snip off a tiny piece of a corner to pipe it on with). I placed a couple pieces of tomatoes around the field like they are players. Another idea I had that I would have done if I wasn't traveling with this was to take a baking sheet and cover it with colored paper, place the "field" on top and then place chips around the outside like they are the spectators. You could definitely do this for other sports parties too, make a baseball field, hockey rink, basketball court, etc. This is a great healthy option that's totally fun to bring to a party!

Raw Onion Energy Crackers

Raw seed crackers are awesome! They are packed with nutrients. Nothing better than raw seed crackers topped with organic raw cheese! You can change up the seasonings to your taste. Play with the recipe and you can have a whole variety of different flavors. The onion in this is awesome. I love dehydrated onion!

Chia is soooo good for you. It is an energy food! It aids in weight-loss/management. It has been a staple crop since Ancient Times. One ounce only has 137 calories, 4.4 grams of protein, Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, 177 mg Calcium, 265 mg phosphorus, 44.8 mg potassium, 10.6 g dietary fiber. Put.it.in.everything.

Can be multiplied very well. This makes one dehydrator sheet full.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup organic raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup organic raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup organic chia seeds
1/2 cup organic sesame seeds
1 cup water
2 cloves organic garlic, crushed
1 organic onion, diced
1/2-1 ts real salt, or to taste
1/4-1/2 ts organic garlic pepper
A couple shakes kelp flakes

Combine water, garlic, and onion, stir. Let it soak while gathering the other ingredients.  Combine seeds and seasonings well. Pour in water mixture and mix well. Spread onto one dehydrator sheet, 1/4-1/2 inch thick. I use a piece of parchment paper on a regular dehydrator sheet because I don't have the solid sheets and it works well. Dehydrate at 110-115 degrees (you can dehydrate at a higher temp for less time but will no longer be "raw") for a couple hours. Once it's pretty firm but still pliable, pull out to slice. Take a pizza cutter and make slices to the desired size, flip (I slice mine, carefully, on the parchment on the dehydrator sheet, place another dehydrator sheet and holder on top, press the two together and flip. If your parchment paper won't easily peal off, dehydrate for another hour or so.) After flipped, place back in dehydrator for another few hours. Once hard and crispy, they are done! Enjoy topped with some yummy raw cheese!

You could bake these, you lose some nutrients that way, but it would still be better than buying crackers. I'd say bake for 30 min or so before flipping. Then bake another 30+ minutes until desired consistency.

Get to know your Greens!

Greens are a very important part of a healthy diet. Your best bet is to get a variety of them. Keeping them raw ensures you benefit fully from all the vitamins and minerals. Salads, blended salads, thrown in smoothies, on sandwiches, any way you like them, just keep them raw!

Blended Salad

Romaine

With only about 1 calorie per leaf, eat up! It has a very mild taste so it's great mixed in a smoothie. It contains all 8 essential amino acids. It is low in Saturated Fat and Sodium, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Calcium(2mg), Magnesium(.8mg), Phosphorus(1.8mg), and a very good source of Vitamin A (523IU,10%), Vitamin C (1.4mg,2%), Vitamin K(6mcg), Folate(8mcg), Potassium(14mg).

Kale

Kale has about 35 calories in one cup, . This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber (1.3g), Protein (2g), Folate (19mcg), Iron, and a very good source of Vitamin A(10302 IU, 206%), Vitamin C (80mg, 134%), Vitamin K (547 mcg, 684%), Calcium(90.5mg),  and Manganese(26%).

Red Chard

I love the beauty of red chard! It's wonderful in veggie juice as well as other raw cuisines. One cup only has 7 calories. It is very high in sodium, but in my opinion, natural sodium is NOT a bad thing. It's white iodized salt that's bad. It's one of the best sources of Vitamin K. This is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Folate and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber (2%), Vitamin A (44%), Vitamin C(10 MG, 18%), Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K (299mcg,374%), Calcium (18.4 mg, 2%), Magnesium (29.2mg, 7%), Phosphorus(16.6mg, 2%), Potassium (135mg 4%).

Spinach

I love putting Spinach in smoothies, it doesn't change the taste at all, in our opinion (we used to do kale, but that totally changes the taste). It does change the color though, but if you use blueberrries, they kind of over power the green so it's not as noticeable if that matters. My kids, though, are used to green smoothies. This is a wonderful food with it's antioxidants and anti-cancer constituents. One cup has almost 7 calories. It is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber(.7g), Protein (.9 g, 2%), Vitamin A (2813, 56%), Vitamin C (8.4, 14%), Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K (145mcg, 181%), Folate(58.2mcg,15%), Calcium (29.7, 3%), Iron(.8,5%), Magnesium(23.7,6%),Potassium(167mg,5%),  and Manganese(.3,13%).

Arugula

Arugula has 2.5 calories in a half cup. It's often found in salad mixes. It's great on sandwiches. It is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. A good source of Vitamin A(237IU,5%), Vitamin C(1.5mg,2%), Vitamin K(10.9mcg,14%), Folate(9.7mcg, 2%), Calcium(16mg, 2%).