Light Blueberry Treat

This is a treat to have if you have dairy at least sporadically. We don't generally go this hardcore on dairy, but this is a treat worth having! (It's not cheating when you're free!) If you eat dairy on a regular basis, this very well may become a standard in your home. It's delicious, simple, and provides a GREAT presentation.

Light Blueberry Treat
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Serves: at least 6

1 pint whipping (heavy) cream
1 quart blueberries
2 cups 100% pure maple syrup

1. Pour out the cream in a chilled (preferably metal or glass) mixing bowl. Whip with an electric mixer until the cream turns stiff (this is what real whipped cream is - none of this "Cool Whip" nonsense - that's the cook in me, not the healthy person). :) Spoon the whipped cream evenly into (at least) six small dessert bowls.

2. Top each bowl with desired amount of blueberries (usually enough to cover the cream but without overflowing the bowls).

3. Drizzle a desired amount of the syrup over the blueberries and cream. Serve immediately (or chilled).

Our Daily Breakfast

We got this recipe from Normand LeBlanc at Healthy Concept in Dieppe. He eats this for breakfast, and we do too, now!

Our Daily Breakfast
Prep time: 8 minutes
Cook time: 6 minutes
Serves: 2

1 cup organic rolled oats
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup natural plain yogurt
1/4 cup 100% pure maple syrup
fresh fruit, cut up to desired amount

1. Place oats and water into a medium saucepan on medium high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly, allowing oats to cook. Stir often until oatmeal is finished.

2. Divide the oatmeal evenly between two cereal bowls.

3. Top each bowl of oatmeal with half the yogurt.

4. Now drizzle half the maple syrup over each bowl.

5. Finally, top with your desired fruit (we like bananas and berries best) and serve.

Pizza

Eating pizza is not a common thing in our home. However, we recently got the bug for it when we saw a Six-Grain Pizza Crust for sale at Graves. Be VERY careful when selecting any kind of grains, even though it looks very healthy. Stay away from "enriched" flour and most "wheat" flours. (You'll find that this crust and several Kashi cereals we eat have some wheat product; avoid all wheat anyway. I'll explain the difference when we come to recipes in which that is necessary.) The six grains in the crust are organic whole grains, the best if you MUST have grains. On to the cooking:

Pizza
Prep time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 can diced roma tomatoes in water (make sure the ingredients are tomatoes and water only)
2 small to medium cloves of garlic
1 Six-Grain Pizza Crust (the number of grains doesn't matter much; avoid enriched flour!)
1/4 cup each of various chopped raw vegetables, according to your taste (baby spinach, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, etc.)
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (you grate it from a good block with minimal processing)
1/3 cup freshly grated havarti cheese (you grate it from a good block with minimal processing)

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit. Pour olive oil into large skillet over medium high heat. Press the garlic cloves into the olive oil and stir until bubbly. Add the tomatoes with their water to the pan, stirring occasionally. (Use the cooking time to prepare your other ingredients.) Continue heating until the tomato chunks break down and a marinara sauce is formed.

2. Place your pizza crust on a large round stone (or pizza pan). Brush pizza with 1 tbs olive oil. Spread marinara sauce over the pizza crust.

3. Sprinkle half each of the two cheeses over the sauce. Set aside the remaining cheese.

4. Evenly sprinkle all the vegetables over the crust. You'll find that the pizza heaps a little bit. This is normal. Top the vegetables with the remaining cheese.

5. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes (or to your desire). The cheese should be melted and browning, and the crust should be golden.

(Note: For protein we'll occasionally chop up some previously baked chicken and add it with the vegetables. This is a tasty and healthy option.)

Spicy Frittata

A "frittata" is just a baked version of an omelet. If you like eggs at all, you'll love this dish. It's usually a breakfast dish, but we've eaten it for any meal. All you basically need are eggs and things to put in the eggs (cheese is optional). Below is one frittata we make often.

Spicy Frittata
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Serves: 2

6 large Free Range (or Free Run) eggs
1 cup Drew's Natural salsa (or some other salsa with natural ingredients - no sugar or tomato paste)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (Farenheit). Crack all six eggs into a medium mixing bowl. Beat eggs with wire whisk.

2. Fold in salsa, salt, and pepper with wire whisk until well blended.

3. Grate half your block of parmesan cheese into egg mixture. Set aside the other half.

4. Pour entire mixture into the Small Round Stone (or other small round baker - you may have to grease your pan if it's not a good baking stone or if your stone is brand new). Bake at 425 for 17 minutes.

5. Grate the other half of your block of parmesan cheese over the dish, coating the top with cheese. Bake another 5 minutes.

6. To test doneness, shake the sonte gently. If the eggs still jiggle, give more baking time. If they don't, insert a cake tester or toothpick. If it comes out clean, you're good to go! Cool for a minute or two.

7. Cut the frittata into quarters, serving two quarters per person. (No side dish is necessary.)

Baked Apples (version 1.0)

This blog is an experiment. Many of you ask about how we eat, and many of those who ask look at us as if we've lost our minds. Though we're not into making Scripture say what we want it to so that we can justify a diet that "works," we're going to post some recipes on here periodically. They are good - honestly. You can experiment a little and let us know if you think you have something to make the recipe better. Here goes nothing:

Baked Apples (version 1.0)
Prep time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4

4 medium-to-large baking apples (we like Fuji)
4 tbsp margarine (softened)
1/2 cup chopped natural pecans
1/2 cup chopped natural almonds
1/2 cup Maine blueberries
3/4 cup 100% pure maple syrup (approximation)
1 cup plain organic yogurt
1/2 cup grated non-processed cheddar cheese (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (Farenheit). Using TPC's "Cook's Corer" (or some other coring implement), remove the cores from the apples and place each apple on a small baking stone (or other baking dish).

2. In a small bowl combine margarine and nuts with a fork until well blended. Stuff the apples' center holes to half-full with the nut mixture. Pour a small amount (1/2 tsp) on top of the first nut layer. Stuff the remaining nut mixture into the remaining part of the apples' center holes.

3. Drizzle maple syrup over each apple, paying special attention to the exposed nut mixture.

4. Place blueberries on top of the nut mixture on each apple, allowing the rest to fall on (and around) the apples.

5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. If desired, sprinkle grated cheese over the apples. Bake for the remaining 5 minutes (or until desired). Cool for ten minutes.

6. Place each apple into a dessert bowl. Drizzle the sauce from the bottom of the baking stone over each apple. Using a small spoon, divide the yogurt among the four bowls by placing dollops of yogurt at the base of each apple. This makes a great presentation and adds variety to the dish.