Freakishly Healthy

I know I mention it all the time, but that is because it's still weird to me:  Since moving here, (to Japan) we've gotten a lot healthier.  I'm not gonna to lie: I had nothing to do with it.  In fact, I had every intention of starting a "Dessert Club" when I moved in.  In fact, I may be the sole reason we're still as un-healthy as we are.

(Okay, so I AM the sole reason.  But how was I to know we'd be planted (pun intended) in the middle of a hot-bed of Vegetarians and Nutritarians*?  A girl needs time to adjust to major life changes such as seven pounds of vegetables on a single pizza...with only about a half ounce of cheese!!!)

I mean, REALLY Janeen!

No healthy person should be so happy!

Even the KIDS around here eat healthy.  Voluntarily!  Don't believe me?

Meet my neighbor Eva:

Exhibit A:

She wandered into my back yard one day eating a bell pepper.  Eating a bell pepper like an apple.  No one is even making her!!!  (Sick!  See what I mean about freakishly healthy?)

Now look at this startling photographic evidence:
Exhibit B:

This is my child - Gabe - eating a WHOLE cucumber AND a carrot!  (???)  Sure, most kids will eat a baby carrot if coerced, but a WHOLE CUCUMBER?  It's totally bizarre to me that he's doing this AND smiling.

And this final picture?  I just find this one PAINFUL...

Exhibit C:

Gabe is seen here happily eating RAW (nasty/horrible/disgusting/my-arch-nemisis) tomatoes!!!
MY!!!KID!!!

You can rest assured I had nothing to do with this.

So anyway, it's gotten so bad here that now Doug just goes into the kitchen and whips up healthy meals straight out of our Square Foot Garden.  (Our Square Foot Garden is totally ROCKING this year, btw!)

This is what he made us for dinner tonight:

And guess what?
It was surprisingly delicious!!!  (After I picked out the tomatoes...)
(My standard reaction to most vegetarian dishes equals "Surprisingly good!" or "Surprisingly delicious!" or "Surprisingly not as disgusting as I thought, and I REALLY thought this one was going to be disgusting!!!")

So if you want to get in on the healthy eating action, try this out.  You might be as surprised as I am!

Doug's Healthy Pita Pockets
1 giant oversized fresh-to-death cucumber out of the garden (sliced and chopped
1/2 chopped onion
a man sized handfull of sliced grapes
2 japanese sized cloves of garlic (these are about 1 1/2 the size of american ones)
1 can of garbanzo beans mashed up

Serve in whole grain pita pocket.

Enjoy in good health!

*Nutritarian:  A person whose food choices are influenced by nutritional quality.  See "Dr. Furman" for more details.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our close friends here are some of the healthiest people we've ever met. They are definitely good influences on us in the nutrition department. (We actually eat veggies now!) This recipe comes from Janeen--the healthiest of them all--who also has a website with tons of health information and lots of recipes. This is one of the recipes from her site. (www.nutritionwise.org)

Just one warning: If you are making these for your family for the first time, do not say "Hey everyone! I made Chocolate Chip Cookies!" They'll be looking for the Crisco/Egg/White flour version and be sorely disappointed. (I may or may not know this from being the disappointed one.)

Try this instead; "Hey guys! I have a super healthy treat for you!" They'll be all bummed. Until they see the chocolate. Then they'll eat 'em and eventually become addicted.

You've been warned.

Janeen’s Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 cups whole (old fashioned) oats

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups walnuts or pecans, chopped fine or ground (toasting is an option)

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Mix in separate bowl;

1 cup apple sauce

1 cup maple syrup or honey

4 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp. vanilla

Combine wet and dry ingredients and let sit for 5 minutes. Drop spoonfuls on baking sheet. These cookies do not “spread” so I like to flatten them a little.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. It's hard to tell if they're done, but they do start to brown on the bottom. Let cool for 2 minutes before removing from sheet.

You can also experiment by adding cashews, cocoa or carob powder, raisins instead of c.c.’s, and/or peanut butter.

The only unhealthy ingredient in this recipe (besides the salt...and possibly sweetener...) is the chocolate chips, and we all know, chocolate could NEVER be bad. So enjoy these with a clear conscience!!! (I know I do.)

This recipe has been doubled so it makes a LOT!

Enjoy!

Chunky Sweet Potato Stew a.k.a. Dragon Stew

I got this recipe from Joel Fuhrman's "Eat for Health: Book Two". It was quick and easy to make but I knew the boys were going to take one look and throw a fit. They did.

But with much bribery ("No Crystal Light until your food is gone!") and coercion, they tried it, and actually sorta liked it, both finishing their whole bowl!!! VICTORY!

(Although Sam would only take a bite along with a bite of toast and Max said "It was good but I don't want it again." Hmmpf. I'm totally making it again..)

Here it is:

Chunky Sweet Potato/Dragon Stew

Serves: 2 - Prep Time: 25 minutes (It served 5 the way I made it. And it was super good served with toasted Rudi's Organic, 7 Grain with Flax bread!)

Ingredients

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 onion, thickly sliced (I will dice it smaller next time. The boys didn't like the stringy onions)

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

1 14-ounce can stewed tomatoes with juice (low or no salt) (I used no-salt petite diced tomatoes)

1 large sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (Mine was super large!)

1/2 cup canned garbanzo beans or white kidney beans (low or no salt), drained. (I used the whole can.)

3/4 tsp dried rosemary (Didn't have any. Left it out.)

1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds, or cut into bite-sized pieces

black pepper, to taste

Mrs. Dash seasoning, to taste

Since I used a HUGE sweet potato and the whole can of beans, I needed a little more liquid. So I added half a can of low sodium chicken broth.

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook about 5 minutes, until slightly softened, separating slices into rings. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.

Mix in stewed tomatoes with juice, sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans and rosemary. Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Add zucchini. Cover and cook until sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Season to taste with pepper and/or Mrs. Dash.

One Serving Contains (if you follow the original recipe exactly...)

Calories: 286.5; Protein 9g: Carbohydrate 48g; Fat 8.5g; Sodium 73.1mg

Enjoy eating a healthy, flavorful meal with no guilt!!!

Fae's (half) Whole Wheat Bread in a Bosch

We LOVED it when my mom made homemade bread when we were growing up.  We'd come home from school to a delicious smelling house and bread, butter and honey laid out on the kitchen counter for our after-school snack.  We usually got to eat about two of the five loaves, and the others were given away; to a friend, neighbor, sick person, whatever...This bread was pretty popular in the ol' hood.  

You're not going to get Fae's illustrations to help you make this (like I have on my hand written/drawn copy) but this should suffice!  

Mix in Bosch with lid on:

5 cups hot water

7 cups whole wheat flour

Add:

2/3 cup oil

2/3 cup honey

2 TBSP. salt.  (Don't leave out the salt!  It's a flavor enhancer, you know!?!?) 

Mix well then add:

 2 TBSP. yeast

(to test your yeast, put it in 1/2 cup luke warm water with 1 Tbsp. sugar.  If it bubbles up after a few minutes, it's good.)

Add:  (optional)

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup powdered milk (if you're trying to use up some food storage)

Mix well

Add:

5-6 cups white flour (depending on if you added the 'optionals')

(put lid on Bosch)

Knead on medium (2) for 12 minutes.

After 2 minutes see if dough is pulling away from sides of bowl--if not add more flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough moves away from sides.

Dump dough on floured counter and separate into equal sized lumps.  (5 if you're making large loaves, 10 if you're making small loaves.)

Shape into loaves and place in greased pans.  Cover with a damp towel.  Let rise until double in size.

Bake large loaves @ 350 for 30-35 minutes

Bake small loaves @300 for 20-25 minutes

Enjoy!!!

Susan's Scrumptious Spinach Salad

I'll admit it. I'm a sugar addict. Always have been. Doesn't matter that too much sugar sends me spiralling into a hypoglycemic coma, I persist in over-indulging on a regular basis. So is it any wonder that my two favorite salads have sugar in the dressing? Yep, that's right. Even the healthy stuff I like to eat probably isn't THAT healthy, but oh well. You only live once...may as well die fat and happy.

Susan’s Scrumptious Spinach Salad

Salad:

1 large bag or 12-18 oz. of Spinach (It shrinks down a bit once the dressing is on it.)

2 cups Mozzarella or Swiss Cheese (I’ve never tried Swiss, but I hear it’s fab.)

1/3 portion of a Red Onion (Optional. I hate raw onions so this has never made it in.)

1 cup Craisens (Optional, but definitely recommended)

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1-2 cups Chopped Bacon or Bacon-Bits (I used Maple flavored bacon once, and it was super yummy. Haven’t tried Bacon-Bits, but that would eliminate a step.) Add just before serving

Dressing:

¾ cup Sugar (I think you can probably add less and still be fine. Try it and see what you think.)

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbsp dry onion

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1 cup Canola oil

1 tsp. Poppy Seeds

In a very large bowl, add cheese, onion, and cranberries to Spinach. Mix first 5 dressing ingredients in blender until well combined. Slowly add oil until just combined. Add poppy seeds and stir. Pour on Salad. Add Bacon just before serving. Enjoy!