Natural Family Recipes Blog

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 (16 ounce) bag coleslaw
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped fine
1 Serrano chile sliced thin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 tablespoons lime juice

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a large skillet until hot over medium high heat. Add the mustard seed to the hot oil. Cover the skillet and heat the mustard seed 30 seconds or until the popping stops completely.  Add the coleslaw mix, cilantro and chile and blend together.  Sprinkle in the salt, cumin and turmeric and stir well to incorporate the flavors.  Continue cooking and stirring continuously for 4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender.  Pour in the lime juice and cook an addition 1 minute.

Serves 6

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Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 ounce) can peeled whole tomatoes and juice
1 (7 ounce) container sun dried tomato pesto
2 eggs
2 (15 ounce) containers ricotta cheese
1 (14 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 (8 ounce) package Italian cheese blend, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 oven ready lasagna noodles

Instructions:

Pour the oil into a large skillet and place over medium heat.  Once the oil has is hot but not smoking add the onion.  Cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic and continue cooking 1 minute garlic should be fragrant. Pour in the tomatoes and use the back of a spoon to crush being sure to leave chunks in the sauce.  Place the heat on low and cook 3 minutes.  Add the pesto and stir well. Remove the skillet from the heat.  Beat the eggs slightly in a large mixing bowl.  Add the ricotta cheese, spinach and 1/2 of the cheese blend.  Stir well.  Add the Parmesan cheese and salt and continue stirring until completely combined.   Cover the bottom of a large baking dish with sauce.  Lay 4 lasagna noodles on top of the sauce.  Spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the noodles.  Cover with sauce.  Repeat layers 2 more times ending with sauce on the top.  Bring the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with the remaining Italian cheese blend.  Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.  Bake 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and continue baking 30 minutes or until bubbly.  Allow lasagna to stand 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 8

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Ingredients:

1 slice bacon, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 1/2 cup French bread, cubed
1 pound lean ground beef
2 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (8 oz) package mozzarella cheese, shredded

Instructions:

Place the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook 3 minutes or until browned.  Remove bacon to a paper towel. Using the bacon drippings cook the tomato, carrot, celery and onion, covered for 6 minutes or until tender.  Stir the bacon back into the skillet.  Place the bread in a bowl.  Place just enough water in the bowl with the bread to cover.  Allow the bread to stand in the water 5 minutes.  Drain the water and squeeze the excess water out of the bread cubes.
Place the bread back into the bowl.  Add the ground beef, eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper to the bread.  Mix the ingredients together with you hands.  Form a square loaf when the ingredients have been mixed together.  Place the loaf in a square baking dish.  Form a well in the middle of the loaf.  Place the cooked vegetables into the well.  Sprinkle in the mozzarella cheese.  Form the loaf back over the top of the vegetables.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 50 minutes.  Remove and let the meat loaf stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Serves 4

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Children are on the go constantly. They need healthy between meal snacks to supply nutrition and replenish energy. Junk food diets have contributed to obesity and health problems in children. It is more important than ever to train kids to eat healthy. Below are some ideas for healthy summer snacks that are easy to fix.

Fruit and Veggies - Keep the refrigerator stocked with a selection of fresh fruits and vegetables. Applesauce and prepared fruit purchased in cups are great for packed lunches on family outings.  

Children like to eat what is fun. Sliced apples and bananas are great spread with nut butters. For variety try almond or hazelnut butter in place of peanut butter.

The kids will enjoy almost any variety of fresh raw vegetables. A plate filled with cucumber rounds, cherry tomatoes, celery, and baby carrots served with a dip will quickly be gobbled up. Low fat Ranch dressing mixed with equal portions of low fat cottage cheese is a dip for the fresh veggies that will appeal to kids.

Nuts and Grains - Homemade Mini-muffins will be healthy, easy for the kids to handle and great with fruit and veggies.  Zucchini, banana and carrot bread recipes work great. For extra healthy muffins substitute applesauce for the oil and halve the sugar.

Nuts are packed with protein, vitamins and minerals. Mix together rice chex or low-fat granola, nuts, raisins, and dried fruit pieces for a healthy homemade trail mix.

Cool Snacks - Kids love finger food and frozen grapes eat like candy. Grapes are rich in antioxidants and make a nutritious snack. Wash seedless grapes and keep in freezer until ready to eat.

Bananas can be frozen for a delicious sweet snack the kids can eat like a Popsicle. Arrange banana halves on wax paper and freeze bananas for 20 minutes. Remove bananas from freezer, slip a Popsicle stick into each half, and dip into melted chocolate. Return the bananas to freezer until solid (about an hour) before serving.

Jell-O blox are great fun for kids and made with fruit juice are a healthy way to provide energy. Sprinkle 4 envelopes of Knox unflavored gelatin over 1 cup cold fruit juice; let stand 1 minute. Add 3 cups fruit juice heated to boiling and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Sweeten to taste, Pour into 13 x 9 inch baking pan and chill until firm. To serve, cut into 1-inch squares. This makes 9 dozen fruit juice blocks.

Make sure your kids don’t grow up to think only of junk food. Help them to see the value of ‘healthy snack alternatives’ and provide the kids with nutritious, delicious snacks that will benefit their health.

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There are so many diets being touted as the best for optimal health it is hard to keep it all straight. One thing is for sure…the Standard American Diet (SAD) and the food pyramid are flawed to say the least. Kids today are not getting adequate nutrition and they are suffering as a result. Children are being diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, asthma, allergies, autism, diabetes, and afflictions that used to be found in adults only. Children as young as two years old have been found to have plaque in their arteries already. Something important is missing…but what is it? 

Think about how humans were designed. What did we eat for years before the advent of modern convenience foods? What is it that we are eating or rather NOT eating that is causing human health to decline with every passing year? Why are our bodies and our children’s bodies wearing out so fast and getting so sick?

As a species we have gotten away from the foods we are supposed to eat, living raw foods. The living foods or raw foods diet generally includes vegetarian/vegan foods but goes a step beyond and also eliminates cooked and processed foods. Raw diet enthusiasts know that living foods have life giving enzymes that are destroyed during processing and cooking, rendering those foods indigestible unless our body raids its own finite enzyme stores. Without those enzymes we can’t digest our food or extract the components that keep us alive and healthy. Cooking and processing also kills 50-75% of the nutrients in food as well so when we cook food we are rendering it half as healthy as it once was.

So what do raw food proponents eat? A typical raw food diet consists mainly of uncooked and unprocessed grains, vegetables, nuts, sprouts, fresh and dried fruits, seeds, beans, and seaweed. Raw diets also usually include a lot fresh juices and water. In simple terms…eating raw food means eating food in its purest form…the way nature made it. If you throw a cheese puff on the ground and water it, nothing will grow. It has no life inside it. If you throw a dehydrated flax seed cracker on the ground and water it, you may very well end up with flax plants.

Those who follow raw foods diets believe that this way of eating reduces risk for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes and greatly improves their energy levels, skin appearance, digestive processes, and weight loss efforts. Many amazing raw food healing stories abound.

Many people neglect the importance of raw foods and cook everything. In the long run you are risking serious health problems. Cooked foods are not the healthiest option. The body cannot properly digest foods that have been fried, pasteurized, barbecued, dried or other over-processed and over cooked foods. Eating a wide variety for raw foods is very important. A daily diet should consist of at least 50% raw foods for a proper functioning body. Are your kids eating 50% of their total diet it is purest, raw form? 

If not you can start doing something about it now. The Recipes for Raw Kids un-cookbook has 80+ pages of raw food info and recipes for kids. This recipe book goes beyond carrot sticks and trail-mix with divine recipes kids will love, like Lemon Cookies and sweet Chickpea Crunchies. If you are ready to give your kids the power of raw, living foods, make sure to check it out.

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1 C fruit cocktail, drained

1 C chunked pineapple, drained

1 C mandarin oranges, drained

1 C sour cream

1 C rainbow miniature marshmallows

How to Make It:

Place the fruit cocktail, pineapple chunks and oranges into a large mixing bowl.

Gently fold in the sour cream until all the fruit is covered.

Sprinkle in the marshmallows and stir until just combined.

Place in a pre chilled thermos.

Serves 6

This fruit salad is a delight especially on a hot summer day.  Add a little coconut or a few nuts to make a different taste every time. 

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2 kiwi, peeled and diced

1 small tomato, seeded and diced

2 tbsp green onion, diced small

1 tbsp parsley, chopped

1 tsp lemon juice

How to Make It:

Place the prepared kiwi into a mixing bowl.

Add in the tomato and green onion.

Sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Pour in the lemon juice.

Mix all the ingredients together well being sure everything is coated well with the lemon juice.

Refrigerate until cold.

Place in a pre chilled thermos.

Serves 2

Add some tortilla chips to the lunch box to have with this salsa.  Kids love it and so do adults not only as a side dish at lunch but for that afternoon snack as well.

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3 tbsp canola oil

1 small eggplant, sliced

2 potatoes, skin left on and sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 green bell pepper, cut into strips

1 large tomato, sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp basil

How to Make It:

Place the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Heat the oil to hot but not smoking.

Add the eggplant and potatoes.

Layer on the onions.

Layer in the pepper strips.

Last lay the tomatoes on the top.

Sprinkle with the garlic, parsley and basil.

Allow the layers to simmer in the hot oil for 20 minutes.

If the mixture seems to be cooking to quickly lower the heat to medium low.

Mixture may seem slightly dry but do not add water.

Continue cooking 15 minutes or until vegetables is fork tender.

Use a spatula to remove in sections and layer into a wide mouth thermos.

Serves 4

This dish is great out of a thermos.  Sprinkle a little parmesan cheese over the top before eating. 

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1 tbsp olive oil + extra if needed during cooking

1 small zucchini, sliced into 1/4 in slices
1 small onion, wedged
1 (6 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 small red sweet pepper, cut into 2 in strips
2 C  fresh bean sprouts
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp pepper

How to Make It:

Place the olive oil into a wok. 

Heat to medium high heat.

Add the zucchini and onion and cook 3 minutes or until crisp but tender.

Remove and place in a separate bowl.

Add more oil if necessary.

Place the mushrooms and red pepper strips into the hot wok.

Cook 2 minutes or until fork tender but crisp.

Remove and place in the same bowl as the onion mixture stirring together to incorporate.

Add more oil if necessary.

Place the bean sprouts into the wok.

Pour the soy sauce over the top of the bean sprouts.

Stir in the sugar and pepper being sure to mix together well.

Cook 2 minutes. 

Place the onion and mushroom mixture back into the wok.

Continue cooking 4 minutes, being sure to stir occasionally, or until completed heated through.

Place immediately into a warm prepared thermos. 

Serves 4

As long as the thermos has been warmed, sealed tightly and not opened until ready to eat this meal will remain hot and delicious right up until lunch time.

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