Cornbread Square Muffins - Gluten-free (easily Vegan)

 

This is a recipe that I've tweaked a few times, but I think I've finally GOT IT. We've been sugar-free, gluten-free in our household since November (2011) due to yeast overgrowth issues that resulted in some really bad side effects for Warren. He's lost 45 pounds since then (this is now February 2012 as I write this) and although he needed to lose some weight, this wasn't quite how he nor I had expected it to happen. Regardless, this is one of the recipes that came from my search for FOOD - real food that tasted good and filled us up. This last batch came out light and moist, as good as any, and I think probably better than any cornbread I've made before now - and I learned most of my cooking skills while living in the south where cornbread is an art.

Preheat over to 400 degrees. This recipe filled 8 squares in the pan pictured below.

3/4 cups organic brown rice flour (the original recipe called for 1-1/4 cup of all purpose flour)
3/4 cups organic coconut flour
3/4 cup yellow corn meal (not all corn meal is gluten free, so check the package if that's important for you)
1 pack of NuStevia (the original recipe called for 1/8 cup of sugar - I've never liked really sweet cornbread, but this was good)
2.5 tsp double acting baking powder (I used Clabber Girl) - probably would use an aluminum free one next time
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt (the original recipe called for 1/2 cup mayonnaise and to make it vegan you can use vegenaise)
1 cup nut or soy milk - I used almond milk
1 egg (when I made it vegan we substituted egg replacer)
1/4 cup olive oil

Add dry ingredients, make a well in the middle and mix the milk, egg and yogurt together and then blend with dry ingredients. Don't overdo the mixing - just until incorporated and lumps are gone. Place in square muffin pan and bake for 18 to 20 minutes until slightly brown around the edges.

The picture below is of the Wilton square muffin pan that Warren found at a garage sale for $4.00 - he found 2 of them. They are very  heavy and cook these squares perfectly. You can, of course, cook this recipe in any muffin pan or even square pan, but the muffin squares make serving the cornbread so much easier - no flaking or falling part when you try to cut the cornbread. 

 

Note: The last attempt at this recipe I substituted the all purpose flour with a gluten-free flour mix that we found at the grocery store, used Vegenaise and egg replacer. I will say that although good, they were heavy and doughy and not nearly as tasty and light as this batch. 

Let me know if you try this, if you make any substitutions and how it worked for you.

Thanks for listening!

Easy, fast raw food dish - Raw Thai Peanut Ginger Butternut Squash:

People are always asking me how they can possibly find time to "cook" raw food dishes. I will admit the initial switch in mind set takes some time and some pre-planning. Mostly you need to remember to soak your nuts and seeds the day before, dehydrate for sometimes 3 days before eating and starting sprouts up to 3 days in advance. Sounds a little daunting? It does - at first. Once you start your regimen of soaking and sprouting, you'll always have a ready supply for whatever recipe you want to make.

However, this meal that I prepared today took possibly less than 3 minutes, but I did cheat and used a bottled "simmer sauce" made by Robert Rothschiild Farm readily available at most health food stores and even in a lot of the main stream grocery stores. Warren paid (yep, he does the grocery shopping!!) $6.50 for an 8 oz bottle. There are various flavors and they are all really good. One serving is only 2 Tbsp. and I used probably less than that. YES! I want to make it from scratch myself using my own spices, but today was a quick fix and that's just what we all need some times. Warren was working hard on canning salsa, the sun was shining and the flowers beds were calling to me - so I just needed something that would give me quick but lasting energy - this was it.

Butternut squash raw noodles (fresh from our garden)  - probably about 4 oz piece peeled and spiralized. See note below.
Thai Peanut Ginger Simmer Sauce - 2 tablespoons
Sunflower Seeds (raw) (use could use any variety of raw seeds or nuts here and preferably soaked overnight - mine weren't)
Chopped fresh cilantro (luckily Warren was already chopping some for his salsa - so I stole about 1 tbsp.)

That's it! I filled my plate with the raw noodles, dribbled on the Thai Peanut Ginger Sauce and sprinkled on the seeds and Cilantro. It really was amazingly good, filling, full of vitamins and phytonutrients plus staying power. Meaning that it didn't spike my blood sugar requiring my body to release a lot of insulin and give only a short period of energy - which is what happens when you eat enriched flour type noodles. I love the chewing too - they say it's good for the neck and jaw muscles and actually helps sagging skin - who knows - I don't, but I do love the crunch and the fiber.

Spiralizing is so much fun. We did some research prior to purchasing the model that we did finally decide to purchase. The brand is Benriner and I think we purchased it from Amazon. Picture below - wish I'd thought to take a picture of the final dish! Take a look at all the various You Tube demonstrations before deciding on which type would be best for you.

These are fun, easy, cheap and fast.

Thanks for listening!

Morning Energy Juice Recipe Ingredients:

3 to 4 carrot tops removed, ends trimmed, scrubbed well, not peeled.
1 cucumber peeled
1/2 beet, scrubbed, may include stems and 1 to 2 leaves
1/2 lemon, peeled
1 inch chunk ginger root, scrubbed or peeled if old.

Cut produce to fit your juicers feed tube. Juice all ingredients and stir. Pour into a glass and drink as soon as possible. Serves 1 to 2

This is my favorite, quick, classic juice recipe that comes from the classic book on juicing, Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxing for Life, Unleash the Healing Power of Fresh Juices and Cleansing Diets. by Cherie Calbom, M.S. Cherie also wrote Juicing for Life. The name of the recipe certainly is true. Nothing can give you quite the energy lift like a fresh raw unpasteurized juice such as this. If I have a long list of "things to do", I make this juice rather than sitting down to a breakfast of eggs and fake bacon.

Romaine and Mixed Berry Green Smoothie

Ingredients

2 bananas broken into 2 inch pieces (I like frozen ones better)
1 tablespoon organic flax seed oil
1- 2 cups frozen blueberries or mixed berries
1 handful of romaine, tear apart to fit into blender
1 teaspoon of dried concentrated green powder (optional)
1/4 cup of dried or fresh coconut
Enough liquid, either purified water, coconut milk or nut milk to cover lettuce
Stevia to taste (optional)

Directions

   1. Put all ingredients in a high speed blender.

   2. Add enough water so that all ingredients are covered.

   3. Blend well, you may have to use a spatula and push ingredients into the blade, stop and start blender.

   4. You may want to add a little more water if you like your smoothie thinner.

This is a great way to add leafy greens to your daily diet. This recipe is a perfect green smoothie starter and as you can see from the picture - green smoothies aren't always green.  My granddaughters absolutely love this one. When they visited for a week this spring, they went home and told their mother they liked Nanny's green smoothies better. It was probably just the stevia but taste before adding the stevia to see if it needs sweetening. I will add fresh pineapple if I can find organic at a reasonable price. Lots of recipes for green smoothies call for adding raw ground or whole flax seed. This is a good way to get your Omega 3's, but flax seeds, in my opinion, make it too thick and yucky. I've had to throw out more than one smoothie when I was trying to decide whether to use the flax seeds or the oil. I also like to buy bananas in a bunch and freeze them in freezer bags just for smoothies. I break them into halves so they fit and blend nicely.

The beauty of green smoothies is you are getting not only the raw enzymes, but by "blending" the greens and fruit you are breaking open the cellular matrix which means your body will more quickly absorb nutrients and increase the bioavailability of the phytonutrients, antioxidants, fresh enzymes, minerals and vitamins. This recipe will fill a regular blender and if the grandkids aren't here to share it with me, I will sip on it through the morning and even into the afternoon. It's best to drink as soon as possible to retain all the nutritional benefits, but putting part of it covered and in the refrigerator while you drink the rest of it is still workable.

Most green smoothie websites and/or books will tell you that you need a Vita Mix blender. These are expensive and so far our high-powered Osterizer works fine.

Our granddaughters enjoying their "purple" green smoothies.

   

Nausea seems to be fairly common with pregnancy

and doctors will prescribe several different medications to try to relieve this at times debilitating concern. It's been a long time since I was pregnant, but have watched friends and family attempt to find ways to alleviate the problem without resorting to pharmaceutical medications.  We've written before about the well-known benefits of using fresh ginger and in some situations ginger essential oil - check out our blog about ginger and nausea.

My daughter sent me this recipe this morning and I just thought it was too good not to share. Pineapple has amazing properties in many ways, but it is particularly well known for its natural digestive enzyme, bromelain. Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme (meaning that it digests protein) and is found in fresh pineapples and for that reason is used for support of digestion and nausea

Bromelain is also a natural anticoagulant, so if you are having any abnormal blood clotting issues with your pregnancy, please talk to your doctor first. There is also research available that supports the belief that bromelain can improve immune function.

Regardless of whether you're pregnant, suffer with chronic heartburn, or like me just think this sounds like a really good mixture of ingredients that would taste awesome, here is the recipe. If you try it, please let us know if it helped with your nausea or heartburn - or if you did or didn't like the recipe.  We're sharing it from Babyfit.com - check them out too.

Cantaloupe Crush

Serves: 2

Whether you're suffering from pregnancy nausea, heartburn, or just in need of a cool and refreshing snack or breakfast idea, this is the perfect nutritious pick-me-up.

• INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup cantaloupe cubes
•  1/3 cup pineapple chunks (preferably fresh and organic ...Ann's notes)
•  1/4 cup orange juice
•  1/2 cup frozen or canned peaches
•  1 teaspoon sugar
•  3 ice cubes 

  DIRECTIONS

  Whirl all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

  NUTRITION INFO

  (per serving) Calories: 96.6 Fat: 0.4 g Carbohydrates: 24.3 g Protein: 1.3 g

Popcorn versus carrot, parsnip & beet chips!

Warren and I watch a lot of movies that we rent for about $1.00 from the grocery store. We don't have cable and hate most of what's on TV anyway. But - I'm addicted to snacking on popcorn and am trying to find something that is more nutrient dense. I Found this recipe below and thought I'd share it. Haven't made them yet - will let you know.

Everytime I tell someone I can't eat popcorn because it causes me to gain weight, they all - and I do mean 100% all - tell me that they thought popcorn was a "healthy snack". Well, the truth is this is one of the myths that we were taught back in the 1990's when the "low-fat craze" started. Sure, air-popped popcorn is low in fat, one cup (or 8 grams) has about 1 gram of protein, 1 gram of fiber, and 6 grams of carbs.  By the way - the body still sees carbs as sugar unless the fiber and protein can balance the amount of carbs. This is what they call the glycemic load - popcorn, according to the Nutrition Facts and Analysis website has a glycemic load of 6. This is a way of giving a number to determine a particular food's effect on blood-sugar levels. This website has a "patent-pending Estimated Glycemic Load" for every food in their database. This is a really good tool. According to this website, your total glycemic load for a day varies person to person - well, of course I'm thinking. Obviously, if you have diabetes or metabolic syndrome you need to head for the low side of normal. They estimate a total glycemic load of 100 or less per day is acceptable. This is a very simplistic view of a complex issue, but for our purposes and discussion of popcorn it will suffice.

The other factor that is being examined is the "Inflammation Factor", which is a very important consideration when choosing what to eat and what not to eat. Science is discovering daily that many of our diseases are caused by increased inflammation in our bodies. There is a direct relationship to inflammation and disease - no debate about this one, everyone agrees. The very informative website, also has a rating system for each food. They give popcorn a "medium" value of -24, meaning it is inflammatory. The problem here is we want foods that are anti-inflammatory, certainly not inflammatory, regardless of whether it is in the high or low range. If it's inflammatory at all, we should be making another choice. Per their website, "The goal is to balance negative foods with positive foods so that the combined rating for all foods eaten in a single day is positive." I say, we eliminate any and all foods from our diet that we KNOW are inflammatory (represented on their rating scale as a negative number.)  Oh - and popcorn has NO nutritional value in terms of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients or antioxidants. Basically, it is only an empty food consisting of about 31 calories devoid of any really redeeming qualities - other than it tastes good. Well, not really, not air popped and not without butter and a lot of salt. We won't even talk about what happens to this food source with added butter and salt.

I think I've convinced myself NOT to have that bowl of popcorn tonight. But, I'm the type that has to have a substitute for her addiction. No cold turkey for me - give me another choice that tastes better, has nutrition, is anti-inflammatory and doesn't increase my glycemic load.  Last night I had homemade hummus with celery and carrot sticks. It was good - seriously. I didn't do an analysis of it yet, but I will and let you know.  But - today while browsing through some of my eat-healthy type books, I came across this recipe.  Let's try it! I'll make it tonight - you make it and let me know what you think.

"Chips that won't go to your hips" - page 143, "Detox 4 Women", by Natalia Rose.

• 2 large carrots
•  2 large parsnips (think you could substitute turnips here)
•  1 beet
•  1 zucchini
•  2 tbsp pure, organic butter (I'll substitute Earth Balance butter - yummy and made from olive oil's good fat)
•  1 tbsp sea salt (sounds like a lot...)
  
•  1 packet of stevia (optional for a sweet and salty flavor) - I may leave this out since beets and carrots are already sweet

Using a mandoline, slice all the vegetables into diagonal coin-size slices. Place on a baking sheet. Melt butter and drizzle over veggies. Top veggies with a bit of sea salt. Bake at 400 degrees for one hour (or until crispy). Enjoy with a salad at lunch or dinner, dip into guacamole or salsa, or as you like!

Note: I can't imagine that it would take a full hour at 400 degrees, but I'll test it out and see.

These would, of course, be better eaten raw, dipped into a non-fat yogurt type dip or hummus. But sometimes I want something salty and crisp - these sound like a good choice.  Nutrient value for one cooked carrot includes a rating of 1 for glycemic load, a 78+ for inflammation factor (read anti-inflammatory!), vitamin A, calcium, vitamin C and iron. The ratings for the raw carrot, obviously, are even more impressive. Beets and parsnips aren't as impressive on the ratings as the carrot, probably due to their sugar content, which is by nature considered inflammatory. They are, however, much better for you than popcorn.  Nutrient dense is the operative word here - any food that has more nutrients per calorie is obviously a better choice for optimum health and aging. But what isn't measured on this scale is the high level of antioxidants and phytonutrients found in all three of these foods.  It's a good place to start though. Check out this website and play around with it when you are trying to decide what to feed the kids for the day.

Makes about 3 cups of chips.

Thanks for listening!

Ann

In another blog written about a month ago, I went into some personal detail about why and how my husband and I were introduced into the world of raw foods. It's been a journey and I continue every day to learn new details, connect the missing links in some information, balance and try to make decisions about conflicting information, and through it all find a healthier way for us to eat and live. I am convinced - finally really convinced - after wavering back and forth for about a year, that raw foods deliver "generally" the most in the way of nutrition and health. There are some exceptions to this and we will discuss those in future blogs. Some foods are better cooked for one reason and may be better raw for another - spinach as an example and a good choice for further discussion in the future. Warren and I faltered over the raw food as winter set in and the plentiful greens, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and squash in our garden died off, and we wanted warm soups. We, of course, both gained weight over the winter and lost muscle mass - and we don't feel very good right now. I've discovered happily that my soups can still have beans in them and warmed to the a certain temperature and still be "raw". I think next winter will be different for us.

Recently, I picked up yet another book about raw foods. This one was very simplistic and a much easier, quicker read than the one prior to that - probably at the complete opposite poles in readability and detail. The one book (1), in my opinion, required some medical background to even begin to understand some of the things discussed, the other, the one just finished (2), was very basic. Truthfully, I think I learned more useful information from the easy-read one. For instance - out of all these books and DVD's, none of them really gave explicit instructions on how to sprout and eat beans! They all said it was a good idea, you could/should do it for so many hours, etc., but none of them gave me the basic, beginner's look at actually doing it. Maybe I'm just not as smart as I think I am and it's easy to everyone else - something to think about! That's one reason I think teaching classes on all of this and giving live demonstrations would be helpful and fun to do - after, of course, I become a little more proficient.  

So - I'm going to give you the basic directions for sprouting beans and I'll tell you why it's a good idea. And as an added bonus, I'm going to share a recipe for hummus from a friend. In the "simplistic" book, she even gives a germination and sprouting chart of times for each bean, seed or grain - very helpful!  And - no one really explained germination versus sprouting - something a raw fooder needs to know. It's all probably in the textbook for my nutrition class that I keep putting aside to read books such as this.

 

Germination:

1.  Rinse: Rinse the stuff - several times and drain. Best to use purified water and if that's not available, distilled water. The instructions apply to any, preferably organic, beans, seeds or nuts. The ones I want to start with are almonds, cashews (because there are some really good recipes with cashews), garbanzo's (chickpeas - recipe for hummus coming up), lentils, quinoa, walnuts, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. I can buy alfalfa/broccoli sprouts at the local health food store easily and cheaply enough, so I'll wait for my sprouting container for those.

2.  Soak: The required time for your choice of bean, seed or nut can be found in the book referenced below (2), and probably on the internet. Email me or leave a comment if you have a question about a particular one and I'll post it. I can't legally copy their chart, but I'll check around and see if I can find an internet link and post it here - or if one of you have that resource, please share it with the rest of us. You want to soak them at room temperature for the recommended period of time; i.e., the garbanzo's that I'm soaking tonight will be soaked for 12 hours. I'm going to put them in a glass bowl and cover it with a few layers of cheesecloth. You can use a canning jar and the health food stores sell mesh screens to put over jars for this purpose - I've never really liked them though. I prefer the cheesecloth.

3.  After 12 hours, I'm going to rinse and drain (several times) my now "germinated" beans - again with purified water recommended. Truly, I doubt I'll use my purified water for that since they aren't going to be soaking in it, but if you have a purifier directly at your tap, that would be best. I don't, we use a Brita pitcher, so I'll use my tap water. They are now ready to eat or use in a recipe, such as the hummus one I'm linking to from a friend's blog. Now if you want to go a step further, you can "sprout" them.

Sprouting: 

If you're luckier than I am, you'll find and buy a sprouting container - I'm determined to get one soon. I used to have one, but it disappeared somewhere along the line. For now, I'll put them in a Ball canning jar and again cover the jar with several layers of cheesecloth. Some books recommend clean stockings, but there's something about that that bothers me - I'm sure it's fine. Now set this jar in a dark place and allow time for them to sprout, usually takes 2 to 5 days depending on what you're sprouting. Rinse and drain a couple of times a day and lay the jar at a 45 degree angle to facilitate drainage - otherwise you'll get mold - not a good thing. Again, this is why I like the sprouting containers better. You can wait for the full sprout to appear or you can eat them when there's just a tiny sprout tail on them. Either way the enzyme inhibitors are gone. Be sure to store sprouted nuts, seeds or beans in the refrigerator and don't keep for more than 5 days. Actually, I prefer eating them as soon as possible, otherwise you're losing a lot of nutrients to oxidation.

Why Raw is Better:

I believe protein from plants is an important source as it eliminates the saturated fat that accompanies animal protein. We won't even go into the environmental impact of large scale meat production at this time . There are many reasons raw is better both environmentally and nutritionally, but I'm just going to talk about why raw (germinated and/or sprouted) beans are better. Beans are an excellent source of protein (broken down as amino acids in our body.) Research backs this up. Research shows that sprouting does in fact make a plant protein, such as a bean, more digestible. Sprouting, soaking or fermenting foods destroys enzyme inhibitors (2)(3). Enzyme inhibitors are what is in that shell that covers the seed or bean and was put there by nature to protect plants from being digested by the enzymes of outside organisms. But - they also can inhibit or inactivate the enzymes that we need to digest protein. Cooking can destroy the enzyme inhibitors also, but at the same time it kills digestive enzymes. Our body has to re-create these digestive enzymes (trypsin specifically for protein) which requires energy resources that could and should be used in other places, such as our immune system which is always in full attack mode - or should be. Sprouting provides these enzymes naturally without having to use body reserves. This is one of the main themes you will hear about eating "raw" and although the research is still being done, I can personally attest to how much better Warren and I felt, looked and acted when eating more of a raw food diet. This also is a theme you will hear often within the raw food community, as well as looking and feeling younger.

Let me also add, surprisingly for me, that raw food does not mean that you are a vegetarian or vegan - some proponents suggest eating "seared" meat, as suggested in the book mentioned (2). Again, you must consider the quality of your meat - carefully. I'm still pondering this one. When I was eating steaks, I did prefer medium rare, but Warren liked his well-done. Anthropological data suggests that meat may be completely necessary for some regional populations, the genetics of which have been passed down from generation to generation. It's a journey. Warren and I have found that the more we eat vegetarian and especially raw, the less we want to eat meat. I'm still wandering and wondering.

And now - for the hummus recipe! I've made hummus, my daughter's is better than mine and I'm not sure why. She doesn't use Tahini, so hers is lower in fat. I looked at Kayla's recipe below and thought it looked like a really good balance of the main ingredients. With her permission, I've copied it below.  I usually either get it too lemony or too garlicky. I love it just with celery and it satisfies any carb cravings I may have. Our granddaughters eat it like candy and I think much prefer it to candy. I'm going to try this recipe tomorrow after my beans have soaked (germinated). That would be my only suggestion for any change in this recipe - try it with germinated garbanzo's and let me know how it turned out for you. You may have to add water - let me know if you did. Canned garbanzo beans are dead food according to raw fooders - no live digestive enzymes. I'm convinced that raw food in other areas of my diet is definitely the best way to eat, so I'm going to try raw beans.  Oh - and important, very important, to the discussion, if anything is heated above 115 degrees, the enzymes are gone. You will see slight differences in this temperature guideline including up to 117 degrees. I have an instant read temperature gauge that I use when making our body creams, so determining the temperature isn't a problem for me. If you do want to warm your foods and have the enzymes alive - I suggest you buy one. You'll be surprised at how warm 115 degrees is.

Kayla's Hummus:

1-2 garlic cloves
1 can garbanzo beans (15 oz)
1/2 cup tahini
1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 lemons

Directions: In a food processor chop garlic cloves, add garbanzo beans (after draining liquid), add tahini, warm water, olive oil and then squeeze in the juice from 2-3 lemons.  Process until very smooth.

This recipe is very simple and can be made in a matter of minutes.  Serve with high quality flat bread or vegetables.  To dish up the hummus traditionally, scoop a generous portion into a serving bowl, pour extra virgin olive oil over the top, sprinkle with paprika and garnish with parsley.

Thanks Kayla - click on over to her blogs for a lot of very good information on a lot of different subjects, but especially the cosmetics and beauty industry. Please, please, let me know if you try this recipe either with raw beans or otherwise and how it turned out.

Thanks for listening!

 

 

1.  Davis Brenda, RD, Melina Vesanto, MS, RD. Becoming Raw, The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets. Summertown, TN: Book Publishing Company, 2010.

2.  Alt, Carol. Eating in the Raw. New York, New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2004.

Easy Quick Spinach Quiche Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fat-free half and half.
Six organic or range free eggs.
3/4 cup biscuit mix.
1/4 cup butter, Earth Balance brand preferred.
1 teaspoon salt.
Ground pepper to taste.
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
4 teaspoons onion, finely minced.
One package frozen spinach (approximately 10 to 12 ounces) cooked and squeezed dry.
2 cups Italian cheese blend shredded.
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled.
2 to 3 sun dried tomatoes, reconstituted, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9 inch deep dish type pan or 10 inch quiche dish.
Beat eggs and whisk in the half-and-half in a large bowl. Add melted butter, cheese, herbs and spices and fold together. Add the spinach, and then the biscuit mix to incorporate. Pour the mixture into greased pie or quiche dish just to the top of the dish. Place the dish onto a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for approximately 50 minutes or until top is golden brown and a knife can be inserted into the center and come out clean.

You can easily modify this recipe by adding drain artichokes or substituting broccoli for the spinach.

Vegetable Medley Over Quinoa Ingredients:

Firm tofu, cut into 1 inch squares or simply broken apart
Three carrots, chopped.
Two medium sized beets chopped.
One large onion chopped.
Three stalks of celery chopped.
Three cloves of garlic, minced.
Two cups of red kidney beans, preferably soaked and/or germinated
Two tablespoons organic extra virgin olive oil.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Olde Westporte Garden Harvest Special Blend seasoning - to taste.

Drizzle olive oil on bottom of pan. Add chopped vegetables and tofu, waiting to add minced garlic last. This will avoid scorching the garlic. Sauté vegetables until still slightly firm. Brown the tofu and slightly caramelize the vegetables for additional flavor, but you will sacrifice some nutritional value. Add seasoning to taste. If we make this in the summer time, we add fresh anything and everything from the garden, such as zucchini, corn, green beans, or eggplant. Serve over cooked quinoa.

This is one of our favorite "quick fixes" when we can't think of anything we want. We love the seasoning from Olde Westporte Spices and especially their "Garden Harvest Blend" for this recipe. We use it in everything, as you will find out from many of our recipes. Know we don't get a kickback - though we think we should! We met these fine people for the first time a few years ago at a Qwest Center show in Omaha. They work hard, make quality spices, and travel form show to show sampling and selling their spices. I know there are local companies who do this as well, so we would like to start sampling and testing some of those products, but until we find some as good as Westporte's we will continue to recommend and use theirs. You can also easily make this into a great curry recipe by simply substituting your favorite curry blend for the Special Blend.