Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are really delicious chocolate chip cookies that melt in your mouth and are actually on the healthier side! You won't feel so guilty feeding these to the kids, if there are any left!

Preheat oven to 350˚F

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cups sprouted spelt flour

1/2 tsp no aluminum baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup organic butter

6 TBS xylitol

6 TBS coconut sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter. Add the xylitol and coconut sugar beating until the mixture is creamy and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, blending well. Add the chocolate chips and blend. Place parchment paper on cookie sheets and scoop dough by teaspoonfuls onto the paper. Give the cookies about 2 inches between dough balls. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Once baked, let the cookies cool for a minute or so on the baking sheet and then remove the whole paper and place onto cooling racks, cooling completely.

Yields 3 dozen cookies

Sauteed Swiss Chard

OK, so I love my green leafy vegetables, but not having grown up on Swiss Chard, I wasn't really sure how to cook the stuff. But, I am always drawn to it in the grocery store with the pretty colored stalks! 

"Look kids, you can get your green leafy veggies in pink, red, yellow, orange or white. What color would you like to eat tonight?!??"

After quite a few attempts at making this vivid veggie, I've finally come up with a family favorite recipe. My kids raved about it at dinner and my daughter even asked for some to be added to her school lunch box!

So, here's how I made a veggie dish that the kids adoreded:

Ingredients:

2 bunches of Swiss Chard

5 cloves of garlic

2 TB butter

1 TB grapeseed oil

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

2 TB balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Wash the Swiss Chard and pull the leafy part off of the stalks. Chop the stalks up into about 1 inch pieces. Chop up the leafy part into about 1 inch strips. Keep the stalks and leaves separated. Smash the garlic.

In a large Dutch Oven, melt 1 TB butter and the oil. Add the garlic and brown at about medium heat, taking care not to burn it and stirring frequently. Once browned, remove the garlic and add the Chard stalks and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the leafy part, browned garlic and remaining butter and saute an additional 5 minutes. Season with the black pepper and drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the greens before serving.

You will find that the stalks still have some crunch and if you chose colored Chard, it will retain it's beautiful vibrant shades.

Try out this recipe to get the kids to eat their veggies! 

Happy and Healthy Eating!

Homemade Toothpaste

Most of my posts thus far have been related to food, so I thought it might be time to post something about personal healthcare. I've been making homemade toothpaste now for about 6 months. Basically, we ran out of commercial toothpaste. We had been sustaining our oral health on all those little free samples from the dentist. I hadn't actually bought toothpaste in over a year with running out as a goal! Well, the day finally came when the last drop was squeezed out of the final tube and it was time to get into the kitchen and put something together.

Now, you are thinking, just as my Dad commented, why don't you just go to the store and buy some, it's so much easier? Well, I've been actively reading ingredients in everything that we have been using and eating over the last couple of years to try and better improve our lives and noticed all of the ingredients in toothpaste and some in particular that I try to avoid. Well, if I'm cutting things like Saccharin out of my families diets, why would I want to sneak it in via toothpaste?!? If you don't believe me, and you use a standard market toothpaste, read the ingredients.

3 ingredients in particular I'm disgusted with are:

1) Saccharin - an artificial sweetener that is carcinogenic and I don't use any artificial sweeteners nor buy products with this ingredient.
2) Sodium Laurel Sulfate - SLS as it is frequently referred to is a known carcinogenic. And again, when trying to improve my families health, I don't want to introduce carcinogens, it's just plain counter productive!
3) Fluoride - Now you think, all the toothpaste commercials and your dentist swear by fluoride. You need it to keep your teeth strong and healthy, right? Wrong. Fluoride is actually toxic and the form found in toothpaste is not natural, but chemically manufactured. Plus there is plenty of fluoride that you are exposed to in your daily lives. There's fluoride in your tap water, it's suppose to help your health, but I've known people that have had discoloration of their teeth from all of the fluoride in the drinking water that they were exposed to as children.

So, enough of my preaching on my soapbox, if you are interested in trying your own homemade toothpaste for health reasons or just for the heck of it, here's the recipe that I use and it's popular with my children:

Ingredients:
2/3 c baking soda
4 tsp fine sea salt
2/3 c powdered xylitol (blend in blender or food processor to powder)
2/3 c coconut oil
25 drops peppermint oil
10 drops tea tree oil
Filtered Water to reach desired consistency

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except the water in a bowl until well blended. Add a little water to thin it out as desired. Please note that the mixture will be thinner after you make it and will thicken as it sits. Also, coconut oil is liquid in warmer weather and solid in colder weather. This will affect the consistency. I like to add about 2 TB of water and then check it later in the day or the next day to see how the consistency is and adjust at that time. 

Once your toothpaste is made, I like to put mine in small container with a little scoop (like one for makeup) and scoop the paste on my brush. If you thin it out enough, you can also put some in a small self sealing bag and cut a small portion off of a corner and squeeze it on your toothbrush.

OK, now I'd like to explain my choice of ingredients.

Baking soda - well, everyone knows that baking soda is a great cleaner and I've used it with peroxide in the paste as a quick tooth cleaner, not all that tasty, but works in a jiffy.

Sea Salt - sea salt is much better than standard salt and makes a great abrasive. You'll find lots of recipes out there using salt as an abrasive in various cleansers.

Xylitol - this is a fabulous product and a main stay in my pantry. It inhibits plague and dental cavities by 80%, retards demineralization, promotes remineralization, increases salivary production, relieves dry mouth, has a cooling effect, and so much more. 

Coconut Oil - this is actually a really great heart healthy type of oil that should be incorporated into your diet. It's been shown to help the body fend off viruses and bacteria. It helps the body process blood sugars. It can help to reduce cholesterol via the lauric acid that it contains. It can help your metabolism and so much more.

Peppermint Oil - I like this for flavor, but it is also good for the digestion and a great aroma therapy ingredient.

Tea Tree Oil - This is another great essential oil that should be included in every medicine cabinet. It helps fight off viruses and bacteria and is great in toothpaste as a means of keeping the bad bacteria from growing that promotes bad breath.

I hope I've inspired you to give this homemade toothpaste a try! Happy brushing!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Pressure Cooker Popcorn

OMG!!! I've learned the simplest way to make delicious popcorn and it's a hit with the kids! If you have a pressure cooker and thought it was just for dinner, well, here's another way to put that wonderful pot to use!

First of all, I was looking for an alternate way to make popcorn at the house other than the prepackaged microwave version that contains all kinds of things that I don't want to eat nor feed my family. I don't own an air popper and really didn't want to shell out the money to get one for the occasional popcorn snack. I tried making popcorn in a large pot on the stove and it was very tiring and I actually burned the first couple of batches with a wonderful burnt popcorn smell permeating throughout the house! 

Then, I was at my chiropractor one day talking with another patient and she mentioned making popcorn in a pressure cooker and said that it was the best and so fast! I asked how and now, I keep the pop on the stove top along with a bucket of popcorn kernels close by for quick snacks at a moments notice. I've found that in the pressure cooker, the kernels pop better than even the microwaved versions with very few unpopped kernels and is fluffier than even the brands out there that promise the big fluffy popcorn.

So, now down to the how...

You'll want to start with a small batch to see how much you can actually make in your pressure cooker. So, this recipe is the small batch. My cooker is larger and I usually double the recipe.

First, pull off the pressure weight on the lid of your cooker. You want the steam to be able to escape while cooking.

2 TB Oil (I like coconut oil)
1/4 c popcorn kernels

Place your pressure cooker on the stove top on high heat. Add the oil (you can add butter also if you'd like, just be sure to keep moving the pan around to prevent burning) and 3 kernels. Shake the pan back and forth a couple of times and continue to do this about every 15 seconds or so to keep things moving. Watch the pan carefully to see when the kernels start to pop. But, not too closely, don't want to loose an eye from popcorn! 


Once the kernels begin to pop, add the remainder of the kernels. Shake the pan to evenly coat and put your vented lid on the pan. Shake the pan with no more than about 10 seconds of rest between shakes. You should hear a consistent popping. Once the popping slows to about 5 seconds between. Turn off the heat and pull the pan off the burner. Open the lid and revel in your delicious homemade popcorn. At this point, you can add salt, Parmesan or other flavors. Just shake a little to distribute the flavorings. Pour into a bowl and enjoy!

Sprouted Spelt Scones

More on Sprouted Flours... For breakfast this morning, my husband asked for scones. Little does he know, I've converted the not so good for you ingredients in my scones to ones that are better for the body. Starting with replacing all purpose flour with sprouted spelt flour.

You may be wondering, Spelt Flour? What is that? Well, Spelt is a very old grain that was used years ago before wheat became popular. It does have some gluten, but it's gluten breaks down easier than wheat and thus requires less kneading than regular wheat recipes. Spelt also has a nutty flavor and more protein than standard flour. I have found that it is a heavier grain and thus some substitutions don't work as well, but for scones, which are a heavier, crumbly pastry, I've found spelt works beautifully. 

Then, I prefer to use sprouted flours over standard flours. The sprouting allows the seeds to go to a sprout, i.e. starchy grain to a vegetable. This provides a different type of conversion in the body when digesting. Think, which is healthier for the body to process, a potato or a tomato? (yeah, I know a tomato is actually a fruit, but you get the picture...)

Now, for the recipe:

Ingredients
2 c sprouted spelt flour
3 TB coconut sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c butter
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 TB olive oil
2/3 c cranberries
2 tsp milk
1 TB xylitol

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl, stir well. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add yogurt, vanilla, egg and olive oil blending to wet dry ingredients. Stir in the cranberries.

Knead dough a few times on a lightly floured surface (I usually keep it in the bowl with a little flour to save on dishes to wash later). Pat dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet to make an 8-inch circle. Brush the top with the milk and sprinkle the xylitol all over. Using a sharp knife, cut 8 wedges. Use the knife to separate the wedges slightly. (This will help the insides of the wedges to cook more evenly and not be raw.) Bake for 14 - 16 minutes or until lightly browned.

 Notice that even though I separated the wedges quite a bit, they puffed back up after baking. 

I also didn't mention why I chose to use coconut sugar and xylitol as opposed to brown sugar and standard white table sugar. Well, I made the switch in my kitchen about a year ago and use coconut sugar instead of brown and xylitol instead of white. They are a 1:1 substitute with more benefits than what is used in the mainstream. I'll go into depth at a later date on these alternate sweeteners.

Try them out and try out these scones. Again, as with all recipes, you can change out some of the ingredients to suit you and your family and personalize it to make it your own! Happy and healthy eating!

Sprouted Wheat Tortillas

I've been making homemade tortillas for my family for years. However, it's only been in the last year that I discovered sprouted flours. I'm always searching for ways to improve my health and help my family improve their health also. In my search I learned of sprouted flours and that sprouted grains were what was eaten before the invention of the combine harvester during the Industrial Revolution. The combine harvester allowed farmers to harvest grains before they were sprouted, thus allowing them to plant more and harvest more in shorter periods of time. This whole process increased profits, but decreased the nutritional content of grains.

Having gained the knowledge of what was missing in the flours that I was using, I began searching for sprouted flours and have made sprouted whole wheat and sprouted spelt flours part of the main stay in my kitchen. I've found that the sprouted whole wheat makes a deliciously  soft tortilla that my whole family enjoys.

So, when it was time to think about dinner tonight, I told my daughter that we had a variety of things leftover in the fridge so, it was gonna be a leftover night. Like children do, my daughter hollered that she wanted wraps. Well, we had left over chicken and carne asada. We had cheese, cabbage, salsa and cilantro. And, of course, I had sprouted whole wheat flour. So, her wishes were granted and I set to making some tortillas to wrap the leftovers in for wraps.

Now, you may be thinking, but, tortillas are so cheap at the store and I like the ones from my favorite Mexican restaurant. So, why not just stop by there and grab some? Well, like I mentioned above, I'm using sprouted flour, which you will not find at the Mexican restaurant. Then, I get to control the ingredients that I use, managing what I put into my body. And lastly, it's so easy and relatively quick to make tortillas, so I can have them whenever I want and don't have to leave the house!

Now it's time for good stuff! How can you too make delectable homemade sprouted tortillas?!?

Homemade Sprouted Whole Wheat Tortillas

2 cups sprouted whole wheat flour

1 tsp aluminum free baking powder

1 tsp fine sea salt

1 TB extra virgin olive oil

3/4 c warm water

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Blend. Add the oil and mix it in with a fork until blended. Make a well in the middle of your flour mixture and add the warm water. Using your fork, blend until a ball of dough forms. If not all of the flour bits blend in, don't worry, just clean off your fork and put your hands to work! Knead the dough ball a couple of times.  

Depending on the size of tortilla you want to make and how thin or thick you like them will determine how many you can make from this batch. I usually make a happy dozen out of the batch and each dough ball is approximately 1.2 oz. I like my tortillas thin and roll them out to about 6 inches in diameter. So, with this information, pull off equal amounts of dough and roll them into balls. Keep the dough balls covered with a towel or plastic wrap while you are rolling out your tortillas.

Now you are ready to begin rolling out the dough balls. Grab one and flatten it a little and then with your thumb, press an indention in the middle. This will help to distribute the dough so that it is not thick in the middle and thin on the edges. Roll out each ball giving it a quarter turn after each roll. This will help to keep your tortillas close to round. (I haven't actually perfected the round shape, but my family doesn't care so long as they can put something inside and roll it up!)

 At this point, you can roll out all of your tortillas, or cook one and roll another one out and multitask. I usually multitask, rolling and cooking at the same time. By doing this, I'm able to make a dozen tortillas in less than 15 minutes.

Using a skillet (preferably cast iron or non-stick), heat it up on medium high heat to get it really hot. Toss in your tortilla, no need to oil the pan, if it's hot enough, it'll start cooking right away. These cook fast, so keep a watchful eye on them so they don't burn! When you begin to see bubbles form, like when cooking pancakes, it's time to flip. You can grab it carefully and flip over or use a spatula or gently with tongs. The other side only needs to cook for about 15 -20 seconds. 

Once done, pull and place in a tortilla warmer basket or I like to use a lint-free towel on a plate and wrap to keep warm. If you actually have any leftover, you can just roll the towel up and store in a plastic bag. They will stay pliable storing this way.

To reheat, the best way is to drop it in your hot skillet for a few seconds flipping once. Don't leave it too long or your tortilla will become crispy!

I hope I've inspired you to try your hand at homemade tortillas and to try out sprouted flours. I love sprouted flours and the ability to create homemade foods that are more nutritious than store bought and that also taste great!

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Well, after a weekend full of slumber parties and play dates, I'm ready to get back into the grind of family life! So, for breakfast this morning I decided that homemade turkey sausage would be a real treat. My 5 year old son even asked where the sausage was when I placed his plate on the table with eggs. He said he loves Mommy's sausage! Now, you know that makes me feel really special!

You ask, "making your own turkey sausage? Why?!? It's so my easier to run to the store and buy a log and then just cut it up and cook it at home. Are you crazy?!? Or just bored?" Well, the answer is that I am crazy and I'm always looking for a healthy alternative to what I see prepackaged at the stores. First of all, check out the ingredients in the turkey sausages that you find at the supermarket. At my local store from the two options, I can choose from BHTs or Monosodium Glutimate. Hmmm... Yummm... And, then there is usually some sort of sugar/ corn syrup and a few other ingredients that I can't pronounce or even know what they are for in the first place! So, in an effort to change the way my family eats and introduce yummy foods, but a healthier alternative, I decided to make my own breakfast sausage. 

Please keep in mind that when I post recipes, these are just templates for you and your family. I use ingredients and flavors that we like. You can always make changes to add things that you and your family enjoy to personalize the recipes to your own. Such as making pork or beef sausage instead of turkey or adding fennel and Italian Spices to make more of an Italian style sausage. Just a few suggestions, play with it and have fun!

Now, I love turkey sausage and I actually grind my own ground meats using my Kitchen Aid Mixer and Grinder attachment. It allows me another level of control over which meats I'm using in my recipes and feeding my family. After grinding my meats I store them in quantities of 1 pound in freezer bags or containers.

It's time to get down to the nitty gritty and share the recipe that I use for my Homemade Breakfast Sausage. Again, remember that you can tweak the ingredients, pulling some and adding others to suit your personal tastes.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

2 lbs ground meat
3 TB extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 TB rosemary, minced
1 TB sea salt
2 TB ground black pepper
1/2 TB crushed red pepper (more or less per taste)
1 tsp ground sage
2/3 tsp summer savory
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 tsp marjoram
1 tsp salt free garlic seasoning (I make my own and keep it handy)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and wearing plastic gloves, mix together well. (Tip: If you pour a little oil into your gloved hands, the meat will not stick so badly) Once all items are mixed well, begin making patties and placing them on a dish layered with wax paper. From here, you can freeze the patties on the dish and then pull them and place into a bag or container for future use or cook them right away. 

If you choose to cook, just place a little oil (my preference is grapeseed oil or coconut oil) into your skillet and fry until they are done flipping once through the process.

If you choose to freeze and save for later, you don't have to make patties. You can leave it in a lump and use that as ground sausage in other recipes later, like pastas, breakfast casseroles, etc.

Enjoy and I'd love to hear about your personal touches that you used to make this your own!

Just Starting Out - Hello Out There!

Well Hello! I'm trying something new and after talking with my husband and one of my best friends, decided that maybe a blog would be the route to take.

I really have to give the credit to one of my best friends. She has been telling me for years (and I mean a really long time!) to go teach and share my knowledge. Well, it's taken me a long time to get it through my thick skull and understand that she's probably right! So, here I am, starting a blog.

I look forward to sharing all kinds of things that I have picked up and learned along the way. I'm an avid cook, love to craft, and dedicated to learning all I can about staying healthy. My wish is that you will find my blog informative, entertaining and useful. 

Thank you for this opportunity and stay tuned for future posts!

xoxo - Diva Dee