Beef and Vegetable Stew

I LOVE homemade soups. They are the best, especially once fall/winter rolls around (and also much healthier than store-bought soups). I also love crock pots/slow cookers. The convenience of putting dinner on in the morning while baby is napping and the wonderful smells emanating throughout the house during the day is wonderful. This combines BOTH, making it a super fantastic recipe. Plus it's PACKED with veggies. Yum!

Ingredients:
1 lb stew meat, lightly browned but not cooked through
2 stalks celery, diced
3 tomatoes, diced (you can also use canned diced tomatoes, just drain them as best you can)
1/4 lb green beans, snapped and cut into pieces (one can of green beans, drained, works as well)
2 potatoes, diced
1/4 onion, diced
1 zucchini, sliced into small pieces
1 very large carrot, cut into small pieces
8 cups water
reduced sodium beef bullion granules (yes, they exist...check your local co-op or health food store)
basil, oregano, parsley, pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat water until simmering. Add the appropriate amount of bullion to water, stir to mix, creating broth (for mine it was 1 tsp bullion per 1 C water...so 8tsp bullion). Put all ingredients but broth and spices into a slow cooker. Add basil, oregano, parsley, and pepper to taste. Add the broth. Stir well to mix. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high 4-6 hours.

You can freeze leftovers in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months.

My Green Drink Blunder

So I am trying this new thing....60-80% of what I eat will be raw and the other 40-20% will be whole foods and lean meats ONLY. (well...maybe the once-in-a-blue-moon gf ginger cookie will make it's way past my lips...)

So in order to do this, I have discovered the power of: GREEN DRINKS! Oh yes...they are simply amazing. They make it easy to get all your veggies and fruits in as well as give you TONS of energy to fit everything you need to into your day....plus you feel great!

Well, I decided to make my own green drink...without a recipe to go off of. HAHAHAHAHA. SO...being very inexperienced at this whole thing, I took: 4 over-stuffed handfuls of spinach, 3 leafs/stems of kale, 1 cucumber, 1 lemon, 1 bunch of parsley, 2 cups of water, and put it in the blender. At the same time. This is what happened:




Looks gross, huh? Well, for starters, I had to eat it with a spoon. That's right. A spoon. Secondly, it tasted like MUD. NOT an exaggeration. It was clearly a disaster. So I e-mailed a dear friend of mine who is great at this stuff, and she shared a recipe with me. I didn't have everything for it (aka flax seed oil) and there were a lot of options as to what veggies and fruit to add. Here is what I did:

1/4 lemon (including peel)
21/2 cups of water
1/2 Tsp stevia
1/2lb of spinach
1 avocado
Beat for 90 seconds on high
Add fruit:
1 banana
5 frozen strawberries
Beat til smooth--about two minutes.

This is what came out of the blender:



MMMMM! SO GOOD! The avocado made it creamy and the banana added a nice sweetness to it. I did taste the drink BEFORE adding the fruit, and it was super good too, so tomorrow I think I will try another recipe that does not include fruit and see how it tastes.

I have been drinking this drink all day and it's almost all gone...I am saving a bit for the hubby to try when he gets home. Super good, super in-expensive, and super good for you! Bon appetit!

3 Favs

These are 3 of my favorite allergy-friendly foods I don't think I could live without!

First: SUNBUTTER! For all allergic to nuts/peanuts, we CAN enjoy a "peanut butter" and jelly sandwich...without the anaphylactic shock! This wonderful substance is called: "Sunbutter" and as it suggests, is made out of sunflower seeds. You can get it in crunchy, creamy, or natural. So good!



Second: Rice milk. It is sweet, dairy free, gluten free, and good for you! I use it as a substitute for anything requiring milk.




Last but not least is...VEGANAISE! Absolutely LOVE this stuff! It is egg free, dairy free, gluten free, and FABULOUS! I put it on sandwiches, use it in recipes, even make my own allergy-free RANCH DRESSING with it! (Disclosure: Dressings, especially in large quantities, can be bad for you...eat wisely!)




Mmm! Isn't it so great there are so many options out there?!

Quinoa Salad

I have but one word for this: DELICIOUS!




(Please don't let the list of ingredients scare you...it's really not hard to make at all!)

1 C Quinoa
1 1/2 C cold water
1 C snow peas
1 C chopped celery
1 small carrot, sliced thin
1/2 green pepper, sliced thin
1 medium ripe tomato
1 medium cucumber, diced
1/4 C chopped fresh basil
1/2 C sunflower seeds

Dressing:
4 tbs lemon juice
1/4 olive oil
salt to taste
ground pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste

Soak quinoa 15 minutes in cold water. Rinse thoroughly. Place in 2 qt pot with the water and bring to boil. Cover and cook on low for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit 5 minutes with the lid on. Fluff gently with a fork and set aside to cool.

Steam the carrots and green veggies for 5 minutes.

Chop the tomato, herb, and cucumber.

Blend dressing ingredients in small bowl.

Gently combine veggies, sunflower seed, quinoa, and dressing in a large bowl.

Eat now, or refrigerate and eat later! No re-heating required!



Variations:
All of the following also work well in this salad:
Shell peas
Green Beans
Parsley
Cilantro
Dried cranberries, raisins, apricots
cayenne pepper
minced ginger

Just experiment and have fun!

Yummy Pico de Gallo

This dish is a favorite at my house. I don't follow measurments- I just make it up as I go along. It changes every time! I tried to put approximate measurements for you...just have fun!

3-5 tomatoes, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 serrano chillies, seeded and diced
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
cayenne pepper to taste
salt to taste
ground pepper to taste

Mix together. Let sit in fridge 2-4 hours to blend flavors. Serve with chips, or eat with a spoon! I also sometimes mash avocado and mix it in...mmm!

Healthy Eating

Gluten-free. Dairy-free. Egg-free. Soy-free. Nut-free.

Sounds like it would all taste like cardboard, huh? WRONG!!!!
I have been eating this way for YEARS and I have yet to miss out on anything yummy.

Now, the only death-allergy I have are nuts/peanuts. BUT I have found I do not tolerate wheat (or gluten), dairy, soy or eggs (I get super sick). So I pretty much follow allergy-free cooking, for my own comfort and health.

So here is a blog. A blog to share yummy, allergy-free and HEALTHY recipes...tried and tested by yours truly, for your enjoyment. Here goes!