Cranberry Sauce: Life Beyond The Can

Most of my childhood and into my early adult years I thought THIS was cranberry sauce. This cylinder shaped gelatinous goo that came right out of a can into a cut crystal serving bowl only at Thanksgiving dinner. The sad part is that I grew up in the Southern Oregon coast where I was surrounded by cranberry bogs! How had I never had actual homemade cranberry sauce? I guess in hindsight that if I were to really think about it , compared to all of the other Thanksgiving day contenders of: roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, and pie that cranberry sauce pales in comparison.It was about 5 years ago that I actually thought about this how overlooked cranberry sauce was. I LOVE the tart flavor of cranberry sauce and one of my absolute favorite sandwiches in the world was a left over Thanksgiving day turkey, cranberry and cream cheese sandwich. What could make this sandwich that much more dreamy- if the cranberry sauce was amazing and not just a " moist maker". Here is my recipe for show stopping cranberry sauce that holds its own in the Thanksgiving line up.

12 oz of fresh whole cranberries.

1 cup of water

1/2 cup of orange juice

1/2 cup of sugar or (3 T Agave or Stevia)

1 Orange -Zested

1 sprig of fresh mint leaves.

1/2 t. cinnamon- or 1 cinnamon stick

1/4 t. fresh grated nutmeg

* Options add ins: 1 apple diced, dried cherries and currants.

Directions: Add all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes until cranberries *pop*. Serve immediately or chill if preferred.

SlimFast, Powerbars and Protein Shakes

In the late 90's I took part in the 'SlimFast Craze'. My personal favorite was to add a banana, some ice, and cinnamon to the vanilla shake for what I thought was a healthy breakfast. I was charged up and ready to take on my day until 2 hours later when the sugar/chemical high wore off and I was left STARVING. No worries, I was prepared, I had a Diet Coke to come to my rescue. Wheee!! Hooray for more chemicals! And off I went until I could have another SlimFast shake for lunch.....followed of course, by a sensible dinner.;-)

Oh man, looking back on those days I get chills. My poor body! I had NO idea what I was doing to it. I honestly thought I was being healthy.

Let's lay it out on the table and look at the ingredients in a SlimFast Shake:

Fat Free Milk, Calcium Caseinate, Milk Protein Concentrate,

Maltodextrin( SORRY, NOT GLUTEN FREE), Cocoa processed with alkali, Canola Oil, Gum Arabic, Cellulose Gel,Sugar, Mono and Diglyceride Fructose,Potassium Phosphate, Soybean Lecethin, Cellulose Gum,Carageenan, Artifical Flavors, Isolated Soy Protein, Sucralose and acesulfame, Potassium (non nutrative sweetners), dextrose, * VITAMINS AND MINERALS, Maganesium Phosphate,Calcium Phosphate,Sodium Ascorbate,Vitamin E Acetate, Zinc Glucanate,Ferric Orthosphate,Niacinamide,Calcium Panthonate,Magnesium Sulfate,Pyridoxide Hydrochlorine, Riboflavin,Thiamin Monoitrate, Folic Acid,Chromium Chloride, Biotin, Sodium Molybdate,Potassium Iodine,PhylloQuinone,Sodium Selenite,Cyancobalamin. Sweetened with Nutrative and Non Nutrative Sweeteners. C0ntains MILK AND SOY.

* Sugars in Bold

* 52 INGREDIENTS!!!

Hello, SUGAR AND CHEMICALS! Lets say that you wanted to make a similar healthy shake at home how many of you have Pyridoxide Hydrochlorine hanging out in your pantry? Thiamin Monoitrate? Isolated Soy Protein? Yeah, that's what I thought, nobody.

Seriously though, how is this a HEALTH FOOD? There is NOTHING HEALTHY about SlimFast. Even the listed vitamins and minerals are NOT your 'One-A-Day Multivitamin'. These are processed chemicals that are being labeled as vitamins. They are not regulated, they are not naturally derived, they are often times NOT even healthy. SlimFast is NOT a health food.

On a sidenote: Healthy or not, I will aknowledge that whoever came up with the concept for SlimFast is pretty brilliant. Who would have ever thought of marketing a chocolate milkshake as a diet food?! The concept was simple:get people drinking milkshakes twice a day, throw in some 'vitamins' for good measure and thus the $limfast empire was built. No one felt deprived, they got to satiate their sweet tooth and drink dessert all day long while claiming to be on a diet. BRILLIANT!

You may scoff at SlimFast thinking "that was so 1990's" and that you would NEVER fall for that today. Oh yeah? You think so, huh?

How many of you eat Balance Bars, Powerbars, Cliff Bars, Luna Bars, South Beach Diet Bars and protein shakes? Are they in your backpack before your workouts? Do you keep them in your purse for a little energy boost midday? Do you grab them on the go if you skip breakfast or lunch? Let me ask you this: What is the difference between a SlimFast and your Balance Bar? Or better yet a Cliff Bar and a Snickers?

The only difference is MARKETING.

It's time to wake up America.

This is NOT health food.

This is NOT diet food.

This is not a HEALTHY snack or a Meal REPLACEMENT.

This is Nasty Processed Chemical FOOD-LIKE SUBSTANCES.

Don't be a fooled, EAT REAL FOOD!!!!

My Epic Vegetarian Enchilada Recipe

One of my favorite things in the whole world are THESE ENCHILADAS! I have perfected this recipe over the past 2 years. This is truly an EPIC MEAL. Are you ready for this?;)

You will need the following:

2 cans available at Whole Foods Market- the MEDIUM is the BEST flavor.

OR

*My Enchilada Sauce Recipe at the bottom of this page.;)

Or any kind of beans-- these just happen to be my favorite for THIS recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Large yellow onion finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic diced

1 Serrano pepper diced * optional for added heat

1 Red Bell Pepper diced

1 Poblano Pepper diced

4 Zucchinis or Yellow Squash Diced

1 basket of button mushrooms sliced or 1 portobello mushroom

1 large can of black olives sliced

2 cups of spinach- cleaned

2 cups of corn fresh or frozen

1 can of S&W Piquito Beans

2 cups of grated pepper jack cheese

1 bunch of cilantro- chopped

1 T. Red Chili Flakes

1 T. of New Mexican Chili Powder

1 T. cumin

1/2 t. Cinnamon* Optional

1 T. sea salt

1 t. cracked black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

2. In a large sautee pan over medium heat cook: onions, garlic and pepper.

3. Add mushrooms, zucchinis and corn. (Let cook for 6 minutes)

4. Add olives, beans and spinach and seasonings including cilantro (save 1/4 for topping)

5. Remove from heat.

6. In casserole dish build your enchilada's :

* place tortilla in your hand- add a a nice sized pinch of jack cheese in the middle of the tortilla in a line. Add 1/8-1/4 cup of vegetable mixture and place in pan with the tortilla edges DOWN and touching each other.

Continue this step until you have used all of your tortillas.

* Pour enchilada sauce: either my recipe( see bottom) or 2 cans of Hatch Enchilada Sauce in covering all enchiladas evenly.

Spread any remaining vegetable filling evenly over the enchiladas.

Cover with remaining jack cheese and cilantro and place in oven for 20 minutes until warm.

ENJOY! This is fantastic with Toasted pumpkin seeds as a garnish!:)

My Enchilada Sauce Recipe:

3 dried ancho chilies

3 dried guajillo chillies

* Rehydrate in a sauce pan with 2 cups of water covering chilies over low heat for 15- 20 minutes*

Blend in a food processor and strain through mesh strainer to remove seeds and skins.

In a saucepan add:

1 T. Olive Oil

3 cloves of garlic minced

* Let cook over medium heat for 2 minutes until slightly golden*

Add:

1 can of tomato paste

1 1/2 cup water

1/4 t. cumin

1 1/2 t. sea salt

1/2 t. black pepper

1/2 t. New Mexican Chili Powder

1 t. dried oregano

1/2 t. sugar

* add reserved pepper liquid and let simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.

Enjoy!!!

Soup Showcase: Borsht a la Lynne

Here is our first submission for our community Soup Showcase! Thanks Lynne for sharing, this looks incredible!

As the story goes---when my Ancestors came from the Ukraine to Canada (first settling in Saskatchewan)---they spent their first winter in a mud hut on their land and the neighbouring farmers brought Borscht to them. It’s a good hearty soup, simple yet so satisfying. For ‘winter’ borscht, add navy beans, ‘spring/summer’ borscht contains the leaf tops of the beets.

The Beets:Boil with the skins on until tender, drain and wait until they cool a bit---cut into julienne slices (not sure why but this is the way my Baba did it!)

The Other Stuff:Carrots, cabbage, beans (yellow/green), potato

Start with oil (of your choice) in a large pan. Add some butter and heat to medium/high. Sauteé carrots and cabbage (lots of cabbage as it will ‘disappear’ until they are tender but still firm. During this process, add fresh dill. If you don’t have fresh the dill you can get in a tube (produce section) works well and dried will be “OK” if you have nothing else. Season with pepper. .

You can add some green/yellow fresh beans and some potato. Potato doesn’t freeze well—so omit if you intend to freeze the soup and add potato as you serve. Add your cooked, sliced beets and cover the mix with chicken broth. Simmer. It will become ‘borsch-i-fied’ (everything will turn a nice beet red)! After you have simmered, add some tomato juice so it has a nice ‘zing’ to it.

Allow to sit for a while and adjust the seasoning (pepper, dill, salt if you wish).

Serve in a nice white bowl with a ‘dollop’ of sour cream (avoid zero fat stuff---go for the good stuff)!

Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

1 Butternut Squash- peeled and seeds removed

2 Apples -seeds and core removed

1 cup milk or cream

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

3 cups of Chicken or Vegetable stock

1 Leek sliced

4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1/2 yellow onion diced

2 carrots diced

3 stalks of celery diced

1 T. Curry Powder

1/2 t. smoked paprika

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/8 t. cayenne

2 t. salt

1t. pepper to taste

In a stockpot/large soup pot over medium heat combine the following:

1 T of butter or olive oil ( let melt and coat the pan)

1 Leek-sliced

4 cloves of garlic- finely chopped

1/2 yellow onion-diced

2 carrots-diced

3 stalks of celery -diced

Sautee until vegetables are tender.

2 Options for preparing the Butternut Squash:

Option 1.-Cut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds. Cut squash into 'Lego' sized chunks and place on flat baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and roast for 15- 20 minutes at 425 degrees.

Option 2- Cut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds. Cut squash into 'Lego' sized chunks add into a soup pot. Add 3 cups of chicken stock( or vegetable stock) and let boil until squash is soft.

**Add Together: Squash, apples, chicken stock, apple cider vinegar and vegetables together in one pot.

Cover pot and let simmer on medium low for 20-30 minutes.

Puree.

Add 1 cup of milk or cream if desired.

Season with : 1 T curry powder, 1/4 t. nutmeg, 1/8 t. cayenne,1/2 t. smoked paprika, 2 t. salt + 1 t. pepper to taste.

Garnish with: sour cream, creme fraiche, chopped chives, toasted pumpkin seeds,crispy sage, or my FAVORITE: Fresh CRAB MEAT!

Enjoy!!

September's Favorite Food Finds

Coconut Chai- YUM!!!

Dragon's Tongue Beans ( how cool are they?!)
Yellow Watermelon- who knew?
Lavender and goat cheese a dreamy combination!
The BEST butter!!!!
Probiotic coconut water!
The BEST yogurt I have ever had.
I love EVERYTHING about spaghetti squash- have you tried it?
Spicy Hummus- YES!!
Pamela's Gluten Free Pancake and Baking mix, AH-MAZING!!!:)
Roasted Garbanzo Beans- my new addictive snack!

If only I would have known those moments of trial, self doubt, frustration and debilitating pain would lead me on this path of wellness, health, healing and new found passion. It has been a little over a year and a half now that I demanded change in my life and began my health journey. It has ALL been worth it: every lousy and pointless doctor visit, every week spent on the couch in debilitating (undiagnosed celiac) pain, every time I felt sorry for myself and my new gluten free and sugar-free life.In those self pity moments I had NO CLUE what life had in store for me, and how every one of those moments would define my story and set me on a path to trailblaze my future.

My soul is on fire in this moment. I cannot read and learn enough! So much divine intervention has been given to me restoring my health and my hope- I have to pay this forward. This journey has taken me out of the trenches and trained me up to become a wellness warrior. This new found passion for life and health is hard to contain. I have to practice self control to not slide-tackle strangers on the street and give them the message of hope for their health. I have to restrain myself from lecturing people at the grocery store to tell them that the food they are buying is making them feel like crap. I want to scream from the rooftops: WAKE UP WORLD!! THE FOOD YOU ARE EATING IS HURTING YOU AND MAKING YOU SICK! Newsflash: You don' have to accept poor health and live your life in pain. Quit paying for medications that bandaid your body's cry for help! When was the last time you actually LISTENED to your body rather then stifling its response? Do you really know what it feels like to BE HEALTHY? There ARE answers out there that can help you. They may challenge your normal train of thought. They may require you to try NEW things, NEW foods and say goodbye to some of the foods that you love that may be making you sick. It may require effort and discipline; the two things that we as a society reject. There is no quick fix for health. Health is a journey, it took you awhile to make yourself sick and it will take awhile to heal and restore your health. You owe it to yourself to change things up and demand a better life. You have this one life, this one body. It is time to demand change for your health and your future. Change starts TODAY. Are you ready to take the first step?