dessert

Recipe – Flourless Strawberry Apple Breakfast Crisp

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Strawberries

Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside. Berry seeds are on the inside, so strawberries really aren’t true berries.

The average strawberry has 200 seeds. Each seed is considered by botanists to be its own separate fruit. Most strawberry plants reproduce from runners despite the fact that seeds can grow into plants.

Strawberries are low fat, low calorie, high in vitamin C, fiber, folic acid, and potassium. Strawberries contain more vitamin C than oranges. As part of a 5-a-day fruit and vegetable program, they can help reduce the risk of cancer and heart attacks.

Eating strawberries, which are rich in nitrate, can increase the flow of blood and oxygen to the muscles by 7 percent. This prevents muscle fatigue, making exercise easier, helping the muscles work more proficiently. In a test, subjects who ate nitrate rich foods like strawberries before exercising burned 100 more calories than those who did not.

Ninety-four percent of U.S. households consume strawberries. Over 53% of seven to nine-year-olds picked strawberries as their favorite fruit.

 www.londonstrawberryfestival.com/strawberry-fun-facts.html

Recipe – Flourless Strawberry Apple Breakfast Crisp

Ingredients

Filling:

3 large Granny Smith apples, chopped

2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced; or cherries, rhubarb, or fruit of choice

1/4 cup Sucanat, or sweetener of choice

1/8-1/4 tsp. ground cardamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. arrowroot powder or cornstarch

1/2 tsp. vanilla powder

Topping:

1 cup almonds, or nuts of choice

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/8 cup Sucanat, or sweetener of choice

1 Tbs. maple syrup, optional

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/4 tsp. vanilla powder

pinch of salt

Process

Spray a casserole dish with oil. Place apples and strawberries in a bowl and add the rest of the filling ingredients. Stir well. Into a food processor, process almonds until chunky. Add the rest of the topping ingredients and pulse for a couple seconds until just mixed, keeping mixture chunky. Take ½ cup of the topping mixture and stir into the apple filling mixture. Pour the topping/apple mixture into a prepared casserole dish and sprinkle on the remaining topping. Cover, keep covered, and bake at 375°F for about 35-40 minutes.

Recipe – Vegan Rice Pudding

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Cardamom

Cardamom is a member of the ginger family, and is the third most expensive spice in the world after saffron and vanilla. Commonly used in Indian cuisine, it has earned the nickname “The Queen of Spices.” Because of its complex flavor profile, it is used in both sweet and savory dishes. There are two types of cardamom—green and black.

Green cardamom has a warm, herbal, citrusy—with a touch of spiciness, and a hint of mint—flavor. Bleach green cardamom and you have white cardamom, which is a favorite in the Scandinavian countries and much of northern Europe.

Black cardamom has a smokier flavor, and is used more often in savory dishes, such as soup.

Cardamom also has a number of health benefits. It contains high levels of antioxidants that may help lower blood pressure. Cardamom powder increases the activity of certain enzymes that help fight cancer and enhances the ability of natural killer cells to attack tumors.

It is often used as a breath freshener, and has been shown to have anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that disrupt the bacteria in the mouth that cause gum disease and other periodontal infections, and it can help relieve digestive problems, including ulcers.

Compounds in cardamom may help to increase airflow to the lungs, improving breathing by relaxing the airways. This is particularly helpful for treating asthma. Cardamom can decrease elevated liver enzymes, reduce anxiety, and is generally safe for most people.

Sources: allrecipes.com/article/what-is-cardamom; healthline.com/nutrition/cardamom-benefits; sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1075996419301490

Recipe – Vegan Rice Pudding

Ingredients

1 cup arborio rice

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

3 1/2 cups almond milk

2 Tbs. maple syrup

4 Tbs. jam of choice

Process

  1. In medium saucepan stir together the rice, nutmeg, and cardamom. (This will stop the spices from clumping). Add the almond milk and bring to a simmer on medium-high heat.
  2. Once simmering, reduce the heat to low and cook the rice, stirring often for 20-25 minutes, or until soft and pleasantly chewy. (Add splashes more almond milk as needed during cooking, if consistency is getting too thick for your liking). Once cooked, drizzle in the maple syrup to sweeten and stir to combine.
  3. Divide into 4 bowls and top each with 1 tablespoon of jam. Drizzle with more maple syrup to sweeten to taste.

Rice pudding will keep in fridge for up to 5 days, and can be frozen for up to 3 months. Source: twospoons.ca/the-creamiest-vegan-rice-pudding

Recipe – Blueberry Apple Fold-Over Pie

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Blueberries

Research reveals that there is a serious amount of interesting evidence to support eating a lot of blueberries—improved memory, reduced depression, prevention of diabetes and the formation of new neurons. There are nutrition scientists who have devoted their careers to studying blueberries.

They have found that rats who ate blueberries for two months showed improvements in working memory, did better than their peers at remembering how to navigate a water maze, became better at balancing on a narrow rod and walking on a rotating rod. And lest these findings be dismissed as a coincidence, researchers found blue anthocyanins—among the plant chemicals widely attributed with health benefits due to antioxidant properties—scattered throughout their cerebellum, cortex, hippocampus, and striatum.

Human studies have shown that blueberries lower blood pressure after eight weeks of daily ingestion and that children do better on cognitive tests after eating blueberries. In small trials, people who drank blueberry juice found a reduction in depressive symptoms, improved blood-sugar levels, and improvements in recalling words. Older adults who ate two cups of blueberries daily reportedly saw cognition and mobility improvements.

If any fruit is deserving of superfruit status, it is the blueberry. They are heroic. www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/11/blueberries/545840/

Recipe – Blueberry Apple Fold-Over Pie

Ingredients

1 cup Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

¼ cup coconut sugar

1 Tbs. water

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs. whole wheat pasty flour, or flour of choice

¼ tsp. salt

1 Tbs. plant-based butter or coconut oil

½ tsp. vanilla flavoring

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

2 pie crusts

2 baking sheets

Process

  • In a saucepan, combine the apple, coconut sugar, water, and lemon juice.
  • Cook over medium heat until bubbly. Cover, lower heat to low, cook 6-8 minutes, stirring often.
  • In a bowl, mix flour, and salt. Stir into apple mixture until it thickens. Remove from heat; add butter or oil and vanilla. Fold blueberries into mixture. Let cool about 10 minutes.
  • Lay one pie crust on a baking sheet, lay the other crust on a second baking sheet.
  • Spoon half of filling onto center of one crust. Fold over pie crust to meet other edge. Press edges with fork tines. Cut a few small slits on top of crust. Repeat with the second crust.
  • Bake at 375° for 25-35 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven. Let cool. Cut into desired servings.

Recipe – Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

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The Banana

Bananas are one of the most versatile foods available. They come in their own container and can be eaten right out of the peel.

The banana plant, also called a banana tree, is technically regarded as an herb, not a tree, because the stem doesn’t have true woody tissue.

Bananas are the most popular fruit in the world. Over 100 billion bananas are eaten every year. The majority of them are eaten around breakfast time.

Americans eat more bananas than any other fruit, with an average consumption of 26.2 pounds of bananas per person per year. In fact, Americans eat more bananas than both apples and oranges combined.

A cluster of bananas is formally called a hand. A single banana is called a finger.

Fully ripe bananas with dark patches on their yellow skin produce a substance called Tumor Necrosis Factor, which has the ability to combat abnormal cells in your body. The darker the patches it has, the higher will be the immunity enhancement quality. Therefore, the riper the banana, the greater the anti-cancer properties.

Humans share about 50% of their DNA with bananas.

A diet of potassium rich bananas can help beat high blood pressure because bananas speed up the rate at which salt is excreted from the body.

Source: Tonsoffacts.com

Recipe – Creamy Vegan Banana Pudding

Ingredients

Pudding:

2 cups coconut milk or non-dairy milk of choice

1 ripe banana

1/4 cup chia seeds

1/2 cup raw cashews

6 pitted medjool dates

1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

For layering:

Roasted pecans

2 ripe bananas, sliced

Coconut whipped cream

Process

In a blender, combine the pudding ingredients and blend briefly. Leave mixture in the blender for 10-15 minutes to soften the chia seeds and cashews, and then blend again on high until creamy and smooth. Pour into a container and refrigerate until thickened, several hours, or overnight. Layer the pudding into glasses with the pecans, sliced bananas, and coconut whipped cream.

Recipe – Creamy Cantaloupe Ice Cream

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Cantaloupe!

What a yummy summer fruit! “Cantaloupe is truly a high-volume food. An entire large melon has only 277 calories, way less than most desserts, and more than most people can eat at one sitting. About 90 percent of the melon is water. But that water in the melon goes a long way toward filling you up. Water in foods seems to do this more than water that you drink alongside foods. Hence melons and soups do a better job of appetite control than solid food plus a glass of water. No one really knows why.

“But cantaloupe is not a great food just because it’s high-volume and low-calorie. It is also a potassium and vitamin A heavyweight. One cup of melon cubes gives you a whopping 427 mg of potassium (not to mention a little calcium and magnesium).

“Many studies show that people who eat potassium-rich foods have lower rates of heart disease and stroke. Potassium is also a key component in maintaining healthy blood pressure. … There is vitamin A and beta-carotene, both of which are plentiful in cantaloupe. Though a lot of people know about the role of vitamin A in vision and growth and bone development, what is not as well known is how terrific it is for the immune system. I consider it one of the best immune-system boosters around.” Excerpts from The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, 103, Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.

Recipe – Creamy Cantaloupe Ice Cream

Ingredients

¼ of a whole cantaloupe

1 banana

Process

Cut the banana and the cantaloupe (remove the skin and seeds) in pieces and freeze overnight.

Pulse or blend frozen banana and cantaloupe pieces until completely smooth.

Enjoy the ice cream!

Recipe – Berry Cobbler

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Place in a large saucepan:

1 can crushed pineapple (20 oz.)

1 1/2 lb. sliced strawberries (unsweetened, fresh or frozen)

1/2 pkg. frozen peaches, diced

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 1/2 cup date sugar

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

2-3 Tbsp. Agar Agar (or Cornstarch)

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thick. Pour into a large baking dish, and top with Cashew and Oat Pie Crust. Bake at 350° until golden brown. For variety, blackberries, boysenberries or blueberries may be substituted.

Food For Life – Common Sense in Dietetic Reform

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“There is real common sense in dietetic reform. The subject should be studied broadly and deeply, and no one should criticize others because their practice is not, in all things, in harmony with his own. It is impossible to make an unvarying rule to regulate everyone’s habits, and no one should think himself a criterion for all. Not all can eat the same things. Foods that are palatable and wholesome to one person may be distasteful, and even harmful, to another. Some cannot use milk, while others thrive on it.* Some persons cannot digest peas and beans; others find them wholesome. For some the coarser grain preparations are good food, while others cannot use them….

“The practice of eating but two meals a day is generally found a benefit to health; yet under some circumstances persons may require a third meal. This should, however, if taken at all, be very light, and of food most easily digested. `Crackers’-the English biscuit-or zwieback, and fruit, or cereal coffee, are the foods best suited for the evening meal.

“Some are continually anxious lest their food, however simple and healthful, may hurt them. To these let me say, Do not think that your food will injure you; do not think about it at all. Eat according to your best judgment; and when you have asked the Lord to bless the food for the strengthening of your body, believe that He hears your prayer, and be at rest.

“Because principle requires us to discard those things that irritate the stomach and impair health, we should remember that an impoverished diet produces poverty of the blood. Cases of disease most difficult to cure result from this cause. The system is not sufficiently nourished, and dyspepsia and general debility are the result. Those who use such a diet are not always compelled by poverty to do so, but they choose it through ignorance or negligence, or to carry out their erroneous ideas of reform.” The Ministry of Healing, 319-322.

Recipe – Millet-Oat Cookies

Place in Blender:
1 cup water
1/3 cup pineapple concentrate
½ cup date rolls or pieces
2 apples peeled and cored
1 t. sea salt
2 t. vanilla

Blend thoroughly then add:
1 cup walnuts or pecans

Blend again and then add:
1 ½ cup millet flour
1 ½ cup oat flour
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup unsweetened coconut
2 t. coriander powder

Drop by spoonfuls on baking sheet and flatten with fork. Bake at 350º for 35-40 minutes

*Further statements about dairy foods: “We know that a free use of these things [salt, sugar and milk] is positively injurious to health, and in many cases we think that if they were not used at all, a much better state of health would be enjoyed.” Counsels on Diet and Food, 468. “Let the people be taught how to prepare food without the use of milk or butter. Tell them that the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream, or butter, because disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the increase of wickedness among men. The time is near when, because of the iniquity of the fallen race, the whole animal creation will groan under the diseases that curse our earth. God will give His people ability and tact to prepare wholesome food without these things. Let our people discard all unwholesome recipes.” Ibid., 356.

Food for Life – Brownies

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“If February gives much snow,
a fine summer it doth foreshow.”
English Rhyme.

This year we will be looking through “Counsels on Health” to see if we can keep our hearts tuned to the divine blueprint.

“When Christ first saw the multitudes that gathered about Him, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Christ saw the sickness, the sorrow, the want and degradation of the multitudes that thronged His steps. To Him were presented the needs and woes of humanity throughout the world. Among the high and the low, the most honored and the most degraded, he beheld souls who were longing for the very blessing He had come to bring; souls who needed only a knowledge of His grace to become subjects of His kingdom.

“Today, the same needs exist. The world is in need of workers who will labor as Christ did for the suffering and the sinful. There is indeed a multitude to be reached. The world is full of sickness, suffering, distress, and sin. It is full of those who need to be ministered unto…the weak, the helpless, the ignorant, the degraded.

“Many of the youth of this generation, in the midst of churches, religious institutions, and professedly Christian homes, are choosing the path to destruction. Through intemperate habits they bring upon themselves disease, and through greed to obtain money for sinful indulgences they fall into dishonest practices. Health and character are ruined. Aliens from God, and outcasts from society, these poor souls feel that they are without hope either for this life or for the life to come. The hearts of parents are broken. Men speak of these erring ones as hopeless; but God looks upon them with pitying tenderness. He understands all the circumstances that have led them to fall under temptation. This is a class that demands labor.

“Nigh and afar off are souls, not only the youth, but those of all ages, who are in poverty and distress, sunken in sin, and weighted down with a sense of guilt. It is the work of God’s servants to seek for these souls, to pray with them and for them, and lead them step by step to the Saviour.

“But those who do not recognize the claims of God are not the only ones who are in distress and in need of help. In the world today, where selfishness, greed, and oppression rules, many of the Lord’s true children are in need and affliction. In lowly, miserable places, surrounded with poverty, disease, and guilt, many are patient bearing their own burden of suffering, and trying to comfort the hopeless and sin-stricken about hem. Many of them are almost unknown to the churches or to the ministers; but they are the Lord’s lights, shining amid the darkness.” Counsels on Health, 13, 14.

Recipe – Brownies

1 pound nuts (walnuts, pecans, peanuts)
1 pound dates or date pieces
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon nonalcoholic vanilla
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons (heaping) carob powder
soy or cashew mild to hold together

Mix thoroughly and bake at 275° for 1 hour.

Food for Life – Lemon Pie

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“And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays.”
Lowell

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1, 2. We have no right to wantonly violate a single principle of the laws of health.” Counsels on Health, 50. Then, citing Daniel’s experience, Mrs. White continues: “He did not conform to the habits of the courtiers in eating and drinking, but purposed in his heart that he would not eat of the king’s meat nor drink of his wines. This was not a hastily formed, wavering purpose, but one that was intelligently formed and resolutely carried out. Daniel honored God; and the promise was fulfilled to him. ‘Them that honor Me I will honor.’ I Samuel 2:30. The Lord gave him ‘knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom,’ and he had ‘understanding in all visions and dreams’ (Daniel 1:17); so that he was wiser than all in the king’s courts, wiser than all the astrologers and magicians in the kingdom.

“Those who serve God in sincerity and truth will be a peculiar people, unlike the world, separate from the world. Their food will be prepared, not to encourage gluttony or gratify a perverted taste, but to secure to themselves the greatest physical strength, and consequently the best mental [and physical] conditions. . . .

“Excessive indulgence in eating and drinking is sin. Our heavenly Father has bestowed upon us the great blessing of health reform, that we may glorify Him by obeying the claims He has upon us. . . . Those who are looking for the soon appearing of their Saviour should be the last to manifest a lack of interest in this great work of reform. . . . An aimless life is a living death. The mind should dwell upon themes relating to our eternal interests. This will be conducive to health of body and mind. . . .

“The world should be no criterion for us. It is fashionable to indulge the appetite in luxurious food and unnatural stimulus, thus strengthening the animal propensities, and crippling the growth and development of the moral faculties. There is no encouragement given to any of the sons or daughters of Adam that they may become victorious overcomers in the Christian warfare unless they decide to practice temperance in all things. If they do this, they will not fight as one that beateth the air.” Ibid.

In this wonderful book, we are further counseled that, “It is a terrible sin to abuse the health that God has given us; for every abuse of health enfeebles us for life and makes us losers, even if we gain any amount of education.” Ibid., 186.

“In the preparation of a people for the Lord’s Second Coming, a great work is to be accomplished through the promulgation of health principles. The people are to be instructed in regard to the needs of the physical organism and the value of healthful living as taught in the Scriptures, that the bodies which God has created may be presented to Him a living sacrifice, fitted to render Him acceptable service. There is a great work to be done for suffering humanity in relieving their sufferings by the use of the natural agencies that God has provided, and in teaching them how to prevent sickness by the regulation of the appetites and passions. The people should be taught that transgression of the laws of nature is transgression of the laws of God.” Ibid., 206. [All Emphasis supplied.]

Recipe – Lemon Pie

1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh grated lemon rind
10 dates or ½ cup of packed, chopped dates
¼ cup water
1/3 cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth. Cook in saucepan on low heat, stirring constantly, till thick. Then pour into a backed cashew pie crust. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Food for Life – Tofu Cheese Cake and Peanut Butter Carob Pie

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“Plain, simple pie may serve as dessert, but when one eats two or three pieces merely to gratify an inordinate appetite, he unfits himself for the service of God.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 333.

Recipe – Tofu Cheese Cake

2 Tablespoons unflavored Emes Kosher-Jel

½ cup pineapple juice

Blend together to dissolve gelatin.

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

¼ cup oil

½ cup honey

¾ teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons vanilla

½ teaspoon coriander

1 pound mashed tofu

Combine in blender and blend till smooth. Fill two crumb-crust pie shells and bake at 350 degrees about 30-40 minutes, until edges are lightly browned and middle is firm. Chill until ready to serve. Top with your favorite fruit topping.

Recipe – Peanut Butter Carob Pie

1 ½ cups water

2 cups carob chips

pinch of salt

½ cup soy milk powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

½-1 cup peanut butter

Blend all ingredients, except peanut butter, until smooth (about two minutes). Add peanut butter while still blending, until mixture thickens. May add more peanut butter if needed to reach desired consistency. Pour into prepared pie shell. Freeze until ready to serve.