Recipe – Cucumber Salad

What am I? Fruit or Vegetable?

The cucumber is a creeping vine plant of the Cucurbitaceae gourd family that bears cucuminform fruit. It originated in South Asia, but now grows on most continents. There are three main varieties of cucumber – slicing, pickling and burpless/seedless. The cucumber roots in the ground and grows up supporting frames by wrapping around or it will simply sprawl along the ground. It has large leaves that form a canopy over the fruit. While the cucumber is classified as a type of botanical berry, it is perceived as a vegetable. It is low in calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium.

BENEFITS
Hydration – Consist mostly of water and contain important electrolytes to help prevent dehydration which is essential to maintain a health intestine
Bone Health – Rich in Vitamin K it helps with blood clotting and supports bone health; it also contains Calcium and Vitamin D
Cancer – Contains cucurbitacin which may stop cancer cells from reproducing and the fiber found in the skin of the cucumber may help prevent colorectal cancer
Cardiovascular Health – The fiber and cucurbitacins found in the cucumber skin may also help prevent atherosclerosis and high blood pressure
Diabetes – May play a role in controlling/preventing diabetes by lowering blood sugar or stop blood glucose from rising too high
Inflammation – May have anti-inflammatory benefits that aid the immune system fight against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, depression and cancer
Skin Care –  Contains nutrients that can help cool and soothe skin, reducing swelling and irritation and alleviate sunburn; placed on the eyes it can help decrease puffiness and a face pack of cucumber juice and yogurt can reduce dry skin and blackheads

Recipe – Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

½ cup chopped onions
2 cups chopped tomatoes
3 ½ cups chopped cucumbers
¼ tsp. celery seed
¾ tsp. dill weed
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. garlic powder
1 cup soy sour cream

Process

Combine all ingredients into bowl and gently mix together. Serve immediately or chill first. Yields 5 cups.

Food for Life – Spinach Soup & Avocado and Carrot Salad

“The Lord will teach many in all parts of the world to combine fruits, grains, and vegetables into foods that will sustain life and will not bring disease. Those who have never seen the recipes for making the health foods now on the market, will work intelligently, experimenting with the food productions of the earth, and will be given light regarding the use of these productions. The Lord will show them what to do. He who gives skill and understanding to His people in one part of the world will give skill and understanding to His people in other parts of the world. It is His design that the food treasures of each country shall be so prepared that they can be used in the countries for which they are suited. As God gave manna from heaven to sustain the children of Israel, so He will now give His people in different places skill and wisdom to use the productions of these countries in preparing foods to take the place of meat.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 96.

Spinach Soup

2 bundles spinach

1 large potato

1 large onion

2 cups water

1 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon flour

1 cup coconut milk

Cook potato and onion in salted water. Wash spinach thoroughly, strip it, chop fine, and steam. Mash potato and onion, return to water in which they cooked and add spinach and oil. Mix flour with a little of the milk, add to soup with remainder of the milk. Stir and bring to boil. Serves 4.

Avocado and Carrot Salad

1 ripe avocado pear

1/4 of a big cabbage, shredded

2 teaspoons mayonnaise

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 big carrots

2 teaspoons lime juice

Wash and pare or scrape carrots. Shred finely; mix with salt. Put in small dish and cover. Using a sharp-pointed knife, cut off the top of the avocado. Next, cut ring after ring around the seed until the entire fruit is in 1-inch rings. Remove the slices from the seed very carefully and remove the skin from each slice, making sure the ring does not break. Brush rings with lime juice. Arrange the cabbage on a flat, oval dish to form a green bed. Arrange the avocado rings on the bed. Fill each ring with grated carrots. Garnish with a dab of mayonnaise on the top of the carrots.

Submitted by Yinka Atolagbe

Marian Oluyinka Atolagbe has been a Behavioral Science teacher for 18 years. With a deep interest in healthful lifestyle and sharing, she took training in medical missionary work at Life Abundant Missionary School (Eatonville, Washington), Steps to Life Bible School (Wichita, Kansas), and spent several months observing the work at Uchee Pines Institute (Seale, Alabama). She has conducted several health seminars/vegetarian-cooking classes and started a bakery and healthful store in Nigeria, West Africa. Currently, she lives in Frederick, Maryland, while taking college classes toward an Allied Health Associate degree.

Recipe – Tomato Salad

Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Bell Pepper

Salt

Onion

Choose nice ripe tomatoes. Slice the tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion, then add salt to taste and a small amount of olive oil. This should be eaten right after preparing. Other spices can be added to suit your taste such as fresh parsley, dill, or basil, or you can use your favorite salad dressing instead of the olive oil and salt. Experiment and enjoy. Basic recipe was submitted by S. Andrei who lives in Romania.

Recipe – Couscous Salad

5 cups cooked couscous

2 cups thinly sliced celery (leaves included)

1½ cups finely diced onion

2 cups slices olives

2 cups diced tomatoes

2 cups finely diced red pepper

½ cup finely cut fresh cilantro

2-3 Tbsp. cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1½ tsp salt

¼ to ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Follow cooking instructions on couscous box. Add olive oil and seasonings. Allow to chill thoroughly. Add chopped vegetables and serve.

Recipe – Tabouleh Salad

1 ½ cups bulgar wheat

1 ½ cups boiling water

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

⅓ cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup finely chopped onion

½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley

2 cups diced tomato

1-2 cloves crushed garlic

14 chopped fresh mint leaves

½ -1 tsp. salt

Option: Add diced cucumbers and sliced olives for slight variation.

Pour boiling water over bulgar wheat in a mixing bowl. Set aside to cool. Mix remaining ingredients and toss with cooled bulgar wheat. Chill several hours before serving. Adapted from Cooking vegetarian for Normal People, Transition to Vegan by Mindy Breckenridge.

Food for Life – Raw Cabbage Salad

It is important that we eat whole raw fruits and vegetables. One study documented the blood sugar effects of eating an equal amount of calories from apples, applesauce, and apple juice. Blood sugar peaked at approximately the same time and level with each form of apple. Blood sugar then sharply decreased with all three types of apple consumption. This is where the similarities stopped. The group that consumed whole raw apples experienced less of a blood sugar fall and maintained a more normal blood sugar after the initial blood sugar drop.

This study documents that there are benefits in eating whole raw food. Eating whole fruits also dramatically reduces the risk of certain cancers.

A second food group that is especially beneficial to eat raw is the cruciferous vegetables. These members of the cabbage family are cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, turnips, kohlrabi, bok choy, and collards. One study has shown that those who eat cabbage at least once per week have two-thirds less colon cancer than those who eat it once per month or less.

The prophet of the Lord makes the following statements:

“Families and institutions should learn to do more in the cultivation and improvement of land. If people only knew the value of the products of the ground, which the earth brings forth in their season, more diligent efforts would be made to cultivate the soil. All should be acquainted with the special value of fruits and vegetables fresh from the orchard and garden.” Child Guidance, 357.

“I [Ellen White] am so thankful to God that when Adam lost his Eden home, the Lord did not cut off the supply of fruit.

“The Lord desires those living in countries where fresh fruit can be obtained during a large part of the year, to awake to the blessing they have in this fruit. The more we depend upon the fresh fruit just as it is plucked from the tree, the greater will be the blessing.

“It would be well for us to do less cooking and to eat more fruit in its natural state. Let us teach the people to eat freely of the fresh grapes, apples, peaches, pears, berries, and all other kinds of fruit that can be obtained.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 309.

“The Lord intends to bring his people back to live upon simple fruits, vegetables, and grains.” The Paulson Collection of Ellen G. White Letters, 361.

Raw Cabbage Salad

1 medium head of cabbage, finely chopped

1 large onion

1/2 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon chicken-like seasoning

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 Tablespoons sweetener of choice

Blend seasonings, onion, and liquids in blender and stir into the cabbage.

Just before serving, add the following to the cabbage:

2/3 cup sunflower seeds

2/3 cup dry roasted peanuts

1 package uncooked, broken up Ramen Noodles

In addition to her varied duties at Steps to Life, Evelyn Grosboll, a Registered Nurse, touches many lives through her work as a school nurse in Wichita, Kansas.

Food for Life – Sweet Potato Salad

“God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to his original design,—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth. Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat-eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it. I cannot think that in the practice of flesh-eating we are in harmony with the light which God has been pleased to give us. All who are connected with our health institutions especially should be educating themselves to subsist on fruits, grains, and vegetables. If we move from principle in these things, if we as Christian reformers educate our own taste, and bring our diet to God’s plan, then we may exert an influence upon others in this matter, which will be pleasing to God.

“One reason why many have become discouraged in practicing health reform is that they have not learned how to cook so that proper food, simply prepared, would supply the place of the diet to which they have been accustomed. They become disgusted with the poorly prepared dishes, and next we hear them say that they have tried the health reform, and cannot live in that way. Many attempt to follow out meager instructions in health reform, and make such sad work that it results in injury to digestion, and in discouragement to all concerned in the attempt. You profess to be health reformers, and for this very reason you should become good cooks. Those who can avail themselves of the advantages of properly conducted hygienic cooking-schools, will find it a great benefit, both in their own practice and in teaching others.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 119.

Sweet Potato Salad

1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes

2 stalks celery, diced

1 medium green bell pepper,

diced 1 small onion, minced

1 teaspoon oil

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

parsley, minced

Cook potatoes in salted water for 30 minutes until they are soft, but firm. Drain and peel. Cut in cubes. Add celery, pepper, and onion. Garnish with oil mixed with lemon juice, salt, and parsley.

Marian Oluyinka Atolagbe has been a Behavioral Science teacher for 18 years. With a deep interest in healthful lifestyle and sharing, she took training in medical missionary work at Life Abundant Missionary School (Eatonville, Washington), Steps to Life Bible School (Wichita, Kansas), and spent several months observing the work at Uchee Pines Institute (Seale, Alabama). She has conducted several health seminars/vegetarian cooking classes and started a bakery and healthful store in Nigeria, West Africa. Currently, she lives in Frederick, Maryland, while taking college classes toward an Allied Health Associate degree.

Recipe – Quinoa Salad

1 ½ cup quinoa

3 cups water

1 tsp salt

Corn kernels

Cilantro

Cooked black beans

green onion

avocado

sun dried tomatoes

lime juice

olive oil

Salt to taste

Thoroughly rinse quinoa before cooking. Cook quinoa in water and salt for approximately 10 minutes or until water is absorbed. Let cool then add fresh ingredients in desired amounts. Make dressing with lime juice, olive oil and salt blended together.

Recipe – Catalina Dressing

¼ cup sun-dried tomato bits

1 cup hot water

½ cup olive oil (or less if desired)

½ cup lemon juice

½ cup ketchup

½ cup sweetener of your choice

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. basil

1 Tbsp. dried onion bits

Place tomatoes and water in blender and whiz 30 seconds or so. Add oil, lemon juice, ketchup, sweetener, salt and basil. Blend well. Add onion bits and blend just to mix. You can add a little more water if it is too thick. Taken from Cooking Vegetarian for Normal People, Transition to Vegan by Mindy Breckenridge.

Recipe – Tofu Salad Dressing

Tofu, medium firm (16 oz.)

¼ cup fresh tomato

1/8 cup water

¼ cup fresh red bell pepper

2 Tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup fresh lemon juice, to taste

½ tsp. salt, to taste

¼ tsp. onion powder

¼ tsp. garlic powder

Blend the ingredients, except the lemon juice, until smooth. Pour into glass jar and gently stir in lemon juice and cover.