Easy, Delicious, & Healthy Popsicles

Ok, so I just blogged about popsicles, but here are some more flavors I tried. First, I made strawberry yogurt and then mango yogurt popsicles. I used organic whole milk yogurt, organic strawberries, and mangos. All you have to do is puree the fruit until smooth and mix in the yogurt. That's it. Pour into popsicle molds and wait.

The formula I like to use is 2 to 1. Two parts fruit and one part yogurt. I try to use very ripe fruit so I don't need to add sugar. For an extra healthy boost, I put in a scoop of NanOmega3 into each batch. The NanOmega3 is organic and includes DHA, flaxseed, 100% vitamins D3, E, +B6, B12, & folate, and is rich in phytonutrients and fiber.

Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles

• 1 lb of organic strawberries (made 2 cups pureed)
  
• 1 cup of organic whole milk yogurt
• sugar if needed

Mango Yogurt Popsicles

• 2 very ripe mangos (made two cups pureed)
• 1 cup of organic whole milk yogurt
• sugar if needed

The mango ones are definitely my favorite so far. And again, my two year old loves them and has no idea how good they are for him. Next, I would like to see if I could incorporate some vegetables in somehow. I was thinking of trying carrot, apple, and ginger with the yogurt. I love that combo in a juice drink I make.

Watermelon Popsicles

My 2 year old LOVES popsicles, and I like that it gives me 10-15 minutes to get something done while he is quietly eating every last drop of juicy goodness. At first I was buying the 100% fruit juice popsicles from the store; however, those can be expensive and loaded with sugar. I always wanted to make my own to save money and control the ingredients, so I purchased some good quality popsicle molds from Amazon. I picked out rocket, shooting star, and groovy molds. They are BPA free and very user friendly! All to do now is choose ingredients.

The first batch I did was watermelon. I bought a 1/4 of a watermelon for $1.25 and a box of gelatin envelopes for $1.29. First, I chopped the watermelon into small chunks and threw it into a blender. Then, I combined 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 sugar, and 1 gelatin envelope in a small saucepan until sugar and gelatin were dissolved. I dumped the sugar water into the pureed watermelon and mixed thoroughly. Then, I poured the mixture into the popsicle molds. This made 18 popsicles and took 15 minutes. The best part is my son would not eat watermelon by itself but he loved the watermelon popsicle, and I loved that is was good for him :)

More Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Please!

I love stuffed cabbage rolls. I don't know why because it wasn't something I grew up eating. It just has comfort food written all over it. Even though I think of this dish more of a late fall meal when the cabbage is in season, I make it anytime I get hungry for it. This week, my local grocery store had cabbage on sale, so I figured why not make some good eats.

When it comes to stuffed cabbage, there are so many recipes to choose from. Each country has a little different take on the delicious dish. However, I tend to favor the Eastern European recipes. While researching the Internet for a recipe to try, I came across a great post on Squidoo (http://www.squidoo.com/stuffed-cabbage). There is a ton of information about cabbage rolls and several recipes. The recipe I use is an adapted version from one of the recipes listed on the site.

So if you want to try to make a delicious, inexpensive meal, here are the instructions:

Ingredients

• 1 large head of cabbage
• 2 lbs of ground meat (any combination of beef, chicken, turkey, pork, veal, etc.)
• 1 raw egg
• 2 jars of sauerkraut
• 1 green pepper, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
  
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup of uncooked rice
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• Several bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
  

Step-by-Step Directions

1. Remove core from cabbage and place in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. The outer leaves will start to pull away from the cabbage. Take a tongs and remove leaves and put on a plate to cool.
2. Combine meat, egg, rice, green pepper, onion, garlic, rice, paprika, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well.
   
3. In another bowl, combine tomatoes, water, 1 can of sauerkraut, peppercorns, and bay leaves.
4. After cabbage has cooled, cut out the bottom of the hard center stem of each cabbage leaf.
5. In a very large pot with a lid, dump the other can of sauerkraut in the bottom and spread out evenly.
6. Take a cabbage leaf and scoop some of the meat mixture into the center of the leaf. Fold up bottom and fold in sides and roll. Place seam side down in pot. Repeat.
7. Line the bottom of the pot with cabbage rolls making sure to leave a little room in between for rolls to expand. After one layer, pour some of the tomato mixture on top. Add another layer of cabbage rolls.
8. Chop up any extra cabbage and put around the cabbage rolls to help keep them in place.
9. Add the rest of the tomato mixture on top.
10. Make sure the cabbage rolls are covered with liquid. I like to take the leftover water from boiling the cabbage and mix it with chicken base. This adds another layer of flavoring.
    
11. On the stove, bring pot to a bubble. Then turn down heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 2-3 hours.
12. Towards the end, heat 4 tablespoons of butter in a pan and add 4 tablespoons of flour. Cook until golden brown. Add some of the liquid from the pot and combine with flour/butter mixture. Then add to the pot and cook with the stuffed cabbage for at least 30 minutes. This helps thicken the liquid.

Once you have this technique down, the possibilities are endless as to what you can create with different ingredients. This recipe makes a lot of cabbage rolls but don't worry because you can always freeze them.


Happy Eating!

Amazingly Easy Homemade Bread!

Who doesn't love the smell of baking bread filling the house or the taste of warm fresh bread smothered in butter? This amazing recipe and technique came from an article posted in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html?_r=1). It is so easy that anyone can make this tasty bread and from $0.25-$0.50 a loaf.

What makes this bread so special is that it takes about five minutes to mix and put the ingredients together, and it requires no kneading. The trick is about 18-20 hours of rising time. All you need for ingredients are water, flour, salt, and yeast. Optional ingredients are up to your imagination but I like different types of seeds and oats.

So, here are the instructions to make your very own loaf of bread:

1. Grab a big mixing bowl and measure out 4 cups of high gluten bread flour and dump the flour in the bowl.
2. Measure 1 tablespoon of finely ground sea salt and dump in bowl.
3. Measure 1/3 teaspoon of dry active yeast and dump in bowl.
4. Measure 2 cups of warm filtered water and dump in bowl.
5. Combine all ingredients until well incorporated (see top picture).The mixture should be more wet and sticky than dry.
   
6. Cover bowl with a flour sack towel and let sit for 18 hours on the counter.
7. Grab a large silicone mat or cutting board and dust with flour. Take dough mixture out of bowl and place on large silicone mat or cutting board. Fold in sides (see 2nd picture from the top) and then turn the dough over so the seams are on the bottom (see 3rd picture). Sprinkle dough with flour and cover with flour sack towel. Let rise for 2 hours.
8. Just before the 2 hours are up grab a large cast iron dutch oven or something similar with a lid and put the pot with the lid in the oven to preheat to at least 475 degrees F.
   
9. When oven is preheated, take pot out and carefully dump the dough mixture from the mat into the pot (see 4th picture). You can sprinkle extra ingredients on top such as seeds, whole wheat flour, or oats (see last picture below). Cover pot and put in the oven. Set timer for 25 minutes.
10. When timer goes off, take the lid off the pot and cook the bread for another 10 minutes.
11. When golden brown on top, take bread out of the oven and pot and rest on wire rack to cool.
    

The hardest part about this recipe is waiting for the bread to cool down so you can eat it. Here is some more helpful information. I mix the ingredients together the evening before, so it rises overnight. Try to use the best bread flour you can find. I like King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour or any organic bread flour. Spending the extra few dollars for good flour is not that big of deal considering how much per loaf it comes out to be. I use a 5 quart cast iron dutch oven from Lodge Logic. You can buy it from Amazon.com for $29.99 (http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Logic-Pre-Seasoned-5-Quart-Handles/dp/B00063RWYI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1247747949&sr=8-1). A couple nice tools to have are a dough whisk and a rounded dough scraper. The dough whisk really mixes the dough well and without a mess. The rounded dough scraper helps get the dough out of the bowl. Both can be found for under $10.

NanoGreens10

In the past, I have tried a few different "green" drinks to help supplement my diet with fruits/vegetables. Recently, I got in the mood to drink them again and started researching one to try. A couple things are important to me when it comes to supplements: Are the ingredients synthetic or natural? Is it organic? Is the company reputable? And finally, what is it going to cost?

While googling, I came across NanoGreens10 made by BioPharma Scientific. It is formulated to supply the phytonutrient based antioxidant power of 10 or more servings of dark greens and brightly colored fruits and vegetables of all the colors. I read many testimonials from different kinds of doctors and athletes who really like the results from using the NanoGreens10. Some of the popular comments were about the great taste and increased energy gained from it.

I also found it interesting that the supplement had a high bioavailability which when it comes to digesting vitamins is really important. NanoGreens 10 is formulated with patented "NanoSorb" which utilizes nanosized vesicles that spontaneously encapsulate nutraceuticals to maximize availability for absorption by the small intestine.

I decided to give it a try since it was organic and the cost($49.95) was competitively priced compared to other "green" drinks. I was excited to try it out after reading about it so much, and I drank some as soon as I received it. The directions said to mix it with ice cold water. After mixing the powder with the water, I drank some and was actually surprised how good it tasted. The last "green" drink I tried tasted horrible. It did not matter how good it was for me, but I really liked the NanoGreens10.

Each morning I woke up, I looked forward to having my Nano drink. I was beginning to wonder if they put some kind of addicting substance in the powder to make me want it so bad everyday. It made me feel refreshed every morning which is saying a lot since I was waking up throughout the night with the new baby.

All in all, I think I have found the best "green" drink on the market. The organic ingredients, great taste, and superior bioavailability make this an easy choice. There is much more information on the NanoGreens10 at http://www.biopharmasci.com/patients/nanogreens/default.asp .