October 2018 Potluck

This month's theme is "Something Simple" such as smoothies, wraps and salads. November's potluck theme is "Holiday Dishes"

Italian Wraps

For the Spread:

1 cup cooked or canned chickpeas, no salt added, rinsed and drained

1/4 C pine nuts 

4 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes (soak in hot water for around 1 hour, save liquid)

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon Italian seasonings or more to taste

For the Filling:

Nori sheets (or gluten free wraps)

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1 can artichoke hearts drained, rinsed, liquid squeezed out, finely chopped

1/3 - 1/2 C finely finely chopped tomatoes

Combine spread ingredients in a high speed blender.  Add a little of the sun dried tomato water.  Adding more water as needed until smooth.  Spread on the nori sheets or wraps the spread.  Add the filling.

You can use any ingredients that you like such as finely chopped spinach, arugula, avacado.  The spread can be used as a dip.

Vegan Potato Salad

Spring rolls with rice paper and a peanut sauce

brown rice wrappers

chopped vegetables f choice

leafy greens of choice

Peanut Sauce
From: This Can’t Be Tofu by Deborah Madison
½ C peanut butter
1 large clove garlic, coarsely chopped
3 TBLS soy sauce, tamari or liquid aminos
2 TBLS balsamic vinegar
1 TBLS brown sugar
Dash of cayenne
¼ tsp salt
½ C hot water
Combine all in a food processor, except the water, and puree until smooth. Gradually pour in the
water. Keeps for weeks in the refrigerator.peanut sauce 

Purple power smoothie

Ingredients:

Lemon juice

unsweetened organic almond milk

pea protein

almond butter

flax seeds

hemp seeds

chia seeds

cinnamon

spirulina

spinach

arugula

strawberries

blueberries

blackberries

Leafy Green Salad

Ingredients:

arugula

broccoli rice

avocado

frozen blueberries

sorrel leaves

Dr Fuhrman's raspberry vinegar as the dressing

Wonderful Bug Spray

This recipe is from Wellness Momma

Homemade Bug Spray Ingredients

• 30 drops geranium essential oil
• 30 drops citronella essential oil
• 20 drops lemon eucalyptus essential oil
• 20 drops lavender essential oil
• 10 drops rosemary essential oil
• 1 TBSP vodka or rubbing alcohol
• ½ cup natural witch hazel
• ½ cup water (or vinegar)
• 1 tsp vegetable glycerin (optional)

Homemade Bug Spray Instructions

1. Place essential oils in a glass spray bottle. Add vodka or alcohol and shake well to combine.
2. Pour in witch hazel and shake to combine.
3. Add ½ tsp vegetable glycerin if using. This is not necessary but helps everything stay combined.
4. Add water and shake again. Shake before each use as the oils and water will naturally separate some over time.

Homemade Hoisin Sauce from Dr. Mercola

How to Make Gluten-Free Hoisin Sauce

Traditional hoisin sauce generally contains sugar, but this can have negative effects on your health when used in your cooking. If you want to savor the taste of this condiment without the dangers of sugar, try this homemade hoisin sauce recipe, which uses all-natural ingredients:7

Gluten-Free Hoisin Sauce

Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• Juice of an orange (remove the pits)
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 1 tablespoon garlic, grated
• 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon raw honey
• 5 tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste

Procedure

1. Add all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Bring ingredients to a boil, then turn the heat down to very low.
3. Whisk and simmer gently for five minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the sauce from sticking to the pan.
4. Set aside in a ramekin. Leftovers can last up to two weeks when stored in an airtight container.

Vegan Potato Salad

Vegan Whole Food Plant Based Potato Salad

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs red potatoes, sliced and cooked manually in the instant pot for 3 minutes
1 red onion diced
4 stalks celery diced
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
2 TBS dried dill
Place in a large bowl. stir in cashew mayo

Cashew Mayo
1 cup cashews, soaked 2+ hours, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup water
3-4 garlic cloves
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 TBS lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 TBS honey mustard
1 TBS Dijon mustard
Place in a high speed blender and blend until smooth

Pears, pears, and more pears

We have an abundance of pears this year from our one tree. 
We have made pear sauce, pear bread, and pear and fig tart. Any other recipes would be appreciated.


For the pear sauce we used pears, orange juice and a vitamix. We heated the pears and orange juice for 30 minutes, blended it and then water canned the quart jars for 25 minutes.






For the pear bread, we combined several recipes to make something that works for us.

with palm sugar

Ingredients:

2 cups gluten free flour blend
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup aquafaba
1 cup palm sugar or 3/4 cup date sugar or 1 cup can sugar 
½ cup apple or pear sauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored and grated
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup enjoy life mini chips

with cane sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Line a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the 1 ½ cups brown rice flour, tapioca starch, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
4. In another mixing bowl, whisk together aquafaba, sugar, apple or pear sauce and vanilla. 
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
6. Add the pears and walnuts and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
7. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
8. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling

For the Pear and Fig tart but we put the filling in the food processor to make it creamy. We used an additional 1/2 cup of quartered figs to top the tart.

Sour Cream replacement

This recipe is from Simple Veganista

BASIC CASHEW SOUR CREAM

This vegan cashew ‘sour cream’ can be used anywhere traditional sour cream is used. Place a dollop on chili, baked potatoes, ect. You can use it in baking when called for.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked 2 – 3 hours
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or water
• juice of one small lemon or about 1 tablespoon
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• pinch of mineral salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Soak and drain your cashews. In food processor/high-speed blender, add all ingredients and blend until nice and creamy, stopping to scrap down the sides every now and then. Add a tad more water/milk as needed to create desired consistency. If using fresh herbs, add once the cashew blend is creamy pulsing until just incorporated, or blend in by hand. Best refrigerated for at least an hour before serving but will do fine if served right away. Sour cream will thicken upon being chilled.

Quality of Life

My husband has been trying to gain weight for the last year by eating as many calories as he can through the highest caloric dense foods (refined processed foods) which are not the most nutrient dense foods. As I tell people about my husband's choices, knowing I am a nutritarian, people are telling me, "well he wants quality of life".

Now my husband's cancer has metastasized to his liver, and I am questioning "what is quality of life?"

To me it means
being pain-free,
having many more great days than bad, both physically and mentality,
being able to take care of myself,
not having doctor appointments, surgeries, treatments, taking medicine...
not spending the day in bed or on the couch but being able to do the things I love with the people I love.

My questions are
- when did what one eats define "quality of life"?
- has the food industry "hijacked" our minds and taste-buds through processed high-fat, high-salt, and high-sugar to the point that donuts or eggs and sausage define "quality of life" instead of "living life"?
- what does quality of life mean to others?

I would love feedback...