Kim Chi

Ingredients:
1 pound Napa Cabbage
4 cup Water
3 Tbsp Sea Salt
1 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Garlic
1 Tbsp Green Onions Or Scallions, Chopped
1 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Ginger
1 tsp Dried Red Chili Pepper Flakes
1-2 tsp Sugar

Directions:
Wash cabbage and sprinkle 2 tbs sea salt on leaves. Place leaves in large bowl, add water and cover with plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator overnight. Be sure water covers the leaves. The next day, pour off water and rinse. Place cabbage back into the bowl and add garlic, green onion or scallions, ginger and chili flakes, sugar and 1 tbs salt. Rub the chili into the leaves and transfer the seasoned cabbage into a large glass bottle. Firmly press the cabbage down into the bottle. Leave 2 inches at the top and cap tightly. Allow to sit at room temp for 2-3 days. Store in refrigerator.

French Toast Casserole

Ingredients:
1 loaf French Bread, Cubed
1 pkg Cream Cheese (Optional)
8 Eggs
2 ½ cup Milk
¾ cup Sugar
6 Tbsp Butter, Melted
¼ cup Maple Syrup

Metrics:
Yield: 12 Servings

Directions:
Spray 13x9 glass baking dish with cooking spray. Place half the bread in dish, dot with cream cheese and top with the rest of the bread. Whisk the remaining ingredients in large bowl, pour over bread, pressing with spatula to soak up egg mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Heat oven to 350, bake uncovered 45 minutes until lightly browned.

Basic Dressing

Ingredients:
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp Raw Wine Vinegar
½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Expeller Expressed Flax Oil

Directions:
Dip fork into jar of mustard and transfer 1 tsp to a small bowl. Add vinegar and mix. Add olive oil in a thin stream, stirring all the while with the fork, until oil is well mixed. Add flax oil and use immediately.

Chocolate No Bake Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cup Sugar
½ cup Cocoa
1 stick Butter
½ cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
3 cup Quick Cooking Oatmeal
½ cup Peanut Butter

Directions: 

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in saucepan. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one full minute.

Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter (optional), vanilla and oatmeal.

Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

Creole Cabbage

Ingredients:
1 pkg Shredded Cabbage
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Bouillon - May Use Cubes
1 tsp each Basil And Thyme
2tbs Red Wine Vinegar
2 tsp Minced Garlic
2 Tbsp Chopped Onion - Optional

Description: A Recipe by Debbie Walden Lewis

Directions:
Toss cabbage with olive oil and herbs to taste - mix in garlic and onion - blend the bouillon and vinegar and drizzle over cabbage - toss and serve.

Southwestern Layered Salad

Ingredients:
⅓ cup Chopped Fresh Cilantro
½ cup Lime Juice
½ cup Olive Oil
½ cup Sour Cream
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
½ tsp Pepper
1 pkg Romaine Lettuce, Shredded
5 Plum Tomatoes, Chopped
1 can 15 ounces Black Beans, Rinsed And Drained
1 Purple Onion, Chopped
1 can 15 ounces Whole Kernal Mexicorn
1 can 6 ounces Sliced Ripe Olives Optional
2 cup Crushed Tortilla Chips

Directions:
Process first 7 ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides.

Layer lettuce and next 7 ingredients in a 3 quart glass bowl. Pour vinaigrette over salad just before serving, and gently toss. Garnish with cilantro if desired and serve immediatly.

Healthy Homemade Jello

Total prep time
2 hours 5 mins

A recipe for making healthy jello without added sugar or artificial ingredients.
Author: Wellness Mama
Recipe type: Snack
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

1½ cups of organic or freshly juiced fruit juice of choice (grape, pineapple, orange or a mix of orange and pineapple are all good!)
¼ cup cool water
¼ cup hot (almost boiling) water
1 tablespoon of Kosher Gelatin Powder
1-2 cups of fresh fruit (optional) – Pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and orange slices are all really good...don't use fresh pineapple juice because the jello will not gel properly...don't ask me why...maybe the high acid? 
Note: Can double recipe.

Instructions
Pour the cool water in a large mixing cup or quart sized mason jar and add the gelatin powder.

Stir briskly until mixed- it will start to thicken a lot.

Add the ¼ cup of really hot water and stir to mix- it should be thinner now.
Combine this with the juice and mix well.

Put the fruit into the container that you are going to make the jello in. 8×8 baking dishes work well.

Pour the jello mixture over the fruit and stir lightly to make sure it has coated the fruit too.

Put in the fridge, covered, for at least 2-3 hours or overnight and serve.
Can cut into cubes or scoop out with a melon spoon to make cute shapes.

Enjoy.

A Morning Walk Thru Our Garden....

A Morning Walk Thru Our Garden....

We love our back yard paradise and spend every minute we can out here...we love the flowers, the birds (Oak Ridge is a Bird Sanctuary, you know), our own little critters...we have lots of turtles and fish and now a small flock of sweet hens. We also have two fur babies, Maggie (a Dachshund mix that did NOT get the doxie legs ) and Mitzi (a Jack Russel). What more could we ask for?!

Hope you enjoy the tour!

Spaghetti for a LARGE crowd!

A group of us ladies from my church minister to a small community here in Tennessee through our Baptist Association. We take lunch and have a Bible Study and fellowship time every second Wednesday of each month, and usually have 20 to 25 community ladies along with the dozen or so of us. So, we make lunch for around 35 ladies each month. 

This time I was in charge of the spaghetti...We could have taken the dry pasta and cooked it there but we don't have a lot of time for that, so I cooked it up ahead of time and took it in giant sized freezer bags. Then, all we had to do was get a big pot of water boiling, drop the refrigerated spaghetti into the boiling water for a couple minutes, dump it in the colander, and serve...easy peasy :-)

Boil as much as you need. In this case I used two family sized boxes, about 4 pounds of spaghetti. Cook it al dente (maybe even slightly under done) and rinse it with cold water in your colander. Put it into large heavy duty freezer bags and refrigerate (for this much I used extra large 2.5 gallon bags so I'd have room to close the bag). I have done this for our family night dinners up to 3-4 days before the event. You can even freeze cooked spaghetti, but that will be for another post.

Then when you are ready to serve it, just boil up a BIG pot of water, gently pour your spaghetti in and just warm it to serving temp without cooking. Pour it in a colander, rinse with hot water if desired, and serve as usual. It tastes great!

My Tramontina Pot is 16 Quarts...I LOVE it!

   

Tidbits of Tips

OK, so today I am making broth, cooking a big pot of beans and making some freezer French Toast for my Mom (it's Saturday morning and Lanny is spending the day with his brother...).

I apologize right up front if this is a no-brainer for you, but I was talking to a friend recently and mentioned "dipping the scum" off my beans and she was like "huh?".... She also doesn't overnight soak her beans which is another subject entirely, but I highly recommend both!

      

Soaking your beans overnight has LOTS of health benefits, but that's another topic. Skimming the scum off has taste benefits. As your beans begin to boil just use a ladle and gently scoop the bubbly scum off the top and discard. After a few minutes it should stop "scumming" and you can cover and boil until the beans are done. The scum is just a bit bitter and you will find your beans taste better when it isn't part of the mix.

You will also have scum when you are making chicken bone broth, so just scoop the scum, whatever it collects on :-)

Now, for the freezer meals. I am really getting into the "Dinner's in the Freezer" craze. I have always put leftovers in the freezer to use for soups, but lately I am experimenting with the entire meal in a container for a quick and easy meal. There are lots of good books about the practice that I will list later on. I also like to have meals ready to prepare for my parents...they are not "old" by any stretch of the imagination, but they are in their late 80's and just need a break now and then :-)

They love easy breakfast meals, and Mom told me they ate their last Freezer French Toast Casserole for dinner...so I make them French Toast casseroles in small, 5x7 aluminum freezer tins I get at the dollar store. I also make them pancakes and waffles and freeze in packs of 4 in freezer bags. Super easy to take out and put in the toaster oven...but that will be another post....

I use my left over homemade bread, but you can use French bread or even regular store bought white bread for this recipe. For today we will use two tins because that's how much bread I have...arrange sliced (or torn) bread in a couple layers, dot with cream cheese if you desire...I leave it out because I seldom have it. Mix up 6 to 8 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar. 6-8 tablespoons melted butter, 2 1/2 cups milk and 1/4-1/3 cup Maple Syrup. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread in the two tins. Use a fork to smoosh the bread until it's all covered. I then sprinkle the tops, liberally, with cinnamon/sugar. I always keep a shaker full of cinnamon/sugar for just such an occasion, but if you don't have the mix you can just sprinkle cinnamon and sugar as desired :-) Cover with foil, label French Toast - thaw - bake 350 for 30 minutes - uncover and bake until bubbly and golden. You can also put it in the oven right out of the freezer and bake a bit longer. It's great either way. Mom knows the drill so I just label "350 for 45 minutes"...she checks often and uncovers when it's warmed and cooked thru.

As I said, this was just a couple of tidbits that were on my mind. 

If you need more information PLEASE just send me a message with any questions and I will be happy to help. You can find info about bone broth, chicken broth, "Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink" soup, etc., in other posts in this blog. Just use the search. And really, PLEASE do send me an email. I'd love to chat!!