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Author: Mary | Just Take A Bite

Canned Chili Sauce

 This homemade canned chili sauce goes perfectly with roast beef and tastes so good you’ll want to eat it plain!

This is a recipe from my mother-in-law for canned chili sauce. It is a great way to use late August produce – tomatoes, peppers and onions.

The chili sauce can be served alongside roast beef or any cut of meat you like. My kids even like to eat it plain or use it as a salsa substitute.

The great thing about this chili sauce is that it is a bit sweet instead of spicy. So my daughter that can’t handle spicy foods loves it.

I like to always have some in the pantry.

How about you? Do you like chili sauce? What do you use it for?

Canned Chili Sauce

4 qts. tomatoes, peeled, chopped
5 medium or 2 large onions, diced
2 green peppers, diced
1/2 bunch celery, diced
(1 medium zucchini, diced…my add in, optional)
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar

Simmer all together for 3 hours. Process in boiling water for 10 min. Makes 5 – 6 pints.

Cereal…Why It’s Not As Healthy As You Think…Actually Not Healthy At All

Time to kick off my healthy lifestyle series. I’ll start with something near and dear to me…my beloved cereal 😛  I used to be the cereal queen. I ate it EVERY day for breakfast for years. From college to just a few months ago I’d say there were only a few days I didn’t have cereal for breakfast. And that was either on vacation (and even then I usually had cereal) or if I was too sick. In addition to my daily breakfast I snacked on it pretty much every day. I thought, like most people, that cereal was healthy. Low fat. Lots of vitamins. High fiber (the kind I ate was). But sadly that is not the case.

Cereal is quite unhealthy for multiple reasons.

*The obvious is that some cereals are full of sugar. Especially white processed sugar…which is like an anti-nutrient for your body.

*Then there is the white flour. Again, very processed and hard on your body.

*Most cereals are full of artifical ingredients…colors, sweeteners, flavorings, etc. Anything artifical is foreign to your body and hard to digest…putting more strain on your system.

*All big brand cereals contain GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Another unnatural ingredient that we don’t know the full effects of. GM foods have not been proven safe to eat. They increase the use of pesticides. I personally choose to avoid them at all costs. I want to know exactly what I’m eating…not some mutated, altered food with hidden ingredients. Corn is one of the  most widely used GM food. And it’s in just about every cereal. For example, take a look at the ingredients in a box of Kix (supposedly a great cereal for kids)…whole grain corn, corn meal, sugar, corn bran, salt, brown sugar syrup, trisodium phosphate, vitamin E (and some other added vitamins). It’s all GM corn and processed sugar. How is that good for a growing child?

*Most cereals are fortified with vitamins and minerals. Sounds healthy. But in reality they are synthetic versions that your body can’t really absorb. So they don’t do you much good. Maybe some harm actually.

*Finally, cereal (even the organic “healthy” kind) is toxic. Here is some great information from The Healthy Home Economist:

“To make boxed breakfast cereal in the factory, the grains first have to be subjected to such intense pressure and heat that they actually liquify into a slurry. This slurry allows the grains to be quickly and easily shaped into the puffs, flakes, and other shapes that make each cereal distinct. The manufacturing process used to make boxed cereal is called “extrusion” and it is so violent and denaturing that the proteins in the grains are actually rendered toxic by the process. This is why organic boxed breakfast cereal is more toxic than nonorganic – because organic boxed cereal is whole grain and thereby has more protein in it! The more protein, the more toxic the boxed cereal.”

It saddens me that something so bad for you is marketed as being so healthy…and that so many people (myself included for a long time) buy into it. When in reality it can make you sick and is very hard on your body. It especially saddens me that I ate Fiber One (mixed with various other cereals) almost every single day of my pregnancy with Rebecca. Artifical sweeteners, fake fiber, syntheic vitamins, GMOs, toxic substances. I hope it did not harm her development. I don’t like that cereal is one of the first things most people feed their children…baby cereal, Cheerios, etc. I’ll definitely be taking a different route with any future children. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing all of that cereal had an impact on my digestive issues and my infertility. I wish I would have known sooner how bad it was.

I am happy to say I have not eaten cereal for breakfast for a couple months now. It feels good to be cereal free 🙂  My whole body is thanking me. And I’m glad to start my daughter off on a good path eating real food for breakfast from an early age.

It’s tough to make the switch if you’re a die-hard cereal fan like I was. It’s convenient. It tastes good. But it’s worth it to stop eating it. Honestly, now I think most cereal tastes like fake cardboard. It grosses me out. The skim milk I used to pour on my cereal does too 😛  There are so many other healthy things to eat for breakfast. Here are some of our favorite quick breakfasts. You can make them ahead of time or prep things ahead so breakfast only takes minutes to prepare in the morning.

chewy granola bars
crunchy granola bars
homemade granola
grain free granola
giant breakfast cookies
soaked coffee cake
oatmeal muffins
blueberry muffins
strawberry bread
fresh fruit w/ cream cheese dip
kefir smoothie

Scrambled, fried or hard boiled eggs are always good too.

Enjoy a healthy breakfast every day…that does not include boxed cereal 🙂

Sourdough Granola Muffins

I haven’t used my sourdough in a few weeks, and I’ve been trying to figure out what to make with it before it grew too much. Today I was trying to come up with an easy baking project that my daughter and I could do that would also use up a really ripe banana I had.

I thought sourdough muffins with banana. I’ve done that before in combination with both strawberries and blueberries. But I don’t have fresh berries to use up. So I thought I could do banana chocolate chip muffins.

As I gathered ingredients I also took out an open bag of butterscotch chips. Then my daughter said she wanted to use her “granola bowl” (the bowl she usually uses for “her granola” when we make it together). So I got out a little coconut to put in her bowl (she LOVES coconut).

Then I thought I guess I could add some coconut to our muffins. Then Rebecca came over to help me get out our mixing bowls and grabbed the nut chopper. I thought I guess I could add nuts too. So my muffins evovled into granola muffins!

I LOVE granola. I could eat it every day. So I figured a granola muffin must be good too. And it is!!! So good! My daughter scarfed down a whole one with lunch.

Sourdough Granola Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour (I used sprouted wheat flour…really helps keep them moist)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 – 1/2 cup cane sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup oil (I used coconut)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups total of granola add-ins (I used raisins, chopped crispy walnuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and coconut.)
1 small very ripe banana, mashed (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F.

Combine dry ingredients in small bowl. Stir in granola add-ins. Combine wet ingredients (and mashed banana) in medium bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ones.

Mix quickly and spoon into muffin cups (I used silicon muffin cups…the muffins popped right out.).

Bake at 425 for 18-20 minutes.

Grain Free Granola (dairy free, egg free, GAPS-legal)

I’ve been cutting back on grains lately to see how that impacts my gut and my fertility. And I recently came across a recipe on Heartland Renaissance for grain free granola. I just finished off my last batch of granola the other day, so it’s time to restock. It helped that I have crispy pecans, walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds on hand. So everything was all set to go. I didn’t follow this recipe completely. I never measure anything when I make granola. And I didn’t heat the oil/sugar. My coconut oil is always liquid these days from the heat 😛  I just chopped the nuts together (instread of separately). Then stirred in seeds, dried fruit, coconut oil and maple syrup. Very quick prep! The verdict…awesome! It’s actually better than the versions I’ve been making lately with soaked/dried oats. I’ll just have to remember not to eat too much at once now so I don’t go totally overboard on nuts in one sitting 😛

*Edited 4/7/11 – I tried making an unbaked version of this today. Worked great!! I keep the granola in the fridge, and it’s always hard anyway from the coconut oil. So I figured it wouldn’t change much if I didn’t bake it. I was right. Plus it makes less mess (no pan to clean up) and makes sure you’re not doing any harm to the wonderful crispy nuts 🙂  I only used honey to sweeten it today to make it GAPS legal. I’ll add to the recipe below to reflect this update.

This post is linked to Wheatless Wednesday at Naturally Knocked Up.
This post is linked to the Gluten Free Recipe Parade at Heavenly Homemakers.
This post is linked to Grain Free Tuesdays at Hella Delicious.

Grain Free Granola

2 cups almonds (I used a combo of crispy almonds, walnuts and pecans)
2 cups walnuts
1 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds
1 cup dried fruit of your choice, chopped into bite size pieces (I used a mix of homemade dried fruit – strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, cherries and raisins.)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup sesame seeds, optional (I didn’t add these.)
1/2 stick butter or coconut oil or combination of both (I have used both. A combo works very well)
1/2 cup brown cane sugar, sucanat, muscovado sugar, honey or maple syrup (I have used maple syrup and honey. A combo of sweeteners works well.)
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla (I didn’t add this, but it would be good)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a food processor, place the 2 cups of almonds and pulse a few times until they are chopped up. Some pieces will be much finer than others, which is what you want. Those little, fine pieces will remind you more of what granola is supposed to feel like (i.e. mimics a cereal grain in texture) while the big chunks are welcome as well. Pour almonds into a large mixing bowl. Do the same thing with the walnuts. (I did all the nuts at the same time.) Add the remaining seeds, fruit and coconut to the bowl and mix well.

In the meantime, combine butter/oil, sugar and honey over heat until combined. Take off heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour the hot liquid into the nut mixture and stir well until evenly combined and all pieces are coated.

Pour the granola out onto a greased (I use silpat), walled cookie sheet and spread out to an even layer. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until you can smell the nuts roasting. When done, remove and allow to briefly cool on the cookie sheet before decanting into your preferred storage jar while still warm, taking care not to allow it to cool completely on the cookie sheet as it can stick.

GAPS-legal Granola (modified, unbaked version)

4 cups any combination of crispy nuts (I have used walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts and peanuts)
1 cup crispy pumpkin or sunflower seeds
1 cup dried fruit of your choice, chopped into bite size pieces or raisins
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 – 1/2 cup coconut oil or butter or combination of both (dairy free w/o butter)
1/2 cup honey

In a food processor, place the nuts and pulse a few times until they are chopped up. Some pieces will be much finer than others, which is what you want. Those little, fine pieces will remind you more of what granola is supposed to feel like (i.e. mimics a cereal grain in texture) while the big chunks are welcome as well. Pour  into a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining seeds, fruit and coconut to the bowl and mix well.
In the meantime, combine butter/oil and honey over heat until combined.
Pour the hot liquid into the nut mixture and stir well until evenly combined and all pieces are coated.

Scoop granola into glass jars and let cool. Store in the refrigerator or freezer (for long term storage). Serve right from the fridge or let sit at room temp for a bit to soften. Serve in yogurt/kefir, with milk or plain.

Whole Wheat Crackers

Since we’re “taking it easy” around here I decided to do some baking with Rebecca today. Making crackers was one of my monthly goals, so I went with that. Laura on Heavenly Homemakers has a super simple recipe. Only a few ingredients, easy to do with kids, quick, not much mess. Just what I like. And they taste great! I’m sure mine have a little different texture since I use sprouted flour. But they are still very good. I only made a half recipe. That was enough for one full baking sheet of crackers. I had to increase the water and oil a bit to get a ball of dough. That could be due to the flour. They kind of remind me of saltines. But MUCH healthier. Maybe I’ll be glad I have them around in a few weeks 😉

Whole Wheat Crackers

2 cups whole wheat flour (I used bulgur flour)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup oil (I used coconut oil)
1/2 cup water

Mix flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Stir in oil and water until a ball of dough has formed. Roll dough very thin, about 1/16 inch thickness on a cookie sheet. (I find it’s easiest to roll dough between two pieces of parchment paper.) Use small heart cookie cutter to shape crackers. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes. Turn off the oven, but allow crackers to sit inside while it cools. This will dry out the crackers so that they become crispy.

For square crackers, use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 1 inch squares after rolling it onto a cookie sheet.

Sauerkraut

Last week I made my first batch of sauerkraut. I finally got around to tasting it today 🙂  Very good! It tastes like pickles to me. I just used the basic recipe in Nourishing Traditions. I used purple cabbage. Very simple (aside from a good arm workout pounding cabbage for 10 min.). Very good. And so great for your gut!! Plus it gets better with age. So it should taste really good in a few months 🙂

Sauerkraut
Makes 1 quart

1 medium cabbage, cored and shredded (I used my food processor for this)
1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
1 Tbsp. sea salt
4 Tbsp. whey, if not available use an additional 1 Tbsp. salt

In a bowl, mix cabbage with caraway seeds, sea salt and whey. Pound with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer for about 10 minutes to release juices. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down firmly with a pounder or meat hammer until juices come to the top of the cabbage. The top of the cabbage should be at least 1 inch (2,5cm) below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage. The sauerkraut may be eaten immediately, but it improves with age.

Crispy Pumpkin Seeds

I’ve made plenty of crispy nuts, but yesterday I did my first batch of seeds. I did pumpkin seeds. Yum!!! So salty and crunchy. A great, healthy snack. And a great add in for homemade granola. Same process for making crispy nuts, just different ratios.

Crispy Pumpkin Seeds

4 cups of raw, hulled pumpkin seeds
2 Tbsp. sea salt
filtered water

Mix water, salt and seeds. Soak at least 7 hours (I soaked mine for close to 24 hours). Dry in dehydrator or oven at lowest setting (150) until completely dry and crisp.

Bacon Bowls

Last recipe post for a little bit. We’re heading out tomorrow morning. So today will be church and packing…no new baking/cooking. The last couple days I’ve been trying to do simple meals, use up a few things (like eggs) and not create a bunch of leftovers. I thought it was a perfect chance to try making bacon bowls 🙂  I saw this recipe a while back on The Coconut Mama and thought it sounded like a really fun idea. Especially since Rebecca LOVES bacon. Seriously. I can’t even put it on her plate because she wouldn’t touch her other food. I have to give her a couple little pieces at a time and then make sure she eats some other stuff before giving her more. The original recipe uses them as salad bowls. But I decided to use them for scrambled eggs. So fun! A little bowl made out of bacon to put your eggs in. And so good!! Especially when you have great bacon from a local farm. This is a great meal when you’re trying to get plenty of animal fat and protein in your diet. A great meal for fertility 🙂  Butter, whole milk and fresh eggs then bacan added to it! There are various ways you can arrange the bacon to create a bowl. Some people weave it. Some spiral it. Just do what you like. I laid mine over our 8 oz. pyrex bowls (turned upside down) and used toothpicks to hold it in place. I put them on a baking sheet to catch all the grease. They worked great for eggs. If you’re doing a salad you might want to weave it/use more bacon so there aren’t big holes. I used 4 slices each for the adult bowls and 3 slices for Rebecca’s. That’s all we had. And, yes, Rebecca ate every bite of hers and would have eaten more if there was any 😛  I bet these would be really good with chicken salad. Maybe that will be what I do next…my cashew avocado chicken salad in bacon bowls. Mmmm.

Bacon Bowls

bacon
mold – small bowls/cups/ramekins (upside down), muffin pan (upside down) or tinfoil balls (I personally don’t like to cook with foil, but this will work if it’s all you have or don’t want to have as much clean up afterwards.)
toothpicks
baking sheet

Arrange bacon around bowl/cup/foil and fasten with toothpicks. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 25 – 45 min.*  Remove with tongs and let cool/drain on paper towel. Fill and enjoy!

*You’ll have to check these once in a while. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the bacon and how many layers you have. With 3 layers at one spot on my bowls they took about 40 min.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

I’m trying to use up the perishable food in our fridge before we leave for vacation. And that includes some plain yogurt. Yesterday morning I made a batch of blueberry sourdough muffins. And Justin asked if I was going to make “regular” blueberry muffins. So I did a search for blueberry muffins that use yogurt and found a great recipe from Simply Recipes. I used whole wheat flour instead of AP. They turned out great! So moist. Rebecca and I had one yesterday morning after baking them…even though we had just had some of the sourdough muffins 😉  A great recipe. A great way to use fresh blueberries. And a great way to use up plain yogurt. I’m assuming the original recipe intends you to use fat free or low fat. I use whole 🙂  The original recipe says it makes 12-16 muffins. I got 22 regular size muffins out of this…filling each muffin cup to the top. Some crispy walnuts would be really good in these. You could also add a cinnamon-sugar topping if you like a really sweet muffin.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
makes 18 – 22 muffins

3 cups flour (I used whole wheat. You can use all purpose.)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
10 Tbsp. butter, softened (this was impromptu baking, so my butter was cold. I had to warm the butter on the stove. It was partly melted, partly soft. Still worked fine.)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (This isn’t in the original recipe, but I added it to mine.)
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (I used whole)
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen, thawed)
1 Tbsp. flour (if using frozen blueberries)

Heat oven to 375. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In large bowl cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in lemon zest (and vanilla). Add flour mixture and yogurt alternately, 1/3 at a time, beating after each addition, just until blended. Do not over mix. Fold in berries (if using frozen, defrost, drain, and coat with a light dusting of flour.)

Pour batter into greased muffin pan or muffin cups. Bake 25-30 min., until golden brown on top and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 5 min. and remove from pan.

Sweet Potaote (Veggie) Chips

I’ve been wanting to make some healthier non-sweet snacks. And continue to increase my veggie intake. So I decided to start experimenting with veggie chips. So far I’ve only tried making them in my dehydrator. I made zucchini chips earlier this week (which I forgot to take a picture of). They turned out well. Yesterday I made sweet potato chips. Those are really good too! And both are raw, so they still have most of their nutrients. I’m still experimenting and want to try other veggies too. I had some boughten carrot chips recently that I love, so I want to try that for sure. For the zucchini chips I didn’t add anything besides sea salt. For the sweet potato chips I added a little olive oil. I think that worked well. My only issue is figuring out how to keep them crisp. They are crisp right out of the dehydrator, but then they get a little soft. So I’ll have to keep experimenting. And try other ways of making them. I want to try cooking them in coconut oil or palm shortening. I’m excited to have these to take on our trip. A tastey, healthy treat!

Sweet Potato (Veggie*) Chips

Sweet potato, peeled, sliced very thinly (I used my mandolin/food slicer on its lowest setting)
Olive oil
Sea salt

Toss potato slices with oil and salt. Place in single layers on dehydrator trays. Cook until completly dry and crisp.

*The thickness of the veggie depends on the moisture content. So you’ll have to experiment. For sweet potatoes very thin slices work well (low moisture content veggie). For zucchini you need much thicker slices – 1/4 – 1/2″ (high moisture content veggie).