In a few months the Cannas will be blooming out front and the Impatiens will have taken over!  Check out the cool rain barrel as well.  No more need to run inside to fill the watering can – it’s all right here.

Our rain barrel, “Storm Surge”  was painted by Ash Bowman and MingLi Goldsten and was part of the  “Retain the Rain” event sponsored by the Monroe County Conservation District.  The uniquely decorated barrels were installed at various locations throughout Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg.  If you would like to take a self-guided tour of the rain barrels, visit http://www.mcconservation.org/default.asp?contentID=13 for project information, a general map, and a link to a detail Google map of the rain barrels.

No worries if you can’t come until the evening, the entrance is just as inviting at night thanks to our client Betsie! The little flower lights add just the right touch!

We hope to see you soon!

Anita and Louise

My first step in this recipe was to cook the lentils.  I sautéed my scallions and celery first in some olive oil and then added the black lentils.  I always like to sauté them together for just a minute before adding the water.  I added only enough water to cover the lentils because I did not want a lot of extra broth since this was not a soup recipe.  My mom always added oregano and a bay leaf when she cooked her lentil soup, so of course I always do the same. I cooked the lentils until almost all of the water was absorbed – about 30-40 minutes.

While the lentils continued to cook, I took my cast iron skillet and added olive oil and shiitake mushrooms and cooked them for several minutes until the mushrooms were soft.  I added the spinach and turned off the heat with a lid on to wilt the spinach and wait for the lentils to be cooked.

In a separate skillet, I sautéed potatoes until brown and crispy on all sides.

When the lentils were cooked, I added them to the cast iron skillet with the mushrooms and spinach.  I tossed it all together until it was well mixed.

I cannot eat potatoes, but my husband can.  When I made this recipe before, I would toss the potatoes right into the skillet as well and mix it all together and top it would some goat cheese!  Yummy, I can’t wait until I can eat goat cheese again.  This time, I put some potatoes on my husband’s plate and some oat groats on mine and topped them both with the lentil mixture.  It was a very delicious dinner once again! If you have never tried lentils and potatoes together, I encourage you to try them! Good cooking!

A few years ago I really wanted to use my crock pot more so I bought several cookbooks. Who knew you could make so many things using a crock pot. I was thinking soups, stews, meats, but granola?  I never would have thought!  Well, if you think that you do not have time to make homemade granola because you don’t have time to stand around the kitchen waiting to turn the granola every few minutes so it won’t burn – pull out your crock pot and give this a try!

It was so easy.  If you have a favorite granola recipe or something sitting on the back burner waiting for you to have time, pull it out and let’s get cooking!  Basically what I did was put my dry ingredients in a large bowl.  I used gluten-free oats, pumpkin seeds, coconut, black currants, and maple sugar.  The recipe also called for milk powder but since I can’t have milk products yet, I used brown rice protein powder instead to give it an extra boost.  The next step was to turn the crock pot on high and melt/heat the liquids for 30 minutes.  I did not have that much time so I decided to heat the liquids on the stove in a small pot.  I used agave syrup and 1/2 cup of oil, instead of 1 cup and used 1/2 cup of applesauce as well. Once it was heated through, I poured the liquids over the dry and mixed it until everything was coated.

I did preheat the crock pot while I was preparing the ingredients.  I had it on high for maybe 15 minutes.  It seemed pretty hot when I added the oat mixture.  Here comes the easy part.  I cooked it on high for 1 1/2 hours with the lid off, stirring once every 30 minutes.  After the hour and a half, I turned the crock pot to low, placed the lid on it, and left it for 3 hours.  The recipe had said 4 hours but when I came home after 3, it seemed pretty well cooked.  I removed the lid for another 1/2 hour to cook off some of the moisture and then it was done!

I allowed it to cool and then placed it in an airtight container.  The next morning I had delicious granola with oat milk for breakfast!  Boy, that was easy!

The color of wood is green as I mentioned earlier, the odor is rancid, the sound is shouting, the emotion is anger and the taste or flavor is sour. You may notice in spring, the tendency towards irritation in yourself or in others. Choosing the appropriate foods can help to lighten your moods. There still tends to be a chill in the air during this time of year and it is therefore still appropriate to eat mainly cooked foods. The heavy oils and nuts of winter are replaced with spring greens, sprouts and fresh herbs and spices. Quickly sautéing food or lightly steaming is the preferred method of cooking. Below you will find some recipes to help smooth the liver and aid in your personal spring growth.

Grilled Asparagus and Shitake over Pasta

*Depending on the variety, asparagus can be slightly warming in nature, with a bitter and mildly pungent flavor. It can help to reduce phlegm and mucus, which are often side effects of spring allergies. Shitake mushrooms strengthen, detoxify and restore. Another great addition to the diet if prone to allergies. The addition of the vinegar helps to energize liver meridian and aids in digestion.

     Heat oil in non-stick skillet. Add ginger, pepper, and garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add mushrooms and cook for two minutes. Add vinegar, tamari, parsley, juice and maple syrup. Cook for 5 minutes and remove from heat.  Soak the asparagus in mushroom-vinegar for 5-10 minutes. Grill (or broil) the asparagus for 3 minutes. Place on pasta and top off with sauce.

Hummus

*Everyone has his or her own version of hummus. I like mine with lots of lemon and just a tad of garlic. Lemon is perfect for spring – with its sour flavor and acidic nature – it helps to support liver function. Parsley can also help to support the gallbladder by preventing gallstones.

     Place cooked chickpeas in food processor or blender with tahini, salt, lemon, garlic, and olive oil; blend until smooth. Add cooking liquid from beans or a little water to get desired consistency. It will store well in the refrigerator for at least one week.

Carrot Salad

*This salad is great as a starter to a meal. The carrots help to smooth the liver and the green apple aids in the cleansing of the liver and gallbladder and can help to soften gallstones.

     Combine dressing ingredients.  Add parsley and carrots. Mix well.

Detox Lemonade

*If you are feeling a little congested from the heavy winter foods, try a simple fast or add this detoxifying lemonade into your diet. Remember to lighten up on your foods at the same time for a more beneficial cleanse.

            Mix above ingredients together and drink. Use as few or as many glasses per day as you want. Recommended dosage: one glass before each meal.

The recipe looked interesting but of course I could not have all of the ingredients that it called for so it was time to experiment.  Basically the no bake recipe included peanut butter, sugar and oats mixed together and then rolled into balls.  So, what could I do if I had millet instead of oats?

I decided that I needed to have a nut butter cookie that included chocolate, so my first attempt was peanut butter, agave syrup, cocoa, puffed millet and shredded coconut.  They were very good but the texture was a little strange with the puffed millet.  I liked them but I forgot to write down how I made them.  Well, time for another try.

The coconut in the recipe inspired me to have a nut-butter cookie with cocoa and coconut.  This was a winner!

Peanut butter was good, but I recently was able to add back in pistachios and cashews – so I pulled out the Vitamix and made some cashew-pistachio butter.  Yummy!  That is a good combination! I decided that the texture of the millet was too weird and instead just used the coconut.  I rolled them into balls and then rolled them in extra coconut.  You have got to try these.  They are so simple, but they are delicious! Here is the recipe:

2/3 c. nut butter

1/2 c. agave syrup

1/2 c. cocoa

1/2 c. coconut + extra for coating the outside of the balls

I mixed the nut butter with the syrup first, then added the cocoa and mixed it thoroughly.  I then added the coconut.  Roll them into balls and then roll the balls in the extra coconut.  Done!  Takes about 10 minutes and it makes about 25 balls depending on how large you make them.

Try them!  Use any nut butter you have on hand and substitute any liquid sugar you like, maple, brown rice, or even barley syrup.  Roll away and you will not be sorry!  A healthy snack to have at anytime!

Have you ever used a dehydrator?  I had not either until recently.  I cannot say that I am hooked on dehydrating, but I am hooked on apple chips.  This lovely apple chip just came out of the dehydrator last evening.  Why am I hooked?  Well, personally I love dried fruit – practically any dried fruit!  Apples are so easy to make and within 12 hours of cutting them up, you have apple chips.  They are crunchy and sweet and a favorite snack.  My next batch I want to add cinnamon … I think that will be just delicious!

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can do them in your oven.  Here’s how: Line a baking sheet with parchment and place slices of fruit on the sheet, making sure the pieces of fruit aren’t touching each other. Place trays of fruit into the oven and turn on the oven to 90°F to 150°F. Then just sit back and wait, as it will take many hours for the fruit to dry. Resist all urges to turn up the heat—you don’t want to cook the fruit, just dehydrate it.

Try it with all your fruit!  I bought some dried pineapple at Trader Joe’s and it was chewy and sweet.  I can’t wait to give it a try.  Stay tuned – I will let you know how it turns out!

One of these recipes is just what I was looking for when I had a hankering for something sweet. It is not always easy to use an existing recipe because of the limitations of our current rotation diet which is based upon the ALCAT results from our food intolerance testing.  Luckily, I remembered this recipe from Cynthia Lair’s cookbook and couldn’t wait to adapt it to my needs.

Brown Rice Crispy Treats.  This is the healthy version of rice crispy treats made without the marshmallows and refined sugar and instead uses brown rice syrup, nut butter and a little oil.  You can add what you like to the recipe to suit your needs and taste.  For my recipe, I substituted sunflower oil for the sesame oil, I used hazelnut and sunflower seed butter that I made in my Vitamix and added sunflower seeds, raisins and cranberries.  These treats are just sweet enough and really hit the spot.

Check out the recipe at the link above and if you are looking for a great cookbook, check out “Feeding the Whole Family” by Cynthia Lair!

For ease sake, I cut the zucchini into 3 pieces and then used a melon baller to scoop out the flesh.  I put the zucchini in a pan with some coconut oil and cooked it over medium heat.  I added some thyme and some frozen butternut squash cubes and let it cook until the zucchini was soft.  I added the cannelini beans at the end and also cooked leftover millet.  Basically, I made a stuffing using the vegetables and millet.

I placed the zucchini open side up in an 8″x8″ pan that I sprayed with oil. I stuffed the zucchini with the millet stuffing mixture and covered the pan with foil.  I baked it in the oven at 375°F for 30 minutes.

 I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was a very tasty dish and that it froze really well.  I just had leftovers last night for dinner and it was just as good the second time around.  I will be putting this on the menu for this summer when I have an abundance of zucchini growing in my garden!

Eat well!

Well, she was right!  It was really not that complicated, though it is time-consuming!  Basically you take millet flour, or in my case fresh ground millet, and you place it in boiling water for just 2 minutes and then let it sit.  After it sits, you mix the millet and the water to form a soft dough.  It really is surprising how easily it pulls together into a soft ball.  After allowing it to cool, you take it and form it into balls.

The recipe suggested that you roll the balls between the sheets of a cut plastic bag but I used a bottom sheet of wax paper and a small rolling-pin and rolled them flat.  It was pretty simple.

To cook the roti, I used a cast iron skillet sprayed lightly with olive oil.  I wish that I would have had something bigger so that I could have done more than 1 roti at a time because it did take a long time to cook them individually.  Now, I have made pita before so I was familiar with the cooking technique, but if this is your first time trying a flat bread, don’t be discouraged; it really is an art to get them to puff. Most of mine did not fully puff though I did get a few.

The cookbook Flatbreads and Flavors describes the technique really well in their pita bread recipe.  This is a beautiful cookbook for anyone interested in making some fabulous breads!

Basically the technique is all in the flipping!  Flipping early and often in the beginning for some reason allows the bread to puff.  Well, puffed or not, the roti was delicious.  I slathered mine with ghee and ate it hot out of the pan.

I hope you won’t be intimidated like me and not try this roti millet flatbbread because it was well worth the effort!  And it froze beautifully so you might as well make a double batch!

Click here for the recipe!

After the final rise – about another hour, into the hot oven it went! Well, this year was a good one. Check this out!

Aren’t they beautiful!  I was so happy they turned out so well.  I was only able to eat a small piece because of the intolerance to wheat, but it was delicious.  I made a gluten-free variety as well, but forgot to take a photo of that bread.  It was pretty tasty as well! Hope you had a good Easter with some delicious food of your own!