Whole Wheat Banana Bread

By Guest Blogger: Jena Demarco

Mini loaves for the adults and mini muffins without chocolate chips for the children.


1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
¾ cup Oatmeal Flour
¼ cup milled Flax
1 Tablespoon Wheat Germ
1 teaspoon Baking Soda (aluminum free)
½ teaspoon Real Salt
½ cup Egg Beaters*
2 cups Mashed Bananas
½ cup Honey
¼ cup Applesauce
1 Tablespoon fresh Lemon Juice
½ teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Chocolate Chips or Carob Chips(optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Combine wet ingredients together in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake mini muffins at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes or until done. For large loaves bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes or until toothpick/knife test comes out clean.

*Note: I leave out the eggs and just add a little more banana and flax seed. I have yet to notice a difference in the banana bread.

Quinoa Salad

By Guest Blogger: Jena Demarco



Quinoa has become a favorite food to my family. You will not find our refrigerator without a bowl of cooked quinoa. In fact my husband just ordered us about 50 pounds for our food storage! I really don’t know how we will get through it all, but I think the way we are consuming our quinoa, it’s probably a good possibility that we will.

Some of the benefits of eating quinoa, besides the fact that we love the taste of it, is that it is a complete protein. Meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids! It is also a very good source of manganese, iron, copper and phosphorus. It is also low in gluten content, so it is one of the least allergenic grains.

There are many other benefits of this simple grain, for more information go to this site. They will give you the history and some other recipe ideas.

Here are some of the things we do with this grain that are simple and tasty.

First we cook the quinoa according to package directions so that we have it on hand for making these recipes. Like I said we usually keep a bowl of cooked quinoa for lunches and quick dinner preparations.

To cook the quinoa, add one part of the grain (make sure to rinse it well before cooking) to two parts liquid in a saucepan. After the mixture is brought to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and cover. One cup of quinoa cooked in this method usually takes 15 minutes to prepare. We have enjoyed it warm and cold with the following recipe.

Quinoa Salad (pictured above)

We just eyeball the amounts, if you like lots of veggies do more, and if you want more grain do fewer veggies. All veggies are cut up. This is just what we had put in and found we like, so by all means add your favorite vegetables and take out what you don’t like.)

Cooked Quinoa
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Avocado
Basil or any other favorite fresh herb you have
Mung bean sprouts or Alfalfa sprouts
Juice of a Lemon (to taste)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (just enough to coat the grain)
Salt to taste

Quinoa Patties

Cooked Quinoa
Milled Flax seed
Egg
Shredded: carrots, zucchini, cucumber
Fresh cilantro and parsley
Salt and other seasonings you like

Make into patties and grill with a small amount of olive oil. We like putting avocado on the top.

Classic Green Salad

We had a few people wanting to know what we put in a typical family salad so here it is! We also love to put cucumbers and red pepper as well as sprouts when ever we can.

Favorite fresh Lettuces and or Spinach
Sliced Tomatoes
Sliced Avocado
Julienned sliced Zucchini
Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Pine nuts

To assemble salad you can layer each ingredient starting with the lettuces similar to how the picture looks. Or, you can toss all ingredients together. Top with favorite dressing. You can also make a simple dressing with extra virgin olive oil, flax oil, or Udo's oil and lemon juice with favorite seasonings including Real Salt and freshly ground pepper.

Half Baked Pizza

This is a great recipe to bake up and freeze for later. Also, we love to use the same recipe to make a traditionally baked pizza. Enjoy!

2 cups Wheat Flour, unbleached (you could also use a combination of whole wheat or spelt with the wheat flour)
½-1 tsp Real Salt or Himalayan Salt (depending on how salty you'd like it)
2 tsp non-aluminum Baking Powder
2/3 cup Water
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and thoroughly mix together until fully incorporated. Pour the wet ingredients in and with a spoon or hands mix wet and dry together until it becomes a nice dough. Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll dough out in desired shape; make even thinner by hand tossing it if you'd like.

Place rolled out dough on pizza stone or jelly roll and bake for about 25-30 minutes until lightly browned on edges. Now it is ready for your favorite toppings!

For this pizza my girls and I had for lunch we topped it off with our Pesto Sauce, fresh sliced tomatoes, red peppers, and an overly ripe avocado I was needing to use up. You could also top it off with rice cheese or goat cheese. Yum!

Lemon "Curd" or Syrup

Depending on how much coconut cream concentrate you add to this recipe you could make either syrup or a curd like dessert. Add more concentrate to make thicker. If used as a syrup it could serve 2-4 people. If used as "curd" it would serve more like 1 person. You can always double or triple this recipe.

¼ cup fresh Lemon Juice
1-4 Tb Coconut Cream Concentrate
2-4 Tb Agave Nectar
1-2 tsp Vanilla Flavoring
1 tsp fresh Lemon Zest (optional)

Combine all ingredients into a Vitamix Blender or a good high speed blender. Start blending the lemon mixture on medium speed and gradually work up to a high speed for about a minute. Scrape sides of blender if needed and check consistency. It should be a nice smooth mixture. Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.

Roasted Veggies

This was one yummy dinner!

I will list the veggies I used this time but you can always put in your own favorite veggies. We often use cherry tomatoes too.

3 medium sized Beets, reserve beet greens and stems for another time
1 yellow Onion, sliced
3-4 Zuchinnis, sliced thick
3-4 medium sized Carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise
6 small Red Potatoes, quartered and sliced
2-4 Tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1-2 cloves Garlic, minced (optional)
1-2 Tb of your Favorite seasoning, I used an Herb de Province combination
Real Salt or Himalayan Salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Chop and slice all veggies to be thick but bite size. In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly making sure all veggies are coated in oil and seasoning.

Dump veggie mix onto a cookie or jelly roll pan and spread them out, creating one layer of prepared veggies. Put pan in preheated oven and cook for 2o minutes or until lightly browned on edges.

Best Ever Cabbage

This was one yummy dinner! Take note that the cabbage still has body to it. In other words, don't over cook the cabbage!

This recipe was given to me by this wonderful women and contributor on Simply Healthful. I also used a Meyer lemon that was locally grown. To achieve Best Ever Cabbage I would suggest doing the same!

1 head of Cabbage, sliced and washed
1 tsp fresh Thyme
1/2 tsp Marjoram
1/2 tsp Rosemary, fresh or dried
1 clove of Garlic, minced (optional)
Juice from 1/2 Lemon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In a large skillet put 1 tsp oil and turn heat to medium. Add cabbage and all other ingredients except for the lemon juice; sauté for about 3 minutes until cabbage is just barely beginning to wilt. Turn off heat and sprikle lemon juice on top of cabbage. Season with pepper and Real Salt or Himalayan salt to taste.

Seasoned Cod Fillets

This was one yummy dinner!

4 Wild caught frozen or fresh Cod Fillets, if frozen, thaw them completely
1 Tb Fresh Thyme
A few sprigs for each fillet of Fresh Rosemary
1/2 teaspoon Cumin
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Real Salt or Himalayan Salt

Take thawed cod fillets and combine all spices and oil in a medium sized bowl. Use enough oil to coat fish completely.

Place fillets on a medium high heated skillet taking excess herbs and placing them on top of each fillet. Cover fillets and cook fish until done, about 7-10 minutes. The fish will flake easily when it is done. Serve immediately.

Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

This was inspired by a Simply Healthful reader! You could call this a wannabe "Nutella" recipe. If you are not fond of the amount of coconut oil in this recipe you could use your favorite cold pressed oil instead. Many people use sunflower seed oil.

¾ cup Dates, soaked in 3 Tb hot water or ¾-1 cup raw Agave Nectar
¼ cup raw Almond butter or raw Hazelnut butter (if using Agave up the amount, making it more than the Agave Nectar)
3 Tb raw Cacao powder or raw Carob powder
4 Tb+ cold pressed Coconut Oil
1 tsp Vanilla extract or Vanilla flavoring
¼ tsp Real Salt

In a food processor combine all ingredients. I usually like to do the coconut oil last, adding tablespoon by tablespoon until it is the consistency that I like. To avoid heating you could also fold in the oil after processing all other ingredients.

If stored in the refrigerator this recipe will harden into a nice fudge! Enjoy!

Lime Cilantro Black Beans

I love this in a "Mexican" salad similar to Cafe Rio's salads without the cheese and corn tortilla chips.

2 cups dry Black Beans, rinsed and sorted
1 yellow or white Onion, diced
2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tb Real Salt or Himilayan Salt
1 Tb fresh Lime Juice
2 Tb freshly chopped Cilantro

In a slow cooker cover rinsed beans with 6 cups water and cook on low setting for 8 or 9 hours. After they have cooked for 8 hours check beans by tasting to see if they are soft and done. If done, turn slow cooker to warm and cover beans with lid. If beans look cooked but dry, add more water.

In a skillet on medium heat cook onions with oil for 2 minutes. Add onions, salt, lim juice and cilantro to beans and stir. Serve immediately if you'd like it warm.

Whole Wheat Tortillas

We love, love, love, LOVE these!

2 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup Ground Flax Seed
1/2 tsp Real Salt
1 tsp aluminum free Baking Powder
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1 cup hot water

Start by mixing all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the Olive Oil and mix well with your hands. The mixture will start to form into little pea shape balls. Then add the hot water slowly and start to knead until smooth. You may need less or more water so be careful and just add it slowly. You want your dough to be moist and soft but not sticky.

Next form your dough into golf ball sized balls. This recipe makes about 17 tortillas.

Before rolling out your tortilla, it makes it easier if you take a dough ball and flatten it a little in your hand to make a 3 inch circle.

Then flour up the surface you will be using and roll out your tortilla. You can make them as thick or as thin as you like. After you have one rolled out place it in a warm pan and brown on both sides. No oil in necessary in your pan because of the oil in the tortilla. These can also be frozen.

I make these all the time. They are surprisingly quick and easy to make. Try them out and let me know what you think. Enjoy!