Cucumber Avocado Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

2 lb Roma tomatoes

2 English cucumber

1 medium red onion, sliced

4 avocados, diced

4 Tbsp. EVOO

2 medium lemon juice (about 2 Tbsp.)

1/2 cup cilantro (1 bunch), chopped

2tsp. or less Sea salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper

Fresh dill is a good substitute for cilantro

Directions:

Place chopped tomatoes, sliced cucumber, sliced red onion, diced avocado, chopped cilantro (or dill) into a large salad bowl.

Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Toss gently to combine.

Add sea salt and pepper just before serving, toss it.

Healthy Life Retreat 2016 Menu

We made our first attempt at running a health retreat this summer and this is the menu I came up with and used during the retreat. 

We made homemade almond milk, bread, dressings and sauces for all our meals even our own homemade mayonnaise.  I also soaked all the nuts, grains, seeds and legumes including steal cut oats and oatmeal we used at the retreat for our health benefits.  I sprouted mung beans and mixed alfalfa seeds for our sandwiches and salads.  We enjoyed soaked almonds for a snack as well.  Thanks for all the people who came to the retreat and helped make all these delicious meals.  

I will try to update and post all the recipes included in this menu.    

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast		*Soaked Steal Cut Oats  *Fruits and homemade *almond milk	*Avocado Egg w/ Toasted sprout whole grain bread  *Mung bean sprout *Mixed seeds sprout	*Sprout whole grain pancake *Fruit (apple, strawberries…)	*Oat meal *soaked almond *Fruit  *Coleslaw Strata
Lunch		*Tofu Tacos   *5 minute magic green sauce * Chips w/ Fresh Salsa	*Black Bean Burgers * Corn on the Cobb *Hummus/ Celery Sticks	* Quinoa Green Salad *Melons	*Garbanzo tuna sandwich *Sprout bread
Dinner	*Veggie Stir Fry *Brown rice and Yam	*Millet Patties *Green Salad *Roasted Cabbage w/ onion Dijon sauce	*Fresh Spring Roll * Pot-Sticker	*Penne Pasta w/ Pesto and Cashew Sauce  *Cucumber avocado tomato Salad

Spiced Soy Sauce Cucumber Pickles
Makes 2 quarts

For my friend Stacie who loves my pickles so much.  Stacie now you can make your own! It is so easy to make and you can eat in 2 days!  So hopefully you can make it soon and let me know how it turns out.  

You will need 2 quarts jars.
Ingredients:

10 to 12 pickle cucumbers (it depends on the size of cucumber)
1 big or 2 small onions
1 to 2 jalapenos (depends on the spicyness you want)
optional: 2 bay leaves, whole black peppers

For the pickle sauce
1 cup water
3/4 cup Braggs Aminos (soy sauce) or 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup Braggs Aminos
1/2 cup Sucanat Sweetener (sugar)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Sanitize jars in boiling water and set a side.
Wash cucumbers with coarse salt.
Slice cucumbers no thinner than 1/4 inch, cut onions into 1 inch squares (or as you desire size)

put a layer of cucumber, onion and pepper in the jar. Add a bay leave and whole peppers into the jar.

For the sauce:
In the medium pot, add water, sweetener of choice, and salt (if you are using). When it starts to boil, add Braggs Aminos and add vinegar last then turn off the heat. Be careful of the vinegar because it will evaporate if you boil with vinegar.

Pour hot pickle sauce in the jar until you fill 2/3rd of the jar. A couple hours later the juice from the cucumber makes it up to the top.

Leave it at room temperature for one day. On the next day, keep it in the refrigerator. Two days later, it will be fresh and crunchy pickles that are ready to eat.
BUT YOU CAN TASTE IT AND IF YOU WANT TO HAVE MORE STRONGER FLAVOR, YOU CAN ADD MORE BRAGGS AMINOS OR SALT (for salty) AND VINEGAR (for sour), at this point.

ENJOY IT!

Becky's peanut butter cookies that are gluten free with only 3-ish ingredients
(Inspired by a pinterest recipe) 
Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients: 

1 cup Peanut Butter or Almond Butter
1 cup of Coconut Sugar or Sucanat Sweetener
1 egg or egg replacement
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix all ingredients together.  Once dough has reached a good consistency roll into small balls about the size of a walnut.

 Then roll in an extra bowl of coconut sugar or sucanat.

  Place on a cookie sheet and indent the cookie with a fork like you normally would a PB cookie. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees while you prepare cookies on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes then place on a cooling rack.  Once cooled enjoy a wonderful experience of taste bud partying with the cookies!  

Sprout whole grain pancake
Makes 12

Ingredients:

2 cups sprout whole grain (hard white wheat)
1 or 2 eggs
1/2 cup none dairy milk (homemade nut milk or soy, rice milk)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons agave nectar
2 tablespoons ghee
optional: up to 1/2 soaked oat meal or cooked millet

Directions:

Grind sprout wheat (soaked 12-24 hour, rinsed well and drained)
in the food processor with 1/4 cup of milk. Make sure to scrape the edges a couple times so that all the wheat is ground.

In a large bowl combine, grinned wheat, rest of milk, egg, baking powder, salt, agave nectar, and ghee; mix well.

The consistency will be more thicker than regular pancake batter.

I add soaked oatmeal in this picture.









Just cook as you would any other pancake and enjoy.

I eat it with fresh seasonal fruit such as (apples, peaches, bananas, strawberries, blueberries....) and drizzled agave nectar or 100% pure maple syrup. Yummy!!!!

Sprout whole grain bread
Makes two loaves

Ingredients:

6 cups wheat berries ( hard spring or winter wheat berries)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup honey
4 teaspoons salt

Directions:

Be very careful to only sprout the berries until the tiny sprout is just  beginning to show and the grain itself is tender. This can take anywhere from 12 -24 hours, rinse and change to clean water 3-4 times during that period. (depending on the temperature in your kitchen.) If the grain is not tender, your grinder will heat up, making the dough too hot. I use a food processor. It works really well.

Let the grains soak for about 24 hours while keep changing fresh cold water. Until it shows the tiny sprout just beginning to appear. At this point, rinse and drain the sprouted grains until water is clear. If don't have time to make bread right away, put them in the refrigerator to rest until ready to make the bread. 

When I am ready to make bread, take the grains out of the refrigerator and rinse and drain them again.
Then remove the excess moisture from the grains by patting them with a paper towel.

Then grind the grains with the food processor. Grind about 1/4 of the grain at a time. Kneaded each batch a little bit in the food processor. 
Do the same thing to rest of the grains when it is all together in the big bowl.  
Then continue the process of making the bread. First, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Then, add the honey, salt, and yeast to the ground sprouts and mix it together really well with wet hands.
It is a little bit gooey but it really isn't that bad doing it by hand.
After mix it really well, form a round ball like a normal yeast dough, cover it with plastic or a cloth and let it rise for 2 hours.
After two hours, divide the dough in half and shape each half. Then flatten and spread each half  into a rectangle and roll each rectangle up jelly roll style.

To form a loaf. Pinch the seam together, then rolled it around until the seam is on the bottom. Then place the loaves in two greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch glass pans.

Let the loaves rise in the pan until the dough rises the top of the pans.

Bake the loaves at 350 degrees for about an hour. 
After the loaves finish baking, allow the bread to cool for a few minutes then remove from pans and place on the cooling rack. Then If you want you can brush the loaves with melted butter (it works very well without any butter too) and let them finish cooling.

Edible wild greens 

(mixed with Amaranth, dandelion, Mallow, Lambs quarter, prickly lettuce, Pennycress)

Amaranth

Dandelion

Lamb's Quarters

Mallow

Ingredients:

 1 baseball size of blenched and soaked greens
1/2 Tbs Braggs aminos (soy sauce)
1 Tbs or less Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang)
1-2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tsp roasted and crushed sesame seed
1/4 tsp sucanat sweetener (100% evaporated cane juice) or any healthy sweetener
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Optional: 1 tsp any nut meal  (almond,pecan, grounded flaxseed...) and 1-2 chopped green onion.

Directions:

Gather Wild greens from a safe place such as your own garden, avoid public places such as parks or the side of the street. Wash greens and clean off dirt.
Blench greens into boiling water 2-3 minutes or until greens are soft. Then place the greens into cold water and leave overnight. 
Soaking them is important to pour the bitterness from greens.
Than Rinse greens well, until water is clear and squeeze out excess water.
Place Greens into a bowl and add all other ingredients. Mix well by hand (I use gloves).  

Serve with rice, or as a side dish.

Almond (Nut) Milk
Makes 1 quart

Ingredients:

1/2 cup organic raw almonds (or any other seed or nut)
2 1/2 cups purified water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 pitted dates
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparations:

Place the 1/2 cup almonds in a medium size bowl and soak them in water overnight.
(it won't hurt if you soak them longer than 12 hours) While they are soaking rinse a couple times and discard old brown water and replace it with fresh water. After it has soaked over night you can keep almonds with water in the jar 2-3 days in the refrigerator.

The next day, discard the old water, rinse well and peel brown almond skin if you desire. Place the almonds and fresh water into the high speed blender and blend for 30 seconds.
Add the lemon juice, dates, vanilla, and sea salt and process again.
Place into a quart glass jar to preserve the taste and freshness.
Can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days.

* If you don't have high speed blander you can strain the liquid through cheesecloth to remove the large pieces.