Molasses Corn Muffins

The typical corn muffin is either loaded with fat or super dry.  Theses are neither! We borrowed the base of a Martha Stewart recipe and tweaked it to make it low in sugar (no refined) and fat.  This muffin is awesome with chili, stew, or reheated for a morning quick breakfast to go. We use organic ingredients whenever possible.

Made 10 muffins (1/4 c batter in each)
Ingredients:

• 3/4 c corn meal (we use organic stone-ground)
• 1/2 c whole wheat flour (could sub out oat flour if you'd like gluten free)
• 3/4 c skim milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 3 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
• 3 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

*optional addition fresh/froze corn kernels (1/4 c) to add additional fiber

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray muffin tin with cooking spray 
2. Melt coconut oil
3. Add all ingredients into a bowl and blend
4. Using 1/4 c measurements, place into muffin tin.  Our made 10 muffins.  For the empty 2 containers, we add a little water to help the other muffins cook evenly and to prevent the pan from burning.
   
5. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
6. Let cool for 5 minutes and remove from tin and enjoy! Click here for a vegetarian chili recipe to go with these.
   

Nutritional Benefits:

Coconut Oil: no cholesterol, non-inflammatory

Molasses: high in potassium (236 mg in each muffin), iron, calcium, and low in sugar

Whole Wheat Flour: higher in fiber & protein than white flour, less refinement allows for longer digestion and less spiking of glucose levels in the blood stream

Low in Fat

Low in Sugar

Nutritional Information per muffin:

Calories: 119

Fat: 5 g

Carbs: 15 g

Fiber: 1.4 g

Protein: 3 g

Indian Cauliflower Rice Bowl

OMG! I have been experimenting with cauliflower in shredded form, and it's amazingly versatile.  I served this to our daughter and told her it was cauliflower.  I wish I hadn't, because she told me, "Oh I thought it was rice! I like it." My son said, "it's ok" (which translates to, had I not know it was cauliflower I would have loved it).  Both of these may not sound like compliments, but trust me, they are.  The recipe below can really be adjusted to have the flavoring of any rice dish you'd be interested in making.  The base tastes like a rice pilaf, and feel free to stop there, because it was awesome as a pilaf (even top it with some slivered almonds and you'll fool everyone!). The recipe makes enough for 6 servings as a side dish or 2-3 large main dish portions.

Cauliflower Rice Pilaf Base:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup of red onions-about 1 large (could use regular onions too)
• 2 1/2 cups (or more) of mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups of cubed eggplant (could omit if you don't have any)
• 6 cups of shredded cauliflower (this is half of a head of cauliflower-left over from making cauliflower pizza crust)
• 1-2 cups of water or broth 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• fresh pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Shred the cauliflower in a food processor using the shredding attachment
   
2. Saute onions until translucent, then add eggplant and mushrooms
   
3. Add in cauliflower
   
4. Saute until cauliflower softens, adding in broth/water as needed to prevent sticking
5. Add salt/pepper to taste
6. *top with slivered almonds or toasted pinenuts

Indian Cauliflower Rice Bowl

Do you love 1 dish dinners? We do! Snap to eat, take to kids games, and less dishes! Who doesn't love less dishes?

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower rice base (above)
• 1 cup of beans (we used a mix of chick peas and black beans-use whatever you have on hand)
• 2 cups of greens (again it can be any kind, we used kale and collard greens)
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 garlic cloves-minced
• 1/4 tsp cayenne

Instructions

1. After making the cauliflower rice pilaf, add in remaining ingredients listed above
   
   
   
2. Saute until greens are wilted (adding more water/broth if needed)
   
3. Serve and top with slivered almonds, pumpkins seeds (what we used), or toasted pine nuts
   

Enjoy!

Nutritional Benefits:

• Low in carbs! Great for those on a gluten free, or low carb diet
• Low in fat-only 17 g in entire dish (could even be omitted if you wish to saute onions in a little water)
• High in anti-oxidants (vitmain C)
• Heart Healthy
• Diabetic Friendly!
• High in Fiber
• High in Calcium
• High In Vitamin C

Nutritional Information for 1 cup of raw cauliflower:
Vitamin C-86% of your daily needs (DN)
Vitamin K-21% (an anti-inflammatory vitamin)
Folate-15% (linked to brain and neurological function and formation for developing brains)
Fiber-2g
Protein: 2g
Calories: 27
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=13

Chick Peas:

Serving Size 1 cup (240 g)

Per Serving% Daily Value*

Calories 286

Calories from Fat 25

Total Fat 2.7g4%

Saturated Fat 0.3g1%

Polyunsaturated Fat 1.2g

Monounsaturated Fat 0.6g

Cholesterol 0mg0%

Carbohydrates 54.3g18%

Dietary Fiber 10.6g42%

Sugars 0.0g

Protein 11.9g

Vitamin A 1% · Vitamin C 15%

Calcium 8% · Iron 18%

Read more: Calories in Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans, Bengal Gram), Mature Seeds, Canned | Nutrition and Health Facts http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-chickpeas-garbanzo-beans-bengal-gram-i16058#ixzz2i2LbcePx

Coleslaw

Cabbage: Yes it's good! Try it!

 Most of us don't eat enough of the cruciferous vegetables, which are essential for heart health, and therefore improve our dental health.  Cabbage belongs to the same family as brocolli, brussel sprouts, bok choy, and kale.  Cabbage is a food high in fiber and anti-oxidants, preventing many forms of illness.

Often people have no idea how to prepare it.  Cabbage is very inexpensive and 1 head goes a long way.  Cabbage is in season in the fall and can easily be chopped and frozen (no need to buy it pre-chopped, it's so easy, especially if you have a food processor!).  You'll pay a lot more if you purchase pre-shredded cabbage and it won't taste as sweet and crisp.

Coleslaw is usually loaded with fat, in the form of oils or mayonaise.  The recipe below has very little fat, and no calories.

Asian Coleslaw: 

• Half head chopped of both green and purple cabbage (you'll need about 4-5 cups of each kind-shred remaining cabbage and put into fridge for use later in the week for a stir-fry or the freezer to be used in soups)
• 5 tbsp brown rice vinegar (any mild vingar will do)
• 5 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 tbsp agave nectar or honey

Directions:

Mix above ingredients in a bowl.  Slaw will keep for about 2-3 days before getting soggy

Note: make smaller amounts of this each day if you prefer slaw to be crunchy.  1 tbsp of soy sauce/vinegar: cabbage.  Left over slaw is great on top of sandwiches, burgers, or on top of a salad

Fresh, undressed cabbage is great thrown as added crunch into a traditional salad.

Nutritional Benefits:
1 cup cabbage contains: 67% of daily Vitamin K and 43% of Vitamin K
High in anti-oxidants, cabbage helps to decrease inflammation
Red cabbage is much high in anti-oxidants than green cabbage (so if you want to replace all the cabbage with red, feel free!)

End of Summer Chowder

Most chowders are high in fat.  This one has none! This soup is made vegan, although if you want to, you can use stock instead of water (we don't think it's necessary). 

Take advantage of all the delicious veggies at the farmers market (or in your garden) right now.  Soups freeze very well.  We freeze ours in plastic quart containers for easy meals when we don't feel like cooking.  This will provide you with healthy options, instead of grabbing take-out.  So-go ahead, make a big pot right now :) all of the ingredients listed can easily be swapped out for other you have on hand.  

Ingredients:

2 quarts of corn kernels from about 10 ears of corn: if using frozen use 8 cups

6 cobs of corn (after kernels have been removed)-if using frozen corn, it's fine to omit this 

3 sweet potatoes  skinned & chopped (about 3 cups)

4 cups of cubed eggplant (skin removed)

2-3 cups of cabbage 

4 cups onions
3/4 cup banana peppers

2 tbsp garlic chopped

12 cups of water

2 tsp dried thyme or 2 tbsp fresh thyme

1 cup of fresh basil chopped (can be replaced with parsley)

1 1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients into pot

Bring to a boil, then simmer

Remove cobs

After Soup Was Puréed

Purée using a stick blender or by placing 1/2 of the soup into a blender.  This will make the soup creamy.  

For a creamier soup, you can add milk at the end (around 2 cups)

This recipe makes a large soup pot full.  This recipe is easily halved. 

Nutritional Benefits:

No fat

High in fiber

Cabbage: cruciferours vegetable which has been linked to preventing many cancers, antioxidant, and high in fiber

Sweet Potatoes: high in beta-carotene a vitamin A component which is an anti-oxidant and aids in healing, promoting tissue/cell repair

Eggplant: lessens free radiacals in the body (reducing cancer causinf agents), helps to lower bad cholesterol in the body, anti-oxidant, high in fiber
Peppers: high in Vitamin c, an anti-oxidant that helps fight infection

*note: this soup is higher in carbohydrates due to the corn.  If you are a diabetic, limit your servings.  The benefit however, is that this is a high fiber soup, which will take time for the body to process and breakdown, unlike other simple forms of carbohydrates.

www.altmandental.com

White Bean Dip

Interested in a dip with no added fat and full of protein?! This one is it! You can change the herbs based on the season.  We like making our own beans.  Super easy and much less expensive

White Beans/Cannellini Beans-must be soaked before cooking

How to make your own beans:

-soak any bean for 4-8 hours

-beans are best cooked in a pressure cooker if you have one (they're a great investment!).  It only takes 10 minutes to cook in a pressure cooker, vs 1 1/2 hours in a traditional pot.  They taste so much better than canned and are much less expensive.  They freeze really well too, so make extra and freeze the rest for days when you want chili, soup, beans and rice, or any other yummy bean dish!

Ingredients:
3 c cooked white beans

1 or 3/4 lemon-entire lemon if using a Vitamix or zest and juice of lemon if using a food processor 

3 garlic cloves

1/2 c basil or fresh green herb of choice (like parsley)

2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil  (optional-not necessary)

Salt/pepper to taste

Put all of above in blender/food processor except oil

Blend

Drizzle in oil until desired consistency is reached

Season with salt & pepper
Serve with your favorite veggies, pita, or as a sandwich spread!

Nutritional Benefits:
White Beans: almost fat free, no cholesterol, packed with protein & fiber, high in potassium, calcium, & iron-this food packs a punch for healing those gums and muscles!
Lemon: Vitamin C
Garlic: anti-inflammatory, aids in blood circulation, andincreases immune health
Fresh herbs: calcium

In entire recipe:
calories: 600 calories (plus 240 cal if oil added)
fiber: 30g (wow!)
fat: 6g (plus 28g if 2 tbsp oil added)
Carbohydrates: 102 g
Protein: 36g
Iron: 60%
Calcium: 24%
Potassium: 1500 mg (wow!)