From My Kitchen...

I thought I'd add some homemaking touches to this blog, including recipes, gardening tips, etc from time to time, especially as I'm not doing much 'teaching writing' at this time.

A number of years ago as I faced multiple health issues that left me unable to take care of my home and family as well as I needed to, I went looking for answers. I know I've written about it on here before, but for the sake of a brief reason for why I cook the way I do, I summarize here again. I was first introduced to Hallelujah Acres, then to Dr Joel Fuhrman, then to his colleagues (Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, T. Colin Campbell, and others) who share many similar recommendations for healing and for preventing many of the diseases Americans struggle with (did you know that heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc are all preventable?). I became fascinated with how quickly I felt better when I started eating more plants and less animal/oil/sugar. I am not a vegan and probably won't be one as long as I live with my husband and children (; but I do realize that Americans are very overdosed in these foods. VERY. So we have adjusted our diet to eat more plants (for thousands of years plants have been the staple of the diets in many countries) and use home grown animals for flavoring many of our dishes, with the exception of the occasional grilled burger, or meatloaf meal. And we are happy with it.

That's a brief summary of why my recipes reflect this style of eating, and you can always adjust them to suit your style better, if you wish.

I have heard the hype on soy, and have tossed it around this way and that way untie, I have come to a conclusion for my own kitchen. I believe that non-gmo, organic whole soy is not only safe, since Asians have eaten it for generations with very little disease but it is also high in protein and very nutritious as well. I do not eat soy that has been isolated (some tofu has a small amount of this, but we do not eat fake meats, protein powders, etc made with soy proteins), because any food that you strip and eat mega portions of an isolated ingredient of it is not good for you in the long run. Foods have been created to be eaten whole so that your body can use the different parts of it together. So we do eat some soy and the following recipe reflects that.

Aunt Cia's Cream

1 box (12ish oz) extra firm silken tofu

1 cup almond or soy milk

1/4 c sugar 

(or experiment with sugar/stevia combo)

1 T vanilla extract

8 oz soy cream cheese

2 T lemon juice

Blend in a Ninja or Vitamix type blender until smooth.

Use with fresh fruit, or for the filling for fruit pizza,

or as a side 'frosting' for zucchini or carrot cake.