Healthy Recipes: Apple Breakfast Bars

This is a recipe my girls love!  It's a great one to make a big batch of, then put it individual servings in the freezer.  For a moist bar, add milk (or Almond/Rice drink).  If you're feeling really creative, add 1/4 cup of pumpkin or butternut squash puree.

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Healthy Recipes: Apple French Toast Casserole

Many recipes I find are high in sugar and low in protein.  I "tweaked" this one to increase the protein content and decrease the sugar.  My youngest daughter is very sensitive to egg--the original recipe called for 4 eggs;  I cut the eggs in half and used applesauce.  You might also try butternut squash puree or pumpkin puree.  As usual, this recipe has also been altered to leave out any milk or soy.

Ingredients

8 slices High Fiber, whole grain Bread  (I found a bread with Quinoa)

4 tablespoons Butter (many milk allergic people can have butter)

3 Large apples, peeled and sliced thinly

2 TBSP brown sugar + enough Agave Nectar to equal 1/2 cup

2 tablespoons Water

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

4 Large eggs  (or 2 Large eggs + 1/2 cup Applesauce)

1 1/4 cups unsweetened Almond milk (or any type of milk)

2 teaspoons Vanilla extract

1 cup Chopped pecans   (I use 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans and 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds to boost protein)

Preparation

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet and add apples.

2. Cook and stir for 5 minutes.

3. Add brown sugar & Agave, water, chopped pecans and cinnamon and continue to cook and stir for 10 minutes until apples are tender.

4. Spoon mixture into 13x9 baking dish.

5. Cover apples with bread slices, making sure to cover the entire surface.

6. Trim the bread to fit if you must.

7. Beat eggs until foamy, then beat in milk, applesauce and vanilla.

8. Pour egg mixture over the bread slices.

9. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

10. In the morning, remove the dish from the refrigerator and let it stand while oven is preheated to 375 F.

11. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until bread is golden and firm.

12. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

13. To serve on a platter, run a knife around the edges of the casserole, place platter on top of casserole, and carefully flip.

14. To serve individually, use a spatula to remove serving, place serving plate on top of serving and carefully flip so apple side is up.

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Healthy Recipe: Crockpot Sloppy Joe's (Milk and Soy free)

This is a favorite the whole family will eat! I puree the red, yellow and orange peppers so they are not "obvious" to my four year old who has issues with food textures. I also finely chop the carrots, which end up resembling the meat. If I have sweet potato puree or cauliflower puree on hand, I add a half cup to a cup (depending upon the size of the batch). Most times, I make a double batch: 1 lb of lean ground beef and 1 lb of turkey (double all of the other ingredients).

HEALTHY SLOPPY JOE'S


Ingredients

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup Chopped red onion (or yellow, if preferred)
1/2 cup Chopped celery
2 cloves Garlic, minced + 1 clove minced for cooking hamburger
1 lb Ground turkey or beef
1/2 cup Sweet potato puree or cauliflower puree
1/2 cup Butternut squash puree
1/2 cup Shredded carrots
1/2 cup Minced red, yellow, orange peppers (steam or lightly sautee, then puree)
1/2 cup Beef broth
1/4 cup Tomato paste
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (for soy allergies, we use A-1 Steak sauce; watch the imitations, they often have some pretty nasty ingredients)
1/2 tsp. Crushed dried red pepper
1/4 tsp. Dried oregano
1/2 tsp. Ground cumin
1/2 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Black pepper

8 Whole grain hamburger or hot-dog buns  (we love Rudi's because they have no high fructose corn syrup or preservatives)

Preparation

1. Coat a nonstick skillet w/ cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil. Add the onion, celery and garlic, and cook until the onion starts to soften (3-4 minutes)

2. Add the meat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, cook until no longer pink.

3. In a crockpot, add the browned meat and all other ingredients, mix. Set it on low and let it simmer for 3-4 hours.

Spoon over buns and serve.

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S/M Free: Iron Skillet Supper

This is an old childhood favorite of mine. The aroma while cooking takes me back to my old house on Scranton Street :) And what can beat an entire meal in a pan? Veggies, nuts, meat, and whole grains.

Of course, I had to tweak it for our diets today. We used bouillon cubes back then; now we use Organic Broth. My 8 month old has a milk and soy intolerance, so the recipe does not use soy or milk. You can substitute rice noodles for the wheat noodles, but it will likely cook much faster or be mushy.

Here's the recipe:

Iron Skillet Supper

In a large pan, melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat.

• Add 1 cup of Rotini Noodles (we use whole wheat, but you can also use rice noodles for gluten-free) per family member (I used 7 cups so I had leftovers)
  
• Brown the noodles in the butter

At the same time (I like to multitask :) :

In a second smaller pan, cook ground beef, turkey or bison (I used bison in the picture) until cooked through (no pink).

Once the noodles are browned, add:

• 1 cup of Beef Broth per cup of noodles added
  
• 1/2 cup diced onion (dried can be substituted)
  
• 1/2 cup diced celery
  
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
  
• Add salt to taste

Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the heat so that the liquid is softly boiling. After 15 minutes of boiling, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of broccoli puree (the puree is simply steamed broccoli that has been put in a blender or food processor) and 1/4 cup of almond milk. *Then add 1 tsp of corn starch.

*You can avoid the corn starch if you reduce the amt of beef broth to compensate for the milk and broccoli puree

Stir again and let the mixture boil for 3-4 more minutes, until the noodles are soft and the liquid has thickened. Add the ground beef/turkey/bison to taste (I added the entire lb of meat since I had such a large batch). Stir well and enjoy!

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Applesauce Muffins--no milk proteins or soy

PHOTO COMING SOON!

Applesauce Muffins

TOPPING:

2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 TBSP Olive Oil (more if needed)

BATTER:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup carrot puree (or butternut squash puree) (steam the veggies, then put in a blender)
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups

2. To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the olive oil (or butter/margarine substitute--I couldn't use the butter substitute with soy, so I used olive oil)

3. To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl . In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the almond milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil and egg. Add the flour mixture, stirring until just moistened. As in any muffin batter, do not overmix.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18-20 minutes. Turn out the muffins to cool.

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