WEEK ONE: 4-Weeks of Wholesome Dinners

As part of our 'series' entitled 4-Weeks of Wholesome Dinners, we will be posting six recipes per week.

Because, many people plan their recipes & grocery shop on the weekends, I will try to post the recipes for the upcoming week on either Wednesday night or during day on Thursday. So without further ado... on to this week's recipes! Happy cooking... and, remember to have fun!

Week One:

Creamy Indian Lentils & Rice

Vegetarian Rice Tacos

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

Zucchini Casserole

Venison Stir-Fry

Vegetable Pad-Thai

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~ Creamy Indian Lentils & Rice ~ Click HERE for this recipe

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~ Vegetarian Rice Tacos ~

Ingredients

1-cup cooked Sprouted Rice

1 can Black Beans [or dried black beans, soaked]

1 bunch fresh Cilantro

1 Avocado

1 can Chick Peas [Garbanzo beans]

Fresh salsa [make your own, or try the coolers in the produce department], or a jar of chunky organic salsa

Salad greens [ie: Spring mix]

Garlic, minced

Blue corn taco shells

Directions

• Warm black beans. Cook rice.

• Drain and rinse the can of chickpeas. Mash avocado with a fork. Chop approximately 3 tablespoons of cilantro. Add chickpeas, cilantro, 1 teaspoon minced garlic and 4 teaspoons of lemon juice to mashed avocado. Salt/pepper to taste.

• Spoon rice into taco shells. Top with black beans, avocado-chickpea mixture, salad greens and salsa!

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~ Vegetarian Black Bean Chili ~

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt/pepper

2 zucchini (about 1 pound total), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

2 cans black beans, rinsed & drained

1 jar (25-28 oz) crushed tomatoes

1 package (10 oz) frozen corn kernels, thawed

Directions

• In large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion & garlic, season with salt & pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes.

• Add zucchini, carrots, chili powder & cumin. Cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are crisp-tender, about 6 to 8 minutes.

• Add beans, tomatoes, corn and 1-cup of water. Simmer until slightly thickened and carrots are soft, about 8 to 10-minutes more.

• Option chili toppings: halved cherry tomatoes, diced avocado , shredded cheese

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~ Zucchini Casserole ~

Ingredients

4 large zucchini, about 2 pounds total, sliced

4 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 large onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

dried basil, oregano or other italian seasoning

salt/pepper to taste

Dried whole-wheat bread crumbs

Parmesan cheese

Directions

• Saute sliced zucchini in olive oil until soft. Drain and set aside. Saute sliced onion, garlic and chopped tomato until soft.

• Add dried seasonings (as much or as little as you would like), salt and pepper to taste.

• Add in zucchini. Place in a baking dish. Lightly top with dried bread crumbs. Sprinkle lightly with parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes.

• Optional: Add shredded mozzarella after initial cooking time, and bake again until bubbly and browned.

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~ Venison Stir-Fry ~

Ingredients

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 pound of venison steaks, cut into thin strips [can substitute with organic, grass-fed beef round steak]

10-ounce package of frozen vegetable stir-fry [your choice of vegetables]

Cooked brown rice for serving

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, brown sugar and cornstarch. Set aside.

• Heal oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir-fry ginger and garlic for 30 seconds. Add the steak and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes or until evenly browned. Add the frozen vegetable mix and stir--fry for an additional 5-minutes or until completely heated. Add the soy sauce mixture, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower heat and simmer until sauce is thick and smooth. Serve over rice immediately.

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~ Vegetable Pad-Thai ~

Ingredients

8 ounces dried, wide and flat rice noodles (find them in the Asian foods section)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 head broccoli, chopped

1 carrot, shredded

2 large eggs (optional), lightly beaten

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts

Directions

• Soak noodles according to package directions (this could take up to 45-minutes depending on the brand of noodles you purchase so plan accordingly!). Drain noodles after soaking time.

• In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, lime juice and soy sauce.

• In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring constantly until fragrant and onions are softened. Add eggs (if using) and cook, scraping skillet with a rubber spatula, until eggs are almost set; about 1-minute. Transfer egg mixture to a plate.

• Add broccoli and carrots with a little bit of water. Cover. Steam for approximately 5-minutes until broccoli is bright green and tender. Drain water. Transfer to plate with egg mixture and set aside.

• Add noodles and soy-sauce mixture to skillet; cook, tossing constantly until noodles are soft and coated with sauce, about 1 minute. Add egg mixture with vegetables and toss to coat & warm, breaking eggs up gently.

• Serve topped with cilantro and peanuts.

Banana Cookies

Banana Cookies

A quick healthy snack... and they're fun for kids to make!!

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana [ripe is important: need moisture for the graham crackers to stick]

• 3 organic graham cracker squares

Instructions

• Place the graham cracker squares on a plate, and using the back of a fork smash into crumbs

• Place crumbs in a plastic container with a lid

• Peel and slice the banana and place in the container

• Tightly secure the containers lid and give to your child to shake, shake, shake!

• Continue to shake until all parts of the banana are covered with crumbs.

• Open and Enjoy!

Courtesy of www.babyfooddoctor.com

4-Weeks of Wholesome Dinners

Friends & family ask me a lot for my dinner recipes. Most of them either want to incorporate fresh, wholesome foods into their diets -or- they simply want to expand their recipe base because they're tired of making the same things over and over again.

So, I had an idea (surprise, surprise!)...

I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be nice to blog about the recipes I use and then categorize those into a weekly planning system for families?"

So, that's what I'm going to do! *big smile* :)

I will post 24 of my favorite recipes and group them together by week based on similar ingredients contained in each recipe [that's so shopping is easier, faster & ends up being more affordable].

So, that's 6 dinners per week for 4 weeks... because I get one "night-off" from cooking dinner every week, and we either eat at my parents house, in-laws, or we splurge and go for our favorite ethnic cuisine (Thai!!) or our favorite wood-fired brick oven pizza.

Be Forewarned though: about 95% of recipes I use are not for the 'faint-of-heart' or those looking for easy 10-minute meals that they pop in microwave and then set on the table. We also only eat meat only once per week so most of the recipes I use are Vegetarian or Vegan. When we do have meat, it is either wild venison, organic free-range [local] poultry and on occasion we will have [local] organic grass-fed beef. We eat this way because we believe it provides optimal health for our bodies; the way God designed them (see here and here). Don't worry, we get plenty of plant-based proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats and all that other good essential stuff from plants!

I fully believe in cooking from scratch using only whole, fresh organic ingredients - none of those mixes or that processed 'convenience' food [occasionally I will use a can of beans or instant brown rice, but that's not the 'norm'].

Yes!, it absolutely takes more time to cook from scratch but what your family gains in return is much more than the measly 20-minutes you saved by serving them convenience food.

If you're a stay-at-home parent, then cooking from scratch really is a no-brainer. Kids melt down while you are prepping dinner, you say? Well, then have them help you!! My 3-year old loves to rinse veggies in the sink for me, rough chop vegetables [even young children can safely be taught how to use sharp knives and they should be taught that skill!!] and stir.

Are you a work-out-of-the-home parent? Then prep some of your meal the night before [some vegetables can be chopped saving you lots of time, etc.]

And quite frankly, do you think that God really intended for our meals to be full of dyes, artificial chemicals, sweeteners, preservatives and things we can't pronounce? I don't think so!!

Can you imagine Jesus eating a Big Mac?! Ha! ;)

So - grab your apron, favorite knife & cutting board; and get ready to chop, dice, sauté and simmer your way to some tasty, wholesome dinners for your family over the next month!!

PS. I hardly ever wear an apron ;)

Guest Post from Life In The Nest: Homemade Apple & Banana Chips

We will feature a guest post once per week here on our Eating Eden blog! The guest posts will contain recipes, gardening tips, health & food information, studies on God's Word or a combination of topics!

Our first guest blog post comes from our friend Jennifer at Life In The Nest! She blogs about her making homemade apple and banana chips. This can be a great project with your kids, and dried fruit is such a healthy snack! Thanks for sharing, Jen!

Homemade Apple and Banana Chips

Last week I grabbed a bag of apples and an extra bunch of bananas to dehydrate. They weren’t on sale, but I shop at Aldi, and their regular prices are always great.

I love to dehydrate just about anything, and there are so many advantages to doing so.

1. I can make healthy snacks for my kids at home or their lunchbox. Also dried food is great for camping or picnics; either by it self or part of homemade trail mix.
2. Dehydrated food takes less space and lasts longer than canned or frozen food.
3. Dehydrated food is easy! Takes less time than canning.

My son loves helping me make apple chips - it’s because he likes to use the apple peeler. I don’t blame him; it’s one of my favorite kitchen gadgets too! Do you have one of these?

Man, when I got mine, it revolutionized my world! (A little too dramatic)? Maybe, but seriously, this thing peels, slices and cores an apple in seconds!

To dehydrate apples and bananas, simply peel, slice, and place in a bowl of lemon or lime water. It’s best if the water to lemon/lime ratio is 4:1.

Place the fruit on a towel and blot off the excess water. Then, just arrange the fruit on the trays of a dehydrator.

How long?

I have a very simple kind of dehydrator; there are no timers or temperature settings (this baby’s a garage sale find! ). I just watch my stuff and when I like how dry it is, I take it out. The apples took about 18 hours and the bananas took about 24 hours.

Here’s the finished product. I store these in glass jars - but they go fast in our house .

Wegmans Recall of Prepared Foods Containing Hard-Cooked Eggs - Possible Listeria

Wegmans Recalls Various Prepared Foods That Contain Hard-Cooked Eggs

February 2, 2012 – Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is recalling hard-cooked eggs, as well as prepared foods that contain hard-cooked eggs, sold between January 23 and February 1, 2012 because the eggs have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

This recall only affects purchases made at Wegmans’ Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Canandaigua, Newark, Geneva, Corning, Elmira, Geneseo, and Hornell stores. It came about as the result of a recent recall by Minnesota-based Michael Foods, Inc., which produces the cooked eggs at its Wakefield, Nebraska facility.

Eggs (special-order deli tray or 6-pack, 12 pack)

Cobb Salad (10 oz, 43 oz, and 6.5 lb)

Garden Salad (10 oz, 20 oz, 2 lb, and 5 lb)

Baby Spinach Salad (9 oz, 1.8 lb, and 3.9 lb)

Chef Salad (9 oz. and 18 oz.)

Egg Salad (sold by the pound in prepared foods)

Egg Salad Sub (Sub Shop)

Kosher Macaroni Salad (sold by the pound in kosher deli)

Kosher Pickled Eggs (sold by the pound in kosher deli)

More info found HERE.

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread (No-Knead)

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread (No-Knead)

The recipe made 2 loaves with a little extra leftover.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1 1/2 tablesppons granulated yeast (2 packets)

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup honey

5 tablespoons oil

6 2/3 cups whole wheat flour

Directions

Mix yeast, salt, honey & oil with milk & water in a 5 qt bowl with lid (not an airtight light).

I used my crockpot and it worked great for this.

Mix in remaining dry ingredients without kneading using a spoon.

Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (flattens on top) about 2 to 3 hours.

Refrigerate (not airtight) for up to 4 days. You should refrigerate a few hours before baking because the dough is easier to use when cold.

Baking Directions

When you are ready to bake: Lightly grease a nonstick bread pan. Using wet hands, scoop out a cantelope sized ball of dough. Keeping hands wet, quickly shape dough into a ball by stretching surface of dough around to the bottom on all sides. Rotate ball a quarter turn as you go. Do this for approximately 30 seconds. The dough will change consistency and form a "gluten cloak" around the outside of the loaf.

Drop dough into greased bread pan. Fill the pan slightly more than half-full. Allow to rest for 1 1/2 hours - bread will spread out and fill pan as it rests. Lightly flour the top of the loaf and slash top, using the tip of a serrated bread knife.

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, with an empty broiler pan sitting on a rack that won't interfere with the rack the bread will sit on. Preheat oven at least 10 minutes. Place the loaf on a rack near the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup hot water into the broiler pan. Quickly close oven door. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until browned and firm.

Is God Concerned With What You Eat?

Do you think God is concerned with what you eat?

Consider this. Does God care about...

• Where you go?

• What you say?

• Why you do the things you do?

• When you worship Him?

• How you think?

Then maybe, just maybe, He cares about what you eat too!

Doctors, nutritionists, dieticians, health experts and researchers spend an awful lot of time trying to figure out what is healthy for us to eat, and what isn't. But, God gave us instructions in this area, if we just choose to follow them.

Consider His instructions in Leviticus.

I know, I know... many of you are probably now moaning, sighing or rolling your eyes. But, don't leave this page, just yet!

Keep reading if you truly care about submitting your life to God.

In Leviticus 3:17 God tells us not to eat fat or blood. But, in Chapter 11, He does give us a list of animals & fish we are permitted to eat. He also provides a list of 'unclean' animals. These are instructions from God.

Read Isaiah 65:3-6 and Isaiah 66:15-24 - God really does care about what we eat!

Of course, many will argue with me saying that God "changed His mind" about food and that Jesus gave us permission to eat anything we want.

But, does Jesus ever teach against God's instructions for us? Or, do Paul or Peter?

Acts 10: Commonly used to justify eating 'unclean' animals. In this Scripture, Peter has a vision. In his vision were all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles and birds and a voice told Peter "Get up Peter; kill and eat." And Peter responded by saying "No, Lord. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." The voice responds to Peter, saying: "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

While Peter was thinking about this vision and its meaning, three men arrive at Peter's home and asked to see Peter. The Holy Spirit told Peter, "Three men are looking for you. Get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them." Peter invited the men into his home as guests. The next day, Peter travels with the three men to Caesarea to see a man named Cornelius [a righteous, God-fearing man... but a Gentile]. When Peter arrived to Caesarea, he entered Cornelius' home [Cornelius had gathered his family and close friends there]. When Peter entered Cornelius' home [full of Gentiles] he said to them, "You are all well aware that it is against our Law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean."

God was not telling Peter it is okay to eat whatever he wants, He is teaching Peter that whoever fears Him and does what is right is accepted by God [Acts 10:35].

1 Timothy 4:1-5: Another argument used by many to denounce that God still expects us to confirm our will to His (including in the food we eat).

Paul starts by saying "the Spirit expressively says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons..."

Paul is not talking about God's Word, which is perfect in all ways. The context of this Scripture has nothing to do with God's Word or His instructions how we should live.

The next part of this Scripture says "commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the Truth."

God did not create bats, or pigs, or eagles for us to receive with thanksgiving. He gave us specific instructions as to which animals we should eat as food and to receive those 'clean' animals with thanksgiving.

In this Scripture Paul is speaking about deceivers: those who will try to tell us that it is OK not to eat the food that God gave us, and those who will tell us that it is OK eat foods that God told us are 'unclean'.

Paul goes on to say, For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified [set apart as pure; "clean"] by the word of God.

Mark 7:17-19: Many have interpreted this Scripture to mean that Jesus set aside food laws. By doing that, though, he would have contradicted himself! His critics had just accused him of not observing their traditions, and he responded by saying they did far worse... they did not observe the commandments of the Torah (verses 9-13). For Jesus to have said that the food laws of the Old Testament were not valid would have undercut his whole response and show him to be inconsistent.

So what exactly did Jesus mean when he said "there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him?"

All Jews would have been very careful only to eat food that was 'clean', therefore the food coming into their bodies did not defile them, or make them ritually unclean. Literally nothing that one eats could technically make a person ritually unclean.

In verse 19 of Mark 7, the gospel writer appears to have added his own commentary reading "Thus He declared all foods clean." Many translations have these words in (parenthesis).

But, this is not in the original Greek text. A literal translation of verse 19 in the Greek text is: because it does not go into the heart, but into the colon, and into the latrine, purging all foods.

The obvious point of Jesus' words, as they are written in the Greek text, is that it is not the food that goes in, but that which comes out, which has the ability to make a person 'unclean'. This forms a perfect basis for Jesus on the whole matter: teaching that sin, which renders the soul 'unclean,' and defiles others as well, comes from within us.

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With this said, we do believe that God exempted Gentiles from the requirement of keeping dietary laws. In Genesis 9:3 God told Noah, “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you.”

Since Noah was the father of all mankind, Jew and Gentile alike [after the Flood] this suggests that God did not make dietary laws mandatory for all people. Noah was a vegetarian before the Flood; it wasn't until after the Flood that God allowed humans to consume meat. While Noah didn't eat meat before the Flood, he did understand the concept of offering sacrifices (Genesis 8:20), and to Noah the difference between "clean" and "unclean" did not mean edible and inedible, but rather what could be sacrificed and what could not.

When God told Israel to eat only "clean" animals, He was essentially saying to His nation: Don’t take into the temple of your bodies that which would not be proper to bring before My temple/tabernacle altar.

That is a spiritual principle we can all learn from today!

At Eating Eden, we believe it is good to keep dietary laws [if we have the ability to] for the main reason of being like our Savior Jesus Christ, even in what we choose to eat.

We can each come up with our own personal list of things we will and will not eat. But, doesn't it makes sense to line our list up with that of our Creator?

Remember that long ago in a beautiful garden, the serpent convinced Eve that God really didn't mean what He had said concerning food!!

There is an incredible blessing that comes from obeying God even in simple things like our food choices!

"I worship the God of my fathers, believing in all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets."

Acts 24:14

“Jesus through Jewish Eyes,” quoted by Brown, Objections Vol. 4, 276