Recipes – Sara-Chana Silverstein Master Herbalist and Homeopath, Breastfeeding Expert, Lactation Consultant

Recipes

Tofu Tacos!

Utensils needed:

Large frying pan
Pot
Cookie Sheet
Paper towels
Potato masher

Ingredients:

1 Extra firm tofu
2 Onions-diced
2 Tablespoons light olive oil
2 Cups brown or white rice
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, turmeric
Tomatoes, sliced
Avocado, sliced or made into guacamole
2 Cups shredded lettuce
1 Cup pre-made salsa
12 Taco shells

Directions:

Take tofu square out of package and wrap the bottom and top in paper towels to drain out all the water, occasionally press the paper towels to help express the excess fluid-set a side. Keep squeezing all the water out – the drier the tofu, the better it fries.
Cook the 2 cups of rice per directions-set aside.
In a frying pan sauté onions till golden brown.
Add to the sautéed onions the tofu square. Smash the tofu with a potato smasher till the tofu in in little pieces resembling ground beef.
Cook till tofu browns
Add: salt, pepper, garlic power and turmeric to your taste
After the tofu is browned and a little crunchy add the 2 cups rice-mix well
Run the taco shells under water for 30 seconds to make moist
Fill with the taco shells with the filling and place on cookie sheet
Bake the taco with the filling at 350 for 10 minutes
Fill tacos with: tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, salsa and hot sauce

ENJOY

Recipes

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. fresh lemon or lime juice
1 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup rice milk
3 tbsp. healthy margarine, softened

Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
Toss the blueberries in the cinnamon and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Spread blueberries evenly over the bottom of the baking dish.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
Stir in milk and softened butter. Spoon batter over the blueberries (it will be thick and clumpy).

Topping:
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch or kudzu*
1 cup boiling water

Mix together sugar and cornstarch and sprinkle mixture over top of batter.
Slowly pour water over all (DO NOT STIR!).
In an oven that has been preheated to 350°F for at least 15 minutes, bake until the cake appears done (about 45-50 minutes)

Kudzu powder

How to use: 1.5 tablespoons of kudzu powder to thicken 1 cups of liquid. Kudzu comes in small chunks. To thicken a liquid, crush the chunks into a powder, mix them with enough cold water to dissolve the chunks, then mix with the hot water. You can find kudzu in health food stores.

Kudzu, a member of the legume family, is high in complex carbohydrates, helps balance the acidic nature of many foods, and is soothing and cooling to the digestive tract. In clinical studies in China it has also shown to: lower cholesterol levels, reduce the risk of blood clots, and protect against heart disease.

Recipes

Spelt-Oat-Coconut-Maple Syrup Cookies

Ready for a treat that is Yum and actually has some healthy ingredients?
3 ½ cups Spelt flour (white or dark your choice)
1 cup Oats
1 cup coconut shredded (and shredded again in your food processor)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine (I like earth balance)
1 ½ cups raw sugar (I like Jamaican choice)
½ cup real maple syrup
3 eggs
1 heaping tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
In your food processor please shred your cup of coconut so it is very fine
Next add to the coconut and mix well: margarine, eggs and sugar
Then add: maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon-mix well
Combine the dry ingredients: spelt, oats, baking soda
than add into wet mixture
Next add: Chocolate chips
Form into balls and bake for 12-14 minutes
Let cool on rack and ENJOY

Recipes

SPELT OATMEAL- CAPPUCCINO-CHOCOLATE-ORANGE COOKIES

SPELT OATMEAL- CAPPUCCINO-CHOCOLATE-ORANGE COOKIES

These have to be the BEST cookies I have ever tasted! Wow, melt in your mouth, knock-your-sox-off cookies. If you want to ‘blow-your-diet’ this is the most satisfying way to do it!

2 cups white spelt flower

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Mix well set aside

2 sticks Earth Balance margarine-softened

1 cup organic fine sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp rice milk

Mix well

2 Tsp cappuccino powder

2 cups old fashioned oats

Zest from one orange

Mix well

Add: 1 cup chocolate chips

Mix gently (but don’t over-mix)

Form into small balls and bake on cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes

Cool on rack and ENJOY

Recipes

Menopause Recipes To Boost Metabolism

Black Strap Molasses is one of my favorite super foods for woman of all ages, and especially for women during and after menopause. It is inexpensive and lasts forever. One tablespoon packs a powerful punch of vitamins and minerals! Molasses is rich in iron, calcium and magnesium (which every woman needs especially during and after menopause) and also has manganese, copper, potassium. Iron provides energy and boosts metabolism. Molasses can be used to makes a quick and nutritious morning drink that can get the tiredness out of your body and give you the morning boost you need to the best you can be.

My favorite recipe is simple and only takes a few minutes to prepare:

1 Tablespoon Black Strap Molasses
1 Tablespoon organic honey
Hot water (in the summer you can also have this drink iced)
Splash of rice, almond, or hemp milk to color

Besides giving energy to the body black strap molasses also helps with: fibroids, anemia, anxiety, constipation, arthritic pain and heart palpitations. It also been purported to help to turn gray hair back to its original color (possible due to the copper content, as copper deficiency can lead to prematurely gray hair).

Tofu

Tofu is made out of soybeans and is shaped into a white block. Tofu is low in fat and cholesterol yet high in protein. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, foods containing soy, like tofu, contain isoflavones, which can reduce menopause symptoms and help ameliorate mood swings and vaginal dryness and hot flashes. Isoflavones are phytoestrogens, or plant-derived estrogens. Isoflavones have a chemical structure that is similar to the estrogens

naturally produced by the body. Phytoestrogens are also foods such as garlic, onions, and all sorts of seeds which can also help balance a woman’s body during menopause.

Creamy garlic tofu dip

This dip is full of phytoestrogens and will help balance a woman in a tasteful way. Tastes great served with rye, spelt or rice crackers. This is easy to snack on at work or in between meals as a ‘pick-me-up.’

1 14-oz tub of soft or silken tofu
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
10 leaves of baby spinich
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp dry mustard
½ tsp sea salt

Place sunflower seeds and garlic and baby spinach in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low speed for one minute. Eat immediately or put into refrigerator and store for later use.

Recipes

Medicinal Honey

Honeys healing properties have been touted for generations. People world-wide claim that honey helps with colds, sore throats, and coughs. Modern science shows that honey contains antioxidants, acids, proteins and minerals that help heal and strengthen our bodies. Honey can also fight bacterial infections thanks to its antimicrobial properties.

Adding herbs to honey turns ordinary honey into “medicinal honey” and is a powerful tool for the winter months. Medicinal honey is easy to make and you can customize it to your personal physical challenges and taste.

For Coughs Try Onion Honey. Onion honey is suggested if you tend to be challenged with winter coughs, garlic if you tend to get sinus infections or mix both if you tend to get both in the winter. Take a glass bowl and make a layer of either onions and cover with a layer of honey. Cover the bowl with either a plate or plastic wrap and let it sit on the kitchen counter overnight. By morning the honey will begin to turn into syrup. You can leave this mixture right on the counter and take one tablespoon two times a day as prevention or up to four times a day if you are ill. If you will not use up the batch you made within the week you can strain out the onions and put the honey in a glass container and keep the mixture in the fridge. Onion honey works well for children and adults but the honey can sometimes be a bit sharp for children under age 6.

Yummy Honey for Kids – (over one year old only). Medicinal honey is a great kid-friendly way for children to take herbs. Making a medicinal honey together with your children is a great activity for kids and parents and children love to watch the herbs melt into the honey. Kids tend to be more compliant with taking ‘healthy-stuff’ if they help their parents make it. For children’s honey I make the honey as above (use less onions for your kids batch) and add gentle kid-friendly herbs to the mix like elderberry, lemon balm or linden flowers and I also add cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans. Elderberry is a great source of vitamin C and antiviral, lemon balm is calming and antiviral, and linden flowers helps with fevers and flu. Cinnamon tastes great and also helps with stomach flus and vanilla is just yummy. (If you use fresh herbs after a week or you will have to strain the honey and refridgerate).

Recipes

Healing Vegetable Soup—Bieler’s Broth

I learned about this broth form the famous healer Elizabeth Poole from Los Angeles. She felt that whenever a person was going through a healing crisis they needed to take a day off and eat bieler’s broth all day long. She also felt that if a person was recovering from an illness or after a big eating frenzy they needed to cleanse their body with this broth.

My suggestion is to take a day off and just eat this soup throughout the day and in between eating this sleep, take walks and breath.

1 pound string beans, ends snipped
6 medium zucchini (green), ends cut off
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 bunches parsley (cut stems)
Several sprigs of tarragon or thyme, tied together
1 quart filtered water

Put all ingredients in a large pot, add water. Note: the water will not cover the vegetables but the vegetables will boil down and add more liquid. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about half an hour. Take out the tarragon/thyme, pour into a blender, and puree everything into a thick soup (it will be the thickness of split pea soup). Or you can choose to use a hand-held-blender.

Recipes

Rose Petal Jam

Rose Jam is so delicious! You can buy it on the internet these days from many different suppliers, but you can make it yourself and it is so yummy. Great to spread on toast, add to oatmeal, over pancakes (or by the spoonful when no one is looking)

Original recipe makes 4 half-pint jars

8 ounces fresh rose petals, white base trimmed off
(can purchase rose petals from http://www.healingspiritsherbfarm.com/ or http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/)
2 cups white sugar (organic best) divided
Juice of 2 lemons
3 cups water
1 (1.75 ounce) package powdered fruit pectin

Cooking directions:
Toss the rose petals, lemon juice, and 1 cup sugar together in a bowl until the petals are evenly coated. Let stand at room temperature overnight.

Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the rose petal mixture and reserved 1 cup of sugar; stir until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high, and return the mixture to a boil for 5 minutes. Stir in the pectin, and boil for 1 minute.

Pour the jam into 4 sterilized half-pint jars. Seal with rings and lids, label and store in a cool dark place.

Recipes

Trail Mix Bars – Nutritious – Quick and Easy Quick Fix Trail Mix Snack Bars

2 cup raw almonds
½ cup dried tart cherries, cranberries, or blueberries
1 cup shelled pumpkin seeds
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
¾ cup raw sesame seeds
6 tablespoons flaxseed meal
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup honey
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
9 x 13 inch pan

Finely chop almonds and dried fruit in the food processor. Put into a large bowl. Then add pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flaxseed and salt. Stir to combine. Next, heat the honey in a pan over a very low flame so honey begins to liquefy. When honey is thin enough to work with, pour the honey and vanilla over the nut mixture and stir until completely incorporated. Coat pan with light olive oil. Pour the mixture into the pan and spread evenly and flat. You may need to coat your hands with a little oil before you press the mixture into the pan because the mixture may stick to your hands. Bake until top turns slightly golden usually around 20 minutes. Cut into bars.

Recipes

Spelt Chocolate Cake

Perfectly Moist, “Dairy-Free.”

This is one of the most luscious and delicious spelt cakes, easy to make and will prove to be a smashing success.

2 cups raw sugar
1 ¾ cups spelt flour (white preferred)
¾ cup cocoa
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Combine all the above ingredients, next add:

2 eggs
1 cup milk (rice, soy, almond, hemp, or oat)
½ cup melted margarine
2 vanilla
Mix wet and dry ingredients

Next add:

1 cup boiling water

Mix but do not over-mix this batter. Spelt gets too crummy if mixed too much. Pour batter into a bunt pan. The batter will be very wet. Bake at 350o for 40-50 minutes; take out when a tooth pick comes out clean.