CRANBERRY SAUCE

The tart cranberry sauce is used on toast with cream cheese.  

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Yield: almost 2-cups

1-15-oz bag of frozen cranberries

stevia or maple syrup to taste

In a small pan, stir the cranberries over heat.  

The berries will pop.  Continue to stir and 

heat until the desired thickness.  The more 

you cook the berries, the thicker the butter 

will be.  The cranberry sauce can be use 

with the skins or you can blenderize to make a smoother paste. 

Use as a cranberry sauce, on toast, muffins, or baked fruit.  

PEAR WITH RASPBERRY

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

4-ripe pears

4-teaspoons raspberry fruit spread

1-teaspoon water

Peel and slice pears in half vertically.  Sprinkle with lemon juice to keep from browning.  Place on a plate core side down with water.  Zap for 3 minutes, turn pears over and repeat until pears are soft but still hold their shape.  Remove core but leave stem if possible.

Place two halves on a plate and fill each cavity with 1-teaspoon raspberry fruit spread. 

PEAR WITH PUMPKIN BUTTER

The frozen whole lemon and grater to the right used to keep the pear from browning.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

4-ripe pears

4-teaspoons raspberry fruit spread

1-teaspoon water

Peel and slice pears in half vertically.  Sprinkle with lemon juice to keep from browning.  Place 

on a plate core side down with water.  Zap for 3 minutes, turn pears over and repeat until pears 

are soft but still hold their shape.  Remove core but leave stem if possible.

Place two halves on a plate and fill each cavity with 1-teaspoon of pumpkin butter. 

FROZEN LEMON AND GINGER TIP

Keep ginger and a whole frozen lemon in a freezer bags in the freezer.

GINGER

If a recipe calls for ginger, take out the unpeeled ginger and grate the frozen ginger.  Return it to the freezer for future use. 

LEMON

Any time you need some zest or lemon juice to keep fruit from browning, get the frozen whole lemon out of the freezer and grate what you need before placing back in the freezer.  

COOKIES-LEMON BARS

(This is one of those cookies that you make up and adapt for your husband that likes lemon bars.  It took a few tries, but I got a decent lemon curd and a nice cookie crust out of my experiments.  The crust was crumbly, but I pieced it together a bit and rerolled it.  Delicious! I did sift some powdered sugar on the top to brightened up the color.  I laugh every time I think of my friend, Judy Farber, who told me the powdered sugar doesn't count if you lick it off quick. )

Oil a 9 x 13-inch baking pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Yield: 2-dozen bars

Filling

3 lemons juice and zest

2-cups water

2-tablespoons agar flakes

1-cup nut, rice, or soy milk

½-cup agave nectar

3-tablespoons arrowroot powder

optional:  pinch of turmeric for color

Crust

½-cup agave nectar

1-tablespoon white vinegar

¾-cup oil

4-cups pastry flour

¾-cup baking soda

¾-teaspoon cream of tartar

Filling

In a glass bowl zap the water and agar flakes for 5 minutes, stir, and repeat until flakes are dissolved.

In a pan whisk together the milk, arrowroot, and turmeric until it starts to thicken.  Add the lemon, zest, agave, and whisk together.

Crust

In a standing mixing bowl whisk together the agave, vinegar, and oil. 

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. 

Mix the dry into the wet and form dough.  Divide the dough in half.  Roll between two pieces of parchment paper into a rectangle the size of a baking pan.  Peel the parchment off the top.  Place the dough in the baking pan and peel off the parchment.

Spread with the filling.  Roll out the second half of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper.  Peel the parchment off the top of the dough.  Place on top of the filling dough side down.  Peel off the parchment. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden. 

This is an easier version with the same great lemon taste.  Use 1/4 of the dough recipe and pat it in a 9-inch square pan.  Fill with 1/2 the lemon curd and bake.  

GRANOLA CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Yield: 3-dozen cookies

½-cup maple syrup

½-cup coconut oil

1/3-cup ground flaxseed

1/4-cup water

2-cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1-cup granola

1-teaspoon baking soda

1/3-cup vegan chocolate chips

In a standing mixing bowl mix together the maple syrup, coconut oil, water, and flaxseed. 

In another bowl whisk together the flour, granola, and baking soda. 

Add the dry to the wet and mix until uniform.  Stir in the chips. 

Drop tablespoons of dough on parchment lined baking sheets

Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

PUMPKIN BUTTER

Pumpkin Butter Toast

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Yield: almost 2-cups

2-cups unsweetened cooked pumpkin puree or a 15-oz can

1/4-cup molasses

1/4-cup maple syrup

1-teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1-teaspoon cinnamon

In a small pan, whisked together all the ingredients. 

Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and whisk frequently for 15 minutes or until thickened. 

Refrigerate for an hour and use on English muffins, toast, bagels, and baked fruit.  

RUTABAGA STEW

1/4-cup olive oil

2-cups onion

2-cups celery (3 stalks), sliced

2-cups carrot (3 carrots), sliced

4-cups potato, sliced

4-cups rutabaga, sliced

4-cups zucchini, cut in chunks

1/4-cup soy sauce

1-28 oz can whole tomatoes

1 can of water

1-teaspoon paprika

1-teaspoon thyme

1-teaspoon pepper

Heat a large pressure cooker, add the olive oil until it heated.  Stir in the onions, cut each next vegetable and stir the pot after it's added.   Add the soy sauce, can of whole tomatoes, water, and spices.  

After all the ingredients are in the pot, stir, put the lid on, bring up to pressure for 10 minutes.  The stew can stay in the pressure cooker for a half hour or until time to serve, but you can run tap water on the lid for an early release.  

OCTOBER COMMENTS

I received some interesting comments and recipes from blog readers.  I tried everything out and loved all the ideas, but made some changes for myself.  That's the great thing about recipes.  You can take an idea and customize them to your sweetness level and calorie level.  I've always keep frozen ginger unpeeled in my freezer.  I use to buy fresh ginger, use it, and then it would get moldy. Mildrene Swan sent me the Frozen Lemon idea.  I wish I had thought about keeping a lemon in the freezer.  It's great for the times you want to use a zest or keep fruit from browning.  Marlene Chaff sent me a great stew recipe.  See her recipe below, and look for a future photo and my version of the recipe.  I used thyme instead of basil since I already have a stew recipe that uses basil.  I loved the rutabaga.  Susan Berry sent in the Harvest Butter Recipe.  She thought it was an old Amish Recipe.  I like any recipe that is buttery without animal fat.  I was concern that it would taste too molasses, but it works.  I don't use honey or sugar so look for my version in the future.  This one would make a great hostess gift.  Everyone has heard of apple butter, but a pumpkin butter really says fall with the holidays on the way. 

From Susan Berry:

Harvest Pumpkin Butter

l small can of cooked or canned pumpkin

½ cup honey   ( I added 2 tablespoons of sugar also)

¼ cup molasses

l tablespoon ground cinnamon  ( I added l teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice)

In a small saucepan, combine the first five ingredients, mix well.

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, Reduce heat: simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until thickened.

Refrigerate for at least l hour. Serve on English muffins.

Yield:  l ¼ cups.l small can of cooked or canned pumpkin

½ cup honey   ( I added 2 tablespoons of sugar also)

¼ cup molasses

l tablespoon ground cinnamon  ( I added l teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice)

Marlene Chaff's Stew

Onions, rutabag, celery, potatoes, carrots, zucchini

Start sautéing the veggies in olive oil, then add a little flour for a roux.

Season with sea salt, pepper and paprika, basil or herb de Provence

I'm smelling the aroma as I am writing this, I love food!

The liquids:

2 cups of tomato juice

1/2 cup of soy

1/2 cup canola oil

1/8 c tamari

Bake until tender, 45-60 mins.    400 degrees

This is so good with crusty home made bread ...toasted, with a little olive oil

and garlic

Beige, I made this 2 nights ago, just had some for lunch.

You prob. Already do a version of this...

Marlene

From home

In Warren, MA USA

Mildrene Swan's Lemon Idea

Amazing frozen lemon

All it is.....is a frozen lemon

Many professionals in restaurants and eateries are using or consuming the entire lemon and nothing is wasted.

How can you use the whole lemon without waste?

Simple.. place the lemon in the freezer section of your refrigerator. Once the lemon is frozen, get your grater, and shred the whole lemon (no need to peel it)and sprinkle it on top of your foods.

Sprinkle it to your whisky, wine, vegetable salad, ice cream, soup, noodles, spaghetti sauce, rice, sushi, fish dishes.

All of the foods will unexpectedly have a wonderful taste,

something that you may have never tasted before. Most likely, you only think of lemon juice and vitamin C. Not anymore.

Now that you've learned this lemon secret, you can use lemon even in instant cup noodles.

What's the major advantage of using the whole lemon other than preventing waste and adding new taste to your dishes?

Well, you see lemon peels contain as much as 5 to 10 times more vitamins than the lemon juice itself. And yes, that's what you've been wasting.

But from now on, by following this simple procedure of freezing the whole lemon, then grating it on top of your dishes, you can consume all of those nutrients and get even healthier.

It's also good that lemon peels are health rejuvenators in eradicating toxic elements in the body.

So place your lemon in your freezer, and then grate it on your meal every day. It is a key to make your foods tastier and you get to live healthier and longer! That's the lemon secret!

s not affect healthy cells.