Recipes and Meal Plans

Eating foods in season means that I pick up veg from a farmer's market and then I plan meals around what I have to work with. So what you see below is our summer and winter "menu," -- meaning I use the recipes below to prepare whatever is available so that we enjoy eating it. We eat these meals for both breakfast and dinner. Summer meals are mostly fresh; Winter meals use more grains and produce stored during the summer/fall.

My goal is find a way to like every edible plant. I do this on principle and because variety means better nutrition. If you are new to eating some of these foods, know that your body is made to dislike something you haven't eaten before. That way you only eat a bit of it while your body learns if it is beneficial or harmful. So you've got to try something new at least seven (7!) times. After that you will often find that the flavor of the food changes, and you will start to like something you didn't like before.

Summer

Snacks

  • Fruit & nuts
  • Almond butter with carrots, apples, or celery & raisins
  • Special occasions: dried fruit
  • Veggie crudites, carrot pulp crackers or sourdough crackers with hummus -- I haven't perfected the crackers yet; not a favorite.


Winter



Dessert

My goal is to eat God's sugar in season. This doesn't mean no fun, but it does mean eliminating the sugars of a conventional diet. It also means making desserts from scratch. When we make it from scratch, we don't make it often. I find the effort required limits consumption.

People often ask me how I get my children to comply, particularly when they are offered candy and treats everywhere we go. First, I taught them the Word of Wisdom and the short- and long-term effects of sugar on the body (blood sugar swings, addiction, diabetes). Then we made a family agreement to refuse all processed food in exchange for one homemade whole-food dessert a week. After that they participated willingly, I think because the dessert and the family bonding was delicious and satisfying (in a my-body-and-soul-feels-good kind of way). In fact, these desserts felt so good, eventually I felt ok skipping one of our meals and just eating dessert that night. We call it "Dinnert."

Once processed sugars were eliminated, our bodies changed. We found that low levels of God's sugar tasted surprisingly sweet. So even though I use the following ingredients to sweeten desserts, most of the time I can use less than half of what a recipe recommends. Here are the sweeteners I use, in order of preference:
  • Fruit, fresh or dried
  • Cinnamon & licorice root powder (licorice root helps with inflammation and is as sweet as cinnamon)
  • Stevia leaf (leaf, not a processed version). This sweetener works best when it is boiled, like in porridge, hot chocolate, or tea.
  • Dates, for things that really need sweetener, such as cinnamon rolls and brownies. The price helps me use them sparingly.
  • Raw, organic honey. I think of this as medicine, a gift from God's hardworking bees. I use it sparingly, perhaps 1-2 Tbsp in a dessert for four, and only when I will not heat or cook it as heat damages the medicinal qualities.
  • On occasion, applesauce and bananas.

Favorite dessert recipes:


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