August Family Reunion 2013!!

Our Family Reunion on my dad’s side after my sister Sarah and her great friend Jeremy flew in for a weekend, we had lots of fun together! We went swimming at the local rec center, went to one of our favorite places of all time- Monterey, CA to Dennis the Menace Park, Del Monte Beach, and they made a trip to the Oakland Temple, and San Francisco, including the Golden Gate Bridge as well.  Hooray, we were so glad to have you here and share in some fun memories, sand-burying, mermaid-making, frisbee in the water, gym kickball, banana birthday cake with banana ice cream for Jonathan’s birthday and more! We loved it and getting to catch up and all those smiles that lit up our days! :)

Shredded Potato Tacos

Instead of using ground beef or shredded meat in our tacos (along with romaine greens(use as the tortilla wrap or just inside the tortilla), black beans, tomatoes, avocados/guacamole, cashew white sauce (we use in the place of cheese for lots of recipes), and homemade salsa….

….a friend gave me the idea to use grated red or gold potatoes seasoned with choice (homemade) taco seasoning and a little avocado oil or olive oil in it’s place! We tried it and it was super yum, the flavors were still there, but the health benefits greatly multiplied! Definitely a keeper recipe in this home. :) Mr. J Squared even liked it too! Hooray for a success on the home front! =D

Carrot/Rutabaga/Garlic Dressing

Grind sesame seeds, garlic, sauerkraut juice (with a little water added as well)

Add avocado/beet/carrot/cauliflower and blend.  Use as a salad dressing. =D

 

I used sesame seeds, ground them in a blender, added maybe 2 T of garlic, and about 1/4 c. sauerkraut juice with a few shreds of the cabbage too.  Then, I added maybe 2-3 large carrots, and 1/2 of a rutabaga. 

It was delightfully wholesome tasting with some original flavor and its all very good for us! yay! Fermented veggies in our intestines is much better at breaking down food particles and allowing for nutrient uptake and moves along more efficiently than other putrefactive food forms =D.  Yay for trying something totally and completely different! I also roasted rutabaga and sweet potatoes this week trying to make homemade chips, and they actually came out super soft…lame…I’ll have to get some pointers on that whole effort…but the rutabaga actually tasted quite yummy, to my surprise.  Sweet potatoes are always so wonderful too.  Hooray for new healthy experiments in the kitchen and new things to try out!

Millet Refried Beans

If you watch the fusion grain show on the BYU channel you will learn from a grain expert that millet is very good for you. I would like to share with you one of his homemade millet refried bean recipes. We just had it tonight for dinner and the boys asked for seconds. We had it with tortillas to make into burritos but you can just eat it as a side or even over chips and make it into a mexican salad. This is super healthy, clean, and easy.

3 cups of dried pinto or black beans (super cheap at Walmart)
1/4 cup uncooked millet   (got mine at sprouts)
9 cups of water
1 tsp. salt
1 T. olive oil

Place beans, millet, and water in a crock pot on high for 6 hours. After the beans are soft mash or blend them in the pot to make into however chuncky or smooth you want. Then add oil and salt.