Baba Ghanoush back to top
Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant or 2 small eggplants
• ¼ cup plus 1 heaping tablespoon tahini (sesame seed butter)
• ½-1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• Paprika for garnish
• Parsley for garnish

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Leaving the eggplant whole and unpeeled, bake it on a baking sheet until soft, about 30 minutes.  (For a smoother baba ghanoush, remove the peel from the eggplant before blending.)  Allow to cool to room temperature. Cut eggplant(s) open, remove as many seeds as you can, and cut the remaining flesh into cubes.  Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. Garnish with parsley and paprika, and serve with rice crackers, sesame crackers or fresh vegetables.  This dish also goes well as a side dish to chicken, pork or beef.  Serves 6.


 
Cream Cheese back to top

1.        Line a colander with cheese cloth (or a clean dish towel is satisfactory)
2.        Place colander on a bowl.
3.        Pour chilled unsweetened organic yogurt into lined colander and allow to drain for
     about 6-8 hours.
4.        Lift cloth by two opposite ends, place on flat surface, and with a spatula, scrape 'cream cheese" off and refrigerate.  It will be quite tart; a little stevia may be worked in with a spatula to sweeten.


 
Liver Pate back to top
Ingredients:

• 1 pound tender liver (chicken or calf)
• ¼ - ½ cup homemade mayonnaise (see recipe)
• 1 small onion, cut into small pieces
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Pan fry liver in butter until it has lost its pink color.
Cool liver and cut into small pieces.
Place liver, onion, and mayonnaise in blender or food processor. (If using blender, place mayonnaise at bottom so that blades will turn easily.)
Blend until smooth.
Serve as a stuffing for celery, on lettuce leaves, on seed crackers, or as a dip with raw vegetables.
Can be spread on squares of cheese and served as an appetizer.


 
Holiday Cranberry Sauce back to top
Ingredients:

• 8 ounces fresh organic cranberries
• 1/2 cup spring or filtered water
• Stevia to taste
• 1 good squeeze of lemon, lime or orange
• Lemon, lime or orange peel (if desired) to taste
• Cinnamon, freshly ground to taste
• Nutmeg, freshly ground to taste
• Cloves, freshly ground to taste

Instructions:Rinse and drain the cranberries and place in a small pot.  Add the water and a squeeze of fresh lemon, lime or orange.  Add some of the grated peel if desired.  Bring to a simmer and add stevia to taste.  Stevia is a concentrated sweetener. I use a knife point rather than a measuring spoon to add the smallest possible increments and taste it until it is just right.  Stirring frequently, simmer for five minutes or until the cranberries burst and form a sauce. Add additional water if desired.  Place in serving dish, cover and refrigerate until chilled.

 
Party Cheese Dip back to top
Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, grated
• ¼ cup soft butter
• ¼ teaspoon dry mustard powder
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• Sliced fruit or raw vegetables

Instructions:
Cream the butter; blend in mustard powder and white wine.
Add the grated cheese and blend thoroughly.
Chill overnight, if possible, to blend flavors.
Allow to stand at room temperature for ½ - 1 hour.
Use with fruits or vegetables.


 
Basil Pesto back to top
Ingredients:

• 4 cups fresh basil leaves, washed and patted dry
• ½ cup extra-virgin, cold pressed olive oil
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper (optional)

Instructions:
Process all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
Substitution:  Pine nuts can be replaced with any nut of choice.  Basil leaves can be replaced with cilantro or parsley and used in combinations of herbs.  Serves 4.


 
Basic Tomato Sauce Recipe back to top
Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons cold pressed olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot or 1/2 large carrot, finely chopped
• 1 small stalk of celery, including the green tops, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil or 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 1 28 ounce can whole tomatoes, including the juice, or 1 3/4 pound of fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:
Heat olive oil in a large wide skillet on medium heat.  Add the chopped onion, carrot, celery and parsley.  Stir to coat.  Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are softened and cooked through.

Remove cover and add the minced garlic.  Increase the heat to medium high.  Cook the garlic for 30 seconds.  Add the tomatoes, including the juice and shredding them with your fingers if you are using canned whole tomatoes.  Add the tomato paste and the basil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a low simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered until thickened, about 15 minutes. If you want you can push the sauce through a food mill to give it a smooth consistency (or use a hand held immersion blender).
Makes 2 1/2 cups of sauce.


 
Mayonnaise back to top
Ingredients:
1 organic, free-range whole egg (room temperature)
4-8 ounces of your favorite organic oil (see suggestions below)
1 tablespoon organic cider vinegar (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh, organic lemon juice (optional)
Sea salt to taste (optional)

Instructions:
If using a regular blender, mix together above ingredients EXCEPT the oil.
SLOWLY add a few drops of the oil at a time while blender is on slow speed.
The fast and easy way is to use a hand held immersion blender.  All ingredients, including the oil, can be added together.  Blend for one or two minutes until thick.

Note:  Because you are using a raw egg, know your source.  It must be from free- range, organic, healthy chickens.  Mayonnaise is to be refrigerated and consumed within one week.

Oil suggestions:  You can use any one or a combination of your favorite organic oils, such as extra virgin olive oil, pumpkin oil, sesame oil, walnut oil or macadamia oil.


 
 Gravy Substitute back to top
Ingredients:
May be used as a thickened gravy for poultry or meat.

Type 1:
While beef or pork roast is in the oven, boil an onion in 1 cup beef broth.
    OR
While poultry is in oven, boil an onion together with poultry giblets in 1 cup chicken broth.
When the meat is done, remove the fat from the drippings.  Pour the drippings and boiled onion and broth mixture into a blender and puree.  Sea salt and pepper to taste.

Type 2:
For each cup of liquid, add 2 tablespoons of homemade mayonnaise.
Heat gently for about a minute, stirring constantly.


 
Ketchup back to top
Ingredients:

• 6 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 small onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon cold pressed olive oil
• 1-3 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
• Stevia to taste
• 1 Bay leaf
• Sea salt, to taste
• Ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Heat pan with olive oil to a medium heat.  Add onion to the pan and reduce the heat to medium low.  Cook onion slowly until caramelized (lightly browned). Mix all additional ingredients in pan except Stevia and simmer on stove until thick, stirring often to prevent sticking.When desired thickness, add the Stevia and remove from heat. Puree and ladle into sterilized jars and seal immediately or place in small containers and freeze.


 
Deviled Eggs back to top
Ingredients:

• 4 organic free-range eggs, hard boiled
• 1 ½ tablespoons homemade mayonnaise (see recipe above)
• 1/3 teaspoon chives, diced
• Dash of curry powder or Dijon French mustard
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt or sesame herb salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
• Dash of kelp (optional)
• Paprika as garnish

Instructions:
Pop out (remove) the egg yolks to a small bowl and mash with a fork. Add mayonnaise, chives, mustard/curry, sea salt, pepper and kelp and mix thoroughly. Fill the empty egg white shells with the mixture and sprinkle lightly with paprika. Cover and refrigerate for up to one day before serving.

 
Guacamole back to top
Ingredients:

• 3 ripe avocados
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Sea salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced (optional)
• ½-1 small onion or 1 green onion, minced (optional)

Instructions:
Mash avocados with lemon juice.   Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  If you allow it to sit for ½ hour, the tastes really come together.

Substitution:  Optional vegetables to add to the guacamole are chopped green pepper, chopped mild or medium pepper, onion, chopped lettuce or bean sprouts.  Serves 6.


 
Sweet Potato Chips back to top
Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato (about 9 ounces), peeled
• Sea salt (to taste)
• Black pepper, fresh ground (to taste)
• Stevia (to taste)

Instructions:
Heat oven to 200 degrees.  Line two baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.  Slice potato crosswise as thin as possible (peeler works great).  Arrange the slices on the prepared sheets and keep chips from touching as much as possible.  Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, black pepper and Stevia.  Cook for 50 minutes.  Slices will dehydrate and shrink; turn chips over, and rotate baking sheets if needed for even cooking. Cook until slices are crisped and fluted around the edges and the centers are still orange, not brown, 30 to 40 more minutes.  Transfer to cooling racks and cool chips on baking sheets.  (Chips will be soft when removed from oven and will crisp as they cool.)  Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.


 
Tomato Salsa back to top
Ingredients:

• 8 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 4 scallions, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice, fresh squeezed
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Instructions:
In a large bowl, stir together the tomatoes, scallions, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper.  Serves 4.


 
Almond Curry Hummus back to top
Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked garbanzo beans
• ¼ cup liquid from garbanzo beans
• 1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons filtered water
• ½-1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• ½ cup almond butter
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• Paprika for garnish
• Parsley for garnish

Instructions:
Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth.Garnish with parsley and paprika.  Serve with rice crackers, sesame seed crackers or fresh vegetables.Substitution:  You can omit the almond butter and curry to make a plain hummus. From the plain base, you can add different seasonings and vegetables, for example, black olives, artichokes, spinach, or roasted red pepper.  Serves 6-8.


 
Rosemary Walnuts back to top
Ingredients:

• 2 cups walnuts
• 2 tablespoons dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions:
Melt butter with rosemary, salt and cayenne pepper.  Toss with walnuts, spread on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Let stand until cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  Makes 2 cups.


 
Sunflower Sesame Crackers back to top
Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw, shelled sunflower seeds
• ½ cup sesame seeds
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ cup water

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, grind the sunflower seeds to a fine meal. Add sesame seeds and salt and pulse food processor just long enough to combine. Add water and pulse to make dough. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto the parchment paper and cover with an additional sheet of parchment paper. Through the top sheet of parchment paper, use your hands or a rolling pin to press the dough as thin as you can. The thinner the better without making holes in the dough. Pull off top sheet of parchment paper and using a thin sharp knife, score the dough into diamonds.  Sprinkle with additional sea salt and gently press into dough. Bake for 30 minutes or until they're a light golden color. Let them cool, peel off parchment paper, and break along scoring lines. Makes approx. 4 dozen crackers.


 
Hummus back to top
Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked and chilled garbanzo beans
• 2 tablespoons tahini (fermented sesame seed paste)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 4-5 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons cold-pressed olive oil
• ½ tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients into a blender and blend together until creamy, or you can put all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and use a hand-held blender. Then just refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. Serve with rye bread or crackers.


 
Black Olive Spread back to top
Ingredients:

• 1 cup nicoise or kalamata olives, pitted
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons cold-pressed olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped (1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Instructions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and, pulsing the machine on and off, process until they are just pureed.  The spread should retain a bit of texture.  Store, covered, in the refrigerator, up to a week.


 
Triple Threat Tomatoes back to top
Ingredients:

• 8 large tomatoes, 3 inches in diameter
• ¾ cup Hummus (see above recipe)
• ¾ cup Black Olive Spread (see above recipe)
• ¾ cup Basil Pesto (see above recipe)
• 1 fresh basil leaf, for garnish

Instructions:
Cut each tomato into three 1/2 inch slices.  Spread 8 of the slices with about a tablespoon each of Hummus.  Dress 8 other tomato slices with Black Olive Spread.  Top the remaining tomato slices with Basil Pesto.  Arrange all the tomato slices on a decorative platter garnished with the basil leaf.

Baba Ghanoush
Cream Cheese
Liver Pate
Holiday Cranberry Sauce
Party Cheese Dip
Basil Pesto
Basic Tomato Sauce Recipe
Mayonnaise
Gravy Substitute
Ketchup

Deviled Eggs
Guacamole
Sweet Potato Chips
Tomato Salsa
Almond Curry Hummus
Rosemary Walnuts
Sunflower Sesame Crackers
Hummus
Black Olive Spread
Triple Threat Tomatoes