Give Them Something Better

Author: Stephanie Howard

  • Just Another Meatless Monday…Pot Pie

    Just Another Meatless Monday…Pot Pie

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    The first Monday in January! Everybody is excited about making some healthy changes in their diet (and exercise). At least I am. We have been traveling for weeks, so I am looking forward to a regular routine and schedule at least for a little while.

    I am happy to get back to cooking too!  So many things to try! I am planning to post some of the recipes from my Meatless Monday Supper Club each week, once I’m back in the saddle, so to speak. But until then I thought I would share our favorite pot-pie recipe to get the ball rolling. 

    We tested this one on the kids at ridzogirl’s school and they loved it.  We actually made puppies and pigs for them and they loved them.  This recipe uses a chicken substitute but I often make it without any it all.  It is a good way to help the kids LOVE their veggies.

    A super simple way to make it completely gluten free would be to make the filling and serve it with some gluten free crackers.  It is almost better that way because you don’t have to make the crust and you get a crunchy cracker in every bite.

    Oh My, Pot Pie Crust

    • 2 tablespoons oil
    • 1 cup onion, diced
    • 4 stalks celery, diced
    • 1 cup carrots diced
    • 1 teaspoon sage
    • 1 teaspoon thyme
    • 1 teaspoon marjoram
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 4 cups vegetable broth
    • 4 medium potatoes, diced
    • 1 cup green beans, fresh or frozen
    • 2 cups non-dairy milk
    • ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
    • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
    • 2 cups chicken substitute, diced (optional)
    • 1 cup green peas
    • 1 Crust recipe (see below)

    1.     Pre-heat oven to 400˚ and spray pie pans with non-stick cooking spray.

    2.     Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

    3.     Add onion and cook until they begin to brown about 7-8 minutes.

    4.     Add celery, carrots, sage, thyme, marjoram and salt. Cook for another 3-4 minutes.

    5.     Add potatoes, green beans and broth. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

    6.     Mix yeast flakes and cornstarch with cold milk and add to boiling vegetables. Stir until it thickens, about 1-2 minutes.

    7.     Stir in peas and chicken substitute, if using.

    8.     Pour into individual pie pans or a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

    9.     Cover with crust or top with cute pie crust faces and bake for 20-30 minutes for the little pies or 30-40 minutes for a big pie, until crust is firm and edges are bubbly. 

    Speed up the process by using 3 cups of frozen mixed vegetables instead of carrots, green beans and peas.

    Pot Pie Crust (or really yummy crackers)

    • 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (or one cup whole wheat flour and one cup unbleached white flour)
    • ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
    • 2 teaspoons paprika
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon onion powder
    • pinch (or two) cayenne (optional)
    • ½ cup oil, chilled
    • ½ cup water, very cold

    1.     In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, yeast flakes, salt, paprika, onion powder and cayenne.

    2.     In a separate bowl mix together chilled oil and ½ cup very cold water.

    3.     Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and knead briefly to form dough.

    4.     Roll between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap.

    5.     Remove the top paper and gently flip dough onto pie or use cutters and make into cute little puppy and kitty faces.

    Roll out the left over piecrust and bake for about 10 minutes to make Pot Pie Crackers…very yummy with the pie!

  • Vegan Citrus French Toast

    Vegan Citrus French Toast

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    I have kind of a love hate relationship with videos. I learn so much faster if I can watch someone do something than if I have to read how to do it. The same goes with recipes. I am much more likely to try a recipe I can watch someone else make, even if it is a simple recipe. I feel like I get more insight and helpful tips just watching it done. Maybe it is because I am a skimmer and I miss a lot. What I hate about videos is watching myself!

    So today I am sharing a video of Sarah making her Citrus French Toast! Kind of fancy and yes it is vegan. The great news is that fancy does not equate to difficult. And it is great to serve when you have over night guests. Here is a link to the original post for the recipe.

  • MORE Cookies….

    MORE Cookies….

    peanut butter carob bars

    Are you all cookied out? I know with the holidays we have had our fair share of sweets.  However someone just reminded me about an amazing cookie recipe, it is my husband’s absolute favorite! It is pretty healthy and full of protein, so I thought it might be okay to post in the new year.  This recipe was supposed to be in Give Them Something Better, there is even a picture of it in the book. But got cut at the last minute. I planned to put it in Kidlicious, but forgot, so here it is.

    Peanut Butter Carob Bars

    • 2 cups natural peanut butter
    • 2/3 cup honey or agave nectar
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla
    • 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
    • 1 cup quick oats
    • ½ teaspoon salt (a little more if your peanut butter is unsalted)
    • 1 ½ cups carob chips, barley malt sweetened

    1.    Preheat oven to 350°F

    2.    Prepare a 10 x 15 baking sheet by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.

    3.    Cream together peanut butter, honey or agave nectar, and vanilla.

    4.    Add salt and flour and mix.

    5.    Add oats last and mix well. The mixture will be thick – you will want to mix it with your hands.

    6.    Press peanut butter mixture evenly into prepared pan. Bake for approximately 12 minutes, watching closely so that you don’t over bake.

    7.    As soon as you remove from the oven, sprinkle with carob chips and return for 30 -45 seconds. Using a butter knife, start spreading the carob over the top of the hot bars. It may look like nothing is happening at first, just keep spreading. The chips will slowly melt and make a frosting layer on your bars.

    8.    Cool completely before cutting.

     

    TIP: When I first started making these I had a hard time spreading the carob. The trick is to keep your carob chips at room temperature and work slowly.

     

     

  • Research shows how we can get our kids to make healthy food choices- it’s too easy!

    Research shows how we can get our kids to make healthy food choices- it’s too easy!

    Did you know that when you offer a kid fresh fruit, cake and Cheetos they will likely choose a full serving of fruit along with smaller portions of junk food? This video has some really great research and supper easy ideas to help your kids CHOOSE to eat healthy food.  Isn’t that what we really want!

  • Just One Thing…to Save Your Family

    Just One Thing…to Save Your Family

    If there was one thing that you could do to help your children stand up to peer pressure and make better choices, would you do it? If that “one thing” was proven to help your children choose better friends and get better grades in school, would you do it? What if that same thing had also been shown by research to improve family relationships so dramatically that your teens would rather confide in you with serious problems instead of peers? Lastly, what if this “one thing” will also help your children and teens make better food choices so that they would be less likely to become obese and less likely to develop eating disorders?

    To find out what that one thing is, watch Anneliese and I on 3ABN Today June 3 at 9:00 am, 4:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m.

    You can watch 3ABN at www.3abn.org or on many cable networks.  If you can’t watch the answer is our new book Kidlicious, available soon.

    Kidlicious Cookbook Cover

  • Today is Anti-procrastination Day! A Christmas Fudge Recipe for Spring

    Today is Anti-procrastination Day! A Christmas Fudge Recipe for Spring

    amazing fudge cropped

    Well, today is the day! Back to blogging!

    I have been putting off posting for a very long time…do you want to know how bad it is? I uploaded a Christmas Fudge Recipe and video to You Tube with the intention of posting it here before Christmas! Then it would have been a great post for Valentines day. But now it is March and it is not a great post for anything except that it’s an easy recipe that tastes good.

    So here is the recipe and the video.

    Amazing Christmas Fudge

    • 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
    • 1 1/2 cups carob chips (you can use Chocolate if you like)
    1. Spread peanut butter all over the inside of a medium glass bowl so that you have a “peanut butter bowl.”
    2. Add carob chips to bowl, making sure that no carob chips touch the sides of the bowl.
    3. Microwave on high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
    4. Remove from microwave and stir vigorously with a spoon until smooth. Chips will look glossy, not melted, until they are thoroughly stirred—be patient! If they don’t completely melt, you may put them back in the microwave, but only for 10 seconds at a time. Carob chips burn very easily.
    5. Pour into a plastic wrap-lined pan and chill.
    6. Remove from pan and cut into squares.

    If you don’t want to use a microwave, you can use a double boiler to melt your carob chips, but be careful since carob burns easily.

    VARIATIONS –

    • Add 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
    • Add 1/2 cup toasted coconut and ½ cup toasted almonds
    • Add 1 cup raisins and ½ cup chopped nuts
    • Add 1 teaspoon peppermint flavoring

    Also on the Video….

    Peanut Buttery Cookies

    • 2 cups quick oats
    • 1 1/3 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
    • 2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
    • 2/3 cup brown sugar
    • 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
    • 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
    • 1/3 cup oil
    • 1/4 cup unrefined sugar
    • 4 teaspoons ground flax seeds1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

    Extra’s

    • 1/3 to 1/2 cup peanut butter
    1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper.
    2. Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
    3. Mix wet ingredients together in another bowl.
    4. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined. As you stir drop teaspoons full of the extra peanut butter but don’t mix it all in.  That way you end up with pockets of real peanut butter in every bite!
    5. Use a 2-tablespoon scoop to make balls and place them on the lined cookie sheet, pressing down slightly.
    6. Bale for 11 to 12 minutes. Until cookies are slightly browned on the edges.
    7. Makes 36 cookies.
    8. or pat 1 1/2 cups of the dough into 8×8 pan.
    9. Pour warm Amazing Fudge over the dough. Sprinkle 3/4 cups of the dough over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes.