Give Them Something Better

Author: Stephanie Howard

  • #1 Meal of the American Blue Zone

    #1 Meal of the American Blue Zone

    Taco Salad

    Haystacks! What is a haystack you ask?  It is simply a build your own taco salad.  If you have ever spent anytime at all with Seventh-day Adventists you have probably had one before.  But as they say a picture is worth a 1000 words!

    The great thing about haystacks is that you can serve them to a crowd without too much effort. Over the weekend we served these haystacks to 200 people at a Women of Faith Conference.  The cost was reasonable it was easy to prepare and everybody could choose what parts of the haystack they liked.  Here is what we had available.

    Haystack

    • corn chips or tortilla chips
    • brown rice
    • chili beans
    • Melty Cheese Sauce (a cashew cheese)
    • lettuce
    • tomatoes
    • black olives
    • onions
    • vegan ranch dressing
    • salsa

    Layer as much or as little of each ingredient on plate.  Eat!

    If you have not had a haystack you simply must try it…today!

  • 8 Reasons Why Meal Planning is a Terrible Idea for Your Family!

    It happened again… the brain cloud… I thought I was cured! After all I have written a great cookbook that has over 5 full weeks of meal plans, without a repeat!  I have been researching and planning for this book for over a year!  Surely, I am cured of the Meal Planning Brian Cloud. 

    Not so!  yesterday I sat looking over the cookbook, searching the web for something to lift the cloud so that I could feed my family! Nearly an hour or more wasted! Then I came across this great article on the Dine Without Whine website. I liked it so much I got permission to share it with you!

    Meal planning is not for everyone. Here are eight reasons why meal planning just may be a terrible idea for you and your family.

    1.  You enjoy eating unhealthy fast-food three to five times per week.
    2.  You love the taste of pre-packaged preservative packed frozen convenience food.
    3.  Spending $200 and 2 hours at the grocery store, only to come home to discover that there is nothing to cook for dinner is one of your favorite things to do.
    4. You enjoy the stress of running around like crazy at dinner time trying to figure out what to cook while your children and husband are hungry and crabby.
    5.  You like your food rut of spaghetti, hot dogs, pizza, repeat.
    6.  You have no other way to spend the extra $100 you spend each week eating out.
    7.  You have nothing better to do at 5 o’clock every day then to go to the grocery store. It’s enjoyable to daily spend extra money on groceries as additional items “fall” into your cart.
    8.  You have no desire to enjoy a home cooked meal around the dinner table with your family.  You feel spending time with your family is a complete waste of time.

    If you agree with the above statements please do not ever try meal planning – it is probably a terrible idea.  On the other hand, if you possibly disagree with at least one of the above statements perhaps it is time to give meal planning a try!
    I was cured!

    So here it is.
    Monday – Potato Corn Chowder and Melty Muffins
    Tuesday – Quick and Easy Quesadillas
    Wednesday – Spaghetti with no-meat meat balls
    Thursday – Leftovers
    Friday – We are leaving for a trip to Missouri to visit Grandma
    Featured on Menu Planning Mondaymealplanmonday_v2

  • Learning From The Blue Zones: Get Moving

     

    imageBeing active is very important to health and longevity.  Not necessarily “exercise” fore the sake of exercising but getting up and moving everyday.  Doing daily activities that require movement walking and playing with the kids, gardening, volunteering, packing and moving boxes.  Unfortunately in today’s society with all of it’s conveniences make it it is harder to find ways to be active. So we must be deliberate about it if we want to receive the short and long term benefits.
    In the short term, it can produce such benefits as reducing stress, boosting brain power, and improving your mood. At the same time, an active lifestyle can also protect in the long run against high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes—cutting your risk right in half. Living the Adventist lifestyle doesn’t guarantee you will live to be 100 or never get sick, but the studies do show that the choice to be active now definitely affects your quality of life—both now and in the future.

  • Creamy Vegan Butterscotch Pie

    butterscotch pie

    I first tried this recipe at the Black Hills Health and Education Center.  A lifestyle center where people come to learn how to make lifestyle changes that reverse disease. When I was there I saw dramatic changes and miracles worked in peoples lives.  Reversing diabetes, heart disease loosing weight and people quitting smoking.
    This rich and creamy pie is free from refined sugars and fats and soooo good.It gets its “sweet” from dates and really It satisfies the craving for dessert. It is hard to believe that this is a vegan recipe but what’s more it is gluten free and soy free too! I use a simple graham cracker or gluten free granola crust.

    butterscotch pie detail 2

     

    Butterscotch Pie Filling

    • 1 cup cashews, raw
    • 1 1/2 cups dates, chopped
    • 3/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon butterscotch flavoring
    • 4 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
    • 3 cups water
    • 2 tablespoon brown sugar (optional, if you have a real sweet tooth!)

    Topping

    • 1/2 cup pecans, toasted
    • 1/2 cup carob chips, barley malt sweetened, or dairy free chocolate chips

    1. Blend cashews with 2 cups of water until smooth.

    2. Add remaining pie filling ingredients except water, and blend until very smooth and creamy. Pour mixture into a saucepan.

    3. Put last cup of water into the blender and blend. (This step cleans out your blender, and you don’t end up wasting any of the yummy pie filling!) Pour into saucepan with the first blended mixture and cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly.

    4. Pour into pre-baked pie crust. (Easy Pie Crust (P?) works the best. Chill until filling is set.

    5. When ready to serve, sprinkle with toasted pecans and carob chips or carob curls.

    TIP: To serve lots of people, you can make this into bars by pressing the crust into a 9 x 13 pan instead of a pie plate.

    TIP: If you don’t have cashews or have a nut allergy, leave out the cashews and replace 1 cup of water with 1 cup of soy creamer.butterscotch pie detail 1
    And some people say vegan food doesn’t look good!

    Set featured image

     

    It’s a Keeper Thursday

  • The One Thing You Can Do To Help Your Kids Resist Peer Pressure! And Save You A Lot of Heartache!

    The One Thing You Can Do To Help Your Kids Resist Peer Pressure! And Save You A Lot of Heartache!

    just-one-thing

    Did you know that less than 25% of families sit down to eat together?  Are you one of those families?  Just sitting down together as a family will help your kids be…

    42% less likely to drink
    50% less likely to smoke
    66% Less likely to smoke marijuana

    and they do much better academically.
    Don’t you want those things for you kids!  If you don’t have a plan to succeed, you plan to fail.  So make meal planning a priority for your family and eat together more often starting this week.

     
    Here is my menu plan. Check out Meal Planning Monday for other great ideas.
    mealplanmonday_v2
    Monday:  Pot Roast and Veggies (from the Vegan Diner)
    PLAN AHEAD: Soak Beans, Make Granola
    Tuesday:  Burritos with roasted vegetables
    Wednesday: Leftover Day
    Thursday: Chili and Baked Potato
    PLAN AHEAD: Make sauce and Tofu Ricotta
    Friday: Baked Ziti (Make for the school hot lunch)
    Saturday: Sandwiches and Fruit for Pathfinders

  • Blue Zone Living–Getting Older without Growing “OLD”–Part 2

    Blue Zone Living–Getting Older without Growing “OLD”–Part 2

    living longer cover

    This is the reason we wrote Give Them Something Better….

    Dan Buettner found four Blue Zones or areas where people live longer and happier lives.  As you would expect, most of these people were found in secluded places. They were found in Okinawa, Japan, consuming soy foods on a regular basis. They were discovered in Sardinia, Italy, enjoying a Mediterranean diet. They were located in the pristine serenity of the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. However, The one I found most intriguing was the American Blue Zone.

     

    Specifically the research centered in Loma Linda California, a small suburb of Los Angels of all places. However Buettner admits that the American Blue Zone is really more of a cultural Blue Zone than a geographical one.

    You see, the majority of people that live in Loma Linda are Seventh-day Adventist Christians and all of the Seventh-day Adventists across America who follow the church teachings about health live an average of 10 years longer than their American counterparts. How do they do it?  They live in the same society, surrounded by the same choices, fast food at every corner, yet they have a lower risk of all of the big lifestyle diseases that plague our country.

    The study showed four major factors in their longevity; exercising regularly; eating a plant-based diet; taking a day off each week; and living with a purpose.

     

    Since Sarah and I are both Seventh-day Adventists we decided to share our recipes with you so that we can all live longer and happier lives.