Covenant Natural Health Care

Recipes: Healthy Dinner Ideas For The Week

We know that making homemade meals can be challenging and time-consuming, especially the planning part! We thought we'd help you out this week and share some dinner menu ideas. Feel free to substitute foods with whatever you already have in the house or to fit your dietary needs.

MONDAY:
• Salad with fresh vegetables and homemade dressing
• Grilled chicken breast
• Mashed potatoes

TUESDAY:
• Turkey wrap loaded with spinach & fresh vegetables
• Three-bean salad

WEDNESDAY:
• Tuna Salad with Sprouts
• Baked potato topped with cheese, chives, and butter

THURSDAY:
• Sugar-free meatloaf
• Sauteed zucchini, onions and red peppers
• Slice of whole-wheat toast with butter

FRIDAY:
• Salad with fresh vegetables and homemade dressing
• Gluten-free lasagna rolls

SATURDAY:
• Salad with fresh vegetables and homemade dressing
• Stuffed Peppers

Want more meal planning tips? Click here.

Recipe: Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

Peanut butter and jelly is a kid favorite (ok, ok, and an adult favorite—it brings out my inner child). Most peanut butter & jelly brands are loaded with sugar and preservatives, so here's a way to up the nutritional value for your kid's lunch or a healthy, high-protein, mid-day snack for you.

Shopping list:
• Organic, unsalted peanuts (or a jar of no-sugar, organic peanut butter)
• Cold pressed olive oil
• 2 slices of Ezekiel Bread
• Fresh or frozen fruit with no sugar added
• Flax seed

Directions:
• Grind up the peanuts with a little olive oil in a food processor or blender until desired consistency is reached
• Spread PB on both slices of Ezekiel bread (or other healthy bread choice that contains no sugar)
• Top with fresh sliced berries, or a couple tablespoons of drained frozen fruit
• Sprinkle with flax seed
• Cut sandwich in half and enjoy!

You can use any type of nut butter for this sandwich, like almond or cashew.

Recipe: No-Sugar Meatloaf

My favorite comfort food? Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, peas and a side salad. The perfect meal to warm up a cold winter day.

Most meatloaf recipes call for a lot of ketchup, which contains sugar and natural flavoring, brown sugar and white bread. This recipe contains fresh vegetables, sprouted-grain bread, organic tomato paste, and local beef. There's nothing special about this recipe, it's just easy to make and a healthy meal to put on your table.

Shopping List:
• 2 Pounds Ground Beef, local if possible
• 2 Pieces of Ezekiel Bread (or other healthy bread that doesn't contain sugar), broken up into small pieces
• 1 Medium onion, diced
• 3 Celery stalks
• 1/4 Cup red pepper, diced
• 4 Cloves of garlic, minced or grated
• 1/2 Cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 eggs, whisked, and local if possible
• 1/3 Cup coconut, almond, cow's or goat's milk
• Salt, pepper, & onion powder to taste
• 1 Can organic tomato paste

Glaze (Combine these two ingredients in a small bowl):
• 1 Can organic tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or more if you'd like your glaze to be a little thinner consistency)
• optional: add 1/8 cup of honey to sweeten glaze

Directions: Saute the onion, celery, red pepper, and garlic in a pan with butter and cook until vegetables are soft. Then, combine sauteed vegetables and all the other ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well without overworking. Put mixture into a square, glass baking dish or a loaf pan and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

If you look to the right of this post, under The Locals category, we list several local farms that you can get beef from. If you click on the Local Harvest link you can search for local farms that way, too. Shopping as local as possible for food supports our farmers and local economy, creating jobs and a need for local, healthy food that doesn't have to be preserved, packaged, or shipped.

This recipe can also be made with gluten-free bread for those who are sensitive to gluten.

Lastly, Whole Foods Market has had the best price on Ezekiel Bread, at least for awhile now, saving $2/loaf compared to Kroger's prices.

 

Dairy-free Hot (or Cold) Carob Milk

Hot chocolate sure sounds good on this cold, snowy, December day, doesn't it? But, what if you're allergic to dairy, sensitive to caffeine, and can't have sugar? No worries!

Enjoy this hot beverage made with naturally sweet, caffeine-free carob and coconut milk.

Shopping List:
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened carob powder (I use Chatfields brand that I get at Whole Foods Market)
• 4 Tablespoons hot water
• 2 Cups unsweetened coconut milk (So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk—Kroger carries this product)
• 2 Teaspoons organic vanilla extract
• 1 Teaspoon organic cinnamon

Directions: Heat water in a saucepan and add carob powder, stirring until carob is dissolved.  Add coconut milk and heat until desired temperature. Stir in vanilla extract and cinnamon until well blended. Pour into mug and enjoy!

• Looking for other carob recipes? Try this delicious, guilt-free carob cupcakes.
• You can also make this a cold drink. After dissolving the carob in hot water, remove from heat, add other ingredients and then add ice cubes.

Recipe: Guilt-free Carob Cupcakes

I love baking with pure cocoa, but sometimes I just don't handle the caffeine very well. A year ago or so, I was introduced to carob powder via a recipe in the Hungry for Health cookbook. After doing some research on carob, I found out some really interesting healthy facts about it:

• It's caffeine free
• It is rich in phosphor and calcium
• It is high in fiber and contains the vitamins A, B, B2, B3, and D
• Carob is naturally sweet, unlike chocolate that has to be processed with sugar
• Low in fat
• Contains natural pectin, which may help remove cholesterol and can be a good colon cleanser

The first thing you might say when trying a carob bar is that it tastes nothing like chocolate. Carob definitely has a distinct taste, but it is delicious. In fact, I don't think it'd be too far fetched to say that you may eventually come to favor carob, and its nutritional benefits, over chocolate.

I think you'll enjoy these healthy carob cupcakes—a nutritious, guilt-free snack without all the sugar typically found in chocolate cupcakes. They are topped with carob-fudge icing and raw coconut.

Shopping List:
Cupcakes (inspired by this recipe):
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup carob powder (I use Chatfield's brand that I get from Whole Foods)
• 1/2 cup unsalted softened butter
• 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking soda
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1 cup carob powder

• raw coconut

Directions:

Cupcakes: Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and beat on a medium speed until thoroughly mixed. Pour into greased (with butter) muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (20 minutes or so).

Icing: Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well mixed. Do not over mix or butter and coconut oil may separate. (If you need to thicken it up, add a little more butter)

Enjoy!