Ladies, it’s finally time to share your favorite Christmas cookie with us!  I am looking forward to adding some new Christmas cookie recipes to my repetoire–because I don’t have many.My desire with this particular exchange is to share recipes that have been “healthified.”  Now, we’re talking cookies, so you can only get “so” healthy.  “Healthy” sugars are still sugars.  And we (my husband and I) are of the opinion that there is freedom to be had, particularly at holiday times.  So we don’t avoid all other cookies that I haven’t made.

My recipe is one that I grew up with, only modified to using freshly milled flour and healthier sugars.  I haven’t gotten as far as trying to soak the recipe (not enough hours in the day!).  It’s a favorite!  I have found that with the freshly milled soft white wheat, I don’t need to use the amount of sugar called for, but can cut it down a bit.  Of course, my husband doesn’t believe that anything can be “too sweet,” so I don’t always.

Snickerdoodles

1c soft butter

1 ½ c organic cane juice crystals ( I think less could be used!)

2 eggs

2 ¾ c freshly milled soft white wheat flour

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

3T organic cane juice crystals

3tsp cinnamon

Mix butter, sugar, eggs.  Add flour, cream of tarter, soda, and pinch of salt.  Chill dough, roll into balls the size of a walnut.  Dip in cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on ungreased cookie sheet, two inches apart.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

We love these and have continued to tradition of making them in our home!  Pair them with some red rooibos spice chai tea for an extra treat!

If you’re interested in knowing for converting your own recipe–I changed shortening out for butter, white sugar for the organic cane juice crystals, and white flour for freshly milled soft white wheat flour.  It was an easy switch and we love them!

I can’t wait to see what cookies are part of your Christmas!

While you’re out and about, head on over to Real Food Wednesday hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

It is time to hunker down with something hot to drink here in east Tennessee.  It’s a balmy 29 degrees at 3:45pm.  I. Am. Cold.  I hate being cold–even if I am from the north.  In honor of cold weather setting in everywhere (except maybe Florida), I wanted to share my favorite tea with you.I love chai, but don’t like the caffeine.  So, when I found a red rooibos spice chai tea from the Bulk Herb Store, I fell in love.  But here’s the thing: I like kickin’ chai.  I mean spicy, full-flavored chai.  I needed to spice it up a little, so I decided to make my own.  I had nearly all the ingredients on hand and what I didn’t have I ran to our local health food store to buy.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it as spicy or as mild as you’d like.  Add more of a certain spice that you prefer, etc.  This is a very flexible recipe.  And my advice:  warm some milk, add honey and make it a chai latte.  Oh. Yeah.  Now we’re talking.  Oh, and make it in a large mug.  I mean, if you like a lot of chai.  We do!

Red Rooibos Spice Chai Tea

1/2 lb Red Rooibos tea

10 cinnamon sticks (made into chips using a coffee grinder)

1/4-1/2 c cardamom pods

18 bay leaves (varying sizes, chopped in coffee grinder)

1/4-1/2 c black peppercorns

1/4 -1/2c whole cloves

1/2 c dried orange peel

Mix everything together (using the amounts you desire–I guessed on mine!).  Use 1-2 T per mug (depending on how much spice you want to add to life).  Mix with warmed milk and honey–yum!!

This post is part of Whole Foods for the Holidays: a real foods progressive dinner

Last year I had the opportunity to host my first ever Christmas Cookie Exchange.  It was so much fun to get together with a bunch of fellow Army wives while taste testing cookies and other appetizers and playing games. I miss those girls and the monthly lunches we shared – and I’ve still yet to find community similar to what I experienced among the women there. 

So this year, since there’s been many a transition, a very busy December ahead of us (two weddings, among Christmas parties here and there), I thought it would be so much fun to team up with other women in the blogging community to host an online Christmas cookie exchange.

But not just any Christmas cookie exchange.  Many of you are eagerly seeking to transition to a healthier lifestyle, so I thought it might serve you to show you that you can make your desserts healthy–and enjoy eating them, too! I am so excited to be joined by other real food bloggers–many women who I’ve learned from over the past few years.  What a treat!

But, as with anything else, there’s room for freedom–and holidays can be a time when we splurge a little.  So if we’re eating refined white sugar, bleached flour–as much as we seek to avoid it 99% of the time–a piece of pie or a cookie or two won’t hurt us.  So, there’s freedom ladies!

But wait–I want you to participate, too!  There are two ways you can join in the fun.  First, if you want to “healthify” your favorite recipe, you can send it to me at Kelly (at) domesticbydesign (dot) com, and I will modify it for you and post it on the day of the exchange.

OR

On December 8th, the day of the exchange, simply post your favorite Christmas cookie recipe–healthy or not–on the day of the exchange.  And it doesn’t have to be “healthy.”  It just has to be good.

And, if you’re a blogger and would like to join, simply save the above image to your desktop and display it on your blog to let your readers know.  On the day of the exchange, post your recipe on your blog, direct your readers to the exchange here at my blog, and come on over here to link it up with other blogger’s recipes.

I hope you’ll join us in the fun–Christmas time is such a special time of year and I personally hope to add to my repetoire of favorite Christmas cookies!

I can’t wait!

Given the pumpkin kick we’re on, when I saw this recipe for pumpkin baked oatmeal, I knew I had to try it.  So, in Kelly-fashion, I took it and turned it into a soaked recipe, for improved nutrition.  It did not disappoint.

image from http://greensanctuary56.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-nutritious-is-pumpkin.html

Soaked Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal

The night before, mix into a large bowl and cover with a towel on the counter:

6 c rolled oats

2 c cultured milk

1/2 c melted butter

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking dish.  Then, add the following ingredients and mixing well.  I always add all ingredients except my leavening at first.  I mix well and then add baking powder so that I don’t over mix.

4 eggs

4 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c Sucanat

1 1/2 c pumpkin

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg (this is all I had, but I’m sure more would be wonderful)

4 tsp baking powder

Mix well and pour into baking dish.  Bake for 45 minutes.

This is wonderful served with a little milk poured over the top.  It was a huge hit with the kids (my husband was actually served breakfast at work this morning, so he hasn’t had any yet).

Find more tasty real food recipes at Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

I love fall time for many reasons, and high on my list is the fact that I can pull out pumpkin recipes.  I just brought home two home grown pie pumpkins last weekend (they were free!) and am excited to use them in pumpkin pie over the next few weeks.  For today, I have two recipes that I’ve recently “invented,”  that we’ve enjoyed.Remember how I shared that I’ve been botching more recipes lately than nailing ‘em?  Well, I had a victory fail.  New phrase, which means, I failed original recipe that turned out to be a fabulous new recipe.

All hope was not lost when I mistakenly quadrupled all of the remaining ingredients to a soaked recipe that I’d only doubled.  I don’t know where my brain was.  Probably lost in the first 8 dozen muffins and 4 loaves of bread that I baked last Wednesday.  I was on day two, wondering if I’d lost my marbles (not for screwing up the recipe, but for attempting to repeat the workload for a second day).

I was kicking myself until I realized that the wonderful pumpkin muffins I’d intended to make might actually make really incredible pumpkin cupcakes. And. They. Did.  So, just in time for Thanksgiving, I thought I’d inspire a non-traditional Thanksgiving dessert.   I’m going to contribute a dozen (since I have a few in the freezer) to our feast when we head to Maryland.  It’s the least I can do and will travel well.

The only “problem” is that the following recipe is for 3 dozen. I’m telling you exactly what I did, which was a mess-up.  You’ll have to do the math if you want to make less. The other thing, ahem, is that they will probably overflow and cover the whole tin.  I asked my husband if it was still worth sharing the recipe and he said, “Yes!”  So, I’ll work on fixing that, but in the meantime, regardless of how they look, they taste amazing. Just put foil under your tins…you know, just in case. 

Pumpkin Cupcakes and Cream Cheese Icing (3 dozen)

3 1/3 c freshly milled flour

2 c pumpkin

1 1/2 c water + 4 T plain yogurt

1 c butter, melted

3 c plain yogurt (or other acidic medium)

8 eggs

4 c Sucanat

1 tsp baking powder

6 tsp baking soda

3 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cloves

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp nutmeg

1.  Soak first five ingredients overnight.

2.  Preheat oven to 325.  Grease muffin tins and set aside.

3.  Combine remaining ingredients and pour into muffin tins.   Bake for 45+ minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  These will be wonderfully moist!!

Cream Cheese Icing

2 packages cream cheese

1 c Sucanat, wizzed in a coffee grinder

1.  Beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.  Yum!

Pumpkin Yogurt

I bought 2 cases of yogurt at our last food coop drop because they were significantly cheaper than buying at the local health food store.  I try to get veggies in my kids at nearly every opportunity afforded me, so after seeing a recipe for pumpkin yogurt last week, I gave it a try.  My recipe is very flexible, as you’ll notice.  My kids LOVE it.  Yay!

plain yogurt

canned pumpkin (or fresh)

maple syrup or Sucanat

pumpkin pie spice *

1.  Combine all ingredients to taste. 

*I keep a mixture of my own pumpkin pie spice which contains equal amounts of: cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg.

See how easy that is!  My kids love yogurt and now, they love pumpkin and yogurt mixed together.  Blane’s staying away from this one.  He’s not a pumpkin fan, but for some reason, (maybe the 4c of Sucanat and cream cheese icing) he loved those pumpkin cupcakes!

How do you use pumpkin in the fall?  Share a recipe with us!

Find more real food recipes over at Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Learn other helpful ideas from moms over at the Raising Homemakers Link-up.

Lately, I’ve enjoyed pulling out recipes that I reserve specifically for the fall and winter.  The aroma from these meals warm and soothe, and there’s nothing quite like opening the front door to be greeted by a favorite meal on a cold day. Admittedly, the recipe I’m going to share today is reserved for special occasions because it’s a lot of work.  Starting last year, it became our annual Christmas Eve dinner.

Our entire family enjoys this recipe and it’s been a hit with guests, too.  I wasn’t sure of the response I’d receive, but I was so excited that Blane and Tara enjoyed a few servings of it!

I don’t have a picture to share…which means you need to make it to see what it looks like!  You also find this and many others in my eCookbook.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

3 lbs butternut squash, halved and seeded

3 T olive oil

½ tsp salt

¼ c butter

2 T minced garlic (or more!)

¼ c flour or arrowroot powder

1 quart milk

Salt and pepper to taste

1 c cream

9 lasagna noodles

1 1/3 c parmesan cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 450°.  Grease a baking sheet.  Brush the butternut squash halves with oil and salt.  Roast in the preheated oven until golden brown and easily pierced with a knife (around 45 minutes).  Let it cool for several minutes, then scoop out flesh into a bowl.

Meanwhile, cook lasagna noodles and then drain.

2.  Heat the butter in a large pan.  Cook garlic until softened.  Stir in flour and cook for 3 minutes.  Whisk the milk until smooth and thick (this takes a long time, go do something else and check it occasionally!).  Stir in butternut squash and season with salt and pepper.

3.  Reduce oven to 375° and grease a 9×13 baking dish.

4.  Beat cream until it’s the consistency of whipped cream, adding salt.  Set aside.

5.  Pour one cup of the butternut squash mixture into the baking dish and layer with 3 lasagna noodles.  Spread half of the remaining butternut squash mix over the noodles and sprinkle with ½ c of parmesan cheese.  Place another layer of noodles, then add remaining butternut squash mix.  Sprinkle ½ cup parmesan cheese.  Place the last layer of noodles on top.  Spread whipping cream over layer of noodles, making sure all noodles are covered.  Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese over top (and add more if you want!).

6.  Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and continue baking until the top is bubbly and golden brown, about 10 minutes.  All to rest 10 minutes before serving.

Find other yummy real food recipes over at Real Food Wednesday hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

My thoughts have already been skipping ahead to the warming scents of Christmas foods and the music that begins playing in our home just after Thanksgiving.  It’s already time to be thinking ahead to the Christmas season!  It’s just around the corner and it’ll be here before we know it.  It might seem early to be writing about it, but I have some exciting resources to share with you that might help in your holiday planning.

A Meaningful Time

Christmas is usually a time of struggle for me.  First of all, I did not grow up celebrating the birth of Jesus.  Sure, we went to church on Christmas Eve, but the holiday was all about gift-giving.  I can recount several years of tears and sadness as my family totally missed the point.  It still grieves me.

Now, I also hate how it’s become such a commercialized holiday as I feel the tug to be greedy as Christmas lists are still asked of us.  Am I the only one that struggles with this? I don’t want our children to know Christmas as a time to rack up great gifts.  I want them to understand that it’s a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and for them to understand why we can have such joy in the celebration.

We haven’t banned gift-giving, for we think it would rob particularly the grandparents of great joy.  It’s fun to give gifts, because truly “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Our children are still small so we haven’t yet incorporated our long-term plan/tradition of giving a large gift that the children will enjoy together.

Our Traditions

We are still a young family, so we are still developing traditions.  However, we have established a few and it only aides in the anticipation of the holiday!

We do an advent calendar throughout the month of December, read Christmas books throughout the month, listen to classical Christmas music (Best Carols 100 is on my husband’s Christmas list this year!), read the Christmas story on Christmas Day and celebrate with the yummy sweets in our house.  I had planned to make a birthday cake last year, but really, with all of the other sugary stuff, I didn’t think we needed any more!

I made my own ornaments a few years ago with the different names of Jesus on them.  Even though I came to our marriage with a huge box of Christmas ornaments my mom collected for me as I grew up, I have had the hardest time putting them on our tree. Again, I have felt like it takes away from the true meaning of the holiday.  There is something about seeing “Star of David”, “Lamb of God”, “Messiah,”  and others every single day that helps meditate on the wonderful gift of the life of Jesus!

I’ll share my Christmas menu (and recipes!) next month, but for now, here are a few links to recipes that we’ve incorporated:

Incredibly Yummy Eggnog – I double this recipe.   Need I say more???

Nourishing Fudge – This recipe can also be found in Nourishing Traditions, which is where I first came across it.

Butternut Squash Lasagna – come back tomorrow for the recipe!

The Best Chili Ever – as declared by my loving husband, who asked that this be our traditional Christmas dinner.

Helpful Resources

There are several resources that have helped me think more creatively in how to make this season a time of purpose and meaning in our home:

Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper

I’ve really appreciated not only the practical ideas in the book, but the personal anecdotes Mrs. Piper describes!

Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell

I would love to add a new Christmas book to our repetoire each year that is age appropriate.  This is perfect for very small children as it captures simply the concept of welcoming Jesus.  The illustrations are my favorite part!  I’ve not yet decided on a book for this year…any suggestions?

The Graham Family 12-Week Holiday Planner

This is new to me this year, and I’ve really enjoyed it!  Not only are there many practical ideas for planning, but with her many years of experience, Sheri Graham has wisely planned each week with ideas of what to accomplish so as not to end up with an overwhelming list of things to do at the last minute.  I started it a little late this year, but with a little bit of catch-up, it’s been so helpful! Sheri has graciously offered one of my readers a free copy of this ebook!  To enter, simply leave a comment below.  Entry for the giveaway will be open until 11:59 pm on Saturday, November 6th. Update: Giveaway has ended!

Willow Tree Nativity Set

This was a wedding gift to us (great idea!) and I’ve enjoyed putting this on display each year.  Now that we have kids, the lambs are missing legs and I find them in all sorts of fun places throughout the house.  Time to look into a kid-friendly one?

Two resources I’m sad that I can’t recommend for purchasing due to their unavailability this year, but that I wanted to share for future reference (I feel kinda cruel!) include:

The Noel Advent Calendar from Desiring God. This was a gift to us before we had children and it is probably my favorite tool for the holiday.  It is simple and extremely kid-friendly (good, since it’s for kids!) with burlap as the calendar background and velcro to affix the animals, people, and symbols.  A little laminated booklet (so obvious it was created by a mom!) comes with it that has a little story (a sentence) for what each animal, person, or symbol’s role is on that day.  I can’t wait to pull it out and am so sorry it’s not available this year!! And I’m sorry that my box is still in the attic so you can’t see what it looks like!

The Glorious Coming: A Jesse Tree Advent Celebration by Ann Voskamp

I was so sad lamenting recently when I learned that this too, is not being sold this year.  I knew I should have bought it last year!

Ann, like my new blogging friend Sara, have what I believe to be a gift from the Lord with their writing.

This year, I hope and am planning to incorporate a Jesse Tree into our advent celebration.  I first read about it over here on Lindsay’s blog.  What a fun way to get little hands involved and to plant seeds!  I would love to make the decorations together and as they are ready, to add them to the tree.  We’ll see how it goes. 

Ten Questions to Ask at a Christmas Gathering by Donald Whitney.  Because we entertain family members that we don’t see often and that don’t espouse to the same beliefs we do, these serve as great conversation starters and should the Holy Spirit allow it, provide opportunities to share more about our faith in Christ.

As our children grow, I want to continue to deepen our celebration of Christ’s birth.  For those of you with children three and older (Tara’s age), what do you do to make it meaningful?

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I am so excited to share a new recipe with you!  If you hang around us long enough, you’ll learn that we enjoy chocolate.  Blane’s motto is, “Everything is better with chocolate.”  I’m not sure about everything, but certainly many things are.  I have been experimenting lately with soaked muffin recipes and have mostly been experiencing failures.  I meant to take a picture of my flops from two weeks ago but I couldn’t find the camera.  Imagine your two-year old taking a muffin, mashing it, and then trying to put it back together.  Yep, that’s pretty much how they turned out.  A little problem with the liquid content.

So that’s why I’m excited about this recipe for – are you ready – Soaked Apple Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Muffins.  Say that fast three times. A hit with the whole family. We had these and smoothies for brunch on Saturday morning.

Soaked Apple Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 1/4 c hard white wheat flour

1 c cultured milk product (I usually use 1T apple cider vinegar and pour milk over it to reach the 1c mark.  Let it sit for 5 minutes)

1/4 c melted coconut oil

1 egg

1 c Sucanat

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 apple, peeled and chopped

3/4 c chocolate chips

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1.  Mill flour and soak with cultured milk product for 12-24 hours.  Cover bowl with a towel and keep it on the counter.  I got it ready the night before and then prepared the remainder of the recipe the next morning.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease muffin tin (I use butter).

3.  After soaking, add remainder of ingredients, saving the baking soda and baking powder for last.  Add these and mix well, but not too much.

4.  Pour into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

5.  After removing from the oven, I’d recommend letting them cool in the muffin tin for 15 minutes or so.  These muffins are loaded, and if you try to remove them too soon, they’ll fall apart.  Trust me.

6.  Enjoy!  With or without butter, these muffins were fantastic.

Sorry I forgot to take pictures!

On to this weeks menu plan.  I mentioned last week that I’m seeking to be more intentional about planning lunches.  It’s served me well thus far, so I’ll keep it up until…well, you know how often things change with small kids!

And just so ya know…I don’t always stick to my meal plan.  Life happens!

Monday

Breakfast: granola

Lunch: popcorn, broiled apples with cheese, cucumbers & carrots dipped in salsa (yum!)

Dinner: loaded twice baked potatoes over greens

Tuesday

Breakfast:  green smoothies with raw eggs

Lunch: cream cheese & veggie sandwiches (grated carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes), sliced mangos

Dinner: sweet potato bean burritos*

Wednesday

Breakfast:  TBD

Lunch: smoothies, muffins (type TBD)

Dinner: leftovers

Thursday

Breakfast: smoothies & muffins (leftover)

Lunch: sweet potatoes & cheesy broccoli

Dinner: lentil soup*, salad

Friday

Breakfast: baked oatmeal

Lunch: cheese toast, fruit

Dinner: leftovers

Saturday

Breakfast: green smoothies

Lunch: gone

Dinner: gone

Sunday

Breakfast: granola

Lunch: popcorn, broiled apples with cheese, raw veggies

Dinner: chips, salsa, guacamole, carrots

*Recipe is in my eCookbook

For more helpful menu planning ideas and inspiration, check out I’m an Organizing Junkie!

Yea! A menu plan up at the beginning of the week!  After trying to do too much on Friday (baking three separate recipes plus dinner), I decided that instead of freezing the extra chicken-pot-pie I made, we were just going to eat it all weekend.  So, the black bean and cornbread cobbler goes on the menu again this week for another attempt.I currently can’t accomplish lots of baking in one day with two small kids without getting stressed out.  Perhaps if I had planned better it would have been more successful!

Because I’m all about efficiency and simplifying, you’ll notice we only really eat three to four original meals each week.  On top of preparing breakfast and lunch for everyone, it’s hard to cook a new meal every night.  And to be honest, I’ve been in somewhat of a rut when it comes to preparing new and exciting breakfasts.  My goal this week is to go through my recipes and get some more variety in there!

Monday:

Breakfast: eggs, green smoothies

Our current  favorite green smoothie recipe consists of 1c milk, large handful of greens, 1/4 c peanut butter, 1T or so of honey, and two bananas–>for all of us except Tara who hates peanut butter. I blame it on the many pounds of it I ate while pregnant with her

Don’t forget to blend the liquid and greens first for a really smooth green smoothie 

Dinner: Beef, Barley, and Vegetable Soup, Salad

Tuesday:

Breakfast:  apple cinnamon baked oatmeal

Dinner: leftovers!

Wednesday:

Breakfast:  eggs & green smoothies

Dinner: Sweet Potato Bean Burritos

Thursday:

Breakfast: Granola

Dinner:  leftovers!

Friday:

Breakfast: cinnamon rolls, green smoothies

Dinner: Black Bean & Cornbread Cobbler, raw veggies

Saturday:

Breakfast: pancakes

Dinner: Chicken Fajitas

Sunday:

Breakfast: granola

Dinner: leftovers

To bake/prepare this week: bread/cinnamon rolls, tortillas, granola, almond power bars

And for those who asked about how to make yogurt. I actually follow this very easy crock pot method.  But, I’m in the process of learning how to make raw milk yogurt.  Once I’ve got it down, I’ll share with you how to do it!

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Variety is the spice of life, right?  Well, here’s a recipe that will help you mix it up a little at dinner time.  If you have a hard time getting your kids (and ahem, possibly hubbies) to eat their veggies, you might be able to win them over with this one.Every person I’ve made this recipe for has not only enjoyed it, but has asked me for the recipe.    I don’t remember where I originally came across it (maybe Southern Living years ago?), but it’s a staple in our house.  And the great thing about it?  In addition to its nourishing qualities, it’s easy.  Every mom needs an arsenal of easy recipes, right?

This recipe calls for sausage (duh, you already knew that).  Can I let you in on a little secret?  You don’t have to buy sausage.   I haven’t bought sausage in a long time.  Not because we don’t eat it (on the contrary, we love it), but because I make it at home using our ground beef.  We have a quarter of a cow in one of our  freezers (I’m a freezer-cooking-aholic, what can I say) and rather than paying an arm and a leg for good pork sausage (eventually we’ll do a hog), I just make it using beef.  If you absolutely must have the real thing, then go for it!  Nothing tastes as great as the real deal, but since my family doesn’t mind it this way, why mess with a good thing?

It’s important to note that you should avoid sausage that has nitrates in it if you do buy it.  My philosophy: buy local, pastured pork.

Homemade Sausage

modified from Sue Gregg’s Breakfasts: More Than Breakfasts With Blender Batter Baking & Allergy Alternatives (Eating Better Cookbooks)

1 lb ground beef or turkey

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp thyme

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together and either form into patties or brown in a pan until thoroughly cooked.  (For Fiesta Cabbage, just brown it).  I usually throw in a bit more of all the ingredients just because I love lots of flavor!

Fiesta Cabbage

1 small red onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 head green cabbage, chopped

1 (14oz) can of diced tomatoes

1 lb uncooked sausage

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1.  Cook sausage thoroughly.  Remove from skillet and set aside.

2.  Saute pepper and onion in sausage drippings.

3.  Add cabbage to skillet, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes (until softened).

4.  Add sausage, salt, pepper, and tomatoes and cook until warm.

This is an excellent meal with blender cornbread.  Last week, I went to cook sausage, but realized I was out of half of the herbs needed.  No fear!  I quickly improvised by pulling out my pre-mixed jar of homemade taco seasoning and made taco meat instead.  I prepared the rest of the recipe as said above, but served it with cheese.  It was really good!

You’ll have to wait a few weeks for my taco seasoning recipe … and find it in my upcoming recipe ebook, “A Primer on Nourishing, Homemade Recipes to Replace Unhealthy Food Products.”

So there, I just gave two dinner recipes for the price of one!  Enjoy!

This post is part of:

Real Food Wednesdays hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop