Recipe Updates

Here are some updates I needed to post to certain recipes.  I have updated the original pages with the changes and notes as well.  These are all some of our favorite things to eat around here!

Homemade Larabars 
I love these chocolate larabars.  The first time I made them, I used only walnuts (and they were soaked and dehydrated).  I recently made them again, trying them only with almonds.  Almonds are much more dry than walnuts, so I had to use significantly more dates to make the mixture stick together.  I ended up using probably 2 1/2 cups of dates, and they were still a little crumbly.  So here's what I think you would start with when making them only with almonds.

• Ingredients:
• 2 cups almonds (raw, soaked, dehydrated)
• 2 1/2 cups dates (might need to add more)
• 2 oz 100% chocolate (you can adjust this amount if you want less or more chocolate taste)
• Process chocolate in food processor until finely chopped, add almonds and dates.  Process until desired consistency, adding more dates if necessary.  Press into glass dish and refrigerate. Enjoy! 

Baked Salmon
The original recipe for this only provided enough topping for maybe 2 servings of fish.  Recently I made it with enough sauce for an entire huge fillet. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 large purple onion, finely diced
• 2 medium lemons, zested and juiced
• 1/2 - 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
• 4 Tbsp butter, pastured
• Salt, to taste

Process: 

• In a skillet, melt butter (or ghee or coconut oil) and saute onion until soft. 
• Add lemon juice, zest, and cilantro.  Saute until cilantro is wilted and onions are to your desired consistency.  Let sauce simmer until it is as thick as you would like.  Add more butter if you would like, and salt to taste.  
• Spoon over baked salmon. 

Baked Custard

• You can also sprinkle nutmeg or cinnamon on top after you have baked it.  I actually now prefer it this way.
• We have made it twice using less honey - one time using about 2 Tbsp, one time using about 3 Tbsp.  We loved it both times (although I do love it most with all of the honey...).  So if you want to lessen the honey for less sugar in it, don't be scared to!  Of course, we are used to things not being super sweet around here, so if you are used to really sweet things, use the full 1/4 cup.

Chicken Cilantro Soup

• I finally took a picture last time I made the soup! The picture is of the soup made with some chopped tomatoes in it (I rinsed the chopped tomatoes to get all the juice off because I didn't want tomato juice in my broth.  However, I also made it recently just straining the tomatoes, so there was some of the juice in the broth, and it was still really great!) and some yogurt stirred in, which is why it looks creamy colored.

Breakfast Casseroles

• Coconut milk works surprisingly well in place of yogurt or kefir.  I wanted to try it for those who can't use even cultured milk, and it worked very well!  You do not taste coconut at all - just use the same amounts as you would in the recipes for yogurt/kefir.
• Also, I tried using a calculated proportion of eggs for the 9x13 pan to get the same thickness as when using 10-12 eggs in a square dish.  I calculated out that I needed to use 22 eggs (wow, I know).  I tried it, and it was fantastic!  Nice and thick and amazing!  So really, you could probably just use 24 if you like using an even 2 dozen.  This will help those with more mouths to feed as well.  It still works well with the 18 eggs, but it is much thicker with 22-24.  Use between 3/4-1 cup of yogurt/kefir/coconut milk with this amount of eggs. 
• If you use a different size dish than normal (like I did a few times with a round stone dish) and you fill it too full with egg mixture, be careful because if it is too full, you might end up with bacon grease spilling into your oven, burning, and setting your smoke alarm off and making your house hazy and smelly.  Ask me how I know.  ;-)  So if you use a ton of bacon or a less deep dish, just be careful!  :-)