Recipes

Here are a bunch of recipes that I use.

You’ll notice that most of them fall into Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Maker’s Diet. For Phase 1, my husband and I mostly ate cooked/baked/grilled chicken/fish/beef with seasonings along with some sort of cooked vegetable at dinner, and I sautéed the veggies and meat in extra virgin coconut oil. We also ate a lot of yogurt and made smoothies using yogurt and organic frozen berries. I also ate tuna for lunch (The Maker’s Diet has a good tuna salad recipe at the back) and snacked on fruits and veggies. We also ate eggs and omelets for breakfast. We only did Phase 1 for a week and then moved on to Phase 3 because neither of us was in bad health or needed to lose weight, so we just did a 1-week cleanse instead of a 2-week cleanse. But you may wish to do the 40-day diet precisely, and, if so, then the recipes below will not help during Phase 1, but may come in handy later. For recipes specifically for Phase 1, and as well as the Phases 2 and 3, see Jordan Rubin’s The Maker’s Diet (in the back of the book) or go to the Biblical Health Institute website to view a variety of recipes by Jordan Rubin, Sally Fallon and others.

Also, just so you know, not all of these recipes call for soaking the flour or using yogurt rather than yeast as Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions often recommends. I am currently in the midst of experiments with more of Fallon's recipes and have not posted them here. But I highly recommend you purchase her book and start experimenting as well.

(Use all organic ingredients as much as possible with the following recipes.)

*Note on honey substitutions: Honey has a greater sweetening power than maple syrup, sucanat, rapadura, or traditional sugar. Twelve ounces (weight) of honey equals one standard measuring cup. In baked goods, reduce the amount of liquid by ¼ cup for each cup of honey used; add ½ teaspoon of baking soda for each cup of honey used; reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees to prevent oven browning. For easy removal rub a bit of extra virgin coconut oil in the measuring cup before adding honey.

APPETIZERS/SNACKS/CONDIMENTS

Healthy Salad Dressing
1 part organic oil (sesame, peanut or flax seed are good; avoid the oils listed on The Maker’s Diet AVOID LIST)
1 part organic vinegar (or organic rice vinegar or organic apple cider vinegar)
1 part raw honey (unfiltered and UNHEATED) – Organic Food Depot

Mix. Delicious on salad.

Hot Cranberry Punch
4 C. unsweetened pineapple juice (if you can’t find organic, just use regular—at least it
doesn’t have sugar in it)
4 C. Cranberry Juice (Harris Teeter carries it organic)
1/3 C. Raw honey
1 C. water
1 tsp whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick

Tie cloves and cinnamon stick in cheesecloth. Combine all ingredients in crock-pot. Cover and cook on low setting for 4-10 hours. Serve hot, in punch cups.

Protein Balls (snack item)

½ C. Goatein (by Garden of Life, available at OFD)
½ C. Raw Honey
½ C. Peanut butter (organic is best)
½ C. Whole rolled oats (no quick oats)
½ C. Sunflower seeds
½ C. Sesame seeds

Blend.

Add: Chopped dates (optional), walnuts (or other nuts), and unsweetened shredded coconut.

Roll into balls and refrigerate. You can also roll in crushed granola (unsweetened) before refrigerating.


BREAD

Banana Bread
(my Great-Grandma’s recipe with my modifications)

½-¾ C. of raw honey
½ C. extra virgin coconut oil
½ C. sour milk (you can use regular milk just add a few drops of vinegar to sour it)
1 tsp. soda
2 C. flour or more, depending on consistency, (I use Spelt) and dash of salt
1 C. walnuts (optional)
2 eggs
3 bananas, ripe (mashed) [don’t use more than 3]

Bake at 300 degrees for 1-2 hours, depending on flour used. Spelt takes less time than Kamut because it’s denser.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
3 eggs
1 c. extra virgin coconut oil (or if all you have is olive oil on hand, you can [though it’s
not the healthiest choice] use ¾ c. olive oil and ½ stick of butter)
3 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 c. honey
3 c. grated zucchini (about 3 medium-sized zucchini or 2 zucchini and 1 carrot (chop in food processor
2 1/3 c. flour (spelt) – at end, add more if needed (don’t want too runny)
½ c. alkaline-free organic cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. alkaline-free baking powder
½ c. nuts (optional)
1 c. grain sweetened chocolate chips (by Sunspire)

muffins – 25-30 minutes @ 350 degrees – makes about 2 dozen
bread – 45 minutes @ 350 degrees (more crumbly)

Start with oil, eggs, vanilla and honey
Add zucchini, carrots
Mix all dry ingredients together first, then mix in to wet ingredients

Add nuts and chocolate chips at end.

Mini-Muffins Recipe
From Michele’s Kitchen
(All Ingredients are Organic)
Ingredients
½ cup Amaranth Flour (Arrowhead Mills)
1 cup Graham Flour (Bobs’ Red Mill)
2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tbsp. Vanilla Extract (Simply Organic)
1 egg
½ cup kefir or yogurt (Lifeway) – this helps it to rise, amaranth flour is delicious and
healthy but doesn’t have gluten in it
¼ cup sunflower oil (Hain)
¼ cup of honey (Southworth)
1 Banana, mashed
½ cup each Just Tomatoes dehydrated fruit, use two berry types

In a medium bowl, sift together the amaranth flour, graham flour and the baking powder. In a large bowl, beat together the vanilla, egg, kefir or yogurt, oil and honey. While stirring with a wooden spoon, gradually pour the flour mixture into the liquid mixture. Beat for a few seconds, just until the mixtures are blended. Fold in the banana and the fruits. Spoon the batter into oiled mini-muffin tins. Bake @ 350*F for 15-20 minutes or until done.
*****You may use one or several of the following variations on these muffins.
Substitute Pumpkin or applesauce for bananas.
Substitute Safflower Oil for Sunflower Oil.
Substitute Pastry, Rice, Spelt or Oat flour for Graham Flour.
Add cinnamon and/or nuts instead of dehydrated fruit.
Add spice of your choosing such as, cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves.

Pizza Crust
1 C. warm water (I just use a mug and fill it about 2/3 of the way full)
1 tsp. raw honey
1 Tbsp. yeast (Rapunzel is a good brand through OFD, or just regular quick-rising yeast)

Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water, stir. Set aside until frothy.

Pour yeast mixture into large bowl and add:

Flour (I use Spelt, make amazing pizza crust)
1 tsp. salt

Mix. Add more flour if needed to make dough consistency.

Grease your pizza pan or stone with extra virgin coconut oil.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place kneaded dough on pan and spread. Add toppings and cook for 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven). At about 12 minutes, put aluminum foil over pizza to keep cheese from browning.

Blend olive oil and fresh garlic (or organic garlic powder) and spread with brush on the crust.

Rachel’s Cornbread
(mix by hand)

1 C. cornflour/meal (finely ground)
1 C. brown rice flour (or other flour such as spelt, kamut, millet, etc.)
4 tsp. baking powder
1 C. milk
1/3 C. extra virgin coconut oil
1 Tbsp. raw honey
1 egg – don’t over beat (do egg last)

Grease 9 x 9 pan
Bake 425 degrees, 22 minutes


MAIN MEALS

Beef Stroganoff
2 pounds of stew meat
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 8 oz pkg. mushrooms, sliced
Heat on low all day. Just before serving, add half a cup of sour cream.
Serve over rice or noodles.

Chicken and Corn Chili (this one’s really good!)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (16 oz.) jar salsa
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 (11 oz) can Mexican style corn (I just use regular corn and put my own spices in it)
¼ lb dry pinto beans, soaked and cooked (or a 15 oz can pinto beans)

Place chicken and salsa in slow cooker the night before you want to eat this chili. Season with garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Cook 6-8 hours on low setting.

About 3-4 hours before you want to eat, remove chicken from slow cooker, and shred it using two forks. Return meat to the pot, and continue cooking.

Stir the corn and pinto beans into the slow cooker. Simmer until ready to serve.

Crock Pot Mushroom Chicken
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package of chicken gravy mix (or any gravy mix, sometimes I use a shitake mushroom gravy mix from OFD)
1 cup organic white wine (or 1 cup chicken broth)
1 can of cream of mushroom (or chicken) soup
8 oz. cream cheese

Put chicken in crock-pot. Sprinkle gravy mix on top. Pour soup over that, then pour wine or broth over that. Cook on low all day. 30 minutes before serving, put cream cheese in. When ready to serve, remove chicken and whisk the sauce together. Serve over pasta or rice.

Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
¾-1 lb. (when dry) great northern, pinto, or cannellini beans, soaked and cooked (or 3 15 oz cans)
2 1/2 c. chopped, cooked chicken
1 c. chopped onion
1 1/2 c. chopped red, green, and/or yellow pepper
2 jalapeno chili peppers, stemmed and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
3 1/2 c. chicken broth
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese (optional)
Healthy chips (optional)

In a crock pot combine the drained beans, chicken, onion, sweet pepper, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cumin, salt, and oregano. Stir in chicken broth. Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours. Ladle soup into bowls. Top each serving with some cheese and healthy, no-oil chips (see my posting on food available at the Organic Food Depot), if desired, or serve with hearty bread. Makes 8 servings.

Dev’s Chili Con Carne
2 lbs. ground hamburger
1 large onion, diced
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes (drained), or diced tomatoes
½ lb. dry beans (red, pinto or black), soaked & cooked (or 2 -15 oz cans red kidney beans)
1-2 chopped cloves of garlic (or 2 Tbsp. of garlic powder)
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cocoa powder
2 tsp oregano
A dash or two of red pepper powder (don’t get too crazy with it)
Brown hamburger with diced onion and garlic. Drain. Mix browned hamburger with all other ingredients (except beans) in crock pot, chopping up whole tomatoes with firm spatula while mixing in spices. Then add beans (precooked). Mix. Cook on low all day. Serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese. You can serve with healthy chips or whole grain sourdough or sprouted bread.

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup (thick enough to be a chili)
Original recipe yield: 8 Servings

INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
¼ lb (when dry) chili beans, soaked and cooked (or 16 ounce can chili beans)
¼ lb (when dry) black beans, soaked and cooked (or 15 ounce can black beans)
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (OFD carries organic beer)
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 (8 ounce) package shredded cheddar cheese (or preferably raw cheddar cheese)
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream (or piima cream, see my dairy fermentation posting)
1 cup crushed healthy chips (optional) – (available at Organic Food Depot, see posting)

DIRECTIONS
Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.
Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed healthy chips, if desired.


DESSERTS

Honey-Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting (delicious on Chocolate Zucchini Muffins)
8 oz. cream cheese softened
1/3 cup raw honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend until smooth. Ice cake while warm.

Honey-Sweetened Fudge Sauce/Frosting
Blend raw honey with cocoa powder or carob powder until desired texture and flavor are achieved.

Monster Cookies
Preheat to 350 degrees
½ cup extra virgin coconut oil
1 cup Sucanat or Rapadura
¾ cup raw honey
(or you can use 1 & 1/3 cups raw honey and no sucanat or rapadura)

Cream together.
Add 3 eggs and mix. (When cutting recipe in half, use 2 instead.)
2 tsp baking soda. Mix.
1 tsp. vanilla. Mix.
2 C. peanut butter. Mix.
1 C. flour (spelt or spelt/kamut blend). Mix.
4.5 C. rolled oats. Mix.
Optional:
1 C. grain sweetened chocolate chips (by Sunspire)

Shape into 1.5 inch balls. Press somewhat flat on cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Makes 5 dozen.
(I usually cut this recipe in half.)

Whipped Cream Topping
(Sally Fallon also suggest an alternative using Stevia)
1 cup chilled coconut cream (or heavy whipping cream)
2 Tablespoons maple syrup, or honey

In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters gently beat the Coconut Cream (or heavy whipping cream) to not quite soft peak stage (The cream must be cold, taken from the fridge). Add the maple syrup or sweetener of your choice. Carefully beat to desired stiffness.


PIE

Healthy Pie Filling
(see Pie Crust and other filling recipes and tips below)

3 Options:

1) Sucanat/Rapadura and spelt flour
2) Maple syrup and cornstarch
3) Apple juice and cornstarch (this is my favorite—or a blend of #2 and #3)

When using cornstarch as thickener:
Heat syrup and/or juice to BOILING. Mix 2-3 Tablespoons cornstarch in ¼-1/2 cup cold water and mix into boiling liquid (in a medium sized stove pot, don’t use a small one or it will boil over). Pour over fruit filling. Sprinkle with spices of your choice.

Pie Crust (using extra virgin coconut oil – so good and so much more healthy!)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use Spelt)
1 t salt
1 T. raw honey
3/4 C chilled, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (this is technically not the best choice according to The Maker’s Diet, but I’ve never tried it using ,only extra virgin for the whole recipe)
coconut oil)
3/8 C (6 T) chilled extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 C ice water
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

I use a food processor to combine the dry ingredients with the butter and coconut oil. Put the flour (spelt), honey and salt in the food processor and add the chilled extra virgin coconut oil (broken into pieces). Pulse until the coconut oil is worked into the flour and no large pieces remain. Add the chilled butter and pulse until the largest pieces of butter are no larger than small peas. At this point I dump this mixture into a bowl since I prefer to incorporate the water by hand using a fork. Add the apple cider vinegar to 1/4 C ice water and then add this mixture to the flour mixture, a couple of tablespoons at a time, tossing the mixture with a fork. As you continue to add the liquid the mixture will begin to come together in a ball. At this point you can squeeze the mixture together by hand. You don't want to knead the dough; work it just enough to bring it all together in a cohesive mass. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, wrap each piece in plastic wrap and smash it down somewhat to make a thick disk. Chill the dough for at least an hour before using.
This crust is absolutely delicious either for double crust pies or for single crust pies where the crust is not pre-baked. I have found from experience that this crust is simply too rich to bake empty and then fill. When I have attempted to bake the pie crust by itself it tends to melt down and slide to the bottom of the pie pan.


Fabulous Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Here is a healthy version of a classic pumpkin pie recipe.

Nut Crust: Makes one 9 inch pie crust.

2 1/2 cups finely ground nuts (pecans are the best, almonds, walnuts or a combination of mixed nuts works very nicely too)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1 T to 1/3 cup sucanat, raw honey or natural sweetener of choice - depends on how sweet you want your crust (see my note at the top of this page on raw honey substitution)*
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil (or butter) melted

Stir together ground nuts, cinnamon and sugar. Mix in melted extra virgin coconut oil. Set aside 1/2 cup of the nut mixture for topping the pie.

Press mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Chill for about 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (either canned or home-made)
1/2 cup maple syrup or or honey
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
4 eggs
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
(2 Tablespoons flour if you use maple syrup, honey)

Heat the pumpkin puree in a heavy pan, stirring frequently. Add the coconut milk to the pumpkin, continuing to stir. Keep it hot, but don't let it boil. In a heatproof bowl, beat the eggs and maple syrup or honey together. Beat in the dry spices. When the pie crust is ready, beat the egg mixture, while slowly adding the hot pumpkin mixture into it as a thin stream. The resulting mixture will be hot, but you do not want to have "cooked" eggs. Carefully pour the hot pumpkin filling into the hot pie crust. Return to the center of the oven and bake at 400 degrees. If the pie is very full, finish filling it when the pie is part way in the oven with a cup or ladle so that you do not slosh the filling all over. The pie is done when the outside edge of the filling is firm and slightly puffed, but the center is still jiggly. Place on a rack to gently cool, so the custard can finish cooking and set. When cool, add a whipped cream topping.


OTHER PIE RECIPES

Stir-&-Roll Pie Crust
1 1/3 C flour
1 tsp Salt
1/3 C Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
3 tbsp cold Milk

Pumpkin Pie Filling
3/4 C sucanat or rapadura
1/2 tsp Salt
1 3/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice *
2 large eggs
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 12 oz can evaporated milk

Mix sugar, salt, Pumpkin Pie Spice in a small bowl. Beat eggs in a large bowl and stir in Pumpkin and sucanat spice mixture.
Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into 9" pie shell. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350 and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near,center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours and serve or refrigerate. Makes 8 servings.

• Can use 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 1/4 tsp ground cloves
instead of Pumpkin Pie Spice.


Glutenless Crust
2 Cups glutenless flour (buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa)
¼ to ½ Cup extra virgin coconut oil
¼ teaspoon salt
?? water

Mix flour and salt, cut in extra virgin coconut oil, add water gradually until the dough holds together. As with the sprouted crust, I recommend just pressing the dough into the pan, and using waxed paper if you make a top crust. You could also roll out a bunch of mini-crusts and patch them together.

Details and Tips for Pie Crusts
Pies are either two-crust, like apple and cherry, or one-crust, like pumpkin, pecan, and cream. All the above measurements are for a two-crust pie. The top crust is always smaller, so for a one-crust pie, reduce everything by about a third, not by half.

Measurement is only important in the liquid oil crust, because to maintain flakiness you shouldn't add more stuff after stirring. In every crust, what matters is the liquid-solid balance, for a dough that will be pliable enough to roll out but not so wet that it sticks to everything and comes apart. In flaky crusts, you take care of this during the water-adding stage. With sourdough, I start it kind of wet and then add more flour until it's stiff enough. So I generally don't measure at all.

In a two crust pie, separate the dough into two balls, one of them noticeably bigger than the other. After a few pies you'll develop a feel for the relative sizes. Then roll out the big one for the bottom crust.

For a roller, I just grab the nearest wine bottle. In ease of use, it's so close to a rolling pin that it's not worth my trouble to get the rolling pin out of the drawer. (And it's easier to clean!) You will probably need more flour than you think. I spread some on the counter, roll the crust a bit, flip it, roll it more, then add more flour, because the original flour gets absorbed in the dough. You need to keep both sides floured. Start rolling with light pressure and work up to heavier pressure as it gets flatter. What you're aiming for is a circle close enough in size to what you need that you don't have to trim the edges. This is a skill that comes with many crusts. You'll probably get nowhere near a circle and have to trim and patch.

There's nothing wrong with a patched-together pie crust. It tastes the same and you can't even see the patching unless it's on the top crust, and even then it's only going to bother people you don't want to associate with anyway. Even after making hundreds of crusts, I often end up patching because whole grain flour is so uncooperative. Some people take the trimmings and bake them separately (or tragically throw them out), but I use everything in the crust.

So you roll out the bottom crust, wipe a thin coat of oil in the pie pan, put the crust in, roll out the top crust, then put the filling in and quickly put on the top crust and get it in a hot oven. The wetter the filling is, the more important it is to put it in the oven very soon after you put the filling in, or the wetness will soak into the bottom crust and damage it. Some people like to do a little sculpture at the edge of the pie where the top and bottom crusts join. I just press them roughly together. The important thing here is that the filling doesn't run out of the bottom crust and down the inside of the pan. If it does, you'll just get a caramelized spot.

Baking time varies between pies. The temperature is generally 350-400 F, at which a filled crust will be done in around 30 minutes, but the filling often takes longer.