Grow Your Family Healthy

Retrain Your Brain

Learning to minimize animal flesh products
By Amber Humphrey, NC

So, you have decided to try to minimize animal products in your family’s diet, CONGRATULATIONS! This is one of the biggest steps you can take for them…a willingness to try new things. I had always thought that eating healthier meant not only giving up the foods I enjoy but that it was so much more expensive as well. I was so wrong. Instead, I have what I enjoy in a healthier and most often more tasty format.

This is a “retrain your brain” program. By the time you complete these six dinners, you will be well on your way in knowing how to make what you and your family enjoy in a healthier format.

Make a list of where to buy the ingredients and buy for the week so you don’t wear yourself out with repeated trips to the stores. Take a little extra time at each store to discover other organic produce, meat substitute foods and other healthy options that you may want to try in the future…again, make a list.

Because some of these stores and these ingredients may be unfamiliar to you, expect these recipes to take much longer the first time as you make new discoveries in your brain retrain process. But after that it should be a breeze to revamp dishes you enjoy.

Dessert:
Once a week I make an Organic Devil’s Food Cake Mix and put in 1 Cup each of leftover Almond and Carrot pulp.
We also have our ChocoPerfection Bars which take less than 10 minutes to melt down and mix with raisins or nuts to have at the ready.
I also make banana bread using Xylitol or Erythritol to sweeten and again add leftover Almond and/or Carrot pulp.
Pumpkin pies are wonderful sweetened with Xylitol or Erythritol. Use Vanilla Almond Milk with a ready made whole wheat crust. Fast and simple. Family secret: Add 1 tsp. Nutmeg
Fruit Pies: Prebake a whole wheat crust. Use a fruit jam or jelly that has been sweetend with concentrated grape juice or other juice concentrate for a glaze. Mix with organic fruit and put in baked pie shell. Quickly make your own glaze by mashing fruit, adding powdered Erythritol and thicken with corn starch or pectin.
I also make chocolate chip cookies with the ChocoPerfection bars and Xylitol or Erythritol as substitute sweeteners.
ChocoPerfection bars are the daily fare in our home.
*In all of my baking recipes, I substitute Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening for the butter.

You really do not have to give up the things you enjoy!!!