Israel Trip

I am putting my travel diary on my personal blog if you interested in hearing about the adventures: http://hannahs-philosophies.blogspot.com.
Han

Healthy Breakfast Muesli

1 L Apple Juice...no sugar added!
1 500 g package of oats
1 500 g cup of yoghurt
2 grated apples
1 Orange or 2 tangerines...pealed and chopped into bitesize pieces
fresh fruits (eg. pears, plums, strawberries, pineapple...whatever!)
Chopped Nuts
Coconut (optional)
Cinnamon (optional)

Let oats soak in apple juice overnight (not a must but it tastes better this way)
Then add the yoghurt, grated apples, orange or tangerines (or both if you like)
fruits, nuts, etc...and mix well...serve for breakfast or as a healthy desert...great for church potlucks so that there is a healthy choice...because of the citrus fruits the apples don't turn brown fast and you can keep it in the fridge for a few days (this makes a huge amount!)

Nut Bars/Cookies

500 g whole grain flour
300 g butter
200g honey
150 g finely ground nuts
6 Tbs creme
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 heaping tsp. backing powder
a pinch of sea salt
some extra ground nuts to roll cookies in.
Kneed to a thick dough...roll out with a rolling pin...put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes...cut as desired (but about 6-7 mm thick) roll in some more ground nuts and put on a greased cookie sheet...back at 350 for 20 minutes until they are golden brown...tastes especially great with sweet almonds...although it doesn't really matter what nuts you use.

Got this from page 299 in a book called: "Zucker, Zucker: Krank durch Fabrikzucker"
by Dr. med. M.O. Bruker...emu Verlag für Ernährung, Medizin und Umwelt, Lahnstein. Copyright 1991

Sugar Free Marzipan

Okay...not sooo healthy, but better than the sugared kind...has lots of fat but a ton of vitamins:

Marzipan can be made with honey, rose water and finely ground sweet almonds

Yummy Pancakes

1 c whole grain flour /eine Tasse vollkorn Mehl
1 tsp. Backpulver Backing powder
1 t. salz salt
2 Eier eggs
ein Bisschien weniger als 1 Tasse Milch a little less than one cup of milk

Gut zusammen schlagen und in der Pfanne mit ein Bisschien Öl anbraten...mit frisches Obst und Sahne (natürlich nicht gesüßt) geniessen...yummy!

Beat and mix together well...fry with a little oil in a pan...tastes great with fruit and fresh whipped cream (unsweetened of course)

Sugar Free, Low Fat, and Whole Grain

For me the key to healthy living when it comes to food (of course exercies, love, warmth, spiritual health are also really important) is avoiding refined: sugar, flour, rice and white pastas...and trying to trim fat (especially animal fats) where you can...I believe that refined products are usually the source of our overweight problem. Sugar, especially, is as addictive as drugs and alcohol. And because it is an vitaminless, empty calorie, carbohydrate; it needs B Vitamins to be digested properly. Therefore it sucks your body dry of its vitamin B resources. All other natural carbs (whole grain breads and rice) have vitamin B, therefore they provide there own source of vitamins needed to digest them so they don't suck the body dry of its needed vitamins... Not to mention that sugar sends your body into a blood sugar/insulin whip lash that can cause everything from depression, lack of concentration, tiredness to eventually diabetes... Low blood sugar is an early sign of diabetes and if you go off sugar and refine sugar you won't have it ever...
Anyways...theres my soapbox...perhaps you think I'm a freak...but I really believe and have studied this stuff :-)

Spicy Thai Chicken

1/4 of A Thai Red Curry mix-more if you like it really spicy (in Germany you can get these in any Asian store)...in America you can probably get these at a normal supermarket.
1 Can of coconut milk
400 g chicken or lean beef
any and as many veggies as you can fit with the chicken in your frying pan
Unsalted peanuts
Bananas (optional)
1 cup dry basmati rice
Stir fry your veggies briefly with as little oil as possible in a non stick pan
Add the chicken or beef and briefly brown both sides. Add the coconut milk and the red curry along with the peanuts and some fresh ginger and garlic if you like...let it simmer until the sauce becomes thicker and the meat is thoroughly cooked.
Rice: Let 2 cups of water come to a boil...add basmatic rice stirring so it won't stick and turn off the burner and let it sit (with electric ovens...with gas turn it down)...
Top the rice with the mixture from the frying pan and add sliced bananas on top for a slightly sweet taste.

Stuffed Zucchini or Tomatoes

This one is adapted from my friend Krista
Chop of the tops longways of a few zucchinis...and hollow them out with a spoon or corer.
Use what you hollowed out by grating it and putting it in a bowl.
Grate some lowfat cheese and crush some whole grain WASAs till they are almost powder...mix this with the grated zucchini...add a few eggs to make the mixture moist. Add salt and pepper and herbs that you like and spoon it into the zucchinis. If you have leftover filling, you can fill a few tomatoes that you have hollowed out as well (just don't add the tomatoe insides to the filling...rather use it for a tomatoe sauce or something).
The more zucchini and the less cheese and eggs in the filling the healthier!

Stuffed Mushrooms

I just got this new chopper from Pampered Chef...great invention...it was a great help with this recipe:
Large mushrooms 500 g
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 carrot
1 red bell pepper
Lowfat bacon
2 whole grain WASAs
100g Parmaesan Cheese
Parsley, Oregano, Chicken Bullion, Lemon Pepper (or normal pepper) to season
Preheat oven to 400 (250 C)...wash all vegetables... take stems off of mushrooms and scoop out a little of the insides with a corer...chop the rest of the veggies really small and stir fry in a nonstick pan with very little olive oil together with the bacon. Turn off burner and add parsley, chicken bullion (not too much or else it will get salty), pepper and oregano...then crush the WASAs and add the 100 g finely grated parmaesan cheese and mix it up well. Fill the mushrooms with the mixture and bake for 15-20 minutes. It feeds 2-3 people if you don't eat anything else with it. With noodles or rice you could probably easily stretch it to 3-4.