How to Make Homemade Fruit and Vegetable Wash

How to Make Homemade Fruit and Vegetable Wash By Barbara Day, M.S., R.D. We had this discussion with my pickleball group about how to clean your fruits and vegetables. I live in a small town in Indiana where many farm, have gardens, can and so I enjoyed the conversation. With the new emphasis on Make America […]

Corn Jalapeno Guacamole

Corn Jalapeno Guacamole By Barbara Day, M.S., R.D. I live in Indiana and homegrown corn season is all summer long. The Aces bi-color corn is our family favorite. I am always looking for ways to incorporate corn into some of my favorite recipes. It’s no secret I am huge avocado fan even though it’s high in […]

Black Bean Sweet Potato Cornbread Pie

This recipe combines two of my favorite foods: sweet potato and black beans. It’s easy to make and great warmed up. I like to serve it with a spinach salad. I typically use Martha White® Gluten Free Yellow Gluten Free Cornbread mix since my husband, my son and my granddaughter have adult celiac disease.

Vegetable Beef Stew

This one-pot meal is a family favorite. It has lots of vegetables and is gluten-free. You can add salt and pepper to taste. One of my granddaughters like to add brown rice to her bowl of Vegetable Beef Stew. She has to be gluten-free so the extra calories are warranted. It seems like she is always training for a ½ marathon somewhere.

Sweet Potato-Spinach-Black Bean Quesadillas

This quesadilla recipe combines many of my favorite foods which are high nutrients: sweet potatoes, spinach, red pepper and black beans. It’s no secret, I love Mexican foods and so does my family. You can easily make this gluten-free if you substitute the whole wheat tortillas for corn tortillas. I like to top my quesadillas with a little salsa, some yummy guacamole, a dab of lite sour cream, and I make a side salad with diced tomatoes and chopped romaine lettuce.

Mexican Cheeseburger

This is a very quick and easy grandkid-loving recipe my grandkids love to eat especially the college grandkids who are doing their own cooking. Included is an excellent homemade sauce recipe but full disclosure, my college grandkids, just use their own store purchased toppings like thick salsa, mayonnaise and ketchup instead of making their own sauce. If you want to lower the calories, you can use reduced fat cheese and use thick salsa instead of the sauce. You can also stack the Mexican Cheeseburgers to make a double.

The Gift of Health Bean Soup with a Kick

By Barbara Day, M.S., R.D.
For a special Christmas present this year, you can mix dry beans together and give the festive bags with the attached recipe as a gift of health. Beans are a great source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber can help to lower your cholesterol and insoluble fiber helps to prevent and treat constipation. Beans are low fat and high in protein, folate, magnesium, potassium and iron.

Salsa Chicken & Brown Rice Casserole

My husband and my grandkids absolutely love this recipe! My husband says it tastes like Mexican Bowl he gets at Chipotle, plus it’s homemade and much cheaper. He likes to put the casserole in a bowl with mashed up corn tortilla chips or on a corn tortilla. Adding more salsa, fresh leafy greens, guacamole and low-fat sour cream adds taste and an array of additional nutrients. Plus, it’s a gluten-free recipe.

Easy-to-Make Homemade Fruit Sorbets

I am always looking for ways to increase my intake of fruits and vegetables every day. When I am grandparenting, I like to make snacks for my grandchildren to eat that are full of nutrients and they love to eat. One of my grandchildren’s favorite treats are homemade fresh fruit sorbets. The difference between a sorbet and sherbet is a sorbet contains no dairy but sherbet contains some milk. The fruits I choose for them are the fruits they like to eat or what’s in season. For example, most of them love strawberries and peaches. Only a couple of grandchildren like blueberries which is my favorite fruit. These recipes are all gluten-free.

Pumpkin Chili with a Kick

It’s pumpkin time and what better to cook on a cool autumn night is Pumpkin Chili with a kick! The conventional chili spices along with pumpkin pie spice give this chili a special taste for those who love the taste of pumpkin. This pumpkin chili is high in dietary fiber, high in protein, high in iron, and high in potassium. It’s gluten-free.