What are your favorite healthy, homemade recipes?

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I’ve recently been making a variety of homemade things : breads, bagels, sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, fig newtons, almond butter, etc.

Korean Kimchi was my recent little project: cabbage, garlic cloves, jalapenos, red pepper, green onion, radishes, apple, ginger root, whey from homemade yogurt, salt, and fish sauce. It is currently fermenting on a shelf in my bedroom. I am noseblind to it, but I can’t say the same for anybody that visits.

I want to get further in the habit of eating few or zero processed foods so that - pending getting run over by a bus or martyred for the faith by disgruntled Robot Marriage Equality Activists of the 2070s - I might be able to live into the triple digits.

What are some of your favorite healthy home recipes?
 
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I’ve been making a Japanese curry that is really good and lasts quite a few meals. A bit of meat, carrots, potatoes, a splash of peas and spice…super cheap.


I make fresh Italian bread often because I have a KitchenAid mixer.


I make my kiddo 4 ingredient oatmeal cookies.

Handi-chop 4 cups of oats, 4 cups pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix, just pumpkin), 4 bananas and 1cup raisins. You can sub in chia seeds or flax for a banana. (4tbsp water to 1 tbsp seed, let sit for 5 min). Bake at 350 till brown. You can add additional sweetener (maple, agave, honey) or carob/chocolate chips to sweeten it up.
 
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Have you ever gotten pumpkin from an actual pumpkin or do you use Libby’s?

The one and only ingredient listed on Libby’s is “pumpkin”, but I am told getting the meat from an actual pumkin is still more pumpkin-y.
 
We make as much as we can from scratch. DH has Congestive Heart Failure, so, sodium is the enemy.

My two best friends are my rice cooker and my electric pressure cooker. These make big batches of from scratch cooking far less time consuming.

A big pot of beans is a breeze in the pressure cooker. I soak them overnight and rinse them, then put them in the pressure cooker with whatever I have on hand, chicken broth (saved/frozen from cooking chicken), some crushed tomatoes (flash boiled/peeled and run through a food mill if fresh, out of season I will use high quality canned tomatoes), some DAKs seasoning, some cloves of garlic and a quartered yellow onion, a jalapeno pepper or two, a couple bay leaves, the into the pressure cooker for 15ish minutes for black beans, less for softer beans like canary beans or navy beans.

We love to cook buffalo chicken, in the pressure cooker goes boneless skinless chicken breasts and or thighs (what ever is on sale/in the freezer), a cup of Frank’s Hot Sauce, a half stick of real unsalted butter, 20 minutes and natural pressure release. Shred up that chicken in the amazing sauce add it to everything from rolls to rice to salad to pizza.

I can talk cooking all day 🙂
 
I’m confused. You cook raw beans in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes?

Beans are one of my weak points. I’m not good at eating them, but then I’ve only done them a few times. The exception is hummus: I really enjoy hummus, especially with my homemade bagel chips that I sit out over night to go stale, then brush with olive/avocado oil & garlic before crisping them in the oven. Delectable.

I"m good at eating fruits & veggies, but not so good at budget-friendly starches.
 
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TK421 said:
I want to get further in the habit of eating few or zero processed foods so that - pending getting run over by a bus or martyred for the faith by disgruntled Robot Marriage Activists of the 2070s - I might be able to live into the triple digits.
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I’ll share my ‘whole foods’ experience. It started 10 years ago when my wife started doing the grocery shopping for her father - he needed whole foods ie… less sodium etc…

Over the years I’ve come to understand that whole foods are richer than processed foods, especially when you start adding things to them to make them more delicious. So, take that into consideration if you want to live through the 2070 marriage apocalypse.
 
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TK421 said:
Have you ever gotten pumpkin from an actual pumpkin or do you use Libby’s?

The one and only ingredient listed on Libby’s is “pumpkin”, but I am told getting the meat from an actual pumkin is still more pumpkin-y.
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Unless pumpkins are in season ie: VERY fresh, there’s not all that much of a difference. I don’t even do Libby’s…I do the store brand. Plus, it’s a hulk of a lot of work.

Beans in the pressure cooker are great…I don’t have one but I’ve used one. Hubby gets cramps from beans we can’t do them often.

Lentils are a good alternative, especially green lentils. I make a mean meat-free lentil burger/lentil “meatball” with them.

And for starch. Rice cooker. Just do it. Dump in one parts rice, two parts water. Click the button and walk away.

We also stretch ground beef really far by using carrots. For tacos/pot pie use a 4 parts beef to 3 parts ground carrots (thank you handi chopper). The best is the 85% beef, the fat is absorbed by the carrots and basically tastes like beef. When you spice it, it’s really hard to tell. I can even get away with adding 1 parts peas before I get comments about “Mommy hiding veggies”.

I make taco cups…raw dough square in the bottom of a cupcake tin, put down some refried beans (for those who can tolerate them) big spoonful of seasoned meat and then toss on some cheese. They cook up wonderfully, are delicious and freeze perfectly. If I’m really mean I serve them with veggies.

I found it has taken a while to build up my husband’s tolerance for veggies in food. Now, except for when he really wants the AWFUL hamburger helper as a RARE treat (like every 2 years) he actually prefers that I mix veggies in because it tases cleaner adn fresher.
 
Yep.

Your hummus? You can cook chick peas in the electric pressure cooker after soaking them over night. The pressure cooker will take about 15-20 minutes to heat up and then those chick peas will be cooked in around 15 minutes. You do have to wait a few minutes for the pressure cooker to naturally release pressure before you can open it up, but, it is sooooo much less expensive than buying tubs of hummus.

I can also take a roast out of the deep freeze and have it falling apart tender on the table in two hours as opposed to cooking in all day long.
 
I really got to try making imitation meat with beans/lentils. Eggplant is popular for it, and I love eggplant.

Something about the thicker texture is the important part. When I go too long without meat I have a sense that I’m never truly ‘full’, even when I am full. With the times I’ve eaten the veggie burger at McDonald’s (I know, I know) I basically enjoyed it just as much as the standard burger. The texture is the important part.

@TheLittleLady
I"m sorry. I was thinking ‘slow cooker’ not ‘pressure cooker’. I’m still surprised it can be done in 15 minutes though. Beans always seem so impossibly tough the few times that I have bought them raw.
 
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TK421 said:
I really got to try making imitation meat with beans/lentils. Eggplant is popular for it, and I love eggplant.

Something with a thicker texture is the important part. When I go too long without meat I have a sense that I’m never truly ‘full’, even when I am full. With the times I’ve eaten the veggie burger at McDonald’s (I know, I know) I basically enjoyed it just as much as the standard burger. The texture is the important part.
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For me, it’s not about replacing all meat but getting the meat/veggie/startch ratio more balanced. You’re supposed to have 1/4 starch, 1/4 meat, 1/2 veg. I’ve found that 2/6 startch, 1/6 meat and 3/6 veg is better to feel full longer.
 
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