Life Chef Update with Recipes

Hey Y’all! I’ve been a busy girl, so I have a lot of recipes to share with you. Click on the embedded links to see any full recipe. I’ve also put a link in for the first ever Life Chef Video, and at the end I have a list of upcoming Life Chef Classes. If you’d like to have a Life Chef presentation at your church, office or next group meeting please give me a buzz.

Let’s start at the last Natural Foods class held at Sevananda Natural Foods Co-op. There we taste-tested all natural sweeteners like fruit juice concentrate and agave nectar. We also sampled some organic dark and milk chocolates. Finally we simple some milk alternatives: hemp, almond and rice to see first hand what the differences were. The recipe that stole the show was Miso Soba Noodles with Gingered Shiitakes and Nappa Cabbage Slaw. Yum!

Then I had the pleasure of participating in the 4th Annual Wellness Fair at Saint Philip AME Church where we focused on a great lunch and snack time optionin "That's a Wrap!" Wraps travel well, can be made in advance, are an easy and sophisticated choice for older kids to make themselves for school lunches, and are even a great use for leftovers! Adults and kids alike thoroughly enjoyed the Salmon BLT wraps and super-quick and easy Pizza Wraps. The fruit and nut laden Peanut butter, Banana and Honey wraps and the Strawberry Kiwi wraps were a tasty and healthy addition. The turkey and cheese sandwich got a face lift with the Roasted Turkey and Smoked Gouda wrap that also benefited from an easy roasted red pepper mayo. There's another yummy wrap option and a great way to reinvent tuna in the Mediterranean Tuna Wrap.

I returned to Saint Philip for the 25th Annual Health Ministry Annual Breakfast where I prepared a light repast with my sous chef Mr. Patterson. The star of the morning, besides the scholarship awardees and the past and present members of the Health Ministry, was a spinach laden quiche that was so easy to make. I’m putting the Spinach Quiche recipe up because so many people asked about and because it really was just that easy. Loaded with spinach and roasted red peppers, this quiche is relatively light on the eggs, for those watching their cholesterol – maybe 3 eggs per pie crust – however you may substitute 3 egg whites and one whole egg, or even use Egg Beaters instead of whole eggs.

The good folks at Piedmont National Corp. and Henry County were my next two stops during the week as I conducted Healthy Cooking classes as part of Kaiser Permanente’s Worksite Wellness program. Here I made yummy Chicken Salad with Mango and Apple, as well as a Warm Bulgur Salad with Vegetables. Finally I presented a super-quick method for cooking greens and green vegetables: a steam-sauté method finished with the Mediterranean flavors of lemon, olive oil and pine nuts. In one case I used a gorgeous curly savoy cabbage, and the next time I prepared tender Summer Turnips with Pine Nuts and Lemon.

Finally, I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to check out and comment on the first ever Life Chef Video. There will be more to come, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could forward it to anyone you could think of who would enjoy learning how to prepare healthy and delicious meals (that are easy to make and economical too!).

UPCOMING LIFE CHEF EVENTS
August 21 "Healthy Desserts" @ Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation
September 6 "Natural Foods 101" @ Sevananda Natural Foods Coop
October 4 "NF 102: Food as Medicine" @ Sevananda Natural Foods Coop
October 16 "Healthy Holidays" @ Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation
October 18 "Shop & Cook: Meal Planning and More" @ Saint Philip AME Church
November 4 "Healthy Cooking" @ Heidelberg USA for Kaiser Permanente
November 15 "Vegetarian Holiday Favorites" @ Sevananda Natural Foods Coop