Ohhhh... Fudge... My Mouth Is Watering!

    

 The first time I made fudge, I was, oh.... say 17 years old or so.  I melted the butter with the sugar over a low heat... then the chocolate chips... stirring and stirring, so it wouldn't burn you know.  I had little to worry about in terms of sugar diabeties, excess fat, blood pressure and the sort because I was, well, I was 17!  Those were the days I could slam down an entire pizza by myself without gaining a pound or even worrying about the health stuff.  These days are different!  It's been over a decade since those "eat anything, when ever and where ever" days and my outlook on nutrition differs greatly.  It took some extremism (eating disorders, no fat, calorie counting, you name it, I went there!) to finally arrive at the conclusion that I want a fully nutritional diet, the way God, the Creator and Savior of the world, intended.  That includes unaltered full fat, unaltered cholesterol, preferably organic, grass fed (never grain fed, not even at the end of their lives), no processed sugars of any kind, soaking grains, nuts and seeds, make everything in your own kitchen; Picking up what I'm putting down?!  That's right!  I've put down the boxes of manufactured foods in order to pick up raw foods that I make and enjoy (enjoy the awesome flavors as well as the nutritional benefits!)  All that aside, being that it's the Christmas season (yes, I am a Christian and celebrate Christmas), we needed some fudge around here so I went on the hunt!

Here's What I found!  Got your pen and paper handy?!  Enjoy this simple delicious recipe that is full of health benefits and nothing fake!

Ingredients: Five Total

• 1C Coconut Oil
• 3/4 C Carob Powder (you may use Cocoa Powder but Carob is a bit healthier and hardly different in taste plus, carob is naturally a bit sweet where cocoa isn't!)
• 1/4 C Honey
• 1/4 C Almond Butter (Try making it yourself.  I'll follow up with a post on "how to" within a day or so)
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

Add it all to a bowl, preferably stainless steel.  Get a pot of water (approximately 2/3 of an inch of water will do) nice and hot.  When it starts to boil, put the bowl of ingredients on the pot, making sure the bottom of the pot is not touching the bottom of the bowl, we want indirect heat here.  Stir constantly until all the ingredients are mixed well and totally melted and dissolved (approx 5-10 minutes).  Next, line a baking dish with parchment paper and pour the mixed and melted ingredients into the dish. 

When it is totally solid, slice into cute shapes of your choice ; ) and enjoy!  Keep these babies cold as coconut oil melts at around 70 degrees.  Try putting nuts in it next time!

The original recipe came from a compilation of YouTube videos which you can find here.  The nice lady in the video series says the credit for the original recipe goes to Dr. Jordan Rubin.  Dr. Jordan Rubin is the author of "The Maker's Diet" which I plan on following come New Years when the food madness of this beautiful season is passed.  I will keep you posted and am planning on blogging about the details!  Looking forward to it!

As usual, I would love to hear your feedback!  Tell me if you made them and what you thought of them!  I personally think this is my new recipe for the rest of my life! 

Good Eating: Eggplant Kiku & Sprout Salad

"Kiku is a Persian or Arabic dish that has many variations.  It came to Spain during the Moorish invasions where it took the form of the Spanish tortilla or Spanish omelet, with potatoes as a filling." (p.440 Nourishing Traditions)

The ingredients for Eggplant Kiku are:

• 2 eggplants
• sea salt
• 2 onions
• extra virgin olive oil
• 6 eggs
• 3 cloves of garlic
• juice of one lemon
• pepper 
• paprika

Without copying the recipe verbatim from my Nourishing Traditions cook book, I'll give you a brief layout of the recipe.

The first and most time consuming step is to salt the peeled and cubed eggplant.  Let it sit, draining in a colander for an hour or so.

Next, after the hour is up, rinse and drain the eggplant well and...

saute it in olive oil until soft.  When it's soft, mash it with a potato masher or something like that in another bowl.  (I forgot to take this pic... pardon that)

In the same pan you sauteed the eggplant, saute the onions until they look yummy (transparent and browning) then add the mashed eggplants and the garlic.

(Also forgot this picture...eek!) - Beat the eggs with some salt, the pepper, lemon juice and the paprika, add it all to the eggplant/onion/garlic mixture.

Next, pour the mixture into an oiled baking dish (I used a 9x13 baking dish) and bake for 30 minutes or so in a 375*F oven until its just browning on top.  Take it out of the oven, serve it up however you would like!

I served mine with a sprout salad using freshly sprouted sprout, and a homemade sesame ginger dressing (interested in the recipe? Leave a comment to let me know!), garnished with garden fresh tomatoes and freshly ground pepper.  In the picture above, I sprinkled my husbands with Parmesan cheese!  Every bite was delicious!  Try it and let me know what you think about it!

Happy cooking!