Health for Life Cooking in July

Creamy Tomato Soup - As a kid I loved Campbell's Tomato Soup, but it had to include an entire package of saltine crackers! So I had a little bit of soup with my crackers! That wasn't very healthy for a growing girl but luckily my tastes have changed and I have ditched the saltines and have rediscovered my love for tomato soup. When I found a tomato soup recipe on-line and tried it, I decided that with fresh tomatoes coming in season, it would be the perfect time to make it for my July cooking class! This soup is a bit different then Campbell's but much better because it's fresh and much healthier. And with just a little bit of processing in my Vita Mix (not necessary to make this soup) it's almost just as quick as opening up a can and cooking on the stove. With fresh basil, a tiny bit of chipotle chili and a small amount of cashews, this soup is flavorful, creamy and mmm mmm Good!!


Mediterranean Rice Salad w/ Tofu Feta - I had thoughts of making a pasta salad sometime during my summer classes but using pasta goes against my commitment to stick with whole grains as much as possible. I just don't feel that pasta is a very healthy food, whole grain or white. Whole unprocessed foods are always better!! So when I found a recipe for Mediterranean Rice Salad I got excited. And then when I made it, tweaked it to make it better and tried it.......who needs pasta salad!! This salad is great!! It's loaded with all the things you would find in a pasta salad such as tomato, cucumber, peppers, basil, and feta cheese.......except my feta is tofu feta! Oh yes, and we can't forget the spinach! Gotta get those greens in!






Lentil Salad - This salad comes from May All Be Fed by one of my favorite health guru authors, John Robbins. I liked this recipe the way it was so I didn't have to change it much other then replacing the olive oil with half of an avocado. It adds a nice thickness to the dressing that sticks to the salad well and unlike the olive, all of the parts of the avocado are intact for perfect balance. Nothing added, nothing taken away. Just the way nature provided. You can find this recipe at http://www.cs.utk.edu/~plank/plank/recs/lent_salad.html


Summer Fruit Parfait - One of my favorite things about summer is the wonderful fruits that are in season! I could live on it, and I practically do. This idea came from a fruit pie recipe that I got off Dr. Fuhrman's web site (http://www.drfurhman.com/). The parfait in this picture includes strawberries, kiwi's, black berries, layered with an apricot puree and a nut crumble. By the time classes roll around, I may need to change the fruits a bit because I want to include some fresh, locally grown fruits as much as I can. Whatever fruits are used in this parfait, it's sure to be a hit!

And there you have it! Health for Life Cooking in July. Class dates for July are Tuesday July 6th , Wednesday July 14th and Tuesday July 20th.

I hope to see you in class!


April