Jo, your review made me antsy to see my workouts arrive in the mailbox! How fun! I am particularly interested in seeing the low impact HiiT options, that should be interesting!
It was cold this morning (I know Kim, and Jo, you can roll your eyes at me...LOL
) it's not even close to freezing.... but I stayed put under the blankets....LOL But I figured I'll probably be trying out new workouts soon and make up for it.
Jo, the plates you saw in the workouts, Cathe mentioned that they are not currently selling them but might add them to the store in the future. I certainly would get some if she had them!
Rachel, about the casserole, I think it depends on how clean you want to get. You certainly could do evaporated milk, but keep in mind that fat is a flavor carrier, so I might use whole milk instead and use a little wholewheat flour to bind it and make it thicker. Or you could try coconut milk. I'm pasting a recipe that has rice and mushrooms but you could easily add broccoli and skip the spinach, if you think that would make a good casserole for what you are looking for. And if you don't feel like making your own almond milk you can buy it or use milk or any other liquid you like. I made this recipe before and it is really yummy as is but versatile too! You could even add cheese if your broccoli casseroles usually have cheese.
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake
4½ C water
1½ C wild rice, rinsed well
1½ C brown rice, rinsed well
2 C water
½ C raw almonds
1 can kidney beans, rinsed, and drained (or 2 C dry, cooked)
2 (10-oz). bags fresh spinach, chopped (or you can use frozen chopped, well drained)
2 lbs. mushrooms, cleaned and coarsely chopped
2 yellow onions, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. whole-wheat flour
2 tsp. sea salt
Bring 4½ C water to a boil, then add the brown and wild rice. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 45
minutes. In a high-power blender, blend 2 C water, almonds, and whole-wheat flour on high speed until very
smooth. Pour the mixture into a pan and add the mushrooms, garlic, onion, and flour. Stir often on medium heat
until the mushrooms and onions are tender.
Pour the hot mixture into a high-power blender and purée until smooth. Return the mixture to the pan and add
the spinach, stirring on medium heat until it is just wilted. (If your family doesn’t like greens, you can
optionally purée the sauce again with the spinach and then return the mixture to the pan.)
Preheat the oven to 350°. Gently stir the kidney beans and cooked rice into mixture in the pan, then pour
everything into a 9x13” baking dish (and an additional 9x9” dish, which you can freeze for later). Cover and
bake for 20 minutes until heated through.
Here's a healthy cornbread recipe for your stuffing, if you are going to make it from scratch....
* Buttermilk Cornbread (1 or 2)
Serve this delicious cornbread with any of the legume soups in Chapter 6 or by itself for lunch. Although we
mostly avoid dairy products, I make exceptions for cultured products such as yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, sour
cream, and butter. If you soak the flour and cornmeal in buttermilk overnight (recommended), you can cut the
baking powder in half.
¾ C finely ground whole-wheat flour
¾ cup yellow cornmeal**
½ C white bean flour (or add ¼ more flour and cornmeal instead)
¼ C Sucanat (dehydrated cane juice)
1 Tbsp. baking powder (no aluminum)
½ tsp. sea salt
1 large egg (organic, free-range), lightly beaten
1 C buttermilk
1/3 C applesauce (no sugar added)
** The cornmeal sold in the grocery store usually says “enriched” because the germ of the corn kernel has been
removed, so it is a refined product. The label should tell you if the corn meal is “degermed.” You can make
your own whole cornmeal by finely grinding unpopped popcorn in your grain mill or high-power blender.
Preheat oven to 400°. Mix the flours, cornmeal, Sucanat, baking powder, and salt together. In a separate bowl,
stir together the egg, buttermilk, and applesauce. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix. Pour
the batter into a sprayed or greased 8x8” pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve warm with butter or coconut
oil.
