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SASKATOON CRUMBLE

As you will know by reading my article: The Best Berry, Saskatoons are my favorite and I am happy to eat them just as they are.  For fun I do enjoy a crumble or pie so here is the yummy crumble recipe.

SASKATOON BERRY BASE

Ingredients:
3 cups Saskatoons
1/2 tsp Stevia – light liquid (Sunny Dew is best)
1/2 cup water

Directions:
1. Mix water and stevia together
2. Mix in berries
3. Place berry mixture in a baking dish

CRUMBLE TOPPING

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups rice flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice syrup
1/2 tsp Stevia – light liquid (Sunny Dew is best)

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients together
2. Mix oil, stevia and honey and add to dry ingredients.
3. Mix thoroughly.
4. Sprinkle on top of fruit
5. Bake at 350º F. oven for approximately 40 minutes.

Oatmeal Nutrition:

Oats have lots of manganese, are a very good source of selenium, vitamin B1, dietary fiber, magnesium, protein & phosphorus.
1 bowl of oatmeal a day (3 grams of soluble oat fiber) typically lowers total cholesterol by 8-23%.

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Saskatoons are the Best Berries!

What is YOUR favorite berry? 

Mine certainly is the Saskatoon and I go out picking them as soon as they are ripe. I freeze lots of them to last the whole winter.  If you cannot pick them; you will often find them in farmer's markets. 

When we were children my father would load all of us into his pickup truck with buckets for all and we would go out saskatoon hunting. We would always come back with many full tummies and buckets. Back then my mother would perserve dozens of jars of them for us to eat in the winter. Now I freeze them which is easier and more nutritious. Still I fondly remember those delicious jars of saskatoons my mother made for us; so delicious.

 
Saskatoons that I picked.
 
Our Saskatoon is a very hardy plant for the northern climate as it survives low temperatures and drought, and can live poor soil. It has the capacity to be productive for many years.   A couple of years ago I planted two bushes in my front yard and there are other wonderful things about them. They are full of showy flowers in the spring, and then has beautiful leaves in the fall. Saskatoons
 
For the North American Indian people, saskatoons were a staple food. Often the tribes held ceremonies and feasts to celebrate the beginning of the saskatoon harvest.  The Cree name for this plant is "mis-ask-quah-toomina," which early settlers shortened to"saskatoon."
 
In parts of the NW US & Europe Saskatoons are called June Berries, Service Berries or Shadbush.
 
Settlers to our country saw the potential of these berries being added to their diet. Also note that they were an important food source during the depression in the 1930’s. So why not add these free berries to your diet.
 
Saskatoons will supply you with important nutrients as well as being so yummy!
 
Nutrients in saskatoon berries.
A 100 gram serving of saskatoon will supply:
  • 22.3% of recommended daily iron
  • 244 mg of potassium or 10% of daily needs
  • 88 mg or 11% of daily calcium requirements
  • 20% of carotene
  • 16 mg of Vitamin C
  • 2.5% of zinc and 33.8% of manganese
  • 32 mg of phosphorus or 1.1%
The berries were also used to treat liver trouble and as a laxative, and the inner bark or roots were a remedy for diarrhea.DSCN1890
 
What do they taste like?  This of course is a difficult question to answer. Although similar to blueberries, they have a fuller flavour and have slightly crunchy tiny almond-flavoured seeds inside.
  
Picking saskatoons:  pick the berries that are most purple as these are the ones that are ripe and sweet. The branches bend down allowing one to reach higher berries .
 
I will post some of my recipes soon. :)

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

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Greens Are Good for Us Recipes

The very simplest place to start with getting greens into our diet is to eat one big salad each day and make sure it is filled with mostly greens.  

Greens are full of vitamins A, K, D, and E which are fat soluble. To absorb these vitamins make sure to add a teaspoon of dietary fat, such as butter, olive or coconut oil, nuts, cheese or salad dressing. This will make sure your body absorbs all of the vitamins in the greens. Vitamin K helps calcium and phosphorus bind onto the bone protein matrix.

  Greens
 MIXED SUMMER GREEN SALAD Greens 

Ingredients:
1 handful, Spinach
1 handful, Arugula
½ head, Red Leaf Lettuce
½  head, Green Leafy Lettuce
1 medium bunch of Parsley
3 Celery pieces, chopped
1 medium Cucumber, sliced in rounds
¼ cup pine nuts

Directions:
1.  Mix greens together in a bowl.
2. Top with celery, cucumber and pine nuts.
3. Serve with Mint salad dressing.

TIP:  If you are planning on this lasting for the next day, do not mix the cucumber in.  Put it in a bowl on the side and add to each serving of salad.  A mix of the basic ingredients without the cucumber will last 3 days in the fridge.

 Here is a salad dressing with greens already in it!  This is a refreshing tasty dressing with a little mint flavour.

LEMON-MINT SALAD DRESSING

olive oil
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh mint (or 2 tsp. dried)
Salt to taste
Few drops of stevia

Directions:
1.  Blend all ingredients.
2.  Add salt to taste and stevia to taste and re-blend.

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

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CHILI CON VEGIE

Here is my version of Chili, which is always enjoyed whenever I make it.

Ingredients:

1 onion, finely chopped

½ mushrooms, sliced

1 – 3 cloves garlic

1 tsp. cumin

½  tsp. coriander

1 tsp. oregano

¼ – 1 tsp cayenne pepper*

1 tsp paprika

3 carrots, thinly sliced

3 cups cooked kidney beans and water (cook according to recipe: http://realfoodforlife.com/cooking-beans/)

4 tbsp. soya sauce

1 green pepper, sliced

3 tomatoes, chopped

.

Directions:

  1. Sauté onion, mushrooms, garlic, cumin, coriander and oregano.
  2. Add carrots, cooked kidney beans with 1 cup of the bean water, soya sauce and green pepper.
  3. Cook till vegetables are tender.
  4. Add tomatoes, cayenne pepper, and paprika.
  5. Cook on medium heat until thick like consistency of gravy, adding more water if necessary.

* Cayenne is easier on the digestive system then chili and there is lots of literature saying it is very good for one’s health. But you could use Chili powder or fresh chopped chilies. I actually make this without any pepper as that is my preference but when I put the recipe together I new that the people I was making it for would have been very disappointed had there been no heat in the Chili!

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

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