Page 2c of 405 All Rights Reserved. Favorite Recipes
Introduction
Why write another cookbook? Because we are about to go back to the place our pioneer relatives were. If we’ve forgottenhow to make food delicious with simple ingredients, then it is time to try our hand at it again. When I was young, we had ahuge garden, and our very large family ate food from it and the adjoining orchards and fields everyday of our young lives.We were used to the taste of whole and simple foods. But today, for many families, it’s store-bought or fast food fordinner five out of seven nights a week, and store-bought cereals for breakfast and government institution prepared food forlunch. Many of us have forgotten how to make delicious, simple meals from whole grains, vegetables, and all natural oils,milk, and herbs.My mother, who is an herbalist and a wonderful gardener, spear-headed this project, and my sister, who is a wonderfulcook (among other tremendous talents), contributed hundreds of delicious, natural recipes for me to check out. The projecthas been in the making for years, but has finally found fruition in this book.Hopefully, those who have made the switch to wholesome foods won’t be unhappy with the use of home-grown, home-raised, and home-canned goods as a major theme. Today many people rush to the health-food store to get their preferredhealthy foods. But what will they do when those stores are unavailable? These recipes are for those who are trying toswitch to homemade everything.We expect that for a while many will be able to purchase many of the things needed to make the recipes. When that is nolonger available, try simple substitutes to see how the recipe turns out. Try different cheeses, different types of milk, anddifferent meats, as well as vegetables, and even different butters, and sweet sources. I think after a while you will discovermany of the recipes are delicious even when altered to what is in the house at the time.Here is an example: for dinner last night I decided to try an egg dish. Using what was in the house, and looking overseveral of these recipes I came up with a 10 minute wholesome eggs, spinach, sliced mushrooms, and corn tortilla omelet-type of meal that my husband loved. That’s what I had in mind when writing this book. Forget strict rules, try changingthe recipes to adjust to what you have and how you like it to taste. Have fun, and learn along the way.A word about using whole wheat. Some families have used white flour for so long they have a hard time adjusting tocompletely using whole wheat. If multiple B-vitamins are supplied it helps with digestion, try adding nutritional yeast(which is high in B-vitamins) to baked goods to make it more digestible. Also, when we switched, I used half n’ half for awhile, until we used to the texture and taste of whole grain foods. Now I’m always substituting part of the whole wheat forbrown rice, oat, teff or rye flour. Its fun to discover the different flavors and textures of goods with different flours, soexperiment - and if the end-product doesn’t turn out perfect, try adding a creamy sauce or topping to help it be morepalatable – at least it always works in our house.Also you will notice that pork and pork products were not included in this cookbook. Originally the children of Israel weretold not to eat swine (Lev. 1-47) but it thought that is okay to eat it today. I did some research on the processing of pork,and discovered that it is loaded with worms, parasites, and other critters, so we eliminated it from our home. But that was apersonal choice - that today is up to each family to decide for themselves. The recipes that call for chicken and turkey andeven many of the sausage and beef recipes will be delicious with pork, but you will have to discover this for yourself. Iwould give you a word of caution to never serve it until it has been very thoroughly cooked for each use. Generally, thatapplies to all meat products as well. And it doesn’t hurt to serve the family wormwood or other purgative twice a year justto be sure the exposure to the problem is minimum, but that’s another subject.As a general recommendation for healthy eating, use a lot of vegetables year-round, and add more protein during the wintermonths for warmth. Add fruit to breakfast meals, and for in-between meal snacks. Increase whole-grain products andreduce stripped grains from the diet. And when eating bread, make sure there is plenty of fiber. Of course, if you want toknow more details about super foods and nutritional content of various food items, you can consult the other book I wroteabout health: The Comforter’s System.Good luck and Happy Cooking!