What constitutes a serving?

One of the most difficult things to comprehend is just what a serving really is and how much a person should eat and just what is a serving.

Water: Most doctors now say drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day. A person weighing 100 pounds drinks 50 ounces of water a day.

Veggies Eat 3 to 5 servings a day.

• ½ cup vegetables
  
• 1 cup salad
  
• 1 Fistful of greans or vegetables
  
• ¾ cup vegetable juice
  

Grains: This is the trickiest one of all, while we are to eat 6 to 11 servings a day, most of us tend to overdo it by counting two slices of bread as one serving, etc..

• 1 slice of bread
  
• 1 oz ready-to-eat cereal
  
• ½ cup cooked grains, cereal or pasta
  
• 2 Tbsp wheat germ
  
• 1 oz (28 g) other grain products
  

Fruit: 2 - 3 servings each day.

• 1 medium sized fruit such as apple, banana, orange, pear
  
• ½ cup of sliced or canned fruit
  
• ¾ cup fruit juice
  
• ¼ c dried fruit
  

Beans, Seeds, & Legumes: 2 to 3 servings a day.

• 1 cup cooked legume (beans,lentils, dried peas)
  
• 3 Tbsp (45 mL) nut or seed butter
  
• ¼ c (60 mL) nuts & seeds
  

It is important to vary the types of foods you eat to assure the best nutritional possible. Since I follow Traditional Chinese Medicine practices, follow the seasons, warmer cooked foods in the Winter and fresher more raw foods in summer.

One way to assure vary the types is to eat a rainbow.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

I am not a fan of pumpkin pie, but since becoming vegan this recipe has definitely shown me it isn't as bad as I used to think it once was.

So enjoy:

Crust -- Makes one 9" crust.

1 cup Unbleached flour + 1 Tablespoon
1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry flower + 1 Tablespoon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup safflower oil
3 Tablespoons Almond Milk

Sift together the flour and salt. in a separate bowl whisk together the oil and almond milk. Add the liquids into the dry mixture while stirring lightly with a fork. Form into a ball and roll out between waxed paper. Fit into pie shell and set aside.


The Filling

2 cups pumpkin
1 cup almond milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 or 1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves

place ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. pour into prepared 9" unbaked pie shell and bake at 350 for about an hour.
Is the best when made and allowed to sit overnight.

Finished Fruit Cake

The fruit cake came out quite nice. Still a little crsipier on edges than I want, my stove's heat is not well regulated. Also changed the recipe a bit, instead of adding brandy into the water with the dates, I added cointreau. Only had enough Brandy to soak the fruit in.

Fruit Cake

The Fruitcake, a poor maligned desert if ever there was one. I admit the traditional candied fruit cake is overly sweet and a little over the top. But I do enjoy fruit cake a great deal. So here is a not too sweet recipe that makes for a very light and enjoyable cake.

• 8oz/2 cups of cooking dates with the stones removed
  
• 10 fl.oz/1 and a quarter cups of water (you could substitute a quarter cup of brandy or sherry for a quarter cup of the water if you like, my preference is brandy)
  
• 6oz/1 and a quarter cups of wholemeal flour (We used Organic Wheat since we couldn't quickly get the wholemeal)
  
• 1 lb/3 cups of mixed dried fruit of your choice - including lots of dried apricots works very well (I used apricots, golden raisins, and cherries)
  
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  
• 1 teaspoon of mixed spice (I prefer 1/2tsp of all spice and 1/2tsp of cinnamon)
  
• 4 tablespoons of orange juice
  

For decoration: You can either do a traditional marzipan and white icing topping or use rows of different nuts such as walnuts, pecans, brazils and almonds. I prefer pecans.

Soak the fruits in brandy for about half an hour or so
Heat the dates and water until the dates are soft.
Remove from heat and mash.
Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Spoon into a greased 2lb/900g cake tin and level top. I
f using the nut topping place rows of different nuts on top of the cake prior to cooking.
Bake at 170C/340F for about an hour and a half until cooked.
Once cooled the nut topping can be glazed with a little syrup (melt some sugar into hot water) or you can ice traditionally.

I have the ingredients to make this again and intend to do so tomorrow. Will post pics once I have them.

Apple Crepes

These crepes are absolutely amazing. I made them for my massage therapy class and they were all amazed at how good they were.

Later I made just the apple filling for Thanksgiving and it did quite well as a stand alone dish.

For the Crepes:

3 cups coconut meat
1 1/2 cup chopped apples
1/2 to 1 cup filtered water
1 cup golden flax seed finely ground, (about 1 1/3 cup ground)
3 Tablespoons agave nectar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt

Blend the coconut meat with the apple adding 1/4 cup of water at a time until smooth. The mixture should be thick like a custard.
Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Divide the batter onto dehydrator trays and spread to about 1/6" thickness.

Dehydrate for 6 to 8 hours at 115 degrees. Flip over and peel away any teflex and dehydrate for another 1 to 2 hours until just dry and crepe is still pliable.

If done in a solid sheet place on cutting board and cut into 4" circles.

For the Filling:

4 cups cubed apples
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins
3 tablspoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons lemon juice (more or less depending upon sweetness of apples)
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt.

Toss all filling ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Place on dehydrator at 115 for 1 to 2 hours, just to soften the apples a bit.

For the Maple Cream:

1/2 cup cashews soaked in filtered water for 2 hours or more
1/2 cup coconut meat
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons coconut butter
1/4 cup filtered water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground sea salt

Blend all ingredients thoroughly.

Fill crepe with apple-walnut filling, fold and serve with maple cream. Drizzle with maple syrup, garnish with fresh mint if desired and serve.