Lately I have watched the show “Mad Men” on Netflix–have you seen it? It is set back in the 1960′s and they really try to show  a housewife then compared to now. I think this is a recipe perfect for a housewife set back in time–or moms who like to make it all from scratch!  When I made this fruit leather I did not realize it would take far longer to cook than the original recipe I found at Skinnymom.com . Well, they called it fruit rolls–I made mine thicker. I also thought the 3/4 cup of sugar was a ridiculous amount to add to dried fruit–not such a great after school snack if you ask me. So–I set out to try to make it sans sugar. That, my friends, is why it took me so long. I felt like a real 1960′s housewife working on a snack item for about 6 hours–so if you are short on time and do not mind the sugar SURGE for the kids you can of course add back in the sugar.

However, despite the long cooking time, this was so easy to prepare. You can turn on the fruit to boil down and start your daily chores of vacuuming, dusting, waxing, polishing, laundry, bathroom and bedroom cleaning. By the time your afternoon chores roll around you will be taking the fruit leather out of the oven and cooling it in front of the open window while changing into your dinner attire and wait for your husband to come home</sarcasm>. Typing that out and actually picturing it gave me an eye twitch.

Fruit Leather (made with love,patience and fruit)

These are perfect--see why I did not add any sugar?

Step One: Find Lonely and forgotten fruits. I love the shelf in the back at our market–we can get discounted fruit that really is not presentable but are great to use in cooking. Yup–organic fruits marked down to pennies a pound. PENNIES A POUND MOMS!! 

YUM! Fruit Soup!

Step Two: Add the fruits of choice to a large pot set on medium heat. I added bananas, kiwi, apple (skin on), mango, and about 1/4c high Pulp orange juice. 

cauldron burn and cauldron bubble

Step Three: Cook until it is reduced by about 2/3rd. It took me about 2 hours to get it to cook down to a little under half and I should have cooked it longer. The colors will really deepen while it cooks and  you will need to scrape down the sides of the pan as it reduces. It smelled so delicious–warm and fruity like a fall day in the apple orchards. Set oven to 250 degrees F.

The original recipe called for parchment paper. I keep forgetting I am Martha Stewart when I am at the market and do not buy any.  I need to add a reminder to my smart phone–I wonder if there is a Martha Stewart app for that.

Set it and Forget it!

Step Four: Spread fruit evenly and thinly in the backing pan–use caution because it is HOT! In this picture you can see how I spread my fruit a bit uneven and it was a little too thick. So–you do it right–learn from my errors.  Bake for about 4 hours depending on your oven and the thickness of the fruit. When it looks like leather then remove it from the oven and flip the fruit over–it will be MUCH smaller. Place back in the oven and shut it off. 

The Amazing Cooling of the Fruit Strips

Step Five: Once the fruit has cooled to the touch remove from oven and cut into shapes, strips, words. This is a fun idea so be creative! Sharp cookie cutters would also be fun!  Let them air dry and then store in a cool dry place in plastic bags. I made sure to squeeze all the air out of the bag and sealed them and just kept mine in the fridge. 

Making Fruit Leather tells the kids you love them.

Other Good Ideas: The fruit mixture here can be stored in the fridge for about a week.
-Use this to replace fats in baking recipes.
-Swirl some into yogurt for a smoothie tasting treat for the kids.
-Stir a bit into our granola recipe in Squeaky Gourmet in place of half of the juice.

Please check out our book and our reviews for more information about Squeaky Gourmet and the recipes you can prepare for your family with just a little help from us!

Comfort Food American Style

This final version is more like a loaded potato with very little calories of course. Normal mashed potatoes that are “loaded” usually have 400+ calories per serving, cauliflower “potato” has just 50 calories per serving. What!?!? Yeah–50.

Smashed Faux-tato

4 cups cooked cauliflower
1 cup no fat greek yogurt or sour cream
1 clove garlic
4 tbls diced scallions
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste.

Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend until you like the texture.

Yeah–it’s that simple.

Like this recipe? Why not check out more of our recipes in our book “Squeaky Gourmet Simple. Clean. Food” !

a warm healthy comfort meal

A lot of our readers know my dilemma for finding a vegetarian gluten free meal that my entire family will enjoy–not just eat but enjoy. Meal time should be about the love of the family as well as the food that is shared.  We want to know that what we are feeding our spouses, guests, children etc will not damage their body but encourage whole health–body and mind. Well, one night I was stumbling around Foodbuzz and was reading vegetarian meals I wanted to try. The Picky Eater: A Healthy Food Blog is the final blog I rested on when I found this recipe for Spiced Indian Chili-Rajma.  You should really look over that blog, too, what a great resource for recipes and ideas!

So, with that recipe in mind I began my own creation of Rajma–it was so deliscious  I have made it twice more since the first time.

Rajam
16 ounces canned diced tomato
16 ounces Red Kidney beans–drained
1 large onion diced
1 large red pepper diced
1 tbls minced fresh ginger root
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp Garam Masala
Chili powder to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Add all ingredients aside from the cilantro to a 8 quart pan and cook medium heat  until the onions and peppers are soft –stirring to prevent burning of course. Add in the cilantro and heat through.

See how EASY this recipe is?  It has so much flavor and really is now one of my favorite dishes! I pictured it here served with a dollop of Greek yogurt for those who want a creamier dish.  It is an excellent dish reheated so make extra!

Click to see more great recipes!

Don’t forget to check out more real food on Real Food Wednesday’s!

Squeaky Gourmet Cream Sauce w/ Mushrooms

Well, we all love it. We all have had cravings for a creamy topping on pasta–even if you won’t admit it.  That rich smooth silk of a cream sauce clinging to the pasta and coating our mouth with exquisite flavor and textures. When you give your life over to a healthier diet, a cleaner way of eating foods, you give up that experience. You walk around OK with not having a rich pasta meal because you know your arteries and your body deserves to be treated with more respect than those belly bloated pasta-fairs. However, the tickle in your brain returns at times when you see those commercials on TV before bed seducing you with the cream coated olive branch.  Your reward response in your head is tempted and you think “Oh yes, a creamy delight indeed!” . They leave you dreaming of rivers of cream sauce, mountains of pasta–all you can eat and more! So, the internal battle begins, lunch at the Italian American buffet or that lunch you  packed last night. What are you to do?

Well, 1–shut off that TV at night and read a book before bed and 2–prepare this wonderful cream sauce ahead of time and reward your body with being prepared!

The typical calories found in a cream sauce per serving (1/2 cup) are on average 500 calories. WHAT? It takes 500 calories extra to your diet to add on a pound of fat a week–roughly. For a person weighing 150 pounds, they would have to walk QUICKLY for 104 minutes to burn that off.  Our cream sauce will leave you satisfied and it is under 12o calories per 1/2 cup serving. WIN/WIN!!

Clean Sauce
serves approximately 8
8 ounces reduce fat cream cheese
2 cups low fat Greek yogurt
1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic-crushed
2 Pinch Sea Salt
Black Pepper to taste

In a sauce pan set on medium heat place the cream cheese and stir until it is melted, add in remaining ingredients and heat through while stirring to prevent burning. Serve hot.

Flesh that is easy to flake apart with a fork indicates this is cooked.

Before I began my cream sauce I cut a large spaghetti squash in 4 and seeded it. I then placed all 4 parts in a large pot of boiling water and cooked the squash for 20 minutes–until it could flake off with a fork.

Spaghetti Squash Magic

Here is the final product of the squash–hot and waiting for any sauce. See how wonderful it looks? My husband is a bog pasta lover and this squash honestly does the trick for him!

Creamy Chicken "Pasta"

Finally I sautéed up some chicken breast and added that to the cream sauce to create the final dish. The possibilities are endless for the sauce. Consider it a base for anything you want to create. Over potatoes, over broccoli,green bean casserole,meatballs–think outside the olive branch!

Squeaky Gourmet Cream Sauce

North America is paying attention food makers! Movies like Food Inc. as well as books recently written; Food Rules by fabulous author Michael Pollan , are causing up a stir. More people are reading labels and wanting to know just where their food comes from. This, as Martha would state, is a good thing!  So, on that note: have you ever read what is IN tomato soup? Sure, tomatoes we think, right? Open a can of tomato soup, pour into a pan add milk or water and heat n’ eat. So, let’s examine the number one favorite brand, Campbell’s Classic Tomato Soup:

Ingredients

Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste)Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup,Wheat Flour, Salt, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, Canola and/or Soybean)Flavoring, Ascorbic Acid, and Citric Acid.

What!? That is not tomato soup–it sounds more like the packaged ketchup at a fast food chain doesn’t it? Thinned out with some oil and water of course. Blech–not what I want to serve to the family at all–I want creamy tomato soup sans sugar and genetically altered corn ingredients. Also, why is there wheat flour in my soup? I could understand a stew but in my soup? Anyway, if you would like a healthier cleaner version of tomato soup–the answer is so tasty and simple!

Real Creamy Tomato Soup

16 ounce can organic tomato puree
1 quart vegetable broth (cheap and easy to make!)
1 cup greek yogurt ( I used full fat for more flavor)
1/2 cup pine nuts
4 fresh basil leaves
1 scallion chopped for garnish

In a large soup pan on medium heat add in the tomato and broth and stir to blend. Once this is  blended and heated through lower heat to medium/low and add in yogurt stirring well.  In a coffee grinder or food processor add the pine nuts and basil leaves and blend till it resembles flour.  Add the nuts and basil gruel into the soup and stir throughly.

Serve in a bowl topped with scallions. YUM!

Other good ideas:

–Hello grilled cheese with bacon as seen above.