Healthier PB and J

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches can actually be a healthy meal choice.
Ingredients:
whole grain bread
peanut butter made from JUST peanuts....no added ingredients
sliced strawberries
raisins

Spread peanut butter on the bread and add raisins and/or sliced strawberries.
Instead of lots of extra sugary jelly or peanut butter, you now have all natural ingredients.
This was taste-tested by two-year-old Thomas today at our little lunch on the cool, sunny deck.
He enjoyed adding the sliced strawberries by himself.
He liked having the sandwich cut into squares about the size of the sliced strawberries.

Photo below: Thomas, Maxwell, and Jackson hard at work "cooking"!
These little guys love to get out the pots and pans and utensils and whip up some
"invisible" pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, or cake. Sometimes they help with the real processes also with varying degrees of success and mess!

Fresh Strawberry Sauce

This strawberry sauce is great served over pancakes, French toast, crêpes, angel food cake, and ice cream. It can be served warm or cold. Ingredients
-		2 pints fresh strawberries
-		2/3 cup sugar, optional (We didn't add any to our very sweet strawberries.)
-		6 tablespoons water
-		1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

• Wash strawberries, remove the stems and cores, and slice.
  
• Place 2 cups of sliced berries in a bowl and set the remaining slices aside.
• Mash the 2 cups of sliced berries in the bowl and then pour into a sauce pan.
  
• Add the water and cornstarch and cook over medium heat until mixture is boiling.
  
• Allow to boil for 1 minute or until sauce begins to thicken. Stir constantly while cooking.
  
• Sauce should look clear if it has boiled enough.
  
• After mixture has thickened, add the remaining strawberries, gently stirring until they are evenly distributed.

Serve either warm or cold over pancakes, French toast, crêpes, angel food cake, and ice cream.
*from recipetips.com

Cool Gazpacho

from Bob Huber,http://www.roberthuberassociates.com

3 Tomatoes (ripe) (Cored, Cut ¼" cubes) 2 Red Bell Peppers (Cored, Seeded, ¼" cubes) 2 Cucumbers (Skinned, Cored, Seeded, ¼" cubes) ½ Sweet Onion (Peeled, Minced) 2 Garlic cloves (Minced) 2 t Salt ⅛ t Pepper 5 C Tomato Juice 1 t Sugar 1 t Hot Pepper Sauce 8 Ice Cubes Lemon Juice (fresh) Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

1. Prepare all veggies in advance (avoid blender for better texture and more vibrant color). 2. Combine tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar in large (non-reactive) bowl. 3. After 15 minutes add tomato juice, hot sauce, ice cubes. 4. Refrigerate 4 hours (up to 2 days). 5. Adjust seasonings, add lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil, top with garnishes (e.g., croutons, chopped black olives, chopped hard-cooked eggs, chopped avocados, etc.). Enjoy as Summer Appetizer, Entrée or Side Dish

Fruit Smoothies

This recipe is my son-in-law Jim's specialty.

Nonfat, unsweetened yogurt

Choose what you like from the following
and put into blender with the yogurt:

Fresh or frozen
Raspberries
Strawberries
Bananas
Mango

Orange juice or
Pineapple

About a tablespoon of wheat germ per smoothie

Ice cubes, more or less depending whether fruit is frozen or fresh

Blend until smooth and enjoy a refreshingly cool, healthy drink.

Watermelon Salsa

This recipe comes to you from Bob Huber, a colleague of mine in Scottsdale, Arizona

2 cups watermelon, peeled, seeded, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
2 Tablespoon garlic, peeled, and in the garlic press
1 Tablespoon cilantro
1 Tablespoon green pepper, seeded and diced
1 Tablespoon jalapeno pepper (optional), seeded and diced
2 Limes, juiced
1/4 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Prepare and combine all ingredients.
Mix and chill at least 30 minutes.
Drain prior to serving.

Serve with fish, poultry, eggs, beef, salad