Gramma Cookie's Kitchen

Mushroom-Leek Rice

2008-04-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

This casserole recipe was submitted by Hayley from St. Paul Minnesota.

Ingredients and Instructions:

2 Tbs. shelled pistachios, chopped
1 Tbs. butter
5 Oz. Mushrooms, sliced
2 Large leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced, (2 cups)
1 Pkg. (6oz)rice pilaf mix
1/2 Cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat dry pot over medium heat. Add pistachios; cook, stirring, until lightly browned, 1-2 minutes. Remove. In the same pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and leeks. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sofened and lightly browned, 5-6 minutes. Add rice with seasoning packet, carrots and 1 3/4 cups water; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium low. Cover; cook 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand about 5 minutes. Stiff in parsley. Optional, all more chopped pistachios on top.

See more casserole recipes.

Taco Salad Recipes

2008-03-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

Our family loves to eat Tacos and we have them at least once every couple of weeks. If we have any wild game on hand we prefer to use that rather than ground beef. It's much leaner and our family all enjoys the taste of wild game.

We were going through our recipes looking for something interesting to try when we found a taco salad recipe that was sent to us by Bernadette Busby from Whitewood in the USA about a year ago.

It looked like it might be pretty good and we had one last package of ground venison from my hunt last fall so we decided to try it in her taco salad recipe. We all liked it so much we decided to build a page for taco salad recipes and add it with another we received a few years ago.

You can find these taco salad recipes here.

I've Been Juiced Up for 3 Months

2008-03-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

I just realized it's been 3 months today since I started on the Acai Berry Juice blend. I'm one very skeptical person when it comes to stuff like this and I've been holding off updating the website about it until I'd been taking the juice for the 3 months they recommend.

Well, today is the day and I want to report on how we're doing. I know my knee is still damaged and I don't believe that it'll ever get back to normal. But it is relatively pain free right now and has been for quite some time. I was showing a friend of mine just the other day how well it is by jumping up and down on my bad leg. I don't think I'll be running any marathons or even to the store, but it's sure nice to go about my daily business without having to lean on that cane. I've also just started on the stair stepper to try and build up some strength before I tackle anything too far from home.

The thing I like best is that I'm sleeping right through the night every night without waking up from pain or to visit the bathroom. That was something that was unexpected but the most noticeable. Cheryl is finding the same results.

We've also started a few friends on the juice. One friend is in very serious condition with emphysema and a spot of cancer on one of her lungs as well. She is home but on constant oxygen. She is hoping for enough improvement to undergo a double lung transplant. She has only been taking the juice for about 2 weeks and claims to have more energy and is sleeping through the night.

Another friend is a bit younger than us and is still in decent shape with only the beginning stages of arthritis in a couple of fingers. He wants to try to lower his blood pressure. He has also been taking it for just two weeks and informed me today that he was playing the piano last night and for the first time in several years never noticed the pain in his fingers. He never mentioned a change to his blood pressure though. It's probably a little early to see results there yet.

Phil has been taking it for just over a month. He's in his early seventies and in relatively good shape. He has noticed more energy and is sleeping much better than before. He's monitoring early stages of diabetes.

Just yesterday we gave some to a couple of friends who are sisters. They both suffer from osteoarthritis and find it hard to do much of the things they used to enjoy. Hopefully the juice will help them as much as us. I'll update you about them if they decide to continue taking it.

We've also been able to stop taking all the other supplements and vitamins we were taking. Every day we took glucosamine, a multi-vitamin and Entrophen for pain. I've been taking the Entrophen for about 10 years and any other time I tried stopping them I was hobbling around in terrible pain within a week. As long as I kept taking them I could function. Cheryl and I have stopped taking all of them for about a month now and we both still feel great. And I haven't had to take a Tylenol-3 since mid-December. I was taking 3 at a time when the pain was at it's worst.

The recommended daily dose of the Acai juice is one ounce in the morning and another at night. They recommend trying it for 3 months to really notice a difference, but from what I've read I believe many people experience some kind of positive results much faster than that. I'm taking 2 ounces morning and night which they recommend if you're in tougher shape. A bottle of juice will last me a week. It'll last two weeks if you take only 1 ounce twice a day like Cheryl.

Another good thing about this juice is that it gives you all the benefits of eating 7-9 daily portions of fruits and vegetables. In our family that's really important as we sure don't get the daily requirements from our diet. It's really hard to find something we all like and still get what we need.

A bottle of the Acai juice costs $45 if you buy retail. We bought a distributor's package for $39 so we could buy it wholesale for about $38/bottle, and as low as about $32/bottle if you buy a larger quantity. Those prices are approximately what it costs us in Canadian dollars with tax and autoshipping right to our door by Purolator.

Click the following link if you would like more information about the Acai Juice blend we take.

New Style Chicken and Rice

2008-03-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we've added new submissions from our visitors. There are quite a few good ones, so here is the start. I'll try adding a few each week until we get caught up and then I'll add them as they come in.

Submitted by: Danielle from Cincinnati, USA
Category: Casserole
Recipe Name: New Style Chicken and Rice

Ingredients and Instructions:

4 chicken breast (skinless and boneless)
1 bag 90 min rice (favorite flavor)
1 can cream of chicken
1 cup bread crumbs

Cook rice according to directions
cover baking dish bottom in rice
place chicken on top of rice
cover chicken in cream of chicken
sprinkle crumbs on top

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 min or untill chicken runs clear.

See more chicken recipes.

Gramma Cookie's Makeover is Complete

2008-03-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

It's almost 2 months to the day when I first decided to provide Gramma Cookie's Kitchen with a makeover. It was a pretty big job but it's finally done. Well maybe that's not quite true. A website is never finished and there were a few afterthoughts along the way. But it'll be much easier to make changes from now on.

Last year Cheryl quit her job at the garden shop she managed for the previous ten years. It was hard for her to leave but I think she's happier helping me manage the marina in Ladysmith BC. Because the marina requires so little of our time she also gets to spend more time in her gardens at home now.

Today is the first day of spring and Good Friday. Cheryl's busy in her garden and I've finished updating the website. This month as I updated more pages, I noticed that we started getting more recipes submitted to us and people were visiting more pages of the site once they found us. I hope that means everyone is happy with the changes.

Gramma Cookie's Kitchen Has a New Look

2008-02-12T10:42:00.000-08:00

Well, it's about time! Gramma Cookie's Kitchen has now been online for 7 years and is in need of a face lift. So far I've changed a few of the pages and started a new blog, this is it.

The blog will introduce new pages and will keep you informed of any new trends or ideas about nutrition and diet. We would also like to share our journey to better health by sharing our experiences with a health drink and dietary supplement we've been taking since December 21, 2008. Read more about it here.

This year will be the start of exciting times for Gramma Cookie's Kitchen. This spring, after we finish with the upgrades to the site, we'll be announcing the start of monthly recipe contests. So start polishing up your favorites and be ready when we make the announcement.