When I don’t have enough lemons to make Homemade Lemonade, I make this instead. I ALWAYS have teabags and it’s so simple it saves us from buying yet another beverage at the store.

Homemade Iced- Tea

Ingredients:

• 6 teabags
• 1 cup of sugar (any type is fine, I like to use raw or turbinado)
• 1 few slices of fresh lemon
• 2qt (or more) pitcher
• 2 qt saucepan

Directions:

Fill saucepan 3/4 of the way with water. Pour in sugar and bring to a boil. Once water has boiled and sugar has all dissolved, take from heat and

I don’t know if you realize it, but there are a lot of chemicals in store bought microwave popcorn. The FDA has even reported that when micro popcorn bags are heated up a known carcinogen called perfluorooctanoic (PFOA) can leach into the popcorn. Inhaled fumes of Diacetyl (a chemical that is used in the artificial butter in microwave popcorn) has also been linked to lung disease, and in fact people with the disease are said to have “popcorn lung”.

When I found out how harmful the stuff was, I got my hands on an air popper, which works great, and makes very tasty popcorn in about the same amount it takes to microwave one of those toxic bags. But I was really excited when I came across an article by Snack Girl about how to make your own popcorn in the microwave. (Less clean up! )

freshly popped!

Ingredients:

• 1 brown paper lunch bag
• tape
• 1/4 cup loose kernel corn
• 2 tbsps butter
• salt

Directions:

Pour popcorn into bag and fold over edge once or twice and secure with tape. Microwave the bag tape side up on high for 3-4 minutes. Until popping slows to less than 1 pop per second. While you transfer the popcorn to a bowl, put the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt it and then pour over popcorn and sprinkle with salt to taste.

There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than a nice cool glass of lemonade. Unfortunately most of the lemonade that you get at the store is full of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Here’s a recipe that I use often, and Sexy usually will come home with a bag of organic lemons and a smile to entice me to make more.

Homemade Lemonade Recipe

(makes 1 quart)

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar (I use raw sugar or sucanat, but any sugar will do)

1.5 cups boiling water
3 large organic lemons
more filtered water to fill container

Directions:

Boil 1.5 cups of water in a saucepan.when the water is fully boiling, pour in 1 cup of sugar, and stir occassionally ntil fully dissolved. Remove from heat when it’s all dissolved to let cool. While cooling cut 3 thin slices of lemon, and then squeeze the juice from 3 large organic lemons and pour juice and slices into a 1 quart container. Then pour sugar water into the same container and fill the rest of the container with more filtered water. Done!

Making the sugar water (or liquid sugar) helps the sugar to dissolve nicely instead of adding it cold and having it sink to the bottom. This also saves calories because you won’t need to add any extra sugar.

This Meatless Monday contribution comes from subscriber Amanda. It’s a yummy soup that I think I will make tonight! (This should last most of the week!)

Green Lentil Soup Recipe

Ingredients
2 c Green lentils ( I buy in bulk from Whole Foods)
1 large bag spinach – try not to buy baby spinach, larger tougher leaves hold up better in the soup
8 oz sliced mushrooms – optional. I love mushrooms so I put them in EVERYTHING!!
32oz Vegetable Stock – I like Kitchen Basics, also available at WF
2C water
1 large finely chopped onion
4-5 stalks finely chopped celery
1 chopped carrot
2 bay leaves
1 lemon and/or 2-4Twhite wine or champagne vinegar
salt and pepper
olive oil

Directions

Whoops! I was supposed to post-this yesterday for “Meatless Monday” but I guess I’ll share it with you for “Meatless Tuesday” LOL. This is a great low-calorie, filling snack that you can make quickly. It  has “good” fats in it like olive oil and avocado and since there’s no cooking involved, you can do it at the office or where ever. The best part? The ingredients are CHEAP!

Quick Tomato-Avocado Snack

Ingredients:
2 slices organic beefsteak tomato (those are the big ones!)
1/2 hass avocado (those are the small bumpy ones, sometimes called “california” avocados)
A few leaves of fresh basil (optional)
2 organic brown rice cakes or toasted whole grain bread
cracked pepper
sea salt
1 tsp olive oil

Making your own bread saves you money. Plain and simple. It’s also healthier for you. My father-in-law (Papa Brown) doesn’t buy his bread from a grocery store. He either makes rolls himself, or  he buys his bread from the bakery. When I asked him why, he said, “There’s something wrong with bread from the store. It takes too long to go bad.” Papa Brown was referring to the preservatives and icky ingredients that are in most store-bought bread. Including High-Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, (a.k.a.- “trans-fats”) among other things. For more info on what’s in mass-produced bread, click here.

Basic Bread only needs 6 ingredients:

1. flour
2. milk
3. sugar
4. yeast
5. butter
6. salt

Ever read the ingredients in that 47 grain enriched “healthy” loaf from the store?

I don’t know about you, but here in New York, we’ve gone through about 3 seasons this week, and now it seems to be fall here again for some reason?! I thought it would be a perfect day to share this recipe straight from the mailbag! (Note: If you’re vegetarian just leave the chicken out of this one..)

This one comes from Andrea, who sent me this recipe for chicken soup with a twist. If you can’t find yucca where you live you can always substitute potatoes in this recipe.

This recipe is a House of Brown staple. I love that I can get all of the ingredients from the corner store, and whip the whole thing up in an hour. Very budget friendly!

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry*

Ingredients:

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry over Red Quinoa

• 2 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
• 1 small onion chopped
• 4 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 tbsp of fresh ginger chopped
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp of chili powder or red pepper flakes
• 1 large or two small sweet potatoes cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 1 can of drained chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or 1.5 cups of dried chickpeas that have soaked overnight

Here’s my contribution to Meatless Monday. This is one of my favorite things to make  because it’s so quick and easy, and everyone thinks I took all day! I got this recipe from AllRecipes.com It tastes great served over brown rice or quinoa.

Red Lentil Curry Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups red lentils
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry paste (I found some at Fairway market, but you can get this at any specialty store, )
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ginger root, minced
• 1 (14.25 ounce) can tomato puree

Directions

1. Wash the lentils in cold water until the water runs clear (this is very important or the lentils will get “scummy”), put the lentils in a pot with water to cover and simmer covered until lentils tender (add more water if necessary).
2. While the lentils are cooking: In a large skillet or saucepan, caramelize the onions in vegetable oil.

This is so easy and sooo good!

My friend Gen came up with this one. (Look for more recipes from Gen in the future, he’s an AWESOME cook).
Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing Recipe

Ingredients:
4 lemons
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsps dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/2-3/4 cup of olive oil

Directions:
Blend the first 4 ingredients in a blender or food processor until combined. Then (while the blender or food processor is running) slowly drizzle in olive oil