Welcome to the Health is Wealth Online Cookbook!

Click on a food category to find recipes, tips, links...

Breads * Breakfast * Cookies * Condiments * Drinks * Entrees * Fall Holidays (Halloween & Thanksgiving) * Fish * Fruits * Food Gifts * Kids' Recipes * Salads * Soups * Spring Holidays (Valentine's Day, Easter) * Summer Recipes * Sweets/Desserts * Vegetables * Winter Holidays (Christmas, New Years)

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I have a Master's Degree in California history and my love of history includes food history. I wrote a series of cookbooks full of 100 year old recipes because I was looking for recipes that used whole ingredients, and going to older times made that possible. I was also interested in how people without modern stores and industrialized food sources cooked and ate. So those books, you can click on their covers on the left to buy them, are full of old recipes along with fun and interesting food history. I will be posting some older recipes and food tips here, along with other food topics, such as holiday foods and specialized diets.

From 1898: NY's Fifth Avenue Hotel and Chef Charles Prestinari's Pumpkin Pie Recipe
"At the Fifth Avenue Hotel, the culinary lord is Charles Prestinari. Here is his own formula for the pumpkin pies for which that house is noted: 1 quart pumpkin, 4 eggs, one gill molasses, 4 ounces sugar, 2 ounces butter, 2 teaspoonfuls of ginger, 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon, one-half teaspoonful of nutmeg, one half teaspoonful of salt: This makes a rich full-flavored heavy bodied pie. With a piece of good English or American cheese it is a perfect meal by itself." (L.A. Times, "Pumpkin Pies," Nov. 20, 1898, p. 21)


OCT/NOV: DAY OF THE DEAD RECIPES!
Learn how to make sugar skulls, bread of the dead, etc.


Click here for FALL PUMPKIN RECIPES!
Learn how to roast/bake/steam your own pumpkin pulp for pies, make pumpkin soup, muffins, bread, cookies, and more!

Homemade Pumpkin Pie
2 cups of mashed pumpkin pulp
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
1 1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice (store-bought or use recipe below)
1 pie crust

In a bowl, mix together the sugars, salt, and spices. Beat the eggs and add to the mix. Stir in the pumpkin purée and cream. Whisk all together until well-mixed. Pour into pie shell and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife in the center comes out clean.

SOME TIPS ABOUT MAKING YOUR OWN PUMPKIN PULP:
Sugar pumpkins are the kind to use for pumpkin pies and baking. The big ones used for carving are tougher with less flavor.
Homemade pumpkin pulp is more watery than the kind you get in a can. You can either squeeze some of the water out with cheesecloth, or use a towel but know that the towel will be stained orange, or you can use coffee filters too...
Or you can bake some of the water out by spreading 2 1/2 cups of the pulp on a pan and bake it in a 275 degree oven for 40 minutes, or until half what it was. Stir a few times during the process. Cool before using in recipes.
You can keep fresh pumpkin purée in the refrigerator for about 3 days before using or you can freeze it up to 3 months. To use the frozen pulp, defrost it in the refrigerator for a day before using and then strain through cheesecloth before using.

Baked Homemade Pumpkin Pulp for Pies
Cut a small-medium sized pumpkin in half, and then scrape out all the insides (seeds, etc.). You can then place the halves in a roasting pan with a little water in the bottom of it, and then bake it at 350 degrees (some people also recommend cooking at 450 degrees) until the pulp is soft. Then you can just scrape the pulp out. Another way to cook the pumpkin halves is to place them cut side down on a baking sheet and bake them that way. You can also supposedly just bake a whole pumpkin by poking a few holes in its skin with a knife or fork, then baking it at 350 degrees until soft (poke it with a knife to see how soft it is).

Stovetop Homemade Pumpkin Pulp for Pies
Another way to make pulp is to cut the small-medium sized sugar pumpkin in half, and then to scrape the insides out (seeds, etc.) then to cut the pumpkin (leave skin on) into pieces. Put a few inches of water in a pan, then boil the water, add the pumpkin pieces, cover, and simmer/steam until the pulp is soft. Once soft and removed from the pan, just scoop the pulp out of the skin. You should be able to mash it with a fork, or you can use a potato masher.

COLORED SUGAR (for cookies, etc.)
Colored sugar always makes cookies and desserts more festive. You can make your own colored sugars. Put the colored sugars in pretty containers and give them to friends who enjoy baking, or use them yourself to make beautiful colored cookie creations. To make colored sugar, combine 1/4 t. food coloring, 1/4 t. water, 1/2 t. vanilla extract and 1/4 c. granulated white sugar. Mix the ingredients together, then spread out in a thin layer to dry. Rub the lumps between your fingers to make the powder uniform. Use more food coloring for darker colors, and less food coloring for lighter hues.

What People Eat on Raw Food Diets
When I used to eat only raw foods, people would constantly ask me what I ate. It was really weird! As if people could not imagine surviving on raw foods. But really, it is not that complex. It is quite simple really. I was raised eating TV dinners at home, and crap at fast food restaurants, like other American kids. It was not until I joined a cult called "The Source Family," that I was introduced to raw foods as a new way of eating and thinking. The Source Family ran a famous health food restaurant on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. Only raw foods were served at the Source Restaurant for a while, but then over time, cooked food appeared on the menu (to the dismay of those on dishwashing duty). If nothing else, by eliminating cooked foods from your diet, you eliminate *a lot* of the crap that is not healthy to eat in the world. You also do not support as many industrial giants and processed food corporations. (Read more...)

Source Family's RAINBOW SALAD
It sounds bizarre, but it is truly delicious. And it is filling in a way many raw foods are not. This salad, in premise, uses all the colors of the rainbow. It was said in the Source that you could eat this salad once in the morning and once in the evening, for three weeks, as some kind of purifying "Rainbow Diet" that would also keep you healthy. Again, I am no nutritionist, who knows if that is true. I have lived off it a few days and felt great. To make the Rainbow Salad, you put the following things into a bowl: Sprouts (Green), cubed pieces of raw Eggplant (blue), sliced Red Onion (purple), sliced Banana (yellow), chopped Hazelnuts (orange), and chopped Tomatoes (red). Now in a bowl, mash an avocado with minced garlic. (You can also add tamari, Dr. Bronner's Seasoning Salts, brewer's yeast, etc., if desired). Now spread mashed avocado/garlic over the salad like dressing and eat.


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