Pasta Sauce From Scratch with Essential Oils

Tonight for dinner, I made past sauce from scratch to serve over tortellini. Mmmm. So yummy and so simple! Cooking from scratch has a much more fresh and real taste to it. And I love finding more ways to get these healthy, healing oils into my family's bodies!

Here's what you need!

 1/2 lb. ground beef
3 large tomatoes (next time I would use more and allow enough time to simmer more of the liquid out)
1 small onion, diced fine
1 bell pepper, diced fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
High quality essential oils of your choice (some ideas are basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper, clary sage)

Brown the meat in a saucepan, add the onion, cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and bell pepper, cook for 2-3 more minutes, process the tomatoes in a food processor to a consistency you like, add to pot. Use a toothpick to add a tiny bit of the oils you choose. Trust me, a drop of each is WAY too much!Three to four different oils is best so you don't overwhelm the other flavors in the sauce. Then add salt to taste. Simmer until it is as thick as you want it (or, if you're like me and you wait until the last possible second to get dinner ready, just simmer it until the rest of dinner is ready). Serve over the pasta of your choice!

**Be sure that when you cook with essential oils, you only use the highest quality oils. The quality and purity maintained by top end oils makes them uniquely safe enough to ingest. Other oils are not intended for this purpose, but you can always be sure that your oils are safe to ingest if they have supplement facts on the label.

Food Recipes with Oils

This is a post that I'll have to update with pictures the next time I make them, but since I need to get these recipes on the computer before I lose the hard copies, I figured I'd just get them up! Cooking with essential oils is fun and easy and a great way to use healthy ingredients in your cooking.

Let's start off with some treats for this post!

Energy Bars:

1/3 c. raw almonds
1/4 c. dates
1/3 c dried cherries (I've used craisins with success)
1 T. chia seeds
2-3 drops Wild Orange essential oil

In food processor, pulse nuts until finely chopped. Add dried fruit and process until everything is sticky. Add other mix ins and process until combined. If you choose to add other spices or vanilla, stream in while processor is running. If you need to, add water a bit at a time until it holds together. Foll into balls or press into a pan and cut into squares.

Chocolate Mint Truffles:

1/4 c. unsweetened dark chocolate chips
1/4 c raw almonds
1/3 c raw cashews
1/2 c. dates
1 T cocoa powder
1 T coconut flakes
2-3 drops peppermint essential oil

Grind chips and nuts. Add dates. Stream in cocoa, coconut, and essential oil. Roll into balls. I omitted the coconut because I don't like it.

Both of these recipes make a rather small batch. When preparing to teach a class, I at least double or triple these.

Spicy Citrus Apples:

Apples
Water
2-5 drops total of immune support blend (clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus, rosemary, and wild orange) essential oils

Slice apples. Put the oils in a large bowl and fill bowl halfway with water. Add apples. Simple. Delicious. Healthy.

A not-so-healthy treat:
Grasshopper Bars:

One box of brownie mix, prepared according to box instructions in a 13x9 pan

Mint layer

  4 Tbsp butter, softened

  2 C sifted powdered sugar

  2-4 drops Peppermint essential oil

  green food coloring

  1-2 Tbsp milk

Beat together all ingredients except milk. Add enough milk to make the mixture a spreading consistency. Spread the mint layer over the brownies and cool in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Topping:

  2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

  6 Tbsp butter

  2 t vanilla

In the top of a double boiler (I just use a sauce pan and keep the heat fairly low) melt the chocolate chips and butter stirring frequently. Add vanilla. Remove pan and let cool slightly. Carefully spread the cooled topping over the chilled mint layer. Let the bars stand for 1 hour. Cut into Bars.

The original recipe called for peppermint extract and they were still so yummy but always gave me heartburn (so, apparently, peppermint extract gives me heartburn. ;) ). Once I started using peppermint EO instead, no more heartburn!! Yessss!!!

I'm planning to try flavoring popcorn with lime or lemon or maybe the immune support blend today, so we'll see how that goes!