Homemade Dijon Mustard for the Daniel Fast

As you probably have discovered, most prepared Dijon mustard includes sugar or another sweetener in its ingredients, deeming it unusable on the Daniel Fast. However, since most of us eat a lot more salads than usual, we want good flavors . . . and adding Dijon mustard to our salad dressing recipes provides a wonderful, full flavor. So here is a recipe for Homemade Dijon Mustard! You can make a batch of it and store it for use during the Daniel Fast. If you want, you can add a little honey to the recipe AFTER the fast, but meanwhile, be blessed with this modified recipe.

 

Ingredients:
2 cups dry white wine vinegar
1 cup finely chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 ounces dry mustard
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt
Few drops Tabasco

Directions: Combine vinegar, onion and garlic. Heat to boiling and simmer for five minutes. Pour into medium bowl to cool. Add dry mustard and the oil into a small sauce pan. Now pour the vinegar mixture through a strainer into the saucepan, whisking until very smooth. Sir in the salt and Tabasco. Heat slowly, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Allow to cool and then pour into non-metallic covered container. For best results, chill at last two days before using. This mixture will stay fresh in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Daniel’s Fast Recipes – Here’s one more to add to your collection

I had guests the other day and made this Mango and Black Bean Salad. Even though I am not fasting right now, I realized this would be a great recipe while on the Daniel Fast. The recipe was on a can of Bush’s Best Black Beans.

Mango and Black Bean Salad

1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups fresh mango, diced

1 cup sweet red bell pepper, diced

6 green onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 seeded Jalapeno pepper, minced (or hot sauce to taste)

Salt to taste

Combine ingredients in a bowl. Toss and serve.

A couple great tools for the Daniel Fast

There are two kitchen helps I find so very useful during the Daniel Fast.

• Rice Cooker – mine is small and makes a maximum of 6 cups of cooked rice, but that’s an okay amount for what I need to prepare. For every cup of dry rice, I add 2 cups of water. Toss in some sea salt, pop on the lid, and flip the switch. It turns off automatically when the rice is cooked and it takes about 40 minutes. It’s so easy!
• Salad Spinner – okay, here is my true confession: I hate making salads. I know I am not supposed to confess negative things over me (maybe I will try and declare that I love making salads during the fast 🙂 ) but for some reasons, making salads is not a thrilling experience for me. That’s why I like using the salad spinner. Easy to just wash, tear, spin and the lettuce is ready.

Just another word on salad making strategies. When I return home from grocery shopping, I cut up all the fresh ingredients for salads and store them in air-tight containers in the fridge. Then when it’s time to make a salad, I just add the amount of each ingredient I want to the bowl and it takes about 3 minutes to put together the medley. The good news is that for someone who has an aversion to making salads, this almost makes it a non-issue! Pray for me!

Southwestern Corn and Black Bean Salad

This bean, corn and nuts in this salad combine to create 19 grams of protein per serving. This is a very flavorful salad and easy to make ahead.

1 1/2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup lime juice

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 (14.5 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed

2 cups shredded red cabbage

1 large tomato, diced

1/2 cup minced red onion

Freshly ground pepper and salt to taste just before serving.

Place pine nuts in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat and cook, stirring, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes.

Whisk lime juice, oil, cilantro, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the corn, pine nuts, beans, cabbage, tomato and onion; toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yield: 4 servings

Barley and Black Bean Salad

This is a very easy and quick recipe. Beans and barley make a complete protein, so this is an excellent meal when eating a meatless diet. Each serving has 12 grams of protein.

1 cup barley, cooked according to package directions

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed

1/2 cup corn (thawed if frozen)

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine cooked barley, beans, corn, cilantro, lime juice, oil, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Serve on bed of chopped or torn lettuce.

Yield: 4 servings

Get Ready for Christmas and the Daniel Fast!

One of the ways you can prepare for the Januay 2008 Daniel Fast is to start getting the food you will consume ready. One food item you can prepare is flavored vinegars! But why not “kill two birds with one stone” and make extra vinegar to give as Christmas gifts. Here is a great recipe for Rosemary Vinegar that’s easy and reasonably inexpensive to make!

For best results, use organic apple cider vinegar, aged in wood barrels, unpasteurized and naturally filtered.

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Full bottle of organic, apple cider vinegar

PREPARATION:

Place rosemary sprig inside vinegar bottle until submerged. Shake.

Place bottle in cool, dark place (refrigerate is okay but not required) for about 2 to 3 weeks.

Filter vinegar and rebottle in decorative bottle if you have one or plain glass bottle or jar. This would be a great gift to add to a basket or pair with a condement set.

You’ll end up with a lovely, rosemary-flavored apple cider vinegar that smells absolutely divine and lasts for many weeks.