Protective Diet Class #352

Winter Freezer & Flavor Building Techniques

This class features a green bean tray bake casserole that demonstrates the art of flavor building. Learn how to transition from fresh-picked summer produce to freezer staples, saving money while enjoying organic, high-quality meals during the winter months.

Announcements

• Engage in our official support group, Protective Diet Living (PDL). Join Live Chats & Coaching Hour for personal assistance.
• Shop http://www.protectivediet.com/bulk, the organic farm that delivers near you, for low-cost, high-quality PD staples.
• Comment below this class to let us know about your childhood favorites. What is missing from your Protective Diet?
• Comment below our “One Meal a Day” videos on YouTube. Let us know what you want to see us plate up as an example.

Vocabulary

Microbiome

Glyphosate

Sulforaphane

Flavor-Building

Capsaicin

Let’s Build a Freezer Full of Flavor This Winter

Improve Winter Food Quality Fresh-picked-to-freezer organic produce ensures our winter meals are protective, flavorful, crunchy, and fresh. Even though we don’t have farmer’s markets and grocery store offerings look a little lackluster, winter food doesn’t have to be colorless and bland.

Opt for Organics Choose organic foods whenever possible to avoid glyphosate, an herbicide that harms beneficial soil and gut microbes essential for digestion and nutrient absorption. Organic produce supports gut health.

 Stock Up on Protective Winter Freezer Staples Cranberries: Organic frozen cranberries are massively protective. They go on sale in winter, so buy in bulk for great savings. We get ours in 5lb bags through protectivediet.com/bulk. They add a pop of color and flavor throughout the winter months as a blistered garnish and as a star ingredient in: Thanksgiving Rice Pilaf, Green Bean Tray-Bake Casserole, Holiday Loaf, Fall on the Couch Pumpkin Cream Pasta, Old-Fashioned Toasted Oat Cookies, Cranberry Salsa, Anti-Aging Cranberry Vinaigrette, Classic Cranberry Sauce, Cran Orange Chia Seed Loaf, Valentine Hummus, and as a garnish on Country Wheat Stuffin Muffins.   Green Beans, Corn, Green Peas, Broccoli: It’s the perfect time to stock up on frozen organic vegetables. I save by buying them in bulk from Costco. To prevent freezer-burn, eat through them and make sure the bags are sealed tightly. These are frozen fresh, immediately post-harvest, instead of sitting in the fridge at the store for who knows how long. Check out  Air-Fried Frozen Broccoli with Sulforaphane Boosters and several other recipes when you search “broccoli”.   Fruit: Focus on citrus, like navel oranges, grapefruit, and clementines, as well as tropical fruits like pineapple, bananas, and kiwi. Frozen fruit options include peaches, apricots, sweet cherries, and blueberries, which are great for Yogi Bowls. I also buy organic sweet cherries and blueberries in bulk from Costco. Clean and freeze fresh pomegranate arils. Freezing fruit in the winter helps maintain quality and ensures a good supply of nutritious, flavorful options.

Build Flavor with the Breville Air Fryer Julie Marie demonstrates using freezer staples and flavor-building techniques to assemble a Green Bean Tray-Bake Casserole in this class. With the Breville Smart Air Fryer, this casserole comes together with minimal effort, minimal mess, and maximum flavor. Flavor-building and spices are important on a low-fat, whole food, plant-based diet. This is what we do instead of adding cheese.Everyone should master the stove-top Oil-Free Dry Browning Technique for building flavor as well. To enhance the flavor of onions or other vegetables, dry browning is recommended instead of sautéing or water-sautéing. The Breville Smart Oven makes this technique even more hands-off.Stainless Steel Baking Sheets (instead of the non-stick ones that come with it) are recommended for better flavor and easier cleanup. No parchment paper is needed when using stainless steel pans in the Breville. Just rinse or soak the pan once cooled. Then clean up easily with diluted Castille Soap. Broiling: Broil onions, cranberries, and corn. Cranberries must be frozen for timing to work.Broil Line: Place the rack just below the broil line on the glass door.Broil on high for 15 minutes. This is longer than the 10-minutes in a standard oven.Broiling uses high, direct heat. Keep a close eye on your food to prevent burning.The corn will take on a slightly chewy texture with a sweet, smoky flavor when charred, the onions will caramelize, and the cranberries will blister perfectly.Other flavor-building recipes that have been demonstrated in Protective Diet Education include Roasted Tomato Salsa, and Air-Fried Mushrooms, Air Fried Zucchini Noodles, Air Fried Chickpeas, and Air Fried Frozen Broccoli, as well as Crispy White Beans and Concession Stand Nachos. This tool is a favorite for adding flavor easily, at eye level, adding anticipation for the protective meal to come. Baking and Roasting: After broiling, mix in the remaining ingredients according to the recipe instructions and switch to the bake/roast setting. Set to 400°F for 20 minutes.The Breville’s ability to quickly heat up without needing to preheat like a traditional oven makes it convenient for both baking casseroles and roasting vegetables.		Give Thanks Before we eat, I say a prayer of gratitude, thanking God for all the protection in my food to remind myself of all that I’m doing. Our mind is very powerful, and if we are connected with what we’re eating, we will not put the wrong foods inside. Because if you’re really paying close attention to what’s going in and what it does to you, it’s almost like you’re sacrificing by eating something that’s not on plan. It’s very hard to do if you are really conscious and aware of everything you are treating yourself to.
		Make the Easiest Meal EVER! Instant Pot Kids’ Spaghetti is a quick and easy meal made with Protective Diet Broth Mix, spaghetti noodles, and optional veggies. It’s a great staple for busy weeknights. I use organic pasta from Costco and often break the noodles into smaller pieces for a texture that’s comforting and easy for kids to eat. The recipe was inspired by childhood memories. To make it, just pressure cook the pasta, quick release, then stir in the remaining ingredients. It’s faster than waiting in a drive-through lane. It’s cheaper than anything you can buy. And guess what? It’s organic, it’s protective, it serves your microbes, it’s easy to customize, and the recipe is free.
Fun Toppings: Rosemary Crispies Rosemary is protective. If you’re not a fan of rosemary, you can leave it out or use oregano instead. These herbs add flavor and variety for your microbiome. Here they are formulated to add crunch.	Fun Toppings: Probiotic Ferments Probiotic Pepper Sauce, Sauerkraut, and Probiotic Pickled Onions are packed with lactobacilli, which naturally preserve these foods and us! They also benefit our gut by introducing good bacteria.	Fun Toppings: Protective Sprouts Sprouts, like broccoli, lentil, and alfalfa, are a great addition, especially when fresh produce is running low. Broccoli sprouts are high in sulforaphane, a cancer-preventing compound.
Remember Your Microbes We don’t actually receive nutrition directly from our food. Our gut microbes do. They ferment and digest it and produce short-chain fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory. Our microbes serve us all the iron, calcium, anthocyanins…everything that is in our food. When we feed them a variety of plant fibers, they thrive. This strengthens our gut wall, eliminates allergies, food sensitivities, inflammatory disease, and prevents cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Foster those health food cheerleaders! Go through the Microbiome Population Project series of classes to get the tips for populating, promoting, and protecting them.

“Let’s put disease in remission. No one needs to live with disease, not in this day and age with what we know about populating, protecting and promoting our microbiome every season of the year.”

Recommended Recipes	Recommended Classes
Plant-Based Zuppa Toscana Soup	#336 Bring This to Thanksgiving
Creamy Mashed Potatoes by the Pound	#235 Benefits of Sulforaphane
	#305 Protective Sprouts
	#316 Seven-Day Sauerkraut: Preserve the Harvest
	#323 Seed to Harvest Hydroponics

---

Class Description:

This class features a green bean tray bake casserole that demonstrates the art of flavor building. Learn how to transition from fresh-picked summer produce to freezer staples, saving money while enjoying organic, high-quality meals during the winter months.

Class URL: https://protectivediet.com/courses/protective-diet-education/lessons/lesson-352-winter-freezer-flavor-building-techniques/