Fast & Frugal Snacks Straight From Your Garden {at Keeper of the Home}

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Today I'm posting again over at Keeper of the Home. Here's an excerpt: 



During the month-long Eat From Your Pantry & Freezer Challenge, some of us have an added advantage--our summer gardens. If you live in a warmer region like I do, you may already have some yummy produce ready to harvest. So if your pantry or freezer starts to look bare, why not just walk outside and grab a fast and frugal snack straight from your garden?!


From the super easy veggies that require nothing more than picking, washing and (sometimes) cutting to the snacks that require a little more prep, you may have all you need for a great summer snack sitting right in your backyard.


Hop on over to Keeper of the Home to read the rest of this post!

Check out my other Keeper of the Home posts:

• 10 Homemade Kitchen Cleaners
• 10 Ingredients to Make From Scratch
• Healing Ear Infections Holistically
• Embryo Adoption
• Increase Your Wardrobe--Without Spending Any Money
• A Comparison of Birth Settings: Home, Hospital and Birth Center
• 11 Ways to Celebrate Christ This Christmas
• OB or Midwife: Finding the Birth Provider That Works for You
• Giving Yourself a New Year's Planning Retreat
• Affording Cloth Diapers on a Low Income

A Recipe for Real Food

By Elsie, Contributing Writer

It's been a year since I got real with food. These past twelve months or so I've tackled many new recipes, and, in the process, have learned that the real food journey is, itself, like following a recipe. 

It's not a very precise recipe, and there's no specific formula, but in my mind the recipe for real food has perhaps four main components:

- Pleasure

- Curiosity 

- Patience

- Clean ingredients

I'm positive that food is meant to be enjoyed—when you eat it, when you prepare it, and even when you gather it. Especially when you eat it.  

But eating won't be as pleasurable if you aren't first bitten by curiosity. Curiosity might've killed one unfortunate cat, but in our case it's more likely to usher in a kaleidoscope of new flavors, textures, and methods. To delve into real food you have to be curious. You have to genuinely wonder “why does it matter if I soak my grains?”, “Does raw milk taste better than pasteurized?”, “Can I have a sweet tooth and still be loyal to Weston A. Price?”  

But eventually your musings over these things may turn to muddling, as you inundate yourself with recipes, processes, advice, make-overs, health benefits, etc., etc.... I'm sure that no real food writer is trying to overwhelm their readers.  

Many, many people advocate baby steps when approaching real food and offer tips to keep things simple.  

You're probably overwhelmed because you allowed yourself to be.  Slow down and savor the journey like you would a silky custard smothered in raspberries (or whatever berry you're most in love with).  

Making a switch to real food takes a tremendous amount of patience and perseverance, even if you didn't eat fast food every day before the change.  It will take patience to let the beans soak and the broth simmer and patience to let the new methods soak and simmer in your brain.

Apart from a proper mental attitude, when it comes to creating real food clean ingredients are the basic building blocks.  Pre-real food I dutifully read Nutrition Facts on all my food labels. But after learning more about fats and sugars and calories, I've discovered that the facts I really want to know are listed in the ingredients.  I started putting items back on the store shelves that included things like high fructose corn syrup, MSG, and hydrogenated oil.  

But I realized that sometimes when you eliminate all the questionable ingredients, you're left with something rather basic and probably not very tasty.  It might not be bad for you any more, but its sheer boringness might have you longing for processed sausage-and-egg toaster pastries all over again.  Avoiding bad ingredients may make you realize how much you depend on food chemists for flavor in your food.  

Consider the lowly bowl of oatmeal.  It's good for you and it's filling, but it's just not what you'd pick for your birthday breakfast.  Thankfully, for every unsavory ingredient that you've avoided by opting for oatmeal there are exponential possibilities to add flavor back in.  Top your oatmeal with raw honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, cherries, blueberries, sausage, mangoes, coconut milk, or maple syrup and you begin to get the idea: there's fun and freedom in following a real food recipe. 

Not only do alternatives offer an endless spectrum of flavor, but they give you an opportunity to amplify the nutrition.  There are many ways to substitute for some of the ingredients you might want to avoid most:

- Instead of eating sugar or artificial sweeteners, experiment with rapadura, molasses, fruit purees, maple syrup, raw honey (probably easier to get your hands on than raw milk!), and things that lend sweetness like cinnamon, nutmeg and coconut.  

- Instead of MSG, entice your taste buds with fresh herbs and spices like ginger, chipotle, pepper, cumin, and garlic.

- Instead of food made with hydrogenated oil, make your own with coconut oil, olive oil, butter, and animal fat.

- Instead of dyes, add color to meals with fruits and vegetables. 

Maybe sometimes you've felt like I did a year ago: restricted by how much you “can't” eat on a real food diet.  Forget it!  Start exploring ingredients and variety will rock your kitchen.  

Elsie loves to express herself through words and through culinary creations. The food she makes is a reflection of her experiences--whether the homemade comfort food of a happy childhood, the flair of Latin American cuisine borrowed from her family's time on the mission field, or the rich and hearty fare of restaurants and pubs she visited during her ramblings in Switzerland and Oxford. Elsie and her new husband Eric live in Michigan.The couple enjoys pursuing a simple, natural life.

Someday Elsie hopes to write books that reflect her experiences, but in the meantime she's discovered that her blog, Back to the Source, is the perfect venue for combining her love of words and of food. 

Aspartame: Why Sugar Free Foods Could Cost You Your Health {What *Are* You Eating?}

 Today, we begin a new series on the hidden additives that make their way into the food we eat every day. This series is not meant to condemn but to encourage and educate you to make wise choices about what you put into your body!

Artificial Sweeteners (Splenda doesn't contain aspartame)

By Brandy, Contributing Writer

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of “food products” on the market today that are either labeled sugar free or no sugar added. To many people, that sounds like a good thing. But let me assure you, it most likely is not.

Most of these products contain artificial sweeteners, the most common of which is
aspartame.

For those who may not know, I was diagnosed with Type 1 (Insulin Dependent) Diabetes when I was 2
years old (almost 28 years ago). For this reason, the topic of artificial sweeteners is especially important
to me.

So many people are unknowingly poisoning themselves because they have been told that they are actually doing something healthy. I am here to be a whistle blower and tell you that aspartame has no place in anyone’s diet.

Artificial Sweeteners (Splenda doesn't contain aspartame)

WHAT IS ASPARTAME?
Aspartame is the most commonly used calorie free sweetener on the market. It is almost always the
sweetener used in diet drinks including diet soft drinks, Kool-Aid, juices, crystal light, etc., and is in most other sugar free/no sugar added products, such as pudding, ice cream, yogurt, popsicles, and so on.
It can also be found in the little pink and blue packets as nutra sweet or equal. Most importantly, it
is, quite simply, a poison; a neurotoxin (or excitotoxin) that has been shown to damage the human neurological system in ways that can be, quite frankly, horrific.

WHAT DOES ASPARTAME DO IN THE BODY?
An excitotoxin is a substance that causes the nerves to fire over and over again until they eventually
wear out. It “excites” the neurological system when there is no reason for it to be stimulated.
Aspartame has been shown to cause , headaches, dizziness, vertigo, migraines, brain tumors, seizures, tinnitus, numbness in the legs, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, blurred vision, memory loss, Alzheimer’s, and more.

It has also been linked to neuropathy and retinopathy, which are the two most common complications associated with diabetes. Coincidence? I think not!

Aspartame poisoning (yes, there is a medical diagnosis for aspartame poisoning) has even manifested itself with symptoms that mimic
multiple sclerosis, lupus, and other auto-immune diseases.

Yeah…are you starting to wonder why on
earth it was ever allowed in our food in the first place?
We all know that most foods (or food-like substances) change entirely as they go through our digestive
system.

When aspartame is ingested, it is broken down into metabolites. Two of these metabolites are…are you ready for this?...formaldehyde and ethyl alcohol (ethanol)! Yes, you read that right.
Formaldehyde is what we preserve dead bodies with. Wikipedia says this of formaldehyde, “In view of
its widespread use, toxicity and volatility, exposure to formaldehyde is a significant consideration for
human health.

On 10 June 2011, the US National Toxicology Program has described formaldehyde as "known to be a human carcinogen." And Wikipedia defines ethanol as a “volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs.”

Isn’t that nice? I would bet that most people sipping on their Diet Dr. Pepper or Coke Zero don’t really understand what they are putting in their bodies. And if they did, I HOPE they would immediately throw it in the trash!

Image by lisapizza

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS AND PREGNANCY

When I was pregnant with my second, I was given a packet of information about pregnancy from my
OB/GYN. It contained pamphlets and print outs with recommendations for all sorts of things regarding
being pregnant.

Imagine my horror when I got to the one that said that up to 2 diet drinks per day were perfectly safe for mommies to be!!

Aspartame is especially dangerous during pregnancy. Excitotoxins cross the placental barrier and are absorbed into the baby's blood. Studies have shown that it actually becomes 4 times more potent
in the baby's blood than in the mother's. Based on what you've already read, you can imagine that a
baby's developing brain and nervous system could be greatly affected by these toxins. I beg you, if you
are pregnant or trying to conceive, DO NOT eat or drink products made with these toxins!

HOW WAS ASPARTAME DISCOVERED?
This is actually kind of a funny story. Would you believe that aspartame was discovered by accident?!
That’s right. A scientist who was formulating a new anti-ulcer drug accidentally spilled a substance
from a test tube on the counter. He apparently got some on his finger at some point and then, when he
licked his finger to turn a page in a book, noticed something sweet.

Hmmm…he must have thought, “If it tastes sweet, I bet we can eat it!” Even though trial after
trial showed monkeys and rats developing brain tumors and cancer, it still was passed as “safe” for consumption in 1981 (only a few years prior to my diagnosis).

I often wonder if the drug that was being tested during aspartame’s discovery was ever approved…

WHAT SWEETNERS CAN I USE?
As I mentioned above, I have lived with insulin dependent diabetes for almost 28 years. I am so thankful that my parents never pushed diet/sugar free foods on me, and even though I had no knowledge of their harmful effects, I never took a liking to them.

I am a huge proponent of using real food, the way
God created it. In our household we use raw honey, organic maple syrup, and stevia to sweeten just about anything that needs it. When baking, I occasionally use unrefined organic sugar.

To read more about my personal story with diabetes and how I use real food to manage it, please visit this post at Kitchen Stewardship, 6 Steps To A Real Food Diabetes Diet.

Because I use whole food ingredients in just about everything I make, my blood sugars are not
affected like they would be by processed foods.

It takes very little raw honey or maple syrup to
sweeten things, and when combined with whole grains and wholesome fats, such as coconut oil (more on coconut oil here), the carbohydrates are absorbed much more slowly into the blood stream. Stevia
(a natural herbal sweetener) is calorie free, but does not carry the terrible side effects that aspartame
does!

Those with diabetes (Type 1 or 2), of course, need to use moderation when consuming carbs or sugars
of any kind, but natural sugars and whole foods break down differently in the body than their refined
counterparts.

For some recipes that I consider to be diabetic friendly and health promoting, please visit my Recipes section.

IN CONCLUSION
I hope that you have been educated, empowered, and enlightened by this post and that if you or
someone you love uses artificial sweeteners, you (or they) will be prompted to stop today!

I would like to point out that MSG(Monosodium Glutamate, which is a common food additive) is also an excitotoxin.
For more information on these harmful substances and how to recognize and avoid them, please visit
this post, Stop Poisoning Yourself!! Aspartame and MSG. Also, you may want to visit this recent postby Katie at Kitchen Stewardship about aspartame.


Sources: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/15/aspartame-side-effects.aspx, http://www.womentowomen.com/healthyweight/splenda.aspx

Brandy is a full-time homemaker, has been married to the love of her life for 7 years, and is the mommy of two amazing little boys. The two most important things in her life are her relationships with God and her family.  She is living the abundant life with her wonderful husband and sons and is constantly learning how to walk in the fullness of the promises of God.Her mission is to share the message of health and wellness according to the Word of God and traditional wisdom! She blogs at Living Water Health and Wellness. 

*Disclaimer: Neither Brandy nor I are health professionals, and any health decision you make should be after conducting your own research. My family (Erin) cannot currently afford raw milk, and it is illegal to sell it in my state. 

Traditional Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Women Living Well, Healthy 2Day Wednesdays, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Live Renewed, Fight Back Friday, Living Well Blog Hop, The Prairie Homestead, Growing Home, Raising Homemakers,  Frugally Sustainable,  Deep Roots at Home, Homemakers Challenge, The Better Mom,  Monday Mania, Real Food 101

The First Years: The Second Best Milk for Babies

Have you entered this week's giveaways? Enter to win Sprout Baby Food or a beautiful Lilla Rose Flexi-Clip! 


I'm so excited to have contributing writer, Brandy, of Living Water Health and Wellness, posting today! Brandy's mission is to share the message of health and wellness according to the Word of God! Be sure to stop by her blog--Living Water Health and Wellness!

By Brandy, Contributing Writer

WHAT MILK SHOULD YOUR CHILD BE DRINKING?

We have probably all been told that we should start our babies on whole cow’s milk around the time they turn 1.  Most people do not question this advice because we believe we can trust our doctors.  After all, milk is a rich source of calcium and vitamin D, right?  Well, that all depends on where you get your milk and how it has been processed.  With dairy allergies at an all-time high, and the many health complications that have risen from dairy consumption, we have to stop and ask ourselves some questions.  

Is there a certain type of milk that is better than others?  Is it possible that conventional, store bought cow’s milk could actually be harming our children?  I believe the answer to both questions is yes …

Image by kris69

I do my best to base my wellness philosophy on the word of God and traditional wisdom.  On my blog I have discussed my beliefs about dairy extensively, and for good reason.  You see, there is a BIG difference between the milk God said was good for food and the milk we now find on grocery store shelves.  When God gave us permission to eat animals and animal products, the atmosphere in which these animals were raised was gravely different from modern farming practices. 

Image by nkzs

GOD GAVE US MILK

I know many people have opted to go dairy free, and while this may be best for some, I firmly believe that it is not the milk in and of itself that causes most of the health problems associated with it, but rather the way the milk is produced and processed.  God clearly thought milk was a good thing for us to consume.  After all, the Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and honey.  And I often say, if fat free/low fat, pasteurized, homogenized milk was what is best for us, God would have made it come out of the cow that way.

IT’S MAN, NOT MILK THAT IS THE PROBLEM

Pasteurization has been touted as a necessary safety protocol for milk.  In fact, it was not required until the industrial revolution when cows were being placed on small plots of land with no room to roam and no healthy green grass to eat.  Just like us, if cows are eating things they were not created to eat, they and their milk will greatly suffer.  Many dairy cows are kept in small pens, with little to no grass, and fed grains and genetically modified corn that have been doused with pesticides, fertilizers, growth hormone, and antibiotics.  They sometimes do not even have access to sunshine, which we all know is important for vitamin D production.  

Image by kit_carson

When cows live in these conditions, they get sick.  When they are sick, they pass those bacteria and pathogens into their milk. Eating corn actually makes cows produce e coli in their stomachs.  This is why pasteurization became necessary.  It has nothing to do with the cows or the milk, but rather the people who are raising them.

One of the most shocking things I learned while researching the health benefits of raw milk is that when calves are fed pasteurized, homogenized milk rather than being allow to nurse from their mothers, they almost always fail to thrive, and many die within six weeks!

Image by Ale_Paiva

"Many nutrients and immune-enhancing components are destroyed by exposure to high heat and the temperatures used during pasteurization. Vitamin A is degraded, proteins and enzymes are denatured, and immunoglobulins are destroyed."  (www.realmilk.com)  

Not only that, but when milk is homogenized, the fats are damaged as well.  Think hydrogenation.  When you damage the oils, they become unhealthy.  It’s the same concept with milk.  Homogenization makes truly healthy fats into unhealthy substances that have no business going into our children’s bodies.   

Image by lizeritx

I know many people are afraid of raw milk.  The FDA has done a good job of convincing people that raw milk is a danger to their health, but the truth is, as long as the farmer you buy from raises his/her animals properly, raw dairy is incredibly safe and nutrient dense.  My family and I have been consuming raw milk for over 5 years and none of us have ever gotten sick.  

I drank it the whole time I was pregnant and both my boys (ages 5 and 1) have been drinking it since they started on cow’s milk.  I make homemade raw  yogurt and butter and our whole family is enjoying the health benefits.

Image by evah

RAW MILK CAN REVERSE DAIRY ALLERGIES

The truth is, real, raw milk is full of beneficial nutrients that are nourishing for growing children and adults alike.  Many people believe they are allergic to milk, when in fact, they are simply missing the incredibly important enzyme, lactase(among others).  Lactase is essential for digesting lactose, the primary sugar in milk. 

Pasteurization greatly reduces the amount of lactase in milk, making it much more difficult for our digestive systems to process.  Many people who believed themselves to be allergic to dairy are able to drink raw milk and recover completely from their allergies.  

And parents whose babies were unable to nurse or could not tolerate conventional formulas, have had great success making their own formula from raw milk.

"Raw milk from healthy pasture-fed cows has a rich array of essential nutrients including vitamins A, D, C, all of the B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, essential fatty acids and trace minerals. Pasteurization destroys up to 50% of these nutrients."  (www.sunherb.com/rawmilk) And many would argue that 50% is a very conservative estimate.  

So in reality, giving our children conventionally raised cow’s milk is essentially the same thing as giving them processed food, which we know is not healthy.  When you alter the design of a food that God created, it does not react in our bodies the same nor give us the nutrients it should.

Any good parent desires to give their children the best nutritional start in life that they can.  I believe choosing raw milk is one of those choices.  Conventional and even organic milk that has been pasteurized and homogenized can rob our children of healthy nutrients that they need in order to grow and develop the way God intended them to.  I challenge you to do some more research.  Find out why raw milk is so wonderfully healing to so many people and give your children the best kind of milk there is.  

I could probably talk about why raw dairy is amazing for days, but since I am not able to do that here, please visit my other posts about milk:

Milk: Does It Really Do A Body Good?

Wellness Wednesday: More On Raw Milk

The Weston A. Price Foundation has done incredible research on the benefits of raw dairy.  If you want to learn more than you ever thought possible, visit their page.  And for a list of sources in your area for real, raw milk, please click here.

 Brandy is a full-time homemaker, has been married to the love of her life for 7 years, and is the mommy of two amazing little boys. The two most important things in her life are her relationships with God and her family.  She is living the abundant life with her wonderful husband and sons and is constantly learning how to walk in the fullness of the promises of God.Her mission is to share the message of health and wellness according to the Word of God and traditional wisdom! She blogs at Living Water Health and Wellness. 

*Disclaimer: Neither Brandy nor I are health professionals, and any health decision you make should be after conducting your own research. My family (Erin) cannot currently afford raw milk, and it is illegal to sell it in my state. 

Traditional Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Women Living Well, Healthy 2Day Wednesdays, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Live Renewed, Fight Back Friday, Living Well Blog Hop, 

Real Food Doesn't Have to Be "All or Nothing"

Today I'm posting over at Modern Alternative Mama about how real food doesn't have to be "all or nothing." Here's an excerpt:

I must confess: I’m an all-or-nothing person. When I decide to do something–whether it be cloth diaper my child, achieve a natural birth in a hospital (shocking!) or blog, I go at it full force.

But it can be to my detriment. Why? When you think everything has to be all or nothing, you can burn out easily. And when you realize you really cannot do it all, frustration sets in.

Making the switch from the Standard American Diet to a real-food lifestyle is no different. If you go at it full force, you may burn out, give up and frustrate yourself. 

If you’re new to this whole real-food thing, sit back, relax, and take things slowly. (I started all this more than 3 years ago, and it’s been one baby step after another. And there are still many aspects of the real foods lifestyle that my family cannot attain.)

So if you’re an all-or-nothing person like me, how do you avoid that during your switch to the real foods lifestyle?

Check out the rest of this post over at Modern Alternative Mama!


I'm linking up with: Homestead Barn Hop, Monday Mania, Mangia Mondays, Real Food 101, Traditional Tuesday , Fat Tuesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Live Renewed, Fight Back Friday, Living Well Blog Hop, Sunday School