After Stonyfield Farms made the unfortunate decision to homogenize their organic yogurt, I was determined to try my hand at making my own. And since the only milk we buy and consume around here is raw milk, of course it was going to be raw milk yogurt.

I bought a nifty yogurt maker on Craigslist and some lovely yogurt starter from Cultures for Health. I was so excited! I envisioned my youngsters eating raw milk yogurt topped with fruit for breakfast, snacks and dessert.

Two totally failed attempts later, discouragement set in. I was already about $30 invested in this project with nothing to show for it. Ouch. Since kefir making is so easy and free, I had almost decided to just give up and let kefir be my main dairy probiotic food.

What I didn’t know yet was that making yogurt from raw milk without cooking it a little first (hence, making it not raw) was nearly impossible. Most people are unable to pull it off. Why? Because the naturally occurring enzymes, one of the things that makes raw milk so good for you, compete with the yogurt culture. The yogurt never sets.

After doing some more research, I was at least determined to heat my raw milk first. Even “cooked”, the finished product would be far superior to anything store bought. But I still wanted a simpler method.

I enjoy Christine’s blog, A Year of Slow Cooking. One day while perusing her recipes I found this on the sidebar: You Can Make Yogurt In Your Slow Cooker.

Bingo! Guess what I ate this morning?
photo credit: FotoosVanRobin

A big huge bowl of raw milk yogurt, made in the slow cooker. Teehee.

It’s delicious, I think even tastier than store bought. I like the taste of plain, unflavored yogurt, but I’m sure the kids will want to add a little honey or fruit. It has a very mild, clean refreshing taste. Yum!

The only caveat is that the texture is a little runny. I think I need to keep the milk heated in the slow cooker a tad longer next time. If that doesn’t work, I’ll just add a packet of plain unflavored gelatin. I don’t mind the texture, it’s like drinkable yogurt, but I bet the kids would prefer it with a little more drag on the spoon. It was so easy too. And only one bowl to wash (the slow cooker crock).

I’ve calculated that making my own amounts to at least a 50% savings over store bought to boot. Because I despise “uni-tasking” appliances, I’m thrilled that I can now sell my yogurt maker.

If you’re interested in making raw milk yogurt (or pasteurized for that matter) in your slow cooker, be sure to check out Christine’s instructions. The comments have some useful info too.

Being Eco-Friendly With Your Food – Even When You’re Finished With It

Last week, I was at my local retailer doing some homemaking-related shopping. I bought some water softener for the wash, a new garlic press, and a cutting board. I also browsed up and down the aisles as I often do, checking out the stainless-steel appliances and the line of new blenders. Just as I was about to leave the section and head to the check-out, something interesting caught my eye: a do-it-yourself composting kit.

photo credit: 305 Seahill

While I have friends who compost foods in their backyards, I had never before seen such a kit in the store. Seeing the kit got me thinking. In my life, on a weekly basis, I make every effort to be green and eco-friendly when it comes to sourcing, preparing, and eating my food. I look for locally grown and all-natural products. I prepare meals that are high in beans and low in red meat. From the moment a crop is planted until the moment its product lands on my plate, I make every effort to be as sustainable and green as possible.

But all too rarely do I take time to consider what comes after my meal, when food all too often becomes garbage and garbage all too often turns into trash. While this is perhaps a less “sexy” component of the sustainable food cycle, it is an important one nonetheless. As I stood in the store and pondered all this, I quickly arrived at an impulse decision. I bought the compost kit.

A few days have passed since I made that purchase. At first setting up the compost bin in my yard was admittedly a challenge, largely because I had no idea what I was doing and no expectation of whether it would work. But the bin has quickly turned into an excellent and efficient way for disposing many of the fruits and veggies that my family consumes – and for doing so in a highly eco-friendly manner.

My new composting practice has helped me become more cognizant of what I do with my food after I eat it. I’ve taken to saving all leftovers, even when only a small amount of food remains. I’ve started cleaning out my recyclable materials more thoroughly, just to insure that they won’t get rejected by the recycling plant and deferred to a landfill. And, finally, I’ve started paying extra attention to my trash bin. What food products or by-products am I throwing out? How can this amount be reduced?

I hope that my vigilance continues. While going green in your food preparation is certainly half the battle, it’s just as important to cover that second half – and dispose of your meals in an environmentally-friendly manner.

I have a little bit to say about a whole lot of topics again, but not enough to make an entire blog post. I think it’s all my brain can manage, what, with building a new human being and all.

Besides, all I would talk about is food and that’s kind of boring. Good thing most of you are busy this week. Feel free to skip.

I have a love hate relationship with food at the moment. I am starving all day but when I put food in my mouth it kind of sticks there and turns to sand. I chew and chew and chew and have to force myself to swallow it. Then I have the weird sensation that something is stuck in the back of my throat and won’t budge.

Gross.

Right now I’m eating Elevensies. I’ve already had breakfast and second breakfast. I start eating at 4 or 5 AM. I get up, grab whatever is easy and go back to bed. I wake up an hour later and eat again.

By then my sweet husband is up and he runs to get me a steak biscuit. Because I have to eat before I cook breakfast.

I’ve turned Hobbit.

After what for many people amounts to the biggest eating day of the year, I thought it would be appropriate to post this interview with Funky About Food nutrition expert Lynn Penrose, R.D.

Lynn is a Registered Dietitian and her expertise is in emotional eating and other “funky” issues we have with food. She offers coaching services, vlogs, a newsletter and other help on her site.

I wanted to interview Lynn for the podcast, but we had difficulties getting together, and then experienced technical difficulties once we did connect. Let me know if this topic interests you, and I’ll schedule Lynn again for a show! (And if you have additional questions you’d like me to ask Lynn, please also leave that in the comments.)

We’re talking about emotional eating issues. I don’t need to tell any of you that this is a big issue, especially for us gals. For me personally, coming up on the winter season is a time for major carbohydrate cravings due to winter blues.

Carrie: I’ve heard the term orthorexia more and more online in recent months. While it’s great that we are becoming more educated about nutrition, some can go too far in the other direction. What is orthorexia, and how big of a problem is this becoming?

Lynn: Orthorexia is an obsession with eating healthy foods and takes healthy eating to the extreme.  Someone who suffers with orthorexia believes they are “above” others because their food choices are so righteous.   Their virtuous way of eating offers them a peaceful sense of control.

Someone who suffers with orthorexia believes they are “above” others because their food choices are so righteous. It is a growing problem for two reasons:

• It is a gateway to a full blown eating disorder.
• Children of orthorexics receive the message that their food choices are an appropriate way to derive self-esteem.

C: Why are women more susceptible to “funky food” issues? Does our cycle/hormones have anything to do with it?

Lynn: Absolutely!  Our monthly menstrual cycle plays a MAJOR role in the food choices we make and how we feel in our bodies! We are more susceptible to “funky food” issues because most women are not in sync with how directly connected our food intake is with the changes in our hormone levels.

I teach women how to work along with their cycle, rather than against it because it’s a fact of life! For example:

**Day 1 to 14 our hormone levels are balanced and we experience the following:

- A decrease in appetite; we are easily satiated with “lighter” foods
- Cravings for sugar and salt are lower
- Body image is generally more positive

**Day 14 to 30 our body prepares for a fertilized egg by building a lining of the uterus so this egg can implant itself and grow and we experience the following:

- An increase in appetite; we desire more calorically dense foods
- Temporary fluid shifts results in feelings of weight gain (we believe its “real” and freak out)
- Body Image declines due to increase in stress levels and fluid shifts

The truth about this is that 2 weeks out of the month, we feel ok about our food intake and bodies and the next 2 weeks we feel like we are out of control. Attributing our feelings and intake to shifting hormones is paramount!

(I wrote about this issue here: post ovulation depression. It really is true that “knowledge is power” when it comes to the connection between our cycles and eating!)

C: What can we do as parents to teach our kids healthy eating attitudes and prevent them from having food issues?

Lynn: A healthy eating attitude is eating according to our hunger and fullness signals.  If a parent eats according to these signals, it’s the best way to prevent their child from having food issues.

Too many discussions about healthy and unhealthy or good and bad foods leads the child to think too much about their food choices, which can result in a decreased ability to read the subtle hunger and fullness cues the bodies provides.

C: Do you have any advice for parents of picky eaters?

Lynn: Leave it alone! 

The more focus parents put on a child intake, the more the child may dig their heels in.  Gentle encouragement to try new foods when the moments feel right is indicated.

Thanks Lynn!

If you have more questions about emotional eating or other food issues, please ask in the comments.

Sipping a delicious hot drink in a comfy chair when it’s cold or yucky out? It doesn’t get much better than that, does it? At the moment I’m drinking a latte made from my stovetop espresso maker. So good!

We drink a lot of hot drinks around here. Coffee of course, but also hot teas like Earl Grey or English Breakfast (in bulk, preferably. Bagged teas are the lowest quality and mostly filled with dust.), Roobios or green.

The kids often make hot cocoa from scratch (of course, never from a box! – homemade hot cocoa recipe here) or just steamed milk with a tiny touch of vanilla. I love anything that can get more raw milk into my kids.

Here are 2 yummy hot drink recipes to enjoy this season:

Vanilla Chai

Serves 2

Ingredients:
* 2 cups milk (you can use non dairy milk if dairy is an issue)
* 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla extract
* 1/8 teaspoon each of ground cloves and nutmeg
* 2 teaspoons honey or sugar (reduce or eliminate if using sweetened nut or grain milk)

Heat milk in a saucepan. Whisk in spices, vanilla, and honey; heat through, and serve in a mug.

I remember my Dad giving me sips of a hot toddy (hot water, lemon, honey and a shot of something potent to help me sleep) when I got sick with a bad cold that would keep me up at night coughing. It sure was safer than a lot of today’s cough medicines that seem to get recalled from store shelves on a regular basis! Of course, this one is great for grown ups too.

Maple Hot Toddy

This drink can be fairly versatile, using whiskey, rum, bourbon or brandy. This version for 1 serving uses bourbon.

Ingredients:
* 2 tablespoons bourbon
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon maple syrup
* 1/2 cup hot tea or water
* Lemon wedge

Mix all ingredients in a mug and serve warm with a lemon wedge. Make two and share with hubby. I’m not responsible for what happens next.

More hot drink recipes:

• Orange laced apple cider
• Peppermint swirl hot cocoa
• International coffee recipes
• Eggnog latte

photo credit: Calgary Reviews

Oh my. I made the yummiest slow cooker soup. Kids loved it, hubs loved it, I loved it. Doesn’t get much better than that!

The homemade tortilla chips really topped it off too. You have to try making these. They’re so easy and yummy.

Slow Cooker Fiesta Soup with Homemade Tortilla Chips

(This makes a very full large slow cooker. You might want to cut the recipe in half if you’re feeding fewer people. This fed 8 with plenty of seconds and leftovers.)

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 -4 cups chicken, cooked, chopped
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• small can tomato paste
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups corn (frozen is fine)
• 2 or more cups black beans
• 2 or more cups pinto beans
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 4 cloves garlic

Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook for 8 hours on Low or 4-5 hours on High. A few minutes before serving, add a handful of chopped cilantro. To serve, place soup in bowls and top with cheese: we used Pepper Jack and cheddar. Diced avocado is lovely too!

To make the chips, preheat the oven to 350. Melt a little butter. Cut corn tortillas into 6 wedges. (A pizza cutter is perfect for this.) Brush wedges with melted butter and sprinkle with salt. Bake in a single layer on a baking sheet for 5 minutes or so until browned to your liking. They’ll be VERY hot when they come out of the oven, don’t touch them right away!

Enjoy

About a decade ago, I read the Tightwad Gazette books. Those were the kind of books you consume, rather than just read.

I took notes. Lots of them.

Last week while decluttering my recipe files, I found a recipe for Banana French Toast that I had copied from tTG and decided to try it.

Overripe bananas? Check.
Farm eggs? Check.
Real butter and maple syrup? Yes ma’am.

The kids loved it, and so did I. This would be a great recipe for those who can’t do dairy, or when you just plain run out of milk. Or when you want banana bread but don’t have time to bake it. Because it tastes just like banana bread!

Here goes.

Banana French Toast
(Recipe feeds about 4 people. We double it.)

• 3 over ripe bananas, mashed well
• 3 eggs (preferably pastured)
• cinnamon to taste

Mix those things well in a large shallow-ish bowl. Dip your pieces of bread into the mash and fry in lots and lots of butter.

Top with even more butter. And real maple syrup.

Oh my. This is weekly breakfast fare now.

Linked to: Real Food Wednesday
photo credit: JoeInSouthernCA

There is finally a definite chill in the air here. Two nights ago hubby got up in the middle of the night to grab a blanket for the bed, and long sleeved PJs have become a neccesity!

When Fall hits I begin to crave comfort foods like stew. Still, I was feeling a bit uninspired, so before I made my meal plan, I asked the kids what they wanted to eat this week. Here were there answers:

* Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Always a favorite. So glad I decided to throw this in the slow cooker, because Ruby was being a pill this afternoon and cooking would have been stressful.

* Loaded Nachos

“Just like at Moe’s Mom” was what they said. So I bought organic corn tortilla chips and we’ll serve them up with all the fixin’s: ground beef, cheese, pinto beans, avocado, tomatoes, salsa, black olives, sour cream.

* Pot Roast

Julien’s request, this one. It’s his favorite. What’s better than a big slab of beef, cooked alllll day in the slow cooker until it’s tender enough for the baby to tear up, with potatoes, carrots, and green beans? (And maybe biscuits on the side!)

* Homemade Pizza

This was Sadie’s request. I got a GF pizza crust mix from Bob’s Red Mill, we’ve made this before and it’s good. Caleb, 13, is our resident pizza maker. He’s become quite the pizzaiolo!

* Black Bean Cakes with Tomatillo Salsa

Ok, I admit. This one I chose. Hubby and I went to one of our favorite local restaurants, The Flying Biscuit, Saturday and we ate these. They are sooo amazing, and I promised him I would do my best to re-create them at home. Anyone have a recipe they want to share?! I know they have masa and black beans, mashed. I have a recipe for tomatillo salsa too, so I should be able to come up with a close approximation. At the Biscuit these are served with goat cheese and cream grits on the side. Heaven!

Edited to add: Found the Black bean cakes aka “Love Cakes ” recipe on the Flying Biscuit website. The house smells sooooo good right now!

* Remember the recipe I linked to Saturday for the gluten free blackberry lemon donuts? I made them today and they are unbelievable!

This is going to be a BUSY week so I planned 5 slow cooker recipes. I own two slow cookers – one small, one big, and they both get used a couple of times a week. I love slow cookers!

* Monday – Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Grass fed beef, whole foods ingredients, and the addition of two cups of lentils to the recipe healthy these up and stretch the protein value. See recipe: Grass Fed Sloppy Joes

* Tuesday – Slow Cooker Chipotle Beef Tacos
Today I’m hosting our homeschool group’s field trip and everyone is coming over for lunch! So the night before I’m starting a huge roast (with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce) in the slow cooker, cooking it all night and shredding it in the morning for tacos with all the fixin’s: avocado, salsa, cheese, olives.

Hope we have some left over for dinner

* Meatless Wednesday – Slow Cooker Lentil Stew
The lentils I cooked Monday will go into a lentil/vegetable stew: potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, chicken broth and seasonings. Maybe a little leftover meat if I can find some.

*Thursday – Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken
(Chicken thighs cooked all day with dried apricots – yes ma’am!)
Side: Rice and broccoli

*Friday – Slow Cooker Corn Chowder with Shrimp
I’m having a yard sale today. Groan…. I’ll be exhausted by the end of the day, but I can look forward to this amazing corn chowder recipe for dinner.

Let me know if you want recipes, I’ll be happy to post them!

This giveaway is now closed. Commenter #7 is the winner!

First of all, let me say that the title “Cooking Light” almost turned me off of this cookbook. I don’t believe in cooking “light”!

But, as soon as I began salivating over looking through the recipes I was pleasantly surprised.

While many of the recipes call for such things as “low fat milk” (umm, what’s that?), that’s a small thing I can easily overlook.

By adding lots of butter.

Cooking Light The Gluten-Free Cookbook: Simple Food Solutions for Everyday Meals features 150 kid friendly recipes.

This is good, because the wheat allergic person in the house is a kid.

I’ll tell you first what I don’t like about the book: it calls for a lot of prepackaged gluten free food items. For instance, the Bruschetta recipe calls for a GF Italian loaf. That’s fine, but I’m not able to pay $7 for a loaf of GF bread. I would have preferred if the book featured GF recipes for these staple foods.

But, all in all, it’s a wonderful addition to my cookbook collection. I can’t wait to try a few of these recipes out on my 5 year old. Such as:

• Cinnamon-Raisin Muffins with Streusel Topping
• Sour Cream Blueberry Pancakes (we love sour cream pancakes around here and Sadie usually gets coconut flour pancakes, which are awesome – but this recipe will be a lovely change for her)
• Spicy Asian Noodles with Chicken

I’m also offering a copy of Cooking Light The Gluten-Free Cookbook: Simple Food Solutions for Everyday Meals to a winner this week!

Here’s what to do:

Leave a comment below. For an additional entry, Tweet the link to this post. Let me know what you did in the comment.

The giveaway will be closed on Monday, September 19, 2011 at 6 PM Eastern.

Happy Gluten Free eating!

* Johnny’s Pizza – $1 Cheese Slices

Tonight hubby is taking the kids to a local pizza place for $1 cheese slices and Mommy is going to stay home and work. Yea!

* Fish Tacos
Side: Rice

I love these, and don’t know why I’ve never cooked them before.  Tilapia, cole slaw, lime, cilantro on corn tortillas. Yummy!

* Walnut Crusted Chicken Tenders
Side: Sweet potato fries

The kids will love these. I imagine they’ll taste like Chick-Fil-A nuggets, and the little people are always asking me to cook “chicken that tastes like Chick-Fil-A. I promise to post the recipe if it’s a win.

* Meatless: Blackeyed Peas, Cabbage, Mashed Potatoes
Side: Cornbread

Nothing like veggies cooked Southern style (i.e, with a little bacon!) to warm a gal’s heart.

* Grill Night: Burgers
Side: Homemade oven fries, cole slaw

Looks like hubs is doing dinner twice this week!

• Chicken Enchiladas
• Mandarin Chicken – this was easy and everyone loved it. I mixed a can of mandarin oranges, undrained, with a little vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, and seasonings and cooked it for about 45 minutes, until the sauce was thick. So good!
  Side: Asian Steamed Broccoli and Rice
• Sandwich Night – ABC Sandwiches -  Similar to a BLT, these have Granny Smith Apples, Cheddar cheese and Bacon.
  Side: Cantaloupe
• Mexican – Steak Fajitas with onion, green pepper, avocado, sour cream, salsa, guacamole
• Slow Cooker Night – Crock Pot Lasagne (is there anything better than smelling lasagne bubbling away in the slow cooker?!)
  Side: Green salad and Garlic Bread
• Kids Night – “Popcorn” Chicken (homemade buttermilk coated chicken nuggets)
  Side: Sweet Potato Fries
• Meatless – Twice Baked Potatoes
  Side: Green Salad

What’s on your plate this week?

I’ve written lots on this blog about my nutrition philosophy. Even though the science is sometimes confusing, one thing I firmly believe is that if we can eat like our great Grandmothers did (Real Food), we’ll probably do well.

Jenny of Nourished Kitchen, whose blog and facebook page I’ve been following for some time, has created a valuable resource for people who want to learn to cook like previous generations did.

It’s called How To Cook Real Food.

She took some time to answer a few questions I had about the class here.

* What made you want to offer How to Cook Real Food – is there a personal story for you?

In 2010, Nourished Kitchen was featured on CNN for its unique approach to real and  traditional foods – which offered simple steps and support.  Following that, we had an influx of readers who were desperate for more support and a concentrated course of online learning.  Many of these readers were interested in learning to cook real food, but they had never learned how to properly cook – having grown up on boxed foods.

These readers wanted to know how to cook healthy whole foods, like those featured on Nourished Kitchen but simply didn’t know where to start.  Others had read books like Nourishing Traditions but felt overwhelmed by the content and didn’t know how to incorporate the techniques recommended in that book into their daily lives.

At their request, I developed How to Cook Real Food which is a uniquely comprehensive multimedia class dedicated to traditional foods – providing video tutorials, worksheets, information about sourcing real and traditional foods.

Several years ago, but incorporating the techniques into my daily routine provide daunting: soaking grains and flour and fermenting vegetables seemed time-consuming, and without support for my new cooking techniques I wasted a lot of money and food through trial and error.  After years of developing recipes and mastering these techniques, I finally got it right.

(Note from Carrie: That sounds familiar! My first attempt at homemade pickles and homemade raw milk yogurt failed utterly.)

In developing How to Cook Real Food, I wanted to provide support to newcomers that I never had – enabling them to save money, time and frustration by teaching them the techniques they needed to start off on the right track, right away.

* We hear a lot these days about “whole foods” and “clean eating”. Is How To Cook Real Foods similar to these schools of thought on nutrition?

The food philosophy at Nourished Kitchen is based on traditional foods – that is, we eat as we are meant to eat, celebrating ancestral foods and heritage cooking.  It’s more than whole foods and clean eating; the ingredients we use and the methods we use were those that provided optimal health and nourishment for humans for thousands of years prior to the industrialization of our food supply.

Foods are optimized for maximum nutrition in their preparation, so while we use whole and unrefined ingredients, the cooking methods taught in the class help to ensure our bodies receive the most available nutrition from the foods we eat.

For example, students are taught how proper soaking grains, nuts, seeds and beans renders these foods more digestible and helps their nutrients to be more easily absorbed by the body.  Similarly, we teach students how fermenting milk into yogurt or vegetables like cabbage into sauerkraut can maximize the nutrition in these foods.

* How is How To Cook Real Food different from other cooking tutorials?

How to Cook Real Food offers comprehensive information at a manageable pace; moreover, the multimedia instruction which offers print materials, 45 videos as well as conference calls for participants ensures that participants of all types are supported in their learning.

The class is largely self-paced and offers lifetime access to materials, which means that if you get caught up with work, kids or charitable causes and don’t have time to review a lesson, you can pick up where you left off at any time – even if it’s a month or a year later.

Also, our basic recipe formulas, flavor companion charts and worksheets help students to develop their own recipes successfully the first time – without a lot of trial and error.  This means that those who participate can simply watch the videos, review the print materials and look to their garden or local farmers market for inspiration.  In know time, they’re developing their own recipes based on what’s fresh, in season and affordable.

Print materials also include information on the seasonal availability of fresh vegetables, identifying cuts of meat and their uses – so if you’ve ever been stuck wondering what to do with an arm roast or a round steak, you’ll know.  Plus, there’s information included that help you to find and support local farms.

How to Cook Real Food is also highly interactive.  Participants enjoy the opportunity to connect with one another through the interactive question & answer section posted at the bottom of each lesson as well as through our conference calls in which we address frequently asked questions and trouble shoot issues people may be having in the kitchen.  Fortunately, if you can’t make the conference calls, they’re recorded and you can listen to them at a later date.

Lastly, when I developed How to Cook Real Food, I not only wanted to teach participants the foundational techniques behind whole foods cooking, but I also wanted to give them the tools they needed to make sure that they could easily incorporate these techniques into their lives.  So we have an entire class devoted to meal planning and kitchen management.  So not only do people learn how to cook real food, how to develop their own recipes using seasonal ingredients but how to save money and minimize waste with meal planning and other techniques.

* What does How To Cook Real Food include?

How to Cook Real Food includes twelve multimedia lessons which address everything from preparing tender grass-fed meats to making desserts using unrefined sweeteners or no sweeteners at all.  We also address seasonal vegetables, making milk kefirs and yogurt, baking using whole grains, gluten-free grains as well as grain-free baking techniques.

In total, there’s 45 videos, over 100 real food recipes to help participants begin building their repertoires, 25 recipe worksheets to help participants develop their own seasonal recipes as well as spreadsheets and other support materials designed to help people inventory their kitchens, stick to their grocery budgets and plan meals.

* Is it hard to cook real food when you have several or picky kids? What about those who are on a tight budget?

If you don’t have the right support system, incorporating whole, organic and local foods in your kitchen can be a challenge.  Your kids might be picky and might scoff at your new recipes, or you might find your budget challenged by the expense of new ingredients.  But the key is support.

Real food doesn’t have to be expensive, and you can prepare dishes that even the pickiest of children will love, but if you’re making your transition from the standard American diet to real food blind and without support, you’re making it harder than it has to be – and you’re setting yourself up for a lot of frustration.

With the right support and knowledge, the transition can be seamless.  Many of the people who have taken How to Cook Real Food find that they’re actually saving money and spending less on their groceries after using the techniques outlined in the course.  For example, a quart of organic yogurt goes for $6.59 in my area, but with the techniques outlined in our lesson on cultured dairy foods, students learn how to make their own yogurt for about $1.25 a quart – and that’s a savings of over $5.

Similarly, a loaf of whole grain organic sourdough bread costs an average of $6, but students learn to make their own using flour, salt and start at a cost of about $.65, that’s another savings of more than $5.  We also show participants how they can save money of meats, fruits, vegetables and other foods as well, so what we find is that – with the right techniques and support – you can absolutely save money while feeding your family healthy foods they love.

And if you have picky kids, a great way to start them off on a healthier road is to simply begin making their favorite dishes – macaroni and cheese, chicken fingers, ketchup – using healthier ingredients and techniques.  This method helps them to make a slower transition, and, before you know it, they’re eating healthy real food at every meal and enjoying it.  And if you can develop a basic set of recipes, you can then tailor them to meet the needs and preferences of your family so that you minimize fussing at the dinner table and everyone can enjoy better meals.

* How can we find out more about you?

Definitely checkout our blog: Nourished Kitchen or read the about page which describes a little bit about my background and work as a mother, natural foods cook, writer and farmers market manager.  In addition, I’d encourage anyone to follow our Facebook Page which is a great source of news and information.  And if someone ever has a question, they can always contact me.

Thanks so much Jenny!

Go here to sign up for How To Cook Real Food!

I don’t know why I let this sit in my inbox for 6 weeks. (Hides head in shame.)

This is really great stuff from Susanne, aka The Hillbilly Housewife, whose newsletter and site I enjoy for awesome frugal homemaker tips.

She sent me this free ebook all about how to stay cool in the summer with yummy cold beverages and no-cook food.

Well, where I live it’s still plenty hot. Ahem.

So you can grab the ebook for free here:

Cool Summer Eats and Drinks

Just click on the link to open it, or right-click to download.

photo credit: kathryntaylor

* Monday
Blackened salmon
(Side: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)

* Tuesday
Roast chicken
(Side: green beans, rolls, tomato and cucumber salad)

* Wednesday
Curried Chicken & Vegetables (using leftover chicken from yesterday)
(Side: Rice)

* Thursday
Ham steak
(Side: baked sweet potatoes, green salad, biscuits)

* Friday
Pizza night
(Side: salad)

* Saturday
Pasta with white beans, tomatoes and spinach
(Side: homemade garlic bread)

*Sunday
“Refrigerator stew ”
(Side: homemade garlic bread)

What are you having this week?

* Monday
Tonight I am working on the computer and hubby is doing his evening account, so he won’t be home until 11 PM. So the 10 year old popped some Taquitos into the oven. For a side dish we had fresh fruit.

* Tuesday
Sloppy Joes
(Side: green salad, baked sweet potatoes)

* Wednesday
Salmon with lemon butter sauce
(Side: mashed potatoes, broccoli)

* Thursday
Slow Cooker Taco Soup (ground meat cooked with taco seasonings, tomatoes, kidney and pinto beans, tomato sauce, corn cooked together and topped with cheese, sour cream, avocado and crushed tortilla chips)

* Friday
Pinto Beans and Corn Bread

* Saturday
Caleb’s Homemade Pizza

* Sunday – Breakfast for Dinner
Ham, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole
(Side: fresh fruit)

Hat tip: This post is linked at Organizing Junkie. Also, this week my menu was highly inspired by Amy’s Aldi menu plan. Do you ever shop at Aldi? Since I started shopping there two months ago, I’ve become a huge fan.

I’m a little late in posting my menu for this week. What are you having for dinner?

Menu Plan for August 1-8:

- White Bean and Sausage Soup
(Side: Homemade garlic bread)

- Asian Beef & Broccoli
(Side: rice)

- Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes
(Side: cucumber, tomato salad)

- Mexican Layered Casserole
(Side: beans, rice)

- Caleb’s Homemade Pizza
(Side: green salad)

photo credit: savory.recipes

In a few days we’re leaving for Tybee Island!

My mom and I made a menu together of simple, fun and yummy dishes to cook while we’re there.

I don’t want any food in the fridge to go to waste, so dinner is going to be a bit of a hodge podge of leftovers for the next 3 days.

This is our Menu Plan for July 13-19:

* Salmon with lemon butter sauce
(Side: Corn on the cob, broccoli)

* Black Bean and Sausage Soup
(Side: Italian bread)

* Black Bean and Mango Salad

Tybee!!!

photo credit: annakfitz

* Taco Salad

* Spaghetti with Meatballs
(Side: garlic bread, mixed salad with feta cheese and blueberries)

* “Men Cook” Day
My Dad will make breakfast, his specialty. Zeke will grill out steaks, and Caleb is making a Key Lime Pie.

* Pick a Salad Bar: Tuna salad, pasta salad, chicken salad

What are you eating this week?

This is our menu plan for the week of July 6-12.

* Sweet Chicken Breasts
(Side: Squash, sweet potato wedges, green peas)

For this dish, I’ll throw a few chicken breasts into the slow cooker with a little Worcestershire, lemon juice and strawberry jelly, and cook for about 3 hours on high.

* Thursday Sandwich Night: Reubens
(Side: Raw carrots and celery with dip)

Thursday nights are worship services for us, so I often make a sandwich for dinner. I’ve been craving Reubens lately. Not sure how the kids will like these. One way to find out!

* Cheesy Spinach Risotto
(Side: Green salad, fruit)

I try to have at least one meatless meal each week. This week I’m trying out a new risotto recipe. This one has spinach and peas cooked in, with white wine, broth and grated Parmesan on top for more flavor.

*Quesadilla Pie
(Side: Avocado, tomato salad)

This is an easy, quick kid friendly dish. It’s almost like a Mexican pizza. Basically you layer flour tortillas with your ingredients: leftover chopped cooked chicken, salsa, sour cream, cheese, spinach. Top with more cheese and bake.

* Baked Tilapia
(Side: Baked corn casserole, green beans, homemade garlic bread)

Lately when I cook fish I dredge it in coconut flour to create a breading (wheat free and safe for my 5 year old).

What are you eating this week?

This is our menu plan for the week starting Wednesday, June 29th.

* Unstuffed Green Peppers
(Side: Green salad)

I love stuffed green peppers but hate how much work they are. I was excited to find this recipe for “Unstuffed Green Pepper Bake“. Not only are they much easier, but the flavor is the same and my kids loved it. Win!

* Baked Potato Bar

A friend of mine told me years ago that to keep things simple and save money, she has “Potato Bar” once a week. I’ve never tried it until now!

For this meal I’ll put a potato for each person (two for hubby), rubbed with olive oil, in the slow cooker and cook on low all day until they’re soft. Then on the table I’ll have toppings for everyone to choose from: shredded cheese, leftover chili from last week’s menu plan, cooked diced bacon, sour cream, butter, green onions, etc. Easy and fun!

* Eat Out: Mexican
Saturday we went to Fernbank Museum here in Atlanta to see the Mythic Creatures exhibit. Everybody was craving chips and salsa so we headed to El Azteca on Ponce de Leon for dinner.  Delicious!

* Grill Night – Salmon Burgers
(Side: Turnip greens, baked beans)

Big Z loves to grill on the weekends so I took a night off and we had grilled salmon “burgers”.

* Fried Chicken
(Side: Rolls, baked beans, turnip greens)

A Southern gal has to have some fried chicken every once in awhile, no?

Making a weekly menu plan has long been one thing I do to minimize stress in my day. Always knowing “What’s for dinner?” makes things so much easier.

I’ve never blogged about my weekly menu plan before. But it thought it would be fun to start doing so. I like reading other mom’s menu plans because I get some great recipe ideas!

I usually shop on Wednesday so my meal plan for this week is already in swing. I’ll post next week’s dinners in a couple of days.

Here’s what we’ve been eating this week:

* Slow Cooker Cajun Red Beans and Rice
(Side: Carrots, cauliflower, broccoli)

This was so easy and we ate on it for several days. I rinsed and sorted 1 pound of small red kidney beans and soaked them overnight in the slow cooker. The next day I drained the water and added fresh water to cover. I threw in 2 cups chopped celery, a whole chopped onion, minced garlic, 1 chopped green pepper, 1/2 pound chicken Italian sausage, and a couple tablespoons Cajun seasoning. I cooked it on low all day and served it with rice.

* Chicken Enchiladas
(Side: Jicama salad, rice)

This recipe was adapted from this easy enchiladas recipe, but with some leftover chopped cooked chicken I had in the fridge added.

The jicama salad was a last minute thing I threw together. I was craving something crunchy and wanted the kids to try jicama, so I cut it into thin strips and threw it in a bowl with a chopped mango, a chopped peach, about a cup of whole blueberries and a little strawberry kefir. It was yummy and looked so pretty in the bowl too!

* Slow Cooker Roast Chicken
(Side: New potatoes, green salad, green beans)

When I make roast chicken in the slow cooker it couldn’t be easier. I throw the whole chicken in the slow cooker and put a stick of butter on top. A little salt and pepper. That’s it. It cooks all day until it falls off the bone. This is a perennial favorite in our home.

I’ve also found a way to cook frozen green beans that my family loves. I put them into a glass casserole dish and sprinkle garlic, salt, pepper and minced onions on top. Then I drizzle on olive oil and bake about 20 minutes.

* Shrimp Piccata
(Side: Rice, homemade whole grain garlic bread)

This was super fast and easy. It’s basically shrimp cooked with a garlic/white wine/lemon juice/chicken broth sauce, with capers and butter.

* Leftover Cajun Red Beans and Rice
(Side: Sweet potato fries)

I love sweet potatoes with beans and rice. And they’re so easy too. For these, I chopped the sweet potatoes into fingerlings, and tossed with coarse sea salt, with a little coconut oil and olive oil and baked them until soft.

* Chicken Chili
(Side: Corn bread)

I’ll use the leftover chicken meat from the roast chicken for this recipe, as well as boiling the carcass to make homemade chicken broth. It’s one of Big Z’s favorites. It has chicken, broth, green chiles, green pepper, onion, cumin, oregano, garlic, and white beans.

What are you having for dinner this week?

For some reason I’ve been totally unmotivated to cook breakfast in the mornings. Maybe due to the whole no appetite thing. I don’t like cold breakfasts, so using the slow cooker or preparing breakfast (mostly) the night before is working for me right now.

Monday morning we had Overnight Blueberry French Toast. This is a decadent, delicious but still filling and healthy recipe I’ve loved from The One Armed Cook cookbook.

Basically you take a loaf of dried out French bread (I was lazy and used regular old loaf bread) and place it in a large baking pan. Make your egg/milk/vanilla extract/nutmeg mixture and pour over. Soak overnight. In the morning top with melted butter, brown sugar, 2 cups blueberries (frozen is fine) and chopped pecans. Bake. Ohhh heavenly! Good even without maple syrup.

This morning we had berry oatmeal in the slow cooker. The recipe went sort of like this:

photo credit: janineomg

Slow Cooker Berry Oatmeal

- Grease the slow cooker well with 1/3 cup coconut oil or melted butter.

- Throw in: 2 cups old fashioned oatmeal, 1 cup milk, 1 large egg, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup Sucanat, 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup dried berries.

- Mix well. Cook on high for an hour or so, or low for about 3 hours.

It was soooo good! Even my “I don’t like oatmeal” kid ate it!

I LOVE waking up to breakfast already made!

Below is an email interview I did with Wardeh Harmon of Gnowfglins.

Wardeh is a “traditional food-ie”, mom of 3 and blogger. She offers a unique e-course that teaches people the basics of traditional food preparation. You can enroll at any time and have instant access to the lessons (no waiting). The plans start as low as $8/ month and include access to 2 other classes, with one more on the way. (Sourdough, Cultured Dairy & Basic Cheese, and soon Lacto-Fermentation)

You can assess her Fundamentals e-course here.

1) Please tell my readers a little more about yourself, your family and blog.

My husband (Jeff) and I live in Oregon with our three children — Haniya, Naomi and Mikah. We’ve got a little place on about 5-1/2 acres which is definitely a work in progress. We raise Nubian goats and Muscovy ducks (so far). We’re thinking about getting a Jersey cow, but waiting to see if God brings the right one along. Our goal is to have a productive homestead… someday!

2) When I found your site, I noticed a couple of similarities between us. First that you also came to your current eating philosophy after experimenting (and being somewhat unhappy with) a vegan diet. Secondly, that your family had issues with gluten sensitivity. You mentioned that you had been able to overcome the gluten issues with traditional food preparation. Would you elaborate on that?

We were vegan for quite some years. My son had horrible eczema as a baby, and we were led to believe that he could be allergic to all animal foods. So we became vegan. His eczema disappeared completely. But our vegan change also coincided with a change to eating whole foods instead of processed foods, so we were never sure what really reduced the eczema. And, in the end, it turned out that he was allergic to eggs only.

I’m just sharing our experience here, not arguing for or against veganism. While on a vegan diet, even though my son didn’t have eczema, other members of the family did not feel well, experiencing muscle weakness and overall fatigue. When we re-introduced naturally grown animal foods into our diet, everyone felt better. We were happy with that arrangement, but then we found out about my daughter’s gluten sensitivity.

So for a few years, we avoided gluten completely, for her sake. And remember, we still weren’t eating eggs for the sake of my son. But then I was re-inspired to look into traditional food preparation methods. Previously, I had discarded the ideas because I wasn’t ready for it. I told myself none of it was necessary, and sounded like too much work.

But the thought that my daughter might be able to eat bread again made me take a second look. The idea is if you prepare grains properly (soaking, sprouting or souring) a certain pre-digestion takes place, putting less strain on the body to do all the work of digestion. So we tried it. I tried sprouting, then I tried soaking, and then I tried sourdough. Every single technique resulted in my daughter being able to eat the gluten grains without symptoms!

We also followed the other ideals of the traditional diet, including: switching to the traditional fats, and consuming raw dairy and cultured foods for probiotic benefits. My son was eating eggs again, and even though we’re not sure why, we think it is due to an increase in gut health.

So I guess you could say we were sold on traditional foods because of the results! Allergies and food intolerances carry more severe symptoms, but we saw other changes as well that confirm that we’re on the right track.

I’m excited that all we’re doing and learning lines up with God’s design. Old food, traditional food, nourishes us and helps us to look, feel and do our best.

Thank you for this info Wardeh! I enjoy your blog and hope that my readers will take a look at the traditional foods cooking ecourse you offer.

It all started the other Saturday when I was out with a friend. She decided to stop by our local Great Harvest Bread Company for something called a “Savannah bar”.

“What’s a Savannah bar?”

“It’s a drug.”

Ah, but she was right!

As soon as I had one I was addicted.

But at $2 a pop, I knew I couldn’t afford this particular addiction, and had to learn how to make them myself.

Of course, I had to buy several more so I could study the ingredients and try to backward engineer the recipe.

The Savannah bar has a dense crust with coconut, finely chopped nuts, oats and whole wheat flour. Then comes a more cobbler-like pastry layer that is moister. Then it’s topped with fresh seasonal fruit, and baked. The ooey-gooey pastry comes up inbetween the fruit pieces and spills over, just like a cobbler does. And indeed, they are super scrumptious.

And quite filling. One bar more than fills you up for breakfast. I love how nutritious the ingredients are also. You can enjoy one as a snack or dessert, with coffee or tea or in place of breakfast, guilt free.

I sat down with Google to search for the recipe. A couple of hours later, I discovered that the Savannah bar, also called a Cobbler or Harvest bar, is based on the Mazurka.

Apparently it’s a Polish pastry that is quite popular in Seattle. Who knew?

I found a recipe for Marzurka Bars and did a little tweaking. The result, pictured here, was fantastic…

but not exactly like the Savannah bars I crave.

The pastry is a bit more crumbly, and it doesn’t ooze up around and inbetween the fruit.

So I’m putting it to you cooking experts out there.

Here’s the recipe for Mazurka Bars. They’re certainly lovely. But how can I make them taste more like my beloved Savannah bars?

Mazurka Bars

• 2 cups Oats
• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 cup Brown Sugar or Sucanat
• 1/2 cup finely chopped Pecans or Walnuts
• 1/2 cup Unsweetened Coconut
• 1/4 t Salt
• 1/2 t Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 sticks Butter, melted
• 1 t Vanilla Extract

Mix ingredients together and place into a greased baking pan. Pour fresh sliced fruit over top.

Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

Again I put to you: If you’ve ever had a Savannah Bar, how would you tweak this recipe to make it have the same texture?

If I were to venture a guess, I would think that the crust and pastry are two different batches of ingredients. Maybe the topping has more sugar, and some milk? Not sure.

HELP!

In the summer, I like to challenge myself to eat simpler food, and to cook less.

Why?

For one thing, even though it’s only April in Atlanta, turning on the oven now means the house is steaming hot for hours. I’m simply not willing to pay $400 a month to cool down my home during the hot summer. That means I keep the oven and other hot appliances off as much as possible.

Another thing is, I’m trying to save $50 a week on groceries for the next 3 months. Eating simply helps with that endeavor.

It’s a lovely thing that my husband loves to grill. Saturdays are Grill Night around here.

And since he’s cooking the meat, I’m surely going to take advantage of the free time this offers.

I don’t prepare complicated side dishes.

<———-  Here’s what we ate last Saturday.

I used to feel a little guilty when I prepared simple meals.

Like I wasn’t doing my job or something.

But I quickly got over it.

Simple Summer Eating

There are some advantages to eating simply. Among them:

• You’ll eat less. Studies have shown that the fewer flavors on your tongue, the less you eat. This is why food manufacturers add multiple complex, fake flavors and additives to packaged food – you’ll eat more, and they’ll sell more product.
• You’ll save time. The meal above was prepared in literally minutes. The chicken had a simple lime juice, olive oil and garlic marinade. The salad was an uncut hunk of Romaine lettuce with feta cheese and a few grape tomatoes thrown on top. The corn (organic of course) was heated on the stove with butter.
• You’ll save money. Self explanatory.

I thought my thrown together meal pictured above was so pretty, I snapped a pic. It looked like it came straight out of the pages of Real Simple magazine. It was so tasty too!

In the heat of summer I like to have things like: smoothies for breakfast, fruit/cheese/nuts/whole grain crackers for lunch or dinner, and lots of raw fresh fruits and veggies.

How do you change your diet in the summer time? Are you eating more simply to save time and money?

Finally, a pregnancy nutrition advice book worth the paper it’s printed on.

Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods was a delight to read.

So many books, websites and “experts” recommend a diet for pregnant (and wanting to be pregnant) women that is the total opposite of what people have traditionally believed for hundreds of years.

Our Great-and Grandmothers had the good sense to let a pregnant woman eat real food in the quantities she desired. She would never have dreamed of limiting her calories so the Doctor wouldn’t get mad about her 25 pound weight gain, or not salting her food to taste, or avoiding her favorite dishes during pregnancy and nursing, or any of the other nonsense women in the last 40 years have been taught.

Books like “Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding” should be burned for recommending low fat everything and the heavy consumption of vegetable oils. The low fat craze probably has a lot to do with increasing infertility rates, and most women would feel horrible eating according to its plan.

Women need real food in order to conceive and birth a healthy baby, and to avoid a malnourished state for themselves after baby is born. Being well fed also helps prevent difficult births and postpartum depression, and ensure a better breastfeeding and all around new mom experience.

I applaud Nina Planck, Real Food’s author, for bringing the teachings of Dr. Weston A. Price to the mainstream. In this book, you’ll find information on the importance of:

• Healthy fats – including (gasp!) animal foods
• REAL (Read: raw) milk
• MEAT (Dr. Price found no traditional vegan cultures, very few vegetarian ones, and those are the least healthy and shortest lived of the world’s population)
• What Dad’s diet has to do with it
• Common sense, relaxed advice on starting solids

Instead of asking you to just take her word for it, Real Food for Mother and Baby provides references to studies and plenty of resources for more info and research. Yet it manages not to bore you to tears and reads more like a heart-to-heart with your BFF. Highly recommended!

Baby Doesn’t Like Baby Food

I didn’t really “do” baby food with my other little ones.

Firstly I delayed solids as long as I could. From 6-9 months, depending on the baby. And I always went slow once I offered them, only giving one single food several days apart.

When I did feed my babies solids, it wasn’t jarred baby food. It was soft cooked carrots, sweet potato, mashed potato, peas. Avocado, banana. That kind of thing.

Jarred baby food is expensive and I always felt that fresh real food was better, less processed, etc. I only used it on rare occasions, such as when I was traveling and unsure if I could obtain single ingredients to feed baby.

This time, however, I did things a little differently. Several times during my pregnancy I was able to snag organic jarred baby food for pennies a jar. Combining store sales with coupons meant that what was once .99 a jar was now around .15 a jar. Not bad. The siren song of a great deal lured me in. I had an entire shelf of one cupboard stocked with jarred baby food, all organic.

Only.

Baby doesn’t like it. She won’t eat jarred baby food!

It’s so convenient to pop open a jar of the stuff and shovel it in with a little tiny spoon. Something comforting about feeding a baby that way.

But she turns up her nose. After a couple of weeks of trying to coax her and playing little tricks to try to get her to open up and take the stuff, I gave her a gob of hummus. The same hummus we all were noshing on. The hummus full of garlic and olive oil.

Baby has had garlic breath for weeks.

When she tastes the hummus her little hands and feet twist and flail in anticipation.

She wants real food.

The same stuff we’re eating.

(And no, it doesn’t help if I feed myself from the baby food jars.)

She’s not quite mastered the art of the pincer grasp, so putting little bits of soft food on her high chair doesn’t work yet. She gets frustrated and wants me to put food directly in her mouth.

She will eat anything I feed her with my fingers. As long as it came from my plate.

Not a jar.

Maybe I knew better all along!

Years ago I remember reading a Mothering magazine article entitled, “Baby Food Is Whatever I Feed My Baby” (issue #85 if you’re interested). In it, the author reported giving his infant daughter a taste of everything he cooked. One of her favorites ended up being Chicken Piccata, complete with capers. I’m sure Ruby would love it!

But what about food allergies? How do you watch for reactions when you’re feeding baby adult food?

Would your little one eat jarred “baby food”?

One of my goals this year is to eat fermented foods every single day.

photo credit: fishermansdaughter

Why?

Because I want to improve my gut health.

But “improve my gut health” is vague and imprecise, and vague imprecise goals don’t work so well. One way to improve one’s gut health is to give it lots of healthy bacteria. Eating fermented foods is a big part of that.

Giving up wheat (sometimes I’m bad and cheat, but I feel better when I stay away) helped my tummy troubles immensely, so did switching to raw milk several years ago. But I would really like to get to a place where I can tolerate sprouted or sourdough bread. I do miss bread every once in awhile. Like a slice, slathered with butter, with soup. Ahhh.

Since we’ve been snowed iced in all week here in the ATL, I thought I would take advantage of my homebound status and make up several batches of fermented foods.

So far I’ve made:

Coconut Kefir Water

Coconut kefir water is delicious. It’s a great alternative to milk kefir for those who have issues with dairy products. My first batch got a little mold on top, (probably due to the addition of ginger…?). But my sources tell me that’s ok, just to scoop it off and proceed.

I made a fizzy strawberry slushie drink (coconut kefir water, frozen strawberries, honey) for the kids and everyone either loved it and drank it and asked for more, or they weren’t sure if they liked it, so kept drinking to find out.  ‘sall good.

It reminded me of a strawberry margarita. So you know I was game.

Excited to take my handy-dandy Vegetable Fermentation Master a spin, I made:

photo credit: little blue hen

Homemade Lacto-Fermented Pickles

These would be different from pickles that get their pickliness from vinegar or that are cooked. These are raw, and therefore have intact enzymes, like traditional condiments did.

Then I made:

Kefir

Made from raw milk, this got its culture from a starter. I let my real kefir grains die a long time ago. Oops. (Who, me?!)

Then:

Sauerkraut

I’ll post recipes and whatnot later.

What did you do for your gut today?

Using up leftovers is obviously an awesome way to avoid wasting food and ultimately, lowering your grocery budget.

Since my family has grown, I don’t often have leftovers but I am trying to get into the habit of intentionally making more than I need so that I can serve dinner for lunch the next day.

I admit I’m not super creative when it comes to what Amy Dacyczyn of The Tightwad Gazette books refers to as “Leftover Wizardry”, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.

I like to use leftover rice to make fried rice for lunch or dinner.

In a large saute pan heat a little oil and saute chopped onion (green or white or yellow, doesn’t matter). I add whatever veggies I have on hand (diced carrot, diced onion, sliced celery, corn, peas, snow peas, really anything).

photo credit: fifikins

Add an egg and scramble among the veggies. Add diced leftover meat like ham, chicken, or tempeh or tofu if you swing that way. When everything is hot, it’s ready. Serve with soy sauce. You’re done!

Leftover bits of meat, cheese and veggies can go into quiches or omelets.

A good basic quiche recipe is quite elastic, so experiment away.

Refrigerator Stew – Keep a container in your freezer for small amounts of leftover vegetables, grains, meat and beans. When the container becomes full, you have the makings of a great soup. As long as you start with a base of onions and garlic sauteed in butter, it’s hard to go wrong with soup.

Leftover fruits (you know, the half eaten apples that are lying around the kitchen!), yogurt, milk, etc can become fruit smoothies.

Leftover potatoes become tomorrow morning’s fried potatoes, served with eggs, for breakfast.

Leftover oatmeal is great in just about any muffin recipe.

Leftover chili is yummy on top of baked potatoes (sprinkled with a little cheese or sour cream!).

What tricks do you have up your sleeve for creatively re-purposing leftovers?

I’m tempted to add this cookbook to my kitchen for ideas:
Use It Up Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Frugal Cook

I’ve mentioned why grass fed meat is so superior on this blog  before, and even interviewed an expert in such, author of Pasture Perfect Jo Robinson. (You can listen  here.)

If you’re interested in winning $100 worth of grass fed meats for your family, Nourished Kitchen is currently doing a giveaway in cahoots with US Wellness Meats.

Check it out!

It was pretty cool to see my friend Christine Steendahl quoted here in this issue of Earth Talk.  And just recently on Twitter I was expressing my confusion and aggravation with the whole MSG/autolyzed yeast issue. When you see the words ‘natural flavors’ on an ingredients list, it’s often a code name for MSG.

After some research I still haven’t decided whether MSG is truly evil, but I do my best to avoid processed foods just to be on the safe side. Even organic and natural foods that are processed at high temperatures (canned soups, boxed goods etc) contain glutamates – whether artificial or naturally occurring.

Dear EarthTalk:

I see a lot of “healthy snacks” being marketed for kids that list “natural flavors” but don’t identify them. Should I use these products?

– John Stein, Methuen, MA

Beloved food writer Michael Pollan recommends steering clear of foods that advertise their green attributes on their label.

According to his line of reasoning, why give a child a fruit roll-up when you can give him or her a piece of fruit?

Only processed foods need to advertise what’s natural about them, whereas an apple speaks for itself, providing wholesome nutrition without the need for marketing hype.

But most of us depend on the occasional packaged or processed food, so choosing between the lesser of two evils sometimes has to be the way to go.

If a product lists natural ingredients on its label—anything from real fruits, vegetables and nuts to cereals, grains and other healthy foods you can recognize without a food dictionary on hand—it’s probably better than a food reliant on artificial flavors and sweeteners.

“One way for your kids to enjoy healthy snacks is to get them started on naturally sweet foods,” says Christine Steendahl of Kid Approved Meals, which sells menus and shopping lists to parents looking for guidance in meal preparation. “Since most kids crave sweets…naturally sweet foods such as fruits are perfect,” she says. Real bananas, oranges, apples, cherries, strawberries and other fruits are popular with most kids. “You can mix in yogurt or even make a fruit smoothie with some milk and a drop of chocolate or other natural flavors,” Steendahl suggests.

(Note from Carrie:  Christine Steendahl is also the mom behind Dine Without Whine and Menu Planning Central.)

“One thing to recognize about children is that if they try enough types of natural and healthy snacks, they will find one that they enjoy,” says Steendahl. “The problem is that many times parents give up trying to find the snacks that their kids like and settle for popular junk foods instead.” She stresses the importance of teaching kids which snacks to eat and which to avoid early in life so that they can sidestep obesity problems altogether. Nuts and dry cereals, for example, are good alternatives to chips and other junk food.

According to California-based pediatrician and author William Sears, who markets his own line of healthy kids snacks called Lunchbox Essentials, parents should make sure that any snack foods they give their family members provide both fiber and protein, which give the feeling of fullness, and taste good as well. He adds that parents should learn to read labels so they can tell which products contain hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, preservatives and high-fructose corn syrup—all of which should be avoided.

As a last resort for especially finicky kids, parents can find packaged snacks that might look like junk food but are actually healthy and nutritious, including certain brands of fruit roll-ups and granola bars. Look in the snack aisle of your local natural foods market for such items, and don’t be afraid to ask store personnel for recommendations. It’s important to take your child’s nutrition seriously. Whether he or she ever realizes it, you are setting patterns that will enable them to live healthier and longer lives.

I tend to be a coffee “purist”, and have a strong dislike for flavored coffees. However, I know a lot of the coffee drinkers who read this blog may love the taste of flavored coffees but want to avoid the questionable ingredients in many flavored coffee creamers.

Egads.
photo credit: feverblue

Just reading the labels on those things makes me sick!

Partially hydrogenated oils (loaded with trans fats) almost always top the list.

Besides, it’s easy and cheaper to flavor your own coffee using healthier, natural ingredients. Here are a few ideas.

Flavor Your Coffee Naturally

Vanilla

Vanilla beans will add a lovely aroma to your coffee. Try adding a small drop of pure organic vanilla extract to your cup of coffee. And using cream mixed infused with a natural vanilla pod is also nice. Buy whole vanilla pods at the health food store where you get bulk herbs, and steep them in cream overnight.

Cinnamon

A simple way to do this is to dip a few whole cinnamon sticks into a large pot of coffee and leave to infuse for 5 minutes.  Or, grind a cinnamon stick into your whole beans. The downside to this method is that your coffee grinder will have the flavor of cinnamon until you clean it well, maybe even after. And of course, it’s easy enough to simply shake ground cinnamon into your own cup.
Nutmeg

A friend of mine from the Dominican Republic likes freshly ground nutmeg in her coffee. It imparts a lovely flavor. Use one of those tiny nutmeg graters, and just grind a little into your cup.

Ever notice those little shaker bottles at Starbucks? They have vanilla powder, ground cinnamon, chocolate powder and ground nutmeg in them. Especially nice on top of freshly steamed/frothy milk.

Dried orange peel

Place the dried orange peel in a pot of water and boil for a few minutes. Then sieve the water into your coffee pot and use this orange water to make the coffee.  Also nice in hot tea.

Chocolate

Making your own cafe mocha is easy enough. Simply make a simple chocolate syrup by mixing cocoa powder, a little water, and a little sweetener of choice. Cook this on the stove for a bit, then use to taste in strongly brewed coffee. Top with hot milk and you have a mocha without the hefty price tag.

Did you see my recent post on cool food for hot times?

Here are 3 more recipes for your dining pleasure. Enjoy!

3  No Cook Summer Recipes

Tuna Salad

(Tuna is full of essential fatty acids (Omega 3’s) which are good for your brain and heart, among other things.)

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of tuna
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 1 carrot
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 cucumber
• 1-2 pickles (such as Bubbies, which are naturally fermented)
• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• Cheddar cheese
• Whole wheat pita pocket, bread or crackers

Start by draining a couple of cans of albacore tuna packaged in water. Pour fresh lemon juice over it while you cut up the veggies.

You can get creative with the veggies of your choice or follow these recommendations: shredded carrot, chopped tomato, chopped pickles, and chopped celery for crunch.

Toss the tuna and veggies together in a bowl with mayo. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese. Serve inside whole wheat pita pockets.

photo credit: mynameisharsha

Red Grape Chicken Salad

(You can still prepare a chicken salad without having to cook the chicken itself on the stove. You can either cook the chicken in a crock-pot overnight on low, then refrigerate in the morning until you’re ready to use, or you can buy a pre-cooked, rotisserie chicken.)

Ingredients:

• Leftover chicken or chicken breast
• 1 cup of red grapes
• 1 cup chopped apples
• ½ cup raw sliced almonds
• ½ cup mayo
• Swiss cheese slices
• Croissant, whole grain bread or crackers

The first step in creating a chicken salad is to chop the chicken into small pieces. You’ll also want to chop your apples into small pieces. Any kind of apples will do, but red delicious or granny smith can make a good addition, or a combination of the two. Grapes can be left whole.

Toss the chicken, apples and grapes into a bowl with mayonnaise. Fold in your raw, sliced almonds and your chicken salad is done.

Slice open croissants, add a slice of Swiss cheese, then scoop in your chicken salad.

You can use crushed walnuts instead of sliced almonds, or a fancier cheese, such as brie, instead of Swiss.

Now how about a beverage? No hot stove required! Take advantage of theheat by using it to do the cooking for you.

photo credit: AMagill

Raspberry Sun Tea

Ingredients:

• 4 bags of organic black tea
• ½ bag of frozen raspberries
• Sweetener of your choice (Sucanat, honey, or stevia is best)

In a large mason jar, add several tea bags and water. Place the jar in the sun for a day.

When 3 hours have passed (this timing may vary), bring the jar inside.

Remove the tea bags and pour the tea in a pitcher. Be sure to add ice and sweetener as you desire.

What makes this recipe extra special is the frozen raspberries you’ll add to the pitcher.

Pour into glasses and serve with your tuna or chicken salad for dinner.

The other day the kids and I headed out to the park to enjoy the first really hot day of the season.

As soon as it starts to heat up outside, I find my appetite waning for cooked and hot foods. I want watery, cold things.

When it’s summer it’s too hot to cook. Who wants to heat up the house with the stove or oven?

You know what I had for lunch AND dinner?

A super cool Mexican layered dip, served with organic corn chips.

(And a side of watermelon.)

It had guacamole, chopped green onions, sour cream, black beans, diced tomatoes or salsa, sliced black olives, and shredded cheese.

YUM.

We had a lovely park in the picnic.

What do you like to eat when it’s hot out?

Have you ever glanced at the ingredients of many ice creams lately? Some of them have little that resembles food in them – and yet we can all remember mom or grandma making homemade ice cream with a few simple ingredients.

I remember my mom and dad cranking an old fashioned ice cream maker. These are hard to find anymore and cost a pretty penny if you find one on eBay. You don’t have to have an ice cream maker to make your own ice cream.

Making ice cream is a fun project for the kids this summer and the end result is a tad healthier than store bought versions. And nothing says summer’s here like a drippy ice cream cone!

Of course, I’m going to recommend that you use raw, unpasteurized dairy products from a local farmer whose cows graze in open pasture.
photo credit: eyeliam

Here are a couple of recipes:

French Vanilla Ice Cream

What You Need:

1/2 C sugar
1/4 t salt
1 C of milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 T vanilla
2 C whipping cream, chilled

How to Make It:

Dump the sugar into a heavy duty saucepan.
Sprinkle the salt over the sugar.
Pour the milk into the saucepan and stir to combine.
Add the egg yolks and stir until all the ingredients are combined together well.
Place the pan over medium heat and stirring constantly cook 3 minutes or until bubbles begin to appear around the edges.
Remove the pan from the stove and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
Stir in the vanilla.
Pour the ice cream into a refrigerator try and place in the freezer 45 minutes or until mushy.
Place 2 bowls in the refrigerator to chill.
Add the whipping cream to the chilled bowl and beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks begin to form.
Spoon the partially frozen ice cream mixture into the second chilled bowl.
Beat with the mixer on medium speed until smooth.
Fold the whipped cream into the mixture well.
Pour the ice cream evenly into 2 refrigerator trays and cover with wax paper.
Freeze at least 3 hours or until firm stirring the ice cream mixture about every 10 minutes for the first hour of freezing time.

Makes 1 quart of ice cream

To make this ice cream in a crank style ice cream maker, follow the above directions to where you add the vanilla. Add the vanilla and whipping cream together. Pour 1/2 of the mixture into the freezer can of ice cream maker. Fill the freezer tub 1/3 full of ice and then add the remaining ice cream. Crank until it becomes too difficult to turn. Drain off water, replace the lid and allow the ice cream to ripen for at least 4 hours.

Strawberry Ice Cream

What You Need:

2 C of strawberries
1 C sugar, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 3/4 C half and half, divided
1 t vanilla

How to Make It:

Clean and cut the strawberries in half.
Place the strawberries into a saucepan.
Dump half of the sugar into the pan with the berries.
Place the pan over medium low heat and cook 18 minutes or until the berries are soft, stirring often.
Place the mixture into the blender.
Cover the blender and puree the berries until very smooth.
Transfer of a bowl, cover and chill at least 4 hours but no more than 24 hours.
Place the egg into a small saucepan.
Pour in 1 C of the half and half and the remaining sugar.
Place the pan over medium heat and stirring continuously cook the custard about 5 minutes or until the mixture passes the metal spoon test (see tip below.)
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the remaining half and half and the vanilla.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours.
Pour the half and half mixture into the ice cream maker’s freezer canister.
Freeze 5 minutes then stir in the strawberry mixture.
Freeze according the ice cream maker’s directions.
Allow the ice cream to ripen for 4 hours.

Makes 8 servings

When making a custard type of ice cream it is important to cook the egg mixture to right stage.  To check the mixture place a metal spoon into the mixture and coat the bottom part of the spoon.  Remove the spoon and run your finger down the spoon.  If the finger trail is clear the custard is done.

photo credit: jontunn

Coconut Ice Cream

What You Need:

24 oz. half and half
1 C unsweetened coconut milk
1 C sugar
2 C whipping cream
1 T lemon juice
1 T vanilla
1 1/3 C coconut, toasted

How to Make It:

Pour the half and half and coconut milk into a large mixing bowl.
Dump the sugar in with the milk and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Add the whipping cream and lemon juice and stir until combined.
Stir in the vanilla well.
Fold the coconut into the ice cream mixture.
Pour the mixture into the freezer canister of the ice cream maker.
Freeze according to the directions for the ice cream maker.
Ripen 4 hours.

Makes 12 servings

To toast coconut preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lay the coconut in a single layer in the bottom of a shallow baking pan.  Bake 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the coconut is nicely browned.

Green Slime Smoothie

What you need:

2 cups spinach
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 banana
2 tablespoons raw honey
1/2 cup ice

What you do:

Place the spinach in the freezer until frozen, at least 1 hour.

Combine the spinach, strawberries, banana, honey, and ice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

You can use other fruits your kids like, such as bananas and berries too.

Your kids will never suspect there’s spinach in there and they’ll ask for this smoothie over and over, so be sure to have plenty of the ingredients on hand throughout the summer.

Looking for more smoothie recipes?

Try these:

Green Smoothies for Kids

Smoothie Recipes

If you like this, may I recommend the <a href=”http://365saladrecipes.com/” target=”_blank”>365 Salad Recipes ebook</a> for even more healthy, delicious salad recipes?

<img src=”http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/Carrielee/saladsat.jpg” alt=”free salad recipes” align=”right” />
<h2>Almond Cranberry Couscous Salad</h2>
What You Need:

1 (10 oz) pkg. plain couscous
1 C dried cranberries
3/4 C green onions, chopped
3/4 C sweet yellow pepper, chopped
3/4 C almonds, toasted
1/3 C lemon juice
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t sea salt
1/8 t pepper

How to Make It:

Prepare the couscous as directed on the package.
When the couscous is cooked, place it in a large salad bowl and use a fork to fluff.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate 30 minutes or until chilled completely through.
When chilled remove the couscous from the refrigerator and stir in the cranberries.
Add the onions, sweet pepper and almonds and toss to combine all the ingredients.
Place the lemon juice into a small mixing bowl.
Add the oil, paprika, salt and pepper.
Use a whisk to mix the ingredients together well.
Drizzle the dressing into the salad and toss to coat.
Cover and refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Serving Size:  14

Getting up early and getting the kids off to school has gone great so far, except for one thing.

Breakfast.

The kids jump out of bed early, that’s no problem – but they’re accustomed to eating a little later in the morning, after they’ve been up for awhile.

Their little stomachs don’t seem ready for food at 6:30 A.M. For a couple of days I was throwing away a lot of half eaten eggs and stuff. I certainly don’t want them to eat at school (nutritionally inferior offerings) but I don’t want them to go off with an empty belly either. They need high quality protein in order for their little brains to work properly to study.

photo credit: acme

I decided to look at some quick breakfast options that the kids can hold in their hands and eat while they walk to the bus stop or in the cafeteria once they get to school, after they’ve been up for awhile and have worked up an appetite.

Stuff like granola bars aren’t my thing, neither is cereal. Extruded grains are a no-no in this house. And carbs aren’t really a great idea in the morning anyway, especially if the kids aren’t going to be eating lunch for a few hours.

Here are some of the ideas I came up with for quick before school breakfasts.

Egg McHuggins

I can’t take credit for this one. My Dad invented it (with a little inspiration from the golden arches, no doubt!). Egg McHuggins is pretty simple, and very tasty, and portable. The basic recipe involves a split open English Muffin. (I use the Ezekiel sprouted grain English Muffins from Food for Life. Sprouted grains are easier to digest and have more nutrition available to the body.)

Spread a little butter on the English Muffins then top with cheese. (I use raw organic cheese and grass fed butter – either KerryGold or Organic Valley’s pastured butter.) Bake in the oven until the cheese melts. (Or yu can toast them first and then place the cheese on top and warm until it melts. Or use shredded cheese.) Meanwhile, scramble an egg. Put the scrambled egg on top of the cheesy English Muffin. You can fry some bacon (make sure it’s organic and grass fed!) or sausage to go on it too.

This is what we had this morning. The kids were munching on them as they walked out the door. Easy to hold and eat.

Coconut Flour Blueberry Muffins

Ever since I tried these the first time, I’ve been hooked. I got the recipe from Cheeseslave who got it from a cookbook called Cooking with Coconut Flour. Since youngest and I don’t eat wheat, we get our muffin fix with these. They are SO VERY delicious and surprisingly filling. I cannot eat two of them!

Muffins are portable and delicious even when cold so these are perfect.

Smoothies

Smoothies worked well the other morning because the kids could sip on them slowly while they got ready. I made mine with raw milk, strawberries, banana and organic vanilla yogurt. Got 50 smoothie recipes right here.

Larabars

In a pinch, I give them each a Larabar. These are just about the only “granola” bars I approve of. They’re made from dried fruit and nuts – that’s it. The kids love them and I always have a supply in the pantry. No HFCS or other cheap sweeteners, no trans fats, no soy (yuck!),  no fillers and no grains.

That’s what’s working for us right now.

If you like this, may I recommend the 365 Salad Recipes ebook for even more healthy, delicious salad recipes?

Romaine Lettuce Hearts Finger Salad

What You Need:

2 hearts of Romaine lettuce
1 T pecans, toasted
1 small red pepper
1/4 C Italian cheese, shredded
1 C Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

How to Make It:

Separate the leaves of each heart and place them on 2 salad plates.
Sprinkle the top of the lettuce with 1/2 T of the pecans per plate.
Slice the red pepper in half and remove the seeds and core.
Slice each red pepper.
Place the red pepper slices on top of both salads.
Top each salad with 1/8 C of the cheese.
Divide the dressing into 2 small bowls.

Serving Size: 2

By placing the dressing on the side you can use your fingers to dip the lettuce and peppers.

If you like this, may I recommend the 365 Salad Recipes ebook for even more healthy, delicious salad recipes?

Bacon Laced Fruit Salad with Cider Vinaigrette

What You Need:

3 T butter, room temperature
2 T sucanat or rapadura
1 1/2 t cinnamon, divided
1/2 t red pepper, divided
4 slices whole wheat bread, remove the crust
1/2 C olive oil
2 green onions, chopped fine
½ C raisins
1/4 C apple cider
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 (10 oz) salad greens
1 pear, cored and sliced thin
1 apple, cored and sliced thin
4 pieces of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1/4 C walnuts, toasted
1/4 C Swiss cheese, shredded

How to Cook It:

Place the oven temperature on 400 degrees and allow it to heat while preparing the croutons.
Place the butter in a mixing bowl.
Add the sugar, 1 t of cinnamon and 1/4 t of the red pepper.
Mix together until well blended.
Spread the slices of bread with the mixture.
Place the bread of a baking sheet and bake 8 minutes turning once or until the bread is toasted to your liking.
Remove the toasted bread and allow it to cool to room temperature then cut into bite size pieces.
Place the oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Add the green onions and stirring occasionally cook 3 minutes or until tender.
Put the raisins in the skillet and stir to incorporate with the onions.
Pour in the apple cider and vinegar.
Sprinkle in the salt, pepper, the remaining cinnamon and the remaining red pepper.
Stir until all the ingredients are combined and cook until heated through about 5 minutes.
Place the salad greens into a large salad bowl.
Add the sliced pears and apples and toss to combine.
Pour the warm dressing over the salad and toss to cover the salad well.
Sprinkle the crumbled bacon, walnuts, cheese and croutons over the top just before serving.

Serving Size: 4

You can use grapes cut in half instead of the raisins, just add them in with the pears and apples. The walnuts can also be replaced with pecans or almonds if you prefer.

When it comes to lowering your grocery budget while still eating a healthy diet, one of the tips you will hear over and over is this one:

“Know WHAT to buy organic.”

That means that some food items are more likely to be contaminated than others with pesticides (corn, dairy products), so it makes sense to buy those items organic.

On the other hand, some foods have no appreciable pesticide residue so it’s still pretty safe to go conventional.

The Environmental Working Group has recently released their 5th edition of the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides. You do have to sign up for their newsletter to get it, but they send you a printable pocket guide to keep in your wallet (helpful – I’m always forgetting this info!).

You can also check the full list of 47 fruits and veggies to see where your family’s favorites fall.

photo credit: iLoveButter

If you like this, may I recommend the 365 Salad Recipes ebook for even more healthy, delicious salad recipes?

Sweet Potato Salad

What You Need:

6 C fresh sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 C mayonnaise
1/2 C sucanat or rapadura
1 C pecans, toasted and chopped
1/2 C raisins

How to Make It:

Place the cubed potatoes into a large saucepan.
Completely cover the potatoes with water.
Place the pan over medium heat and bring the water to a brisk steady boil.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer the potatoes for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
Drain the potatoes well and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes.
Put the mayonnaise into a small mixing bowl.
Dump the sugar in with the mayonnaise and stir until well combined.
Fold in the pecans and raisins until well coated.
Place the potatoes into a serving bowl.
Add the mayonnaise mixture and stir to coat the potatoes well.
Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator at least one hour before serving.

Serves: 8

To toast the pecans, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pecans (pecan halves work best) in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Place the pecans in the oven for about 6 minutes, stirring them often, until the pecans are nice golden brown. Allow them to cool enough to work with. Use a sharp knife or a chopper to chop the nuts to desired size.

If you like this, may I recommend the 365 Salad Recipes ebook for even more healthy, delicious salad recipes?

Delicious Lentil Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup brown lentils
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup red onions, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
½ tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup celery stalks, diced
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper, freshly ground

Instructions:

Put the lentils, carrots, onion, garlic, bay leaf and thyme in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring mixture to a quick boil, lower heat and simmer uncovered for about 15 – 20 minutes or until the lentils are cooked (don’t let them get mushy).

Remove the bay leaf and after draining the lentil mixture, combine with lemon juice, celery and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and mix gently.

Enjoy with fresh crusty bread!

Susanne Myers of The Hillbilly Housewife is up to her usual tricks. Her blog is full of frugal recipes for home cooked meals and other tricks for saving money at this homemaking gig.

She’s just put together a free report called “How To Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half“.

She is offering it as a free download here. (No opt in or obligation required.) Who couldn’t benefit from a few of these tips? I’m reading my copy right now.

And in case you missed it in the newsletter, you can get a copy of her Freezer Cooking Made Simple here too. (This is a .pdf file and opens in a new window, you can right click on the link to save it.)

**** Edited ****

When I sent this link out to my subscribers, one wrote back immediately and expressed her concern that the recipes found within were hardly compatible with a whole foods diet.

“Beenie Weenies? ewwww! I don’t think this is something you should promote. It sullies your good name. Huge fan of the show.”

Supportively,
A Mom

I really appreciate the honest feedback from my listeners! To be frank, I had the same thought as I was reading the report… but then I realized that the recipes can be altered to be more healthy. We whole foods eaters are accustomed to having to change recipes around. For example, my kids love the uncured buffalo franks and I feel totally comfortable giving them those.

Also, the principles of saving money at the grocery store are helpful, no matter what the specific diet. Susanne has a lot of healthy recipes on her blog, HillBillyHousewife.com

Salad Saturdays are back!

Each Saturday I’ll post a free salad recipe here. If you like these, may I recommend the 365 Salad Recipes ebook for even more healthy, delicious salad recipes?

Bulgur Salad with Greens

Ingredients:

¾ cup bulgur (cracked wheat)
2 cups green peas (frozen or fresh)
½ cup chopped green onions
3 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp sesame oil

Instructions:

Bring some water to boiling point. Place the bulgur wheat in a large bowl and add the boiling water over it (according to packet instructions) – the water should cover the bulgur wheat by at least 1 inch. Let stand for about 20 to 30 minutes until tender. It should have doubled in volume.

Drain through fine-meshed sieve and get rid of excess water by pressing it out. In a small saucepan, boil the peas for about 1 minute only to keep them crunchy.

Use a salad bowl and combine all ingredients, including cooked bulgur and peas. Season with salt and pepper and toss with sesame oil.

This is a fantastic and healthy side dish to accompany beef, chicken or fish.

Yields: 8 servings

First, before sharing my recipe and how to’s for making homemade lacto-fermented salsa, I am going to share the WHY of such.

What IS Lacto-Fermented Salsa and Why Should I Care?

To quote Nourishing Traditions,

“Lacto-fermentation is a process whereby special bacteria transform sugars and starches into beneficial acids. These … are valued for medicinal qualities including the ability to relieve intestinal problems and constipation. The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms product numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid… promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.”

To put it simply, lacto-fermented foods are whey good for you. Especially if you have any kind of issues with yeast, you need to be eating lots of lacto-fermented foods daily. They’re highly nutritive. Also great for anyone with any kind of tummy troubles. You can skip the expensive enzyme or probiotic supplements if you eat lacto-fermented veggies regularly.

Throughout the world, traditional peoples haven eaten lacto-fermented foods.

They’re your kefir, your buttermilk, your yogurt. Your sauerkraut, your kim chi, your salsa, your chow chow, your relish, your pickles. They’re your umeboshi and your chutney, folks. Every culture has ‘em and they are eaten with most every meal in small portions as a condiment.

Making them at home the old fashioned way means they’re more nutritive and much cheaper.

Lacto-fermented foods are the ultimate in “food as medicine and medicine as food”.

If you’re unconvinced, get your hands on a copy of Wild Fermentation.

Now for my recipe:

Homemade Lacto-Fermented Salsa

• 6 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 or 4 diced jalapenos (optional)
• 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 T sea salt
• 4 T whey
• 1/4 cup water

Note: This is an adaptation of the recipe, again, from Nourishing Traditions. After some experimentation, I like my version better.

Now, if you’re new to the whole Weston A Price/Traditional diets way of thinking, I’ll have to explain how to make whey. It’s easy and cheap.

How To Make Your Whey

Buy a tub of organic, plain (unsweetened, unflavored) whole milk yogurt (like Stonyfield). Place it into a colander or sieve that is lined with a thin tea towel and place that on top of a large bowl. If you don’t have a thin tea towel, coffee filters or cheesecloth will work too.

Let that sit overnight in the fridge. The stuff in the bottom of the bowl? There’s your whey. You can use the “yogurt cheese” several ways. Sweeten it with some honey and add nuts and you have a yummy topping for toast. Google yogurt cheese for lots more ideas.

Wasn’t that easy?

Back to Lacto Fermented Salsa – It’s Whey Cool!

Salsa making is easy. Just mix all the ingredients listed above and place them into clean glass jars. Wide mouth Mason jars are great, but if you don’t have any, use any clean glass jars. I like old Bubbies sauerkraut jars or any other that I have hanging around (I like to save my glass jars for food storage, they’re great for storing and freezing everything from nuts to broth and are safer and more hygienic than plastic).

If you don’t know this already, you can quickly and easily peel tomatoes by bringing a pan of water to boil on the stove in a saucepan. Dip one tomato at a time in the rapidly boiling water with a slotted spoon. Remove after a few seconds, and the peel slips right off. To seed tomatoes, cut them in half widthwise, hold over a bowl and squeeze gently. The seeds come right out.

Once you have your veggies in the glass jars, press them down a bit with a spoon so they are under the water/whey/lemon juice liquid.

Now, all you have to do is leave them out at room temp for a couple of days on your counter.

After that, stick them in the fridge. Lactofermented salsa is best after it’s a week or two old. It gets fizzy and has a nice kick to it. Guaranteed to knock the socks off of anyone who eats your next taco, burrito, nacho or whatever dinner.

… And your colon will thank you!

When I saw CHEESESLAVE’s post about coconut flour pancakes, I was all, “I HAVE to try that.”

First, y’all know I love coconut.

Second, since youngest and I have issues with wheat, pancakes are a rarity around here, unless they’re gluten free and those leave something to be desired, texture wise.

So I got myself to Whole Foods and bought some Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour.

This morning, we made them there pancakes.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

The kids and I have died and gone to breakfast heaven.

A couple of tips if you decide to make these.

First, they don’t behave on the pan. Despite having well seasoned cast iron skillets and lots of butter for greasing, they stuck like the devil.

So I made mine tiny like silver dollars, which worked better. Be fast with your spatula and don’t hesitate or they’ll make a huge mess.

Second, cook them SLOWly. Once your pan is hot, turn your heat way down or they’ll burn on the outside and be raw inside, which isn’t terribly bad, because they don’t have that raw dough taste. But still.

You have to try these! Whether you have issues with wheat or not, coconut is so good for moms. These are super filling too, the recipe is small but you only need a few silver dollar sized coconut cakes and you’ll be full all morning.

They’re naturally sweet so you only need the teensiest bit of maple syrup. I think they would be awesome as a side dish for some Caribbean style dinner.

You can learn more about using coconut flour for cooking in this book:
Cooking with Coconut Flour: A Delicious Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Alternative to Wheat

photo credit: petyosi

Speaking of the peanut butter salmonella scare…

When I heard that Larabar had voluntarily recalled their Peanut Butter bars “just in case”, I was very disappointed.

Because I had 17 of them in my pantry.

We love Larabars around here. Not only are they the healthiest snack bar I can find, but they’re handy emergency food for my youngest daughter, who is allergic to wheat.

I keep one in my car and purse most of the time so that she’ll always have something safe to eat when we go out.

So I called Larabar and they took my name and address, and mailed me a check for the cost of the bars I had to throw away.

Wasn’t that nice of them?

Several people on Facebook and Twitter have been asking about the recipes for the food I served at my dinner party last weekend.

Your wish is my command.

I had a kind of Caribbean theme with the menu and everyone kept saying how good the food was so I’m happy to share the recipes.

I got these from several places but tweaked them a bit to use ingredients I had on hand or to make them a little healthier.

For instance, I left the sugar out of the plantains.

They’re sweet enough with the whipped cream on them to be a side dish, but I suppose if you were serving them as a dessert a little sugar wouldn’t hurt.

And I used brown rice instead of white for the coconut rice.

Enjoy!

Coconut Shrimp with Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice
• Few tablespoons ghee (you could also use butter)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 1/4 cup lime juice, fresh squeezed
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Melt ghee or butter in large saucepan and pour in rice. Stir and “toast” rice for several minutes until it is nutty and fragrant. Add chicken broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce to the lowest setting for 45 minutes or until rice is cooked.

Just a few minutes before rice is done, start preparing the shrimp.

Place the coconut flakes on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for a few minutes at 350 degrees. You may have to stir and turn it a bit. It should be golden brown and nicely toasted.

Put more ghee into a pan and melt. Add garlic, red pepper and shrimp and cook until shrimp is opaque (just a couple of minutes).

When the rice is cooked, stir in the cilantro and top with shrimp. Serve with toasted coconut sprinkled on the top.

Thai Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce (you can also use bottled Thai hot and spicy sauce and omit the sugar)
• 2 Tbsp sucanat or rapadura
• 1/2 cup red onion diced
• 2 large cucumbers, sliced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp raw peanuts

Combine the rice vinegar, lime zest, hot sauce, sugar, red onion, cucumber slices and cilantro leaves in a glass or stainless steel bowl.

Marinate at least 2 hours. Just before serving, top with the peanuts. (This recipe serves 4 so I doubled it.)

Fried Plantains with Real Whipped Cream

Ingredients

• Peanut or coconut oil, for shallow frying (I prefer coconut oil for the flavor it gives the plantains)
• 2 firm-ripe plantains
• Sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Fresh whipped cream

Directions

Heat about 1-inch of oil in heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat until hot. (I used a cast iron pan for this and it worked great.)

Peel the plantains and discard the skins. Slice into 1/4-inch thick pieces. Fry the plantains in oil, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon or spatula and drain. (I used a paper grocery bag to absorb the grease but you could also line a plate with paper towels.)

Sprinkle the plantains with a little salt and the cinnamon. Serve with the whipped cream. This recipe also serves four so I doubled it.

For the Whipped Cream:

• 1 small container of organic heavy cream, chilled

Whip the cream with a mixer until soft peaks form. You can add a little sugar if you like (or a little rum!) and whip again. Serve with the plantains.