Wholegrain Tortillas

Recently, we decided to make our own tortillas instead of buying them at the store.  Even though we can get a couple of brands locally that are not loaded with as many preservatives and fillers, it still would be healthier and more cost effective to just make them.

Whole Grain Tortillas

3 cups organic whole wheat or spelt flour

1 cup warm water

4 T organic olive oil

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add olive oil, and stir until well combined. Put 1/2 cup warm tap water in and stir then add water 1 T at a time until dough can be gathered into a ball. Knead on floured surface 15-20 times. Let dough rest for 15 minutes.  Remove a ball of dough about the size of a golf ball. On floured surface roll out ball from center into a circle.  I greased my pan with olive oil, but I have also read you can cook them on ungreased skillet.  Cook over medium-high heat on each side about 30 seconds or until puffy. You can cook them longer until they are crisp like a big chip or toast them in the oven to get them crispy.  Wrap them in a towel to keep them warm. 

It was a more simple process than I had imagined, which is often times the case!  The recipe makes about 15 tortillas.  We had them for dinner and stuffed them with black beans and rice with tomatoes and green onions!

Kids & Sleep

Some kids hate to go to bed - maybe they think they will miss something.

Some parents hate to deal with the fuss that can occur when trying to get their kids in bed, so they don't address the problems.

How do we as parents face this issue?  Head on with the proper knowledge!!


FIRST we must know: What is SLEEP designed to do in our bodies?

1. Repair the immune system (help them as their body fights viruses and bacteria they have encountered during the day)
2. Prepare the brain for the next days activity
3. Increase their capacity to be mentally ready for their tasks (ie - reduce their whiny fussy meltdowns)

Most parents, when they stop and think, realize quickly that when their kids get enough rest on a consistent basis they are healthier and HAPPIER.  The problem really comes down to us as parents being willing to create consistent routines and discipline OURSELVES to make sure that the right bedtime happens.  Sure there will be times when our kids will not get as much sleep one night as others, but consistency is the key.

God has placed us in charge of taking care of our children, and their health certainly is a huge part of that task.  I am doing myself and my kids a HUGE favor when I help them get their sleep consistently.  They are mentally and emotionally more sound the next day.  Their energy level is more consistent.  Their mind is more ready to take on the days tasks.

The earlier that we teach our kids in a positive manner the REASONS for sleep and put in their minds and hearts that it is a GOOD THING and not something to avoid and delay, they will come to appreciate what it provides.  And EVERYONE around them will appreciate what it will produce in them.

SECOND we must create a bedtime routine that is engaging where kids may pick from our list of evening choices.  This will give them some control within our guidelines!
*Tell your kids how your body fights germs they encountered that day as they sleep
*Create fun bedtime routines that make them look forward to settling down
*Praise them for the things they are doing right related to bedtime when they complete it in a timely manner: putting on their pajamas, brushing their teeth, getting their things ready for school the next day, etc.

THIRD we as parents must follow up and be consistent!  I will guarantee you that it will be a huge blessing to your family.  Do an excellent job of teaching your child the skills they need to get to be on time. Follow up to make sure they accomplish this goal with your supervision.  Praise them for the good choices they are making and remind them what it is doing in their bodies.

Making Homemade Yogurt

In an effort to get a healthier cleaner more probiotic filled product, we make our own yogurt.  It is a great way to get the kids involved in understanding they can make their own food instead of having to always depend on the final product coming from the grocery store.

Homemade Yogurt Recipe

Organic Milk

Probiotic Live Culture

The recipe does not contain specific amounts because you choose the amount of milk depending on the size of your yogurt container(s) and what the directions on the probiotic culture you choose tell you to use. 

I have a YoLife Yogurt Maker.  There are other methods to make yogurt.  I just chose the method that worked the best for my busy life with lots of kids.  With the electric yogurt maker, you can prepare the milk, fill your containers, and put them in the maker for 8-15 hours without having to worry about making sure the temperature stays consistent.

 

Gather your supplies: Organic milk, probiotic culture, pot to heat milk on the stove, food thermometer, yogurt maker, spoon, and jars. In a pot, heat milk on low heat while stirring. Turn off heat before milk reaches boiling point (at about 176˚F-185˚F).  Watch the thermometer as the temperature decreases. Allow the milk to cool until it is lukewarm (105˚F).  This process kills any bad bacteria that might be present.

Remove a small amount (about 1/2 cup) of milk from the pot.  Add the amount of probiotic culture that is on the directions of the culture package and stir well.  Then add the 1/2 cup of milk back to the rest of the milk and stir well.  The milk will now be activated.

Make sure your jars are sterile/clean, and place them in the yogurt maker.  The YoLife Yogurt Maker has two sizes of lids that cover the maker.  The maker comes with 7 small jars and a short lid.  It comes with a taller lid as well, so you can use your own jars of any size if you want to make more.  I often use quart jars with the taller lid. 

Pour the milk evenly into each of the jars in the yogurt maker.  Making yogurt is an easy process.  It does not take as much time as I would have thought!  It saves money and provides a more nutritional product than yogurt you buy commercially. My kids usually take part or do the whole process by themselves.

Place the lid on the yogurt maker and plug it in.  There is no temperature adjustment gage.  It will heat the milk to the correct temperature and keep it at that temperature until you unplug it.  

Leave it in the maker for 8-12 hours if you have used smaller jars and 12-15 hours if you used larger jars. 

*If you choose to add fruit to your cultured milk in the jars, be sure you have cooked the fruit thoroughly to a boiling point before adding it to the milk in your jars.  This is to make sure there is no bad bacteria developing as the beneficial probiotics are culturing. 

Canning Vegetable Soup

I have always wanted to learn how to can foods but had made it more difficult in my mind than it really is, so I put it off (for years actually I am sad to say).  Last weekend I was inspired.  I saw Patty Tatum at the Saturday morning Oxford Farmer's Market.  She was picking out lots of okra, so I asked her what she was doing.  She said, "Today is vegetable soup day."  She explained that every summer she picks a day at the market to get what she needs to make homemade vegetable soup, makes a large quantity, and then freezes it for the winter.  

I figured if I went ahead and bought everything there would be no turning back..........  I do not have enough freezer space, so I knew canning would be my best option.  I welcomed the challenge and made my purchases - tomatoes, corn, okra, peas, green beans, lima beans, onion, red bell peppers, garlic, and new potatoes.

 

I pureed my tomatoes in the food processor and poured them into a large stock pot.  I chopped my onion, garlic, and bell peppers in the food processor as well and added them.  I let this simmer while I was washing and chopping the rest of the vegetables.  I added them to the tomatoes and added filtered water and seasonings as well.

Then I cooked the vegetable soup until the vegetables were all tender.  It looked to beautiful in the pot and smelled and tasted wonderful.

Thanks to Jo Ruth Pruett in Tula, I was able to borrow a pressure canner that would hold 7 quarts at a time.  The manual that came with the pressure canner explained how to can different kinds of food.  This was very helpful.  I knew I needed to can in quarts to allow more for my family of 5!  I had always been intimidated by a pressure canner and yes, I read the instructions at least 5 times before I started.  But as usual, once I did it, it did not turn out being as hard as it seemed beforehand!

The most challenging part was investing the time to wash and cut up all the vegetables.  But when I think about how much time in the fall I invest in just one smaller pot of soup it makes perfect sense to go ahead and make a large quantity one time and then have it available to just open up and serve.

The main reason I wanted to can vegetable soup was that I wanted the advantage of having all ingredients that were vine ripened and grown locally to maximize the nutrition for my family.  They are in glass jars which will not leach anything into the final product and there are absolutely NO additives or preservatives.

It was so much easier than I expected, and I value being able to do large quantities at a time in order to maximize my efforts.  No doubt I am looking for my next canning project.........

What's Wrong With Our Food System - A Smart Kid's Perspective

Thank you Millie for sharing this story with me!  I just learned about Birke Baehr - a kid who started transforming his mind to a different way of thinking about food than most American kids. Check out his YouTube Tedx Talk.
Okay Families!  Let's don't give in to the Marketing Strategies of companies that care nothing about your family's longterm health.  If an 11 year old is that reasonable and motivated, we can be too!!

"While traveling with his family and being 'roadschooled', Birke at the age of 9 began studying sustainable and organic farming practices. Birke has visited and worked at Full Moon Farms Co-op, Athens, GA; Sequatchie Cove Farm, Sequatchie ,TN; Sapelo Farms, Brunswick, GA; and the organic gardens of The Hostel in the Forest in Brunswick, GA. He also attended a full day seminar with renowned farmer and author, Joel Salatin at The Farm in Summertown, TN. Mr. Salatin has continued to mentor Birke in his pursuit of new thinking about food and agriculture. Birke has also participated in The Sequatchie Valley Institute's annual 'Food for Life' gathering for the past two years. At these workshops he’s studied composting, vermiculture, canning and food preservation methods, sprouting and tea. This year Birke has enjoyed tending a garden with his Granddaddy, growing tomatoes, beans, okra, potatoes, cukes and more. 


Birke has attended the Barefoot Farmer's Biodynamic Conference where he spent time learning from farmer, Jeff Poppen on his farm. Birke intends to continue his education in this genre and expects to be a sustainable organic agriculturist in the future. He also has a passion for educating others, especially his peers, about the destructiveness of the industrialized food system and the enlightening alternatives of sustainable and organic farming, food and practices. Birke has also volunteered at the Humane Society and loves working with animals. 


Birke was the youngest presenter at the TEDx Next Generation Asheville event where he gave a talk about. "What's Wrong With Our Food 'System'" which has become the most viewed TEDx Talk on YouTube of all time. He recently attended a two-day workshop called, "Deepening Roots" which focuses on health/wellness, community, empowerment, sustainable agriculture and meditation. He continues to find learning and teaching opportunities for his message."

Mixed Messages

I found this billboard and just had to post it.  Our society is sending so many mixed messages to families and kids.  I was reading a message referencing someone making a trip to eat fast food that day.  A friend  commented "get ready....you will be taking your kids there all the time."  Really?  Do we have to make that the norm for us personally?

If we do, we will certainly pay the price at some point in time and our family will as well.  The way you can get serious about obesity and the health crisis our nation is entrenched in is by considering everything you choose to put in your mouth and allow your kids to eat.  Will it bring life and health to your cells or are your feeding a disease just waiting to come forth in your body?

What brings health?  Real fruits and vegetables and whole grains; water; exercise; and proper sleep.

I am certainly not talking about the occasional run through a fast food dive or ice cream after a movie.  I am talking about what you are CONSISTENTLY doing to take care of your cells.

I started to say, "Shame on the company for producing food that is slowly killing people."  But really it is shame on us for being poor consumers.  If we did not eat the food, they would not stay in business. WE DO HAVE A CHOICE!

What is your "kinda shoppin' spree"?

Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna

I wanted the taste of Eggplant Parmesan, but it was just not the right dish to cook tonight, so I decided to turn it into a lasagna.  My neighbor JoAnna gave me some eggplant from their garden, and Ed & Renae Morgan shared amazing tomatoes from their garden. They inspired me to create something I had never fixed before.

After I had the taste for this meal in my mind, I realized I did not have canned tomatoes or bread crumbs.  I decided I would just have to try to make homemade breadcrumbs and make a fresh tomato sauce both of which really surprised me! (See the next postings for making your own breadcrumbs and tomato sauce.)  It was more labor intensive than most dishes I make but worth every minute!  Since I wrote the recipe just as I created the dish, I highlighted all the ingredients in red, so you could make a list.

Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna

Sauce Ingredients:

4 large homegrown tomatoes

1-2 cloves garlic
1 medium white onion

1 T olive oil

5 fresh basil leaves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Directions: Place all ingredients in the food processor (you could use a blender as well), and puree into a sauce the consistency your desire.  I left some small chunks in mine.  Keep in mind, you are using fresh tomatoes and the sauce will have more liquid than a canned or jar of sauce that has been stewed.

Eggplant Parmesan Ingredients:

3 medium eggplant

4 eggs

2 cups breadcrumbs

1/2 cup parmesan cheese freshly grated

12 T extra virgin olive oil (using 3 T at a time)

Directions: Slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch pieces.  Place them in a colander and sprinkle a small amount of Kosher salt onto them and place a plate on top to press them down.  Leave them in the colander for a couple of hours.  This will allow some of the excess water to drain out of the eggplant.  Mix eggs in a bowl large enough to dredge your eggplant it.  Divide breadcrumbs & parmesan cheese in 1/2.  (When you place your eggplant on your breadcrumbs they will get soggy after a while.  When you divide them in half, you will have a fresh set of breadcrumbs halfway through the process.) Place your breadcrumb/parmesan mixture on a medium sized plate.  Heat a large skillet to medium heat with 3 T olive oil. Dredge eggplant on both sides through the eggs.  Place the eggplant on each side in the breadcrumb mixture.  Place in the skillet and saute until eggplant starts to turn clear and breadcrumbs are lightly browned.  Flip and repeat the process on the other side.  Place on newspaper or paper towel until you are ready to place it in layers in the lasagna.  Repeat until all eggplant are lightly sauteed adding fresh olive oil as needed.

Cheese Filling Ingredients:

12 oz Ricotta Cheese

12 oz Cottage Cheese

2 t. basil

2 t. oregano
1 t. salt

Directions: In a medium bowl, mix the above ingredients.

I also used 2 cups of Monterray Jack cheese; you could certainly use Mozzarelo or another combination to your liking!  Add more cheese if you like it heavy on the cheese side!

Additionally, you will need to cook 12 lasagna noodles.  I used an organic jerusalem artichoke pasta.  Be sure too cook them ONLY 1/2 the time on the directions from the package of noodles.  The reason being, they can absorb the rest of the extra juice the fresh tomatoes produce.

Then just layer your lasagna in a 9 x 13 dish or whatever dish you want to use:

A little sauce on the bottom to keep your noodles from sticking

3 Lasagna Noodles

1 cup Ricotta mixture - spread over the noodles 

Eggplant Parmesan

1 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup cheese

Repeat!  

On the top of the last layer of noodles, add one cup of tomato sauce.  I went ahead and added the last 1/2 cup of cheese.  I should have waited until the end of the cooking time to add it because I cooked the dish at 425 degrees for 40 minutes without covering it to allow more juice to cook away.  Because I did not cover it, my cheese was a little more brown than I would have liked.  I let the dish sit for 15 minutes on the counter before serving to allow it to set.  It was a big hit with everyone!

Oh and thank you to Brad and Mandy Sartor for delicious garlic from your garden!  You all continue to inspire me press on to have more homegrown food!

Vinegar & Honey Drink

Many drinks that we consume on a daily basis in America taste good, and we desire them often but have a detrimental effect on our health.  Here is a drink that actually benefits the body and provides balance and healing.  You can make it one glass at a time, but we have found it more effective to make a quart and keep it in the refrigerator.

Apple Cider Vinegar & Honey Drink
1/4 cup Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Raw Honey
30 ounces of filtered water

Pour the Raw Apple Cider Vinegar into the jar along with the Raw Honey.  Shake until blended well.  Add filtered water and refrigerate.  If you are used to drinking sweeter drinks, add a little more honey until you develop a taste for the original recipe. (We actually double our recipe in one jar and just fill our drinking glass with 1/2 Vinegar Drink and 1/2 additional water.  That way we do not have to mix it as often.)

This recipe is similar to the one on the www.bragg.com website except I multiply it by 4 to make it last longer!

Because of the amount of white flour, white sugar, and processed foods that many people eat, their bodies do not have the live active nutrition you get from real living foods.  Our bodies thrive on living nutrition which is not found in the S.A.D (Standard American Diet) consisting mostly of dead foods.

Thus our bodies become very acidic.  Disease thrives in an acidic environment.  What this drink does is helps to turn your body more alkaline.  Disease cannot however thrive in this environment.  Raw Apple Cider Vinegar has living enzymes and nutrients that the body is craving.

Now for many people who eat and drink based on what they initially like the taste of, this drink might not suit them at first.  When we are changing to a healthier way of living there will be many times that we have to eat and drink things that are not at first what we would normally like until we come to the point where we develop a taste for new healthier options.

I look back and think about times I refused to eat foods that were "different" and did not taste like the feel good foods I had been used to eating.  I was not doing my health any good with that attitude!  It was not until I started being open to understanding what was actually in the food before I made a decision whether I was going to eat it or not that my health began improving.

On a side note, my grandmother drank this drink every day and lived to be 97!  I am not saying that this will do the trick for everyone (other lifestyle choices are very important as well), but I do think it is a testimony for keeping your body alkaline on a daily basis for the long haul.

Hummus & Fresh Local Tomatoes

This morning we went to our local Farmer's Market in Oxford.  We purchased the most delicious red and yellow tomatoes.  I decided to use them as our afternoon snack with homemade hummus.

Hummus
16 oz cooked garbanzo beans
1/4 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
1 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 t. cumin
1 large clove minced garlic

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until creamy and smooth.

For a variation add 3 T. sundried tomatoes packed in oil or rehydrated in hot water.  I added a couple of chopped fresh basil leaves.  You can cook your own garbanzo beans or used canned.  This recipe is easily doubled if you have a larger crowd.

Serve with raw veggies or pita wedges as a snack or appetizer.  You can also used it as a spread on a sandwich or pita pocket with cucumbers, sprouts, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, a little balsamic vinegarette dressing, and anything else that sounds good to you!

Yogurt, Fruit, & Granola

Breakfast, lunch, snack, light supper, or dessert, this combination will fit the bill!  It is simply yogurt, fruit, and granola.  We like to make our own yogurt and granola but you certainly can find great clean brands at most grocery stores.  We use plain yogurt.  Other variations have so much sugar that it is really counter productive to eat it!  Once you add the fresh fruit and granola, you have the added sweetened touch needed.  Yes, sometimes it takes getting used to a new taste but you will adjust and probably realize when eating the other later how sugary it really becomes!  If you need to,  add a little raw honey.  

Now is the perfect time of year to find fresh fruit at your local farmer's market!  You can even purchase ones such as blueberries and peaches and store them in your freezer for use later on in the year.  You will be glad you made the effort.

Wild Berry Tea

Summer is the time to beat the heat!  We love making our own special beverages together.  Sure it's easy to grab a package or container of an artificially sweetened and dye colored drink to add some spice to the day but the health detriments far outweigh the pleasure.

Instead, check out the tea selection at your local grocery store or better yet your local farmer's market might have loose leaf teas!  Read the labels and pick some flavors you might like that are just natural tea leaves.

Brew the tea according to the directions on the package and add the amount of sweetener you like.  We add 1/2 of a cup of sweetener such as Agave Nector or Local Honey to a gallon of tea.

It's easy to get a glass jar and let the sun brew your tea!  Just add your tea bags to a jar of filtered water.  Set it out in the hot sun for a few hours.  Then add your sweetener if you would like.

In our house this takes the place of store bought juice.  The color is unbeatable and the flavor is amazing.

Homemade Peach Preserves

The ingredients for these preserves were simple - peaches and agar agar.  Now what on earth is agar agar you might ask?  It is a sea vegetable that serves as an emulsifier to thicken the preserves.  It keeps you from having to add a gelatin product to get your preserves to gel together.

Homemade Peach Preserves

4 cups fresh peaches

2 T Agar Agar flakes

1/2 cup turbinado or another natural sweetener (if you want a sweeter preserve; if not, leave out the additional sugar)

DIRECTIONS

Step 1:  In order to get your jars to seal your preserves, you need to heat the jars.  Here is one way to do that.  Heat four 1/2 pint jars in the oven by placing glass jars in a glass baking dish.  Fill the dish 1/2 the way up with water.  Add the 4 flat jar canning lids to the water so the rubber seal will heat as well. Turn your oven on 350 and place the pan of jars in the oven while you are preparing the peaches.

Step 2:  Cut peaches into small pieces.  Take one cup of peaches and puree them in the blender.  Pour puree into a small stock pot.  Stir in Agar Agar flakes.  Add additional 3 cups of peaches.  Allow mixture to come to a boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes.  Stir often.  Then turn the stove off.

Step 3:  Remove the glass dish from the oven.  Fill the jars with the peach mixture leaving 1/2 an inch at the top of the jar.  Wipe the top edge of the jar to make sure it is "sticky free," so it will seal well.  Remove one of your jar lids from the water with a fork and place it on top of the jar.  Add your sealing ring.  Place jar in the refrigerator to cool.

Local Summer Breakfast Burrito!

I opened the refrigerator this morning to make breakfast and decided to just take what I had leftover and make a burrito.  Many of the veggies came from our local Farmer's Market in Oxford, MS.

Summer Breakfast Burrito
1/4 cup local white onions
1/4 cup corn from the Farmer's Market
1/4 cup local tomatoes
1/2 cup spaghetti squash from my neighbor's garden
1 small clove of local garlic minced
1/4 cup local farmer's cheese
Dash of pepper
2 local eggs

I sauteed the vegetables & garlic until tender and most of the juice had evaporated.  Then I added the eggs and scrambled them together with the veggies.  At the end I sprinkled the cheese on top after I had turned the stove off.  Finally, I put it inside the whole grain tortillas.  It made enough for 2 servings.

I served it with local peaches and blueberries I got yesterday at Cherry Creek Orchards in Pontotoc, MS. They were a hit, and I was able to just use the leftovers of what I had in the refrigerator.  There are LOTS of great combinations you can use and stick in a tortilla.  Try your hand at finding your favorite combinations!

Refrigerated Tangy Cucumbers!

My neighbor JoAnna brought me some cucumbers from their garden.  They were delicious raw!  I decided to spice one of them up a bit and add a few ingredients to it.  I filled a mason jar with sliced cucumbers, then added a few cloves of sliced garlic (you could mince it) and white onion (purple is excellent as well) with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Then I poured Bragg Raw Apple Cider Vinegar over it, filling the jar one third of the way.  I filled the rest with filtered water.  I put the top on and shook it then refrigerated it.

Nutritional Value: Cucumbers have vitamin C & A, manganese, potassium, & fiber. They are low in calories.  The silica in cucumber is an essential component of healthy connective tissue, which includes muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and bone.  And since they were straight from JoAnna and Jeff's garden there was NO wax coating that is often found on grocery store cucumbers - YUK!! 

We ate some a few hours later, and they were wonderful.  They will continue to season in the refrigerator as time goes on and taste even better!  Just add more cucumbers to the liquid when they are gone.  Simple delicacies of summertime.......

Eat Local!

This morning I made a trip to our local Farmer's Market in Oxford, MS.  It was so refreshing to be purchasing produce that had been grown only miles from where it was being sold.  Much of the produce was grown without harmful chemicals.  No, every piece of food did not "look perfect and uniform" as it often does in the grocery store.  But that's okay with me!  In fact, I prefer the inconsistency that you often get with food that is not mass produced.  There is something comforting to me in knowing that that the seeds are not genetically modified for perfection and disease resistance.  I don't mind the occasional worm in my corn!!

The taste was beyond comparison!  We had tomato sandwiches for lunch and are having a vegetable dinner with lentils tonight.  I am so thankful for our local farmers who put so much work and love into bringing us food with powerful nutrition!

Support local farmers - your cells will thank you for it!  The food filled with powerful antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and living enzymes will help you fighting disease and building a healthy immune system.

Not Just Any Mexican Restaurant!

Today I had the pleasure of going with my dear friend Katie to an amazing restaurant in Memphis called Los Torgugas.  It was simply amazing - not because of a grand dining room or fancy napkins or special plates.  It was amazing because the food was comprised of simple fresh ingredients which were perfectly blended to create an explosion to my tastebuds!  The owner is absolutely overjoyed at telling his valued customers that he goes to the market each morning to hand pick the ingredients they will be using for the day.  No food distributor truck pulls up behind the store to deliver boxed and bagged ingredients that have inevitably absorbed some of the odor of their container as they lose their nutritional value.  Only fresh ingredients are good enough for Los Tortugas!  

So what are you serving on your table?  I was truly inspired today, not only by the taste and quality of the food but the value that went into my body.  I will be even more conscious about what I serve on my table and make sure I include more fresh and homemade items.  Those whole food ingredients are what bring life and health to our cells.  In America we tend to equate value with low cost and high quantity.  That kind of value comes with a high price to our health - maybe not today but over the long haul!

Oh and we also enjoyed fresh lime and mango slushes - no chemical laden syrup and dye - just real fruit, natural sweetener and ice!  What a real treat!  And thank you Katie for introducing me to Los Tortugas!  Just another reason I truly appreciate you.

Green Smoothie

Smoothies are a great way to include lots of power packed nutrition in a fun drink!  We make smoothies several times a week and enjoy them for breakfast or snack.  This smoothie really surprised me!  My friend Margaret told me she put kale in smoothies for her girls in the summer.  She said they could not taste the kale.  I thought I would try it with an existing recipe I use. 

Banana Nut Butter Smoothie

1 cup almond milk

1-2 frozen bananas

2 T. Nut Butter (almond, peanut, sunflower, etc)

1/8 cup Juice Plus Vanilla Complete

2 T flax seed meal

1 stalk of kale

Blend well. Add ice if you would like it thicker. (This recipe is easily doubled!)

We were all surprised that we could not taste the kale.  It turned it a beautiful green color!  Since then we have added kale to lots of smoothies we make.

Jamie Oliver is Back!

Jamie Oliver has no idea who I am, but I could not help but feeling like a long time friend was coming home when he returned to America for the show. Even though we do not know each other we are kindred spirits when it comes to being passionate about helping families change their eating habits.  

Now, I know that there is obviously drama related to any reality TV show, but still I get excited at how Jamie Oliver exposes poor habits that are developed in and encouraged by the typical school system in America.  Granted there are schools are doing it right in regards to nutrition, and we highly applaud them!

My kids were completely groused out by the way a processed chicken nugget was made in the series last year.  It continued to open their eyes to the sad unhealthy state of most fast foods our society so frequently scarfs down.  

Use this time watching Food Revolution with your kids to start some great conversations about what is really in food.  Ask them what changes they would like to make in your household based on what they learn.  Let them LEAD and watch what happens!  

Many times we as adults do not want our kids "telling us what to do."  Let this be a time for your kids to tell you what to do:  Allow them to choose something after each show that they want to remove from or add to your family's nutritional routine.  They can be a part of throwing something unhealthy away and going to the store to purchase a good replacement.

Let your kids take the LEAD and watch what happens.............

Clip of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Nature's Packaging

My kids eat snacks during the day, and my goal is for what they eat to count for something significant in their bodies.  I want them to enjoy it and know why it is good for them.  I try to stay as homemade as I can.  Prepackaged snacks often times have lots of artificial ingredients and fillers to increase their taste and shelf life.  Seriously, a package of goldfish or graham crackers is going to taste the same 5 years from now! That should speak volumes to us and stop us for a minute to consider what is in that "food like substance" as Michael Pollan calls them, that allows it to remain the same so long.  I like to reduce their exposure to prepackaged snacks to occasionally.

Today, we limited our partaking of prepackaged snacks and helped the environment by eating fresh tangerines.  The kids love pealing them by themselves,and the taste is unbeatable!  They are packed with vitamins and minerals that are bioavailable - ready to be absorbed into their bodies and get to work!

Now, I cannot change the shelf life very much of the snack we had today, but I can guarantee that the packaging is perfectly designed to go back into the ground and create new life after it decomposes!   And, the effect of what is inside the snack will beat anything you can buy in a man-made package!  We can thank our Creator, God, for creating the first snacks for on the go- perfectly packaged!