Overnight rice pudding

I love waking up to breakfast!

2 cups rice
6 C water
1/2 C honey
1 /2 C coconut
1/2 tsp molasses
1tsp cinnamon
Dash ginger
Dash nutmeg

Bake in a crockpot on low for 8 hrs. Serve with lots of milk and golden raisins.

What does sugar to do mice?

What does a healthy diet plus a moderate amount of sugar do to your health? Moderate meaning three sodas.  Well, mice who were given an equivalent percentage died earlier and had fewer babies--about the same decline in health as you see with inbreeding.  Interesting! Here is the article on the experiment conducted by the University of Utah: Sugar at 'safe' levels may be toxic to health.

DIY Probiotics

We are only nourished by what our body can actually take in!  A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that we can improve our ability to digest wheat and the gluten in it.  There are a lot of great products out there, I'm sure, but today I wanted to tell you about the wonderful world of naturally occurring probiotics: lacto fermentation!  If you are unfamiliar with this term, please know that lacto is not referring to milk, and fermenting is different than rotting.  This is the process that our ancestors used that captured the healthful bacteria, or lactobacilli (we now call this probiotics...see Mariam Webster's definition) that not only made foods more digestible, it also preserved them.  The term lacto makes us think of the "milk sugar" lactose, but instead it is referring to lactic acid.  So maybe the term lactic acid fermentation would portray this with more accuracy, but if you are looking for recipes, lacto is the term to use.  The probiotics naturally in raw vegetables and dairy, and the idea is to keep the vegetable from spoiling long enough for the probiotics to take over.  Salt will keep it from spoiling, whey (as in curds and whey or the watery stuff in your yogurt) will add a whole bunch of the probiotics to speed up the process, and most recipes use a combination of both.

I started simple, with the Southern delicacy pickled watermelon rind--since I would have just tossed it out anyway, there was no harm done if I didn't like it, right?  It was so fun and exciting I quickly moved on to salsa, beets, and ketsup!  Recipes to follow.  But, I just LOVED that I could can something (though it does need cold storage) without having to cook or seal it, without the expense (and no added nutrition if cooked) of vinegar, and after two days end up with something that will fill my body with the good probiotics I need--and it will keep for months!  This is especially convenient, because I can double the salsa recipe for my taco salad, throw the doubled amount in a jar, and the next time I eat it it has more than doubled in nutrition!  Doctrine and Covenants refers to using our food with prudence, which means taking thought and care for the future.  I have food for today, and I have food for tomorrow!  This feels so right to me.  I'm hooked!

Broccoli Salad, sugarfree and vegan style

Broccoli Salad, with a vegan sugarfree twist

All the yumminess, double the flavor, all ingredients that will make you can feel fabulous! I chop the stem of the broccoli finely.  You can soak you almonds ahead of time and if you don't get around to using them right away you will change the water and they'll still be good for a few days.  Or, you can freeze them until you are ready to make the dressing.  I thaw the soaked, frozen almonds in a bowl of warm water while I am cutting the broccoli.  I use a Hamilton Beech blender that I love, but if you have a Vitamix, you are set, and will be able to get a nice smooth dressing.  My dressing usually has small pieces of nuts, but that is certainly no flaw, as I add sunflowers seeds for their crunch anyway.

Broccoli Salad, sugarfree and vegan style

Dressing:

1/2 cup almonds, soaked for 6 hours

1/2 cup apple juice

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup bertolli's light tasting olive oil (OPTIONAL)

dash salt

dash smoked paprika

Salad:

2 heads broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup golden and /or regular raisins

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (raw or roasted--you may want to add a little salt to the dressing if you choose raw)

1/2 cup chopped red or 1/4 cup sliced green onions

Add almonds, water, vinegar, and honey to blender.  Blend until fairly smooth, adding oil (or more water) if needed to blend.  With the blender still on, slowly pour in the oil.  Blend at least until all almond pieces are crumb sized.

Pour dressing onto broccoli and stir till all the broccoli is covered.  Add raisins, sunflowers seeds, and onions and mix lightly, so all the goodness doesn't end up at the bottom of the bowl.

Enjoy your summer!

Alcohol free vanilla extract

No sugar, no alcohol, DIY vanilla! I buy glycerine vanilla, and it is pricy, but I've always felt it was worth it. It adds such divinity to food, especially sugar free foods, and I don't have to wonder if I am intoxicating my children if I am not cooking the alcohol out..  The cheapest I have seen alcohol free vanilla is $9.79 for 4 ounces, that's $2.50 an ounce. 16 ounces of glycerine found here (for skin, but IS food grade) is currently $7 for 16 ounces, and vanilla beans can be found here for  $8.95 for 7 beans.  That is $1 an ounce! you can probably find beans cheaper than that.  I paid 44 cents an ounce because I already had the beans and recycled an olive oil jar.  Next time you make the vanilla you can reuse the same beans.  And you can use your alcohol vanilla as perfume!

Alcohol free vanilla extract
16 ounces glycerine
7 vanilla beans
17+ounce glass jar

Slice vanilla bean pod in half length wise and width wise. Place in jar. Fill jar with glycerine.  Store in a cool, dark place for 6 weeks. Vanilla is now ready to be used. When glycerine level is low enough to expose vanilla beans, refill jar with more glycerine you could probably let it stew another 6 weeks before using for best potency.

In defense of wheat

So, I posted the podcast about wheat, but I know it is about an hour long, and I have been wanting to summarize what I learned.

White flour, made on steel roller mills, separates the bran and the germ from the rest of the wheat. That I knew. What I was surprised to hear is that nearly all whole wheat flour from the store uses the same process, but then throws the bran back in.  As the germ would deplete shelf life, it is still left out. I had assumed it was made at least a bit more like the wheat my grinder puts out.  This even applies to most flour and bread labeled stone ground! this was devastating to me, as I often recommend friends who can't afford a grinder to just buy a good flour from the store.  But I have to admit, I can taste the difference.  There is no store bought wheat bread my family will even tolerate.  We like an occasional crusty white flour loaf as a treat, but we still prefer ours!

There is quite a bit if criticism of wheat these days, and much the of it does apply to white flour and store-bought wheat flour (basically glorified white flour!).  I have a friend who has been a devoted bread maker who ground her own wheat who was convinced to go gluten free to relieve some family health problems.  After 6 months, there was no improvement in conditions, so they started making bread again, and were so happy to do so, knowing that at least it wasn't contributing to their health problems.  But the joy they had in making their own bread was great!  And even more cherished after the absence.

I have heard that wheat makes your fat, sick, can cause behavioral issues, food intolerances, gut disorders, etc.  I just haven't seen it! All I have seen, and this podcast verified all this, is that when we make our own bread products by the sweat of our brows, that we rarely get sick, none of us are fat, digestion is healthy and regular, and that when there is bread in the house, we are satisfied and happy!  Home ground wheat bread has a GI of 52, while white and commercially ground wheat GI is 72!  As stable to our blood as it is a source of food, it was noted that Isreal went to Egypt with gifts of food, but it was wheat that he wanted.  As chaos in the world continues, it is wise to stick to this source of nutrition that has existed with every civilization of man. Adam began life out of the Garden with a command to till and make bread.  A paleo diet was not for him! Maybe John the Baptist...I will have to think about that. :)

The strain of wheat itself I have heard criticized, that it is not what our ancestors ate, but an entirely new plant.  Modern wheat has been cross bred, but only just as it always has been, by cross pollinating two plants with desirable traits.  There is no genetic mutation accepted by American farmers--other countries won't even buy it! And while spelt is easier to digest, the higher phytic acid content actually binds with toxins in our bodies and removes them! A natural purifier! This reminds me of something a friend told me once. She has a Masters degree in Archeology--yes, like she digs up things for museums!  She told me that ancient Egyptians has no source of clean water, but if they mixed the Nile's water with wheat, they could safely drink it. I don't remeber the details of what process that meant, but wheat was created for man and we should not, now of all times, forsake it.  The podcast did bring up celiac as a valid concern, but noted that true Celiacs are rare and intolerances are typically temporary, caused by white and commercial wheat flours.  Spelt or teff may be advised while the digestion heals, but focus on whole foods and healthy probiotics and eventually a home ground wheat can be tolerated well and will really nourish the body.

More details on this summary are included in various articles by the same author, found here.

Thanks for letting me step up onto my soap box. I will slip away to the kitchen now...

Ode to Whole Wheat!

Wheat and bread get a pretty bad name these days, but from my personal experience, I just can't see it.  Here is a great talk that explains a lot of the misconceptions out there, and I absolutely agree with it!

Interview with Sue Becker:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.messianiclambradio.com%2Flifewithhope.html&h=QAQGp2eJr&s=1

Direct link to the podcast, cause you never know when they might change things around:
http://www.messianiclambradio.com/lifewith/hope7-13-13.mp3