Dec 15
2007

I’m glad we’re back to making our own bread every time here. We’d gotten lazy and were buying it sometimes – a 100% Natural Stoneground Whole Wheat, of course. (Like it’s the real thing – yeah sure.)

Anyhow, I just came across this – containing the brand we’d bought at times. I’ve deleted out the 20-some other products listed, for the sake of space. Hmm, how I ever missed hearing about it at the time.

PRODUCT
A) Whole Wheat Bread; freshly baked bread packaged in poly-film plastic bags under the following labels:
….
c) EarthGrains 100% Natural Whole Wheat 100% Stone Ground Bakery Bread, Net Wt 24 oz, EarthGrains Baking Companies, Inc., UPC 0 50400 72746 5;
….
CODE
Best If Purchased By JUL 25 07 222 through AUG 7 07 222
RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER
Recalling Firm: Sara Lee Food and Beverage, Downers Grove, IL, by e-mail on July 25, 2007 and by press release and telephone on July 26, 2007 followed by electronic notification.
Manufacturer: Sara Lee Bakery Group, Inc., Meridian, MS. Firm initiated recall is complete.
REASON
The bread products may contain metal fragments.
VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE
286, 478 loaves
DISTRIBUTION
MS, AL, AK, MO, GA, TN, LA, and FL

The recall is "complete" but who knows how many loaves reached consumer’s stomachs. 286.5 thousand loaves is a lot of bread to affect a lot of people.

But what we don’t know won’t hurt us right? Yeah sure.

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Dec 14
2007

I’m up early this morning. Ds3 had just climbed over me and snuggled in, so I caught on quickly when he began throwing up.

Now, when a child starts puking in bed you basically have 2 options. 1) run for a bucket and save the floor. 2) grab the child and run for the toilet to spare the bed further. I hate cleaning pukey mattresses and we have hardwood floors, so I grabbed the child. He mostly made it.

I think it was something he ate; so he is settled back in and falling asleep. I have the bed changed and sheets washing, and the toilet and floor cleaned – thank you God also for Bac-Out (an enzyme stain and odor spray). And now I’d really like to get a couple more hours sleep myself. (Fat chance.)

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Dec 12
2007

Activities? Tasks? Duties? How about Responsibilities? That’s the one I went with on our children’s "chore" charts. "Chores" sounds so — negative. No one wants to do "chores".

Actually the first definition doesn’t sound too bad -  "the regular or daily light work of a household or farm," (especially if you emphasize the "light".)

The second definition isn’t bad either, "a routine task or job". Kind of boring, but not necessarily negative.

But that third one gets us down, "a difficult or disagreeable task". No one wants to do something difficult or disagreeable. That’s what we think of when we hear "chores", the "disagreeable" part.

"Responsibilities" sounds a little better. At least it has the connotation of  good character; being responsible means trustworthy.

But whatever we call them we need to remember that God created us to work and to be responsible in and for our work. Perhaps I like "responsibilities" because work is a primary way that our character is shown and developed.

I think, the Puritans had the right idea. In fact it is a Biblical idea, that work is worship. How we work can be, and should be, an expression of our worship to God. Paul put it this way, "Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord." Col. 3:23



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Dec 11
2007

People are a curious sort – not saying that is wrong at all! But who’d ever guess that anyone would want to know what we eat. :-)

Here’s the answer.

We drink a glass of fresh, raw fruit juice in the morning – usually apple combined with something. Then a half hour or so later and throughout the rest of the morning as much fresh fruit as they’d like. If we’re running low on fresh fruit, they can eat no-additives-added dried fruit. (Sometimes we – or at least the children – may have a whole grain cereal or pancakes/bagels/muffins later.)

Lunch is generally a raw vegetable salad, with a handful of raw nuts (generally as many as they’d like). Sometimes we may have crackers, muffins, or bread, or even a light soup with this, especially in the winter. Or perhaps even homemade refrieds and tortillas with our salad and fresh raw salsa. Sometimes a fruit salad and then pancakes or waffles. (Can you tell it’s COLD here, and our amounts of cooked foods goes up when it is cold out?)

Afternoon eating is usually fresh vegetable sticks, or more fruit, perhaps with nut butter (especially if we didn’t have nuts at lunch). Maybe some nuts, seeds or dried fruit (dried bananas quite a bit this past week). I like to include a fresh vegetable juice in the afternoon, but I’m more faithful about it than my children are. Occasionally, we may have home made Good for You – Naturally!™ baked snacks, such as cookies.

Supper is usually a large raw vegetable salad, and then a cooked main dish and steamed vegetables. Our cooked main dishes are usually based on vegetables, pastas, whole grains, potatoes, or beans, and such. We eat pretty typical American foods – well, American Italian and Mexican mostly, but made with Good for You – Naturally!™ ingredients.

We may have an evening snack, depending on when we eat supper, and what we have. It may be fresh fruit – again, Good for You – Naturally!™ baked goods, or perhaps even soy ice cream occasionally.

I just keep the home filled with fresh fruits and veggies, dried fruits, raw nuts and seeds, and we can always find something to eat (if not always a typical "meal" to cook.)



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Dec 7
2007

Lisa’s Good for You – Naturally!™ Oatmeal Cookies

Mix:
3/4 c. extra-virgin organic coconut oil (OR 1/4 c. oil AND 1/2 c. real butter, unsalted (or you could use organic unrefined, expeller pressed sunflower or safflower oil – either alone or with butter – you could also use extra virgin olive oil, but I prefer not to have olive tasting cookies) :-)

3/4 c. raw unprocessed honey
1 Tbl. blackstrap molasses
1 tsp. real vanilla flavor
Add: 1 beaten egg OR flax seed egg replacement (my eggs come from free-range chickens, of course :-)

In a separate bowl (or mix together on top of the above, before mixing it IN with the above) – Mix:
3 c. rolled oats (I use organic, and thick cut makes a chewier cookie)
1 c. fresh whole wheat flour (fresh ground, preferably whole wheat pastry flour, but regular is fine too. I use a “white” wheat. You can use Spelt or Kamut instead if you avoid regular wheat.)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder (non-aluminum, like Rumford’s)
1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all together.

Optional add-ins: 1/2 cup carob chips OR 1/2 cup raisins (you can soak the raisins first, if you want plumper raisins)

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes.

Want a low/no fat version? You could try applesauce instead of oil – but it’s been years since I’ve done this, so I don’t remember how they turned out :-)

UPDATE – NOTE: If your flour is pretty dry/ you are in low humidity, or if you are using cocount oil or butter – you may need to add 1/4 c. pure water to keep your cookies from being crumbly. If you are using ALL s-flower oil you may need to add a bit more flour. Adjust to your situation and climate.



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Dec 6
2007

I know I’m a month early for such a title, but actually I’m talking about this year’s goals. And I could use some prayer support in this area over the next few weeks.

In reviewing some of the goals I wrote at the beginning of the year, I was reminded that one of them was to update and reformat our Good for You – Naturally!™ Exclusives recipe books. I completed my first goal of a 7 week blog series on Good for You – Naturally! but never got back to this one (the recipe books) when lesson planning and some Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ resources took precedence.

This fall I’ve been able to turn my attention back to this project, hoping to at least get a start on it before the year ends. As is typical for me, the vision and project has grown – really just become more clear as to what I want to do/believe God would have me to do – and it will no doubt be a long term project. But I think it is one that will be a big blessing for many of you.

Many years ago (12-15) a grandfatherly man who had the stall next to me at Farmer’s Market, and was our egg man, exhorted me, "You’ve got to teach these younger women to cook.  They don’t know how to cook anymore. No one is teaching them." I was selling whole wheat breads and other baked goods, and Good for You – Naturally!™ mixes at the Farmer’s Market. He didn’t know that I had a heart to do just that. I was selling wheat grinders and bread mixers, but my demonstrations went beyond that to teaching whole foods nutrition. And I had written a couple of simple cookbooks – before widespread use of computers, that were typed, cut and pasted booklets.

The new Freedom & Simplicity™ in the Kitchen series of Good for You – Naturally!™ Exclusives will include several recipe and food preparation instruction books. Like my original cookbooks, these will be focused on a single area each. But the selection will be greatly expanded. I’d really like to give you comprehensive help in the kitchen from the time you get up to the time you go to bed.

These books will be great resources for whole foods cooking and living foods preparation for families. They will include simple, family fare that keeps the budget in mind. These are recipes, meals, and menu plans that will please the "spaghetti and tacos" crowd.   No focus on exotic or "weird" foods – though some may not be completely familiar to you if you are used to buying all prepackaged foods – just fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds (including whole grains and legumes).

I am working on gathering all my recipes together (again) and working out the steps. Much of how I prepare food is in my head, or scratched out loosely on cards. Preparation steps and sometimes even exact amounts need to be clarified so you can duplicate Good for You – Naturally!™ foods in your kitchen. But most of all I want to help you learn to create Good for You – Naturally!™ foods that your family will love. Food ingredient choices, preparation techniques, options and adjustments you can make to suit the recipe to your family – these are just a few of the things I will be sharing with you.

So whenever you think of or eat food and Father God brings me to your mind, beseech Him for me to grant grace, wisdom, and time to work on this project.

Thanks!



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Dec 3
2007

I’ve had so many ideas to send on, but not enough time in the last week.

One thing the dc and I have done is some experiments with our non-milks. We conducted taste tests to decide our favorite homemade non-milk. The children enjoyed doing this (much better than if I had just made different kinds and served it to them.) This way they got to say which they didn’t like in a nice way. :-)

Soy remains low on our family’s list. Homemade soy milk is way better than store-bought, and it rated higher than others, but still is not as well liked. Barley wasn’t a winner either – very watery, even when mixed with others. But I didn’t keep trying with more barley to get a richer milk, because we didn’t care for it as much anyway.

Although rice milk is our favorite commercial milk, homemade rice milk is sticky. I figured out last year that not heating it really helped, but it was still kind of watery.

We also found that we like our nut and grain milks slightly sweeter than just straight nut or grain. The favorite sweetener is dates. Other sweeteners tend to impart their own taste, except rice syrup, which is so low on the sweetness that is takes a lot to really get things sweetened.

We tried not only straight milks, but many various combinations. We also wanted to make “raw” milk, so did not heat these at all (except the soy.)

So what’s the conclusion? Our all time favorite, winning hands down by all the children, and me too, is….

The winner is Almond Rice Milk! (with dates to sweeten it.) Almond by itself (with dates) was next. Almond milk is very rich and creamy – delicious! Adding the rice didn’t reduce this rich creaminess, but does help on the costs. So I’m glad they liked the mix better. Rice alone (with dates) and then soy (with dates) were next.

Here’s our recipe for the creamiest most wonderful not-milk. We use a SoyaJoy alternative milk maker. You can also use a blender and then strain.

1) Soak 1/2 cup raw almonds, in purified water to more than completely cover, for several hours or overnight. Drain. Add 1/2 cup raw brown rice (organic is best of course). Put these in the filter cup of the SoyaJoy, and attach to the motor head. (Just throw them in your blender if you are using that.)

2) Add purified water to the fill line in the reservoir, and put motor head on top of the water reservoir on the SoyaJoy, and plug in. (That’s about 6 cups, but you probably don’t want to put that much in your blender, if you’re using it instead. Try maybe 4 cups to blend it all up, then mix in a couple more cups when you put it in your storage container for the fridge.)

3) In the SoyaJoy you don’t want to just hit the “Start” button. Push the motor button 4 times (make sure it “beeps” each time). Then push Start. this will take it through the grind cycle only, 4 times, and not the heat cycle. You can repeat this if you want – allowing a few minutes for the motor to cool between each time – to get the most out of those almonds :-)

4) Throw about 9-10 whole dates (without pits – organic, of course :-) ) into your blender with a few cups of the milk. Blend well. Let sit for about a half an hour, then give a quick whir to mix it up again. If any of the milk didn’t fit in your blender, add them together now. Yes, it does matter to let the dates sit in the milk, for the sweetness and flavor.

5) Strain, through a stainless steel fine mesh strainer, into your refrigerator container and chill. Mmm-Mmm. You can add a little pure vanilla flavor (real, not imitation) to milk that you will use for drinking or on cereals and such, but leave it plain for cooking with.

If you are using a blender to make the milk, go ahead and throw your dates in with your almonds, rice and water. Blend REALLY well. Then let sit 1/2 hour, then give a quick whir again.

You don’t have to strain this milk, but we prefer a smooth milk, so we do. Notice, it really is not any harder to do in the blender than in the SoyaJoy. So why the SoyaJoy – especially since I’m no longer using the heat feature?

  • 1) I have it, and it has the nice big stainless steel water reservoir.
  • 2) It does a better, faster job of grinding, automatically. I just set it and leave it. It shuts off on its own – in just a couple minutes. It goes through cycles of a few seconds blending, a few seconds resting, etc.  (But it really isn’t a long chore in the blender either. This is just more convenient. But that isn’t enough to make me go out and buy a SoyaJoy.)
  • 3) Most importantly, it is far easier to strain your milk when your almonds and rice “mush” are kept in the filter. From doing this in the blender, they will clog up your strainer or cheesecloth really fast, and it will be a slow, multi-try process to get it strained well. With the SoyaJoy, I am mainly straining out just a bit of fine nuts/grains that got through the filter and the chopped dates. I just dump it through into the pitcher. And I’m done!

This only takes a couple of minutes.

This is a wonderful not-milk that is cheaper, fresher and really Good for You – Naturally! compared to store-bought not-milks or milk!

We bought the SoyaJoy to help cut our costs from commercial rice milk, knowing it wouldn’t take long to pay for itself. The other reason we bought this is for the nutritional benefits of the fresh, raw not-milk. If you use not-miks or are considering eliminating milk from your diet, you might want to take a look at it. But even if you aren’t ready for that, at least give Almond Rice Milk a try in your blender.

P.S. Our new Simply Beverages Not-Cookbook, from our Good for You – Naturally! Exclusives – Freedom & Simplicity™ in the Kitchen series, is near completion! It will have more information and alternatives on Not-Milks, as well as Fresh Juices, Smoothies/Shakes, Herb Teas and Coffees, and More.



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Nov 24
2007

Our Good for You – Naturally! Resources & Recommendations has been completely re-vamped. But you all know that doesn’t mean it is done. I’m always adding resources we love and think you will too.

Take a look at our:

New Links – make ordering even easier! More shopping cart buttons to be added.

New Pictures – a picture paints a thousand words, or at least gives you a visual idea of what you’ll be getting.

Expanded & Updated Descriptions – making your choices more informed and easier to make



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Nov 24
2007

Announcing even more Good for You – Naturally! Resources and Recommendations ordering links for your convenience.

We are now partnering with Amazon.com to make ordering our Resources and Recommendation even easier.

We haven’t changed our recommendations to meet what they carry. (Just like we’ve never recommended a product before, just because we could sell it to you.) We’ve just added direct order links to a source that consistently provides good prices for the things we already recommend.

I am working at adding direct links for the products we already have listed, as well as working at getting our never-complete-list of recommendations posted.

As well as deciding what I want to try next in my own kitchen.

Check our Resource and Recommendations pages or enter a product in the search boxes here or on those pages.

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Nov 23
2007

Before I even start, let me tell you – you don’t have to have a yogurt maker to make yogurt! Yogurt is VERY easy to make. No long list of ingredients or steps to follow. 2-3 ingredients and heat, stir, pour, incubate. That’s it.

I haven’t done it in a while – since we went off “real”/cow’s milk. (I haven’t tried it with the alternative milks yet. Soy milk* is said to work well. Update: I’ve now made raw goat’s milk yogurt. Click for instructions.) I had an individual yogurt maker in the past and for several years used the yogurt making kit that goes with my dehydrator. (It’s time to pull it out and try our own soy yogurt.)

If you don’t have a yogurt maker and want to make yogurt, here are some other sources you can use to hold the right temp. I’ve used them all in the past when I didn’t have a maker.

You need:

Milk (raw, store bought, powdered milk mixed to proper proportions, or soy) about 4 cups (but you can make as much or little as you want.) Heat, in a heavy saucepan over low heat, to a bit under a boil. (Be careful not to scorch it!) Then cool to 115°. My old candy thermometer didn’t go low enough, my new one does. I’ve used a fish aquarium floating thermometer for this and my sourdoughs.

Optional, for “thickening power”. Homemade yogurt is sometimes a little thinner than store bought, more like European yogurt. -

Powdered Milk. You can add extra powdered milk for a firmer yogurt – either regular powdered milk, or soy. I’ve heard that with the “other” starter, linked below, you don’t need to add this. If you do add it, add 1/2 – 1 c. per 1 qt. of milk before heating milk.

Or agar agar powder – dissolve 1 tsp in 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil (watch closely) add to milk.

Live Yogurt Cultures. Stir into the milk AFTER it has cooled to 115° or you’ll kill them! -

From either a Yogurt Starter – I’ve used Yogourmet, I’ve heard of another one that is good for a thicker yogurt. Use the amount listed on the package.

Or from Plain Yogurt with *live, active* cultures. Use 2-4 Tbl. plain yogurt for 1 qt. of milk.

Pour yogurt mixture into perfectly clean containers. (A good way is to pour boiling water into washed and rinsed containers, then empty them.) Small glass jelly jars make a good individual size, or pint or quart jars are fine. My yogurt maker came with small plastic containers with lids.

Incubate – You want a steady temp of 95-115°. Use your thermometer to check that it maintains this temp.

It will take anywhere from 3-9 or so hours for your yogurt to set up. Test it by tilting the jar a bit. Refrigerate as soon as it is set.

Here are some ways you can incubate your yogurt without a yogurt maker:

Pour milk/culture mixture that’s at 115° (or just slightly lower) into an insulated thermos and wrap with a thick towel.

Or place a folded towel on top of a heating pad turned onto low and place yogurt containers on top of it and cover with another towel. Or put containers in a covered box on top of the heating pad.

Or in a box (or styrofoam cooler) with a small light bulb in it. ( I built one of these – cooler with light bulb – for my sourdoughs.)

Or in a gas oven (turned off) with a pilot light.

Or in a ceramic crock, wrapped in a blanket, or placed in an insulated cooler.

Or place containers in a water bath in an electric skillet or slow cooker/crock pot on low. If you do this be sure to test it out with a thermometer in a jar of water (instead of yogurt) to make sure it holds the correct temperature over that length of time. I have not found newer crock pots to hold the proper temp. My newer one, on keep warm setting, still needed the lid off to maintain a temp of 115-120. Also water (of proper temp) needed to be added several times, since it evaporates with the lid off.

Or any other place you can keep a steady proper temp. This is the key thing, find a place that you can test out to make sure it holds the required temp steadily.

My fave place in my dehydrator that has a thermostat control. I can set it at 105-110° and know it is going to stay right there the whole time. But I’ve also had good results with a heating pad on low with a thick (double layer) towel between it and the jars and another towel thrown over it all.

What can you do with your yogurt? (Stir in any additions after the yogurt has incubated.)

You can eat it plain.

You can sweeten or flavor it – with fresh fruit, or fruit only spreads, or honey or agave nectar or vanilla or maple syrup, etc.

You can make awesome smoothies with it and fresh or frozen fruit.

You can make “ice cream” (frozen yogurt) with it.

You can use it in place of buttermilk in recipes. Just stir it to thin it a bit.

You can use it in breads – especially good in sourdough types.

You can use it in place of sour cream or even creme cheese. Put it in cheesecloth and pull up the corners of the cloth and hang over a bowl or the sink to drain/drip overnight. This will make a thicker yogurt, perfect as a substitute for either of these, depending on how thick you get it. Use this on baked potatoes, in dips and dressings, and other recipes.

*Note: Homemade soy milk will need a “sugar” of some type added to it for the culture to feed off of in order to set up. Honey and maple syrup won’t work. (Since I haven’t made this yet, I’m not sure yet what I will use.)

(See update on Making Soy Yogurt)

 

Want more help for yogurt making? Get our dirt-cheap Freedom & Simplicity™ Guide to Yogurt Making.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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