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Category Archives: Nutrition/ Recipes

Good for You-Naturally!™ nutrition help and recipes, and outside links. See Good for You-Naturally!™ section of my website for more info and resources.

Tea Time

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My favorite tea steeping mug! Special order yours today $20.

My favorite tea steeping mug! Special order yours today $20.

Teas are becoming much the rage now as a “healthy” beverage. I suppose as compared to coffee. I don’t buy it when it comes to true teas – Camellia Sinensis – black, green, oolong, white, etc. I’m not completely denying the claims of certain constituents in tea that are health promoting, but there are enough other properties – such as caffeine and tannins – that aren’t. So I don’t drink or recommend them.

We all know caffeine is a powerful stimulant. Some may like the temporary effects, but the effects on our health are also powerful – powerfully negative. Tannins too are destructive. They interfere with digestion and inhibit mineral absorption, such as calcium and iron, and have astringent constricting effects on your mucous membranes. Tannins negatively affect proteins, in your body and food.

So … if true teas (as well as coffee) are not really good choices, what is?

Herb teas have been my flavored Good for You-Naturally!™ drink of choice for many years. There are so many plants that make great tasting infusions for drinking, “tisanes”, and have many healthful properties without the negatives. You can enjoy great variety and choose according to your mood or need of the moment. In addition to avoiding the above negative components of true teas (and coffee) you also avoid all the added ingredients, calories and health destroyers present in them.

Good for You-Naturally!™ Simply Beverages has a whole section on herb teas, featuring some of our favorites. But here today I want to highlight one of the latest rages.

Rooibos tea has become very popular in recent years. It is also called red (bush) tea. Like herb teas, it is not a true tea. It is a tisane made from a plant, this one the a legume-family shrub in South Africa. Like other herb teas it is naturally has no caffeine. It does have trace amounts of tannins though.

The health benefits of Rooibos are:

It is calming and soothing, containing anti-spasmotic properties, good for colic or stomach cramping;

It contains anti-oxidents, boosts the immune system.

It has anti-allergic properties, is good for allergies, such as hay fever, asthma, and eczema.

It aids in health problems such as headaches, irritability,  nervous tension, insomnia, fevers, and hypertension.

Recent studies show it may have cardiovascular benefits*.

It also has anti-carcinogenic and anti-mutagenic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Honeybush tea is another South African herb tea, very similar in taste to Rooibos but sweeter. It also is caffeine-free and low in tannins, has anti-oxidants, blood sugar lowering properties, phytoestrogens, and is good for coughs.*

To make a Holiday Rooibos (or Honeybush) Chai –

Pour 1 cup boiling pure water over 1 Tbl. Rooibos.

Steep approx. 5 minutes.

Add non-milk and a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves.*

Can also serve over ice as a Chilled Chai.

(When brewing regular Rooibos – not for Chai – use 1 tsp. per cup.)

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Special Order Organic Rooibos (1#/$19 – 1.5 oz. $6), Honeybush (1#/$16.50) and Tea Spot Steeping Mug ($20 – 16 oz. red, black, blue, or lime) or Steeping Cup ($16 – 8 oz. no handle) – contact us for invoice (address needed for shipping cost.)

Other brands that I haven’t tried, so I’m not endorsing – Rooibos at Amazon.com

Terrific Tender Turkey – Friday Food

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fridayfood2.jpg Yesterday I fixed one of the best turkeys we’ve had for ThanksGiving. My sons had their part in it too. I’m not one for gamey taste of wild meats, but turkey has been an exception. It tastes great, not gamey. And this one turned out wonderful!

They breast them out when they clean them, so there isn’t a full turkey for a platter, just breast, thighs and legs. But it worked good for what I did.

If you have fresh wild turkey, give my recipe a try.

Lisa’s Crock Pot Wild Turkey

1 small onion, chopped (organic)

2-3 stalks celery, chopped (organic)

wild turkey pieces (breasts and legs)

dried parsley (organic)

garlic granules (organic)

vegetable bouillon (Rapunzel, organic – or Better Than Bouillon)

Dissolve bouillon cube in 1 cup hot pure water.

Put onion and celery in bottom of crock pot.

Place turkey pieces on top of veggies. Sprinkle with parsley and (lightly with) garlic. Pour bouillon over. Cook on high 5-7 hours. After done, use broth to make gravy – add flour (fresh ground, whole wheat) basil, salt and pepper.

BTW, we had a “traditional” looking store-bought turkey too. That one I cooked in a cooking bag in my electric roaster oven. It was good too, but not as good as the fresh one.

Hope you had a great ThanksGiving and a Good for You-Naturally!™ ThanksGiving feast. If not (the feast) stay tuned for more help in making Good for You-Naturally!™ lifestyle changes!

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A Fave Smoothie ~ Friday Food

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fridayfood2.jpgYes, Friday Food is a bit late this week. What can I say? I have a family and home that come first. But I’ve been wanting to share more living food recipes with you. Take you beyond just grabbing a piece of fresh fruit, or veggie sticks, or tossing a salad.

Here is a quick delicious, living food recipe that can be varied in a myriad of ways. I won’t say this is my absolute favorite variation. I don’t know that I’ve found that yet. But this is certainly A favorite, and super simple.

Smoothies are a great way to get the needed quantity of greens in your diet when you just can’t eat any more salad. AND they don’t really taste like greens. Your fruit disguises them. Therefore they’re a great way to get greens into your children that you haven’t raised on greens, so they think they don’t like them.

Good for You-Naturally!™ Smoothie

2-3 organic oranges (juice them)

1 huge handful of organic spinach (I use baby spinach)

1 banana (organic if you can find them) – ripe or frozen

Pour your juice into your high powdered blender. Add your spinach. It should nearly fill your blender. Blend until smooth. Add your banana and again blend until smooth. (In my Bosch, I like adding my banana after my greens are smooth, especially if my banana is frozen and I want it to add a frozen “shake” like consistency. You don’t have to do this in the Blendtec or Vitamix.)

See? Super simple. Super delish. Super Good for You-Naturally!™

Have a Blendtec or VitaMix? Great. It’ll take no time at all. Have a Bosch Kitchen Center? It’ll blend it right up. Have just a standard blender? It’ll work. Just may take a bit longer.

Mmm!

Learn more about Green Smoothies in Green Goodness ~ A Freedom & Simplicity™ Guide to Green Smoothies.

 

Ice Cream for Breakfast?

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strawberry-nicecreamNa. It’s Nice Cream! Made quick and easy from frozen bananas and strawberries in my Champion Juicer! Mm-Mm GOOD!


Psst! We’ve got a Special Holiday Offer on the Champion right now. Get yours today and start making not only great tasting and Good for You-Naturally!™ nice creams, but also real living food nutritional supplements (a.k.a. fresh raw fruit and vegetable juices) and so much more! This is the piece of kitchen equipment I say is far more important than a stove.

Sunny Spinach Salad – Friday Food

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fridayfood2.jpgThis is a great change of pace salad, and super simple to make. I served this salad at a church dinner recently, and was asked to post the recipe.

Lisa’s Sunny Spinach Salad

1 bunch of organic seedless red grapes (washed and de-stemmed)

2 small to med. organic oranges (peeled, sectioned, and cut in half)

1-2 large handfuls of organic baby spinach (washed and dried)

handful of organic raw almonds (whirred in the blender, into bits – don’t whir too long or you’ll have almond butter)

Toss together with Dressing. You may want to reserve a few almond bits to garnish the top.

Dressing:

1-2 Tbl. organic raw honey

1/3 c. organic extra virgin olive oil

fresh squeezed organic orange juice from 1/2 orange

fresh squeezed organic lemon juice from 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp. organic celery seed (non-irradiated)

Shake well. Pour over Salad and Toss.

(This was enough dressing for my salad. If your salad is much larger, you may need to double dressing ingredients.)

New Freedom & Simplicity™ Guide

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Our newest Freedom & Simplicity™ guide is up and available! And just in time to go with our Holiday Special on the Champion Juicer! Drinking Your Vitamins! is a Freedom & Simplicity™ Guide to Juicing. Have you ever wondered why fresh fruit and vegetables juices? Why not just take vitamin supplements? What kind of juicer to buy? What to do when you can’t juice? Where you can find juice recipes?

These are all covered in this inexpensive, quick introduction to juicing.

Order yours today! Or get it FREE when you purchase the Champion Juicer, with our Special Holiday Pricing.

When the holidays get here, you’ll be glad you did.

Swine Flu again

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What’s your best defense against Swine (or any) flu or disease? My answer is always having a healthy/uncompromised immune system that can fight it off. That requires taking in the proper nutrients in a form easy to assimulate, and avoiding toxins/nutrient robbers.

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Sugar and caffeine are 2 of the worst (although certainly not the only) and should be completely avoided if you want to have a healthy immune system. (Alcohol, tobacco, and drugs – illegal or prescription – shouldn’t even have to be mentioned.) Other refined/chemically processed foods and additives, including colors, preservatives, and flavoring – including all the forms of MSG – should also be avoided. And even too many cooked foods, especially meats, can lead to a less than healthy immune system. Yep, if you want a healthy immune system and just health in general eat G.O.D. foods that are Good for You-Naturally!™

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Here’s a bit from a Dr. Mercola article last week.

So far we know that, of the 36 children who died from H1N1 between April and August of this year, 30 had some form of chronic health condition, and all of them had a co-occurring bacterial infection.

Clearly, having a robust, well-functioning immune system is the best way to ensure your body’s innate ability to fight off this mild flu virus, and not succumb to secondary infections such as staphylococcus aureus.

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Update: Also read this article and watch the video at Mercola’s site today, with Dr. Blaylock, neuro-surgeon and researcher.

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Sourdough’s a comin’!

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I am so excited about the new “from-scratch” homemade wild yeast sourdough starter I started. It worked!! A living bread starter is a-growin’ in my kitchen, that I started myself. It’s on Day 5 now and it looks great. I’ll be able to bake with it in a couple days and will try to remember to get a pic of what I make. The question will be, “Can it raise a bread?”

Sourdough Starter Day 5

Sourdough Starter Day 5

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Rest of the Story

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I’ve posted several food pics lately. Here are a few more that we made this week.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread

Carob Chip Cookies

Carob Chip Cookies

Dried Bananas

Dried Bananas

We’ve been drying a lot of bananas while they are 39¢ a pound. Our little monkeys can go through a whole lot fresh and a whole lot dried. I’ve bought 6 bunches 3 or 4 times this week. And will get more if the price is still down.

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Can you tell I’m working on my Freedom & Simplicity!™ recipe books and getting ready for my Good for You-Naturally!™ Seminar with all the food pics lately? I don’t generally think of photographing my food, but am trying to get in the habit. Other foods (with no pics of them) this week include my Spinach ‘n Fruit Salad (that I will post the recipe for next week,)  Pumpkin Bars, more NoKnead Breads, and our general fare – which is including several soups.

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UPDATE: Picture just for Christina. I’m so excited about it! My homemade wild yeast sourdough starter – day 3, already going good. Look at those bubbles!

sourdoughday3

Confetti Quinoa – Friday Food

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fridayfood2.jpgQuinoa (keen-wa) is an awesome grain. It’s a whole grain, Good for You, and cooks in only 20 minutes (rather than the 1 hour plus of most other whole grains.) My children call it fish eye-balls because it is a small round grain that forms a little spiral when it cooks. For a quick, Good for You, wholegrain dish that tastes delish try:

Lisa’s Good for You-Naturally!™ Confetti Quinoa

I cook this in my Miracle brand electric stainless steel rice cooker. Other ways of cooking it may require different proportion of water. Most stovetop recipes say twice as much water as quinoa.

  • 4 c. quinoa, organic
  • 5 1/2 c. pure water
  • medium chopped onion (organic)
  • 2-3 stalks celery, chopped (organic)
  • a big squirt of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

Takes approx. 15-20 min to cook. (only 2 minutes if you cook in a pressure cooker)

Steam 16 oz. frozen organic mixed vegetables (or a nice fresh mix, if you’re doing better than me today.) I use Cascadian Farms which has diced carrots, peas, and corn. (If you’re doing better than me today, you could also saute your onion and celery in a bit of extra virgin olive oil before adding to the quinoa.)

When both are finished, mix together and serve with a big leafy green salad. The 4 cups of dry grain makes more than enough for our family of 8. As our boys get older, we’re having to prepare bigger batches of everything.