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Modern Maidservants™Resources & Recommendations |
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Every workman must have proper tools to do his job effectively. We all know you can use a pair of pliers as a hammer in a pinch. But if you are a full-time construction worker, you don’t. You use the proper tool to do the job effectively and efficiently. We may not have Maidens in the same sense that the Proverbs 31 wife did. But we do have many tools that make our work easier and more convenient and efficient. Here are some of ours for a wholefoods kitchen. Having the proper tools makes any job easier; the task of feeding our families right is no exception. If we would choose to go all natural we wouldn't need any tools at all, well maybe a knife and/or nut cracker. We'd just eat God's Original Diet™ in their natural state - raw. We could do that and live quite healthy on raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. But food preparation is an art that most people enjoy - consuming if not preparing. And having the proper tools can even make the preparation enjoyable. Most reasonably healthy people can consume about 15-25% of their food intake cooked without it having a negative effect on their health. And it takes some tools to do that food prep. Modern Maidservants™ is a list of modern tools available to be your maidservants, (Proverbs 31 says that the virtuous wife has them,) in the art of food preparation. The first tools listed are in order of nutritional value they help provide. We have many other products available to offer you, however we feel if, out of all the options available, you are choosing to purchase through us, you are probably interested in our top picks. If you are wanting a different product than we have listed, just ask. We'll let you know if we can get it for you. Any prices listed are current at the time of posting, however the price of every product we list here, other than our Me and My House Exclusives, is out of our control. Certain items in the kitchen supplies market have fluctuating prices, so we cannot guarantee prices. We appreciate our loyal customers who choose to support this ministry by making your purchases through us. |
Resources & Recommendations you'll find in this Good for You-Naturally!™ online catalog. We consider the first 4 (top row) to be Primary Resources in a Good for You - Naturally!™ Kitchen |
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* Blendtec® Blender high performance |
* Steamer * Flour Mill - NutriMill |
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Misc. Kitchen Appliances and Tools Alternative Milk-Maker and more |
and other Whole Living Food products |
God's Scent-sational Apothecary's Chest™ Essential Oils & Personal Care & Cleaning |
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Exercise Equipment & Info including Needak Rebounder |
Good for You-Naturally!™ Exclusives |
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#1 – Water PurifierOur top recommendation - a home RO+DI system (or distiller), andStainless Steel (or glass) Water Bottles for on-the-go Pure water heads the list of Good for You-Naturally!™ foods. Our bodies are 2/3 water and they continually need rehydrated. Water is necessary for our bodily functions, and pure water helps us function best. I highly recommend that you don't drink tap water - city or well. The contaminates pose too high of a health risk and they change daily. Distilled water is easy to buy and inexpensive, (Reverse Osmosis is considered equal -or nearly so- by many health proponents,) but over time those costs for bottled water add up, and there is the issue of the thin plastic containers it comes in. Figuring for just 1 person at 1 gallon per day (the recommended average amount for drinking and cooking) this Modern Maidservant would pay for itself in just over one year; for a family, in just a few months. Our first water purification system (beyond the simple carbon filter types like Brita and Pur,) was a countertop distiller, that produced one gallon of distilled water in several hours. It was much like the Waterwise 4000 Water Steam Distiller
BTW, when your out and have to buy single serving pre-bottled water, get Aquafina. The mineral-ized waters of Dasani and others should not be your first choice. When buying gallons of pre-bottled get distilled (not "drinking water", or some other label). Most machines in stores that you fill your jugs yourself from are the RO system like we now have in our home. The home system pays for itself in a short time and is fairly easy to install, and avoids the potentially unsafe plastic of the bottles. Are you concerned about the lack of minerals in distilled water? Don't be. 1) the "mineralized" waters contain forms of minerals that your body can't use, in fact are hard on it. 2) if you want to naturally mineralize your distilled water, with a form your body can use, add about 6-8 grains of whole brown rice to a gallon jug of water and allow it to stand overnight. By morning you will have naturally mineralized water. Another interesting distiller for those who want a non-electric distiller. Great for camping! Waterwise makes an all stainless steel distiller that you just set on a heat source. Waterwise Stainless Steel Distiller Oh, and yes I know, water doesn't provide the "most nutrients" for our bodies. But pure water does, not only not give us toxins, but helps our bodies remove them.
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#2 - SprouterOur top recommendation - Gardening for Wimps & Terra Cotta, Basket, and/or Hemp Bag Sprouter
Sprouting is indoor gardening that allows you to have fresh organic "baby vegetables" year-round. Sprouting has been traditionally done in a glass jar with cheesecloth or fine netting over the opening but a Sprouter adds convenience and lessens the chance of molding, and they are quite inexpensive. The key to Sprouting is good air circulation and good drainage. These are 2 big problems when using a jar. Jar sprouting tends to many crop failures, due to spoilage. Gardening for Wimps is a Freedom & Simplicity™ guide to sprouting, from Me and My House. It tells you all you need to get started in kitchen gardening - why sprout, the proper equipment, the various seeds, proper care, etc. It also includes recommendations for sprouters, going into more depth than I do here. We've used several types of sprouters over the years, beginning with those glass jars, moving on to a plastic 2 layer "jar" with drainage, and then on to tray sprouters that provided verticle sprouting and that provides a much better environment for the sprouts with room to grow and much better crops. One of our favorite tray sprouters was in a clear "house" with a roof. This sprouter provided the humidity needed for good sprouting. The Kitchen Sprouter is a verticle sprouter with 2 plastic trays with 2 covers. The SproutMaster sprouter trays are the same, just different company. These are easy to use and good method and inexpensive, ... ... but I'd really like to avoid the plastic. I have 2 choices I know of, 1) find some good traditional bamboo baskets for sprouting, or 2) a new type of sprouter (to me anyhow) made of TerraCotta. I'm really excited about these. Untreated clay, great environment for the sprouts - with no plastic out-gassing, has great ventilation, absorbtion. TerraCotta Sprouters provide an environments most similar to natural growing conditions. Made in Germany. (The baskets were the first used and sold by the Sproutman in 1977. However due to inconsistent quality he quit selling them. You can look for a good sprouting basket made of unshellaced bamboo with a tight "bread basket" weave.) The Hemp Bag Sprouter (made here in the USA) is also an easy to use and natural option. Just dip and hang. We recommend it for certain types of sprouts. If you really get into sprouting, or you're really a gardening wimp, you may want to get an automatic sprouter. They can be really handy if you tend to forget to water your sprouts, or if you have many sprouts growing. The drawback is, again, these are plastic. The Freshlife automatic sprouter is round trays that sit on a water reservoir that has a misting head that sprays over the top of your sprouts. Another type of automatic sprouter is the Easy Green. After researching these out and talking with a friend who uses one, I think I can highly recommend the EasyGreen MikroFarm. We may eventually partner with them, but for now, here's an Amazon link, for the best price we've found there. Easy Green Automatic Sprouter SproutMaster Single - $20
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#3 - JuicerOur top recommendation - Commercial Champion
There are several different types of juice extractors; the quality of juice depends on the type of juicer. The highest quality juice comes from a masticating juicer with hydraulic press. (They are large and heavy and cost about $2500 so are not usually an option for home use). Next is a low-speed, low/no heat triturating juicer. These retain the most nutrients and enzymes and get the most juice out of your produce, with the least pulp. They are also able to efficiently extract juice from wheat grass, leafy greens, sprouts, and herbs. Most low-speed ("wheatgrass") juicers are not made to do hard vegetables, requiring you to buy 2 different juicers if you plan on doing a lot of "greens" juicing. The Green Star juicer will do both. Because of the magnetic and bioceramic technology used in the Green Star, the juice retains more nutrients, will stay fresh for 48 hours in the refrigerator, whereas juices from other juicers oxidize quickly and should be drank within a half hour. The Green Star Elite (GSE-5000) has a jumbo twin-gear and includes all attachments. The Green Star Gold (E-1503) is the orginal twin-gear with all attachments. The Green Star 1000 is the basic machine, no attachments. Green Star 2000 adds a course screen, drip tray and strainer. Green Star 3000 adds the pasta and bread stick makers. (Purchase through these links from our Partner, Sproutman.) If you can't afford the Green Star, and don't need the convenience of juicing ahead a day or so, the next best quality from a home juicer comes from a masticating juicer, at nearly half the price. It retains the next most nutrients and enzymes. and will do the above "greens" although less efficiently. The Champion is THE masticating juicer, and very heavy duty. It (and the Green Star) will also make nut butters, purees and baby foods, and frozen desserts. This juicer will do what you need it to do and will do it efficiently. The Champion is powerful, durable, and easy to use and clean. It has been THE home juicer for those wanting the full health benefits of fresh juice since 1955. It does better on fruit than the twin-gear juicers, but not as well on the greens. But there is a new Greens attachment for the Champion. (I haven't tried it yet.) The Champion does produce a bit pulpier juice than the Green Star. The Champion is also easier to clean than the Green Star. We use and highly recommend the Commercial (Heavy Duty) Champion. It's what we have used for over 15 years and we LOVE IT and its versatility! Centrifugal juicers are probably the best known juicers. They chop and spin the food at high speeds to extract the juice. This causes more loss of nutrients and enzymes, more oxidation, and less juice/more waste from your produce. Some eject the leftover pulp into a separate container; others retain the pulp in the spinner basket. The latter gives more juice for your money, but still not as much as our recommended juicers. We don't recommend centrifugal juicers. Juicing is a super addition to your family's diet and a quality home juicer is will be worth it. F.Y.I. "Vita-mix" is not a juice extractor; it is a high powered blender. A great machine but not a juicer - it liquifies food, not juices it. See our recommended high performance blender below. New to juicing? Order our Freedom & Simplicity™ Guide to Juicing, Drinking Your Vitamins! This e-guide to fresh juices includes a look at nutritional supplements, the basics of juicing, a juicer buying guide, and raw juice powders and book recommendations. For Recipes for fresh fruit and vegetable juices and other Good for You-Naturally!™ beverages see Good for You-Naturally!™ Simply Beverages. See Food Page for AIM and Hallelujah Acres Juice Powders - Whole foods juices in powder form for those times when you don’t have time to make fresh. And our Recipe Books page for juicing books.
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#4 - DehydratorOur top recommendations - American Harvest 1000wattor Excalibur 3900/3926T After raw, the next best foods for nutrition, convenience, and storage - weight and space - are dehydrated. Dehydrators vary greatly! Look for opaque (not see through) machines for nutrient retention, with temperature control from 90° or 100° F. (or below) to 145° or 155° F. (or above) to enable you to do everything from herbs and yogurt to jerky (if you wish). Horizontal airflow, over each tray that provides even drying and no mixing of flavors when you have different foods on different trays is also important. I don't recommend anything less than 500 watts, and highly recommend 1000 watts. In other words, I truly believe you'd be wasting your money (probably on more than just the dehydrator itself) by buying a transparent dehydrator with only a heating element in the bottom, and no adjustable temperature settings or fan, and low wattage. Pressurized airflow (up the sides then over each tray) will give you even drying with no tray rotation. The next best, in my opinion, is the fan in the back of the machine blowing evenly over all trays (but many times with these you still have to turn/rotate the trays around). The ability to expand is a great benefit also.
This dehydrator is now also available in a redesigned and updated model - the FD1020. The electronics, fan and heating element, are all in the lid and the thermostat is digital. This model can be stacked 20 trays high. This new model automatically runs only when needed to maintain proper temperature, saving electricity.
One advantage of the Excalibur is you can put larger things in it - such as taller jars for making raw yogurt or such, or baking pans for dehydrating bars or raising bread (by removing trays). These things won't go on an American Harvest with the air flow hole in the middle and shallow stacking trays. Screens come with the dehydrator. Solid sheets (for fruit leathers and other non-solid foods) are available as Premium (non-stick) or Ultra (silicone). I highly recommend the silicone "Ultra" ones as a safer/healthier option, but they are a bit more expensive. (Purchase separately). We recommend the 3900 series, which has a 600 watt motor and 9 trays for 15 square feet of drying space. The 3926T also has a 26 hour timer, to automatically shut the dehydrator off at your set time. I personally don't feel the 3926T is worth the extra money, as the dehydrator cannot be ran without the timer. Food preparation is an art, not a science, a skill not a formula. Foods vary in water content and humidity differs from day to day as well as location to location, and size/thickness of the pieces of food vary by who is preparing it. Therefore it will take varying amounts of time to dehydrate, from batch to batch. If the dehydrator shuts off during the night and sits for hours until you get up and store the food, it will begin to absorb more moisture back from the air. So my recommendation is to start foods at a time that they will be finished during waking/at home hours, based on estimated time for dehyrating. If you want a timer that shuts your dehydrator off, I recommend getting an appliance timer and plugging your dehydrator into it, so it will shut it off at the tie you set. That way you can use the timer when you need to, and not use it all the time. The Excalibur 3900 is available in Black or White. Click the picture or Excalibur link to see current special price with free gifts, get more info or order. The Excalibur 3900 series is a more expensive machine than the American Harvest 1000 series. It is also considered more durable/ long lasting (and is made in the USA). Thus we have the 2 Top Picks. Weigh the pros and cons of both and decide which is best for you.
L'Equip FilterPro - $140
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#5 - High Performance BlenderOur top recommendation - Blendtec®
Well, that's a good place to start anyhow. We do not recommend blending "whole food juices" instead of extracted juices, such as from the Champion Juicer. No matter what their slick sounding commercials say, we do not believe these blended foods are better than fresh extracted juice. But, they do have a place in the Good for You-Naturally!™ lifestyle of eating. We do know that many that are juicing aren't juicing large quantities of greens, and even those eating a diet high in living raw foods may not be eating enough of those dark leafy green vegetables. Blending, in particular Green Smoothies, are the best and easiest way to make sure you get your greens—and make them taste great too! These living green foods are great for your health, and blending them makes them not only go down easier, but also, by blending them in a high performance Blendtec® blender, their cellular walls are broke open making greater quantities of nutrients more bio-available to you. They are easier to digest, thus more of the nutrients in the food get into your cells. But Green Smoothies are only 1 reason and usage of the Blendtec®. You'll find it helpful for so many other food prep uses in the Good for You-Naturally!™ kitchen, especially as you increase your intake of living foods. Almond (and other nut) milks and butters, ice dreams, purees, soups, and the list goes on. Yes, you can keep using your current blender, but it won't blend as smooth, it won't break down the cellular walls, and it won't last if you're giving it the work-out that a Good for You-Naturally!™ for Life lifestyle of eating brings. Learn more about the Blendtec® and Order Here through our affiliate link
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#6 - SteamerOur top recommendations - Miracle Stainless Steel Rice Cooker (and vegetable steamer) (or VitaClay Gourmet Rice and Slow Cooker Pro) and Stainless Steel or Bamboo Stovetop steamer
This is usually not a major lifestyle change and you can begin with a stainless steel collapsible insert for vegetables for just a few dollars if you are unable to afford anything else right now (these aren't the easiest ones to use, but they are cheap). The electric steamers also are great for reheating leftovers. See, you really don't need a microwave! We also like to do grains, as well as soups and casseroles in our Crock Pot. Finally, there is an electric rice cooker that has a pure stainless steel rice bowl. The Stainless Steel Rice Cooker Model ME81 We used a Black & Decker HS2776 Double-Decker Flavor-Scenter Steamer Deluxe Food Steamer I was still on the lookout for a stainless steel rice cooker, and hoping to find one that would also hold a larger quantity. (We got to where we really needed a bigger rice bowl.) We found the Miracle ME-81 last year and we love it for grain cooking. We cook brown rice, quinoa, oats, and steam vegetables but I never realized its complete versatility until I started searching online for recipes. Wow! I look forward to using it more and more and trying new things. But it's steamer insert is not large enough for everything for us, so we also use a stainless steel pan insert steamer on the stove for steaming vegetables, and our electric steamer.
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#7 - Flour MillOur top recommendation - NutriMill
A flour mill will easily pay for itself financially in less than one year and your health payoff will be much sooner than that. (For our family the Kitchen Mill and Bosch Kitchen Center together paid for themselves in less than 9 months.) A Mill with micronetic gears that burst the grain rather than crushing it will keep the flour from getting hot and destroying nutrients. Our Mills grind approx. a pound a minute, produce a very fine flour, and will do all dry grains and beans - you'll jump for joy when you discover the benefits and convenience of bean flour. We began with a K-Tec Kitchen Mill that served us well for many years. (Same basic design as the original Magic Mill, and current Ultra Mill.) The Whisper Mill's innovative design and quieter motor were great improvements. It has been replaced by the current Wonder Mill. The latest and best mill is the NutriMill with its convenient, slide out flour bowl, full size hopper, better airflow for a cooler operating motor, quieter operation, and the greatest variation in flour/meal coarsness in a non-stone mill - the ability to create true grain meal (corn meal texture), not just flour. A Hand-mill is good for cracking and grinding grains, beans, seeds, and nuts. The small inexpensive ones grind approx. 1/2 cup fine flour per minute, more on the course (cracking) setting. They're also great to have on hand for times when you have no electricity. But they are not practical for everyday usage for flour, unless you invest in one that cost as much or more than an electric mill.
The Nutrimill gives you the fastest, strongest and most efficient, yet quiet mill possible. You get more options, easier use, consistent results and better quality with the Nutrimill. The Nutrimill is the world's first variable high speed mill that gives you super fine (much finer than any other impact mill) or coarse flour, perfect for corn breads. The Nutrimill has a 400% range of adjustment between the fine and coarse settings. The Nutrimill grinds wheat and beans—hard and soft wheat, kamut, spelt, hulled buckwheat, oat groats, hully barley, triticalae, rye, brown rice, wild rice, popcorn, sorghum, soybeans, split peas, and dried beans (Please do not mill herbs, spices, coffee beans or flax—read the manual.)
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We are not doctors and neither diagnose nor prescribe. All information contained here is strictly our opinion based on much research and experience. If you choose to use it, you take all responsibility for your health upon yourself. |
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copyright Lisa Hodgen/Me and My House 1998-2011 |
, and served us very well for very many years. These are easy to use and easy to clean, but of course do require that you do something. It is best to get one with SS tank and coils (which ours and the Waterwise 4000 do), but some of the newer ones have "food grade plastic", (which possibly has its own dangers.) Many of the new, sleaker designs have added "features" but some also have the plastic boiling tanks. The 
is programable - has a built-in timer, has a SS boiling tank that is removable, and a drip-less "stop and serve" feature. The Waterwise 9000 has a plastic tank. Whole house distillers are very expensive. My recommendation for a counter-top distiller today would be the Waterwise 8800.
Our top pick for ease and constant availability for a water purification system for the home is a Reverse Osmosis system hooked into your waterline (that will also supply your refrigerator's ice maker with pure water!). We switched to a RO+DI 100GPD system 4-5 years ago and LOVE IT. Truly pure water is available at all times at the tap, no filling jugs or tanks. We just change the filters a couple times a year. This has proven very economical for us. RO systems can be purchased reasonably. We have been very happy with ours. "This unit is a top of the line system for those who want really, really pure water at the lowest possible price. It is RO plus DI (demineralization by ionization) to make absolutely the highest quality water possible. This is the water used in manufacturing computer chips, circuit boards and for pharmaceuticals, and is virtually pure water. It will make water that is 99-100% pure." (from Aqua-safe's webpage)
We all know that raw foods are best, and sprouts are a form of raw with even greater increased nutrition. In addition, many seeds are not eaten in the form we get them (ie. dried, grains and beans); sprouting makes them more digestible. Sprouts are a small, easy, and cheap improvement to your diet with big benefits, but it is a lifestyle change that will take time to become a habit. 
GARDENING FOR WIMPS
Fresh whole foods juices are another form of raw that concentrates nutrients. Fresh juices are a key "power food" for healing, weight loss and management, and supplementing a less than optimal diet. They are an important part of a Good for You-Naturally!™ lifestyle of eating. I (and my Doctor) believe that 2 glasses of fresh juice - 1 fruit and 1 vegetable - are the best quality, most cost effective, and most beneficial vitamin/mineral supplements anyone can take. Juicing, like sprouting, is a change that takes time to become a consistent part of your lifestyle, but is very worth it for the health benefits it brings! It only takes a few minutes a day.
Drinking Your Vitamins
American Harvest has been making a dehydrator that meets all our recommendations and has done a superior job every time for the many years we've used it - sold as the Garden Master (and previously, Air Preserve II.) It has the above features with the patented pressurized airflow; is stackable to 30 trays (and reducible to 1), is 1000 watts for faster drying; comes with 8 round trays, 8 fruit leather sheets, 8 mesh screens, and a video from the #1 book on dehydrating foods. It is American Harvest's best package deal! This is model FD1018. Accessories for the Garden Master are also available. 
Our company also carries the L'Equip FilterPro Dehydrator. I've heard good things about its feature of filtering the air intake to remove pet dander and other "floaties" from the air that is blown over your food, but have not had any experience with it. It also is a stackable dehydrator with a hole in the center, like the American Harvest, but rectangular in shape. It can be stacked to 20 trays, and is 530 watts.
Some vegetables as well as grains increase their digestibility when cooked. To lose as few nutrients as possible, steam the grains and vegetables you cook, the vegetables only until tender-crisp. A Stainless Steel electric steamer is super to have. A Stainless Steel pan insert is good too, though I prefer the timer and preset ease of use on the electric ones. You can get stovetop steamers of many kinds. Stainless steel steamers come in various sizes to fit the pans you use; (some even come with them. See the Fagor Pressure pans on the 
is the only electric grain cooker/steamer that we have found that does not have a non-stick coating on the rice bowl. [UPDATE: We've
now found an electronic rice cooker/slow cooker that comes with a unglazed clay bowl - nice! No chemical glaze such as on other slow cookers. It also has many other handy features, such as fully programable and fast pre-heat. I'm probably most excited about this as I know and love the features of cooking with clay (as you'll see by my stoneware notes on the cookware page.) 
(4.2 qt. slow cooker). Smaller size also available. However, we haven't tried this cooker ourselves yet, as we haven't satisfied our research into its quality of performance over time.] 
, plastic vegetable steamer/rice cooker for years, because I won't use pans with non-stick coatings, and this one was big enough for our family. This inexpensive plastic steamer/rice cooker held up and performed well. We used it every day for years. It works great for steaming vegetables, cooking rice and other grains, and reheating leftovers. But I'd prefer to do without that plastic. [Oster has a new model that is digital and has more feaures, but a little smaller size, if you're really wanting to go this route. 
.] So ...
After fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains make up the next largest percentage of a Good for You -Naturally!™ diet. Although you should aim for eating most of your grains in their intact (whole) form, you are most likely use to eating most of your grains in the form of products made with flour. Commercial products are full of refined flour and even commercial whole grain flour has the nutrient rich germ removed, other nutrients oxidize within 3 days of milling. Fresh, whole grain flours are vitally important as the Staff of Life. Once you've tasted the difference from store bought whole wheat flours you'll never want to go back. Freshness makes the difference. 
