Hey, exciting news! *cough*  Apparently now, instead of saying, “Drink your milk so you’ll grow up to be big and strong like Daddy,”  we can now say, “You may not get up from the table until you’ve finished drinking your Mountain Dew.  Now, don’t argue with me.  And, you need to eat at least three more bites of that licorice before you can go play.  It’s good for you, Dear.”

According to this website that Lindsey told me about (I mentioned it last week and had quite a few questions and comments from you)…High Fructose Corn Syrup is good for us.   They say it’s just as natural as eating honey.  They say there are no harmful effects from consuming it. 

Who are “they“?  They are The Corn Refiners Association.  They’ve been hearing quite a bit of negative talk from consumers about HFCS…so they’ve begun taking action so that they don’t lose business.  There’s a lot of money in the HFCS realm.   And don’t get me started…but money motivation almost always over-rides truth in America.  No, seriously.  Don’t get me started. 

So, please..please will you go read this article by Dr. Mercola? 

Because I’m just a nice mama who enjoys learning and working toward healthy eating and suggests that HFCS isn’t good for you…but Dr. Mercola is…you know….a doctor…and he has actual facts and research to back up what he’s saying.  I really appreciated his article explaining more about what we should believe about HFCS. 

What all have you been hearing on this topic?  Have you seen the “Pro HFCS” commercial on TV?  (I haven’t yet…which is probably a good thing.  Yelling at a TV is usually unproductive.)  What’s your opinion on all of this?
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Visit Tammy’s Recipes for more kitchen tips!

I’ve had tons of emails lately asking if I soak my grains and how I do it and why I do it! 

Most of the recipes on my site have not shown that I soak my grains.  Mostly I did that because I know that many of my readers are just beginning to look into making changes toward healthy eating.  I decided…if you are just starting out trying to switch over from fruit roll-ups to real fruit…from white flour to whole wheat…from boxed foods to foods made from scratch…it would be very discouraging to hear that you also should “prepare your grains 12-24 hours ahead of time by soaking them in something that is lacto-fermented in order to break down the phytic acid…” 

It’s overwhelming enough sometimes just to try to get your kids to eat a green bean…and to wrap your brain around the fact that almost every food on the shelves that we might be used to eating has a no-no ingredient in it. 

So, if you’re just starting out on the healthy eating trail…read over the information in this post and tuck it away for whenever or if ever you’re ready.  Continue to take baby steps and make small changes.  Read the Getting Real with Food series here to give you some basic ideas of where to start and what to do.

But, if you’re eating a lot of whole grains already and are used to baking from scratch anyway, and you want to take this nutrition thing one step farther…here’s some information for you about soaking grains that I am paraphrasing from Sally Fallon’s book “Nourishing Traditions”:

Eating whole grains is important because they provide vitamin E, B vitamins, many important minerals and fiber.  But the phytic acid in the grain combines with the iron, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in the intestinal tract, blocking their absorption.  They also contain enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion. 

So, Nourishing Traditions recommends that we soak our grains in either whey, cultured yogurt, kefir, cultured buttermilk…or in lemon juice or vinegar if you can’t tolerate milk products.  Soaking them for at least seven hours allows the enzymes to break down and neutralize the phytic acid.  Then, more of the good nutrients in the grain are released and all the good stuff is more readily absorbed in our systems and the grain is digested much more easily.

Okay…so quick re-cap.  Eating whole grains is so, so much better for you than processed grains that have almost all of their nutrients stripped from them.  Eating whole grains that have been soaked is even better. 

How do I do this?

It’s really not hard…I just have to plan ahead a little more.  And I don’t always soak everything even though I know I should.  I try to just do the best I can.  (That’s the goal right?)

So, here’s a quick run down of the basics of how I soak my grains when preparing recipes:

Pancakes and Waffles…I stir the whole wheat flour and the buttermilk together, cover it with a cloth and let it sit overnight.  The next day, I add the remaining ingredients and cook the pancakes or waffles.  They are SO YUMMY made like this!

Quick Breads and Muffins…I mix the flour with the butter (melted and cooled) or oil that the recipe calls for and add enough buttermilk to make it “soakable”.  I let it sit overnight, then mix in the remaining ingredients.

Giant Breakfast Cookies and Breakfast Bars…I mix the melted butter, flour and oats with enough buttermilk to soak then let it sit overnight.  I have found these to be VERY HARD to stir the next morning, so putting the soaked mixture into my food processor with the other ingredients so that it doesn’t take me 45 minutes (or until lunchtime) just to stir the silly things.  Yea for food processors.

Tortillas…I mix up the tortillas as the recipes says, only I put in 1/4 cup less water and add 1/4 cup yogurt, kefir or buttermilk as I’m making the recipe.  Then, I let them sit for the day, and roll them and cook them that night for dinner.  They roll out so nicely after they’ve been soaked.

Breads, Rolls and Pretzels…These belong in the “I don’t soak these but I should” category.  When I’m really on the ball, I make sourdough bread…but my sourdough starter isn’t starting anymore, so I need to get a new one going.  In the meantime, I’m compromising and making Honey Whole Wheat Bread, and that’s okay with me.  After I get my sourdough going again, I’ll post about it.  Sourdough bread is so tasty!

Cookies and Brownies…I rarely soak these either, mostly because I’m lazy about it.  When I do soak them, I mix the butter and flour called for in the recipe with a few tablespoons of buttermilk, kefir or yogurt…allow them to sit for a few hours, then add the remaining ingredients and bake.

I hope that helps.  I’ll cover soaking other grains like rice and oats in the future.  And, as I slowly but surely get around to it…I’ll go back through each of my site recipes and blog recipes and add a brief explanation of how to soak the grains if you choose to do so.  That way, you have the option if you’d like! 

And now, I think I’ll go grind me some flour and soak something.  Because looking at all these recipes put me in the mood to bake. 

(Like I’m ever not in the mood to bake?!) 
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More Kitchen Tip Tuesdays here!

Finally.

It’s been a while since I promised to show you the inside of my freezers and refrigerator.  But finally…I opened ‘em up and snapped some shots. 

I’ve gotta be honest.  (It’s not like I’m usually not honest.  Why do we use that phrase anyway?)  But seriously?  Opening up my pantry and trunk to show you was a lot more fun and a lot less embarrassing.  I almost took the time to clean out my fridge and re-arrange everything a little more nicely…but then…that wouldn’t quite be telling the truth would it?  And my freezers?  Well…let’s just say Laura needs to learn to de-frost occasionally.

Okay, ready?

Here are the two freezers we keep in our storage room. 

Freezer number one…the meat freezer:

The top shelf is full of Smart Chicken brand chicken breasts that I found on sale for $2.29 a pound.  I loaded up…can you tell?  (And that’s the part that reallllly needs to be defrosted…can you tell?) 

We bought a half a cow last fall and a whole lamb.  Pictured is what’s left…plus some frozen baked goods and chicken broth and a casserole.  And a pan of frozen buns.  I just made them and as soon as they’re frozen, I’ll take them off the pan and throw them into a baggie. 

Okay…moving on to freezer number two…the one I call my fruit and veggie freezer:

This freezer is looking a bit more bare than I like…but just wait until the end of gardening season!!!  That’s when this freezer is so crammed full of food you can’t get even one more pea into it.

But I still have plenty of green beans and a bag of corn left.  I also have strawberries, peaches, blueberries, grapes and rhubarb.

There’s also a big bag of ice for our shaved ice , and a jar of tomato sauce.  The door of that freezer also has more tomato sauce…just in case I run out of all the tomato sauce in my pantry.  (Which is not likely to happen…ever.)

(BTW…when one is typing the word “pantry” and speaking about things being in one’s “pantry” multiple times in blog posts…one must make sure one does not leave out the letter “r”.  It is a mistake easily made…but a mistake one would want to be sure to catch.  I’m just saying…)

Okay, moving on back into the kitchen to my fridge and freezer.  I have a side by side.  It was here when we moved in and it is very nice, but if I were given the choice, I would not choose a side by side.  The freezer is too skinny and the ice machine takes up too much space.  (But with two large freezers in my storage room…who’s complaining?)

In this skinny little freezer, I keep one bag of each veggie and fruit you saw in my other freezer, so that I don’t have to run out of the kitchen every time I’m making a smoothie or cooking vegetables for a meal.  I also have butter and cheese in here, and chocolate chips and pecans and some frozen bananas.  This picture turned out kind of dark, so it’s hard to see what a mess this freezer really is all the great food inside.

And now my refrigerator:

See my pretty brown eggs in the door there?  And my pretty jars of milk under them?  That’s my favorite part of my fridge.  Again, this picture is kind of dark, but I’ll try to walk you through it anyway.  I have a drawer up at the top where I keep a few random things like cheese sticks and homemade chocolate chips.  I also have my rennet in there that I use for making mozzarella cheese.  (Wanna learn about that sometime?)

Next I have my big ice cream bucket full of freshly ground flour.  (By the way, thanks Marnie for reminding me that it needs to be kept in the fridge.  During the winter my kitchen is so cold it doesn’t matter…but once the weather got warmer I forgot to put it back in the fridge!)  Also on that shelf there are jars of pears and applesauce and homemade salad dressing.  And a big container of Brown Cow yogurt.  Yum.

Then of course, more milk, a quart of cream, and some bottles of juice for our shaved ice.  I’m really looking forward to putting those juices into our new fridge down at our Shaved Ice Shack ONCE WE CAN FINALLY OPEN because they are kind of taking up space in my fridge and making it hard to keep everything as organized as I would like.  (The open date has now been pushed back to June 17…don’t ask.) *ahem*

Under that shelf we have our crisper drawer which is currently full of carrots, broccoli, oranges, grapes and lettuce.  And, in the drawer under that, we have 3 loaves of homemade bread and a bag of homemade tortillas.  It’s a happy day when I can actually make bread and tortillas and have some left at the end of the day for future use.  Yea.

Okay…I hope that freezer and refrigerator tour didn’t bore you to pieces.  Don’t worry…I won’t tour you through my closets (”…and here we have our everyday shoes…and our shoes for working in the garden…and our shoes for when it’s raining…”)  (snore). 

Now that you’ve seen my food stash…we’ll continue through the series and I’ll tell you why we eat all this stuff. 

I think my next post in this series will be about our food budget and how we manage to eat what we eat.  Sound good?

Based on your (awesome) comments in Part 1…and based on all of the (awesome) emails I’ve received with questions…I believe we’ll begin today by taking a little peek into my pantry.  And my freezer.  Uh, freezers.  And my fridge. Oh, and my cool trunk!  You should see my cool trunk!

So come on in to my kitchen with me…and I’ll show you all of the food I typically keep on hand. (And while you’re here…would you mind lending me a hand with the dishes?  Thanks.)

Let’s see, what do we have here in the pantry?  Canned peaches, pears and tomato sauce that I put up last fall.  And also tomato juice.  And tomato soup.  (I’m slightly embarassed to tell you that I planted 40 tomato plants last year…so that I’d have  plenty.  And I did.  Have plenty.)

( This year I’m planting fewer tomatoes…like maybe only 10-15 plants.)  (Because yes…I am crazy.)

Okay, what else is here in the pantry (to eat with the tomato products)?

A few varieties of whole wheat pasta, organic dried beans, organic brown rice, a bottle of Muir Glen Organic Ketchup…

(Do I need to keep saying “organic”?  Most of my food is organic…but not all.  Just most.)

Olive oil, red wine vinegar, molasses, honey, wheat germ, tuna, peanuts, coconut flakes, sesame seeds, popcorn, raisins, banana chips, dried cranberries…

That’s just the front shelves of the pantry.  My very awesome pantry has hinges on the first shelves…that open up to reveal another layer of shelves in the back!  (This is DEFINITELY my favorite feature of the entire house!)

So, in the back of the pantry, the shelves are bigger and deeper, so this is where I keep my big buckets of stuff.  (And my mop….which is not organic.)

Palm kernel oil, coconut oil, jar of rolled oats, containers of rapadura, wheat berries, wheat that has been ground into flour, container of sea salt, and extra jars of tomato products… ahem.

 Now…moving on to my cool trunk. 

I order MANY of my dry goods in bulk, so the big opened 25 pound bags of oats, rice, wheat berries and popcorn live in this trunk.  Then, to make my life easier (or, so that I don’t have to lift out a 25 pound bag of rice every time I need two cups of rice) I pour or scoop some into big jars…which is what you saw in my pantry.

Hang around here long enough, and you’ll see how much I LOVE jars.  Yes, I’ll probably do a complete series here some day about the beauty and delight of jars.  Big jars, little jars, tall jars…

(You are really starting to learn more about what a nerd I am, aren’t you?  Yeah, well…)

Also in my trunk, you will see a couple boxes of cereal and a bag of potato chips.  (gasp!)  I found this brand of cereal a couple of months ago, “Mom’s Best Naturals”.  It’s not organic, but it’s better than the really bad stuff…it doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colors or flavors.  I don’t consider it a health food by any means…but it does save my sanity on occasional crazy mornings.  We maybe eat it once every two weeks.

And the chips?  I can’t remember why I bought those…but the bigger bag was cheaper…and sometimes we all just need something crispy, greasy and horrible.  (Although I feel pretty strongly that if I’m going to have a chip…it needs to be a Nacho Cheese Dorito…cause if I’m gonna eat garbage…I’m going to really enjoy it.)

Okay…I believe we should probably talk about my freezers and fridge next time…so that this post doesn’t go on forever.  I would hate to leave you glassy eyed and disoriented. 

I’m sure you now have even more questions…and if this series lasts until “Getting Real With Food, Pt. 3,457…then so be it!  Just so you know, I don’t plan to leave you hanging on where I buy all of my food, and how we afford it and all of that.  I just wanted to give you a run down to start off with!

Come back for Part 3…in which I open my freezer to show you my cow, lamb and chickens.  And frozen fruits and veggies…

And all the JARS of food in my fridge.  (You KNOW you want to see my jars, don’t you now?)

We LOVE ham and sausage at our house…but from what I read, pork is not the best for you.  This Turkey Sausage is a delicious alternative…it’s easy and it tastes great!

See…it looks like sausage and everything?!  My kids devour this sausage!

Homemade Turkey Sausage 

1 lb ground turkey
3 T. minced onion
¼ t. cumin
¼ t. marjoram
¼ t. ground pepper
¼ t. oregano
¼ t. ground nutmeg
1/8 t.  cayenne pepper
¼ t. ground ginger
½ t. dried basil
½ t. thyme
½ t. sage
2 t. sea salt
1 egg
2 T. butter

Mix all ingredients.  Chill for about an hour.  (If you forget to chill this ahead of time…it cooks up okay anyway!)  Form into patties.  Saute in butter.

***You’ll find more recipes like this in my new ebook:  Think Breakfast…Outside of the Box!  Come sign up to win in my new e-book giveaway!***

Be sure to visit Tammy’s Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesdays!

As I begin to write this series about eating real food and about what I feel about nutrition…first I must say that…

I don’t know everything. 

Not even close.  I only know what I’ve read (mostly from the book, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon…and from the website mercola.com).

 But this is what I know:

1.  This series is really hard to write.  (Because there are so many things I want to say, and I’m not quite sure how to go about sharing it all.)

2.  I don’t know everything.  (I know I already said that…but I want to make sure you know that I know that I don’t know everything…you know?)

3.  No matter WHAT we eat…if we over-eat…we will be overweight and have other health issues.  (So just because I recommend that butter is good for you…doesn’t mean I think you should peal yourself a stick and have it for an afternoon snack.) 

4.  Not all food is created equally.  (Milk is not milk is not milk.)(More on that later.)

5.  There are a lot of ways of thinking out there…and many, many of them are conflicting.  (Which is a really, really frustrating thing about learning about nutrition.)

6.  Some of the time when you are reading this…you might not agree with me.  (Thanks for coming back to visit anyway!)

7.  You won’t always like what I have to say.  (Like when I tell you that chocolate is not a food group…don’t get mad at me.)

8.  One of the reasons I think that this series is hard to write is because I don’t want to overwhelm you…and because I never, ever, NEVER want any of you to feel burdened by the information I share or to feel like I’m judging you in any way if you don’t eat like I do.  I ONLY JUST want to share some of the things I’ve learned and am learning.  Okay?  (Oh, and maybe I should let you know that sometimes I get hungry for a hotdog…and I buy some and we eat them.  With chips.  And we enjoy it.) 

Okay…so maybe you could let me know some of the specifics you’d like me to share? 

And I’ll continue to work on how to share it!

If you haven’t already…be sure to sign up to win my two new e-books full of healthy recipes!

Well, I had my sweet little Mother’s Day post written for today…all ready to fit right into our Celebrating Women series.

Then I noticed that there was a designated a theme for today’s Works for me Wednesday…”What DOESN’T work for me…Wednesday”.  (I guess that would be WDWFMW?) 

Oooohh…well, we might all be sorry she asked.  But this has been on my mind A LOT…and I’ve been needing a reason to bring it up.

So I will now be doing something I rarely do here.  Hopping on my soap-box. 

My BIG FAT SOAPBOX.

Yes…I’m blogging about FAT today. 

Because here’s what DOESN’T work for me:

All the big talk and push to eat a low-fat diet. 

It used to work for me.  Because I believed what I was told about fat and that eating it was bad.

But I’ve learned a lot about fat…and I’ve learned that it’s not a four letter word after all.  (Depending on the kind of fat, of course…but more on that another time soon.)

Here’s my soap box-iest part of my BIG FAT Soapbox: 

God MADE fat.  He made food with fat in it ON PURPOSE. 

He made cows to give whole milk.  The cream from their milk makes butter.  He made chickens to lay eggs…and he knew what he was putting into them.

I feel very frustrated that we’re being taught that we used to eat butter when we didn’t know better…so now that we know better…we eat chemicals in a bucket (a.k.a. low fat margarine).

I’m QUITE SURE God knew what he was doing.  I don’t think that He is “up there” shaking his head at himself in disgust and saying, “What was I thinking when I put cholesterol in those eggs?  And all the animal’s fat is saturated?  I SO should have thought ahead on that one.”

Why would eating these real foods with fat work for a few thousand years…and then suddenly stop working for people in about 1920? 

And WHEN do you suppose our nation began to have extreme obesity and heart problems and an increase in cancer?  Right about the time we started being told that butter and cream and eggs (and other real foods) were bad for us.  (And when lifestyles became more sedentary.) 

Yes…at the very same time that we started to change out real food…for processed, fake, freaked out foods…our nation began to get fat and sick.

And yet…we blame all of our health issues today on butter.

Oh, I have so much to say about all of this.  (Perhaps you could tell?)

So here’s what I’ve decided.

I’ve been sharing many of my recipes here on my blog and on my website.  And if you’ve hung out here much, you’ve noticed that we work hard at our house to eat a healthy diet of real food. 

I think maybe I’ll start talking a bit more about WHY we choose to eat this way…and WHY we feel like it is important to eat real food.  And what food I consider to be real…and what food I consider to be fake, freaked out food.   And which fats are good for you and which aren’t.  And how we afford to eat real food on a limited budget.  And where I buy my real food.  And why….

Yes, I believe this post is…to be continued…

In the past few years as our family is working to learn more about eating healthier…I’ve tried to come up with a healthy, homemade whole wheat hamburger bun. 

I think I have finally figured out how to make a good bun.

(I must say…blogging about my buns feels a little….strange.  But, just in case you’ve had trouble with your buns…I thought this was worth sharing.)  

Many burger bun attempts failed…as usually they were too bready…or too heavy.  (And we all know that NOBODY wants their buns to be too heavy…)

So last week…I tried again and tweaked one of my other recipes and turned out a great batch of buns!  Here’s how I did it:

Homemade Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns 

5 cups  (+) whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 pkgs yeast
2 T. honey
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup milk
2 T. butter
2 t. sea salt

In a large mixing bowl, stir together 3 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups warm water.  Set aside to let rest for 30 minutes.  In the meantime, mix together 1/4 cup water, yeast and honey.  Allow this to sit for at least 10 minutes to activate the yeast.

Melt butter, milk and salt in a small saucepan on the stove.  Do not allow the mixture to get above 120 degrees.

Pour yeast mixture and milk mixture into flour mixture.  Add remaining two cups of flour (more if needed). 

Knead for about 10 minutes until dough begins to look “shiny”.  Put dough back into the bowl, cover and let rise for at least an hour…or until it has doubled.

Pull dough onto a clean countertop and knead for a couple of minutes to get any air bubbles out.  Roll dough on a lightly floured surface until about 1/2 inch thick. 

Cut circles from the dough with a large drinking glass or wide mouth jar.  Place circles on in a well buttered baking dish about an inch apart. 

Allow to rise for about 30 minutes.  Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Makes about 18 buns.

Now….I really hope you like these as much as we do!! 

But really…do be careful when you share this recipe and talk with others about them.   Because…

“Don’t you just LOVE Laura’s buns?!” might just not sound quite right… 

You’ll find more great kitchen tips at Tammy’s Kitchen!

Technorati Tags: whole wheat hamburger buns, homemade, healthy recipes

I’ll tell you right now…I’m not a big fan of onions.  I like the flavor of them cooked into my meat…and that’s about it.  I don’t put them on my burgers and I think they are weird and slimy in my stew.

I’ve never really liked onion rings.

!!!!Until now!!!!

I recently made homemade onion rings….because I knew my husband would love it.  (and because I am such a sweet wife) 

As I pulled the first few out of the skillet..I decided to try small one.

OH MY WORD!!  I shrieked with great excitement over the amazing taste of this onion jewel…which made the kids come running, of course…

They then started eating them as fast as I pull them out of the skillet…

And to make a long story short (or something like that)…I had to slice up another onion and mix up another batch of batter…so that my husband could have some too.  (you know…the guy I was making them for in the first place?)

I’m pretty sure the tears running down my face were for the joy of my new found love of the onion…and had nothing at all to do with the fact that I was cutting up the vegetable that makes everyone’s eyes sting like mad.

Amazing Onion Rings

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 t. sea salt
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
2 medium onions
Oil for frying (I use palm kernel oil)

Whisk together the flour, salt, egg and milk.  Slice onions into rings.  Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet.  Turn heat down to medium.  Dip a few onion slices into the batter to thoroughly coat.  Fry them in the oil, turning once.  Cook on each side for 1-3 minutes each.  Remove onion rings and devour immediately and place on a plate for serving.  Continue to fry onion rings until batter is gone.  You can keep onion rings warm in a 200 degree oven while you continue to cook the remaining rings.

Okay, I’m tellin’ ya… Go get yourself some onions and make these! 

You’ll be weeping right along with me!

I feel a little teary just talking about it… (sniff)  They’re just (sniff) so…good…

WFMW

Technorati Tags: homemade onion rings, eat more veggies

On a day when there’s lots of activity (um…that would be every day…), it’s so nice to have a meal prepared in the freezer ready to pull out and bake.  Quickly toss a salad and warm up a veggie…and your meal is made!

Over the next several weeks, while I continue to post new breakfast ideas…and great ways to eat lots of fruits and veggies…I’ll also be posting some great recipes that you can make up ahead of time and put into the freezer to have on hand for busy evenings. 

To start us off…here’s a super easy recipe to put together.  There’s nothing fancy about this dish…but it’s tasty just the same.

Cheesy Beef and Rice 

1 cup long grain brown rice
1 lb ground beef
3 T. minced onion, or fresh chopped onion
1/2 t. garlic powder
sea salt, to taste
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
1 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Boil two cups of water.  Stir in rice.  Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.  Brown ground beef with onion and garlic powder.  Mix with rice and salt well.  Stir in sour cream and milk.  Spread into a casserole dish.  Sprinkle cheese on top.  Cover well and freeze.

To bake:  Thaw casserole on counter all day.  Place uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

I hope you’ll keep coming back to read more recipes of dishes that you can make ahead of time and put into the freezer! 

You’ll read more great kitchen tips here!

Please come over and join me for Gratituesday!!  What’s God been doing in your life this week?!