Feeding Your Brain

Amidst the hype of low and non-fat diets, I have not fallen for it. It never made sense to me! Why separate an egg to miss out on the lecithin that naturally dissolves fat? Why eat low fat dressings to miss out on the good cholesterol to nourish your brain? Why drink skim or low fat milk and miss out on the vitamins and minerals? (Besides the fact that farmers feed their pigs skim milk to fatten them!!) Why get sucked into the trends that end up making it more difficult to lose weight, more difficult to stay in shape and be healthy?

SO, I decided I wouldn't do that. I also cannot eat only protein. Natural whole grains are great for the body, extending an even blood sugar level as well as soluble and insoluble fibers. Why suffer through diets where you CANNOT eat, and just get rid of the junk that you SHOULD NOT eat? Sugar and white flour (whether enriched or not) is not food. They are leftover processes that defeat the purpose of nourishing your body. Processed foods have added chemicals to keep products longer and enhance the flavor for the sole benefit of having the consumer buy more. Otherwise known as neurotoxins. They work on the brain to stimulate a sense of well-being just like drugs.

Ok, anyways, we finally finished the last of the white rice we had and I think I'm going to throw away the noodles. It's not worth it for my body or my family's to suffer and try to eat healthy and lose weight at the same time. It's not worth going out to eat-NOBODY cooks like I do. I actually ate 1 whole peanut M&M today and within seconds of putting it in my mouth I felt bad. It doesn't taste good anymore! (not a bad peanut) Maybe it was the Blue Lake, maybe it was the sugar coating, maybe it was the artificial flavor of the chocolate? Maybe it was just a bad idea!

Just one M&M caused me to determine to forget about all those foods I associate with good times and happy memories. It's detrimental to my body to have to deal with those toxins and suffer the emotional as well as the physical reactions.


Back to the basics. Today I made Whole Wheat Bread...I added a little more honey, it had been tasting a bit yeasty. Also put on a pot of Potatoe Soup with lots of celery and carrots and leftover Roast juice that had garlic. Just finished 4 eggs with 2 slices of my bread with butter. I don't starve my body-or eat meals only 3 times per day, but I feed my body so it recognizes that I will feed it next time and therefore will get rid of the reserves of unnecessary fat. If I eat only 3 times per day, I gain weight, even if I'm working out! I eat more protein than carbs, but I eat plenty along with lots of fats. Olive oil, butter, Cod Liver Oil are what we have now, but I can't wait til we can get Coconut Oil again...that's when I had better weight loss and just felt much better overall!!

So, if you have problems losing weight, keeping it off or have any health problems or issues-consider what you put in your mouth and if you really want to work that much harder to get it out of your system! "A minute on the lips-a lifetime on the hips" really comes into play here when you don't eat The Extreme Healthy Foods.

Whatcha gonna do? When are you gonna get up from the computer and work off that last ________ you had? When are you gonna stop planning meals based on junk or not planning and going out to eat junk? I can hear you say, "But I don't like it, my family won't eat it" then figure out a way...and stop making 3 year old's excuses, you are an adult!

Ok, gotta run.

Here's some food for thought:

"He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. " Psalm 81:16 "And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." Psalm 104:15

"And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land
flowing with milk and honey;" Jeremiah 32:22




This is an older pic, homemade cinnamon roll with whole wheat flour and honey and butter.

Turkey Recipe

Here's my answer to a recent comment:

My favourite Thanksgiving Turkey recipe is my mom's! When she cooks, that's my most favourite!!

I've never made turkey (whole) and I think I made a roast when dh went to work. Warms up better than the first time it's eaten.

When we ate more chicken, I'd make fajitas. Not really Thanksgiving food, but still yummy!! I think just making something you and yours like is the best part of celebrating together, no matter the day-or missed day!

I like to keep Thanksgiving meals for getting together with family, rather than making a mess at something I've not tried and don't have a reason to! I like all the memories associated with Thanksgiving...I'd like to keep it that way!! LOL

Well, I've been busy today. It's raining and overcast, but I have had a song in my heart and have enjoyed singing with the girls!
I just finished making a wonderful Potatoe and Hard-Boiled Egg Stew, the Bread is rising and since I didn't have bread, pancakes or any muffin type thing to have with eggs for b'fast, I made Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. If you consider the ingredients...they are the same for all of the above (except bread, but you could have raisin bread!). Again, no sugar, no white flour and you have good food you can have ANY time of the day!!

As I sip my freshly made herbal tea: chamomile, lavender (oh, yeah, totally calming!), spearmint, rose hips, fennel, dandelion leaf and red clover.

So, besides all this, I wrote out 3 (yes, three) patterns that I'll be posting sortly!!
(Yup, all this done while homeschooling and caring for the babies!)

Well, need to go feed the tribe and enjoy the constant sound of rain and cars driving through it!

Mmm...PIZZA!

I forget how much we enjoy eating pizza. I finally found a way to make it that has a whole lot more protein! I make the crust out of Naan Bread and roll it thin, sauce, toppings, bake and EAT!

I know that it is contrary to my heritage and being this close to Chicago, but I really like the thin crust NEW YORK style crust/pizza!

This pic is from the other time I made it. You can make personal size, medium, or one panfull size. This recipe makes enough for our family (of 8-well, 7 eating) for 2 meals!

Ok. This is the simple way, here it is all laid out:

Naan Bread
3 cups of flour (whole wheat)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp honey
2 TBSP oil
4 TBSP Yogurt
3/4 cup warm water

Mix dry, then add wet, and lastly yogurt. Let rest for about 20 mins. Then I roll it and patch it onto a pizza pan (a cookie sheet works too)

Sauce
1 can (32 oz) tomato concentrate (it's the walmart brand and ONLY has tomato pulp-no salt!)
1 TBLS salt (still using Real Salt)
2 TBLS oregano
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/3 large onion
1/2 head (several cloves) garlic

Toppings

*I cook hamburger with salt and onions-use what I need and freeze the rest for next time I make pizza...helps alot
-also cooking the onions with the hamburger, flavors it differently than if I put them as a topping. When I've added onions as a topping, my pizzas always came out watery!
*sliced black olives
*grated mozzarella cheese -I do this

These are the topping we like, keeping away from my favourite of pepperoni which have nitrites and other oddities. I had headaches for years when I ate white flour crusts and pepperoni!

Throw together and cook in oven at 400F degrees for about 12 minutes. Lower temp, cook longer and get a crisper crust.

I have made a cornmeal crust and mixed beans and meat and added the cheese and olives and it was like a mex-pizza!!

Enjoying the cooler weather. It's between 62-65 degrees now, except for the next few days of being in the upper 60's and barely into the 70's! Wonderful cooking weather and even better to sit in the sun outside while the children play and (what else?) KNIT!

Need to go make bread, wake babies and prepare to go outside again!! (change the laundry, too)
Ciao for now!

Bread Making

I have Bosch Universal Mixer and an Ultramill Grain Mill. These are two of my best investments, even over a dishwasher. This is how I handle my bread making days (I will exclude the multitasking of making breakfast and caring for children).

Put Organic Red Wheat Berries in Grain Mill. Set in bedroom, turn on, come out, shut door. When pitch goes high (when no wheat is left to grind), open door, turn off, come out & shut door.

*all this is done so the effects of high decibel sound does not do damage to any of us.

Ok, so you see it's easy...fresh wheat is more desireable for all it's nutrients are intact for approx. 24 hours. You'll see and taste the difference!!

+Get out bosch, put in yeast, honey & warm water.

+Let yeast "burst"

+Add salt, oil and wheat (and other ingredients like oats, millet, nuts, etc.)

=add flour a few cups at a time, not all at once

+Knead with machine for about 3 minutes.

+Put into oil covered big bowl to let rise til almost falling out of pan (can take as little as 20 mins.)

+Punch down and let rise again

+Punch down and form into loaves & put in oiled ("Pam" can be used) loaf pans to let rise for no more than 25 mins

+Put in oven for 25-30 mins (depending on your oven) at 350 F.

+Take out & let cool before taking out of pans to cool the rest of the way before freezing or eating with honey!

So, it seems like a bit of work, but once you do this, it is so very easy & gratifies the body's cravings for good-for-you foods!!

Here's my recipe (It's what my mama taught me long, long ago)

4 TBLS Yeast

1.5 TBLS Salt

1/2 Cup Oil (Olive)

12-13 Cups Flour (8 cups wheat berries)

1/2 Cup Honey (I put in 1 to 1.5 cups to make the bread sweeter)

5 Cups Warm Water

That's the basic recipe for 4 loaves of bread. Also, I use Stainless Steel Breadpans.

I hope you are able to make bread & enjoy it! (Pay attention to your oven temperatures when cooking with honey. The bread will be darker in color than white flour and look almost burnt. There's a fine line between looking burnt and being burnt.)