Category Archives: Meals

Fermented Foods: Carrot Dilly Sticks

My daughter has a mouth full of loose teeth and just can’t chew food that well.  And I wanted to keep carrots as a snack option. Check out this recipe from The Nourishing Gourmet for easy to eat fermented carrot sticks full of beneficial probiotic bacteria.  The recipe below is without the whey.  Make sure you keep the carrots submerged in the water to prevent mold from growing – this is what the cabbage leaf is for or you can use a weight of some sort to keep the carrots under the water.

Recipe

1-1 1/2 pound peeled fresh carrots (enough to pack in tightly)

3 garlic cloves – peeled (optional)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill (optional)

2 cups water or more as needed

2 tablespoons sea salt

one large outer cabbage leaf

1 jar (quart size)

1.  Make you brine by dissolving the salt into the water (may need to slightly heat)

2.  Put the garlic cloves (and dill if using it) in the bottom of the jar and carrots packed in tightly but with enough room for the brine to make its way between each carrot.  Make sure to cut the carrot sticks so they are about 2 inches below the top of the jar.

3.  Pour the brine into the jar so that it is about 1 inch below the top of the jar.  You may need to add more water.

4. Place cabbage leaf over carrots and tuck around sides of jar to keep carrots under water.  Make sure cabbage leaf submerged as well.

5.  Cover tightly with lid (burp first 3-4 days by unscrewing lid slightly so carbon dioxide can escape and jar doesn’t explode) and leave room temperature for 7-10 days.

6.  Place in refrigerator and will last about 2 months.  Make sure to keep carrots under water.

Great Coconut Flour Breads Recipes – Gluten Free too!

photo 1

Easy Sandwich Flatbreads

Check out these great Coconut Flour Bread Recipes by Radiant Life. I absolutely LOVE the coconut flour pumpkin bread (fabulous as a side for dinner or snack). What is fun for sandwiches is the Easy Sandwich Flatbread recipe.  You can get the bovine gelatin here:  Bernard Jensen’s Gelatin or Great Lake Gelatin

Note:  you can also add the gelatin to your homemade bone broth for added bone and collagen support.

Salad in Jar: How to make your own

Salad in a Jar:  How to make your own

After I saw how to make oatmeal in a jar, I found this idea and thought it fun and fabulous!!  Also, very healthy and convenient for those who want to bring their meals to work.  Basically, you take a mason jar and fill with your favorite salad ingredients. Wait!  There is a method to the concept.  This site give a step by step (with pictures) and pintrest of course has tons of ideas for the process, and you can see my own brief explanation below. Remember you have the power to make the recipes healthy or not so no fear just modify if you need to. Just think simple and tasty. 

Steps in a Nutshell:  Get out your mason jar!!

1.  Bottom layer: Salad dressing (otherwise it gets everything soggy ~ the reason behind the tall mason jar)
2.  Second layer:  Heavy veggies next ~ tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, celery, etc…
3.  Third layer:  Protein (optional) ~ chopped eggs or meat, etc…
4.  Fourth layer: Lettuce
5.  Fifth layer: Nuts and seeds (optional)
6. Paper towel* to soak up condensation (just tear part of a paper towel to fit)

*I put a paper towel on the bottom of the container or bag that holds my lettuce to make it last longer and stay crisper in the refrigerator so here you just put the towel on top.

Click here for some recipe ideas I found: Free E-Book or Kindle Book: Salads to Go,  Recipes, Recipes 

Traditional Oatmeal Recipes with a Modern Twist: Overnight Oatmeal

Traditional Oatmeal Recipes with a Modern Twist

I have been making PLAIN overnight oatmeal (2 tablespoons of whey or lemon juice) and adding my extra flavors in the morning and then I found this blog……..  Check out these recipes for creative Overnight Oatmeal and 8 more recipes by the same author.  Also, you can view toward the bottom the FAQ and supply list for convenient purchase on Amazon.

Nutritional insight into Steel Cut Oats versus Regular Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.  Slow cooker recipe for Apple Cinnamon Steel-Cut Oatmeal by TheYummyLife

I say experiment and make your own overnight oatmeal recipes that suit your taste buds and that of your family’s.

Can eating 5 meals a day reduce your child’s risk for obesity?

The answer is “Yes!” based on a 2013 Northern Finland Birth Cohort study of adolescents aged 16 years.  The data collection on the population began prenatally up until the age of 16 years.

Previously, the results of a study on the same Finnish population showed that environmental factors such as physical activity could modify the effect of common obesity-susceptibility gene variants.  This means that those children who carried the genes associated with the risk for obesity could stop their predisposition to obesity by modifying their lifestyle behaviors. The researchers also showed in a previous study that eating 5 meals a day reduced abdominal obesity in children.

Specifically, for this current study,  two meal patterns where looked at:  those that ate 5 meals per day and those that ate 4 meals or less per day on the relation between obesity-related genotypes and body mass index (BMI) among the 16 year olds.   A genetic risk score (a multiple-locus indicator based on eight obesity-susceptibility loci) and a separate analysis of the effects of two well-established obesity loci, FTO and MC4R, on BMI were analyzed.

Results showed:

  1. A 5 meal a day pattern (including breakfast) decreased the predisposition to increasing BMI
  2. Those that skipped breakfast had a greater increase in BMI

I loved reading up on this study because it shows that even though you may be born with a set of genetic predispositions to obesity you still have the power to be at a healthy weight.  And it starts in childhood.  What power parents have to influence their kids and impact their health!!  Interested in the effect of maternal weigth gain and obesity risk? Click here

Source: PLOS One, September 2013 | Volume 8 | Issue 9 | e73802: Jaaskelainen A, Schwab U, Kolehmainen M, Kaakinen M, Savolainen MJ, et al. (2013) Meal Frequencies Modify the Effect of Common Genetic Variants on Body Mass Index in Adolescents of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. PLoS ONE 8(9): e73802. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0073802

 

Breakfast and Healthy Weight

Basically, if you eat a healthy breakfast you will have a lower Body Mass Index.  This means your weight is healthier for your height.

  • Frequency of eating breakfast is inversely associated with BMI:    (Association of Breakfast Energy Density with Diet Quality and Body Mass Index in American Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1999–2004.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2008).
  • Overall those that eat breakfast have a higher diet quality and lower BMI:   (Breakfast Eating and Weight Change in a 5-Year Prospective Analysis of Adolescents: Project EAT -Eating Among Teens–. Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 2008)