Restorative Cleansing Soup

Cleansing Mineral Restorative Soup

Skin of 1 potato
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup of Nori crinkles

Boil together

add

2 tsp Celtic sea salt

Boil together for about 5 min.

Let cool slightly

Add 1 tbsp Chickpea Miso (or White Miso or other)
1 whole clove garlic, crushed

Serve

Restores the balance of potassium and minerals in your body.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

What you need in a good spaghetti sauce is balance between the savory and sweet elements.

Onions, garlic and olive oil add the savory portion of the sauce as well as a few choice herbs.

To supply the sweet, I like to use some grated carrot, and I use purple (red) onions which are naturally sweeter than white. I caramelize these in the oil to bring out the flavor.

The tomato has a dual role tying the savory and sweet together. If you are so lucky to have fresh tomatoes, by all means use them!! Add any garden vegetable that suits your fancy, and/or mushrooms, anything goes here.

Plus with the right amount of salt enhancing the flavor, your sauce will be magnificent!!

(Note that celtic sea salt, or similar, adds a beautiful savory flavor all its own)

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

1-2 carrots, shredded
1-2 cups garden vegetables (if using)
1/4-1/2 med. onion
2-4 cloves garlic
1 large can tomatoes, diced (or about 10 fresh)
2 or more tbsp. olive oil (be liberal)
Herbs de provence (usually basil, oregano, thyme, anise seed, a touch of sage works, have fun!!)
Salt to taste

Caramelize your vegetables in the oil over a medium heat, this includes the onion, but hold off on adding the garlic until the last minute or it will burn. Add the tomatoes and simmer until reduced into a nice thick sauce (will take longer if your using fresh). Add your herbs, taste, salt, taste, and voila!! Beautiful, delicious, homemade spaghetti sauce!! Yum, enjoy. :D

*Add a pound of ground beef if desired.

Serve over GF pasta

Lard is better than Shortening

Alright guy's I can't help it...

This is the article that I have been waiting for to expound upon the benefits of using lard in your cooking over "Vegetable Shortening." The exception being a brand of shortening made by Spectrum Organics which makes it with Palm Oil. The reason that lard is superior (especially grass fed/organically raised lard) is that it not only is better for cooking with it is healthier for you!! :D

Here's the article:

Lard

After decades of trying, its moment is finally here.
By Regina Schrambling
Posted Tuesday, June 2, 2009, at 11:39 AM ET
Read more from Slate's Food issue.

Wait long enough and everything bad for you is good again. Sugar? Naturally better than high-fructose corn syrup. Chocolate? A bar a day keeps the doctor away. Caffeine? Bring it on.

Lard, however, has always been a ridiculously hard sell. Over at least the last 15 years, it's repeatedly been given a clean bill of health, and good cooks regularly point out how superior this totally natural fat is for frying and pastries. But that hasn't been enough to keep Americans from recoiling—lard's negative connotations of flowing flesh and vats of grease and epithets like larda** and tub of lard have been absurd hurdles. But no longer. I'm convinced that the redemption of lard is finally at hand because we live in a world where trendiness is next to godliness. And lard hits all the right notes, especially if you euphemize it as rendered pork fat—bacon butter.

Lard has clearly won the health debate. Shortening, the synthetic substitute foisted on this country over the last century, has proven to be a much bigger health hazard because it contains trans fats, the bugaboo du jour. Corporate food scientists figured out long ago that you can fool most of the people most of the time, and shortening (and its butter-aping cousin, margarine) had a pretty good ride after Crisco was introduced in 1911 as a substitute for the poor man's fat. But shortening really vanquished lard in the 1950s when researchers first connected animal fat in the diet to coronary heart disease. By the '90s, Americans had been indoctrinated to mainline olive oil, but shortening was still the go-to solid fat over lard or even butter in far too many cookbooks.

More Info on HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)

OK, I really hate this stuff. I could argue about it until I am blue in the face, but if people don't want to listen, they don't want to listen.
The information is out there for anyone who wants to know why they don't have any energy or feel good. I visited the web site run by the "industry" that makes and uses this stuff, and it was creepy, I just had this feeling that everything was too glossed over. That the information they gave was too superficial, it didn't inspire much confidence in me, but for anyone who wanted a superficial gloss over it would do the job. Which is scary, that so many people are OK with being lied to, as long as they don't have to change anything about what they buy, or what they believe to be true.

OK So Here's the article, please read it. :D

As for myself, it was really weird when I kept throwing stuff out of our cupboards. I would learn about something, like MSG and throw out stuff that had it. Then HFCS, then gluten. My family really thought I was nuts and I had this void, and a scary feeling that I would have to cook everything from now on. I eventually found stuff, at our local health food store that replaced most everything that I had thrown out. The little stuff (like ketchup and condiments)and even most of the other types of stuff (like cookies, cakes, breads). I found that I could cook most of the things that I had used expensive canned "Cream of Mushroom Soup" for by learning how to make a simple white sauce, with onions and mushrooms for flavor and it tastes so, so good.

Here is the URL if the link above dosen't work...

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/03/24/Why-HighFructose-Corn-Syrup-Causes-Insulin-Resistance.aspx

Chicken Salad

This is one of my favorite ways to use up leftover chicken... You can make a small amount for a single meal or you can make a larger amount and serve it with GF rolls for dinner.

Chicken Salad

1/2 cup - 1 cup cooked chicken, cubed
1 tbsp. Spectrum Canola Mayo.
1 apple cored and cubed or 1 cup grapes
1 stalk celery
Sprinkle with GF curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and enjoy!!

Mulligatawny Soup

Mulligatawny Soup

Chicken carcass with some meat (Can place bones and water in fridge overnight and skim fat)
2 cups baby carrots
2 cups celery
2 Bay leaves
2 quarts water

Place carcass, diced carrots, diced celery, water and bay leaves in a large stainless steel pot. Boil several hours until the stock reduces and becomes thicker. Remove bones. In a heavy skillet add 1 tbsp. of Coconut oil, butter or ghee.

Add:

1/4 Large onion (or more if you like)
2 leeks
4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom, or 4 bruised pods

or substitute curry powder

Cook onion and leeks until softened and translucent. Add garlic, ginger, and spices, stirring, until mixture is browned lightly and fragrant.

Add:

2 large carrots, chopped
1 large Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored, and chopped

Transfer to soup pot.

1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate (optional)
2 cups coconut milk (I leave this out and let my kids add it to their own)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring to a simmer, then let cool before serving.

Add 1 cup of pre-soaked and cooked brown rice (optional)

The Dangers of Soy

I am pasting this article here because she addresses all of the concerns about soy that I know about, but I cannot put it as well as she already has.

Here is a link to the article.

http://www.uswellnessmeats.com/newsletter/catherine_ebeling_february_08_09_newsletter.html

CATHERINE'S CORNER by Catherine Ebeling, RN BSN February 08, 2009

DARK SECRETS OF SOY

Only a few decades ago, the soybean was considered unfit to eat - even in Asia.The soybean did not serve as a food until the discovery of fermentation techniques, some time during the Chou Dynasty.

The first soy foods were fermented products like Tempeh, Natto, Miso and soy sauce. At a later date, possibly in the 2nd century BC, Chinese scientists discovered that a puree of cooked soybeans could be precipitated with calcium sulfate or magnesium sulfate (plaster of Paris or Epsom salts) to make a smooth, pale curd - tofu or bean curd.

The use of fermented and precipitated soy products soon spread to other parts of the Orient, notably Japan and Indonesia. Growth-depressant compounds are deactivated during the process of fermentation, so once the Chinese discovered how to ferment the soybean, they began to incorporate soy foods into their diets.

The Chinese did not eat unfermented soybeans as they did other legumes such as lentils because the soybean contains large quantities of natural toxins or "antinutrients". First among them are potent enzyme inhibitors that block the action of trypsin and other enzymes vital for protein digestion.

These inhibitors are large, tightly folded proteins that are not completely deactivated during ordinary cooking. They can produce serious gastric distress, reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake.

In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause enlargement and pathological conditions of the pancreas, including cancer. Soybeans also contain haemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together. Trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinin are growth inhibitors.

Weaned rats fed soy containing these antinutrients fail to grow normally. Soy also contains goitrogens - substances that depress thyroid function. Although soy has been known to suppress thyroid function for over 60 years, and although scientists have identified the goitrogenic component of soy as the so-called beneficial isoflavones, the industry insists that soy depresses thyroid function only in the absence of iodine.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham reports a case in which consumption of a soy protein dietary supplement decreased the absorption of thyroxine. The patient had undergone thyroid surgery and needed to take thyroid hormone. Higher oral doses of thyroid hormone were needed when she consumed soy--she presumably used iodized salt so iodine intake did not prevent the goitrogenic effects of soy.

A very large percentage of soy is genetically modified and it also has one of the highest percentages of contamination by pesticides of any of our foods. Soybeans are high in phytic acid, present in the bran or hulls of all seeds. It's a substance that can block the uptake of essential minerals - calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc - in the intestinal tract.

The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume that has been studied, and the phytates in soy are highly resistant to normal phytate-reducing techniques such as long, slow cooking. Only a long period of fermentation will significantly reduce the phytate content of soybeans.

When precipitated soy products like tofu are consumed with meat, the mineral-blocking effects of the phytates are reduced. The Japanese traditionally eat a small amount of tofu or miso as part of a mineral-rich fish broth, followed by a serving of meat or fish.

Vegetarians who consume tofu and bean curd as a substitute for meat and dairy products risk severe mineral deficiencies. The results of calcium, magnesium and iron deficiency are well known; those of zinc are less well known, but equally as bad.

Far far more healthy is to eat pure grass fed meats, cheese, and butter, all high in nutrients and protein rich. Zinc is called the intelligence mineral because it is needed for optimal development and functioning of the brain and nervous system.

It plays a role in continued from Newsletterprotein synthesis and collagen formation; it is involved in the blood-sugar control mechanism and thus protects against diabetes; it is needed for a healthy reproductive system. Grass fed beef is very high in this necessary nutritent, in contrast to soy.

Soy processors have worked hard to get these antinutrients out of the finished product, particularly soy protein isolate (SPI) which is the key ingredient in most soy foods that imitate meat and dairy products, including baby formulas and some brands of soy milk. SPI is not something you can make in your own kitchen. Production takes place in industrial factories where a slurry of soy beans is first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally, neutralized in an alkaline solution. Acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. The resultant curds are spray- dried at high temperatures to produce a high-protein powder.

A final indignity to the original soybean is high-temperature, high-pressure extrusion processing of soy protein isolate to produce textured vegetable protein (TVP). Nitrites, which are potent carcinogens, are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during alkaline processing. In feeding experiments, the use of SPI increased requirements for vitamins E, K, D and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc.

Phytic acid remaining in these soy products greatly inhibits zinc and iron absorption; test animals fed SPI develop enlarged organs, particularly the pancreas and thyroid gland, and increased deposition of fatty acids in the liver.27

Yet soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein are used extensively in school lunch programs, commercial baked goods, diet beverages and fast food products. They are heavily promoted in third world countries and form the basis of many food giveaway programs. Advances in technology make it possible to produce isolated soy protein from what was once considered a waste product - the defatted, high-protein soy chips - and then transform something that looks and smells terrible into products that can be consumed by human beings. Flavorings, preservatives, sweeteners, emulsifiers and synthetic nutrients have turned soy protein isolate, the food processors' ugly duckling, into a new age swan.

"The quickest way to gain product acceptability in the less affluent society," said an industry spokesman, "is to have the product consumed on its own merit in a more affluent society." So soy is now sold to the upscale consumer, not as a cheap, poverty food but as a miracle substance that will prevent heart disease and cancer, whisk away hot flushes, build strong bones and keep us forever young. The competition - meat, milk, cheese, butter and eggs - has been duly demonized by the appropriate government bodies. Soy serves as meat and milk for a new generation of virtuous vegetarians.

The soy industry hired Norman Robert Associates, a public relations firm, to get more soy products onto school menus. The USDA responded with a proposal to scrap the 30 per cent limit for soy in school lunches. The 'NuMenu' program would allow unlimited use of soy in student meals. With soy added to hamburgers, tacos and lasagna, dietitians can get the total fat content below 30 per cent of calories, thereby conforming to government dictates. With the soy-enhanced food items, students are receiving better servings of nutrients and less cholesterol and fat, so says the soy industry.

Soy milk has posted the biggest gains, soaring from $2 million in 1980 to $300 million in the US last year.10 Recent advances in processing have transformed the gray, thin, bitter, beany-tasting Asian beverage into a product that Western consumers will accept - one that tastes like a milkshake, but without the guilt.

The long and demanding road to FDA approval actually took a few unexpected turns. The original petition, submitted by Protein Technology International, requested a health claim for isoflavones, the estrogen-like compounds found plentifully in soybeans, based on assertions that only soy protein that has been processed in a manner in which isoflavones are retained will result in cholesterol lowering.
In 1998, the FDA made the unprecedented move of rewriting PTI's petition, removing any reference to the phyto-estrogens and substituting a claim for soy protein - a move that was in direct contradiction to the agency's regulations.

The FDA is authorized to make rulings only on substances presented by petition.The abrupt change in direction was no doubt due to the fact that a number of researchers, including scientists employed by the US Government, submitted documents indicating that isoflavones are toxic.

The FDA had also received, early in 1998, the final British Government report on phytoestrogens, which failed to find much evidence of benefit and warned against potential adverse effects.30

Even with the change to soy protein isolate, FDA bureaucrats engaged in the rigorous approval process were forced to deal nimbly with concerns about mineral blocking effects, enzyme inhibitors, goitrogenicity, endocrine disruption, reproductive problems and increased allergic reactions from consumption of soy products.

One of the strongest letters of protest came from Dr Dan Sheehan and Dr Daniel Doerge, government researchers at the National Center for Toxicological Research. Their pleas for warning labels were dismissed as unwarranted.Research that ties soy to positive effects on cholesterol levels is incredibly immature, said Ronald M. Krauss, MD, head of the Molecular Medical Research Program and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

He might have added that studies in which cholesterol levels were lowered through either diet or drugs have consistently resulted in a greater number of deaths in the treatment groups than in controls - deaths from stroke, cancer, intestinal disorders, accident and suicide.Cholesterol-lowering measures in the US have fueled a $60 billion per year cholesterol-lowering industry, but have not saved us from the ravages of heart disease.

The media have not only questioned the health benefits of soy but begun reporting on the risks. In July, the Israeli Health Ministry warned that babies should not receive soy formula, that children should eat soy no more than once per day to a maximum of three times per week and that adults should exercise caution because of increased risk of breast cancer and adverse effects on fertility. The Ministry based its advice upon the conclusions reached by a 13-member committee of nutritionists, oncologists, pediatricians and other specialists who spent more than year examining the evidence.

They concluded that the estrogen-like plant hormones in soy can cause adverse effects on the human body and strongly urged consumers to minimize their consumption of soy foods until absolute safety has been proven.Soy has the potential to disrupt the digestive, immune and neuroendocrine systems of the human body and its role in rising rates of infertility, hypothyroidism and some types of cancer including thyroid and pancreatic cancers.

Soy is also highly allergenic. Most experts now place soy protein among the top eight allergens, and some rate it in the top six or even top four. Allergic reactions to soy are increasingly common, ranging from mild to life threatening, and that fatalities have been reported.People are finally starting to learn that soy is not a miracle food, and more and more expert scientists are issuing warnings about soy.

Sources:Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts,the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Summer 2003Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts,the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2005.

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