Fantastic Fats!

Fats! Fear Not! Fats are a VERY necessary part of human health! The right kind of fats will contribute to keeping you healthy and wise! Fats, saturated, unsaturated, cholesterol, animal fats, plant oils, - created by our Creator to keep us healthy, build strong cardiovascular systems and are an essential component of our nervous system.

Its the ones created by man - FACTORY FATS - if you will, that one must be careful to avoid.

I will not go into too much detail in this post, but rather share a couple of very reliable links with you that further tell the story. This first link is to Weston Price's video on fantastic fats in the kitchen - a great resource with great suggestions for eating healthier fats.

http://www.westonaprice.org/beginner-videos/traditional-fats-and-sacred-foods-video-by-sarah-pope

This second link is to - well - LOTS of valuable information. Pick an article or two and enjoy. Or do as I do - research the topic until you bleed coconut oil. Whether you choose to read a little or a lot - any thing you can do to educate yourself on this topic will benefit you and your family greatly!

http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats

If you find your curiosity piqued - try out some fantastic fats in your home diet. Coconut oil, Olive oil, fats from grass fed animals. Our family LOVES coconut oil - the amazing benefits of coconut oil are countless. Below is a link to a great site heralding some of the benefits (and top 10 kitchen uses) for coconut oil.

http://www.kelapo.com/coconut-oil-benefits/

Well - that was an short post - we hope to post more details later in the week. Fat is such a widely discussed topic, entire books are written on just this subject alone. Hopefully you get a chance to do a little research before our next blog post.

And I will leave you with a very interesting thought:

Factory fats became one of the first processed foods in the late 1940's and made many processed foods possible. Since that time, inflammatory diseases in the United States have risen proportionally with the consumption of processed foods, including factory fats.

Happy Researching!

Heather & Jennifer

Take it with a grain of salt - or sugar!

Salt and sugar! Who doesn't love them! BUT WAIT!!! And... that's where we all get frustrated. How many times have we hesitated or just plain turned down salt or sugar in our diet because of all the bad press we have heard? Refined, processed sugar and salt, are NOT healthy choices. Thank goodness we have natural alternatives - just as the Good Lord designed our bodies to enjoy! (pssst, there is the key - God designed our bodies to metabolize certain molecules - the ones He designed of course. Not man's ideas.)

Let's start with some basic information on salt! As we talked in class, natural salts are fantastically good for you! Most natural salts are actually lower in sodium content than processed table salt - and also contain a surprising amount of minerals and trace elements that are missing from our diets. And the flavors!!! I really encourage you to take a stroll through a whole foods market, organic food department, or the bulk bins at Green Acres and pick up a sampling of the flavors of salt. Hawaiian black salt, Real Salt, grey sea salt, Red Hawaiian salt, Applewood Smoked salt, Himalayan salt - and on, and on. Each salt with a unique mineral make up, and FLAVOR!!!

Remember - make sure you are adding salt in the end of the cooking process. There is wisdom in the old adage "all good things in moderation." But have fun - black Hawaiian salt against the white background of a fresh baked potato is visually as fun as trying a new flavor!

If you would like to dive into some written materials for more info, below are some great resources:

A cool website with salt resources galore!

http://shop.thespicelab.com/SALT-Collections/c14/index.html

A book - all about salt!!!

Salted A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes by Mark Bitterman.

http://www.amazon.com/Salted-Manifesto-Essential-Mineral-Recipes/dp/1580082629/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1318377217&sr=8-13

Sugar - well, there are entire BOOKS devoted to the subject, and a plethora of web sites shouting out the dangers of sugar. Here is one place where the information is correct. You really do want to avoid processed sugars. In fact - for years scientists have noted that the white foods (white flour, white sugar, white fats) in combination are very heavy players in arterial plaques and heart disease. Not to mention, our lovely ideas for the sheer number of "healthy", non-fattening sweeteners. Most of these chemical wonderments require severe chemical processes of bleaching, refining, granulating, powdering, and sugar alternatives is mind boggling.

I will share with you the golden rule of sugar: If God didn't make it that way - avoid it.

Natural sweeteners are healthy - when used in moderation. Honey, molasses, and sucanat are our favorite sweeteners. These sweeteners are VERY easy to use and can be used in place of sugar quite easily.

Sucanat is a fantastic natural sweetner which retains the molasses and trace minerals found in the sugar cane. Sucanat is a dehydrated cane juice - not processed at all - with all the natural goodness still in there. Sucanat can be used 1:1 in recipes. If your cookie recipe calls for 1 cup of granulated sugar, try substituting with 1 cup of sucanat. Your cookies will take on a natural richness - thanks to the molasses in the sugar. You will find that cookies made with sucanat are very rich in flavor and very satisfying. You won't eat the whole plate mindlessly as your taste buds will be quite happy after just one cookie! Now that is the natural intention of sugar :)

I am including several links - which explain in more sugar and natural sweeteners in more detail. I encourage you to follow the links, and try some alternatives to processed sugars our tongues and brains have become accustomed to - even addicted to!!!

This first link is a great video about Natural Sweetners from the Weston A. Price foundation. I encourage you to look around this website. There is a TON of good and reliable information here.

http://www.westonaprice.org/beginner-videos/natural-sweeteners-video-by-sarah-pope

The next links also take you to Weston A. Price - to a couple of articles that explain the dangers of processed sugars.

http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/agave-nectar-worse-than-we-thought

http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/double-danger-of-high-fructose-corn-syrup

Enjoy experimenting with new flavors in your cooking this week! Try some new flavors and eat healthy at the same time!

Heather and Jennifer

Ketchup, Mayo, and Mustard - Oh My!!!

If you look on the web, there are MANY ways to make homemade condiments. We focused in class on ways to make condiments that utilize fermentation - and whey - to get all the good bacteria and nutritionally boost your condiments. We tried samples of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise in class 2. Here are the recipes!

OK folks, remember all that whey that was strained out of your yogurt? Now what do I do with all this stuff? you ask. Make supremely healthy and delicious condiments that is a beneficial digestive aid. With the addition of whey, these condiments will keep in the fridge for several months!!! (if they last that long) :)

Ketchup

Makes 1 quart

3 Cups canned tomato paste, preferably organic

1/4 Cup whey

1 Tablespoon sea salt

1/2 Cup maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed

1/2 Cup homemade fish sauce or commercial fish sauce

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar. The top of the ketchup should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Leave at room temperature for about 2 days before transferring to refrigerator. (It will turn from bright red to a deeper, dark red color.....completely normal. It's supposed to do that.)

f.y.i. Pickled fish brine or sauce, made from fish heads, organs and bones, is called "ke-tsiap" in the Chinese Amoy dialect. This became "kechap," a condiment that Dutch traders imported from the Orient. It was a fish sauce similar to the Roman garum. It wasn't until American seamen added tomatoes from Mexico or the Spanish West Indies to the condiment that tomato ketchup was born. The original universal condiment was fish sauce, not tomato sauce! Fish sauce is rich in special substances that nourish the thyroid gland and makes a most nutritious addition to soups and stews.

Mustard

Makes 2 Cups

1 1/2 Cup (12 ounces) ground mustard

1/2 Cup filtered water

2 Tablespoons whey

2 teaspoons sea salt

juice of 1 lemon

2 cloves garlic, mashed (optional) --- makes a flamin' hot Dijon-style mustard! Trust me.

1 Tablespoon honey (optional)

2 Tablespoons whole mustard seeds (optional)

Mix all ingredients together until well blended adding more water if necessary to obtain desired consistency. Place in a pint-sized jar or two 8-ounce jars. The top of the mustard should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

f.y.i. Use of mustard seed dates back to antiquity, both for its epicurean and medicinal properties. A member of the brassica family, related to broccoli and cabbage, mustard is valued for it seed, which contains a compound called sinigrin. During grinding, enzymatic action liberates the pungent principle from the sugar molecule to which it is attached. Sulphur compounds and oils are also released. These compounds have a penetrating odor and an irritation effect on the skin and mucous membranes. Paradoxically, mustard compounds have been used throughout the world for the treatment of diseases of the lungs and sinuses. During the Tang Dynasty in China, mustard was used as a treatment for pulmonary diseases. The Egyptians recommended mustard in respiratory therapy, and in the Middle Ages mustard was used against asthma, coughs and chest congestion. The English physician Herberden also recommended mustard seed to treat asthma. (Who would've thought...........?)

Mayonnaise

Makes 1 1/2 Cups

1 whole egg, at room temperature

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon Dijon-type mustard

1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 Tablespoon whey, (optional)

1/2 - 1 Cup extra virgin olive oil or expeller-expressed sunflower oil or a combination

generous pinch sea salt

(I found that too much olive oil really over powered the flavor. I prefer the majority of the oil to be sunflower oil as it has a lighter flavor.)

In your food processor, place egg, egg yolk, mustard, salt and lemon juice and optional whey. Process until well blended, about 30 seconds. Using the attachment that allows you to add liquids drop by drop, add olive oil and/or sunflower oil with the motor running. Taste and check seasoning. You may want to add more salt and lemon juice. If you have added whey, let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature, well covered, for 7 hours before refrigerating. With whey added, mayonnaise will keep several months and will become firmer with time. Without whey, mayonnaise will keep for about 2 weeks.

f.y.i. Homemade mayonnaise imparts valuable enzymes, particularly lipase, to sandwiches, tuna salad, chicken salads and many other dishes and is very easy to make. The added whey adds enzymes and increases nutrient content. Homemeade mayonnaise will be slightly more liquid than store-bought versions.