RANCH DRESSING MIX

I have made half of the recipe below and it will probably last me for the remainder of this year (or more). Also I only made 1/4 of the salad dressing which will last about two weeks in the fridge. So the first recipe is the mix and then below it will be the steps to making the salad dressing.

Ranch Dressing Mix:

1/4 cup Black Pepper

1 1/2 cups Parsley Flakes 

1/2 cup Garlic Salt 

2 TBS Kosher Salt 

1/4 cup Granulated Garlic 

3/4 cup Granulated Onion 

2 TBS Dill Weed 

Combine all ingredients, store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 ½ cups of dry mix. 

To make the salad dressing, whisk together:

2 TBS of mix

2 cups mayonnaise 

2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups sour cream 

1 tsp Lemon Juice 

Refrigerate for 2 hours. 

Makes 1 3/4 Quarts

Here is the quantity of mix I used to make a smaller amount - just enough for two weeks in our fridge.

1/2 TBS of mix

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk)

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 tsp lemon juice

Best of all, the kids like it. No MSG. No preservatives. Fresh, natural and REAL.

Creamy Garlic Dressing (Non-Dairy)

I wanted to drown my salad in this dressing today.  In fact, I used a bit more than I usually do, but I realized that I needed to save some for my next salad. Here is the recipe:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar (Bragg's RAW has beneficial probiotics)

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1 garlic clove

1/3 of a medium size cucumber

1/2 of a pear

1 TBS mustard (any you like)

1 TBS RAW honey
1/2 to 1 tsp sea salt

Blend together in Vitamix (or blender) and enjoy.  It will taste and look very creamy.

This salad was topped with a cucumber from my own garden.  YUMMY!

I also posted this recipe at Kelly the Kitchen Kop where you might like to visit for more Real Food Recipes.

Ultra-Pasteurized Milk - Do not drink it!

So, I'm trying to make things like yogurt and kefir (cultured milk) drinks for my kids to get their digestive systems full of GOOD bacteria. (A stomach full of GOOD bacteria wards off stomach viruses and upset stomachs - which are pretty much non-existent in our household.)  

I figured that since the milk has to be heated anyway in order to allow for culturing the milk, then I would simply use organic milk and save our RAW milk for drinking fresh out of the fridge  Well, the regular store-bought milks just don't work. The consistency is wrong and it still affects me in a bad way. The reason is that  regular store-bought milks have been Ultra-Pasteurized.

So I started my research and discovered that MOST milk available for purchase in grocery stores are now labeled as "Ultra-Pasteurized" (I did find ONE brand that was labeled as simply "Pasteurized" at Whole Foods, but ONLY ONE!)

Ultra-Pasteurized milk has been heated to temps up to 280 degrees compared to "regular" pasteurized milk which is only heat to about 160 - 170 degrees.  So it makes so much sense.  In order to make yogurt the milk is first heated to the same temperature as "regular" pasteurized milk.  This is a quote that nailed it for me:

"Now consider this: you cannot make yogurt or kefir out of UHT milk, it is simply too dead to hold a culture. If a product will not support microscopic life, it is not likely to support human life."  (http://www.foodrenegade.com/just-say-no-to-uht-milk/)

Bottom-line:  There is no health benefit in Ultra-Pasteurized milk.  It's dead and just full of sugars (unless lactose free, but that doesn't make it any more nutritious) and Ultra-Pasteurized milk DOES YOUR BODY "BAD". Whereas,  raw milk is full of living enzymes to help your body digest and use the nutrients that are actually present in the milk.

My own lettuce! Gardening again!

(Dressing Recipe Below)  I love to eat salad.  I guess it's just the way God made me.  At this point, I do believe that everyone should eat lots of fruits and veggies (after all these were the first foods we were given "in the garden").  Yet, perhaps everyone has other foods they can eat - depending on their makeup.  For instance, I seem to do well eating meats, but definitely not grains.  BUT, with all that said, fruits and vegetables are very beneficial and very well tolerated (eventually) by everyone.

So, on the February 24th I planted some lettuces that I hope to keep alive throughout spring.  I should have been growing cabbages and some other green items during the winter, but I didn't think it was possible.  I won't miss next season for sure.  Here is a picture of my garden.  I have 1 head of Romaine, 1 head of a variety mix lettuce, 6 heads of Bibb lettuce, 2 Bok Choy, 1 Arugula, two chives, 1 cilantro, 1 sage and 1 Aloe Vera (for topical medicinal purposes). 

Oh and in the "melon/gourd" garden (no photo) I have planted 6 vines of small pickling cucumbers. And, in a small planter there are two strawberry plants with 5 strawberries currently.

I wish I had more time to plant more.  I think I'm going to start some things from seed.  This plants for these starter gardens cost me about $35.  I can imagine if I had double or triple the amount, I wouldn't need to buy greens at the store.  They would be an amazing accomplishment.  Even though I had these in my garden, I made the mistake of buying lettuce at the grocery store yesterday. But, today I actually ate some of the romaine lettuce which made up about 1/3 of the lettuces shown in the salad bowl above.

When I picked them, there were these little bugs all over one leaf especially.  Just a few years ago, this would have been a "show stopper" for me.  But I'm growing (hopefully along with my garden) and I'm even able to look at the worms and dig in the dirt as long as I have my gloves on.  Now that's progress.

Most of our soil is coming from our composting efforts.  Because I juice veggies daily, I have lots of scraps/pulp to dump into my compost pile and I feel that I don't have any waste this way.

I tried a new salad dressing recipe that I made up today.  It was a bit bitter when I tried it alone and I'm not sure what made it bitter, but it was great on the salad.  

Salad Dressing Recipe:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup apple cider vineger (Bragg's is my favorite)

juice of 1 lemon

1 garlic clove

1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

dash of peppet (or to taste)

1/2 pear

1/4 cucumber

1 inch knob of ginger

chives (to your liking)

I think that's it.  I put it all into the Vitamix and out came a creamy dressing.

Trying to lose weight?

Trying to lose weight? ...Well here is your solution.

Today I decided to track my caloric intake.The program I like to use is called Calorie Counter and it's FREE!  So the chart below is what I discovered and hopefully might help you too! I decided to compare what I have eaten so far for breakfast and lunch today with (only) the lunch that my husband takes with him on a daily basis.  For breakfast I had a fruit smoothie and for lunch I had a BIG salad and baked butternut squash.

Yes, there is no denying it.  If you are trying to cut calories, you will need to cut out those food condiments (particularly mayo) and those starchy sides - as proven in the case below. By the way the calories shown below for mayo and chips are well within the recommended serving size - and we know that most eat WAY more than the serving size.  Did you know that the serving size of chips is only 1 ounce?  So cut out those chips to keep your caloric AND carbohydrate count low.

But I have just the opposite issue - I am trying to gain weight.

Remember, I'm on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet to heal my digestive system.  It's working.  No more brain fog or stomach issues. I had a bloated stomach and didn't even realize it until I started on the diet.  The majority of my food sensitivities are long gone! The rules of this diet don't allow for potatoes of any type (how I love sweet potatoes).  Yet, it does allow for nuts and seeds...but my skin is still too sensitive for them, if this were not the case - adding nuts and seeds would definitely be my solution.  Looks like the only solution is to eat more.  Eat more?  Yes, this diet will allow you to eat ALL DAY!

I hope you all are discovering how to adjust your diet to meet your goals.  Send me an email if you have suggestions or questions for me.

Eating my fruits and veggies

What would my life be like without fruits and veggies?  I would miss all the wonderful colors. I would miss the varying textures (you can bake, stew, broil, steam, blend, fry? [sometimes] or eat them raw).  And, let's not forget about how great they taste!

This photo was from my produce shopping trip this past Friday.  It's now Saturday and this is what I've done with them so far:

• Dinner - Cod and cauliflower cakes with string beans and onions (family ate the red potatoes - NOT SCD)
• Breakfast - bananas and grapes (it's grape season and they taste wonderful)
• Salad - lettuce, carrots, lemons, red cabbage
• Lunch - Stewed Zucchini, garlic and onions topped with lemon and parsley to go along with some sea bass - yummy!
• Dinner - Basil pesto on "spiralized" zucchini
• Snacking - more bananas, more grapes, tangelos, strawberries, plum, apples
• Vegetable juice - carrots, beet greens, celery and apple

Here is what I'm planning:

• Spinach salad with red onions a bit of cucumbers, avocados and perhaps a few strawberries 
• Freezing the remaining strawberries to use in fruit smoothies
• Making sauerkraut using red cabbage
• Slowly bake or pan cooking the green cabbage with onions and Poblano peppers
• More juicing - my favorite is carrots, kale and apple
• Dehydrate the mangoes - they become like candy!
• Another salad with thinly sliced beets -- or should I slow bake them to absolute sweetness?
• And finally the mushrooms?  Hmm...normally I would eat with scrambled eggs, but I think I will saute them and put into a vegetable wrap with the red peppers.

I guess that will be it.  Yes, these were all meals that I have eaten or will eat within 2 days.  By Monday, it may all be gone - I think I should really focus on growing more in my garden.

Pancake Options

So every now and then I desire something sweet for breakfast.  This is usually on a Saturday morning when I've slept later and I'm eating my first meal at almost lunch time.  Here are THREE pancake options for you.

Option 1: Banana Egg Pancakes (1 serving)

Banana Egg Pancakes with Raw Honey

The recipe is as simple as it gets.  Take one egg and 1 banana and blend together.  (This works very well in the Vitamix.)  Put a small amount of coconut oil, butter or ghee onto griddle/pan to prevent sticking and cook the pancakes.  You will want to cook these at a lower temperature (approx. medium-low temp) than you would other pancakes so that the banana doesn't burn.







Option 2: Almond Banana Egg Pancakes (1 serving)

Almond Banana Egg Pancakes with Scrambled Eggs

This recipe adds a few more ingredients:
1 egg
1 banana
1/4 cup almond meal (or 1/4 cup blanched almonds if using the Vitamix)
1/8 tsp baking soda (optional - add if you want them to rise a bit more like traditional pancakes made with flour)

Cook in a little coconut oil, butter, or ghee on a medium-low temperature griddle/pan.  Add some eggs, homemade breakfast sausage and fresh fruit juice or smoothie and you will have a very filling meal.



Option 3:  Cashew Cinnamon Pancakes (2-3 servings)
(Recipe from "Eat Well, Feel Well" by Kendall Conrad)

1 cup whole raw cashews
3 large eggs
2  TBS  homemade yogurt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1  TBS  honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 TBS coconut oil

1. Grind the cashews into a paste in a food processor.  Add the eggs, yogurt, baking soda, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt - blend well. (Or just put all ingredients at once into Vitamix and create the batter.)
2. Heat the coconut oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat.  Pour batter into small pools and cook for 2 - 3 minutes, until golden.  Flip and cook for an additional 1 or 2 minutes.
3. Serve hot.