Health, Home, & Happiness

Free Email Series for GAPS Intro Encouragement

2012-01-26T19:33:38Z

Do you remember the GAPS Intro Challenge we did this past September? I sent out encouraging emails every few days to help you get motivated to start the GAPS Intro. Well, I’ve used those emails and added some more and made a free ‘get started on GAPS’ email series. Free encouragement and help for the GAPS Intro diet sent right to your email box! This allows you to sign up any time that’s convenient for you rather than waiting for a specific challenge.

The series is set up in a way that there are 15 days of prep, and then 30 days on the introduction diet.

Click here to learn more and sign up.

Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes (with stevia option)

2012-01-12T23:38:09Z

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

These are delicious and go beautifully with many different toppings like honey, blueberries, fresh fruit, or even yogurt.

1-1/2 cup almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
6 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, ghee, or coconut oil
1 lemon, juiced
2 teaspoons poppy seeds (optional)
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons honey or 2 tablespoons date paste dates (or 2 packets stevia)
2 tablespoons coconut milk, or as needed to thin
Butter, ghee, or coconut oil for pan

Use a food processor, blender, stand mixer, or whisk to blend the coconut flour into the eggs. Add remaining ingredients and process until well blended. Allow mixture to sit as the pan heats.

Heat a skillet or griddle to medium heat, melt ¼ to ½ teaspoon fat to grease pan per batch. Spoon heaping tablespoons of batter onto hot griddle. Cook on one side for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown, then flip and cook on the next side for 2-3 minutes or again until golden brown.

To find organic healthy coconut products including coconut flour, click here!

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Dairy Free Pear Custard, GAPS and Primal Friendly

2012-01-02T15:21:05Z

This custard can pass for dessert and then breakfast the next day. It is such a wonderful nourishing dairy free meal/dessert I know you’ll love it!

Pear Custard

1 can full fat coconut milk (dairy option: Substitute 1-1/2 cups cultured cream or full fat yogurt)
1/4 cup honey
2 ripe pears
4 egg yolks (reserve the whites for biscuits, meringues, or macaroons)
4 whole eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, optional

Makes 4 large or 8 small custard cups
Fill 1 or two 9×13 inch glass dishes with 1 inch of water for the water bath. Place in the oven and preheat oven to 350*.

Mix all ingredients in a blender or food processor to a smooth puree. Fill custard cups (or ovenproof cups such as mason jars) half full with custard mixture. Once the oven has preheated, gently set the cups in the water. Bake in the water bath for 30-45 minutes or until custard is mostly set but still soft in the center. Remove carefully with oven mitts or crack the oven door and allow to cool in the oven, removing when cool. Serve warm, or cover with plastic wrap to store in the fridge and serve cool.

Looking for high quality real food ingredients? Check out my Resource Page- all these companies are fantastic, hand selected by Real Food Media! Click here!

Did You Miss It? Top Ten Posts from Health Home and Happiness in 2011

2012-01-01T20:32:54Z

Happy New Year!

I had a great 2011 and hope you did too! Here are your favorite posts from the blog this past year, enjoy for the first time if you missed them or re-read if desired.

1. Grain Free Meal Plans: This year I launched meal plans to help those who are overwhelmed by the idea of going grain free. The meal plans were made because they were exactly what I needed when I started my daughter on this GAPS journey over 2 years ago. I love the feedback I get from my subscribers, I am thrilled to be producing something that is making a difference for so many families.

2. What Can I Eat Now, 30 Days on the GAPS Intro Diet: Again, something that I needed when we started GAPS! This handbook condenses all the information about the GAPS intro into a 30 day plan to walk you through preparing for and starting the GAPS Intro diet.

3. Washing Hair with Baking Soda and Vinegar- This post was written a while ago, and I don’t even use this method any more (I’m loving Aubrey Organics) but it was neat to try. Amazing what we can do without ‘essential’ commercial products, isn’t it?

4. Honey and Cinnamon~ A Simple Cold Remedy: I love simple natural remedies, and apparently you all do too!

5. The GAPS Intro for Gut Healing and Sealing: An overview of the GAPS Intro diet, with a listing of the stages. Check the comments for lots of Q&A too.

6. Using Coconut Flour for Grain and Gluten Free Baking: How do you use this dense fine flour?

7. Coconut Flour Waffles: Yes, I love these too!

8. Five Whole Foods Meals that are Cheaper and Faster than Fast Food: For those times when we get overwhelmed and think life would be simpler if we could just drive through somewhere.

9. Slow Cooker Baked Apples: A Grain free breakfast that can be done in the crockpot? Yes please!

10. Homemade Fried Cheese Sticks: SO good!

Year End 30% off Real Food Media Sale!

2011-12-23T21:07:34Z

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays! Now it’s time to grab a cup of soup (pictured: Quick Mushroom Soup) and take advantage of year end sales that can get 2012 on track- knowledge and practical help is highest on my list of favorite things to spend money on as there is always a high return on the investment. And to make it a little easier for your holiday money to go further, Real Food Media bloggers have all put their classes on sale!

Not only are my Grain Free Meal Plans and What Can I Eat Now- 30 Days on the GAPS Intro Diet 30% off today 12/27 through 1/1/2012 (use coupon code SUPERSALE), but I also have 30% off year end deals from other Real Food Media bloggers for you including GAPS Classes, Holiday Classes, and MORE!

Everything below is 30% off with the coupon code Supersale until the evening of January 1, 2012!

Grain Free Meal Plans (discount applies to monthly or yearly purchases)
What Can I Eat Now, 30 days on the GAPS Introduction Diet
Reversing Food Allergies by CHEESESLAVE uses the GAPS principals and walks you through starting the diet step-by-step in a multimedia 12 week course.
Real Food Nutrition and Health and Real Food Nutrition and Health for Kids e-book are on sale- Food Renegade’s homeschooling (or public school supplementing!) courses and information geared towards children.
Get Cultured- the course on cultured (fermented) foods for preservation, body flora balancing, and taste!
Simple Dinners- meal plans by Nourished Kitchen that help you prepare family friendly dinners using seasonal produce and whole traditional foods.
Real Food for Rookies- the 12 week e-course where Kelly shows you how to transition to real foods including shopping, reading labels, cooking, and convincing the family!
Real Food Party Planning Guide and Ingredient Guide
Nourish MD’s Get REAL with Food Starter Kit- everything needed to feed your family real food at least 80% of the time- 6 CD Set, 19 eCookbooks and the Adventurous Eater Guide!
Well Fed Homestead’s Real Food Holiday Guide, How to Use Holiday Leftovers, and GAPS Legal Menu Plans!
Mommypotamus’s Nourished Baby, the E-book (a personal favorite!)

Use the coupon code SUPERSALE for 30% off!

Review: Paleo Comfort Foods Cookbook (and Brussels Sprouts Slaw Recipe)

2011-12-19T20:03:45Z

Paleo Comfort Foods is a must have book for anyone who is or wants to go grain free. The enticing full color pictures on every page, clear directions, and easy to find ingredients make cooking grain free exciting! I’ve had grain-free-wannabe friends take a look at this book and exclaim that they’d want to cook something from this book every night!

The book is a great resource, covering Starters and Snacks, Sauces and Staples, Soups and Salads, On the Side, Main dishes, and Desserts. My favorite aspect of the book is that nothing is too complicated and the ingredients are relatively easy to source.

The first recipe I made was the Brussels Sprouts Slaw, which I’ll share for you, with my minor adaptations to the instructions. I brought the finished salad to share with Kendahl of Our Nourishing Roots, to which she dubbed me ‘Queen of Savory Dishes’ With the help of a food processor to slice the brussels sprouts, this dish is quick to put together. I am not a big fan of raw veggies, that’s what appealed to me about this salad- it’s lightly sauteed.

Brussels Sprouts Slaw

1 cup pecan halves (buy nuts here)

1/2 pound bacon, cut into pieces (buy additive free beef or pork bacon here)

1/4 cup prepared mustard

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

The juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (buy herbs and spices here)

1-1/2 lbs brussels sprouts, stems trimmed off

2 green onions, cut on the bias

Instructions:

Heat a large skillet to medium high, add pecan halves and toast, stirring constantly, until fragrant (3-5 minutes) and remove. Turn heat down to medium and fry bacon until crisp. As bacon fries, slice brussels sprouts, either by hand or with the slicing blade on a food processor. When the bacon is crisp, remove from pan and allow to drain. Pour out most of the grease, leaving only about a tablespoon. Add sliced brussels sprouts and green onions and saute until softened. As the brussels sprouts cook, whisk mustard, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, and black pepper in a bowl. Once brussels sprouts are soft, combine the greens, dressing, and toasted pecans and toss. Serve warm or cold.

To find other yummy dishes such as this, buy Paleo Comfort Foods here!

Top Kitchen Equipment Holiday Gift Picks

2011-12-19T13:47:24Z

What’s most useful in my kitchen? Honestly, I most appreciate good knives. Sounds simple, but there’s nothing more frustrating than using dull knives all day long while we cook from scratch. My second favorite kitchen appliance would be the dishwasher, followed by my food processor, crock pot, stock pot, dehydrator, and garlic press.

Check out these picks and consider sharing this list with those who want to buy you useful gifts this season, and see my other list of sustainable clutter free holiday gifts for those on your gift giving list who might not be in the kitchen as often as you are.

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This is the knife set I have, I found it at Costco a few months ago for a great price. Good knives quickly turn cooking from a chore back into a pleasure. But be careful, they’re sharp

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Stock pot- I recommend the largest stock pot that you can easily wash in a standard sink. I have an 8-quart Calphalon Stainless Stockpot.

Slow cooker- You may want more than one of these if you have a large family! I use mine nearly every day for cooking chicken, stock, soup, and applesauce.

Stainless Steel Skillet- Lighter weight than cast iron, but without the dangerous nonstick coating. I use this daily too, for eggs, pancakes, crepes, browning meat, etc. I use the clear lid from my stock pot on my skillet as well, so I can see what’s cooking. The lid helps food to cook faster by trapping heat inside.

Cast Iron Griddle- Cast iron griddles provide a heavy uniform heat surface, perfect for making large batches of pancakes, bacon, or hamburgers.

Wide Mouth Mason jars- Half gallon, quart, pint, half pint (half pint are regular mouth). Half gallon and quarts are used for yogurt, chicken stock. Pints are used for just about everything else; mayonnaise, dressings, ferments, leftovers, even as drinking glasses. Half pint are perfect for single servings of yogurt, custard, and leftovers.

Wide Mouth Thermos- for taking soup with you, and keeping warm foods warm in lunches. These are a worth it to get high quality- it really makes a difference for ease of use, ease of cleaning, and actually keeping the food warm!

I use my excalibur dehydrator often- if I find a good deal on produce, I dehydrate the excess. I use it to keep the constant temperature required for 24-hour yogurt weekly. I also use it to dehydrate crispy nuts, and homemade jerky. The 5-tray style can fit quart-sized jars and can make two gallons of yogurt at once.

My Garlic Press gets a workout daily. A high quality one is worth the expense, and still remember to rinse it right after use to prevent corrosion. After rinsing, I do toss it in the dishwasher.

A food processor with a slicing blade makes quick work of chopping cabbage for salad and sauerkraut, grating cheese, making mayonnaise, mixing coconut flour baked goods, and many other cooking tasks. This summer at a yard sale I moved on my kitchen aid stand mixer to save kitchen space, so now I use my food processor for all my mixing.

Simple blender with a glass pitcher. I have been using this blender for a while, and it is plenty powerful for me. I haven’t found the need for a more expensive version.

To blend soups and apple butter/sauce right in the pot or crockpot. This saves time and dishes over having to puree in batches in the blender or food processor.

Simple Natural Remedies: Ingesting and Soaking with Clay

2011-12-15T13:48:57Z

Clay is a fascinating simple natural remedy that has been on my mind for a while. I finally was pushed to actually research and try it this past fall when a friend was placing an order- saving on shipping is always a good motivator for trying new things! I tried bentonite clay, from Wyoming, one pound was plenty to experiment with at first and has lasted a couple months.

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Clay Is a Fascinating Natural Remedy

Clay is used both internally and externally.
Clay pulls toxins and heavy metals out of the body.
Clay provides the body with minerals such as silica, calcium, iron, and potassium.
Clay has the unique ability to cling to the area in the body that is troubled; a bee sting, an irritation in the digestive tract, a spot of infection, etc.
Clay has been used for thousands of years, by cultures around the world.

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How Does Clay Detoxify?

This concept is what was most interesting to me. Children with autism and other developmental issues often have problems with their detoxification system, and therefore a buildup of toxins. The GAPS diet helps correct our detoxification system, but I’m always interested in other ways to gently eliminate toxins from our bodies, especially my daughter’s.

Clay, like the earth, has a negative charge. When ingested, the negative charge attracts viruses, bacteria, pathogens, and heavy metals, all of which have a positive charge. The clay draws them into itself, which binds them, and they can be eliminated out the digestive tract with other waste.

Clay can also be used topically, just make a paste (or use wet clay) and apply to insect bites, rashes, burns, or other skin-related conditions and allow the toxins to be drawn out. This can be done a few minutes before taking a shower, then just washed off in the shower.

How Does Clay Correct Mineral Deficiencies?

Clay contains minerals that are often missing from the foods we eat due to eating processed foods, or even whole foods with poor mineral content due to poor soil. Clay provides minerals to the body as needed, and anything not needed just keeps passing through.

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Wet vs Dry Clay

Clay can be used both wet and dry. Dry clay can be sprinkled on foods (I haven’t liked this so far), used as a powder such as on a diaper rash, or taken in a capsule.

I find wet clay much easier to use, it is less gritty and is easy to dispense. I keep a little jar of wet clay on the counter and add it to my kids’ water, take it by the spoonful myself, use it topically if needed for bug bites or rashes, add a spoonful or two (limited by finances- I think more would be more effective!) to detox baths, and we even use it to brush our teeth with occasionally!

To wet clay:

Fill a jar that has a lid 1/3 full with clay, fill to the top with filtered water, and gently mix a bit. Allow to sit and the clay will absorbe

Precautions:

Clay does have quite a bit of aluminum in it (18% in this bentonite) but it is my understanding that due to the charged nature of the molecules in clay, it will not cause aluminum toxicity. (source)
Starting slow is a good idea- I started with just 1/4 teaspoon for each of my small children a day, and worked up to 1 teaspoon (when I’m consistent with it… I try…) and double that for myself.

Our Experiences With Clay

We’ve been using clay consistently for the past two months, slowly building up from just a little bit a day. I have noticed that all our nails are growing at a super fast rate, which I believe is an indicator of mineral deficiencies being corrected. I haven’t noticed any dramatic improvements with my daughter, but over the past couple months she has been sleeping better, talking more, and the undereye circles she gets in the wintertime aren’t as bad as last year. I think it’s a worthy remedy to continue, and I’ll update our progress here if anything changes.

Clay on GAPS

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has addressed this question:Is Bentonite Clay GAPS legal and is it recommended?

No, it is not recommended to use bentonite clay, particularly when digestive symptoms are present. When you have been on the Full GAPS Diet for a while and your digestive symptoms are gone, then you can experiment with nutritional supplements and remedies (such as bentonite clay), if you feel that they may be helpful to you.

Buffalo Chicken Wings, Real Food, Primal, and GAPS/SCD Friendly

2011-12-18T16:10:08Z

Buffalo Chicken Wings are a fun messy treat perfect for football season, having guests over, and potlucks. These are favorites with my kids, though they had a hard time wrapping their heads around not using a fork to eat since that’s so often emphasized ;)

Served with sliced veggies (which can also be dipped in the blue cheese dressing), this meal is simple to put together. Save the bones to make stock with.

Buffalo Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dressing

Makes about 15-17 wings

Buffalo Sauce:

1/4 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper (buy organic herbs and spices here)
1 tablespoon paprika (buy organic herbs and spices here)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste (purchase BPA free tomato paste here)

Blue Cheese Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise (mayo recipe)
1/2 cup yogurt (yogurt recipe)
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

3- 3 1/2 pounds chicken wings, tips removed (about 15-17) (buy chicken here)
coconut or olive oil (buy coconut oil here, olive oil here)

Directions

Buffalo sauce: Whisk all ingredients in a bowl.

Blue cheese dressing: Stir ingredients together in the serving bowl, leave some lumps.

Wings: Spread chicken wings in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil and season with salt and black pepper.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, turning once, or until golden brown and crispy. Cover with Buffalo Sauce. Serve with Blue Cheese Dressing.

Beautiful Babies: Nutrition for Conception, Pregnancy, Birth, Breastfeeding, and Baby

2011-12-19T01:44:13Z

My Beautiful Baby Boy, 16 months

Beautiful Babies…

There is nothing that motivates a mother to feed herself or her family right more than her children. I know that my children have been my main motivation for learning about healthier habits- not only with nutrition, but with natural remedies, opting out of toxic mainstream practices, and even exercise (I have to stay in shape to keep up with them!)

But when I was pregnant with my first baby, the whole food concept sounded good, but really was too overwhelming to implement much of (other than eating lots of butter- I got on that right away!) all at once. I’m a researcher (see my enormous being informed about childbirth, breastfeeding, and babies post) but solid nutrition information was hard to come by.

Fast forward to when I was expecting my second, I had much of the Nourishing Traditions lifestyle figured out by then, but even so another pregnant friend and I were lamenting about the lack of real food pregnancy and baby information out there!

The Answer: The Beautiful Babies E-Course

Thankfully Kristen, of Food Renegade, heard everyone’s desire to make these oh-so-essential months pre-conception, during pregnancy, and baby’s first year clearly explained to you in the Beautiful Babies E-Course.

Did you know that what you eat even pre-conception and especially during pregnancy affects such things as your child’s bone structure (how easy their childbirth will be and how straight their teeth are!), and lifelong health? It affects your childbirth as well, I know my ‘Nourishing Traditions’ pregnancy and childbirth (homebirth, my little guy is about an hour old in the picture to the right) went so much better with an easier pregnancy, birth, and recovery (and this ‘little’ guy was 11 lbs!).

I don’t think I can emphasize enough how important these months are!

I encourage you to check out Beautiful Babies, the e-course that shows you how to create lifelong health and literally change your family tree through nutrition and healthy choices.

Hurry! There is a $50 discount when you sign up before 11/15/2011!

Sign Up Here

Also, will you please share this on Facebook? This information is SO needed in this modern processed food eating time.