Links for More Information

• Vitamin D Benefits
• New evidence links vitamin D to flu prevention
  
• Study Shows More Benefits of Sunshine Vitamin
• Are You Vitamin D Deficient?
• Those With Low Vitamin D twice as Likely to Die
• Preventing vitamin D deficiency — the new breakthrough in women’s health?
• Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin D
• Vitamin D and Vitamin D Deficiency
• Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D? – WebMD
• Vitamin D – Mayo Clinic
  
• Vitamin D and Your Health
• Is Vitamin D Deficiency Casting a Cloud Over Your Health?
• Vitamin D Deficiency Worsens Breast Cancer?
• Vitamin D Deficiency is Common: Peoples Pharmacy
• Is There a Link Between Vit D and Heart Attacks
• 10 Myths About Vitamin D
  

Watch careful and you’ll see Heidi walk right under our 6 month old Shichon Frosty. Too cute!

Hubby and I stayed nearby just in case Heidi decided to attack Rocky. Heidi may look innocent but she has another side. Look how she handled this ferocious jacket:

No jackets were harmed in the filming of this video.

Also to file under too cute: Frosty with a new hairdo.

We picked up Heidi yesterday. She is 7.5 weeks old born August 25, 2009. We are only babysitting until my parents come in November–I have had to repeat this 900 times this morning becasue my boys are in love with Heidi Ho. Watch the videos to see why.

Shichons are  a Shih Tzu and Bichon Frise mix. The mix is also known as Teddy Bears, Zuchons, Shishchons, Shih Chons. There best known for melting into your chest.

More photos and videos coming soon.

.I’ve been trying to get more fish in our diet and found Bumble Bee Tuna Sensations Sundried Tomato and Basil flavor at Walmart. It very convenient pull top, just dump and eat.

I serve the tuna in half an avocado less than $2.00 lunch.  Much less than any fast food and very healthy. Unfortunately the crackers that come with the tuna are Ritz type. I’d prefer a wholegrain cracker.

Even Better

Make this more economical and healthier by using making your own Sundried Tomato and Basil tuna and add wholewheat crackers. Apples and tomatoes are also great with this lunch.

Ehow.com list several important benefits of tuna:

5 Health Benefits of Tuna

Healthmad list the most well-known health benefits of avocado for both adults and kids.

11 Health Benefits of the Avocado

1. It protects cholesterol related heart diseases. It reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
2. It is used both in prevention and treatment of prostate and breast cancers. Scientists have proved that a toxin in avocado kills the cancer cells. So-called toxin has a great effect on the tissues, particularly heart muscle tissues.
3. Avocado includes necessary minerals like potassium, calcium, vitamin C and K, folic acid, copper, sodium and dietary fibers. These are used to provide the mineral necessity of the body. People who live in hot climates have great mineral and water loss. So, avocado is suggested strongly by the medicals.
4. Oleic acid in avocado can be used to lower cholesterol level in the blood.
5. Potassium in avocado regulates pressure of blood.
6. Sodium reduces the risk of high blood pressure and stoke.
7. It improves the ability of the body to absorb carotenoids.
8. Avocado is used to help people who have sexual problems.
9. It is a good antioxidant.
10. It can be used in the treatment of skin disorders.
11. It is used to heal people who suffer from digestive and circulatory problems.

Bible Dietary Resources

1. • More than 150 tasty and easy-to-prepare recipes, such as Sweet Potato Fries, Pesto-Crusted Salmon and Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls.
   • Insights into the Three Principles from What the Bible Says about Healthy Living that will change your diet and improve your health.
   • Nutritional facts that highlight the amazing design behind God’s ingredients.
     

Holy Cow: What the Bible Says About Eating Meat begins with the author’s attention-grabbing story personal story. The author was raised as a Jew but only discovers what the Bible really says about eating after she becomes a Christian. She shares the challenges she had to face when she tried to share her new found Bible truth to her husband.

This book is a simple-to-understand overview in plain words the differences between clean and unclean meats. The author presents a balanced explanation of eating biblically and explains where some of the non-biblical traditions (such as separating milk and meat) come from.

Egan addresses the verses that most Christians use to rationalize that all foods are clean (Mark 7 and Acts 10). She uses basic hermeneutic principles to properly interpret the text. Eagan is very clear that our diets are not a salvation issue while also encourages obedience to God’s Word. I highly recommend this fine book.$14.00

Add to cart


What The Bible Say About Healthy Living Cookbook

Join biblical health author Hope Egan and lifelong healthy eater Amy Cataldo as they unveil the long-awaited follow-up to What the Bible Says about Healthy Living.Helping you incor­porate God’s ingredients into your life—simply and without sacrificing taste—this companion cookbook shows you how to prepare meals, snacks and desserts based on the principles outlined in What the Bible Says about Healthy Living. For years biblical health experts have been telling you how to think about biblical eating. Now there is a complete cookbook that helps you take action:

17.95 Add to cart

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

Now I am more thrilled to find out there is a second book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (due to ship Oct 27) whips up fabulous breads made with more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. The secret? Mix up a lightning-fast batch of moist no-knead dough, save it in your refrigerator, tear off portions over the next week or more, shape, and bake.

There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread to fill a kitchen with warmth, eager appetites, and endless praise for mom who took on such a time-consuming task. And now you can make healthy bread your family will love.

This video is about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Five Minutes! Really?!

The secret is keeping a  one or to-week supply of dough is made in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Actually it takes about 15 minutes to mix the recipe.

The daily process takes only five- minutes of prep work to slice off a hunk of dough and shape it into a loaf. The five-minutes doesn’t include the 20-minute resting time for dough or 30 minutes for baking.

Look What You Do NOT Have to Do:

• No kneading!
• No new batch of dough each time to make bread!
• No proofing the yeast!
• No fuss over doubling and tripling volume!
• No punch down and re-rise!
• No poking!

This method is so convenient that you will want to bake a loaf every morning.

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day includes 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients. Such as:

• Pain au Potiron (Peppery Pumpkin and Olive Oil Loaf) (picture above)
• Whole Grain Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers and Fontina
• Turkish-Style Pita Bread with Black Sesame Seeds
• Cherry Tomato Baguette
• Gluten-Free Rosemary Parmesan Bread Sticks
• Spicy Chile Whole Grain Snack Crackers
• Quinoa Bread
• Pistachio Swirled Brioche

Amazon’s Pre-order Price Guarantee:  Order now and if the Amazon.com price decreases between your order time and the end of the day of the release date, you’ll receive the lowest price.

Book Excerpt from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François

The Master Recipe: Boule (Artisan Free-Form Loaf)

Makes four 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (1-1/2 packets)
• 1-1/2 tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt
• 6-1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour,
  measured with the scoop-and-sweep method
• Cornmeal for pizza peel

Mixing and Storing the Dough

1. Warm the water slightly: It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature, about 100°F. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point for storage in about 2 hours. You can use cold tap water and get an identical final result; then the first rising will take 3 or even 4 hours. That won’t be too great a difference, as you will only be doing this once per stored batch.

2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded (not airtight) plastic food container or food-grade bucket. Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.

3. Mix in the flour—kneading is unnecessary: Add all of the flour at once, measuring it in with dry-ingredient measuring cups, by gently scooping up flour, then sweeping the top level with a knife or spatula; don’t press down into the flour as you scoop or you’ll throw off the measurement by compressing. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor (14 cups or larger) fitted with the dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the mixture is uniform. If you’re hand-mixing and it becomes too difficult to incorporate all the flour with the spoon, you can reach into your mixing vessel with very wet hands and press the mixture together. Don’t knead. It isn’t necessary. You’re finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. This step is done in a matter of minutes, and will yield a dough that is wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of its container.

Allow to rise: Cover with a lid (not airtight) that fits well to the container you’re using. Do not use screw-topped bottles or Mason jars, which could explode from the trapped gases. Lidded plastic buckets designed for dough storage are readily available (see page 14 of the book). Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on the top), approximately 2 hours, depending on the room’s temperature and the initial water temperature. Longer rising times, up to about 5 hours, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Fully refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and is easier to work with than dough at room temperature. So, the first time you try our method, it’s best to refrigerate the dough overnight (or at least 3 hours), before shaping a loaf.

The scoop-and-sweep method gives consistent results without sifting or weighing. It’s easier to scoop and sweep if you store your flour in a bin rather than the bag it’s sold in; it can be hard to get the measuring cups in a bag without making a mess. Also: Don’t use an extra-large 2-cup-capacity measuring cup, which allows the flour to overpack and measures too much flour.

Relax! You do not need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as traditional recipes.

On Baking Day

5. The gluten cloak: don’t knead, just “cloak” and shape a loaf in 30 to 60 seconds. First, prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal (or whatever your recipe calls for) to prevent your loaf from sticking to it when you slide it into the oven.

Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with flour. Pull up and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough, using a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Most of the dusting flour will fall off; it’s not intended to be incorporated into the dough. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten out and adhere during resting and baking. The correctly shaped final product will be smooth and cohesive. The entire process should take no more than 30 to 60 seconds.

6. Rest the loaf and let it rise on a pizza peel: Place the shaped ball on the cornmeal-covered pizza peel. Allow the loaf to rest on the peel for about 40 minutes (it doesn’t need to be covered during the rest period). Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise during this period; more rising will occur during baking (”oven spring”).

7. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450°F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread.

8. Dust and slash: Unless otherwise indicated in a specific recipe, dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 1/4-inch-deep cross, “scallop,” or tic-tac-toe pattern into the top, using a serrated bread knife (see photo).

9. Baking with steam: After a 20-minute preheat, you’re ready to bake, even though your oven thermometer won’t yet be up to full temperature. With a quick forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the preheated baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about 1 cup of hot water from the tap into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch. Because you’ve used wet dough, there is little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or “sing,” when initially exposed to roomtemperature air. Allow to cool completely, preferably on a wire cooling rack, for best flavor, texture, and slicing. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will firm up again when cooled.

10. Store the remaining dough in the refrigerator in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next 14 days: You’ll find that even one day’s storage improves the flavor and texture of your bread. This maturation continues over the 14-day storage period. Refrigerate unused dough in a lidded storage container (again, not airtight). If you mixed your dough in this container, you’ve avoided some cleanup. Cut off and shape more loaves as you need them. We often have several types of dough storing in the refrigerator at once. The dough can also be frozen in 1 pound portions in an airtight container and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day.

What’s a “gluten-cloak”? Just imagine a warm blanket being pulled around you on a cold night. Or, for the more technically inclined: What you are trying to do here is to add enough flour to the surface so it can be handled and the protein strands in the surface can be aligned, creating a resilient “cloak” around the mass of wet, barely kneaded dough. Visualize a cloak being pulled around the dough, so that the entire ball is surrounded by a skin. Resist the temptation to get rid of all stickiness by adding too much flour. Adding large amounts of flour prevents the bread from achieving a finished crumb with the typical artisanal “custard” (page 19 of the book).

Lazy sourdough shortcut: When your dough bucket is finally empty, don’t wash it! Immediately re-mix another batch in the same container. In addition to saving the cleanup step, the aged dough stuck to the sides of the container will give your new batch a head start on sourdough flavor. Just scrape it down and it will hydrate and incorporate into the new dough.

Amaze your friends with the “6-3-3-13″ rule: If you want to store enough for eight one-pound loaves, here’s a simple mnemonic for the recipe: 6, 3, 3, and 13. It’s 6 cups water, 3 tablespoons salt, 3 tablespoons yeast, and then add 13 cups of flour. Store in a 10-quart lidded container. That’s it. It will amaze your friends when you do this in their homes without a recipe—but tell them to buy the book anyway!

For More Information See Artisanbreadinfive.com

Butter beans (also known as large Fordhook Lima beans) make a wonderful rich creamy soup. Lima beans are an inexpensive and full of protein and fiber add a delicious taste to soups, casseroles, and salads.

This versatile recipe can be made with or without the carrots, celery, artichoke or turkey– on the stove or in the crock pot. Super for a cold day, the cooking smell is wonderful.

• 1 pound of dried Lima or butter beans
• 4 cups water
• 5 carrots, chopped
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 4 cubes chicken bouillon
• 8 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper (or Mrs Dash) to taste
• optional: turkey ham (cubed) or smoked turkey leg
• optional: 1 14-16 ounce can artichoke bottoms (diced or purée)

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak your beans for at least an hour, but overnight is best (the bigger the beans you are soaking, the more time they need.)
2. In a soup pot, saute vegetables in olive oil until onions and celery are translucent. Add lima beans, and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes.
   
3. Bring water to a boil. Add the bouillon and stir until dissolved. Add broth to the sauteed vegetables and beans (and turkey if used) Add  more water to cover beans, and allow soup to simmer  for 1 to 2 hours. (if you use smoked turkey leg you will need to remove bones). Serve steaming hot and enjoy!
4. Cooks well in crokpot too. 4-8 hours depending on setting.
   

Artichoke Note

I made this soup for years without the artichoke and love it but– if you have a can on hand try it–the artichokes add a wonderful flavor.

Butter Beans vs Lima Beans

There are two common varieties of lima bean — the baby lima bean and the Fordhook — but don’t confuse them as the same bean in different stages of development. The Fordhook is larger, lighter in color, and has a stronger taste than the baby lima, but it is not a grown-up baby — it is a separate variety.

Canned Beans

I saw several recipes online using canned butter beans or lima beans.

I never tried it. I will next time I’m in a hurry.

Lima Bean Hummas

I saw lima bean hummas recipe I’ll try next. Check it out here.

.

INGREDIENTS

• 12 whole eggs in the shell
• 3-4 avocados – peeled, pitted, and mashed
• 4 tablespoon minced green onion
• 4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
• 2 teaspoon Dijon-style prepared mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• paprika
• Optional  cilantro & jalapeno (I don’t care for either)
  

1. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover, and let eggs stand in hot water for 15- 18  minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, and peel. Slice eggs in half, and remove yolks to a mixing bowl.
2. In the bowl with the yolks, combine the avocado, green onion. Stir in the lime juice, and season with salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. Mix well, and fill empty egg white halves. Chill until serving. Sprinkle with paprika just before serving.

We can find humor everywhere, even in an epidemic. Slate Magazine has a gallery featuring 29 cartoons about the swine flu outbreak. These are my favorites:

Also see MSNBC collection of swine flu cartoons.

Rosh Hashana or the Feast of Trumpets begins sundown today. It is the Bible New Year celebration.

The Spring Bible holidays tell of Jesus first coming and the fall festivals are prophetic of His second coming.

Rosh Hashana Information for Christians

• Fall Feasts Overview
• Rosh Hashana Overview
• Feast of Trumpets in Biblical Times
• Jewish Customs
• Messiah in the Feast of Trumpets
• Suggestiong for Celebrating

Apple and Honey Cake

Apples and honey are a traditional food for this celebration. We are baking New Year cakes for our neighbors. (I’m on a sugar free yeast free diet so there will be no cake for me.)

Our Jewish neighbors across the street will know this is a Rosh Hashana cake. Our neighbor next door with 3 children will see it as a welcome to the neighborhood cake (one day I’ll explain Rosh Hashana, as the Lord leads)

Semi Homemade Recipe

If you don’t have time for a homemade cake add apples, honey and nuts to a yellow ckae mix and get canned cream cheese frosting.

Homemade Recipe

From City of Holland

1/2 cups honey
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups diced apples
1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream together honey, shortening and eggs. Sift salt, soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and flour and add to creamed mixture. Stir in apples and nuts. Pour into greased 9″ x 13″ x 2″ pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 Tablespoon Butter
6 ounces softened cream cheese
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter, cream cheese, honey and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add nuts. Frost cooled cake.

Apple Honey Cupcakes with Bubble Bee Cup Decorations

We are decorating with bubble bees made from chocolate covered raisins and almonds.

Another idea is to make cupcakes and decorate with bees (found at craft stores).

Or check here for images of several adorable Bee Cupcakes ideas.

Frosty

Trooper

After a rain they found a mud puddle.

Ahhh Mom, Plllease

They love the pool.

Clean again after a bath

Nity Night

About Shichons

Shichon (pronounced She Sean) Shichons are  a Shih Tzu and Bichon Frise mix. The mix is also known as Teddy Bears, Zuchons, Shishchons, Shih Chons. There best known for melting into your chest. Both puppies are  mothers are Bichon Frise  and both fathers are Shih Tzu.

For all who prue breed folk that get upset about half breeds – lighten up. All dogs are mixes! ShihTzu’s started as a mix Lhasa Apso and the Pekingese.

We love our little half breeds. They have the good qualities and characteristics of both their pure-bred parents, and they’re unique.