Simply Planned: A Practical Homeschool Planner

It is time to start planning for the school year. I love this part. Honestly, my planner helps me love it more. It reminds me of all the things I need to think about while I make my children’s home education plan. I am quite excited about the planning because my oldest child is joining our homeschool setting this year. I will have a highschool/college student along with the young ones. I needed to start planning early this year. I want to just give a little insight into how I grade using my Simply Planned Planner. I use the DITIR system to focus my energy on mastery instead of completion.

Simply Planned Homeschool Planner (click link to get more information)

Grading with a DITIR system:

When I first started homeschooling, I thought I would have no need for a grading system. The “Do It Till It’s Right” plan means that they will always get an A. As they have gotten older I have realized that in the main subjects it is nice to track their DITIR. I started recording their grades on the calendar day they complete the test. The grades don’t have to be in a row since they will be As. Calculating As is considerably easy. How do they always get As? They take the test/quiz once. I grade it and go over the answers with them. If they get below a 92%, I have them do the section, in which they had the most trouble, over again. They can get half the points they missed back. If they get a B, they repeat the test. If they get a C, or they continue to get a low grade after I’ve explained things to them, I may have them repeat the section of the workbook that is giving them the most difficulty. With a D, they should repeat the entire workbook. We use Christian Light for language arts, and it is easily broken down into small manageable sections. My goal is mastery. I want them to master the concepts of a lesson. A test just allows me to identify where a child needs extra help. After I tutor them in that area, they should master the concept. This system seems to work well for the younger grades. We will see how it works for the older children.

Make planning fun. Go to a coffee shop and have a parent teacher meeting with yourself. Or stay over night at a hotel while you go to a homeschool conference. That intense planning time can do a lot for your morale and anticipation for the coming year. Most of all be encouraged that you are doing the best for your children, even when you feel discouraged. Our job is to plan and implement, it is God who make the whole thing workout. So prayer is the most powerful thing we do as parents. Be blessed and enjoy praying, planning and playing this summer.

Yes! I have finally made a video on how to make Homemade Coconut Milk (from dehydrated flakes) and Homemade Coconut Kefir. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. But really, I had to workout the details. I make this stuff all the time and the kids love it. There are just a few quirks about Homemade Coconut Milk. It tastes best when used right away. When you put it in the refrigerator, the fat will float to the top and harden. I just take it off and place it in a bag in the freezer for later. I like to use the fat/coconut cream for frostings and ice cream. Now your milk has a lower fat content (if that is what you are looking for).  The lower fat content is best for the Coconut Kefir made with homemade milk. The quirk about this type of kefir is that the fat will float to the top in the refrigerator like the milk.  It is a very wonderful yogurt-like food that my little ones see as a treat. I scrape it off the top for them to eat (mixed with vanilla stevia). The resulting coconut kefir made this way is a more clear beverage.  Kefir has amazing benefits for the intestines. Right now it seems to be the key to helping my little ones stop bedwetting. I know that sounds slightly strange but the high amount of probiotics helps the kidneys/bladder as well as the intestines.

Coconut milk:

• 1 1/2- 2 cups dehydrated organic coconut
• 10 (-ish) cups filtered water (be sure your filter gets out chlorine)
• Hemp or cotton nut milk bag (I got mine at New Seasons. I think it is really a hemp produce bag.)

Place coconut into the blender and add water until you have 6 cups total. Blend until the container is warm to touch. Pour milk into a nut milk bag. Pour 4-6 additional cups of water into the blender and quickly blend. Then add the water to the nut milk bag. Grab the top of the bag. Turn and squeeze until you get as much water as you can out of the mix. I dehydrate and blend my pulp to make coconut flour. Drink right away or refrigerate.

Homemade Coconut Milk Kefir

• 7 cups homemade coconut milk
• 1 package of rehydrated water-based kefir grains
• 1/4 cup pasteurized honey
• 40 drops trace minerals (1 squirt)

Place coconut milk, kefir grains, honey and trace minerals in pint jar.  Mix and cover with a cloth and rubber band.  Place in warm spot for about 4-6 hours.  The time will depend on how warm it is. You are waiting until it smells like butter milk-ish. If it still smells like coconut milk..it’s not done. When finished, strain all but one cup of kefir. Place the kefir-making jar (with 1 cup starter and grains) into the refrigerator with the cloth and rubber band secured on top. It will be OK here for a week or two. When you want to make kefir again, just add your milk to the starter with the honey and trace minerals.

Put a lid on the coconut kefir and keep it in the refrigerator. We like it with vanilla stevia. About 6oz. coconut kefir/ 8 drops french vanilla stevia (I like NOW brand).

Grass Fed Organic Whey Protein Isolate…Vanilla

It has taken me awhile to post the results of the follow up test. Mostly because I was in dispare of the fact that the bugs hadn’t been evacuated completely. At first I thought I may had done just as well on my version of the SCD, the one I called Sherry’s SFG Diet. I had gone on the elemental diet to see if I could kick them out faster. I started having problems at the end of the diet with my gallbladder. The things I had used before to control the symtoms can’t be used on the elemental diet (Carrot/ginger juice, bitters, Turmeric/Milk Thistle tincture/ and gallbladder tea). The naturopath suggested that I needed another two weeks of the Elemental Diet! Super Uhg! I decided that I should take care of my gallbladder before I try another two weeks. This diet is such a challenge, but I think I will really be able to do it another two weeks. My bug values did go down. Also, in keeping with my tradition of looking at the positive things I have learned while I am on any “healing- experimental” Diet, I will update you on a few. I have noticed it is a lot easier than usual to notice foods my body reacts to. I’m sure I had been trying to introduce sprouted seeds/nuts much too fast. I just can’t digest them very well yet. I found I have an allergic reaction to Costco organic chicken (not sure what they are doing, but the NewSeason’s chicken seems to be fine.), plus I react to nuts and chocolate. I actually get hives.  Another thing that I have noticed is that B-fast is a lot easier. I still use the shakes for breakfast. The shakes are also convient for running out the door or having something in the car just incase I get stuck.  One more positive is that the grass fed organic whey protein isolate tastes great! I get bored, but it could be a lot worse. The hydrogenated whey isolate tastes like kerosene. I am super thankful to see that the whey isolate works.

Thing You Can Eat on an Elemental Diet

An Elemental Diet is a way to very quickly (completely absorbed in 15-20 min.) and easily absorb all your nutrients so that your intestines can rest and heal while you starve out the overgrowth of bad bacteria. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet does this to some extent, but the Elemental Diet brings it to a whole new level of healing and ease. You only ingest building blocks of energy in the form of whey isolate (amino acids), coconut oil or MCT(easiest fat to digest, like that in breast milk), and honey (predigested carbohydrates). There are a few more things that qualify depending on who you talk to. I wanted it to really work if I was going to go through the trouble. I narrowed down the items to: grass-fed gelatin, non-alcohol stevia (Now brand), filtered homemade bone broth (just bones, water and Himalayan salt), minerals (bentonite clay and ionic, activated charcoal), fats (olive leaf oil, wild oregano oil, Essential oils, cocoa butter, UDO’s, Caproyl, coconut oil), Vitamin C, probiotics (Healthy Trinity), and a very good multi vitamin. If it sounds crazy…Let me assure you…it is!

Food is not just nourishment it is entangled into our lives. There are many forces working against you if you want to change. Food is social (Every social event has it.), spiritual (We go to it for help.), psychological (We “need” it.) and cultural. You can’t get away from it. But if that food is making you sick, it isn’t so easy to stop. These forces pull at you all day, everyday, especially when you go outside the house. It is important to create a safe place. My house is a safe place. We don’t have foods that hurt me in our kitchen. My husband and older son have their stuff in the garage. They eat what I serve for dinner and have “their food” for snacks. The Elemental Diet is different in that way. I’m not going to have everyone on this therapeutic modality unless they need it. I go into my bedroom when the wonderful smells get too much. For this 2-3 weeks we are keeping foods very simple. I don’t cook during this Elemental Diet. That is the first thing you need to arrange to make this diet happen. Stress is a HUGH contributor to damage to your body, including your gut. So, calm things down as much as you can.

How is it working? Considering all things, I think it is going well. I was concerned about the dairy in the whey. It turns out that most people react to the casein and lactose. The processing that this whey isolate has undergone has eliminated those items. I haven’t reacted to it. I have also been able to construct some recipes out of the substances I can eat to create things that help greatly. Water based kefir jello flavored with essential oils and honey is wonderful. When I get a super craving for roasted meat. I fry up beef tallow and sprinkle it with Himalayan salt. You have to chew and spit out the chuck that’s left, but the juice (that you can swallow) tastes like bacon. Yummy! Caution if you have gallbladder issues! I had pain in my back for 12 hours from that. It did work at keeping me on the Elemental Diet. I haven’t had that craving since. I even think I can freeze the honey kefir to make ice pops, but it’s still cold outside. Right now, I like to alternate shakes and warm bone broth.

Another thing that concerned me is that the Elemental Diet doesn’t really address yeast overgrowth. Bacteria usually don’t live alone. I have added a bentonite clay/Caproyl cleanse in the morning. Caproyl kills yeast, and bentonite grabs and removes toxins. I also take 10 drops of wild oregano oil (the brand is important) and 6 drops of Olive leaf oil in a gelatin capsule. I make it myself. It’s easy! The mixing of honey and stevia allows my carbohydrate intake to be low. I get unsweetened whey isolate and mix the whole thing myself. I’m not counting calories! I have found that it is best to drink/eat everything slow and steady all day long. True story! It is so easy for the stuff to digest that it gets sucked up right away into your system. You need a constant supply of energy, or you will crash in a grumpy heap.

Just one little note on die-off. It is real life. Activated charcoal is just as real of an antidote. When I start feeling grumpy for no reason (and I have been eating), I take 2 and go lay down. I’m good to go in a half hour.

So that may be more than you ever wanted to know about Elemental Diets, but if you ever need a jump start in gut healing…it may be the way to go. I can tell you one thing…I will never complain about the SCD or Sherry’s SFG Diet again. It is an easier way to get de-tangled from your food!!! The Elemental Diet clears your palate and resets your expectation of food.

Best of all…in 6 days I have lost 5 lbs without counting calories. That’s a bonus!

Holidays, Gatherings, Events Oh my!…uhg

I’m still on that journey of healing my digestive tract through the food I eat or don’t eat. Starting out I had no real knowledge of the extent of damage, I had no symptoms, and very little wisdom about certain foods. My baby had the symptoms. She would spit-up every time she nursed (when I was eating). When we did an allergy panel, I was the one with allergies. Meaning my intestinal tract was unhealthy and letting out bigger then normal molecules of food into my blood stream. My immune system, along with my daughters, was reacting. As it continued over the years I have had more and more symptoms immerge. Vitamin malabsorption, autoimmune, endocrine dysfunction along with external signs like extreme fatigue, sudden acid reflux, hives, painful bloating and strange things happening in the potty are a few of the uncomfortable issues. I have learned a lot these past five years. Everyone seems to have a diet and their diet is the best. After being on a few of these…OK…a lot of them, I have to say most of them don’t work for a deteriorated intestinal cell wall. The good news is that I have learned wonderful things from each diet and have manage to find some things that help. Here are the pros and cons of a few good healthy diets for already healthy people.

Elimination Diet

Elimination Diet: I had a complete igg and ige allergy test done for food antibodies. I stopped eating all of the things on the allergy panel. That is the “elimination” part of the diet. I could eat anything else. I did this along with adding kombucha to my daily diet. This diet completely consumed my life. Cooking/baking without gluten, sugar  dairy and eggs is incredibly difficult at the beginning if you have never done it before. When I began there weren’t a lot of resources available to help. I really like going to a naturopath, but as with all doctors they simply tell you what to do without any help on implementation. It is up to you to go to the store, find recipes (hours), make it all work only to have your family mutiny. Making separate meals for your family and you, is part of the stress this life style change includes. The best thing to do is to keep trying new recipes until most of the people like the base menu. That way you and your family only have to eat it once. If they don’t like it…there will be something new tomorrow. There are recipes that don’t break the bank. I use Azure Standard quite extensively. They have great prices on bulk organic stuff. Now Costco has gotten on board: eating gluten free is not as pricey as it use to be. The elimination diet helped me greatly. I think that is why I didn’t realize how injured my intestines really were. In the end it wasn’t enough to heal me and I continued to get new allergies. Here is a link to the Allergy Free Baking Quick Reference sheet I made. (Click to link)

GAPS Diet

GAPS Diet: This is a great diet for gut flora imbalance without too much intestinal damage. I love the slow introduction to food and the heavy use of probiotics. And above all the chocolate. Because I really want to believe I can eat it without it harming my intestinal lining. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I hope there is a “yet” at the end of that last sentence. Another really big problem is the incredibly early introduction of cruciferous. The cabbage family may decrease inflammation in other places, but it is incredibly difficult to digest. It irritates the intestines and  feeds the bad bacteria/yeast. Those with vit. and mineral malabsorption usually have struggling thyroids, and the cruciferous vegetables inhibit thyroid function(cooking decreases its effect but fermenting enhances the problem). Cruciferous, onions and leeks are all avoid items on the FODMAP Diet. When your gut is damaged, you will have little ability to digest FODMAP foods. It is the healthy gut flora that digest these FODMAP foods. If you don’t have a healthy gut, meaning the cell walls of your intestines are unhealthy and there is not a good balance of intestinal flora, the only things that will be eating the residual material are the bad guys.

Yeast Free

Yeast Free Diet: This diet isn’t that much different from the GAPS diet. It additionally limits fruits, honey and yeast/mold foods. This diet is super hard to adhere to . Humans love the taste of sweets. I would say this diet got me use to stevia. The problem is that yeast (which usually lives with bacteria) is much more perserverant than we are. They can persist for years. You need to add herbal antifungus substances along with diet and even then you are looking at a year to be safe (safe-ish, ugh!!!).

Raw Food Diet

Raw Food: This diet purports that you get the most nutrition from your food if you don’t heat it over 170 degrees. Yep, they don’t eat meat. The biggest draw to this way of eating is that these guys have the best healthy desserts. Unfortunately, high in yeast and bacteria-feeding fruit based sugars.   During my time, I learned how to sprout my nuts, seeds and bean. It is a great skill to have, and I still use it to this day. Sprouting significantly decreases the enzyme inhibitors that keeps the seed/nut/bean from being attacked by bugs/molds/bacteria and from sprouting in your cabinet. This enzyme inhibitor also tries to keep you from eating the seed/nut/bean. It damages the intestinal lining. The bummer is that sprouting doesn’t take it all off. It just reduces the enzyme. And heating only to 170 doesn’t always allow you extract the nutrients. In the end nut, beans, and seeds were still difficult to digest. There was little protein left.

Vegan Gluten Free

Gluten Free Vegan: I switch to veganism. At this point I was allergic to dairy, gluten, sugar, eggs and meat was difficult to digest. I had never eaten so much fiber and so many different veggies in my life. The first few months were the worst. I didn’t have any recipes that were vegan gluten free and my family has never eaten so many vegetables. They complained about the whole procedure, but they all made it through without needing counseling (yet anyway). I’m the one that needed counseling. My symptoms continued to get worse. I was so tired (after sleeping 10 hours a day), and I continued to get more and more allergies. I developed an allergy to nuts around the same time I found the Gluten Free Society. At Gluten Free Society, Dr. Osborne makes a good case for a grain free diet. Some of the other grains have proven to be just as damaging to the intestinal lining as gluten is for gluten sensitive people. Corn, rice and quinoa have studies supporting this hypothesis. That could be why my gut wasn’t healing? Many of his patients don’t heal on a traditional gluten free diet, but when they go grain free, they heal. Protein was now a real problem. I had to switch, but not before I found some amazing, super nutritious vegan gluten free recipes my family really enjoys. Great for the budget too. Now what? I listened to an interview Dr. Osbone had made with the guys at SCDlifestyle.com. They told how the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) had healed their intestine. So, I checked it out. Can you tell by now that I learn things by doing them?

–All of the diets before focused of the idea of elimination. Take out what your body reacts to and eat anything else. That doesn’t work well, because there are things your intestines react to but it is so use to reacting to them that you can’t tell. And because you are still eating it your body can’t heal. This is a top down approach to healing through diet. Food is more than nutrition. It is spiritual (fills you apart from God), emotional (got to have it), and social (helps you feel a part of your culture). It is VERY DIFFICULT to give comfort foods up! Unfortunately, the best chance of healing is a bottom up approach. Starting with the least difficult foods to ingest and slowly (1 every 4 days) adding foods back into your diet. Becoming a hermit at this point would make the process a whole heck of a lot easier!–

Specific Carbohydrate Diet

Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD): I bought the kit and went full force on my gut healing program. They are very encouraging but not very good cooks. It was difficult to make anything without eggs and dairy. I had great success in the first few weeks. For the first time my body started moving in the healing direction. Then I started noticing specific items my body could not digest properly. I checked out the FODMAP diet, and yep lots of things on the first part of SCD are on the FODMAP avoid list. When Elaine created the diet, which is based on each food’s chemical make up, FODMAP wasn’t even known.

Sherry’s SFG Diet

Sherry’s modified SFG Diet(The SCD, FODMAP and GAPS combo): I was so impressed with the science and the introduction of foods that are laid out in stages from easiest to hardest to digest that I wanted to stick with SCD. I needed to modify it to incorporated the new FODMAP and GAPS information. That’s right the GAPS diet was a modification of the SCD diet to help the mind/nervous system. I think the GAPS diet had more up-to-date information on the importance of probiotic foods and the safety of stevia. Why not combine the three diets to create a truly gentle and healing introduction to food for damaged intestines. Check out PecanBread.com for more information about the SCD. Check out http://cassandraforsythe.com/blog/Complete+FODMAP+List+For+a+Happy+Gut for FODMAP information. And check out http://www.healthhomehappy.com/grain-free-2/gaps-intro for an over view. As on any journey, I learned as I went. I bumped into other foods that are more difficult to digest and looked them up. Usually others with unhealthy intestines were having difficulty too. I found that each original stage of the SCD could be broken down into two more stages for slower progression. So I added an A and B for each stage. More stages gives more clarity to which food should be tried first.

The main goals is to:

1. Heal the intestinal lining.
2. Reestablish healthy bacteria and yeast to balance the intestinal flora
3. Restore thyroid, pancreas and gallbladder function
4. Replace deficiencies in vitamins and minerals
5. Reduce immediate symptoms of indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, hives, and brain fog
6. Detox from toxins released from fat loss, emitted from dying bacteria, yeast, and parasites, and environment

The bad news is that climbing out of the hole is a whole lot more difficult than falling into it. Each new sign and symptom puts up a road block to healing. If your thyroid is low, you won’t produce the things you need for proper digestion, and it will be more difficult to eliminate the toxins from your body (sweat). Without proper digestion the thyroid won’t get the important vitamins and trace minerals it needs for proper functioning. The same is true for the rest of the digestive system. Without the proper vitamins and minerals, your stomach can’t make the acid to extract the vitamins and minerals you need, and your intestine can’t absorb the nutrients it needs to heal. This is the conundrum. You need a healthy system to heal, yet the unhealthy system is keeping you from healing. That is where supplements can play a wonderful role in healing.

Supplements to heal the intestinal lining:

• Pure L-Glutamine Powder: The building blocks for healing the intestinal wall. Mix in soup because it doesn’t taste.
• Bone Broth with Himalayan salt

Rebalancing Gut Flora:

• Ultra Flora Acute Probiotics
• Homemade Coconut Kefir, grape juice kefir
• Homemade fermented vegetables
• Herbal antifungals, antibiotics and antiparasitic: Kill the bad guys with tinctures and essential oils. Look them up! They work best in combination with each other and in combination with SCD. Most are good at all three. There are some rockstars like oregano EO, thyme EO, black walnut and wormwood tincture, goldenseal tincture, oregon grape tincture, and many more. There is another herbal product for parasites but also kills yeast and bacteria (that is how herbals work). It is called Humaworm. My friend got a 3 foot tape worm out of her autistic daughter with it. You must take herbals for a longer period of time than the over the counter drugs, but the herbals don’t kill as many of the good guys in your gut. They are better at balancing your flora. Ask your naturopath. 

Supplements to replace deficiencies: 

• Fermented Cod liver oil is the most absorbable form of Vit. A and D. Plus it adds a good dose of inflammation reducing Omega 3s.
• Ionic Selenium: It absorbs through the mouth and skips the broken digestive system. It much improved my thyroid function.
• Ionic Iron: It absorbs through the mouth and skips the broken digestive system. It also doesn’t create constipation problems.
• Magnesium: Ionic and transdermal both avoid the broken digestive system. Apparently most people are low in the essential element that plays an important part of over 300 biochemical reactions. Your heart stores the most. If you need magnesium and have none readily available your body will take it from your heart!
• zinc: I use Trace Minerals in my kefir, and squirt some in my soup. Plays a part in immunity and is a catalyst for approximately 100 enzymes.
• B12 (methylcobalamin): active B12
• Folic acid (5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid): active folic acid
• Vitamine C: Systemic C
• Oregano EO capsules: 3 drops of Oregano EO in an empty capsule fill the rest of the space with organic flax seed oil. Three times a day. I am thinking of alternating Tea tree EO with oregano.
• Morning Yeast Cleanse: 1 Tbsp powdered bentonite clay, 1 Tbsp liquid Caprylic, 2 drops peppermint EO, mixed with 1 c water. Taken with 2 activated charcoal capsules or psyllium husk fiber if you aren’t on the elemental diet.

Supplements for symptom mitigation:

• Acid Reflux: Digestive Bitters super-duper worked for me! I was taking 2 Prilosec per night after Tums stopped working. After 2 I had to move to the lounge chair to sleep. My acid reflux was that bad. I would wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I was throwing up. I started taking the bitters at night and it went away. I think the no sugar/ no grain thing helped too. I have since found I can take as many doses as  I need of the bitters. The problem, all along, wasn’t high stomach acid (as I was told), but the lack of acid. The high acid triggers the sphincter to close the door on the stomach. 
• Constipation/diarrhea: a mixture of psyllium fiber, bentonite clay and senna powder mixed with 2 drops of peppermint essential oil and 2 c water. 
• Pancreas and Liver function: Carrot ginger juice eaten with meat helps to digest meat. Bitters before eating anything helps your body prepare for digestion. Digestive enzymes help to digest the fat and meat. I had to use Cren and Oxbile before the SCD. Dandelion water (a few drops of glycerin dandelion extract in filtered water) and Milk Thistle Extract helps with liver and pancreas detox.

Supplements for Detox:

• Liver/Pancreas: Dandelion Extract in filtered water and Milk Thistle Extract mixed in soup (doesn’t taste)
• Die off Help: activated charcoal, psyllium fiber, and bentonite clay and LOTS of water
• Lots of Water: 8- 8 oz cups of water per day
• Epsom Salt Bath and Foot Bath: 1 c for a foot bath and 2 c for a bath
• Skin Brushing: Scrub skin with a natural brush
• Homemade body products: They really work! You can make organic body products for less money. Hair shampoo, conditioner, and styling; skin cleaner; lotions; and make-up. Toxins are like heat under a teapot. Every additional toxin makes the pot just a little hotter until the teapot boils over. As you balance your gut flora the nasties are going to give off toxins. They won’t leave without a fight. The healing process will already be taxing your system. Here is a link to the Homemade Household Basics Recipes Quick Reference Sheet I created. (Click to link)
• House hold cleaning products: These can be very toxic but most of those toxins are unnecessary. My Homemade Household Basics is a quick reference card for many of my tried and true non-toxic recipes.

–As I started to replace supplements, detox and eat healing foods (Sherry’s SFG Diet) my pancreas, thyroid and liver started to function better.–

About one month into my Sherry’s SFG Diet, and I got the news that I still had SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) via 3 hour breath test. I have a choice. To stay on the protocol or do something wild, crazy and very extreme to get rid of the bad guys once and for all. Incidentally, I was surprised to find out that the 2 weeks of diet and herbal antibiotics had significantly decreased the population of bad guys. That was good news, but I am tired of playing around. The bad guys in my gut need to be evicted! I also want a chance for my intestines to heal. The elemental diet gives the best opportunity to recover. You make shakes with amino acids, honey (very small amount) and coconut oil. Add vitamins, minerals and antioxidants…and there is your complete meal. There are a few other things that are allowed on ListenToYourGuts.com‘s IBS Remission Diet i.e. bone broth, gelatin, clear organic juice (Even diluted, I’m not going to add it…oo much of a yeast rick.), oils and minerals. If it sounds extreme…it is! But extreme is not the same as unhealthy, and extreme health problems (4yrs. worth) requires extreme healing protocols. So for the next 2-3 weeks I am going to implement an Elemental Diet! I will say more on the matter as I go. I need prayer.

**For more information on IBS check out the ListenToYourGut.com website. It has a lot of free information.

Coconut Lamb Mint Pops

Is it possible? As I was searching for less sugary and allergy free Easter treats, I was amazed at the extraordinary quantity of sugar. I wanted my Sundayschool class room and my children’s Easter  Baskets to be healthy, yet fun. One of the things I kept thinking is…fruit is God’s candy. Why do we ignore it at Easter? That thought inspired the Fruit Salad Gospel (with a poem). I also thought I that Coconut Lamb Mint Pops would be a great substitute for candy bars. Here are a few options for your Easter celebration.

Lamb Pop Recipe and tips (click to learn more about that recipe)

Fruit Salad Gospel

Fruit Salad Gospel

Red is for the blood He gave.
Put in: 1 c Strawberries

Green is for the life He saved.
Put in: 2 c Green Grapes

Yellow is for the sunshine bright.
Put in:1 can Pineapple chunks

Orange is for the moon at night.
Put in: 2 Oranges

Black is for my sins I made.
Put in: 1 c Blue Berries or black berries

White is for the grace God gave.

Purple is for His heart so sad.
Put in: 2 c Purple grapes

Jesus has Risen, I’m so Glad!

Colored Promises and Prayers Sweet, 

A Fruit Salad is God’s Gospel Treat.

Put in Last: Coconut Cream: 1 can coconut milk, 1 banana, 1/2 cup kefir

-Sherry Domer

Fruit Salad Gospel (Click for more information)

Water Kefir Grains

I have been in a kefir craze since I started making it a year ago. I have since modified my production and experimented with some amazing innovative  uses.

How to Make Homemade Coconut Kefir:

Super Easy Coconut Kefir: I just put one can of organic, no bpa  and no guar gum coconut milk (Native Forest has one) in a one quart canning jar with a tsp of pasteurize honey and squirt of trace minerals and of course the water based kefir grains. Place in a warm stop, cover with a cotton napkin and a rubber band to secure it. Mix once or twice a day. It takes about 2-3 days depending on how warm your warm spot is in your house.

Super Cheap and Really Fast: How to Make Homemade Coconut Milk: 1 1/2 cups coconut milk blended with 4 cups water until warm to the touch. Pour in a nut bag or these really neat hemp produce bags I found at New Seasons and Whole Foods. I pour an additional 4 cups of filtered water (a really good filter or distilled water) into the bag and then squeeze. It is a good idea to use two squeezes, one before the additional water and one after, but I am usually in a hurry. It hasn’t made enough of a difference for me to slow down. But go ahead if you have the time. I twist and squeeze until all of the milk is out and only the powder is left behind. I dehydrate the powder and enjoy drinking the milk. When you put the milk in the refrigerator the cream will harden at the top. Scoop it off and freeze it for other purposes (like ice cream). I like to do this before I use the coconut milk for kefir.

Homemade Coconut Milk Kefir: Add 3 cups of homemade coconut milk to a quart jar. Add grains and about a 1/4 cup kefir from the last batch to the jar. Add 1 Tbsp pasteurized honey and a good squirt of trace minerals. Place in a warm stop, cover with a cotton napkin and a rubber band to secure it. This will take at most 24 hours. It is very short. Don’t let it go any longer.

Coconut Kefir

Uses for Coconut Kefir:

You can drink coconut kefir. I like to add 4-6 drops of Now french vanilla stevia to it. The kefir is sour like butter milk, yogert or sour cream. I put it in soups to add a sour cream flavor. It is very good with chili and beans. I also use about 1-2 Tbsp to soak my beans before sprouting and my seeds to sprout them for spreadable butter. Another grand and wonderful use is nut and seed cheeses. They are the most real cheese tasting dairy free cheese that I have sampled. Finally, coconut kefir makes an excellent smoothie base.

Spoon of Mac and Un-cheese

Nut and Seed Kefir Cheese:

I soak my nuts or seeds in kefir for 24 hours before I blend. It gives them a wonderful “cheese” taste without nutritional yeast. Here is the recipe for my Mac and Cheese. (click to link to recipe)

Sour Dough Bread:

I not only use kefir to start my sourdough but I also use it to mix my bread. That second boost helps it rise faster.

Farmhouse Sourdough GF Bread:

• 3 c. tapioca starch
• 3 c. rice, sprouted flour
• 3 c. garbanzo bean flour
• 3 Tbsp coconut sugar
• 3 Tbsp guar gum
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 3 c. teff starter 
• 2 c. coconut kefir
• 2 c. coconut milk
• 1/2 c. flaxseed meal + 2 c. mark boiling water

Grease and flour 3 bread pans or just grease cast iron pans. Mix flaxseed meal and water.  Add coconut oil to mix.  Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add everything else and mix with your hands.

Teff Starter: Place 1 c. water, 1 c. teff and 2 Tbsp coconut kefir in a jar. Secure a tea towel over the mouth of the jar with a rubber band.  Let it sit at room temp. for around 5 hours.  Add 1 c. teff flour and slightly less then 1 c. of water (between 3/4 and 1 cup). I adjust the water according to the thickness of the starter. It should be about the consistency of canned pumpkin. It should be stir-able but not soupy.

Fermented Vegetables: I like this video to learn how to ferment vegetalble with kefir. Be sure to use lots of fresh herbs like dill and basal because they can get quite sour. The herbs and salt really make them taste great.

Kefir Wine: My latest and Greatest discovery is kefir wine. You shouldn’t let it ferment over 48 hours or you will get alcohol, especially if you add sugar. I don’t let mine ferment more then 24 hours and I add no sugar. I place 3 cups (it will bubble) of not from concentrate, organic grape juice in a quart jar with a 1/4 cup of the last batch and grains. Cover with a cotton napkin and secure a rubber band around the top. That’s it! The stuff is my new favorite.

Future Ideas: I have heard that you can make beer out of kefir. I would like to try GF beer (click for pdf) and the root beer recipe (click for recipe) I have found.

Freshen up grains: When using honey, fruit juice and coconut milk the grains can get worn out. When they seem to be slowing down give them a little sugar spa and they will bounce back to life. 1/4 cup of sugar in 3 cups of distilled water for three days. They will thank you!

Pausing the Kefir Production without Killing the Grains: I put mine in a fresh batch of coconut milk or grape juice and place the whole contraption into the refrigerator they can stay there for about a week. I then finish that batch at room temperature (It takes less time!) and make a new batch that I can place back in the refrigerator. I use or give away a lot. I haven’t needed to put them in long term storage. Cultures for Health tells more. (click to go to link)

Living Kefir Wine

Why is Kefir so Beneficial:

Kefir has 44 different beneficial bacteria and yeast in it. You would go broke before you could ever replace them with pill supplements, especially with a family. (Click to go to the Cultures For Healthy Website for more kefir information)

Allergy Free Wednesday Recipe Blog Party

Hostesses for This Weeks Allergy Free Wednesday Blog Party:

This week (week 55) I have the privilege of being included into an Allergy Free Wednesday Recipe Blog Party @ Tessa The Domestic Diva website (click for more information). There are some amazingly creative bloggers with some wonderful allergy free treats! The list of friends in my party who are helping those with allergies eat healthy delicious food are:

• Adrienne @ Whole.New.Mom I’m so excited! Almond Nut feta! Gluten Free Focaccia Flax Bread!, and Adzuki Bean Shepherd’s Pie…
• Amber@The Tasty Alternative I want to make her Delightful Vegan Double Chocolate Cake! She has many more healthy recipe ideas!
• Michelle@The Willing Cook I will enjoy this blog. Her recipes are marked GF = gluten-free  DF = dairy-free  EF = egg-free  SF = soy-free  PF = peanut-free  NF = nut-free  CF = corn-free. Great way to help those who need certain allergy free requirements. I’d like to try the Roasted Summer Vegetables recipe!
• Sherry@MissionMama (that me) My entry: Healthy Sugar and Dairy Free Mints (GF,NF, EF too)
• Laura@Gluten Free Pantry Check out her Chocolate Roasted Almonds
• Nancy@Real Food Allergy Free Her Baked Pears Drizzled with Maple Syrup look great!
• Janelle@ Gluten Freely Frugal  Wow, her Peanut Butter Refrigerator Fudge uses bananas for sweetener. It looks wonderful!

My Entry this Week:

Valentine Hearts

My Favorite Recipes from last week (week 54) Allergy Free Wed.:

Chocolate Hazelnut Milk GF DF @Gluten Free SCD and Veggie

Since I’m an currently on the SCD diet. I will be looking a lot closer at this website. More on that later.

Happy Valentine’s  Day Surprise!

Celebrate, there is a sugar free, grain free, nut free candy that looks so cute and tastes so good! Valentine’s Day will be a happy day for all. Yes indeed! Have you ever been on a yeast free, grain free and sweetener free diet? If you have, you know the agony of sweet holidays like Valentine’s Day. But no more! This peppermint candy is delicious and has only 3 ingredients. You can continue to make mints after the holiday. Our family loves Mickey Mints. I can also make star mints, snow flake and lego mints. Super FUN!!!!

Mickey Mints

Peppermints:

• 3 c. coconut, raw
• 7-14 drops vanilla stevia (10)
• 2 tsp (4 caps) Non-alcohol peppermint extract

Blend coconut with a high powered mixer until smooth and warm.   Add in stevia and peppermint.  Pour into a silicon mold and chill.

Mints in a Jar

Tips:

• If you don’t have a high powered mixer, use coconut butter. Just warm it a little to mix in the stevia and peppermint. Scrap it into the mold and cool.
• Pint color: I used a dime sized piece of beet root to give the mints a dark pink color. In the high powered mixer, add the beet at the beginning with the coconut. After pouring and scrapping the hot pink mint mix into the mold, don’t clean out the blender. Just add the next batch of coconut to the hot pink left overs in the blender. This will give you light pink. Make white first or last, but not in the middle.
• Different shapes: I buy neat-o shaped silicone ice cube trays for non-baking shaped candies. Place the silicon tray on a baking sheet. Pour the mix in and use a rubber spatchula to scrap the mix into the wholes. Bounce the sheet after you are done to get the bubbles to float to the surface. Place the tray and baking sheet into the freezer for quick results.
• Stevia choices: I really like Now French Vanilla stevia extract. The amount of stevia depends on your adaptation to the sweetener. I have noticed that my family is able to handle more of the stevia sweetness as we get use to it. Your taste buds will adapt to it and not taste the bitterness as much. If you are new to stevia use less of the sweetener. It is better for it to be less sweet than bitter.

Snowflakes

Tessa Domestic Diva has a great website for allergy free recipes, especially Allergy Free Wednesday. (Click to link to her website)

 There is no better way to reinforce our trust in who God is, than to review the prophecies God made in the Old Testament and the fulfillment of them in the New Testament as it pertains to Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Great preparation for Easter!  My pastor wrote the devotionals and I drew the pictures.  (He is so gifted at writing in layman’s terms.)  I used the Lenten calendar as the bases for the time table.  The first 40 days (including Sundays) review a prophecy (Bible and Devotional), the last 6 days (Easter Week) include a hands-on object lesson that will help the children have fun while learning, along with the Bible reading.  This is a great way to bring in excitement and learning to our family devotional time(no matter the family size).  I have just completed  a printable artistically designed Lenten Calendar to follow along with the Devotional Book.  The calendar is in the shape of a cross. If you would like to purchase and download this great resource just follow this link to the product page.

What do you get with the downloadable Kit? 

• An informative 47 day Devotional (40days: Old Testament Prophecies, New Testament fulfillments and a devotional each day; 7 days: week before Easter object lessons and fun activities)
• An awesome cross-shaped Calendar to follow
• Graphics for a fun magnet to keep tract of your progression towards Resurrection Day (Easter Sunday)!
• Directions to assemble this kit for the family fun and learning

What Does it Cost?

$15  for a downloadable copy the Lent Devotional Kit (Click here for more information at my MissionMama.com store)

More Pictures: