My family loves eggs. We typically consider it “running low” when we are down to 2 cartons of eggs. The thing I love about eggs is that they are packed with healthy protein, which fills little tummies and helps keep blood sugar levels stable.

I realize that this meal looks more like a breakfast menu than a dinner menu. You can certainly make this for breakfast if you want.  We prefer it for our evening meal. There are usually plenty of leftovers to save for breakfast or for lunch the next day (think lunch box food!)

Perfectly portioned for everyone in the family, this recipe for bite-sized casserole is appealing to kids. They love the shape and size! I finished off the meal with some bacon (also made in the oven.)

Most people are familiar with wheat as a grain to be avoided or a grain that is in the white flour they pick up at the grocery store. Many even are aware that whole wheat is an option that is understood to be healthier because it still contains the bran of the wheat kernel.

I am here to tell you that modern wheat is just one of many different family members, some of which are worth exploring. Some of the varieties of ancient wheat are making a comeback today. They include emmer, einkorn, and farro and are considered heritage grains.

Einkorn

Einkorn was cultivated in what is now known as Iraq. It is thought to be one of the oldest grains that is still available in the world today.

Einkorn does not contain the 33 strand peptides that are a problem for those with celiacs disease and although it is still not recommended for celiacs it may be okay for those with more mild gluten intolerance. It is good to add to breads and baked goods but will be very sticky unless put with some other types of flour.

Emmer

Emmer is is understood to be what the ancient Mesopotamians grew and used. It is popular in Italy and is known as farro there and it is used in pastas and risottos. It has many healthy proteins in it and makes a nicer, softer dough than Einkorn.

Spelt

Spelt is more commonly known and used than the other wheat family members listed here. It is known to be lower in gluten, probably because it is closer to its ancient form than most modern wheat.  It may be closer to the older forms because in the last century it was mostly used for animal feed.

Again many with gluten intolerance do not seem to be bothered by spelt grains. Spelt has more protein and fat than modern wheat and so makes for a heavier product.

Kamut

Kamut is another ancient relative of wheat, also of Egyptian heritage. It has not been crossbred so again more easy to use for many people. It is considered to be higher in gluten than the other ancient grains but still it is less than modern wheat varieties  . It is also high in protein.

Red Fife

Red Fife is a heritage grain first grown in 1842 by David Fife and his family in Ontario, Canada. There is some controversy over whether this wheat is lower in gluten content that many of the more modern wheat grown and sold these days.

Some growers claim there is a gliadin content (a protein that causes intolerance) of 35% as over against that of 80 % in more modern strains. There are also anecdotal stories of how this grain has been tolerated by those who cannot tolerate other more hybridized wheat varieties. (for more on Red Fife, read this.)

Triticale

Triticale is a combination grain of rye and durum wheat and is a grain that would not occur naturally because it is a hybrid of two different grains.  It was first grown in 1875 although it was not released for commercial production until 1969.   It does have a lower gluten content than wheat as well as a higher protein content.

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Any of these grains in the wheat family may be used in bread recipes but all of them still contain some gluten.  My recommendation is that if you try any of them do it in sourdough recipes (as discussed last week.)

This week at BundleoftheWeek.com, add five Kitchen Stewardship ebooks to your library at a fraction of their regular price! Whether you’re already a fan of the talented Katie Kimball or just hearing about these ebooks for the first time, this collection of real food ebooks includes not just recipes but plenty of information to empower you on your real food journey — and it’s available at almost 80% off retail this week only. Plus, purchasers will receive a special coupon code to purchase Katie’s latest ebook, Better Than a Box, at just 50%!

From soaking grains and using beans to stretch your budget to dozens of snack recipes for busy families on the go and tasty desserts that won’t leave you feeling deprived, Katie’s ebooks offer recipes and kitchen tips for every meal of the day.

P.S. Even if you’ve already got one or two of these ebooks in your collection, this collection offers a great value for the remaining books. And you’re welcome to pass on your duplicates to a friend or family member to encourage them in their real food journey as well!

Healthy Snacks to Go (2nd Edition) by Katie Kimball
With over 45 healthy snack recipes and ideas including traditional granola bars, iron-packed Popeye bars, and a dozen “larabar” style variations, Healthy Snacks To Go is the resource you need for healthy snack ideas. Complete with time-saving tips, frugal options and allergy notes, plus diaper-bag friendly snacks that are toddler-approved, this will become your “go-to” cookbook to keep your cupboards filled with nourishing yet quick choices.

The Everything Beans Book by Katie Kimball
This comprehensive resource explaining everything you want to know about beans and legumes. In The Everything Beans Book, you’ll find recipes for homemade beans and rice, refried beans, wraps, Mexican fare, soups, pasta dishes, and even a dessert, plus frugal tips and substitution ideas! Beyond recipes, this ebook also offers over 20 pages of information to facilitate your new love of beans and make sure you can cook with dry beans without any stress.

Smart Sweets by Katie Kimball
Katie’s goal with Smart Sweets: 30 Desserts to Indulge Your Sweet Tooth is to give you options that are way better for you than you’ll find in the grocery store, usually better for you than another homemade version, and sometimes downright good for you. You’ll find less sugar, healthier sweeteners, whole grains, soaked and sprouted grains, no grains, probiotics and even some vegetables in these desserts recipes, without sacrificing taste or enjoyment!

Is Your Flour Wet? by Katie Kimball
In Is Your Flour Wet? Soaked, Sprouted, or Soured: Grains Recipes from Our Kitchens to Yours, Katie offers a basic introduction to soaking, sprouting and sourdough, plenty of how-to tutorials and more than 45 recipes from a variety of real food bloggers, including breads, snacks, pancakes and waffles, oatmeal, cakes and more!

The Family Camping Handbook by Katie Kimball
If you’ve always wanted to try camping as a frugal family vacation but are nervous because you have little ones, The Family Camping Handbook will show you how to survive and even thrive out in the woods with young children. You’ll find an overview to help you get started camping, packing and to-do lists and, of course, real food adaptations to standard camping fare. This ebook includes a total of 36 camping recipes and techniques, including paleo/primal/grain-free adaptations.

The Kitchen Stewardship bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 5/27. Get yours today:

So, it shocks and concerns many people when I try to explain to them that my kids and I avoid sunscreen as much as possible and only use it when we absolutely need it. Why would anyone avoid sunscreen?

Sunscreen Could Cause Skin Cancer

Commercial sun screens are full of chemicals that could be a bigger risk for developing skin cancer than the actual sun itself. Recent studies even link the development of skin cancer to the chemicals and ingredients found in sunscreen.

Read: Sunscreens may be accelerating cancer

Possible Cancer-causing Ingredients:

• Retinyl palminate
• Oxybenzone

The Environmental Working Group warns particularly of the above ingredients. Oxybenzone is used in sunscreens to absorb UV rays, but this ingredient has also been linked to hormone disruption, skin cancer, and cell damage. Retinyl palminate has also been linked to adverse health effects.

Wearing sunscreen also blocks the main benefits of the sun. Studies have even shown that continuous use of sunscreen reduces the amount of vitamin D that a person is able to produce. This is concerning because of the number of people today who are vitamin D deficient.

Read: Sunscreens can block vitamin D

Sunscreens may give the wearer a false sense of security, causing them to stay out in the sun longer than normal, actually increasing their exposure to sun past the point of protection. Our bodies are designed to handle a certain amount of sunlight, and you should listen to your body’s wisdom whenever possible.

The “Damaging” sun rays that our parents warned about are only damaging when we fail to listen to our body’s cues that we need to get some shade.

Sun in Moderation

Unfiltered sun light is actually good for you. We get wonderful amounts of Vitamin D from the sun, improving our health and our mood, and even helping to fight cancer. So don’t be afraid of the sun!

The key to safe sun exposure is moderation. Sun lovers often ignore their body’s cues that it’s time to get out of the sun or cover up.

“I believe that Americans have gone overboard with their fear of the sun. I think that sensible exposure to sunlight is really important for your overall health and well-being” – Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University

These signs are your body’s way of telling you to get out of the sun!

1. Your skin gets slightly pink
2. You start to feel the “heat” of the sun on your skin
3. Being in the sun is making you tired

This is your body’s way of telling you to find some shade and relax.

Natural Sun Protection

If you can’t (or won’t) get out of the sun right away, the next best thing is to wear clothing that covers your skin and shades you from direct sunlight. Hats, long sleeve shirts, and pants are a start.

There is a wide range of UV protective clothing on the market today that can offer extra protection, as much as a bottle of sunscreen would.

If you absolutely must be out in the sun for longer than your skin will allow, try searching for a good all-natural sunscreen that contains no cancer-causing ingredients!

As a parent, you’ll need to pay extra attention to the amount of sun that your little ones are getting. I promise it’s not much harder than trying to slather them with sunscreen!

Keep kids well hydrated in the sun and keep an eye on the look of their skin. If it’s looking even slightly pink it’s time to cover up. Ask them how they are feeling. If they are feeling tired, encourage them to sit in the shade and rehydrate.

Keep hats, shirts, pants, and socks on them. If they are swimming or playing in water, there are lots of options for UV water wear available.

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My challenge to you is to know the ingredients you are putting on your skin, and to know that there are safe alternatives available. You don’t need to have a hostile relationship with the sun. You can learn to live in harmony with it, benefiting from it while still being mindful of it’s power.

Do you plan on using sunscreen this summer?

With the advent of industrialization the way bread was made and processed changed.  Demand for bread grew and the way it was made needed to be sped up to meet this demand.  Commercial yeast is one of the things which helped to speed up production time and caused the most problems with modern bread.

Until the development of commercial yeast, bakers used wild yeast to make their breads.  Wild yeasts work fine for those used to working with them but they are not predictable, they do not work quickly, and they vary from region to region. This is the reason we have San Francisco Sourdough.

Benefits  of Sourdough

Wild yeasts are not the only microbes that make their way into the dough when culturing bread in this way; also lactobacilli join in.

Lactobacilli are part of the family of good bacteria that we want in our guts so this is a good thing.  In fact these wild yeasts and bacteria are critical to our health and are the main thing we need to look for in our baked goods.  Bread made with wild yeasts and lactobacilli take much longer to make and rise and in that time they make significant changes to the dough, altering the gluten and increasing the nutritional content.

In 2002 a study was done on sourdough that was 30% wheat flour.  After 24 hours of fermentation the bread was tested and the gluten was almost completely hydrolyzed.  Celiac patients were able to consume this bread without any problems.   The sourdough had consumed and changed the gluten aspects of the bread.  (Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread, Jessie Hawkins)

Additional Benefits of Sourdough:

• Phytate digestion
• Nutrients more bioavailable to the body
• Antioxidant and anti-cancer properties
• Longer shelf life
• Gluten reduction and possible elimination

Because of the reasons I have posted above I believe one of the solutions to much of the troubles with grain in our modern diets is to make our baked goods with sourdough. The sourdough method combines the best of several worlds: soaking, natural yeast, and great taste and texture when the baked goods are prepared.

I make and prepare only sourdough breads for my family at this point (especially since I have 2 members of my family who are  gluten intolerant).   I have found the resource The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread by Jessie Hawkins to be a really helpful book that not only lays out the science and superiority of sourdough, but also gave me some great recipes to with.

Before reading the Guide to Bread I used to make sourdough but it was not true sourdough because only some of the grain was soaked. I would make a “sponge” and that grain was soaked but then would add lots of wheat several hours before baking.

Now I have changed things dramatically and find that this bread is the easiest I have ever made and the healthiest.

Bread is not the only thing that can be made with sourdough.  I have also made a wonderful chocolate cake, donuts, rolls, and pancakes.    The sky is the limit on what can be done with baked goods and sourdough.

I encourage you to try it out.  If you have successfully used sourdough what have you made that you were happy with.?   Please feel free to share in the comments below.

Kids remember best when they hear, see, and explore. So here are five ways that they can discover math through movement.

Exploring Nature

Simply going outside to play is an incredible way to learn about math.

Look for patterns and shapes that occur naturally (and man-made). Kids have a knack for noticing things like the spiral of a pine-cone or that some flowers have more petals than others.

You can talk about area and volume – the space items take up in this world. Discover symmetry in a butterfly and weight by collecting rocks.

Games and Sports

Games have incredible amounts of math. Simple childhood pleasures such as Hopscotch and Tag teach counting. More complex games help kids to learn strategy, speed, arithmetic, measurement, estimation, and more.

Sports like baseball or tennis include keeping score, possibly keeping time, and much more. Cyberchase on PBS has a great list of topics to explore about math in sports.

Pretend Play

Here are some of the ways my kids use math through their play:

• shaping and molding dough
• setting up a pretend store with recycled boxes and cans
• pretend cooking
• building with blocks
• making forts

The Family Math series is a great set of books to start introducing math into everyday situations – including play.

Music

When my kids sing, dance, and make music with instruments they are learning so much math!

I was able to introduce beats and timing through our djembe drums, as well as counting, skip counting, sets (4 beats equal a measure), and even fractions.

Music is also a great tool to use to learn concepts through song and dance. There are tons of albums available for kids to listen to that go over the facts and theories of math. One of our favorites is Here Come the 123′s by They Might Be Giants.

Crafts, Art, and Hobbies

Drawing, painting, knitting, origami – all these hobbies are filled with math. From geometrical envisioning to measurement, kids gets real hands-on learning from crafting and art.

Lately my daughters have discovered that they love to bake brownies. While my oldest was figuring out how to convert temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius, my middle child was downloading a timer app for their tablet and learning about seconds and minutes.

Mathematics doesn’t have to be a dry and boring subject. If you pay attention to what your kids are engaged in physically, you can share with them the wonders of numbers, patterns, and problem-solving that they are already working with!

Summer is approaching. Are your feet ready? Chances are, your feet need a little help to look great in a pair of sandals or flip flops. Wearing socks and shoes all winter often leads to dry feet and rough, cracked, and calloused heels.

The good news is it’s easy to bring a little life back into your feet and get your heels back to baby-smooth in no time. And, you don’t have to buy any expensive creams or toxic ingredients to do it.

The secret to smooth feet is healthy oils and a way to trap them against your skin overnight. By doing this, callouses and dry feet will be moisturized and look great.

Coconut Oil Foot Wrap: Supplies & Preparation

In order to make your feet smooth, you’ll need a few basic supplies. You probably have these in your house already.

You will need:

• Coconut oil (find it here)
• Plastic wrap
• A pair of thick socks

You could also use other oils (such as lard) in place of coconut oil, though coconut oil is what I recommend. Coconut butter works well, too.

I DO NOT recommend using petroleum jelly. I ignorantly suggested using this in the past. Since then, I have learned just how bad petroleum jelly can be.

Petroleum has been found to increase your risk of cancer. On top of that, it’s just plain bad for your skin because it doesn’t allow it to “breathe”.

Links to why you should avoid petroleum products:

• Say No to Petroleum Products
• Petroleum and Mineral Oil: Bad News for Your Skin
• Petroleum Jelly Side Effects
• Coconut Oil Outperforms Dangerous Petroleum Body Care Products

Plan to do this foot wrap right before bed; Trust me, you don’t want to try walking around the house once you get your feet all wrapped up and ready to go.

The easiest way to do it is to gather all of your supplies in your bedroom and prepare your foot wrap as soon as you crawl into bed at night.

Coconut Foot Wrap Instructions

If you have a natural moisturizer that you like, rub it into your feet first.

Next, coat your feet with coconut oil (or whatever oil you are using.)

Wrap your feet in the plastic wrap and then put socks on. The plastic wrap ensures that the oil fully absorbs into your skin and not into the socks. That’s it. You’re done. You’ll be amazed at the improvement in your feet the next morning.

Depending on how bad your heels and feet are, it could take a couple of nights to get your feet ready for showing off. When your feet get worn out from being exposed to the elements this summer, just do it again; It’s simple and it’s cheap.

If you have very thick callouses on your feet, you may also want to do a foot soak and use a callous remover or pumice stone to reduce the callous beforehand. These work like a file (think a nail file, except it’s for your heals and not your nails.)

Enjoy your summer with beautiful feet!

Last week we discussed the value of grains and whether to include them in a daily diet or not. My conclusion is that for many of us grains are still important to have in our diets to some degree. I also believe that the way those grains are prepared is very important to our use of them.

Traditional Methods of Preparing Grains

Weston A. Price, a dentist from the 1930′s researched many traditional cultures, studying their diets to see what they consumed and how it was prepared. He started out believing that a plant based diet would be the healthiest and and was very surprised to find out that was not true.

He found that traditional cultures did use grains but they prepared them by soaking the flour, sprouting the seeds and then drying and grinding or by souring them with sourdough. Across all the cultures some way of preparing the grains for better use by human bodies was consistent.

The main reason for this seems to be that grains contain phytic acid.

Reasons for Soaking Grains

Phytic acid makes foods harder to digest and makes the minerals and nutrients in the grains less available to our bodies. Phytic acid will bind with nutrients in the digestive tract, especially magnesium, calcium, copper, iron, and zinc. If a person is deficient in any of these for too long a period of time these deficiencies will lead to health problems.

Grains also contain enzyme inhibitors which protect the seed (the grain) as it prepares to grow into a new plant. The vitamins and minerals were not really designed for us (although I do believe they were give to us as food by God) but are needed for the plant for growth.

If we sprout seeds before eating them the nutrients are unleashed and made more available to our bodies. So sprouting and to some degree soaking makes the nutrients more available to us for our nutritional use.

Soaking the grains also breaks down gluten and fiber which can be damaging to our bodies. Despite what you have heard about fiber and the need to eat as much as possible fiber is not good for us in all situations. Those with leaky guts can actually fiber makes their situation worse. And fiber that is not readily able to be used by the body can cause discomfort, gas and other intestinal issues.

How to Soak Grains Properly

To prepare grains properly by soaking you need moisture, warmth, acid PH and time. It is best to soak your grains in a liquid that is at about 115 degrees (warm) with a small amount of added lemon juice or vinegar and to do so for about 12 hours or more. Many sources recommend using dairy liked whey, buttermilk or yogurt for soaking.

According to Amanda Rose, a PhD food scientist, the calcium level in dairy prevents the phytic acid from really getting properly broken down. So she does not recommend this medium for soaking. Also if anyone has a dairy intolerance this would also make choosing a milk based medium a poor choice.

Breaking down the phytic acid of course works best with grains high in phytic acid.

These grains should be soaked:

• Wheat
• Rye
• Barley
• Buckwheat

Corn, millet, oats, and rice are not high in phytase so soaking these grains does not make as much of a difference.

My favorite way to soak grains is using the sourdough medium. Making a yeastless sourdough loaf of bread seems to combine many elements to get grains in which much of the troublesome elements have been dealt with.

Next week I will share more about the benefits of sourdough and the basic recipe I use.

Read more about this topic by Amanda Rose at Rebuild from Depression: Soaking Grains

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So what is the problem with grains? Why are people having so much trouble with them? Should we be avoiding certain grains or avoiding them all together.

What’s Bad About Grains

There are some real issues with grains which we cannot ignore. Grains like wheat, rye, and barley do contain more gluten than they used to primarily because of hybridization. At this point wheat is not genetically modified but it has been hybridized extensively and often with the goal of increasing the gluten in it.

Many people have gluten intolerance, including 3 members of my own family. Nearly five time as many people have gluten intolerance as in the 1950s. Refined grains have been linked with many diseases including diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Grains do not contain any specific nutrition that cannot be found in some other foods, so many people are opting to leave them out and avoid many of the problems that seem to go along with eating grains these days.

Benefits of Eating Grains

So what value is there in eating grains? Why not cut them out completely if there is so much controversy over them? There are several reasons why at least some of us should consider keeping grains in our diets.

1. First, they are affordable especially for families on a budget.
2. Second, they do contain some important vitamins and minerals which are easiest to get from grains, including B Vitamins and magnesium. Although as was mentioned, these nutrients can be found in other foods, it is not that easy to do so.
3. Third, some people do feel better on grains because they need a higher carbohydrate diet than others.

It is possible to reduce the gluten and phytic acid in grains through soaking and use of sourdough and also increase the vitamin and mineral content and thus make them more digestible.

Anytime we cut out a whole food group it does become more difficult to keep a balanced diet. For instance if grains are cut out and nut flours are used, the nuts are a good source of magnesium but also high in omega 6 fatty acids (the bad ones) and can lead to an imbalance of fatty acids in the body.

There are some people who do need to avoid grains, especially those with gluten. Anyone with several celiac disease needs to stay off gluten and should consider cutting out all grains. Those with gut issues of imbalance of good and bad gut bacteria may need to be off grains during a healing process.

The answer of whether to eat grains and how much will vary with each individual.

In the next weeks I will be presenting a series on the different grains that are available for our use and giving some suggestions on the best ways to use them. Next week I plan to write about soaking grains and using them in sourdough, the way I recommend for preparing and serving grains.

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Others around the country (and the world) have had some crazy spring weather as well. Let me know what you’re spring has been like in the comments! In other news, here are some of our favorite natural living posts around the web in April.

Skip out on the toxins this summer. You don’t need chemicals to keep bugs away. Make this homemade bug repellent from Living the Nourished Life.

Our ancestors knew how to use and reuse everything so that nothing went to waste. One of the ways we can make the most out of animal products is to make tallow to use in cooking and frying. Tallow also makes an excellent homemade diaper rash cream.

Composting is another great way to use and reuse our resources. Learn what kinds of things you can put in your compost, including burnt yard debris and more.

With more people eating grain free and gluten free, the use of alternative flours such as nut flour is on the rise. But too much of these flours may not be a good thing, either. Empowered Sustenance gives 5 reasons to avoid almond flour (not completely, just use it in moderation).

If you suffer from menstrual cramps, you’ll enjoy these natural menstrual cramp remedies.

Did you know that most garlic that is sold in the grocery store is shipped all the way from China? But, growing garlic is easy, and can be done even by people with limited space (apartment dwellers, too!)

Did you know that if you increase melatonin it can help you sleep better?

I love having a cup with a lid and a straw so the little ones can’t spill it. That’s why I am planning to make one of these mason jar drink cups by Life Sanity.

Have you ever heard of fiddleheads? They are super good for you and considered a delicacy, but you can forage for them for free! Find out how to find fiddleheads and what to do with them.

And finally, if you’ve ever wanted to raise chickens, you’ll enjoy this guide to keeping chickens for beginners.

Did I miss your natural living post this April? Feel free to post it in the comments.