Recipe: Homemade Mayo
Store-bought mayonnaise often contains unhealthy refined vegetable oils like soybean oil, canola oil, and safflower oil (among others). Even so “olive oil” or “organic” mayonnaises often lack the healthy fats you can incorporate into your food (and your kid’s bellies!) when you cook from scratch at home. To enjoy a life giving, healthy mayonnaise, particularly in various dressings and salads, give this recipe a try.
Makes 2 cups.
Basic Ingredients:
2 eggs* at room temperature (preferably from local, pasture raised hens)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice*
1-3 tsp. raw apple cider vinegar (ACV)*
1/2 cup olive oil* (can add a little sesame oil* in part if you prefer a more mild tasting mayonnaise)
1/2 cup coconut oil (CO)*, warmed to liquid (can use a more refined CO if you prefer less of a coconut taste) CO is available in the WWCA Wellness Shop!
1 tsp Probiotic Whey* (the liquid drained off living yogurt or kefir) or sauerkraut juice* (the liquid drained...
Recipe: Homemade Mustard
Store-bought mustard is usually made with vinegar from genetically-modified corn. While certified organic mustards are available, it's deeply satisfying to make your own. Furthermore, you can naturally ferment the condiment to get that sour flavor rather than relying on vinegar. This boosts the probiotics, turning your condiment into a veritable health food.
Makes 2 cups.
Ingredients:
1⁄2 cup whole yellow mustard seeds*
1⁄2 cup water (pure, non-chlorinated water is best)
2 Tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar*
1 Tbsp. honey* (local, raw honey is preferred)
2 Tbsp. probiotic whey* (the liquid drained off living yogurt or kefir)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 lemon*, juiced
1 clove garlic*
*It is best to choose organic ingredients to avoid increased exposure to toxic pesticides in conventionally raised foods.
Method:
Put all ingredients in your food processor and blend until smooth.
Transfer to a small, pint sized jar and close the lid tightly.
Leave on your counter for two to three days to...
For The Goblins, Witches, Princes And Fairies: Lemon Coconut Drop Candies
Easy No Bake Candies
After a full nourishing dinner, have your little ones stock up on these before going out trick or treating. Their bellies will be full of the natural sweetness of creamy coconut with a touch of raw honey and they will have little desire (or room) for all the toxic candies being handed out. You don't have to celebrate Halloween to appreciate these lemon drops of yumminess. Enjoy!
- 1 cup *coconut cream concentrate
- ¼ - ½ cup raw honey (less is best!)
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- Juice of 1 meyer lemon (or the juice of 2 regular lemons)
- 1-3 Tbsp. of coconut oil or ghee
- Dried coconut flakes, toasted if desired (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
*Coconut cream concentrate is also known as coconut cream, coconut butter, or coconut spread, depending on the brand that produces it.
Mix the first 4-5 ingredients together until well mixed and smooth. I use my food processor or hand blender for this step. Form...
Halloween Candy: What's A Parent To Do?
October is a fun time to revel in the crisp fall weather and colors, dress up in costumes, and enjoy the company of friends and family. In American culture, it is also a time when candies, created with industrial food additives, inundate our society. Running errands, we may easily find a dish of candy awaiting at most every stop – the bank, hairdresser, auto repair, and even the doctor’s office. What’s a caring parent or a sugar addict to do? Here are tricks to help you manage your treats.
Leave the house satisfied
We crave sugar when we have insufficient fat in our diet. One of the best ways to avoid nibbling sweets is to eat rich, fat filled meals before you leave the house. Take the time to enjoy some avocado, bacon or eggs in the morning. If you tolerate dairy, add organic full fat yogurt or cottage cheese to your lunch. Choose raw dairy if it is available. Snack on my delicious No Bake Lemon Coconut Drops to satisfy your need for fat...
Recipe: "Carved Pumpkin" Stuffed Pepper
If you saw the “Carved Pumpkin” stuffed peppers photo in the October Edition of Savor Your Health e-newsletter, you will want to try this recipe. If you haven’t subscribed yet to Savor Your Health, a monthly healthy living e-newsletter, enter your email address in the sidebar sign-up form.
Ingredients
- 4-6 sweet bell peppers
Filling
- Spoonful of Bacon Fat, Ghee or Butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 carrots shredded fine
- 1 stalk celery diced fine
- 1 small zucchini or preferred squash shred fine
- Several large handfuls of spinach
- 1 lb pork sausage
- 1 egg
- 2-3 t rubbed sage
- 1 t salt
- ½ t pepper
- ½ t ground mustard or 1 T stone ground prepared mustard
- 2 T Worchester Sauce
- ½-1 c cooked grain, optional
- Preheat Oven to 350F
Preheat Oven to 350F
In a skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the onion, carrots and celery in bacon fat until crisp tender. Add zucchini and spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted. Allow the...
Choose Real Food
Many of us know the USDA Food Pyramid and a few of us are becoming familiar with their new program MyPlate. Unfortunately the new improved MyPlate is still lacking something vital. It doesn’t distinguish between the low value of processed food products and the high value of real foods.
Using MyPlate you could eat Hamburger Helper, canned green beans, canned peaches, a glass of skim milk and have a reasonably balanced plate. Likewise you could have a delicious homemade meatloaf using grass-finished beef, cauliflower mash, spinach salad and small dish of seasonal fruit drizzled with yogurt. Proportion wise your plate is no different from the first meal. Do you begin to see the problem? According to MyPlate these choices appear equal and they are decidedly not. I love this image by Adam Fields, which sums up my feelings pretty accurately.
Recipe: Pecan Pie With Almond Chocolate Crust
Since I love good food and didn't want to give up one of my favorite holiday traditions, I decided it was time for a pecan pie make-over. I was inspired by Elana Amsterdam’s pecan pie, but it didn’t quite meet my nutritional preferences. With a few tweaks, I was able to bake a soul-satisfying and body-nourishing pecan pie. I hope you enjoy this delicious pie as much as my family and friends do.
Chocolate Pie Crust
1 ¼ cups Blanched Almond Flour
¼ t Sea Salt
¼ t Baking Soda
2 T Ghee
2 T Honey
½ cup chopped dark chocolate or powdered baking cocoa*
*½ cup makes a very rich crust, you may use ¼ cup if you prefer
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt and baking...
Healthy Eating On The Road
Without the kitchen, a simple salad of pea shoots, avocado, plain yogurt and smoked wild salmon was my fast food lunch, made on the go from a few groceries I picked up. If you pack a travel friendly bowl, you aren’t limited to premade groceries or quick fried food from McDonalds and its ilk.
Take a small lunch cooler sack and pack it with quick on the go treats. Individual serving sizes of almond butter can be great with precut veggie slices you pick up at the store. This last trip I got my hands on cucumber slices and bought some salmon roe to top them. 
Instead of getting something sweet from the vending...
Healthy Sleep On The Road
Many of us have trouble sleeping on the road. I’m a light sleeper and the past two weeks of hotel living have been tough. Here are some quick tips to improve your sleep:
- Essential Oils can be an excellent way to enhance your sleep at a hotel. My go to oil for sleep on the road is lavender. An open bottle of oil on the nightstand or a few drops on the pillowcase can help ease you into sleep as you inhale the soothing fragrance.
- Take your own pillow. Many of us have a pillow that feels “just right.” If you are pillow firmness and shape sensitive then its worth it to take your own pillow. Don’t sacrifice your sleep, most pillows can be readily squashed to fit in your luggage.
- Ask for a hypoallergenic pillow or room. If you aren’t taking your own pillow, ask for a hypoallergenic one or for an entire room. These pillows/rooms are laundered differently and less likely to have mites that may make breathing more difficult.
- Use the blackout curtains.
- ...
3 Easy Tips For Healthier Holiday Meals
The holidays are busy and my three tips are small changes you can make while preparing and enjoying your holiday meals to improve your health.
1. Use healthy fats. You hear me say it all the time, but it is vital to your health. Ditch margarine and use butter on the table and baking. Ghee is an excellent fat for cooking and baking. I use it in my chocolate almond pie crust. For those of you using shortening or crisco in your pie crusts, switch to palm oil which will give you the same flakey goodness. Coconut oil adds an extra level of depth in the flavor of your cakes.
2. Buy Pasture Raised and Grass-Finished Meats. Whether your family enjoys turkey or roast beef on the holiday table, go for animals that have been raised on diets their bodies were intended to consume. The meat will have a better Omega- 3/Omega-6 ratio, higher levels of minerals and vitamins and will taste better. For more on the nutritional superiority...
