tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23117569614701013402024-03-19T13:08:22.488-07:00The Fat Lady's SongDonna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-30944410670568541302018-02-16T18:48:00.001-08:002018-02-17T08:34:00.526-08:00Revisiting Liver: A Necessary Evil<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFk0Y5k8TTso3tKYMb2nXTozBQ9hpHOLdC2SPTkr6yiJjWg1nQ-DNcTaLhekccvAqNtKgwCqqw0gzcrViEwnEBjIUtDrgj9qR8a0pc7_xv-RvOYr3uLq7dMQXJXmostbRpeftVROewQiI/s1600/20368954_1715102588791600_5009634412153363676_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="1292" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFk0Y5k8TTso3tKYMb2nXTozBQ9hpHOLdC2SPTkr6yiJjWg1nQ-DNcTaLhekccvAqNtKgwCqqw0gzcrViEwnEBjIUtDrgj9qR8a0pc7_xv-RvOYr3uLq7dMQXJXmostbRpeftVROewQiI/s640/20368954_1715102588791600_5009634412153363676_o.jpg" width="598" /></a></div>
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You're absolutely right. That is not liver in that photo above. That is stew meat. You can use either grassfed lamb or beef in this amazing stew.</div>
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So what's stew got to do with liver?<br />
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It's my secret weapon for incorporating dastardly liver into my healthy eating plan. If you love liver, stop reading. You don't need this secret weapon. But if you're like me and cannot abide the stuff, read on for the most amazing nutrition hack of the century.<br />
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Bay leaf, rosemary, basil, sage and thyme. Peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplant, onions, tender grassfed beef or lamb. And the secret that thickened the sauce: liver puree. Yes, you heard right. LIVER. I finally found the perfect way to disguise liver. Puree it with water, okra, fresh parsley, tomatoes, celery and onions and use it as the base for your stew. Undetectable (I swear) and oh so rich and savory.<br />
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A few posts back, I wrote about liver and why it's important to get at least 4 oz a week. I was still searching for solutions to my liver dilemma in that post. My dirty rice recipe I came up with to disguise liver was good, but nowhere near as amazing as this recipe.<br />
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It's important to find grassfed organic liver. The liver processes toxins and you don't want to be eating a sick, toxic liver from a commercially-raised cow that has been eating grains that are toxic to its health. For beef liver, I can go down the road to the farmstand of our local grassfed beef purveyor who I know on a first name basis, and I can pull a pound of liver out of his freezer and leave my $3.50 in the jar (they still go on the honor system there). That'll do me a whole month at 4 oz a week. You can't do that. But...I know how you can order the best grassfed liver from a cattlewoman I know. Email me at primadonnagail@gmail.com and I'll put you in touch. Her cows are grass-fed and grass-finished. Primo stuff. She will ship it to you on dry ice.<br />
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If you need motivation to incorporate liver into your life, think about all that Vitamin A and Vitamin B-12 and iron and a host of other essential, healing, life-enhancing nutrition in such a small serving of relatively inexpensive grassfed beef. Did you know that liver is so nutrient rich, it can be dangerous if you eat too much of it. But four ounces a week is perfect.<br />
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You can get your 4 ounces in 2 bowls of this stew and never even notice you are eating liver. It makes 8 servings (large bowls) and 2 bowls weekly satisfies your essential liver needs, so if you freeze your leftovers (2 bowls worth in each freezer container), you will have enough for a month.<br />
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I started out making it with beef, then I realized I also needed to incorporate more lamb into my life. Lamb is the number one highest food source of the zinc most of us are deficient in other than oysters and lamb is much less toxic than oysters. It also has less saturated fat, more omega-3 and more CLA than beef. A 4 oz serving will give you almost 50% of your daily B-12 RDA and around 30% of your necessary selenium and niacin.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Livery (not) Lamb Stew (or Beef)</span></b><br />
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Ingredients for the puree that forms the basis for your sauce:<br />
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16 oz. grassfed sauteed beef liver<br />
1 raw purple onion, quartered<br />
2 organic roma tomatoes<br />
2 stalks celery, cut in large pieces<br />
1 cup raw parsley<br />
1 cup chopped okra (frozen or fresh)<br />
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Stew ingredients:<br />
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2 lbs. grassfed lamb (or beef), cut in chunks<br />
4 large red potatoes quartered with skins<br />
4 stalks celery, cut in chunks<br />
2 large yellow onions quartered<br />
1 large yellow onion, chopped<br />
2 large bell peppers (any color or mixed colors), chunked in large pieces<br />
8 organic carrots unpeeled and WHOLE, not sliced<br />
2-4 cups sliced mushrooms<br />
1 small eggplant, chopped in small chunks<br />
2 bay leaves<br />
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (leave one sprig whole for each serving)<br />
1 tbsp dried sage (or 2 tbsp fresh)<br />
1 tbsp dried thyme (or 2 tbsp fresh)<br />
Your favorite fresh, dried or pickled hot pepper to taste plus one whole small pepper for garnishing<br />
1 cup bone broth (preferably homemade)<br />
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar or red wine<br />
Two tbsp beef base (I like Organic Beef by Better Than Bouillion)<br />
Salt and pepper to taste (black pepper and cayenne)<br />
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Put soup pot boiling with water with 2 tbsp of Better Than Bouillion Organic Beef Base.<br />
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Cut raw liver and lamb (or beef) into chunks and season meat strongly with your favorite seasoning for stew meat. I use salt, black pepper and cayenne, sometimes a little garlic powder and celery salt. Sautee chunks of lamb and beef liver in a black iron skillet on low to medium heat until well browned, deeply carmelized. (High heat cooking increases cancer-causing HCAs, so you'll have to cook the meat longer on a lower heat to get the browning normally obtained with high heat.)<br />
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Add chopped yellow onion to deglaze pan. When some of the onions are carmelized, add 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar or red wine. Pull out liver and set it aside to cool. Add mushrooms to meat and onions in black iron skillet. Add bone broth as needed until mushrooms are sauteed and have absorbed flavors fully.<br />
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Pour lamb/onion/mushroom mix (along with brown gravy) into boiling water in soup pot. Plan to slow boil for at least an hour, preferably two hours.<br />
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While soup pot is slow boiling, take your liver you set aside earlier, and cut it into chunks. Add it into a food processor, blender or Ninja, together with 1 cup water, raw okra, purple onions, roma tomatoes, parsley and celery. All raw. Pour pureed liver and veggie mix into boiling soup pot.<br />
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Continue boiling until the hour or two is up. Add water as needed to keep your stew at the right consistency as it boils down.<br />
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Add eggplant, herbs, carrots, celery, quartered onions and bell peppers. Boil until carrots are tender (30 minutes at least). I like leaving my carrots whole. It adds a rustic French country touch or something. It's unique and artsy and keeping them whole preserves their flavor more. It makes for a beautiful presentation to have a whole carrot placed diagonally in each bowl of stew. It also helps you keep track of your carrot servings (since they are a rather high carb vegetable).<br />
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At this point, taste the stew. Some of the seasoning from your strongly seasoned meat will have dispersed in the stew, but you may need to add more. Salt, pepper, herbs - get it to where you like it.<br />
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It's possible you may not have browned your meat and onions enough, and your stew may not be brown enough for you. Normally people make a roux (but I'm trying to stay away from wheat and gluten). It's so bad for you so please don't add roux to this healthy stew. If it's not brown enough, use an old trick my mother taught me. Put two tablespoons of sugar in that black iron pot and cook it until it carmelizes then turns almost black. It won't taste like sugar anymore, and that almost black liquid will add depth to the color of your stew. It will be such a negligible amount of sugar in such a large stew. I don't know which is worse - roux, chemicalized Kitchen Bouquet or sugar. I've also heard you can brown tomato paste in the oven and it will serve as a homemade browning agent, but I've never tried that. If you try it, let me know how it turns out. It sounds like the healthiest option.<br />
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Add potatoes. Boil for another 15-30 minutes until potatoes are tender.<br />
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Remove bay leaves and serve with sprig of fresh rosemary in each bowl and a small hot pepper (optional). Two bowls will supply your week's worth of required liver intake.<br />
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Please comment below on whether or not you could taste the liver. I really want to hear back from you on this one.<br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-89982354063383162282018-02-12T12:03:00.003-08:002018-02-12T14:53:09.408-08:00Add a creamy dipping sauce and a rich little dessert to your life to lower that insulin spike after a meal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It looks like it, but no, it's not hummus.</td></tr>
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I've been reading everywhere about how insulin is what drives obesity. When your blood sugar gets high, it spikes the insulin response. Bringing down blood sugar is key to reducing insulin and thereby losing weight.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-qk0yxbjbeeWoRNKzBT3TKYHy1z2ZTSnOznrE1oK8s8CbT4jti_6vPAcwZ4bQ3zRxWxlrjqXmzPHExE3eTdF-ZEt1BRgQRFZ4_yUI2HZo_7ei7MbtRf1Z8Cou4oTToh2zq11UfDTb7fk/s1600/praline-chocolate-nibble-sweetness-40821.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="640" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-qk0yxbjbeeWoRNKzBT3TKYHy1z2ZTSnOznrE1oK8s8CbT4jti_6vPAcwZ4bQ3zRxWxlrjqXmzPHExE3eTdF-ZEt1BRgQRFZ4_yUI2HZo_7ei7MbtRf1Z8Cou4oTToh2zq11UfDTb7fk/s320/praline-chocolate-nibble-sweetness-40821.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is that not scrumptuous looking?</td></tr>
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When you're diabetic like me, blood sugars can get high even if you eat no sugar at all. I was fasting the other day, hadn't eaten in a couple of days, and I checked my blood sugar and was amazed to see it was over 150. AFTER NO FOOD IN DAYS.<br />
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That's just downright wrong - but it runs in my family.<br />
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So that means even if I'm eating no sugar, I have to find other ways to bring down my blood sugar.<br />
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Since I always have a tendency to overeat, even if I'm eating protein, too much protein actually converts to glucose. Even if I'm eating vegetables, veggies have small amounts of carbs but those carbs add up if you eat too many.<br />
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I know, I know. Eat less. That's the root of my problem. I have a hard time eating less. After 55 years, it's a given, I think. So it's important I stay away from sugars and carbs.<br />
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Besides, even if I'm eating NOTHING (as we've already seen), my blood sugar is high. So no matter what I eat or don't eat, I need to come up with hacks to limit blood sugar spikes and insulin response, especially after meals.<br />
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From all my research, I've learned there are four hacks that will help with this:<br />
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(1) ceylon cinnamon during or after a meal will markedly lower your blood sugar (not cassia cinnamon or common cinnamon you buy at the store because it can dangerously thin your blood and cause other health problems if eaten in excess)<br />
(2) nuts (especially almonds) before a meal will lower insulin response by 30%<br />
(3) apple cider vinegar before a meal will lower insulin response by a whopping 40%<br />
(4) fiber fiber fiber in the meal is also key to lowering insulin response<br />
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There are also certain foods that seem to be especially good for diabetics that you should eat ALOT of to lower blood sugars and limit insulin response:<br />
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<b>Vegetables but especially Cruciferous Vegetables</b> - I've read so much research on these, it's too much to summarize (just eat them). If you have thyroid issues, though, there is some concern about cruciferous vegetables hurting your thyroid (especially if you have an iodine deficiency). Cooking seems to minimize that risk. Brussel sprouts are one cruciferous veggies that studies say don't seem to have that affect on your thyroid. I have a hypothyroid condition, so I focus on eating brussel sprouts (cooked) just in case.<br />
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<b>Raw cacao powder</b> - Eaten 5 times a week, this stuff can lower risk of heart event by 57% (most diabetics die of heart attacks). It is a major source of magnesium (which most diabetics are deficient in) and is good for blood sugar control all around. It's also brain food. Dark chocolate is all the rage. This is the source. No sugar, no dairy, no added ingredients, no processing. Just 100% raw cacao. We're not talking cocoa powder (that's heated and processed). Cacao.<br />
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<b>Healthy fats from avocado and coconut</b> - I also limit olive oil because I've read that so much of it is fake. Plus even if it's real, you destroy it's value by cooking with it. I eat olives instead. Can't fake an olive. So coconut and avocado are my go-to healthy fats. I did recently decide to splurge on a high-end expensive extra virgin olive oil to use raw in my special creamy sauce in this post. Email me if you want to know where I got it and why I think it's the real thing. As for butter, I love butter but limit butter because I don't really trust that butter sold as grassfed really is grassfed butter, then there's the whole issue of A1 vs. A2 milk...it's all too much for me to sort out.<br />
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Okay, so what's the takeaway?<br />
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Well, I need to eat nuts preferably almonds right before a meal. I also need to put some apple cider vinegar into a cup of water and drink it right before a meal. I need to eat brussel sprouts every day. Cinnamon after every meal. Fiber, fiber, fiber. Cacao powder at least 5 days a week.<br />
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Should be simple, right? <i>I never do any of it.</i> I hate the taste of ACV. I never want to eat a handful of almonds right before a meal. Cacao powder? Have you tasted that awful, bitter stuff?<br />
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So I had to come up with a plan to make it enjoyable, palatable, enticing... Moreover, it had to be do-able, easy, like clockwork.<br />
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So I came up with a master plan:<br />
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(1) Avoid processed, packaged or fast food. Always.<br />
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(2) On a daily basis, eat mostly <b>veggies</b> (focus on greens and cruciferous veggies) and limited <b>fish/meat</b> with <b>healthy fats</b>.<br />
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(2) Only eat fruit a couple times a week and focus on low-carb, low-glycemic index berries like raspberries and blueberries. Occasionally, have fig, red grapefruit, green papaya, melon, kiwi or plum.<br />
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(3) Eat half an avocado mid-morning, every day, to make sure I get it in. I love avocados, so that won't be hard to do.<br />
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(4) Mix ceylon cinnamon in MCT Oil (a derivative of coconut oil that is most easily digested and super good for diabetics) and keep it in the fridge. Take a tablespoonful of it after every meal. Easy-peasy.<br />
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(5) Write down a meal plan that includes all the things you're supposed to be eating that are good for you and that you like. I'll share my meal plan with you in my next post.<br />
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(6) Make as many of these meals in advance and freeze them. For instance, I want to try to eat cooked mixed greens several times a week. I can take out individual portions when I want to eat them, which means I'll eat them more frequently. There are certain soups I want to eat once or twice a week, so I can make batches in advance and freeze.<br />
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Still left with the problem of how to get in that blood-sugar lowering apple cider vinegar and that awful bitter cacao powder. How to make SURE I eat almonds and brussel sprouts on the regular.<br />
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So I decided I'm going to cook a big batch of brussel sprouts every week and keep them in the fridge. I'm going to eat a few of them at the start of every meal. I'll just pull four or five of them out of the storage container and heat them in the oven.<br />
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Then I had a thought. What if I had a delicious sauce to dip them into. I'd be that much more likely to eat them. Then I pondered: what kind of sauce could be rich and creamy and tasty and incorporate all kinds of healthy ingredients that I need to be eating anyway? Like almonds and apple cider vinegar? Then if I ate the brussel sprouts with the sauce before each meal, I'd be getting fiber, ACV and almonds all in to lower my insulin spike after eating.<br />
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Now when I say I'm a modified keto/paleo meal plan, it's because I eat more carbs than they allow. Granted, it's in the form of low-carb veggies, but it still adds up to more than the 20 carbs recommended for pure keto. I am more slow-carb than strictly low-carb. I only eat the carbs (like veggies) that are so full of fiber they produce a slow and low blood sugar rise.<br />
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I'm also different from keto in that I believe we need fruit. Not often - and erring on the side of lower-carb fruits, but fruit nonetheless. Couple times a week.<br />
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I also am a proponent of the musical fruit. I like the idea of beans, but very small amounts, I also believe beans must be soaked and sprouted to neutralize anti-nutrients. Perfect time to eat those beans is before a meal (all that fiber to blunt your insulin response) for that slow-carb idea.<br />
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So I wanted to incorporate beans into this mock hummus sauce. But not strictly chickpeas. They are so high in carbs. So I did some research and decided yellow lentils were a better choice. They rank second highest among all beans for high ORAC (antioxidant) levels, but they are among the lowest in carbs. So I put both chickpeas and yellow peas into this recipe. I buy my lentils and chickpeas already sprouted and keep them in my pantry. I boil and mash them as needed for recipes like this one.<br />
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By the way, there are 45 total carbs in a cup of chickpeas, but only 40 in lentils. If you subtract fiber and look at net carbs, you have 33 net carbs in a cup of chickpeas and 24 net carbs in the same amount of lentils. Less carbs, more fiber. Eliminate those carbs wherever you can. Black beans have 41 total carbs and 26 net carbs and have the best nutritonal profile probably, but I didn't want a black hummus. I make black bean soup occasionally. Green split peas are even higher in fiber and lower in carbs, so I make a split pea soup occasionally. I like white beans too, but they are higher in carbs, so I make white beans very rarely. They're so wonderfully high in fiber. One cup of white beans provides 75% of your daily fiber needs.)<br />
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Most people think you need beans and rice to make a complete protein, but beans and nuts also make for a complete protein. So normal hummus - and my mock hummus - are almost like eating meat. :)<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Creamy Mock Hummus Dipping Sauce for Veggies</b></span><br />
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4 tbsp organic sprouted raw almond butter<br />
4 tbsp organic sprouted raw tahini<br />
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil (make sure it's the real stuff)<br />
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar<br />
1 small garlic clove chopped fine (or more depending on how much garlic you can handle)<br />
1 cup mashed cauliflower<br />
1 cup mashed sprouted organic yellow lentils<br />
1/2 cup mashed sprouted organic chickpeas<br />
1/4 tsp sea salt<br />
1/4 tsp cumin<br />
1/4 tsp paprika<br />
1 tbsp dried or 2 tbsp fresh parsley<br />
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Mash with a fork or mix in a food processor until creamy.<br />
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Email me at primadonnagail@gmail.com if you want to know where I order these ingredients.<br />
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I have no trouble eating this as an appetizer before every meal. This recipe should be divided into 4 servings. So you can eat some before lunch and before dinner one day, then again the next day. I can't imagine you'd want it before breakfast. Double the recipe if you want it to last you four days. You can dip our roasted, carmelized brussel sprouts or ANYTHING in that. Any meal you eat after that will register lower blood sugar and a lower insulin response. Tons of ACV, nuts (almonds and sesame seeds), fiber and healthy fat.<br />
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THEN COMES THE MEAL. Can you believe it? We get to eat MORE.<br />
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A sample meal after this might be a piece of wild-caught salmon with asparagus and homemade hollandaise sauce. Or how about caesar salad and a seared herb-crusted chicken breast?<br />
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Now, for dessert. End you meal with a spoonful of cinnamon/MCT oil we talked about earlier. That will break your savoring of your savory part of your meal. It will help you to stop eating actually. Shortly after that, you will be wanting something dessert-ey. But we don't want sugar of course.<br />
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That's where that awful, bitter cacao comes in. I was determined to fit it in somehow.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Dark Chocolate Mint Berry Ball</b></span><br />
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8 tbsp (1/2 cup) organic sprouted raw coconut butter (melt on low heat)<br />
8 tbsp (1/2 cup) organic sprouted pumpkin seeds, ground<br />
1/2 tart apple pureed with skin (eat the other half while you're making this)<br />
6 tbsp organic raw cacao powder<br />
6 tbsp raw unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)<br />
2 tbsp organic blackstrap molasses<br />
1/2 tsp ground stevia leaf (the real thing, it's green)<br />
1/8 cup fresh chopped mint leaf or 1/2 tsp dried mint or 1/8 tsp mint extract (optional)<br />
1 tsp real vanilla extract<br />
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Extra coconut flakes ground to powder for rolling the balls (optional)<br />
Blueberries or raspberries (optional)<br />
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Mix all the ingredients together and form into into little balls wrapped around a blueberry or raspberry and lightly roll the ball in ground coconut flakes. Then freeze them on a cookie tray. If it's too "wet" to form into balls, add more ground pumpkin seed or coconut flakes into the mix (whichever you enjoy more). It will firm up once it freezes. Once they are frozen, throw them into a freezer container or bag for storage and pop one out when it's time for dessert.<br />
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If you don't like mint, leave it out. If you don't like coconut, leave out the flakes but still use the coconut butter. You won't taste the coconut as bad. If you don't like berries, just roll up a chocolate ball and leave out the berry in the middle.<br />
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Everything in there is good for you. It isn't very sweet but it makes you feel like you've had dessert (and chocolate dessert at that).<br />
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I can live with this kind of eating if it keeps me from getting my feet amputated from diabetes.<br />
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Just sayin.<br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-54716202910501473672018-02-10T17:13:00.001-08:002018-02-10T18:26:18.415-08:00Superfood Pizza? Yeah, buddy.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I read tons of recipes for various low-carb, gluten-free pizza crusts. The one I finally settled on was originally inspired by a blog post in www.sugarfreemom.com. I liked her idea of using a <i>hard</i> cheese (she used parmesan) to make a cauliflower pizza that you can actually pick up with your hand. She's got some great ideas and great recipes. Check her out.<br />
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I like to include two other hard cheeses - pecorino romano (for the CLA) and aged gouda (for the K2) - wherever I can, along with sprouted sunflower seeds (for Vitamin E). So I adapted. I also like a fluffier pizza dough, so I added baking powder and the flax seed gel made from soaking flax seeds. It's a way of adding more egg without adding more egg. I also added salt and Italian herbs and took out the onion powder. In the end, our recipes are very different, but sugarfreemom was my inspiration.<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
<br />
1 1/2 cup cauliflower rice (pulsed cauliflower)<br />
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano<br />
1/4 cup grated aged gouda<br />
1/4 cup coconut flour<br />
1/4 cup ground sprouted sunflower seeds<br />
1/8 cup dry whole flax seeds with 1/2 cup water added to soak (soak 5 hours before making pizza)<br />
1/4 tsp garlic powder<br />
1 tsp pink himilayan sea salt<br />
1 tsp baking powder<br />
1/4 tsp each of dried oregano, thyme, basil and rosemary<br />
1 large egg<br />
<br />
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.<br />
<br />
Pulse raw or frozen cauliflower florets into what looks like cauliflower rice (or buy frozen cauliflower rice). Pour onto deep baking dish. Heat cauliflower in the oven for 10 minutes to remove moisture (longer if you used frozen cauliflower).<br />
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Mix together all other dry ingredients (NOT egg and gelatinous soaked flax seed) in a bowl while cauliflower is drying in oven. When your cauliflower looks dry, sprinkle this dry mix evenly over dried cauliflower in oven and stir it together until somewhat mixed. Let the cheeses melt into the other ingredients.<br />
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Remove warm "dough" from heat, allow to cool a bit, then place it back in mixing bowl and stir in scrambled raw egg and soaked flax seed.<br />
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Line your 12 inch round pizza pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle a mix of sunflower seed dust on the parchment paper (as though you were flouring it). Place your "dough" in the center of the parchment paper then use another piece of parchment paper on top of the "dough" to flatten it to the edges of the pizza pan. You can choose to form a raised edge for your crust or leave it flat.<br />
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Bake the crust for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.<br />
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Add your favorite pizza sauce (I spoon sauce from a glass jar of organic spaghetti sauce I keep on hand) then a layer of shredded organic mozarella.<br />
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Time to add your favorite ingredients. For a my superfood pizza, I add raw watercress or spinach, mushrooms, onions, bell pepper, anchovies, green olives, black olives and pickled artichoke. Then I come back with a sprinkling of more grated mozarella.<br />
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Place it back into the oven for 15 minutes to heat your toppings, pull it out, slice it and enjoy!<br />
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Why is this a superfood pizza? Most of us are deficient in Vitamin E, CLA, Vitamins B-12, D and K2, and we never get enough veggies. We hardly ever eat healthy olives, raw onions and peppers, or artichokes.<br />
<br />
The sunflower seeds in the crust give you Vitamin E. The gouda and pecorino romano give you Vitamin K2 and CLA. It's got tons of veggies and among the healthiest veggies out there. It's meatless and has superfood anchovies (with Omega 3s and Vitamins B-12 and D) instead of pepperoni or sausage.<br />
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It's ah good-ah pizza pie.<br />
<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-88109922915601707652018-02-10T16:30:00.001-08:002018-02-10T20:45:02.458-08:00Selecting not-so-simple Salmon <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Salmon really isn't simple.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Farmed salmon (the big thick fatty pale orange variety most of us buy) is NOT good for us, they are now saying. It's actually bad for us. Better to eat no salmon at all than to eat farmed salmon. Most restaurants, by the way, serve farmed salmon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wild-caught Alaskan salmon is outrageously expensive and now they are saying alot of it is fake (and dyed that bright reddish-orange color). Canned wild-caught salmon is probably most likely to contain real wild-caught salmon, but what to do with that bony, sticky mess in the can other than salmon patties and they're full of breadcrumbs (not good either).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Think there are no solutions to the salmon quandary? Have no fear, the fat lady is here...with some salmon solutions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">First of all, find a really good source for your wild-caught fresh or frozen salmon and spend what it costs to get the good stuff occasionally. Don't know your local fish markets or if you shop online for fish sent on dry ice, but I'll leave it to you to discern how to find real wild-caught salmon. Just know that most of it is fake, and do your homework.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you can't do that - or in between the times you spring for the good stuff - canned salmon with the bones is actually not a bad choice if you have the right recipe for healthy salmon patties.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A few cautionary notes:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(1) Now, don't buy canned pink salmon. Buy canned wild-caught red Alaskan salmon that is caught in Alaska and processed in the USA. It should say that on the can.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(2) Remember, you want the bones. They're one of the healthiest things about canned salmon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(3) The only downside of canned salmon is whatever chemicals are in the can linings (even BPA free can linings have yucky chemicals), but if you discard the liquid, hopefully you can minimize the contamination in the salmon meat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-large;">The Healthiest Salmon Patties Ever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">12-15 oz. wild-caught salmon (drain liquid)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">¼ cup cauliflower puree</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1 tbsp coconut flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2 tbsp ground sprouted sunflower seeds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2 tbsp soaked flax seeds (after soaking)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">¼ cup finely diced onions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">¼ cup finely diced bell pepper (any color)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1 tsp dijon mustard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1 egg or 2 egg whites</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Your favorite salmon patty seasonings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chopped fresh or dried parsley (some like more, some like less, just sprinkle it in til you're happy)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Optional: Sliced almonds pressed on top to make it fancy</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I know I need to eat cruciferous veggies regularly, so I use cauliflower pureee in all kinds of things - from gluten-free pizza crust to faux mashed potatoes. I make a big batch of it and freeze it in ice cube trays then put cubes in a big ziploc bag in the freezer. I take them out as I need them. 2 cubes will make 1/4 cup of cauliflower puree when it melts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sunflower seeds are the highest food source of Vitamin E which we're all deficient in, surprisingly. I buy sprouted sunflower seeds online (sprouting neutralizes anti-nutrients in seeds, nuts and legumes) and grind them in a low-heat coffee grinder I reserve for grinding seeds and nuts. I keep coconut flour in a container in the fridge and try to use it sparingly but it's a handy keto flour in small amounts. (I don't like to use too much coconut).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I soak some flax seeds every couple of days and keep them in a jar in the fridge and try to sneak them in wherever I can. You can't really sprout flax seeds, but soaking them helps neutralize the anti-nutrients.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you don't like to use eggs, increase the soaked flax seed to 4 tbsp and it can serve as an egg replacement and binder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Get the whole mess of it mixed together - including those bones. Depending on what size salmon cans you bought and whether you put 12 or 15 ounces of salmon in there, you may need more coconut flour to hold it together. Add coconut flour until it's got the consistency you like (but don't add too much).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The issue of seasonings...why am I not more specific? Because everybody thinks they (or their mom or granda) knew best how to season salmon patties. Maybe they use</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Old Bay seasoning or lemon pepper or special herbs or just plain salt and pepper. Just use whatever you would normally use.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I like to pan fry my salmon patties in a coating of avocado oil on a black cast iron skillet then let them cool on a bed of natural (not dyed) paper towels. As I fry a batch, I transfer them onto a platter in the oven, keeping them warm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I freeze leftovers in a big Ziploc bag and pull them out when I want one (just heat it up on a cast iron pan in the oven or stovetop). Having them available like that makes you more likely to get your serving of salmon (and essential Omega-3s) into your routine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the way, this recipe is gluten-free, grain-free, keto, paleo and primal. It can be organic too if you use only organic ingredients.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's not nut-free or seed-free, though. If you need to get the nuts and seeds out of it, replace the flax, coconut flour and sunflower seed with an equivalent measurement of ground psyllium husk and an extra egg. Get the completely natural unflavored psyllium husk at your local health food store (don't get the flavored kind made by Metamucil). It won't be quite as good, or nutritious, but it will be healthier than most things people put in salmon patties. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Have you heard of the new keto/paleo thing of replacing breadcrumbs with ground fried pork skins? I bet it's good, but I don't think that can qualify as healthy in any reasonable universe. :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">NOTE: You can also used smoked salmon which comes in glass jars, but there is plastic lining that probably contains BPA on the inside of the lid which probably still leaches chemicals into the salmon, but not as much. Downside: no bones to mix in the salmon patty so much less calcium.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-37500075585293976472017-10-30T17:56:00.004-07:002017-10-30T21:48:29.342-07:00Creamy, savory turkey pot pie recipe transformed into...healthy soup?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Holiday turkey leftovers are just around the corner, and who doesn't love turkey pot pie? But all that gluten in the crust and all that cream and butter in the soup... It's not exactly what we need to add to our calorie store after we've been stockpiling calories and fat for the entire holiday season.<br />
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So I figured out how to make turkey pot pie healthy. I swear I did.<br />
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The best thing about turkey pot pie is the thick, creamy, turkey-infused goodness of the gravy, right? I always thought to myself, growing up, that I could eat it with a spoon, forget the crust and vegetables. So getting that part of the recipe healthy was going to be the hardest...<br />
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I started that sauce by boiling my whole turkey carcass in a huge stock pot for hours and hours, together with the leftover celery, onions and apples that I had roasted with the turkey. Then I added more celery and onions into the stockpot. Everything was falling apart by the time I was done.<br />
<br />
I took the carcass out and picked all the remaining meat off of it and set it aside. Then I used my colander and a slotted spoon to pull out everything solid from the stockpot. The celery and onions and apple went into my Ninja (or you can use a food processor or blender) for pureeing. And the meat I sorted through. If I found a piece of cartilage or other funky looking parts, it went into the Ninja for pureeing with the mushy veggies. Cartilage and other soft parts off the carcass are good for you, but can only be tolerated if we don't see or bite into them. Only the perfect pieces of meat would remain as chunks in my turkey pot pie. Nobody wants to bite into cartilage, right? Since I didn't have a whole lot of funky meat, I threw some of the perfect meat into the Ninja with the veggies. Pureed it right up. It look whitish, the mixture did.<br />
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That's when I realized. Oh my Christmas stars! Pureed meat, onion, celery and apple would be the thickener for my creamy gravy, so I wouldn't need to use as much - you guessed it - CREAM in my creamy gravy. Huge calorie cut right there. And pureeing turkey made the creamy gravy taste oh so rich and turkey-infused. Since I tend to err on the side of Paleo leanings in my thinking, I do not think cream and butter (if organic and pasture-raised) are the villains they are supposed to be. Still, one doesn't want to overdo cream and butter, no matter how health-enriching they may be. Small servings of healthy fats are adequate for chubby little Paleo-afficiandos like me.<br />
<br />
So I added my puree of turkey parts, onion, celery and apple back into my turkey stock simmering on the stove. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough puree to thicken it into a thick cream suitable for turkey pot pie, but it looked perfect for a creamy soup. Then I realized what I was making: turkey pot pie soup. I googled it. Sure enough, I wasn't the first person to think of it, but all the versions out there were too rich and so unhealthy.<br />
<br />
I gazed into my bubbling creamy soup (which still had not a bit of cream in it) and felt so superior. I tasted a spoonful of it. It was already good with nothing fattening added. No packets of powdered chemical-laden artificial turkey gravy mixes. No flour. No multiple cups of heavy whipping cream. Just thickened with veggies from the stock and turkey.<br />
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But it needed a bit more savory-ness.<br />
<br />
So I got out the sage and the savory, some thyme, a single bay leaf, basil and a touch of rosemary. Added some sea salt, some fresh cracked black pepper. And I let her simmer.<br />
<br />
Then I washed some whole organic carrots, left the skins on, cut off the ends, and dropped them in the soup whole. Have you ever done that? It's so unusual and artistic to have whole fat long carrots floating like logs in your soup. And when you serve a bowl of soup with a lovely long carrot in it and your guests cut into the carrot with a spoon, they notice how much of the carrot flavor was retained in the carrot. I did it once in the interests of saving time (and being lazy too), and I do it all the time now. If whole carrots are too extreme for you, do half-carrots. You'll love the flavor when you cut into them.<br />
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I chopped celery up fine and dumped in a bowl (in addition to the pureed liquid celery already in there and the hours that former celery boiled in the stock). Can you tell I like a celery flavor to my soup?<br />
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And I love big fat chunks of onion, so I cut up a bunch of onion chunks and tossed them in (added to the pureed onion already in there). I chopped up some shiitake and oyster mushrooms too.<br />
<br />
When the carrots were tender, I added a small amount of chunked potatoes and the cubes of turkey meat I'd cut up and set aside after boiling the stock. I also added some yellow squash I had in the fridge.<br />
<br />
When the potatoes were tender, it was just about done. Then a bag of frozen bright green sweet peas went in at the end (canned ones have an awful army-green color and are mushy).I dolloped in some organic butter and organic heavy cream. Not much. Just a dollop. So it was the perfect thickness, whiteness and creaminess I wanted, with some butter grease floating on top so it looked more fattening than it was (appearances are everything).<br />
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Now, I'm gluten intolerant, so no crust was needed for me. I could have made a gluten-free pie crust, but I didn't. Google gluten-free pie crust, if you want to make small ones to go on top of your bowls of soup. Or you could make miniature gluten-free biscuits and toss them on top.<br />
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I didn't bother. I ate it like soup. Bowl after bowl. Full of warm nutrition. A souperfood soup truly.<br />
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I'd made a huge soup so we ate on it for a few days, and it got thick toward the end after being reheated a couple times. So at that point, I poured the thick remains into two pie plates and threw a crust on top of it and baked it for my grandsons who actually love the pie-aspect of turkey pot pie.<br />
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For those of you who like recipes with actual measurements, here you go - and remember this is a big soup, so cut it in half or by a third if you wish.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -0.35px;">Ingredients</span><br />
<ul id="zlrecipe-ingredients-list" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: palatino; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.35px; line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2.4em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">12 cups turkey stock (after boiling your meaty carcass,onions, celery and apples)</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3 cups puree (mixture of meat, cartilage, onions, celery and apples pulled out of stock)*</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">12 carrots, left whole or cut in half</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">6 celery stalks, sliced in chunks</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3 onions, in large chunks</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 cup chopped mushrooms (shiitake and oyster or your choice)</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">10 sage leaves, chopped</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">5 basil leaves, chopped</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4 tsp of dried thyme</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4 tsp of dried savory</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 tsp of dried rosemary</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4 tsp of dried sage</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">salt and pepper to taste (using sea salt and cracked black pepper)</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4 small peeled potatoes, diced small</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4 cups leftover turkey, cubed</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1 small bag frozen sweet peas</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2 cups yellow squash, cubed</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1/2 cup heavy cream (pasture-raised or you can use coconut cream)</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3 tbsp organic, pasture-raised butter</li>
<li class="ingredient no-bullet" itemprop="recipeIngredient" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">top with fresh parsley and fresh sage</li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "palatino";"><span style="font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.35px;">*In the photo above, the turkey was roasted with other veggies. Only puree onions, celery and apples for your thickening puree mix. They puree into a whitish, creamy texture and have the right flavor for this soup. Do not puree carrots in that mix or you will have an orange soup. Don't puree darker green veggies or you will have a greenish tinted soup. You are going for a white/beige cream-based look for this soup. BUT you can add chunks of any vegetable you like into the soup. Some people like broccoli, zucchini, asparagus chunks, cauliflower, or starches like corn (non-GMO). </span></span><span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.35px;">You can also puree cauliflower to thicken the soup further. Some people</span><span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.35px;"> like white beans in a soup like this. I've soaked and sprouted white beans in the past and then pureed them as an alternative thickener for a cream soup. It tasted too beany. But a small amount of pureed white beans might be just what you want for additional thickening to this soup. Or just have them loose, swimming about in the soup. I left corn and beans out because they are so fattening, and this is (lest we forget) a weight-loss blog. (Sweet peas are high-sugar fattening starch, I know, but I left the sweet peas in because it's just not turkey pot pie without bright green sweet peas. Use half a bag if you want to minimize their calories).</span></div>
<div class="h-4 strong" id="zlrecipe-instructions" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: palatino; font-size: 1.25em; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -0.35px; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Instructions</div>
<ol class="instructions" id="zlrecipe-instructions-list" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: palatino; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.35px; line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Boil your turkey carcass in about 16 cups of water in a large stockpot (it should cook down to 12 cups)</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Throw in any leftover onions, celery or apples you may have roasted in the turkey carcass (if none were roasted, add two whole onions, six stalks of celery and two apples to your boiling stock)</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Boil for as many hours as you can (you're making healthy bone broth actually by boiling that carcass)</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Use a slotted spoon or colander (with a handle) to scoop out all the veggies and meat</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Set meat aside and cube as soup cooks</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Put those boiled onions, celery and apple into blender or Ninja or food processor</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Separate out pieces of cartilage off carcass or loose pieces of unsightly meat and add to boiled veggies in blender</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Puree meat and boiled veggies from stock and pour puree mix back into simmering stock as your healthy creamy thickener instead of flour, gravy packets or excess use of cream</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Add salt and pepper to taste</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Add in carrots, chunked onions, celery and mushrooms</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When carrots are tender, add potatoes</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When potatoes are tender, add cubes of turkey meat (you add it late so it won't fall apart)</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Add your bag of frozen sweet peas</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Let the peas and turkey cubes heat through</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Add your cream then your butter last</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Taste and add more seasoning if needed</li>
<li class="instruction " itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Garnish top with fresh flat leaf parsley or sage (or both)</li>
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Eat your heart out - and be thankful it's so heart-healthy that you can actually indulge to your heart's content. Let me know if you liked it.</div>
Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-30690156033070165962017-07-23T15:23:00.001-07:002018-02-05T20:43:46.686-08:00Liver? How to get recommended four ounces down (and no it's not another liver pate recipe).<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2TSD1AozkRjmMHvewxH337DiJcjNhtGJLn2lt4YsuEhrg0voS02jmPd4ODmk2RcWVYjqbxldgea6VyOLKf9RkWZsbFq5K20sSAFnAHU7X1mIeyyBXsHo66VHeD08emtTkh8pqHijQMU/s1600/liver+pate.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="1600" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2TSD1AozkRjmMHvewxH337DiJcjNhtGJLn2lt4YsuEhrg0voS02jmPd4ODmk2RcWVYjqbxldgea6VyOLKf9RkWZsbFq5K20sSAFnAHU7X1mIeyyBXsHo66VHeD08emtTkh8pqHijQMU/s320/liver+pate.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
Me and liver? It's just not going to happen in this lifetime. You neither?<br />
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I've consulted all the recipes...adding bacon to my liver and onions...deep-frying liver (which kind of defeats the healthy-eating purpose of eating it at all)...slathering it with a french cream and balsamic vinegar glaze (again, defeats the purpose). I love the smell of it cooking. I love the gravy and onions on top of grits (not that I should be eating corn grits anyway since grits mostly come from GMO corn).<br />
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I would just leave the idea of liver alone, but that nutrient profile is so alluring. All that Vitamin A and Vitamin B-12 and iron and a host of other essential, healing, life-enhancing nutrition in such a small serving of relatively inexpensive grassfed beef. Liver is so nutrient rich, it can be dangerous if you eat too much of it. Stick to just four ounces and you'll be just ducky (but don't do <i>foie gras</i> from duck or goose livers because they fatten them horribly and they are not good for you or the goose or the gander).<br />
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Grassfed beef liver is the way to go. I can buy local, totally natural, grassfed liver for $3.50 a pound. That's less than a dollar a week to supply basically all my needs as far as grassfed beef goes. Everything else I eat from the butcher's freezer is just for pleasure and not essential. Great thinking, right? Except I can't get the four ounces down.<br />
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Four ounces, that's all we need to eat each week, and I can't stomach even an ounce of it. I even tried just nibbling it between my front teeth in tiny amounts, but it took forever to get an ounce down and it was still decidedly unpleasant to me. Liver pate? Forget it. No matter what seasonings you use, I can't swallow it.<br />
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But never forget that I'm Cajun, and I can make anything taste good. It's in my genes.<br />
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While I was nibbling and gagging at today's attempt at liver and onions (it was deep-fried, sliced thin, cooked with bacon and slathered with that cream and balsamic vinegar glaze), I suddenly remembered my momma's rice dressing or "dirty rice" from my Louisiana childhood. I could see my momma's face, laughing and shaking her head at me.<br />
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Momma would always remark on how I would gobble up that dirty rice without one complaint. It was no secret that it had all kinds of chicken livers and gizzards ground up in it. She couldn't understand why I would eat those livers--plus gizzards to boot--but not her prized calves liver and onions. I couldn't explain it. It just wasn't yucky in the same way.<br />
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That's when I decided I need to try mixing ground calves liver instead of chicken liver in a new Cajun dirty rice recipe.<br />
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So why not just eat rice dressing with chicken livers each week? Well, I can get grassfed calves liver a lot cheaper than pasture-raised organic chicken livers by the ounce, and beef liver has a much higher nutrient profile.<br />
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But there's another reason. I tend to think you have to be really careful with liver and make sure it doesn't come from a "toxic" animal. To tell the truth, I don't trust that organic pasture-raised chicken in the grocery store is really organic and pasture-raised. So I'd have to buy lots of local chickens raised by people I know and take one liver from each to meet my weekly liver quota. It takes roughly 7 chicken livers. I can't eat 7 local chickens a week just to get the livers I need.<br />
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For beef liver, I can go down the road to the farmstand of our local grassfed beef purveyor who I know on a first name basis, and I can pull a pound of liver out of his freezer and leave my $3.50 in the jar (they still go on the honor system there). That'll do me a whole month at 4 oz a week. Or I can make a big pot of dirty rice and feed the whole family their week's worth of liver in a few servings. Dirty rice is a great side to just about any meal. It can even be a main course.<br />
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Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be working on the perfect recipe for Cajun "dirty rice" or rice dressing (whatever you happen to call it). Calves liver has a much stronger (repugnant) flavor than chicken liver, so it's going to take some doing to get it just right.<br />
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Keep coming back to the post until the perfect recipe has been added. I'll also notify you on my blog's Facebook page when the recipe is ready. If you haven't yet liked my Facebook page, go here and like the page and you'll get my Facebook post notifications: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thefatladyssong">www.facebook.com/thefatladyssong</a><br />
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I'm going to deliver a classic Cajun dirty rice recipe, but I'm also going to try a version of dirty rice that uses cauliflower instead of rice. I'm also going to make my momma's beloved eggplant-rice casserole using a mix of beef liver and ground beef.<br />
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Stay tuned, liver lovers. (Not!)<br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-21407072934415989392017-07-11T20:23:00.000-07:002017-07-12T10:23:40.296-07:00Best-Mock-Cornbread-in-the-World-Ever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiqDjAzlLH1HhSAR8P1jok477uRD0-3I9Kjqasj3yoGssWNdAPd-BiplEFgDcgeFXmmoM_IUQFZtL8mJf6Iy4TcBokkqD5GLX_BzkHl41Sf3WWeqprMJf3pvVSQlH2jplPxtDtR4K5b4/s1600/19642243_1705279489773910_3815385805801370540_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="223" data-original-width="416" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiqDjAzlLH1HhSAR8P1jok477uRD0-3I9Kjqasj3yoGssWNdAPd-BiplEFgDcgeFXmmoM_IUQFZtL8mJf6Iy4TcBokkqD5GLX_BzkHl41Sf3WWeqprMJf3pvVSQlH2jplPxtDtR4K5b4/s640/19642243_1705279489773910_3815385805801370540_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I wasn't planning on cooking anything for the blog that night--hence I had to hurry up and snap a terrible photo right before I ate what just may be the most amazing mock cornbread in the world ever.</div>
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And I made it with no recipe by complete accident.<br />
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It has absolutely NO corn in it (GMO or otherwise), is gluten-free and is made up of sprouted ancient grains like amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat with a dash of tapioca and brown<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"> rice flours. All organic. All sprouted.</span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">And it was moist, not crumbly at all, absolutely to die for, melt in your mouth, sliced easily, and I swear it almost slid out the pan with no oil needed on the cast iron skillet. Perfection--by accident!</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />I promised I'd do a post soon with the recipe, then I drizzled that beautiful perfect wedge with organic blackstrap molasses and it was like having cush-cush and Steen's but a healthy version (my Cajun readers will know what I'm talking about). In other words, it was good eating for being so healthy! </span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">And it got better every day. It was best on the 3rd morning. I just stored it in the oven, like my mother always stored her cornbread.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">I told you to be on the lookout for my best-mock-cornbread-in-the</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block; font-family: inherit;"></span>-world-ever post and here it is:</span></div>
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees</div>
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2. Mix following dry ingredients well:</div>
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1/2 cup sprouted buckwheat flour</div>
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1/2 cup sprouted oat flour</div>
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1/2 cup sprouted amaranth flour</div>
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3/4 cup sprouted quinoa flour</div>
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1/2 cup tapioca flour (tapioca is made from a root and doesn't need to be sprouted)</div>
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1/4 cup sprouted brown rice flour</div>
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2 tsp baking powder (I like Rumford's aluminum-free)</div>
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1 1/2 tsp salt (or 1 tbsp pink salt coarse)</div>
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1/2 tsp baking soda (I only use Bob's Red Mill, and there IS a difference)</div>
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3. Mix wet ingredients as directed below:</div>
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1/4 cup organic butter (half a stick) or coconut oil or avocado oil (but I like butter)</div>
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1/2 cup organic milk or buttermilk</div>
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3 large eggs (can replace with 1/2 cup soaked flaxseeds with gel)</div>
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1/6 cup sweetener (I use organic succanat or organic sugar or honey since it's such a small amount and I think organic sugar is much healthier than artificial sweeteners)</div>
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Melt butter then cool, add milk, sweetener and then eggs.</div>
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4. Pour wet mix into dry ingredients and mix well with a spoon, careful not to over mix.</div>
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5. If batter doesn't look wet enough to you, add more milk. If it looks too wet, add extra amaranth or quinoa flour until it looks right to you (you know what a cornbread batter is supposed to look like).</div>
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6. Heat your black iron skillet on the stove. If it is well seasoned, you won't need any butter to oil it, but if it is dry or new, oil it with butter. Pour your "cornbread" batter into the skillet. It should sizzle slightly as you pour it in.</div>
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7. Move skillet into preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes until golden brown.</div>
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8. Cool for 10 minutes then slice, serve and enjoy.<br />
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One of my friends asked why I couldn't just make cornbread with cornmeal since it's easy to find organic cornmeal. I explained that corn is fed to cattle to fatten them up. There's a reason for that. There's a reason the sweetener used in almost everything bad for you is high-fructose CORN syrup. Corn is notorious for fattening us up.<br />
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Basically, regular cornbread is a carb. This cornbread is primarily a protein. Everybody knows how important protein is in the morning.<br />
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The ancient grains used in this recipe are not really grains, but rather seeds, and they are high in protein (except for brown rice and oats and they are superfoods). Because all grains, nuts and seeds are chock full of anti-nutrients, it's important to sprout them before making them into flour. I buy this flour that is made with sprouted, organic ingredients. Once sprouted, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice and oats are all superfoods, high is soluble and insoluble fiber, vitamins, minerals and trace nutrients. It's basically nutrient-bread, not cornbread.<br />
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Some people ignore me when I talk about how important it is to use sprouted grains. I honestly would not eat grains at all if they weren't sprouted and organic. They are bad for you. I swear. I can give you links to all the articles. If you don't know where to get sprouted organic flours like these, just google it or email me and I'll send you links. There are a variety of sources. Email me at thefatladyssong@gmail.com. If I don't answer you back quick enough, comment on one of my blog entries. That should get my attention. :)<br />
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Oh, one final note: I wouldn't advise eating my mock cornbread at night. It wakes my brain up. The first time I made it, it was at night and I couldn't sleep after eating it. I thought it might be because I was so excited I'd come up with such a great mock cornbread. Nah. It's got to be one of the ingredients--or the combination, I don't know which. But it's perfect for breakfast if you want your brain operating on all gears. You'll be amazed. Please write to me and tell me if it has the same effect on you. (As an aside, it doesn't just get your brain moving, if you know what I mean. No, no, not that. Although maybe... I'm talking movement in the bathroom, not bedroom, but you never know. It might wake everything up.)</div>
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Let me know what you think of it and if it gets you moving!</div>
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P.S. Add a half of a miniature can of mexicorn, some peppers (red bell pepper, jalapeno and serrano?) and your favorite mexican cheese to make Mexican Cornbread. What ? I'm telling you to add corn? A few grains of corn in your cornbread won't kill you...<br />
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Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-62898824096815868012017-07-09T08:51:00.001-07:002017-07-09T09:10:27.637-07:00For the love of sauce...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAcwkWysOAFlx7lvi-RL-A6FXCbGdemRMTM0hoqnmFeyoASuUBu_OYkoILZv5VOY70RvkvxOVNpO6EA5uMxWjdE00-7djd-mJ6B69xmAPL16UyisQJBc3n5-KyC7PewRxEoF1tv24CvEs/s1600/dripping+steak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAcwkWysOAFlx7lvi-RL-A6FXCbGdemRMTM0hoqnmFeyoASuUBu_OYkoILZv5VOY70RvkvxOVNpO6EA5uMxWjdE00-7djd-mJ6B69xmAPL16UyisQJBc3n5-KyC7PewRxEoF1tv24CvEs/s640/dripping+steak.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
What is so enticing about the photo above? You may not register it--except unconsciously--but it is that tiny drip coming off the right side of that delectable morsel of grilled steak. Rare steaks drip like that...but not <i>everybody</i> likes their food dripping blood.<br />
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That's why sauces got invented. They hook us into the ancient, primordial connection between our appetite and dripping blood--while catering to our squeamish modern sensibilities.<br />
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I love sauces. Food tastes so much richer with a sauce. The other day, they had the most scrumptuous tuna steaks on sale at the local grocer, and it made me think of a sauce I particularly loved that I'd eaten years ago. That tells you something--when a sauce is memorable from YEARS before. Of course, it could just tell you something about me. :)<br />
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The problem with sauces, for a fat girl, is that they are usually fattening or unhealthy in some way (full of chemicals, processed, unhealthy additives, too much sodium, too much cholesterol, etc.). I just knew this sauce couldn't have been good for me. It tasted too good.<br />
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But while I was eating that tuna steak (sauceless), I couldn't stop savoring the remembered flavor of that unforgettable sauce. So I emailed the restaurant where I'd eaten it. They were closed for renovations and from a quick scan of their online menu, they no longer served the grilled tuna dish anyway, but the corporate office got back to me with the recipe (in gallons). I did the math and brought it down to two cups of sauce (roughly).<br />
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The crazy thing is...it's not unhealthy.<br />
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It's awesome on grilled tuna so I imagine it would be good on any fish, but I'm going to try it on all kinds of things.<br />
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Beware, though, of one issue with this sauce. It's got beer in it. Now I put beer in my barbeque sauce (and sometimes in my gumbo) and I put wine in all kinds of things. Cooking with alcohol is normally not a problem because the alcohol cooks off and only the flavoring remains. It normally doesn't even bother recovering alcoholics (though you should always ask). Problem with this recipe is, you don't cook it. That's <i>live</i> beer in there. Now, I'm not a drinker but I don't have a problem with a splash of beer in my sauce. I respect, though, that you might. Your faith might be the reason, or maybe you are a recovering alcoholic, or someone in your family could be. Either way, just beware. Usually when people are substituting something for beer in a recipe, they use a vegetable broth. You could try that if the beer is a problem.<br />
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Have a go at it and let me know what you think. The recipe is simple.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Unforgettable Sauce</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Light Beer (your favorite brand)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">3/4 cup</span><br />
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Soy Sauce (I like San J's organic wheat-free tamari)</div>
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3/4 cup</div>
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Colman's Dry Mustard</div>
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1/2 cup</div>
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Extra-Strong Dijon Mustard (I like Sir Kensington's organic brand)</div>
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1/6 cup (or more to taste)</div>
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Whisk it together and that's all there is to it. It's especially lovely topped with chopped green onions.</div>
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Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-45296332783034356582017-01-28T17:55:00.001-08:002017-01-28T18:06:58.281-08:00Go meatless, go raw (go bra-less, for that matter) every chance you get...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp2RNFJ7vCQICB8vLZV-fkVOUQ1S44RAMltxM2zXUlzroqegVNot-YncX1x5DYscYe7ULoaRPX5KfOWSQN0GYE0UIzLyvWtboPf1izv4dbPL2xRvB6IEeI53K-S5GSkHryRW8TrMagB04/s1600/cabbage-vegetable-power-green.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp2RNFJ7vCQICB8vLZV-fkVOUQ1S44RAMltxM2zXUlzroqegVNot-YncX1x5DYscYe7ULoaRPX5KfOWSQN0GYE0UIzLyvWtboPf1izv4dbPL2xRvB6IEeI53K-S5GSkHryRW8TrMagB04/s640/cabbage-vegetable-power-green.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I read this recipe on the website of The Natural Food Market in Midland, Texas. I have a friend who lives there, and I was looking for a place that offers fresh vegetable juices. I shared the info with her, then I absconded with this recipe for you. I googled the recipe trying to find out where it came from... I found all sorts of variations. So I took a few liberties with this recipe and made it my own. Try it and let me know what you think. This is a great raw and meat-free meal.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-size: x-large;">All-Raw Thai Coleslaw</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The slaw:</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">1 ripe mango, cut in small diced cubes</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1 head white cabbage, shredded</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1 cup carrots, shredded</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1/2 cup green onions</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1 handful cilantro leaves</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1 handful torn basil leaves</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>The Thai dressing:</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">2 tablespoons raw honey (or 1 tbsp and few drops stevia)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1/4 cup apple cider vinegar </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">2 tablespoons chopped ginger</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1 large clove raw garlic</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1 tablespoon red chili pepper (fresh)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">2 tbsp Braggs Amino Acid</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">1 cup raw almond butter (or raw almonds)--with either being sprouted</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Himalayan sea salt to taste</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Garnish with whole raw sesame seeds and whole raw cashews (preferably sprouted)</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Cut the mango into small cubes. Shred the cabbage and carrots. In a Vita-Mix or high-speed blender, puree the honey, lemon juice, ginger and red chili. Add the raw almond butter and blend at low speed to combine, to get a thick, cake batter-like consistency. Add water to thin if necessary. </span></span><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">In a bowl, mix the cabbage and the raw almond butter dressing mixture really well. Add the raw cashews, sesame seeds, cilantro, basil and mango pieces. Stir well but don't overdo. Top with a few leaves of cilantro and basil and a few pieces of mango and/or carrots for colorful garnish.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Here's a great source for sprouted nuts and sprouted nut butters, all organic. If you call or order, tell them Donnagail sent you. Maybe they'll send me a bag of nuts or something. Click on this link:</i></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.bluemountainorganics.com/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">www.bluemountainorganics.com</a></div>
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Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-5914760314213234722016-10-26T17:11:00.005-07:002018-09-06T08:32:22.373-07:00Gluten-Free Ancient Grain Pumpkin Bread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nkLO_qydW3t-rslK2dWs20Td9XGKx_V-Glxl_Y9moVBDjm9uUH9hxjsuVzpcfgxeFSnB8vaLxfId3Lv2YH6S66-0_S5GVh5NqlcIL7dmuNoRB4iTHWwZ-OGDYStBrITCWG3yNhfi5t8/s1600/pexels-photo-177653.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtWXgCEfHXnHLu85qxY89V4UyVklNcwu3NufownMcuaMdgHXeMb5y1KlXBS_sR5S2zFQNIEzeYM9hH45tS-AZFnaXSIgBcF7Ca7q8VqneQ9SB4eTbOpjqy32ToibYyQXyYVGUcDFRxUps/s1600/pexels-photo+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtWXgCEfHXnHLu85qxY89V4UyVklNcwu3NufownMcuaMdgHXeMb5y1KlXBS_sR5S2zFQNIEzeYM9hH45tS-AZFnaXSIgBcF7Ca7q8VqneQ9SB4eTbOpjqy32ToibYyQXyYVGUcDFRxUps/s1600/pexels-photo+%25281%2529.jpg" /></a></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">“It looked like the world was covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon.” </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">― </span><a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/566874.Sarah_Addison_Allen" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Sarah Addison Allen</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">, </span><span id="quote_book_link_21853633" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/41125528" style="color: #333333; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">First Frost</a></span></blockquote>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nkLO_qydW3t-rslK2dWs20Td9XGKx_V-Glxl_Y9moVBDjm9uUH9hxjsuVzpcfgxeFSnB8vaLxfId3Lv2YH6S66-0_S5GVh5NqlcIL7dmuNoRB4iTHWwZ-OGDYStBrITCWG3yNhfi5t8/s1600/pexels-photo-177653.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nkLO_qydW3t-rslK2dWs20Td9XGKx_V-Glxl_Y9moVBDjm9uUH9hxjsuVzpcfgxeFSnB8vaLxfId3Lv2YH6S66-0_S5GVh5NqlcIL7dmuNoRB4iTHWwZ-OGDYStBrITCWG3yNhfi5t8/s320/pexels-photo-177653.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I love pumpkin, and if you haven't had much experience with it...well, 'tis the season. You know, <i>It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown</i>, and all that. People joke about everything being pumpkin spiced this time of year. If you are like me and you love pumpkin, you should be encouraged to know it is a true superfood.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">But if you don't like pumpkin, this pumpkin bread recipe doesn't have to include pumpkin. It can be made using apples or carrots or even butternut squash instead of pumpkin. A combination of apples and butternut squash is your healthiest replacement for pumpkin. Butternut squash is so filled with fiber and nutrients and I have not yet found a way to incorporate it into a dish I like. But what's not to like about a Butternut Apple Loaf. </span><span style="color: #666666;">It's fall and 'tis the season for winter squashes, root vegetables and apple picking, so improvise.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">This recipe is super-nutritious, packed with sprouted ancient grains and seeds, healthy fats, healthy sweeteners.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666;">Healthy sweeteners? Yes, I use two of them in this recipe. The most healthy one is blackstrap molasses. Read my post on <a href="http://thefatladyssong.blogspot.com/search?q=blackstrap">organic blackstrap molasses</a>. It is a superfood in its own right. It's a tremendous source of magnesium and calcium and in the right ratio. My second sweetener is basically sugar, but it's a much healthier sugar than the white granular stuff you buy at the store. Sucanat looks like brown sugar but it is evaporated organic whole cane juice, filled with nutrients. It's basically what sugar is before all the processing. It's not as sweet as sugar though, but you can puree organic raisins, dates, figs or prunes to add sweetener</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">Keep in mind most recipes call for 2-3 cups of sugar to 3 cups of flour in a pumpkin bread recipe, but mine only uses 1 cup of succanat and 6 tbsp of the blackstrap molasses. I put twice (or more) the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in my recipe, and spices make it satisfying to me in spite of the mild sweet taste. But by adding pureed fruits to taste, you can make it sweet to taste and you'll be adding whole food and fiber to your pumpkin bread/muffins instead of empty sugar calories.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">All of the grains and seeds used in this recipe are sprouted and organic. You can sprout them yourself or buy them already sprouted. Email me at theagelesslife@gmail.com and I'll send you links for purchasing organic sprouted nuts and flours.</span></span><br />
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<b style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Gluten-Free Ancient Grain Pumpkin Bread</span></b></span><br />
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<b style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wet Bowl</span></b><span style="color: #666666;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><br />Soak your flax seeds overnight before using (or a minimum of four hours), then add the rest of your wet ingredients and blend it all together with an immersion blender:<br /><br />1/3 cup fresh ground soaked <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Flaxseeds-24-ounce/dp/B001HTG4NA/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1477543242&sr=8-2&keywords=organic+whole+flax+seeds">whole organic flaxseeds</a><br />6 tbsp <a href="https://jet.com/product/Plantation-Organic-Blackstrap-Molasses-15-fl-Oz/cffa94e1ea7c49528b0ea124b135ac54">organic blackstrap molasses</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">6 organic figs and 3 organic prunes <span style="font-size: x-small;">(they are both superfoods in different ways so I like to incorporate both but if you don't have them on hand, you can use organic dates or even organic raisins, pureed)</span><br />1/4 cup grass-fed butter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> *<span style="font-size: x-small;">vegans can double up on the coconut oil and leave the butter out or replace butter with avocado oil</span><br />1/4 cup extra-virgin coconut oil</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2 tbsp fresh grated ginger</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1 1/4 cup <a href="https://jet.com/product/Wholesome-Sweeteners-Wholesome-Sweetne-Roasted-Sucanat-1-Pound/502de0be7d234a0b974b488cb30538ea">organic evaporated cane juice</a> (aka sucanat)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> *<span style="font-size: x-small;">sucanat is dry but you want to blend it into your wet ingredients before folding in your other dry ingredients</span><br />3 pastured or organic eggs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> *<span style="font-size: x-small;">some recipes call for 4 eggs, but soaked flaxseeds are an egg substitute, so use 3 or 2 or 1 or if you are vegan none, your preference, just be sure to add 2 tbsp of soaked flaxseed for every egg you omit</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2 tsp vanilla</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">15-18 oz mashed cooked pumpkin or canned organic pumpkin puree (can substitute with two cans of mashed carrots, two cups of mashed cooked butternut squash, mashed fresh-cooked carrots or mashed cooked apples)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dry Bowl</span> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Combine all of these ingredients together in one "dry" bowl and sift and mix well:<br /><br /> 3.25 cups organic gluten-free ancient grain flour mix</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> *<span style="font-size: x-small;">see mix below</span><br />1 1/2 tsp Bob's Red Mill baking soda (the brand makes a difference)<br />1 1/2 tsp baking powder<br />1 tsp sea salt<br />2 tsp fresh ground cloves<br />6 tsp ceylon cinnamon<br />2 tsp nutmeg<br />1/2 cup chopped organic sprouted walnuts</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You can mix and match sprouted gluten-free flours however you like but this is how I make my "Organic gluten-free ancient grain flour mix" and it gives me an amazing mix of proteins and nutrients in a simple morning muffin--and it turns out perfect every time:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1/4 cup sprouted amaranth flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1/4 cup sprouted buckwheat flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1/4 cup sprouted quinoa flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1/4 cup potato starch (or arrowroot)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1/2 cup sprouted organic sorghum flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1/4 cup sprouted brown rice flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1/2 cup sprouted oat flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3/4 cup tapioca flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3 tbsp ground psyllium husks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">All my sprouted flours are organic. Email me for my latest "best source" for these organic, sprouted flours.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Also, you don't <i>have</i> to pour it into two traditional loaf pans... You can make three thin cake layers using cake pans and drizzle the healthy icing (below) on top and in between to make a three-layer "cake." Or you can pour it into a bundt pan and drizzle the icing on top and slice. Or make muffins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">Remember, all the varieties have different cooking times. The thin cake may take only 20 minutes, muffins may take 25-40, depending on how big you make them, and the bundt pan will take 40 minutes to cook a pumpkin bread.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">I like pumpkin loaf to eat that night and pumpkin muffins to eat the next few days (and freeze) and this recipe makes 1 pumpkin loaf and 12 small-medium muffins.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #666666;">Remember, overcooking your muffins can make them too dry and hard the next day, too many eggs can make them rubbery, and overmixing or leaving out the baking powder can make them lose their fluffiness. You don't want pumpkin rocks, you want pumpkin muffins.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFb2mrmtsvMJX8zp4SGeC8dioKCZTAVyCIoKRanB1mLg28tivMmMfBB12JwSZgP9yuK4nsReKXx5iUKKoaUb4DTD2UMSzdt-qqJLNIcT3yUlJ76oY5urRXfdgvBdDw2_dtjw6HWm3hRg/s1600/kitchen-cake-backe-backing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFb2mrmtsvMJX8zp4SGeC8dioKCZTAVyCIoKRanB1mLg28tivMmMfBB12JwSZgP9yuK4nsReKXx5iUKKoaUb4DTD2UMSzdt-qqJLNIcT3yUlJ76oY5urRXfdgvBdDw2_dtjw6HWm3hRg/s200/kitchen-cake-backe-backing.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My pumpkin bread and muffins are truly not very sweet, but when I bring some to my daughter who insists on super sweet pumpkin bread, instead of adding sweetener, I prefer to make a healthy icing with organic cream cheese slowly melted in a pan with virgin coconut oil, then mixed with organic raw honey after allowing it to cool some (you don't want to overheat raw honey and lose its benefits). The coconut oil and cream cheese both will stiffen as they cool and become harder to mix, so don't wait too long to add in the honey, but it will give you a stiffer icing without having to use powdered sugar or cornstarch. If you slather it onto the top of your warm pumpkin loaf, it will slightly melt into the loaf and then stiffen back up as the loaf cools.</span><br />
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Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-74753747778871404282016-10-19T05:29:00.003-07:002016-10-19T05:29:44.855-07:00Popeye was wrong!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yes, greens are great for you, but I'm sorry, spinach is not. What I don't understand is why it is one of the most highly-promoted of greens when it's practically the most problematic green you can eat.<br />
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I'll tell you why in my next post which will be entitled "Bad greens, good greens, good grief..."Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-37346118194979516592016-10-15T18:30:00.001-07:002016-10-15T18:39:05.731-07:00Chocolate parfait, anyone?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know I'm always talking about chocolate, but did I tell you the latest thing? I found out it can reverse the build up of plaque in your arteries. No lie.<br />
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Here's a way to get your healthy unsweetened cocoa, along with a few other superfoods, in a healthy chia pudding:<br />
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You can eat your superhealthy chocolate pudding by itself, or make a superfood parfait like the one pictured above. Make a whipped cream from a can of coconut milk (see this blog post describing how to do it: <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-whipped-cream-from-152490">http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-whipped-cream-from-152490</a>). Or you can mix bananas and coconut milk and blend them together to replace the whipped cream. Add your favorite fruits and nuts. Voila!<br />
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Do NOT use milk or real cream or yogurt. Did you know that if you eat your chocolate with any type of dairy, it will negate most of the health benefits of chocolate. That's why milk chocolate is NOT good for you.<br />
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Note: I customized this chocolate pudding recipe from a recipe in Wellness Mama's blog, and you should check it out if you need a primer on why chia seeds are good for you: <a href="http://wellnessmama.com/4981/benefits-of-chia-seeds/">http://wellnessmama.com/4981/benefits-of-chia-seeds/</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Superfood Meltdown Chocolate Chia Pudding</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">Ingredients</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">2 cups of coconut milk or rice milk</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">1/2 cup <a href="https://jet.com/product/Barleans-Organic-Chia-Seeds-12-oz/29279757487c4bc9afe1ccf0cf78e766">chia seeds</a></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">4-6 tablespoons cocoa powder (I like <a href="https://jet.com/product/Earth-Circle-Organics-Organic-Balinese-Cacao-Nibs-16-oz/1b73fcc637ea4929b48c68e73ddf1c03">organic raw cacoa</a>)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">1 teaspoon vanilla</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">1 tablespoon or more sweetener of choice (I like organic <a href="https://jet.com/product/detail/502de0be7d234a0b974b488cb30538ea?jcmp=pla:ggl:b_jd_cons_win_food_beverages_tobacco_a3_b1:food_items_cooking_baking_ingredients_a3_other:na:PLA_648314312_39634343344_aud-145652309584:pla-212814271984:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15&gclid=CInZvaiT3s8CFUqmNwod4JkKyg&gclsrc=ds">succanat</a>)</span></h3>
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Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Place in a covered bowl in your refrigerator and it should thicken after roughly 15 minutes (although I like to make it before bed and leave it overnight to eat the next day).</div>
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Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-10606474687491934022016-10-15T13:34:00.002-07:002016-10-15T13:50:02.804-07:00On the subject of Fall superfoods...<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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Turnips?? Really?? Yeah, turnips. They're one of the little known superfoods--in fact, Dr. Mercola includes them in his list of Fall superfoods.<br />
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Like my okra dish, this low-cal, high-fiber, super-nutritious meal is one of my go-to meals when I am afraid I'm going to binge, and I need to fill myself up on something that is good for me and hits my satiety quotient. This dish will leave you so satisfied, you won't be able to eat anything else--and it's so good for you, you could probably eat as much of it as you want.<br />
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One bowl of this stuff will give you over 60% of your RDA of Vitamin C and over 90% of your Niacin RDA, plus a host of other vitamins, minerals and fiber.<br />
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Now, don't throw away the turnips greens atop this nutritious root, because they are even more nutritious. Read my earlier post: <a href="http://thefatladyssong.blogspot.com/2016/07/thank-god-for-good-directionsand-turnip.html">Thank God for good directions and turnip greens...</a><br />
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Now, in the recipe below, you can omit the chicken if you like and it's just as delicious. Really. This is one of the meals on my <a href="http://thefatladyssong.blogspot.com/2016/10/food-porn-and-going-vegetarian-sort-of.html">Vegetarian (Sort Of) list</a>. It's a way to make a meal out of vegetables. You can eat it by the bowl, alone, or on a plate over rice.<br />
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You can also pick up a rutabaga or two to replace some of the turnips, and it will give it an even sweeter flavor, and add a different (but similar) breakdown of nutrients. Both are cruciferous vegetables in the brassica family. My dish photographed is not exactly the recipe below since I replaced one turnip with a rutabaga. You don't have to peel the turnips, but since rutabagas are waxed, you definitely want to peel them.<br />
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We all know cruciferous vegetables, especially those in the brassica family, are super-good for us, but among all those commonly-eaten mega-health veggies, Dr. Mercola points to research that shows turnips have the highest level of glucosinolates, which are "sulfur-containing compounds found in turnip sprouts, may also have anti-cancer, anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, and antibacterial benefits. According to the November 2012 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, turnip has the second highest level of glucosinates (next to white mustard sprouts) among nine different cruciferous vegetables studied."<br />
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Both turnips and rutabagas made Dr. Mercola's list of fall superfoods:<br />
<a href="http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/10/27/15-best-fall-superfoods.aspx">http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/10/27/15-best-fall-superfoods.aspx</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Superfood Meltdown Buttery Cajun Chicken &Turnips</span><br />
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This is the kind of everyday dish Cajun grandmothers cook at home on a weekday. It never makes it onto the cooking shows or cookbooks. But they don't know what they're missing. If you've never had turnips, they turn kind of sweet when you cook them, especially cooked with onions. This dish has a lovely sweet-savory blend of flavors. If you can't stomach the idea of turnips, try replacing the turnips with sliced carrots or chopped cabbage. All three ways, it works. Grandma used whatever was available from the garden. C'est bon!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ingredients</span><br />
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<b>Turnips</b>, 3 cup, peeled and cubed<br />
<b>Onions</b>, raw, 2 cup, choppedScallions, raw, .5 cup, chopped<br />
<b>Chicken Breast </b>(cooked), no skin, 2 breast, bone and skin removed (ideally organic)<br />
<b>Grass-Fed Butter</b> salted, 1 pat (1" sq, 1/3" high)<br />
<b>Tony Chachere Cajun Seasoning</b>: you can find it in most national grocery store chains and it makes this dish. It has more pepper than salt in it. If it's not salty enough for you but it is peppery enough, you may need to add salt instead of adding more Tony's. (And of course, if you can't find Tony Chachere, just salt and pepper to taste)<br />
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<ul data-spx-slot="1" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Directions</span><br /><br />Season chicken breasts with Tony's and cut into bite size pieces, and sautee in saucepan with pat of butter. While chicken is browning, chop turnips, onions and scallions. When chicken is browned, add onions and bring them almost to the point of carmelization before adding turnips and 1/2 cup water (or chicken stock/broth). Season mixture with more Tony's, cover and allow to simmer. Add water or chicken stock as necessary to keep mixture moist and simmering but not soupy. When turnips are tender, taste to see if you need more salt or more Tony's. Stir in chopped scallions and turn off heat. Dish can be served over rice (I like it with brown basmati rice), but if you're watching your carbs, just ladle it into a bowl and dig in.<br /><br />Serving Size: 3 hearty bowls, eat 1 freeze 2 (or share with others) <br /><br />Below is what it looked like raw, when I was just getting started, and the photo above is when it was done and about to be served. And yes, I ate the whole plate. That looks like a serving platter, but it was actually turnips-and-chicken-for-one. And for way less calories than one single child's hamburger (no cheese) at McDonald's. I was stuffed and filled with nutrients and this meal didn't make me fat or unhealthy.<span style="background-color: #bf9000; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span itemprop="ingredients" style="background-color: #bf9000;">
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Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-19682356716464256602016-10-14T12:43:00.002-07:002016-10-14T12:43:45.565-07:00Food Porn and Going Vegetarian (sort of)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvRZKDCpp__lGkTgdgrVkMLQ6SEXY_REsrS5wl4G7anyFymlZjfhI9G3utu26S87HGZahbeqhxigeRNOFwedSrL8qeaF7ZO8TGD3qqYEXE7L6KmVFBhnO8kg_BHy98ut-9U87MZDHIENA/s1600/steak-steaks-barbecue-summer-55808.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvRZKDCpp__lGkTgdgrVkMLQ6SEXY_REsrS5wl4G7anyFymlZjfhI9G3utu26S87HGZahbeqhxigeRNOFwedSrL8qeaF7ZO8TGD3qqYEXE7L6KmVFBhnO8kg_BHy98ut-9U87MZDHIENA/s320/steak-steaks-barbecue-summer-55808.jpeg" width="320" /></a>While I'm fasting and can't eat, all I can think about is food. Late at night, I can spend 20 minutes just gazing at images of my favorite dishes on Google. I am SUCH a food addict. God help me.<br />
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Look at these pictures I've been salivating over. And these are the healthier ones. Some are just too binge-inspiring to share on a health-journey blog.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4jshOthR2_oye70EnVKqYt4FLkp1GF_C6C0q7_bUAyu-S8AlGLYrlBx6Iv52dyuDIHoh4KOO50oqQo5UZPDO9M2i7sLVfb-U6S2jUcPm38mBBlyigLj44Uxcgvhd4Sjzm4wbkNFsU70/s1600/salmon-dish-food-meal-46239.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4jshOthR2_oye70EnVKqYt4FLkp1GF_C6C0q7_bUAyu-S8AlGLYrlBx6Iv52dyuDIHoh4KOO50oqQo5UZPDO9M2i7sLVfb-U6S2jUcPm38mBBlyigLj44Uxcgvhd4Sjzm4wbkNFsU70/s320/salmon-dish-food-meal-46239.jpeg" width="320" /></a>I've been craving ribeyes, raw oysters, roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and oodles of gravy, pork tenderloin slices awash in pork gravy, hamburger steaks with grilled onions and mushrooms, salmon grilled with a sweet Asian sauce, fried catfish, fried seafood platters, grilled whole flounder topped with lump crabmeat, and catfish courtbouillon (one of my favorite Cajun dishes). My most persistent craving is for bbq brisket.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVG2PTi3TJvjWWdL1AgCLcpYmmjzBtWcmaz6YqmDngk-ZftGkqEFLn7WgF-QpnaGO7i_omAvmBxc4B6C0fXbtz-zg5fUvFcfJY4AtnyEPl94kDU-fuQt_5MUmW1xR7IYp_xyamqByTNw/s1600/pexels-photo-38986.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVG2PTi3TJvjWWdL1AgCLcpYmmjzBtWcmaz6YqmDngk-ZftGkqEFLn7WgF-QpnaGO7i_omAvmBxc4B6C0fXbtz-zg5fUvFcfJY4AtnyEPl94kDU-fuQt_5MUmW1xR7IYp_xyamqByTNw/s320/pexels-photo-38986.jpeg" width="320" /></a>Meat protein and saturated fat is the theme here. This is not only true for me when I'm fasting but when I'm bingeing. I'm a meat addict. I don't understand the physiology of my addiction, but it is at the root of my eating disorder. I eat way too much protein, protein converts to sugar, and it feeds my diabetes. I can stay away from cinnamon rolls, but not brisket.<br />
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Now some of my meat choices are healthy--like salmon or raw oysters. Even the meats would be healthy if they were grass-fed and in small amounts. But they never are. I never can eat that prescribed "palm-sized" cut of meat. When I eat meat, I eat meat.<br />
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The other day, however, my craving turned to turnips and onions. My mother used to make this wonderful dish where she cut up turnips in chunks and stir-fried it in onions and oil with chunks of chicken or pork or thin slices of smoked sausage. The sweet turnip and onion cooked down almost into a mush, absorbing the savory flavor of the meat, and it was to die for. Even by itself, without meat, turnips and onions stir-fried then cooked down in a savory butter-base is scrumpdillyicious.<br />
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Almost as good as meat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHix-jvX2uLQPzt8bzEt7Wm3g7QU6mfP30zkVtkdLDyvCMPdqoy-OZ8fIKFMBFRV94xJ5kb_ofNuawiDrSmP6nGrloNfYYHY2gUcGko0y1a48HupOeN1Q8e3SDIkHVG3M9SVZt4pQSt44/s1600/pexels-photo-76093.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHix-jvX2uLQPzt8bzEt7Wm3g7QU6mfP30zkVtkdLDyvCMPdqoy-OZ8fIKFMBFRV94xJ5kb_ofNuawiDrSmP6nGrloNfYYHY2gUcGko0y1a48HupOeN1Q8e3SDIkHVG3M9SVZt4pQSt44/s200/pexels-photo-76093.jpeg" width="200" /></a>I liked it that much. That got me thinking. What other vegetarian dishes do you like almost as much as meat? Some of them I can eat completely without meat, some of them I like to add cheese or eggs, and some of them I like to use a small amount of meat, but either way, they are better than bingeing on a pound of meat. I began to list them in my head:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-6-BQuDw7RaTbzHZdLKH2F66Wv2Zibk6mRRNe4m_JXFKtV6UWPoPsFEZ02elt8bZXK4_CP6poSCblvvREJJ3m2NaItiGVipBXOixyDETRXyF1Xn7z8w1n3_30iyviG8BySbsGyIYJ6s/s1600/food-salad-healthy-colorful.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-6-BQuDw7RaTbzHZdLKH2F66Wv2Zibk6mRRNe4m_JXFKtV6UWPoPsFEZ02elt8bZXK4_CP6poSCblvvREJJ3m2NaItiGVipBXOixyDETRXyF1Xn7z8w1n3_30iyviG8BySbsGyIYJ6s/s200/food-salad-healthy-colorful.jpg" width="200" /></a>1. Eggplant parmesan<br />
2. Okra stir-fried with onion and shrimp<br />
3. Asparagus with homemade Hollandaise sauce<br />
4. Ratatouille<br />
5. Turnips and onion (by itself or with chicken or smoked sausage)<br />
6. Caesar salad with my homemade superfood Caesar dressing<br />
7. Avocado salad or guacamole (the way I make it) with cherry tomatoes on the side<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88pZB2DHEyNAfvUtgrxnO7biDz3U_Sd4RIP4wpFN0_a6gNBHHYAGpPP09x7xv6hdLWzzXuuOuZ8FcoLIDtz5-Jwn3mEmaTE6BBP3Nol4XMBEODOXCXHJ3QsE22xIo8pvLR6wPz1ePlMs/s1600/vegetables-italian-pizza-restaurant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88pZB2DHEyNAfvUtgrxnO7biDz3U_Sd4RIP4wpFN0_a6gNBHHYAGpPP09x7xv6hdLWzzXuuOuZ8FcoLIDtz5-Jwn3mEmaTE6BBP3Nol4XMBEODOXCXHJ3QsE22xIo8pvLR6wPz1ePlMs/s200/vegetables-italian-pizza-restaurant.jpg" width="200" /></a>8. Brussel sprouts roasted in the oven with bacon and Balsamic vinegar<br />
9. Cream of Brocolli Soup<br />
10. Roasted Summer Squash with Balsamic vinegar and pine nuts<br />
11. Smothered cabbage with onions (with chicken or smoked sausage)<br />
12. Bean soups (split pea, red lentil Dal, white beans or red beans with sausage, black bean, etc.)<br />
13. Marinara over spaghetti squash "noodles" with Italian sausage<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmycuIR2dzXzg-_XsdbuOVB8Hp-sCkkHjQXdrDk2wLWbLT7X9th5cvfbQIPVfe_AhyphenhyphenNHqLG0GpPMODsHj4LFfYursN-tvl8k64G1xw9jk3N-rjGK3QLXZQUmMqaSIzH1ocFzagSlmjLGc/s1600/soup-cream-soup-bowl-40814.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmycuIR2dzXzg-_XsdbuOVB8Hp-sCkkHjQXdrDk2wLWbLT7X9th5cvfbQIPVfe_AhyphenhyphenNHqLG0GpPMODsHj4LFfYursN-tvl8k64G1xw9jk3N-rjGK3QLXZQUmMqaSIzH1ocFzagSlmjLGc/s200/soup-cream-soup-bowl-40814.jpeg" width="200" /></a>14. Certain Rastafarian vegetable medleys with their unique seasonsings<br />
15. Vegetable curries<br />
16. Greens and onions (seasoned with a smoked bone or nitrite-free smoked meats)<br />
17. Vietnamese Pho<br />
18. Grilled Mushrooms (especially as a sandwich on gluten-free bread with guacamole, grated carrots, melted swiss cheese and homemade mayonnaise)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaJKBTNj1D_vUCHjWfVjaL6EhlMBroaHX3opFFyyN-vHDv9EhWxwC2tQNPCVyVFlqnsjrs8BDC3HSLLTV4qpNWy3kBbe2teGee8_r4hcOMksWrBeWpe43Q_fhl7jPflZ16Rs9LezO_2mU/s1600/meat-vegetables-gemuesepiess-mushrooms-111131.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaJKBTNj1D_vUCHjWfVjaL6EhlMBroaHX3opFFyyN-vHDv9EhWxwC2tQNPCVyVFlqnsjrs8BDC3HSLLTV4qpNWy3kBbe2teGee8_r4hcOMksWrBeWpe43Q_fhl7jPflZ16Rs9LezO_2mU/s200/meat-vegetables-gemuesepiess-mushrooms-111131.jpeg" width="200" /></a>19. Squash, onion, pepper mushroom and tomato shish-ka-bobs with small chunks of meat<br />
20. Carrots and onions with Cajun seasoning cooked in butter, served over Jasmine rice<br />
21. Cauliflower crust pizza with veggies and cheese<br />
22. Grilled chicken salad<br />
23. Cheese enchiladas with non-GMO corn tortillas and chunky superfood tomato chili sauce<br />
24. Eggplants stuffed with rice, veggies and shrimp<br />
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If I ate those types of meals 5 nights a week and greatly minimized the meat, and only ate "meat-as-a-main-course" two nights a week, that change alone would make a tremendous difference in my health and weight-loss goals. So that is my plan: to go Vegetarian-Sort-Of.<br />
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While I can't eat, I'm planning how I will eat when I come off the fast. This is what I've come up with so far:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Breakfast</span><br />
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High-Protein Pumpkin Spice Muffin made with coconut oil, sprouted amaranth and quinoa flours, pureed pumpkin, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, pureed apple, organic black strap molasses, eggs, ground flax seeds and walnuts<br />
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Coffee with organic half-and-half or coconut cream<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lunch</span><br />
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Caesar Salad with my special superfood Caesar dressing<br />
Cream of Brocolli Soup with grated cheese on top<br />
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or<br />
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My special superfood "Caterpillar Guacamole" with cherry tomatoes<br />
One tin of tiny two-layer sardines (with the bones) in BPA-free can<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dinner</span><br />
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Choose one of my Vegetarian Sort-of Dishes on the List<br />
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On Friday nights, I think I will splurge and let myself have a meaty-meal for dinner (just for dinner), so I might have a grilled ribeye with asparagus and salad. On Saturdays (which is when I celebrate my Sabbath) I will fast from food and water. On Sundays after church, it will be a free day where I try not to binge, but allow myself to eat whatever I've been craving, maybe a bunch of roast turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and southern-style green beans and bacon.<br />
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I'm going to try this plan when I come off my fast. I'm going to combine it with moderate weight-lifting 3 x a week and daily exercise for one hour (walking, swimming or elliptical), taking Saturdays and Sundays off.<br />
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It sounds really tasty and really healthy, but the question is: will I lose weight?<br />
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We shall see.<br />
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P.S. I'll eventually get each of these meals listed turned into links where you can see the recipes for them. Keep coming back to this post for updates.<br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-16578566801065843792016-10-11T10:46:00.003-07:002016-10-19T05:13:59.790-07:00Everyday...every single day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am finishing up Day 5 of my water-only fast, and I'm hoping this will be a long fast. While I'm fasting, I don't have any culinary delights to photograph and share with you, but I am busy doing planning for the things I'm going to do when I come off the fast. Whatever weight I lose, I don't want to gain it all back or lose all the health benefits.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I've been trying to organize what I've learned about health and nutrition, especially supplements I want to take daily until my health issues have resolved.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here's my list so far of what I plan to take daily (only some of them have brands because on the ones without brands, I'm still trying different ones and exploring):</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Liquid Extracts:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Half-Hill Farm red reishi mushroom dual extract</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Turmeric extract by Herb Pharm</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ashwagandha extract by Banyan Botanicals</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Healthy Liver Tonic by Herb Pharm</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goldenseal Extract by Herb Pharm</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; white-space: pre-wrap;">Capsules:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">New Chapter Whole Fish Oil (from wild-caught salmon)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> plus sardines for Omega 3s</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">VitaCost GlucoPower (a multi-vitamin-mineral-herb blend for diabetics)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enzymes</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> plus papaya and pineapple daily for enzymes</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Proteolytic Enzymes between meals</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chromium</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zinc</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sublingual Supplements:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Methyl B-12</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vitamin D with K2</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cold Pressed (Virgin) Organic Essential Oils:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frankincense (external only)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Occasional Oregano (internal and external)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Black Cumin Seed-Pumpkin Seed Oil Mix from Amazing Herbs</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sesame Oil (especially helpful for blood pressure)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Probiotics:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miso Master Fresh Miso from Refrigerator Case at Health Food Stores</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">homemade beet kvass</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">occasional sauerkraut</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">occasional kombucha</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Teas:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fenugreek Seed Tea</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pau D'Arco Tea</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Green Tea</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">White Tea</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hawthorne Tea</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hibiscus Tea</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miscellaneous Specialty Supplements:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Liquid Liposomal Vitamin C from Liponaturals</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unmodified Potato Starch (raw mixed in water)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brain Octane Oil (pure C8 caprylic acid) from Bulletproof</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dried Astragalus from Rose Mountain Herbs (I throw some in everything I cook)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ox Bile</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unsweetened Organic Cocoa Powder or Raw Cacao Powder</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffbc9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.94px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm also still researching berberine with naringin, bitter melon and schizandra...and others like true licorice root, milk thistle and Kyolic aged garlic blood pressure formula. I'll make additions to this list, so you can refer back to it often for updates. Eventually, each thing on this list will be a link to a page describing why it's important, what research I've done, what brands might be best, etc.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm also thinking about how to plan my meals and which foods I want to include DAILY. Here's my thinking so far, and please feel free to chime in, make suggestions, ask questions, or tell me why you think something might be a bad idea.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've decided my diet plan needs to include mostly veggies, with healthy fats, sprouted nuts and seeds, and very small servings of fruit and protein (meat, beans, etc.).My grain intake will be almost non-existent except for occasional white rice or the small amount of amaranth or quinoa in my morning superfood pumpkin muffin.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So a sample meal might be my okra-onion-shrimp dish...or a big salad with lots of types of greens and raw veggies coated with my special superfood dressing (which includes anchovies, raw lemon, raw garlic, sunflower seeds and all kinds of superfoods). It might be a recipe from a rastafarian vegetarian website a friend found me with great veggie dishes seasoned delightfully. It might be a huge bowl of my superfood split pea soup. How about a bowl of my superfood turkey pot pie soup (I'll get you that recipe in time for Thanksgiving). It might be a huge platter of steamed asparagus dripping with homemade hollandaise (and the eggs in the sauce make for the protein in that meal). Very rarely, I'll allow myself to eat whatever I want: bbq beef brisket, a ribeye steak and stuffed baked potata, fried catfish, gumbo, anything. As long as it's rarely.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffbc9; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">But on a daily basis, here's my list so far:.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">DAILY FOODS:</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="text-indent: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="text-indent: 0px;">bulk amount of veggies</span></span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="text-indent: 0px;">cooked onions or garlic or both</span></span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="text-indent: 0px;">fresh ginger and fresh turmeric when available (I'm learning how to "candy" slices of ginger and turmeric for when I have a sweet tooth)</span></span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">healthy fats like avocado (fruit or oil), grass-fed butter or ghee, coconut oil, etc.</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">small fish (anchovies or sardines for Vitamin D and Omega 3s)</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">leafy greens in some form (even if just a tbsp of organic dried parsley or green food supplement) but best choices are dandelion greens, watercress, mustard greens, turnip greens, beet greens, kale or collards (spinach is WORST choice)</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">organic raw cacoa or cocoa powder</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">daily superfood pumpkin muffin (see post coming up)</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">ceylon cinnamon (powder or oil) for blood sugar/insulin control and cardamom</span><br />
soluble and insoluble fiber (especially from veggies in mucilage family like asparagus or okra)<br />
apple cider vinegar<br />
raw lemon juice<br />
raw garlic and raw onion<br />
1/2 avocado<br />
protein source from sprouted beans/lentils or organic grass-fed meat or poultry (optional, in addition to mandatory daily small fish)<br />
seeds to alternate daily: sprouted sunflower seeds for Vitamin E, pumpkin seeds, walnuts<br />
2 brazil nuts for selenium<br />
small serving of pineapple or papaya interchangeable, plus either kiwi, apple or blueberries (choose one) daily<br />
turmeric (either in tincture, warm milk or cooked dish)<br />
fermented foods (beet kvass, non-pasteurized sauerkraut, miso, etc.)<br />
CLA from grass-fed fermented dairy (like pecorino romano cheese)<br />
peppers of some kind (chili peppers, black pepper and cayenne pepper)<br />
celery seed and celery<br />
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What do you think? Give me thoughts, ideas, etc.<br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-39072446120626224712016-10-08T09:27:00.001-07:002016-10-09T08:07:39.954-07:00one-minute superfood: okra<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYloJPYsZ5UYWOYKrk9YklszH0mSRFrsqHTEFLcUQDTU45CBI52bEXRY6sSuvDmqCmCOvlooCKglUlKoVMn3RAYIK3Cio3wUyZP05_t5trri0P8HcK8M5MEszLFtKyK6BpW_p1zyniRk/s1600/IMG_20160813_174147292.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYloJPYsZ5UYWOYKrk9YklszH0mSRFrsqHTEFLcUQDTU45CBI52bEXRY6sSuvDmqCmCOvlooCKglUlKoVMn3RAYIK3Cio3wUyZP05_t5trri0P8HcK8M5MEszLFtKyK6BpW_p1zyniRk/s1600/IMG_20160813_174147292.jpg" /></a></div>
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If you don't like okra, read this post anyway, because there is a way to eat okra without even knowing you're eating okra.<br />
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By the way, I'm ending up Day 2 of my fast.<br />
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Allow me to digress from our discussion on okra to catch you up. If you read my dandelion post, my house is still empty of people and most foods. I managed to avoid making the chicken spaghetti and the dandelion salad and beets was in fact my last supper. So my fast is underway. Two days or 48 hours into it, I'm feeling ambitious. I'm aiming for 60 days on water only and then 10 days of juicing, which will put me eating again some time before Christmas. I'm not going to be exercising during the fast, but when I start juicing I will start exercising and building my metabolism up to prepare for food intake again. When I start eating, I plan to incorporate some strength training to rev my metabolism further as I take in food again.<br />
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I've never done a water fast longer than 35 days but I have friends who have gone 70 days and there are cases in the medical literature where extremely obese people have fasted over 300 days with no ill effect.<br />
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BUT THEY WERE UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION.<br />
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I don't recommend fasting unless you're working with a doctor and an experienced fasting guide. I am a very experienced fast-er but what I'm doing is very dangerous. I know it and I choose to do it anyway. But I'm not telling you to do it. Almost everything else I do, I encourage you to do, but not fasting. It can change your life, but you could die if you do it wrong and with the wrong medications. It can even be dangerous coming off a fast if you don't know how to do it. There is a science to fasting. If you want to seek out how to do it with supervision, email me and I'll send you various links, but always keep your personal physician involved.<br />
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Back to okra. It's like small fish in my last post, even if you hate it, eat it anyway. Here's a way to eat okra and not even have to look at it:<br />
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It's simple. USE IT AS THICKENING. (Read more below about this)<br />
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Okra is the ultimate thickening agent for soups and stews and you can puree it (raw or boiled) and add the okra puree into soups or stews. You won't see it or taste it and you'll avoid having to use white flour or other starchy, unhealthy thickening agents.<br />
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That's the HOW (for people who hate okra) but read on for the WHY. Okra is IMPORTANT for those of us trying to reverse unhealthy disease states and for those of us trying to lose weight.<br />
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We've talked about our gut bacteria balance and its role in weight loss and health (especially immune health). It's all the rage to do the potato starch hack to wind up with indigestible fiber that passes through your small intestine undigested and then into your large intestine to feed the chlostridia butyricum and other healthy bacteria so that butyrate is created. People are taking cold raw potato starch and putting 4 tbsp in a glass of water and chugging it down. When it's put in a stew for thickening, potato starch is fattening and does nothing good for you, but when you drink it cold and raw in water, it is not digestible, has no calories, and ends up sitting in your large intestine where the healthy bacteria feed on it and create butyrate. Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid that not only feeds our immune system but it causes weight loss, among other helpful attributes.<br />
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The ideal way to maximize butyrate production in your gut (and a healthy immune system and healthy weight) is to eat certain types of fibrous foods with lots of soluble and insoluble fiber. Ever heard the phrase: "Eat your vegetables." But certain types of fibrous foods maximize butyrate production. Onions and garlic (you've heard me talk about them ad nauseum) do it if eaten in large amounts, green bananas and asparagus do it, inulin from chicory is one, but one of the best (with a host of additional advantages) is okra. I like to cook okra together with onions to get a one-two punch of mucilage for weight loss, immune-building and gut health.<br />
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Okra is in the family of mucilaginous foods like chia, flax, kelp, plantain, cassava, figs, seaweed and others. They also all can be helpful with gut health. Okra, especially, tends to "scrape" your guts clean, with its mucilage sticking to and dragging with it all the undigested sludge, bile and toxins hanging onto the lining of your intestines.<br />
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Remember the old wives tale that you could soak okra in water every night then drink the water every morning, you could cure diabetes? Even Snopes.com says there's a grain of truth in that. They write that the gel in okra: "<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "source sans pro" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">slows down the absorption of food from the gut, evening out the peaks in blood glucose that occur after meals. Soluble fiber also draws in bile acids that contribute to raised cholesterol," </span>concluding that okra can help with diabetes and high cholesterol.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTPX3cFEonOYIKktDmWblGaVjjFsQNjK0kwbV0Blz9f2Z46vEXuabY3yoxwm6czJ5krzeyHY8jryKKfaM5E1_YSlTPi7qmyX6U5-RCoORTyQWA60YS9-gbA3p8VYXcZZNRKmk_Zzbpwo/s1600/IMG_20160813_174025530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTPX3cFEonOYIKktDmWblGaVjjFsQNjK0kwbV0Blz9f2Z46vEXuabY3yoxwm6czJ5krzeyHY8jryKKfaM5E1_YSlTPi7qmyX6U5-RCoORTyQWA60YS9-gbA3p8VYXcZZNRKmk_Zzbpwo/s320/IMG_20160813_174025530.jpg" width="180" /></a>I told you I like to cook my okra with onions, but the classic dish also has tomatoes. Many traditional dishes mix certain foods together not just because it tastes good but because it's good for you--like our forefathers knew the secrets modern food science is telling us. Okra and tomatoes have that kind of relationship.<br />
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With only 18 calories in a half-cup of cooked okra, what do you get?<br />
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(1) You get all that soluble and insoluble fiber that helps with detoxing and digestion (read constipation), butyrate production, immune-boosting and diabetes-slowing power.<br />
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(2) You reap its great nutritional profile high in Vitamin C, Vitamin K, B vitamins, calcium, magnesium and manganese (a profile also helpful for lowering blood pressure)<br />
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(3) The calcium, magnesium and vitamin K all work together to prevent osteoporosis.<br />
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(4) Low in calories, but high in nutrients and fiber means it helps you to stay full longer with few calories, so it's the perfect weight loss food.<br />
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(5) It helps to prevent colon cancer.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3gAjtl-4w4jc9u7PAz46-25RjW6DLDTCed786dTj-VaaJ89c41OL-7LEl8cDR4dyQCh9Aw9-Wjhhs7xWFNePfl07dxTTyvSj47ujd-jVabU-JMJYyJJOCJpw0oeQcmptJgQwyrYoanE/s1600/IMG_20160813_183324212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3gAjtl-4w4jc9u7PAz46-25RjW6DLDTCed786dTj-VaaJ89c41OL-7LEl8cDR4dyQCh9Aw9-Wjhhs7xWFNePfl07dxTTyvSj47ujd-jVabU-JMJYyJJOCJpw0oeQcmptJgQwyrYoanE/s400/IMG_20160813_183324212.jpg" width="225" /></a>I think I said this in an earlier post, but when I feel the need to binge coming on, I eat 2-3 family size bags of cut okra cooked up with a whole onion and some cherry tomatoes and I am stuffed to the gills and satisfied and yet my stomach is flat the next day and I've gained no weight. Without the okra, I might have binged on half a brisket or a whole chocolate cake to my eventual dismay.<br />
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Okra is a lifesaver. Literally.<br />
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Stew it with tomatoes and onions and your favorite spices (all ethnic traditions have a variation on okra + tomatoes. Just google okra + tomatoes + recipes and try them all.) Stir-fry it in avocado oil or butter/ghee like I do in the photos. Or if you can't stand the sight of it, puree it raw or cooked and then add it early on into any stew you are cooking and it will disappear. Try to throw okra into your diet at least a few times a week. Preferably every day. I keep trying to work it into my every day routines and I now throw it into every stew I cook, eat it raw occasionally when I'm not cooking anything, boil it then add apple cider vinegar, fry it, or stirfry it with my onions and tomatoes. You'll come to love it--or at least love the way it makes you feel and look!<br />
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You'll end up saying: Okra is O-K by me.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now here is more about using okra as a thickener (pulled from my earlier post if you want to read it all: <a href="http://thefatladyssong.blogspot.com/2016/06/hearty-stews.html">http://thefatladyssong.blogspot.com/2016/06/hearty-stews.html</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;">How do you thicken your stews--do you make a roux or add white flour to your meat as it fries, or maybe you add canned cream of mushroom soup, or maybe you use something else equally processed and unhealthy. If you don't--if you have discovered a healthy way to thicken stews--please share it with us. Because it took me forever to come up with a way to make a thick beef/deer stew without adding </span><i style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;">something</i><span style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;"> unhealthy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;">I mean, there are thickeners out there. You can use cornstarch, but most cornstarches are made from GMO corn and corn to begin with is probably something we really don't need to indulge in. And dammit, if I'm going to ingest those corn carbs, it's going to be </span><i style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;">real</i><span style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;"> corn I'm dredging up with my spoon, not cornstarch. There are other things like arrowroot or tapioca or potato flakes, but the bottom line is, they all have problems and they all are starches (translate empty carbs/calories). And we didn't work on the farm today, did we?</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;">So what's a stew-loving girl like me supposed to do?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;">Well, fortunately I was raised Cajun, and I learned early on that (the dreaded word) OKRA is a natural thickener. Don't howl with dismay. Okra is your friend. It is a superfood of the highest order. I'm not going to give you all the advantages of this nutritional powerhouse (google it yourself), but I am going to give you a painless way to ingest this superfood on the regular. You would never know my stew has okra in it, but it adds a certain rich complexity to my sauce.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;">You can puree okra and use it to thicken any dark savory dish you make, including a hearty stew like this one. But it takes a bit of time to cook down okra until you can't tell it's there. I love okra, so I don't mind it, but maybe your kids will say Ewwww and won't eat it if they see a trace of something that looks like it might once have been okra.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #ffedcb; color: #615252; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15.456px; font-weight: bold;">Have no fear, there are other options for thickening hearty stews. Simply take the concept of using a vegetable for thickening and expand upon that idea. My stew doesn't only contain okra. I pureed onions and celery into an almost clear liquid and added it to my stew when I first put it on the stove to boil. I also had chopped onions, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. But those chopped bits just got soft and wilted. The pureed onion and celery boiled down into the thick stew you see before you in the photograph. Okay, so far we've got pureed okra, onions and celery as our thickening agents. We all have a hard time getting our veggies into a meal, don't we? See how niftily I slipped three invisible vegetables into that stew. Your three-year-old will wolf it down, I promise.</span><br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-66470550997104747072016-10-07T21:58:00.000-07:002018-02-16T22:25:28.861-08:00Small fish...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For those of you who have been reading my posts start-to-finish, you understand my catchphrase "small fish." I use it when referring to fish like sardines and anchovies, which are itty-bitty fish, commonly available canned and generally associated with a <i>yuck</i> factor.<br />
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Of course, as I discussed in my last post, there is a term <i>umame</i> which describes a taste that is appealing in its yuckiness. Sardines and anchovies don't have a <i>umame</i> quality for most of us, but you can combine them with other flavors and their yuckiness is an essential part of the umame you can create. For instance, in my Caesar salad dressing, the anchovies are an essential part of the saltiness, tanginess and sheer yumminess.<br />
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Bottom line, I have to re-assert this: eat your small fish.<br />
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Why? Because the only true quality source of complete Omega 3 fatty acids is fish. There's fish oil and krill oil but you have to worry about environmental sustainability and whether the supplement is made from contaminated fish or is a quality sourcer of fish oil. Whereas, you can <i>look</i> at your sardines and anchovies to know if they are quality. Because of their size, sardines and anchovies aren't in the ocean long enough to build up contamination. They are our perfect--and cheap and environmentally sustainable--source of Omega 3s.<br />
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Walnuts and flax oil and all kinds of alternatives are touted for providing Omega 3s but they are not complete and don't provide essential Omega 3s in a useable form and your body has to do some conversion (which in our unhealthy bodies doesn't always happen).<br />
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Our deficiency in omega 3s is huge in this country and an equally huge part of our declining health. Notice I use the word huge repeatedly. Omega 3 deficiency--and especially our imbalance between Omega 3s and other omegas like Omega 6s (bad for us)--is helping to keep us fat. It's all tied in.<br />
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Don't use Omega 6 oils if you can help it (and you can!). Don't use vegetable, canola or corn oils from the grocery store. Our imbalance of too much Omega 6 and too little Omega 3 is a huge part of the problem.<br />
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Focus on using coconut oil, avocado oil, ghee, grass-fed butter and if you use an Omega 6 make it organic sunflower oil or pumkin seed oil refined in a healthy way. Olive oil is fine but alot of it is fake and it doesn't have a high smoke point and if you cook with it, it just might turn out to be bad for you (when you bypass an oil's smokepoint--which is easy to do with olive oil--it develops carcinogens), not good. Avocado oil has become my go-to oil. I use it for everything.<br />
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Back to small fish. Find a way to get them down...and get them down.<br />
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I get my anchovies in my olive tapenade or in my Caesar dressing. I eat my sardines straight out the can. Never have found a recipe that makes sardines palatable. But sardines are soooo good for you that you should choke them down if you have to. Not only are sardines an amazing uncontaminated source of Omega 3s, they are high in other hard-to-get nutrients like Calcium, B-12 and Vitamin D.<br />
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Do you know a way to make sardines and anchovies tasty as well as good for you?<br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-5049957693135361432016-10-06T14:12:00.003-07:002016-10-07T11:47:45.364-07:00Dandelion wishes...Life happens. That's why you haven't heard from me in awhile. Life was happening, and I didn't have time to write. I didn't even have time to think. But I did find the time to eat--I just didn't have the time to eat consciously or eat well. That 's what we tell ourselves anyway when the shinola hits the fan, isn't it? Sigh.<br />
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I'm a stress eater. Things get tough and I turn to food for comfort. Not a good way to be, but that's me. Oh well. The other thing is, eating healthy, for me, takes concentration, planning, money, thought. All of those have been in short supply as I've been running around putting out other fires.<br />
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I know what I need to do. I need to fast. I've been knowing that. I've already written a post about it. I just can't seem to do it. When money is tight, fasting in the solution. When you don't have time to shop for and cook healthy foods, fasting is the solution. When you're sick, all animals know: fasting is the solution. Plus when I'm binge eating, fasting is my reset button. I haven't done a long fast in almost 3 years. It's past time. It's just so hard to do. Especially here lately.<br />
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A big part of the reason I fell off the healthy eating wagon was because my daughter, her husband and children all moved in with me. It's been like the wild man weekend I wrote about--every day. They eat what tastes good, whether it's good for you or not. They're all young and relatively thin, so they get away with it. I join in.<br />
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But I can't get away with it--not long-term.<br />
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Amazingly, my health is continuing to improve. That reishi extract and the ashwaganda, together with this black seed and pumpkin oil mix I'm taking, alongside my liposomal Vitamin C, my sublingual Vitamin D and Vitamin B-12, my frankincense, and the Chaga mushroom extract I've added, and some new "brain oil" which is pure caprylic acid derived from coconut oil, all those quality supplements are kicking butt. I'm starting to look and feel better, in spite of my inconsistent eating.<br />
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Also, with the grandkids around, I've been moving more. I love them so much and they motivate me to want to be well.<br />
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But it's hard not to eat chili dogs or potato soup or pulled pork sandwiches or sourdough bread with butter or hamburger steaks and grilled onions with homemade french fries when that's what they're eating. So if I can't even eat healthy around them, how can I expect myself to eat NOTHING and fast. I can't. They fire up the grill and I'm a goner. What's a fat lady to do?<br />
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Pray. That's what I've been doing. Well, eating like crazy from stress...and praying. Both at the same time.<br />
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This week came the answer to my prayers:<br />
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(1) Four of my dear friends rescued me from some hairy situations that were STRESSING me out<br />
(2) Another dear friend put together a whole prayer ritual for me that including praying for release from addiction (this is addiction, my relationship with food, I'm the equivalent of a crack addict)<br />
(3) My daughter and her family went off to stay with her sister for a week<br />
(4) My car is in the shop<br />
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I made them take all the good food with them. So I'm stranded at home with no car and only food I don't like. Nothing yummy or really tempting. Canned goods, packaged foods nobody wants, and one frozen pack of drumsticks. The only tempting thing in the house is the jar of spaghetti sauce and the angel hair pasta and the parmesan cheese that I could put together with it. I love spaghetti and I can envision myself making a radical chicken spaghetti. The thing in my favor is: I hate drumsticks. It's the only piece of chicken that I don't like. My love of spaghetti may outweigh my dislike of drumsticks. We'll have to wait and see. I may have to do it just to get it out of the house. But after that, there's nothing.<br />
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I think maybe I can fast.<br />
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I just ate what I hope will be my last meal before the fast (if I can stop thinking about chicken spaghetti). I took some quickly wilting dandelion greens from the fridge, chopped them, and made a creamy olive tapenade dressing. It's similar to my healthy Caesar salad dressing, only you add capers and black and green olives, a few sundried tomatoes if you have them, and fresh or dried basil, oregano and thyme. I add fresh chopped tomatoes instead of sundried.<br />
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It was amazing. It's salty and kind of yucky but in a good way. I think they call that quality <i>umame</i>.<br />
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For my side dish, I pulled a wilted beet from the veggie basket on my countertop, and I quickly chopped it into small pieces and stirfried it in butter. The sweet buttery beets were a perfect complement to my tangy, salty dandelion greens with creamy olive tapenade dressing.<br />
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Vegetables with a side of vegetables. That's our Good-Donnagail talking.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Dandelion Greens with Creamy Olive Tapenade Dressing</span></b><br />
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2 tbsp Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Mayonnaise (I use this when I don't have time or ingredients or patience for homemade mayonnaise which I prefer to use)<br />
1 chopped clove raw garlic<br />
2 chopped anchovies<br />
1/4 cup chopped olives (black or green or mix of olives)<br />
1 tbsp lemon juice<br />
1 tsp black pepper<br />
1/2 tsp capers<br />
1/4 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or sundried tomatoes<br />
1 tsp fresh or 1/4 tsp dried each of oregano, basil, parsley and thyme<br />
2 tbsp grated fresh parmesano reggiano<br />
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2 cups chopped dandelion greens<br />
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Mix dressing in large bowl, stir chopped raw greens into dressing until well coated, serve coated greens on salad plate. Top with more grated parmesan cheese to taste.<br />
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Dandelion greens are a tonic for your liver, as are many of the ingredients in this dressing. Beets are excellent for liver and digestive health as well.<br />
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This is a one-two detoxification punch prior to fasting, or anytime. And so satisfying and good for you.<br />
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Pray hard for me, wish on a star, keep your fingers crossed, throw salt over your shoulder, and make a special dandelion wish with me that I can fast and stop my unhealthy eating in its tracks. If I'm getting better just from my supplements, fasting would amplify that by a thousand. I could be 50 pounds thinner and look 15 years younger in 30 days. Just 30 days.<br />
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They say wishin' don't make it so, but wish with me anyway.<br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-50610123303090026822016-09-04T21:42:00.000-07:002016-09-04T21:43:49.410-07:00Your toothpaste is toxic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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These aren't crazy conspiracy theories. Go read this article on Dr. Mercola's website:<br />
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<a href="http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/08/31/toxic-toothpaste-chemicals.aspx">http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/08/31/toxic-toothpaste-chemicals.aspx</a><br />
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It's not just me. And it's not just Dr. Mercola. Go ahead and google "toxic toothpaste ingredients" and you'll find a million sites discussing this. This is <i>real</i>.<br />
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I didn't realize all of this until recently...and my first thought was: "What am I supposed to do if I can't even use <i>fricking</i> toothpaste?"</div>
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Then I went on a journey and I was amazed how easy it was to find toothpaste that is healthy and without all these toxins, for roughly the same price as our everyday toxic toothpastes we're all accustomed to using.</div>
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The betrayal of trust between our biggest corporations and the American people continues to leave me staggered. They have us so snowed. I grew up believing the big brands were the ones we could trust because they're too big and in the public eye and I thought they'd wouldn't dare do bad things out of fear of being caught. They had too much to lose, I figured.</div>
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Growing up, and sadly realizing that most big corporations have absolute disregard for the public wellbeing if they can squeeze a penny more of profit by using a certain ingredient or process. It just blows my mind that this kind of stuff goes on and most of us are completely unaware of it. Wow, huh?</div>
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And you can't just go to the health food store and pick up organic products anymore. That's not even safe. The big corporations have bought out most of the brand name health food and organic companies, and added back bad ingredients into those products, too. </div>
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So you have to be careful to find organic health food sources owned by small companies with no big-corporate interests involved who truly are vison-driven and want to provide a healthy product.</div>
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I was trying out different healthy toothpastes and was going to write this blog when I decided on the best and most affordable one. I really liked one toothpaste by Jason Organics, but I also like Dr. Bronner's new line of toothpaste.<br />
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I've always loved Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap, everything organic, non-GMO, fairtrade, etc. He's been around forever and he's the real thing. Now he's come out with toothpaste.</div>
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Still, I was leaning toward the Jason Organics toothpaste I liked because of its low price on Amazon, but my daughter said it didn't leave her mouth fresh-tasting long enough like regular toothpaste. She liked Dr. Bronner's better.</div>
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Then I found out Jason had been bought out by a multinational corporation. Scratch Jason off my list. </div>
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Then, to my horror, I found an article in Eluxe Magazine where Dr. Bronner is actively calling out "fake" organic companies and Jason Organics was on his list of fake organic companies!!!! Jason Organics is a bad guy now. How heartbreaking.</div>
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That finalized my decision for Dr. Bronner's toothpaste. Here's a link to the story in Eluxe Magazine: <a href="http://eluxemagazine.com/magazine/fake-organic-brands/">http://eluxemagazine.com/magazine/fake-organic-brands/</a></div>
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I just checked Amazon again and Dr. Bronner's toothpaste is $14 for a 5 oz tube. You can buy 3 tubes that come out to roughly $25, but add shipping, and it's just out of my price range. I was hoping to find it on Amazon's Subscribe & Save, but it's not there.</div>
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I can't find it at all on jet.com (which is my new favorite place to find deals, but it's not there).</div>
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I finally got a Thrive Market membership because they just have some things I can't find anywhere else, and on some things, they're really, really cheap. Like on this Dr. Bronner's toothpaste. I found it for $4.45 on Thrive Market. That's crazy. Compare $14 on Amazon and $4.45 on Thrive Market.</div>
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You just have to shop around. Jet, Amazon and Thrive all have great prices on various products, but you have to find the cheapest price on your product by doing the comparison. On this toothpaste, I did the work for you. </div>
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Since I was going to write this blog about the toothpaste, I also went ahead and applied for an affiliate account with Thrive Market so I can earn referral credits for myself with Thrive, and also get you a $10 off coupon when you place your first order.</div>
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Join through my link and you get $10 off and free shipping on your first order. Stock up on Dr. Bronner's toothpaste. It's hard to find and this is the cheapest by far I've found it. If you find a cheaper source, let me know. <a href="http://go.thrv.me/aff_c?offer_id=6&aff_id=12887&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthrivemarket.com%2Fdr-bronner-s-organic-peppermint-toothpaste%3Faff_id%3D{affiliate_id}%26t_id%3D{transaction_id}%26o_id%3D{offer_id}%26utm_medium%3D{affiliate_name}%26aff_sub%3D{aff_sub}%26aff_sub2%3D{aff_sub2}%26aff_sub3%3D{aff_sub3}%26aff_sub4%3D{aff_sub4}%26aff_sub5%3D{aff_sub5}">My link to Dr. Bronner's toothpaste on Thrive Market</a></div>
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When you get on Thrive to place your first order, here's a few other things I have found on there I like that are priced amazingly: </div>
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<ol>
<li>Better than Bouillon - it's a bouillon paste that comes in beef or chicken or vegetarian that is organic and is an incredible replacement for bouillon cubes.</li>
<li>Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Mayonnaise (it's 9.99 on Amazon, 10.70 on jet and only $7.45 on Thrive)</li>
<li>Dr. Bronner's Baby Soap in a Pump Bottle that is unscented with no bad chemicals, and I use it as my bath soap as well as my shampoo now. It's $12 for 24 ounces or $6.75 for 12 ounces on Thrive, while it's just over $16 on jet.com and I can't find any prices on Amazon for it that aren't crazy insane. Dr. Bronner's also has a wonderful leave-in conditioner I've found too, but it's not available on Thrive and is cheapest on jet.com (Jet is a little over 7 bucks while Amazon is $12). I didn't think so at first but there are definitely some benefits to getting a Thrive Membership. It pays for itself over time. And you can get a free Thrive Membership for a couple months til you're ready to commit.</li>
</ol>
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So you can go order your toothpaste and get this first order without having to commit. But please place it through my link so that when you do commit, I'll get credit for your referral and I can get some free Dr. Bronner's toothpaste as my reward for doing the research for you!!!</div>
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Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-36711908497158817172016-08-17T13:41:00.000-07:002016-08-17T13:41:01.657-07:00all about almonds...<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
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Almonds. That's what's on my mind today. Just 10 almonds a day is supposed to be great for your health. We've all heard about (or gotten on) the Great American Almond Kick. The problem is, when they talk about all the health benefits of almonds, the almonds really should be:<br />
<br />
a) organic<br />
b) truly raw<br />
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Most of the health benefits are destroyed when almonds are roasted, and nothing is good for you if it's coated with poisons.<br />
<br />
Do you know that our country's almond growers are required by law to either irradiate and/or spray awful chemicals on raw almonds they sell? Even on<i> organic</i> raw almonds.</div>
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So I did research and found out you can buy <i>truly</i> raw organic untreated almonds if you buy them direct from the almond grower. Email me (theagelesslife@gmail.com) and I can give you some contact information on where to buy almonds direct from the grower in California by mail. I've bought from this particular grower and the almonds were truly raw and sproutable.</div>
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That brings up another issue. There are what's called "anti-nutrients" in the almonds that prevent you from absorbing important minerals....in traditional societies, they soaked their almonds...almonds really aren't that good for you unless you buy them raw and organic and soak them...</div>
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So I got a big glass jar to soak them overnight...but then you have to dehydrate them so they'll keep (and not be mushy)....thank heavens I have an old-timey oven that goes as low as 115 degrees, so I didn't have to buy a dehydrator....</div>
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But whether you dehydrate your soaked almonds in your oven or dehydrator, there's something else to think about. There's the issue of cookware and health I've been learning about...aluminum causes problems (including potentially Alzheimer's), non-stick causes cancer, even stainless steel clad and ceramic can leach aluminum into your food if there are rivets on the inside of the pan where the handles connect, plastic for storing or microwaving food is horrible causing cancer-causing, hormone-disrupting phytoestrogens to leach into our food, microwaves are horrible...<br />
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So who wants to buy raw organic almonds then dehydrate them on plastic dehydrator trays or aluminum pans...so I got glass Marinex pans and a stainless steel cookie sheet and spread my almonds out on it and dehydrated them in my oven on its lowest setting.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">I ordered 5 pounds of raw organic almonds (untreated) directly from my organic California almond farmer. I soaked them overnight in my wonderful pure well water in a glass jar, then I put them in my oven on glass and stainless steel at 115 degrees, and they dehydrated overnight. Then I stored them in the fridge and on the shelf in mason jars...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">So I now have almonds that are truly good for me...still raw (with undestroyed nutrients and enzymes)...soaked (to deactivate the anti-nutrients)...but dehydrated so they're not mushy...still full of enzymes...but free of added chemicals and naturally occurring chemicals that are bad for me...and once I got my little system in place, it really wasn't a big deal:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">1. order them</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">2. put them in water soak them overnight</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">3. dehydrate them overnight</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">4. and you have almonds for months...</span></div>
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I priced organic raw soaked dehydrated almonds at a ultra-healthy company and they were over a hundred dollars for five pounds...I bought mine for $45 for five pounds...and did the soaking and dehydrating myself to save a hundred bucks...</div>
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You're probably all thinking I have nothing to do with myself...but I'm really researching what we're doing in our society that is making all of us sick...and it's sad. We buy almonds because we think they're good for us and it turns out our government is forcing farmers to irradiate or spray them with chemicals and label them raw and organic. That's not counting the natural anti-nutrients that nut companies could easily neutralize with soaking, but it costs them too much money, so not only don't they do it, nobody bothers to tell us it needs to be done. Then when you start researching how to do it yourself, there are all sorts of other hidden dangers--like how plastic containers especially when heated (even dehydrators) are causing us to consume phytoestrogens that lead to cancers like mine...</div>
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So I'm trying to get this down to a system...if any of you want <i>truly</i> healthy almonds, email Donna Gail and I'll give you all the info for free.</div>
Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-58410741006043525962016-08-13T16:47:00.003-07:002016-08-14T20:48:45.388-07:00one-minute superfood: blackstrap molasses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What are the top 3 reasons to take organic blackstrap molasses as a health supplement?<br />
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First, it's a natural iron supplement, ideal for pregnant women, post-menopausal women, or anyone dealing with anemia. Second, it's extremely high in minerals and vitamins like copper, manganese, B6, potassium, chromium and selenium. Third, it's a great alternative sweetener with a glycemic index of only 55. Most important, it is high in healthy absorbable calcium and magnesium and in the right ratio for optimal absorption. Oops, that was four, not three. But there are way more reasons than that anyway.<br />
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But back to the most important reason. Most people are seriously deficient in calcium and magnesium, and it's important to ingest them in the right ratios so that they are useable for our bodies. Supplemental calcium has been shown to be dangerous. It can lead to increased hardening of the arteries. So food sources like blackstap molasses which have those minerals in natural form in the right ratios are perfect.<br />
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Thinking you get your calcium from milk? Milk is not good for us, really. Give it up. Instead, eat only fermented dairy like homemade yogurt or kefir from fresh organic raw milk, or a cheese like pecorino romano high in CLA. But you shouldn't eat enough dairy to get all the calcium you need. If you do, you're eating too much. Think small amounts when it comes to dairy, even fermented dairy.<br />
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Usually, I get my calcium from eating tons of greens (kale, turnip greens, mustard greens, etc.) or eating sardines with the bones (extremely high form of absorbable calcium).<br />
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Blackstrap molasses is an easy source when you don't have sardines or greens on hand. But it tastes just awful, I think. The only way I like it is on cush-cush or cornbread I make with organic non-GMO cornmeal. But I don't like to eat even organic corn very often. I always gain lots of weight from it.<br />
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So how to take my blackstrap molasses?<br />
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Today I found a way to ingest it DAILY and painlessly. Pleasurably actually. Read more for the recipe and a discussion of why it's the perfect vehicle for your blackstrap molasses.<br />
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Make sure it's organic cause you don't want to get the byproducts from horrible pesticide-soaked GMO sugar beets or highly-sprayed commercial sugar cane in your blackstrap molasses. That's what molasses is--the mineral-rich byproduct of sugar production. Better you get the rich natural molasses byproduct of organic sugar production from organic sugar cane.<br />
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I like Plantation Organic but read this comparison of blackstrap molasses products on another blog I like: <a href="https://www.toxinless.com/blackstrap-molasses">https://www.toxinless.com/blackstrap-molasses</a> The cheapest source I've found for it is jet.com. Take advantage of your first 3 orders being 15% with free shipping. Stock up on this stuff. It's expensive to order from other sites and the variety carried at many healthfood stores is oftentimes the non-organic variety.<br />
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FROZEN COCO MOCHA MACAROON<br />
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This morning, in my habitual fashion as of late, I had chocolate for breakfast. I eat some form of homemade chocolate confection every few days for regularity's sake. Nothing works better for me than chocolate. Combined with coffee, it is an instant laxative. I've always had a sluggish digestive system and I've never found anything that works this well. I am trying to stay away from harsh laxatives. I get plenty of fiber...it just SITS there. Chocolates makes everything move. I even find it sparks me mentally.<br />
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In the past, I have used organic raw cane sugar in my homemade chocolate confections (which really is alot better than regular sugar), but I'm diabetic and should do even organic sugar rarely if at all. In my last post about chocolate for breakfast, I had drizzled my homemade chocolate syrup (with no sugar) over sweet chunks of fresh pineapple.<br />
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But today, I tried making a chocolate confection with blackstrap molasses. I thought it might taste terrible, so I added lots of ingredients to distract from the taste, including extra cocoa and a splash of strong coffee and some raw unsweetened coconut flakes. My recipe included:<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Ingredients:</span></b><br />
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1/3 cup raw cacao (or your favorite cocoa powder)<br />
2 tbsp, virgin coconut oil<br />
1/8 cup unsweetened coconut flakes<br />
2 tbsp. brewed coffee<br />
1/4 cup ground raw flax seeds<br />
2 tbsp. blackstrap molasses<br />
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I froze little spoonfuls of it in the shape of coconut macaroons on a glass plate in the freezer, but they looked nothing like macaroons. They were black as molasses, you could say, and decadently mocha. (You can also pour the confection out into a flat mold and make them like chocolate crunch bars.)<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Directions:</span></b><br />
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<i>Add all your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix well. Gently melt your coconut oil in a pan then mix your coffee and molasses in with your melted coconut oil. Pour the liquid into your mixing bowl and mix well with your dry ingredients. If the mixture is not moist enough, add a splash more coffee. Drop spoonfuls onto a glass or stainless steel tray or plate for freezing. When frozen, you can use a butter knife to separate them gently from the tray or plate and place them in the container of your choice. I just leave the plate in my freezer and keep reusing it every time I want to make more.</i><br />
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Chocolate for breakfast is great for regularity, as I said, but so are flax, pumpkin seeds, coconut oil, and blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is a natural stool softener. This combination of ingredients is a one-two health punch for your digestive system.**<br />
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Plus the seeds are high in protein, as is the cacao. Yes, cocoa powder has over a gram of protein per tablespoon, while raw cacao powder has twice the protein. You should always aim for high-protein and healthy fats in your first meal of the day. Also, remember my favorite quote from www.livestrong.com: "<span style="background-color: white; color: #373737; font-family: "Museo Sans 300", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 26px;">cocoa powder could help reduce the risk of obesity and fatty liver disease."</span><br />
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(Oh yeah! See, I can scientifically justify my chocolate for breakfast kick!)<br />
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For awhile, when I first started this health journey and learned that blackstrap molasses, coconut oil, ground flax, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate was so good for me, I was taking two disgusting tablespoons of blackstrap molasses daily, plus two disgusting tablespoons of coconut oil daily, trying to figure out how to get my flax in, and eating a handful of pumpkin seeds when I thought about it. Then eating part of a gourmet expensive dark chocolate bar a few times a week for the antioxidants and for regularity, but worried about the sugar content.<br />
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Now I've finally combined all of them in a lovely little chocolate breakfast macaroon.<br />
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You also could use the ground flax, molasses and coconut oil as a great "goo" to make homemade granola bars.<br />
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**If you really are having problems with regularity, you can also add pureed prunes to this mocha-coconut frozen macaroon. It's especially a handy way to ingest them if you don't like prunes by themselves. I can eat prunes by the handful, so I don't put them in my chocolate unless I'm making a big platter of fudge, then I use prunes and figs for sweetening my fudge. (My grandkids tear it up!) Prunes are going to be your highest source of both soluble and insoluble fiber together.<br />
<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-47976486602519332072016-08-11T19:12:00.003-07:002016-08-11T19:21:21.631-07:00Hope<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We're not alone.<br />
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Some days, more than others, I am reminded of this.<br />
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The first non-denominational pastor who churched this young Catholic girl turned atheist in the year I fully turned back to God went AWOL a few years ago. It was 2002 when I met him and he was young and avid with a house full of children and a wife who ruled us all with an iron rod. His church had moved out of their home into an old small white chapel in the country. The church--as a living, breathing entity--first came alive for me within those walls.<br />
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It forever came to represent for me what church could be when church was done right.<br />
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When I found my first pastor again, 13 years later, he was no longer a pastor and his life had changed dramatically. My heart broke. The wife he'd had when I'd been in his church was finally remarrying, and his old life would be truly gone soon. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how this had happened.<br />
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He didn't have much interest in the faith. No matter how I tried, I could not revive even a smattering of faith or interest in the things of God.<br />
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But I just knew God wasn't through with him, and he would still be a mighty force for goodness before it was over. I told him so, and he found that humorous.<br />
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It seemed impossible. But I knew that I knew that I knew. We had a short-lived correspondence on Facebook and via email then it died away. Months passed. My news feed on Facebook alerted me to important moments in his life. He seemed to be spending lots of time with his kids. Amazing how you can follow people's lives on Facebook even when you hardly ever speak. It comforted me to watch over him and pray for him--as he had once prayed so fervently over me.<br />
<br />
Fast forward just six short months, and today he told me he thought God might still have some work for him to do. He'd been up all night pondering some spiritual puzzle, he said, talking with other spirit-minded men until late in the night. I told him <i>of course</i> God still had work for him to do. I wondered when the tide had turned. My joy was unspeakable.<br />
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And then these words poured from my fingers as they clacked on the keyboard in response to him:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">We always gravitate back to who God intended us to be when he created us, don't you think? The world pulls us one way, but God's pull is a force of nature, like gravity or the pull of the tides. Incessant, eternal, pulling us home to who we are.</span><br />
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I read the words after I typed them and I marvelled at them. Those words didn't come from me...they came from an entirely <i>other</i> dimension. That was God-speak, I think. I wrote them before I thought them. I never thought them, actually. I just typed them and read them as though I were reading them for the first time. Beautiful words, aren't they? I can't take credit for them. I can only admire them.<br />
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Those words gave me hope too. Not just for me, but for all of us. All of us who are stuck somewhere we don't belong, in a body that is not our intended body, a mind and a life we didn't plan on, a spouse who cheats on us, a boss who abuses us, habits that are killing us, a hopelessness that has paralyzed us.<br />
<br />
But those words reminded me that we are not alone, even though it looks that way from our little rickety boat on that still ocean of pain. There is a force of nature, a pull of the tides, a form of gravity that is incessant and eternal and pulling us home to who we are. The us that was supposed to be, all along. That is who we are becoming even when we don't know which direction to row or don't even have any oars. The tide of God's love is pulling us safely to shore.<br />
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Sometimes--most often actually--it is happening even when we cannot do it for ourselves.<br />
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I ate a Big Mac today. It was a rough day in many ways, and the Big Mac was just the ugly little cherry on top. I was feeling like I will never change. I will die this way.<br />
<br />
Then out of the blue came the chat with the pastor and the words that were not my own.<br />
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Clearly I am not alone in this battle. Neither is he. Neither are you.<br />
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There is hope.Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-49041267876348954482016-08-06T03:14:00.001-07:002016-08-06T03:51:57.841-07:00Cool Pineapple Ginger-Coconut Shrimp Souperfood Soup for Summer...now that's a mouthful!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's summertime so nobody was interested in my post I wrote on thick, hearty stews. I'm guessing no one wants to read about soup either, so I came up with a recipe for a soup <i>designed</i> for summer. It can be served chilled, hot, lukewarm or at room temperature.<br />
<br />
Why am I so insistent on soup in summer?<br />
<br />
Soup is so good for you. It is mostly water, so it's filling but a less concentrated source of calories, but it retains all the micronutrients and benefits of all the foods cooked in the soup. When you cook foods, you must always be concerned that essential nutrients leach out, but in soup, they just leach out into the soup and you slurp them right up.<br />
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Soup is also an easy way to get your veggies down if you're not a big fan of veggies. If you can't stand to see them, puree them. I love chunks of onion in my soups, but if I'm craving a thick creamy soup, to make them creamier (without cream) I puree onions and celery to thicken them and give them a whitish creamy substance. I puree carrots in my recipe for chili and the kids never know they're eating carrots. Soups and stews are great venues for hiding healthy veggies.<br />
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Soup is just good for you on so many levels, and this is a souperfood soup for summer. What makes it a souperfood soup? Let me count the ways:<br />
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(1) it's loaded with turmeric which we've already talked about ad nauseum (read my original post on this blog: <a href="http://thefatladyssong.blogspot.com/2016/06/all-that-turmeric-ive-been-putting-in.html">All that turmeric...</a>) plus all manner of healthy spices that complement turmeric absorption and are filled with antioxidants<br />
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(2) shrimp is a great source of astaxanthin (read more about it at World's Healthiest Foods: <a href="http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=107">WHF on Shrimp</a>)<br />
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(3) it is sweetened with pineapple (which we talked about yesterday in the chocolate for breakfast post), and all its healthy bromelain (especially in that core)...if you don't like eating pineapple or pineapple cores, this is the way to get it in<br />
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(4) is has both cooked and raw garlic and onion (those amazing alliums...) that I keep telling you are so good for you and you should eat them every day<br />
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(5) it has coconut oil and organic high-fat dairy, both of which should be consumed in small amounts daily<br />
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(6) it is thickened with flax seeds, soaked overnight (to optimize their nutrition), then pureed in a blender with the cold soup base<br />
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(7) it has raw ginger<br />
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Sounds complicated, I know, but it's not. It took me less than 30 minutes to make it, and it was divine.<br />
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COOL PINEAPPLE-GINGER-COCONUT SHRIMP SOUP FOR SUMMER<br />
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Ingredients for 1 large bowl for 1 person (double if there are 2 of you, triple for 3, etc.):<br />
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10 shrimp<br />
4-5 cloves garlic<br />
1 whole sweet onion<br />
4 tbsp turmeric<br />
3 tbsp unsweetened coconut<br />
1 tbsp ground fresh ginger<br />
2 tbsp simply organic curry powder (love its flavor)<br />
1 tsp cardamom<br />
1 tbsp coriander seed (toasted and ground)<br />
1/2 tsp cinnamon<br />
1 tsp black pepper<br />
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper<br />
1 tbsp pink himalayan salt crystals<br />
1/2 cup water<br />
1/2 tsp raw honey<br />
1/4 cup flax seeds (soaked overnight in 1/2 cup water)<br />
1/4 cup half & half<br />
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First, as you saw in the photo above, I crushed and peeled the garlic cloves and cut up half a raw onion and put it aside with the raw shrimp (which I coated with turmeric so it could absorb the flavor while raw). Since I have learned not to heat or boil my turmeric, the best way to get its flavor into my shrimp is to allow them to sit together before cooking.<br />
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Also, you should always allow your garlic and onion to sit for five minutes after you crush/cut/peel them before cooking. The primary nutrients fully emerge within those first five minutes after cutting/crushing.<br />
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While those three jewels--shrimp, onion, garlic--were just sitting, I toasted my coriander seeds in a pan for a minute and then tossed them into my mortar and pestle and ground them up.<br />
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I put all my spices into my blender/Ninja with my half & half, water, half a raw onion, my soaked swollen flax seeds, raw ginger, coconut and fresh pineapple. That is my soup base, and I put it in the fridge to chill.<br />
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Then I went back to my half-onion, garlic and shrimp and put them in a pan with coconut oil to sautee until the onions and garlic were tender and the shrimp pink. I took the pan off the heat a minute then poured my chilled soup base into the pan.<br />
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Now, at that point, you choose how you want your soup: chilled, lukewarm or hot. I like mine lukewarm, so I stirred the chilled soup in the pot for a minute to slightly warm it (but not kill all the healthy nutrients with heat), then I poured it into my bowl. I could have cooked it just a minute longer to make it warm, and still not lost too many nutrients, but never leave turmeric and those other spices on high heat for longer than a few minutes or you will lose their antioxidant value.<br />
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I stir in a half-teaspoon of raw local honey right before eating it.<br />
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Top it with fresh parsley or cilantro. Souperfood soup. Yum.<br />
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**This soup, just like my Hangover Carrot recipe, has all the necessary ingredients in the famed Turmeric Hangover Cure (warm milk, fresh ginger, turmeric, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon and honey). So if you drank too much the night before, this is a great soup to restore you to life when you wake up at noon the day after. Honestly, takes less than 30 minutes to throw together.Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-15307936836489949392016-08-05T15:09:00.000-07:002016-08-14T20:47:16.340-07:00Chocolate for breakfast...again?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Remember the other day how I was guilt-tripping myself over eating a homemade gourmet chocolate bar with my coffee for breakfast. I started thinking about it. What is so bad about eating chocolate for breakfast?<br />
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It's got a tremendous antioxidant count, it jumpstarts your colon in the morning (especially if you combine it with coffee), and the combination gets me feeling kind of zippy. It's a great way to ingest my daily two tablespoons of virgin coconut oil. I slightly warm my coconut oil in a pan just until it begins to melt, then I stir in several tablespoons of cocoa powder (I prefer raw organic cacao powder)with some raw organic cane sugar. Let it chill in a mold (or on a plate) and when it hardens, you've got a relatively healthy dark chocolate bar.<br />
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Well, what is bad about it is the sugar. I use organic cane sugar--which really makes a huge difference compared to non-organic GMO beet sugar when measuring my blood sugars--but still, sugar is not good for diabetics. Even better sugars like maple syrup and raw honey should be ingested in small, amounts and only occasionally by diabetics.<br />
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But today I thought of something...how to make my chocolate sweet without sweetening it!<br />
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I'm trying to eat more papaya and pineapple because of the papain and bromelain content...improving my healthy enzymes and my digestion is one major key to restoring my health and triggering weight loss. I love papaya, but I'm not real crazy about pineapple. It's so sweet and sour at the same time, and I don't really like eating chunks of pineapple by themselves. Pineapple, though, and especially the core, is so full of bromelain which is so good for me. Check out my post <a href="http://thefatladyssong.blogspot.com/2016/06/ive-decided-to-eat-pineapple-and-papaya.html">The Powerful Pineapple</a> if you've forgotten our discussion of this.<br />
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How to incorporate more pineapple into my diet...hmmm? How to incorporate chocolate and coconut oil without sugar...hmmm? Wait! How about if I make my chocolate with coconut oil and cocoa and drizzle unsweetened, still melted chocolate onto my pineapple chunks in the bowl (like a fondue in reverse but with unsweetened chocolate)? What would that taste like?<br />
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It was divine.<br />
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The sweetness in the pineapple was just enough to "sweeten" the unsweetened chocolate. It is a way to get your pineapple in, along with your chocolate and your coconut oil in a tasty breakfast treat. I ground up some flaxseeds and sprinkled the flax meal on top of the chocolate-drizzled pineapple and that was even better. Think chocolate almond flavor.<br />
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I've read that we should have high-protein breakfasts, but in defense of chocolate, it has 1 gram of protein in every tablespoon of cocoa powder. And the flaxseed is high-protein. There you go! Raw cacoa powder has almost 2 grams of protein per tablespoon. And I love this quote from www.livestrong.com: "<span style="background-color: white; color: #373737; font-family: "Museo Sans 300", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 26px;">cocoa powder could help reduce the risk of obesity and fatty liver disease." </span><br />
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Oh, yeah. I'm finding more and more evidence in support of my chocolate breakfasts.<br />
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*sourcing a high-quality cocoa or raw organic cacao powder is essential to ensure you are actually getting the life-giving flavanols you hear about<br />
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<br />Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2311756961470101340.post-75019937108673835572016-08-04T06:45:00.000-07:002016-08-04T06:45:07.769-07:00Eat naked...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On my way to a meeting this morning, and my dress is tumbling in the dryer. I just hopped out of the bathtub and I cut up some papaya and made some coffee. I came to check my email on the computer, while munching on my papaya and sipping at my coffee and I realized:<br />
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Eat naked.<br />
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It's an easy thing to do when you are sipping coffee and nibbling papaya, but imagine how hard it would be to <i>binge</i> naked. It's the ultimate reminder of why you shouldn't be binging, right?<br />
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So that is my thought for the day.<br />
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If you are worried that you might overeat, eat naked.<br />
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I'm full of solutions. See why you read this blog? <br />
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(By the way, that is NOT me in the photo. Remember the earlier photo of my red-headed hunger walking away with balloons? Well, as you know, she came back. I gave her a haircut. She's not happy about the new look.)Donna Gail Broussardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00985660616082009305noreply@blogger.com0