Well, we are finally wrapping up our final detox week. This week was no added sugar. That basically mean that we didn't put any sugar in our coffee. So let me do a quick run through of all the things we have cut from out diets in the past 2 months.
1) No High Fructose Corn Syrup ( I can't believe I've gone 2 months without soda!)
2) No Refined Flour (we did cheat occasionally and have pizza nights, but it was at least sourdough!)
3) No Desserts
4) No Refined Sugars
5) No Quick breads
6) Limit Natural Sugars to 1 teaspoon per day
7) Limit Grains & Starches
8) No Added Sugar
Wow! I have to admit that this was a huge step for our family. This detox has caused us to cut out pretty much all processed foods with just a couple exceptions, but even the exceptions followed our detox rules! In cutting all of our processed foods, my daughter's bowels have regulated, I am no longer having severe digestive pain, and my husband doesn't think it has made a difference to him, but we'll see when he goes to eat a candy bar on Halloween next week!
To celebrate our success we get to enjoy some delicious tacos at church tomorrow. It will be our church's annual Ministry Festival. This year is a fiesta and they will be serving tacos. It will be the first time in 8 weeks that I don't have to ask what is in every little thing! I will still be careful not to eat a bunch of sweets. However, I'm not sure I can say the same for my husband ;-)
If you're thinking about doing a sugar detox, DO IT! I have to say that I feel so accomplished having finished something that is so good for me! And now, I've learned so much about what is in food and how it affects my body. I am planning on going on a true detox at the beginning of January and I almost can't wait to do it! If you're just starting to learn about nutrition and whole foods, keep digging, keep learning, and keep making changes. Take it one step at a time and embrace the changes because they are so good for you, your children, and your future family members!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Homemade Raw Yogurt
A while back I found a local co-op in Las Vegas that goes out of state to purchase raw milk. It is illegal to sell raw milk in Nevada, so that is about the only thing that can be done to get it unless you happen to have a large amount of grassy land and a cow that you don't mind milking regularly.
I currently pay $7.75 per gallon. That seems ridiculous compared to the price of regular milk and even a bit high compared to organic milk, but compared to states where you CAN legally purchase raw milk, it's cheap. In Phoenix, the cost for a gallon of raw milk at the store is $12! Thank God I don't have to buy 3 gallons of that milk 3 times a month!
I'll do a break down of the cost of making yogurt after the tutorial, but for now, let's get started! If I'm going to give my family raw milk, why wouldn't I want to give them raw dairy products? We drink raw milk, eat raw butter, and enjoy raw yogurt. I hope to be able to splurge a bit in the future to enable me to make raw cheeses!
Raw Yogurt!
You'll Need:
2- Clean Quart-sized Mason Jars with clean lids and bands
4 Tbl Organic Whole milk yogurt (Or a yogurt starter culture)
2 Quarts of raw milk (You can do this with pasteurized milk too)
1 Empty Ice Chest
Optional:
1 Thermometer that goes as low as 100 degrees and as high as 180 degrees
2 large pots
I do this as simple as I possibly can, but if you're using pasteurized milk or you want to be exact, you'll need to take extra precautions, which I'll cover in a separate font so that you'll know what is what. If there is only purple font, it is for both pasteurized milk and for those who want to be exact. If there is purple and green then the purple is for pasteurized and the green is for those who want to be exact.
I do not sterilize my equipment because I know it's clean and I know the quality of milk I receive.
In order to sterilize your equipment bring a large pot of water to a boil and boil your jars, lids, bands, thermometer, and any stirring utensils for about 5 minutes. Remove them carefully and put them on a clean towel or a paper towel until they are ready to be used.
The next step is to put your yogurt starter into your jars. You'll need 2 Tbl per jar. I freeze yogurt in ice cube trays to use as starter later. I put 1-2 cubes per jar. Each cube is about 1 1/2 tbl. I will drop my frozen yogurt into the jars and let them sit until it is thawed. It is important to put your yogurt in first so you don't overfill your jars.
Next I fill each jar to the neck with milk and stir the yogurt starter in. I then let my jars sit on the counter for an hour or so until they are room temperature.
You need to re-pasteurize your milk. You can create a water jacket by putting a pot with your milk in it into a pot of water. You will then bring the water to a boil and heat the milk until it is 185 degrees. Hold it at that temperature for several minutes or up to 30 minutes. By heating your yogurt for 30 minutes you will get a very thick yogurt. You then need to allow your milk to cool down to 110 degrees before pouring it into your jars. Anything over 110 degrees will kill your yogurt culture and you'll end up with soured milk. Once cooled, fill jars up to the neck with milk and stir it up.
You can put your milk into a pot and heat it to 110 degrees. After 110 degrees enzymes will begin to die. Enzymes are the beauty of raw milk, so we want to keep them! Once your milk is 110 degrees you can fill your jars up to the neck with milk and stir it up.
Put your lids on and put your jars into a cooler.
I just fill my cooler with the hottest tap water from my kitchen sink. This is something that I have practiced. You can always check the temperature of your tap water before doing this. If your water is too hot, you'll kill the yogurt culture. If it is too cold, your yogurt won't turn into yogurt. My tap water is slightly above 110 degrees so by the time it hits my cooler it is 110 degrees exactly (I know, I'm lucky). Your water should not go above the neck of the jar.
Next fill a pot with water and heat it to 110 degrees. Be VERY careful not to make it any hotter or you'll kill your culture (I've done it!) Once your water is 110 degrees pour it into your cooler.
Your water should not go above the neck of the jar.
Put the lid on your cooler and cover/ wrap your cooler with a towel for added insulation. Let sit for 12 hours. Once the 12 hours is up you can put your yogurt in the fridge to firm up. The time doesn't need to be exact. You can let yogurt do it's thing from 8-24 hours. I like 12 hours best, but you don't need to stress about it.
Once you've got some time to stay home you're ready to drain your yogurt. you don't have to drain it, but draining the whey (the sour part) will make your yogurt thicker and less tart. I'm not sure if it is really needed for pasteurized yogurt, but I think it might be. If you make pasteurized yogurt and your yogurt is too tart, try draining it!
Stick a colander inside of a bowl and put a piece of cheese cloth or Birdseye fabric inside the colander. Then dump your yogurt into the fabric.
Tie your fabric into a knot and hang it from a cabinet over the bowl for a few hours. I have 2 fabrics that I use. One for each quart. The longer you hang your yogurt the thicker it will get. If you leave it for a whole day, you'll get yogurt cheese/ farmer's cheese. It's kind of like cream cheese.
While my yogurt is hanging, I will go scrape the bottom up every so often. the yogurt closest to the fabric will drain, but if you don't scrape it up, the whey in the middle will remain. You'll notice in the above picture that the liquid looks white. Normally it would be a clear yellow color, but I made a slight boo boo this time around and not all of the milk turned into yogurt. Therefore, it is white because there is milk in it. Oops!
I've found that 3-4 hours is good for a consistency that my family likes. My husband is fond of Yoplait yogurt, so that about the consistency I go for.
By the end of my draining I end up with 1 quart of yogurt and 1 quart of whey. I freeze my whey in ice trays and use it for recipes, lacto-fermenting, and soaking flour/grains.
I sometimes add about 1/4 cup of honey per quart of yogurt. That gives it enough sweetness for my picky husband. Another thing that we like is to make fruit bottom yogurt cups. They are convenient snacks for my daughter and easy fro my husband to pack in his lunch. Not to mention that they are great quick snacks when I'm craving something slightly sweet.
To make yogurt cups we use the 4 oz jelly jars. You could also use the 8 oz wide mouth jelly jars. We put 1 spoonful of homemade jam (made with honey), or 2 spoonfuls of homemade applesauce (no sugar added) and then fill the jar the rest of the way with yogurt (sweetened or not). Put a lid on it and stick it in the fridge until ready to eat! I'm not sure if these will last long with pasteurized milk, so I would recommend only making as many as your family will eat within a few days. Ours will keep for a while, but they rarely hang around longer than a week because we like yogurt.
I have thought about trying yogurt culture packets. There are some types that are supposed to make thicker and sweeter yogurts, but at this time I don't really have the disposable income, so this is what we do for now.
Last, and most importantly, don't forget to save enough yogurt for your next batch! You can freeze it for a couple months if you don't plan to make yogurt again for a little while.
Oops! I forgot to add my cost breakdown. Yours will most likely be different unless you pay the same amount for milk as I do.
1 gallon of raw milk - $7.75
Divided by 2- $3.88
Therefore, I pay $3.88 per quart of yogurt. Remember that after draining we get about half yogurt and half whey. It is slightly more that purchasing organic whole milk yogurt at the store, but it is raw and there are no stabilizers, which is worth the extra dollar to me!
I currently pay $7.75 per gallon. That seems ridiculous compared to the price of regular milk and even a bit high compared to organic milk, but compared to states where you CAN legally purchase raw milk, it's cheap. In Phoenix, the cost for a gallon of raw milk at the store is $12! Thank God I don't have to buy 3 gallons of that milk 3 times a month!
I'll do a break down of the cost of making yogurt after the tutorial, but for now, let's get started! If I'm going to give my family raw milk, why wouldn't I want to give them raw dairy products? We drink raw milk, eat raw butter, and enjoy raw yogurt. I hope to be able to splurge a bit in the future to enable me to make raw cheeses!
Raw Yogurt!
You'll Need:
2- Clean Quart-sized Mason Jars with clean lids and bands
4 Tbl Organic Whole milk yogurt (Or a yogurt starter culture)
2 Quarts of raw milk (You can do this with pasteurized milk too)
1 Empty Ice Chest
Optional:
1 Thermometer that goes as low as 100 degrees and as high as 180 degrees
2 large pots
I do this as simple as I possibly can, but if you're using pasteurized milk or you want to be exact, you'll need to take extra precautions, which I'll cover in a separate font so that you'll know what is what. If there is only purple font, it is for both pasteurized milk and for those who want to be exact. If there is purple and green then the purple is for pasteurized and the green is for those who want to be exact.
I do not sterilize my equipment because I know it's clean and I know the quality of milk I receive.
In order to sterilize your equipment bring a large pot of water to a boil and boil your jars, lids, bands, thermometer, and any stirring utensils for about 5 minutes. Remove them carefully and put them on a clean towel or a paper towel until they are ready to be used.
Next I fill each jar to the neck with milk and stir the yogurt starter in. I then let my jars sit on the counter for an hour or so until they are room temperature.
You need to re-pasteurize your milk. You can create a water jacket by putting a pot with your milk in it into a pot of water. You will then bring the water to a boil and heat the milk until it is 185 degrees. Hold it at that temperature for several minutes or up to 30 minutes. By heating your yogurt for 30 minutes you will get a very thick yogurt. You then need to allow your milk to cool down to 110 degrees before pouring it into your jars. Anything over 110 degrees will kill your yogurt culture and you'll end up with soured milk. Once cooled, fill jars up to the neck with milk and stir it up.
You can put your milk into a pot and heat it to 110 degrees. After 110 degrees enzymes will begin to die. Enzymes are the beauty of raw milk, so we want to keep them! Once your milk is 110 degrees you can fill your jars up to the neck with milk and stir it up.
Put your lids on and put your jars into a cooler.
I just fill my cooler with the hottest tap water from my kitchen sink. This is something that I have practiced. You can always check the temperature of your tap water before doing this. If your water is too hot, you'll kill the yogurt culture. If it is too cold, your yogurt won't turn into yogurt. My tap water is slightly above 110 degrees so by the time it hits my cooler it is 110 degrees exactly (I know, I'm lucky). Your water should not go above the neck of the jar.
Next fill a pot with water and heat it to 110 degrees. Be VERY careful not to make it any hotter or you'll kill your culture (I've done it!) Once your water is 110 degrees pour it into your cooler.
Your water should not go above the neck of the jar.
Put the lid on your cooler and cover/ wrap your cooler with a towel for added insulation. Let sit for 12 hours. Once the 12 hours is up you can put your yogurt in the fridge to firm up. The time doesn't need to be exact. You can let yogurt do it's thing from 8-24 hours. I like 12 hours best, but you don't need to stress about it.
Once you've got some time to stay home you're ready to drain your yogurt. you don't have to drain it, but draining the whey (the sour part) will make your yogurt thicker and less tart. I'm not sure if it is really needed for pasteurized yogurt, but I think it might be. If you make pasteurized yogurt and your yogurt is too tart, try draining it!
Stick a colander inside of a bowl and put a piece of cheese cloth or Birdseye fabric inside the colander. Then dump your yogurt into the fabric.
Tie your fabric into a knot and hang it from a cabinet over the bowl for a few hours. I have 2 fabrics that I use. One for each quart. The longer you hang your yogurt the thicker it will get. If you leave it for a whole day, you'll get yogurt cheese/ farmer's cheese. It's kind of like cream cheese.
While my yogurt is hanging, I will go scrape the bottom up every so often. the yogurt closest to the fabric will drain, but if you don't scrape it up, the whey in the middle will remain. You'll notice in the above picture that the liquid looks white. Normally it would be a clear yellow color, but I made a slight boo boo this time around and not all of the milk turned into yogurt. Therefore, it is white because there is milk in it. Oops!
I've found that 3-4 hours is good for a consistency that my family likes. My husband is fond of Yoplait yogurt, so that about the consistency I go for.
By the end of my draining I end up with 1 quart of yogurt and 1 quart of whey. I freeze my whey in ice trays and use it for recipes, lacto-fermenting, and soaking flour/grains.
I sometimes add about 1/4 cup of honey per quart of yogurt. That gives it enough sweetness for my picky husband. Another thing that we like is to make fruit bottom yogurt cups. They are convenient snacks for my daughter and easy fro my husband to pack in his lunch. Not to mention that they are great quick snacks when I'm craving something slightly sweet.
To make yogurt cups we use the 4 oz jelly jars. You could also use the 8 oz wide mouth jelly jars. We put 1 spoonful of homemade jam (made with honey), or 2 spoonfuls of homemade applesauce (no sugar added) and then fill the jar the rest of the way with yogurt (sweetened or not). Put a lid on it and stick it in the fridge until ready to eat! I'm not sure if these will last long with pasteurized milk, so I would recommend only making as many as your family will eat within a few days. Ours will keep for a while, but they rarely hang around longer than a week because we like yogurt.
I have thought about trying yogurt culture packets. There are some types that are supposed to make thicker and sweeter yogurts, but at this time I don't really have the disposable income, so this is what we do for now.
Last, and most importantly, don't forget to save enough yogurt for your next batch! You can freeze it for a couple months if you don't plan to make yogurt again for a little while.
Oops! I forgot to add my cost breakdown. Yours will most likely be different unless you pay the same amount for milk as I do.
1 gallon of raw milk - $7.75
Divided by 2- $3.88
Therefore, I pay $3.88 per quart of yogurt. Remember that after draining we get about half yogurt and half whey. It is slightly more that purchasing organic whole milk yogurt at the store, but it is raw and there are no stabilizers, which is worth the extra dollar to me!
Sugar Detox Week 6 & 7: Reduce natural sugar intake & Reduce Grains
So I got a little busy last week and didn't get to update you on my detox. Last week was week 6: Reduce natural sugar intake. Last week wasn't too bad because we had been preparing for it mentally. Basically, you're supposed to limit your added natural sugar to 1 teaspoon per day. My husband made an adjustment and made it 2 teaspoons per day because he has 2 cups of coffee in the morning. That is an amazing improvement from the 2 tablespoons he usually puts in each cup of coffee :-)
I will confess that we did break our detox a couple times. Friday was our niece and nephew's birthday celebration and we felt compelled to go simply because we have avoided mostly all family functions involving dessert (which is the majority of them) for the past 6 weeks! We did have cake and it was made from a box so not only did we eat something bad, my daughter ate soy, which she is allergic to. She has been having a harder time with her seasonal allergies since then :-(
On top of that, Saturday was my husband and my 5 year wedding anniversary, so we decided to break detox and have a nice dinner at Steak N Shake followed by a movie where we had candy and soda. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but that soda seemed sweeter than usual, it was almost gross. Almost! We did throw away all of our extras so that we wouldn't be tempted to eat them later.
Ok, now I've confessed and now we are back on track, although I fear that I may have ruined all of my hard work because I could swear that I was experiencing die off last week. All week I was having terrible stomach and intestinal pain. While I do experience it on occasion, it just wouldn't let up! I am still having some of that pain, so perhaps I didn't completely do myself in.
Now for this week. Week 7: Reduce grains. Basically the goal is to have 1 meal a day without grains or starches. The reasoning is that grains and starches do still cause an increase in blood sugar and the goal of this detox is to break your body's addiction to that increase. That is why we cut the really bad sugars first. The refined sugars cause more of an increase. Now we are limiting the increase from healthy sugars. I will be focusing on 1 meal per day. My husband on the other hand, due to his need to pack a lunch and our need to keep within our grocery budget, will be doing 1 meal every other day. Basically, I will make dinner without and grains or starches every other day and then I will eat a lunch without grains or starches on the in between days. I may need to make a meal plan, which I should be doing anyways. Oh well!
Tonight we are going to be having spaghetti made with spaghetti squash. If you've never had it before, it is delicious. The spaghetti squash is a bit crunchier than spaghetti pasta, but still very tasty. I make my own sauce, so I don't have to worry about added sugar and it is very easy to make!
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce:
1-2 Tbl Oil (I like Olive Oil)
1 lb. ground meat (We like sausage)
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/2 c. chopped onion
2- 15 oz cans tomato sauce (I make my own due to my daughter's soy allergy)
1 Tbl Italian seasoning
Put the oil in a large pot or pan with a lid. Your pot needs to have a wide bottom to accommodate the amount of meat. Break up the meat into the pot and brown. Once it is brown add the garlic and onion and cook until the onion is translucent and tender. Next pour in your tomato sauce and your Italian seasoning. Stir until well combined. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes before serving. If you want your sauce thicker, let it simmer uncovered for a while until the extra liquids evaporate. If you want it thinner, you can either add more tomato sauce or add some water. If you want it chunkier, you can either chop up some ripe tomatoes to throw in or you can use diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce.
This is a very basic spaghetti sauce, but my husband raves about it :-)
Do you have any grain/starch free meals that you prepare? I need some ideas!
I will confess that we did break our detox a couple times. Friday was our niece and nephew's birthday celebration and we felt compelled to go simply because we have avoided mostly all family functions involving dessert (which is the majority of them) for the past 6 weeks! We did have cake and it was made from a box so not only did we eat something bad, my daughter ate soy, which she is allergic to. She has been having a harder time with her seasonal allergies since then :-(
On top of that, Saturday was my husband and my 5 year wedding anniversary, so we decided to break detox and have a nice dinner at Steak N Shake followed by a movie where we had candy and soda. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but that soda seemed sweeter than usual, it was almost gross. Almost! We did throw away all of our extras so that we wouldn't be tempted to eat them later.
Ok, now I've confessed and now we are back on track, although I fear that I may have ruined all of my hard work because I could swear that I was experiencing die off last week. All week I was having terrible stomach and intestinal pain. While I do experience it on occasion, it just wouldn't let up! I am still having some of that pain, so perhaps I didn't completely do myself in.
Now for this week. Week 7: Reduce grains. Basically the goal is to have 1 meal a day without grains or starches. The reasoning is that grains and starches do still cause an increase in blood sugar and the goal of this detox is to break your body's addiction to that increase. That is why we cut the really bad sugars first. The refined sugars cause more of an increase. Now we are limiting the increase from healthy sugars. I will be focusing on 1 meal per day. My husband on the other hand, due to his need to pack a lunch and our need to keep within our grocery budget, will be doing 1 meal every other day. Basically, I will make dinner without and grains or starches every other day and then I will eat a lunch without grains or starches on the in between days. I may need to make a meal plan, which I should be doing anyways. Oh well!
Tonight we are going to be having spaghetti made with spaghetti squash. If you've never had it before, it is delicious. The spaghetti squash is a bit crunchier than spaghetti pasta, but still very tasty. I make my own sauce, so I don't have to worry about added sugar and it is very easy to make!
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce:
1-2 Tbl Oil (I like Olive Oil)
1 lb. ground meat (We like sausage)
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/2 c. chopped onion
2- 15 oz cans tomato sauce (I make my own due to my daughter's soy allergy)
1 Tbl Italian seasoning
Put the oil in a large pot or pan with a lid. Your pot needs to have a wide bottom to accommodate the amount of meat. Break up the meat into the pot and brown. Once it is brown add the garlic and onion and cook until the onion is translucent and tender. Next pour in your tomato sauce and your Italian seasoning. Stir until well combined. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes before serving. If you want your sauce thicker, let it simmer uncovered for a while until the extra liquids evaporate. If you want it thinner, you can either add more tomato sauce or add some water. If you want it chunkier, you can either chop up some ripe tomatoes to throw in or you can use diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce.
This is a very basic spaghetti sauce, but my husband raves about it :-)
Do you have any grain/starch free meals that you prepare? I need some ideas!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Sugar Detox Week 5: No Quickbreads
So far, we've cut HFCS, refined flours, desserts, and refined sugars. This week we cut out quick breads. That basically means any bread that is made without yeast including breakfast breads, muffins, cereals, and even crackers.
The author of this ebook we got this detox from didn't specify tortillas in this section and I think it is supposed to be included in it, but my husband is Mexican and would have a conniption fit if I cut tacos and burritos out for a month. In his family, they eat tortillas the same way my family ate sandwich bread.
Anyways, this week hasn't been too difficult. The hardest part of this week has been dealing with my "hormonal" cravings. I gotta say, all I've wanted for the past few days is a very big rich chocolate brownie. Ugh! I seem to be meandering through my kitchen every hour or so looking for something to satisfy my sweet craving. The only thing that I seem to be able to find is some homemade applesauce.
About a week and a half ago I took my daughter to pick some apples at our local orchard. They had granny smiths and jonagolds, so we got both kinds. I took them home unsure of what exactly I wanted to do with 10 lbs of apples, but I decided pretty quickly to make applesauce.
Here's my recipe for healthy craving killer applesauce:
10 lbs apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean (cut down the center)
Put everything into a pot and add about 1 cup of water. Let it simmer for 3-4 hours while stirring occasionally. Remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla bean. Mash the apples or you could run it through a food processor in batches if you like it pureed. This yields about 3 1/2 pints of applesauce. The vanilla and cinnamon compliment each other very well. There will be specks of vanilla throughout and it tastes almost like apple pie filling, but with NO SUGAR!
Next time, I think I won't mash the apples and I'll make it into a filling to top with granola. Yum!
What healthy alternative do you use to control your bad food cravings?
The author of this ebook we got this detox from didn't specify tortillas in this section and I think it is supposed to be included in it, but my husband is Mexican and would have a conniption fit if I cut tacos and burritos out for a month. In his family, they eat tortillas the same way my family ate sandwich bread.
Anyways, this week hasn't been too difficult. The hardest part of this week has been dealing with my "hormonal" cravings. I gotta say, all I've wanted for the past few days is a very big rich chocolate brownie. Ugh! I seem to be meandering through my kitchen every hour or so looking for something to satisfy my sweet craving. The only thing that I seem to be able to find is some homemade applesauce.
About a week and a half ago I took my daughter to pick some apples at our local orchard. They had granny smiths and jonagolds, so we got both kinds. I took them home unsure of what exactly I wanted to do with 10 lbs of apples, but I decided pretty quickly to make applesauce.
Here's my recipe for healthy craving killer applesauce:
10 lbs apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean (cut down the center)
Put everything into a pot and add about 1 cup of water. Let it simmer for 3-4 hours while stirring occasionally. Remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla bean. Mash the apples or you could run it through a food processor in batches if you like it pureed. This yields about 3 1/2 pints of applesauce. The vanilla and cinnamon compliment each other very well. There will be specks of vanilla throughout and it tastes almost like apple pie filling, but with NO SUGAR!
Next time, I think I won't mash the apples and I'll make it into a filling to top with granola. Yum!
What healthy alternative do you use to control your bad food cravings?
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Sugar Detox Week 4: No Refined Sugars
Suddenly I feel like my titles are very negative. I considered changing them to be positive (like the ebook I got this detox from), but I decided that I like to be different. Sometimes doing what is good for us, just isn't a lot of fun. Well, at least not the kind of fun we're used to.
I think it's safe to say that no one likes all change. I for one enjoy moving, redecorating, shopping for a new wardrobe, but I don't like changing my patterns. That is for sure! This process that my kitchen is going through has required me to embrace the stores I once hated and hate the stores I once embraced.
I once despised "health food" stores because of their ridiculously high prices on items that I could buy elsewhere and their lack of brand options. For example: I can't buy Rapadura at Trader Joe's. All they have is Trader Joe's brand turbinado. If I'm going to pay the same price, I want Rapadura. Now, I drive a minimum of 10 miles one way just to go grocery shopping at these stores. I have an even better understanding of the role certain chemicals, pesticides, etc. play in my current health problems now, so I'll make the drive and spend the money and it's all for good health.
I once LOVED Wal-Mart simply because I could "price match" everything and only go to one store. Now, I only go there if I couldn't find it at the "healthier" store and I absolutely have to get it. It is also right down the street from my house. In fact the 2 closest grocery stores to me are both Wal-Marts!
I'm also purchasing groceries through coops and online grocery companies now. I never wanted to do those things before simply because I didn't want to schedule my day around picking up groceries. Now, I have all the time in the world to wait for a semi truck and unload it for my groceries.
That said, now down to this week's change. This week we cut out refined sugars. That meant that my husband switched to Rapadura in his coffee and tea (I already switched) and I used a lot more money's worth of sugar in my pancakes.
My husband was so good too! He took his OWN sugar to his men's group because he knew there would be coffee. Such a proud moment! And on top of that, I drank coffee without sugar at IHOP because I forgot to bring my own. On top of that, I had them give me milk for my coffee. Have you ever read the ingredients in those non-dairy creamers? They have water, corn syrup, a bunch of sodium somethings, vegetable oil and at the very end is says it contains soy and milk. Milk? In a non-dairy creamer? Ok, that's another issue all together.
Next week (a.k.a. tomorrow) we start week 5 of our detox. Week 5 begins 'No Quickbreads'. That even includes crackers. It's basically any bread that doesn't use yeast (or sourdough). It doesn't specify if tortillas are included in that, but we are going to keep them simply because I doubt my husband can go a month without "Mexican" food.
In honor of our next step in the detox we had pancakes for dinner. I know, what a bad mommy! But let me just tell you that these are awesome pancakes! Whole wheat and made with Rapadura. My daughter and I enjoy topping them with raw butter and homemade jam made with honey! This recipe is so good that I'm going to share it even though it isn't soaked or sprouted. You could totally try making it with sprouted flour, I just didn't want our last pancakes for a month to turn out funny. We wanted to enjoy every last bite ;-)
Whole Wheat Pancakes
Makes 6-8 servings (I make a half batch for our little family and we have extras)
Dry Ingredients
2 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/3 c. Sugar (I use Rapadura, in case you didn't notice. LOL)
1/2 tsp. Salt
Wet Ingredients
2 1/2 c. Milk
2 Eggs
1 Tbl. Vanilla
2 Tbl. Oil/ Melted butter (I like coconut oil)
Instructions
Whisk dry ingredients together. Whisk wet ingredients together separately. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir just until mixed. Pour onto a preheated pan. Oil your pan first if needed (I use a seasoned stainless steel pan, so I don't need oil). Flip when bubbles begin to appear on the wet surface. Let cook about half as long as the other side took.
My husband enjoys topping these with butter and maple syrup. My daughter and I eat them with butter and jam. They are actually so sweet that I like to just eat them as is as a quick snack (kind of like a cookie!)
Anyone else making changes lately?
I think it's safe to say that no one likes all change. I for one enjoy moving, redecorating, shopping for a new wardrobe, but I don't like changing my patterns. That is for sure! This process that my kitchen is going through has required me to embrace the stores I once hated and hate the stores I once embraced.
I once despised "health food" stores because of their ridiculously high prices on items that I could buy elsewhere and their lack of brand options. For example: I can't buy Rapadura at Trader Joe's. All they have is Trader Joe's brand turbinado. If I'm going to pay the same price, I want Rapadura. Now, I drive a minimum of 10 miles one way just to go grocery shopping at these stores. I have an even better understanding of the role certain chemicals, pesticides, etc. play in my current health problems now, so I'll make the drive and spend the money and it's all for good health.
I once LOVED Wal-Mart simply because I could "price match" everything and only go to one store. Now, I only go there if I couldn't find it at the "healthier" store and I absolutely have to get it. It is also right down the street from my house. In fact the 2 closest grocery stores to me are both Wal-Marts!
I'm also purchasing groceries through coops and online grocery companies now. I never wanted to do those things before simply because I didn't want to schedule my day around picking up groceries. Now, I have all the time in the world to wait for a semi truck and unload it for my groceries.
That said, now down to this week's change. This week we cut out refined sugars. That meant that my husband switched to Rapadura in his coffee and tea (I already switched) and I used a lot more money's worth of sugar in my pancakes.
My husband was so good too! He took his OWN sugar to his men's group because he knew there would be coffee. Such a proud moment! And on top of that, I drank coffee without sugar at IHOP because I forgot to bring my own. On top of that, I had them give me milk for my coffee. Have you ever read the ingredients in those non-dairy creamers? They have water, corn syrup, a bunch of sodium somethings, vegetable oil and at the very end is says it contains soy and milk. Milk? In a non-dairy creamer? Ok, that's another issue all together.
Next week (a.k.a. tomorrow) we start week 5 of our detox. Week 5 begins 'No Quickbreads'. That even includes crackers. It's basically any bread that doesn't use yeast (or sourdough). It doesn't specify if tortillas are included in that, but we are going to keep them simply because I doubt my husband can go a month without "Mexican" food.
In honor of our next step in the detox we had pancakes for dinner. I know, what a bad mommy! But let me just tell you that these are awesome pancakes! Whole wheat and made with Rapadura. My daughter and I enjoy topping them with raw butter and homemade jam made with honey! This recipe is so good that I'm going to share it even though it isn't soaked or sprouted. You could totally try making it with sprouted flour, I just didn't want our last pancakes for a month to turn out funny. We wanted to enjoy every last bite ;-)
Whole Wheat Pancakes
Makes 6-8 servings (I make a half batch for our little family and we have extras)
Dry Ingredients
2 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/3 c. Sugar (I use Rapadura, in case you didn't notice. LOL)
1/2 tsp. Salt
Wet Ingredients
2 1/2 c. Milk
2 Eggs
1 Tbl. Vanilla
2 Tbl. Oil/ Melted butter (I like coconut oil)
Instructions
Whisk dry ingredients together. Whisk wet ingredients together separately. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir just until mixed. Pour onto a preheated pan. Oil your pan first if needed (I use a seasoned stainless steel pan, so I don't need oil). Flip when bubbles begin to appear on the wet surface. Let cook about half as long as the other side took.
My husband enjoys topping these with butter and maple syrup. My daughter and I eat them with butter and jam. They are actually so sweet that I like to just eat them as is as a quick snack (kind of like a cookie!)
Anyone else making changes lately?
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sugar Detox Week 2 & 3: No White Flour & No Desserts
So... I got a little busy last week and couldn't do an update on week 2 of our current detox. Week 2 was No White Flour. Now we're on week 3, which is No Desserts. Let's start with last week since it was rather eventful.
On Sunday last week my husband basically had a melt down because he thought there was nothing to eat in the house and he couldn't go get a burger or burrito to ease his hunger pains. If this detox teaches us nothing else, it will at least teach us to wait for our food because preparation takes time. We are having to get accustomed to making food when we are hungry, or at least preparing it. That was the first problem of the week.
On Monday last week I spent the entire day in the kitchen making "snacks" for my family because apparently fruit doesn't count as a snack. Who knew? Oh what a day it was! I then proceeded to spend the rest of my week trying to keep up with my family's appetite.
The biggest problem that we seem to run into is that we run out of bread pretty quickly. I make our bread, so it is a 4 hr process for me to make some more bread. I plan to begin making the dough in larger batches so that I can freeze the extra and just thaw it when we need more bread, but I've been holding off until I have made some sprouted flour.
Another difficulty I have run into is that I have yet to find a decent tortilla recipe that doesn't break a part when I try to make a burrito. I guess I get to experiment with that next!
This week we began no desserts. No big deal for us, at least at the moment. I have found myself craving chocolate bars lately, but that could always just be a hormonal thing :-) No desserts is any form of dessert including candy. I've been getting my night time sweet fix with a little bit of fruit and some raw yogurt.
Next week we will be removing all refined sugar from our diets. I've basically done that already, but there are still a few things that I'll need to make adjustments on. That also means that I need to go buy some more organic unrefined sugar for our pancakes and oatmeal. Don't worry, that'll be omitted soon enough!
As for right now, I'm working on perfecting a couple things so I can do some how to's and I'm currently photo recording my first attempt at making sprouted wheat flour. Stay tuned for things to get interesting VERY soon!
In the mean time, how often does your family eat dessert and what is your favorite kind?
On Sunday last week my husband basically had a melt down because he thought there was nothing to eat in the house and he couldn't go get a burger or burrito to ease his hunger pains. If this detox teaches us nothing else, it will at least teach us to wait for our food because preparation takes time. We are having to get accustomed to making food when we are hungry, or at least preparing it. That was the first problem of the week.
On Monday last week I spent the entire day in the kitchen making "snacks" for my family because apparently fruit doesn't count as a snack. Who knew? Oh what a day it was! I then proceeded to spend the rest of my week trying to keep up with my family's appetite.
The biggest problem that we seem to run into is that we run out of bread pretty quickly. I make our bread, so it is a 4 hr process for me to make some more bread. I plan to begin making the dough in larger batches so that I can freeze the extra and just thaw it when we need more bread, but I've been holding off until I have made some sprouted flour.
Another difficulty I have run into is that I have yet to find a decent tortilla recipe that doesn't break a part when I try to make a burrito. I guess I get to experiment with that next!
This week we began no desserts. No big deal for us, at least at the moment. I have found myself craving chocolate bars lately, but that could always just be a hormonal thing :-) No desserts is any form of dessert including candy. I've been getting my night time sweet fix with a little bit of fruit and some raw yogurt.
Next week we will be removing all refined sugar from our diets. I've basically done that already, but there are still a few things that I'll need to make adjustments on. That also means that I need to go buy some more organic unrefined sugar for our pancakes and oatmeal. Don't worry, that'll be omitted soon enough!
As for right now, I'm working on perfecting a couple things so I can do some how to's and I'm currently photo recording my first attempt at making sprouted wheat flour. Stay tuned for things to get interesting VERY soon!
In the mean time, how often does your family eat dessert and what is your favorite kind?
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Sugar Detox Week 1: No High Fructose Corn Syrup
I'm sure that most of us are aware of the fact that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is not good for us. If you're not, a simple Google search can remedy that :-)
The question becomes, how bad is it and should I completely avoid it?
The answer to that question is up for debate, but with the research I've done and the medical problems we struggle with in our family, we've chosen to cut it out!
I will start by saying that for the next 7 1/2 weeks we are continuing a Sugar Detox that I found on a wonderfully informational blog called Naturally Knocked Up. While I do have fertility problems that I am learning to deal with and hopefully correct, that is not what led me to this site. I happened across it while Googling something having to do with non-soy eating. What a co-in-ki-dink, huh?
This is going to be kind of my journal of the process from now until the end. Once we are done with the detox, I hope to not have any type of refined sugar or flour in my house, but that doesn't mean we won't eat elsewhere simply because the food isn't ideal.
We go to potlucks and we have family dinners with my in-laws. We enjoy a nice dinner out and occasionally want to splurge on some delicious Marble Slab Creamery ice cream. I guess for me the rule is: If it's real, I'll eat it. If it's scientifically made/fake, It's off limits for me. My hubby isn't quite as picky as me, he's more concerned about taste (at least that route usually means it's real!)
Anyways, back to HFCS...
I have chosen to completely avoid HFCS in any way shape or form, but I do LOVE Dr Pepper. I may have to purchase a stash of the old school DP that is made with cane sugar. It's still off limits for now, but once the detox is over, I may have to have a stash for an occasional treat. Once again, I digress...
I have PCOS which makes me a higher risk than normal for diabetes. I need to completely stay away from HFCS and pretty much all refined sugar. That is why this is an important part of my journey to simplicity. No more hazardous foods means I'm less likely to need hazardous medications :-D
So we began our detox this past Sunday. My husband was not thrilled when I threw out his BBQ sauce because it had HFCS. Nor was he happy about the brand new jar of jam that got tossed too. Well, he got over it and I've since replaced the BBQ sauce. I have yet to make a replacement jam, but it IS on my To-do list!
The amazing thing was that I didn't have to throw as much out as I thought I would have to. My fridge and pantry are looking rather bare since cleaning out all soy-containing foods. The actually removed A LOT of the HFCS. What does that tell you about the products we are eating that contain soy? A topic for another day...
On Monday we went to Whole Foods to replace the ketchup, BBQ sauce, and to purchase some stuff I needed to make chicken stock (perhaps another post?) I also purchased a massive gallon of honest to God apple juice (you know the expensive, organic, just juice kind?) for only $8!!! Yeah, you read that right! And yeah, I really said it was at Whole Foods!
So, step one in the process was done, there is no HFCS in my house!
Then came feeding my family...
We had some delicious meals. BBQ chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans was on the top of my hubby's faves for this week. Yesterday was leftover night. Fortunately, I had planned on starting this detox and so the week before I didn't make any meals with HFCS, therefore all of our leftovers were keepers when it came time to clean the fridge out.
So far, I haven't really missed my DP. I did for about a half hour last night think it sounded good, but I held my ground.
While we have cut out the HFCS, apparently we are not ready to cut the caffeine. I have made a 3 qt pitcher of iced tea nearly every day this week so far. I enjoy it and my husband will drink it since there is no soda. I have yet to open up the apple juice mainly because I'm not sure how to fit it in my fridge, but I'll work on that soon.
Now I'm preparing for next week which will cut out refined flour. This is something we've already done in our house, but that means no muffins from Winco, and no pastries in the Grazing Room at church on Sundays. We'll have to stick to cheese and fruit... Not even crackers! Perhaps I'll make my own and sneak them in in my purse?
Since finding out my daughter is allergic to soy, I've had to start baking all of our bread. Well, I could have continued purchasing bread for my husband, but if I'm going through the trouble, I might as well make his too! Not to mention that I'm happy to cut the soy oil from HIS diet too :-)
Back to bread, I've been researching a lot about soaked and sprouted grains (another e-book available from Naturally Knocked Up called 'Is Your Flour Wet?'). I've decided on sprouting wheat and making my own flour.
At the moment I don't have the items I need, but they are on their way as I type (VERY EXCITED!). For the time being, I figured I'd better get baking and find a recipe I like so I don't waste my sprouted flour. I finally found a recipe that I and my husband LOVE. I'll share that next week in my update on switching to whole grains :-)
You are welcome to join in on the detox and share how it goes for you! I would love to hear your thoughts on the sugar addiction crisis here in America...
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Perfect Portions
Last month we found out that our daughter is allergic to soy. While her allergy is mild, we have found that cutting soy greatly reduces her allergic reaction to our cats. Therefore, until we find homes for our cats, she will be without soy always.
With this new found knowledge came a whole new world of challenges:
First was realizing that most processed foods have some form of soy in them.
Second was finding out that there may very well be soy in something, but the manufacturer doesn't have to report it because it is a certain form or a small enough amount that the law doesn't require it.
Third was realizing that even the butter we buy has soy in the hidden form of "natural flavors."
Fourth was coming to the conclusion that the only way to be sure she didn't consume soy was to make her food ourselves.
A short time after that, I concluded from hours upon hours of research that we as a family needed to change our eating habits. I have certain medical conditions that normally require a great deal of prescriptions and semi monthly doctor visits, but we don't have insurance. Therefore, I have gone without knowing that it could be detrimental to my health and I have suffered a great deal because of it. However, I do not WANT to be on medications and I do not want to rely on doctors that took immensely longer to figure out what I had than it took me. (Seriously, I told my doctor what I had and he dismissed it. My other doctor diagnosed me after reading 1 test result!)
After a lot of thought and research, I found that changing our diet to be organic, raw and whole foods was actually doable within a reasonable budget. I will have to join several co-ops within my local area (I'm actually very excited to get involved with other people who are as passionate about good eating as I am). I will also have to obtain several different types of kitchen tools/ equipment that I don't own. But when you get down to it, I CAN DO THIS!
(BTW, our whole house is starting an 8 week sugar detox next week. Check back for updates on how we cope with our new found fountain of health!)
I'm viewing these circumstances as God pushing me closer to the simple homestead lifestyle that I've longed for. What a blessing it is to have your desires confirmed by God's direction and divine intervention in your life!
The first step for us was to purchase a freezer. With Ali being allergic to soy, we no longer have the option to "go get something quick" if I'm busy or sick. My husband doesn't cook, so the burden falls on me to always do it. I don't mind, but I have to plan for the inevitable sick day!
So I search Craigslist like a mad woman, day after day. I had hoped to only spend $50, but I began to lose hope. Then, last Sunday, I saw an ad for a deep freezer for $50! I told my husband and text the number and planned to go pick up the freezer the following evening. Well, as my days have been lately, my plan got ambushed by last minute work schedule changes and I was without a truck, a lifting helper, and childcare. A dear friend lent me her husband, his truck and by the grace of God my hubby got home in time to watch our daughter. We drove clear across town, purchased a $500 freezer for $50 and praised the Lord for His blessing.
Now all I have to do is fill it up! That's what this post is all about!
I spent the past several days sprouting some pintos and cooking them up :-) If I keep them in the fridge, they'll spoil before we use them up so I devised a plan! I put my beans in a nifty silicone mini loaf pan.
Now they have been added to my deep freezer! Yay! I will also be doing this with soups and stocks. The size is about the same size as a standard can, so it's the perfect portion for individual servings!
How do you prepare for the inevitable sick or busy days?
With this new found knowledge came a whole new world of challenges:
First was realizing that most processed foods have some form of soy in them.
Second was finding out that there may very well be soy in something, but the manufacturer doesn't have to report it because it is a certain form or a small enough amount that the law doesn't require it.
Third was realizing that even the butter we buy has soy in the hidden form of "natural flavors."
Fourth was coming to the conclusion that the only way to be sure she didn't consume soy was to make her food ourselves.
A short time after that, I concluded from hours upon hours of research that we as a family needed to change our eating habits. I have certain medical conditions that normally require a great deal of prescriptions and semi monthly doctor visits, but we don't have insurance. Therefore, I have gone without knowing that it could be detrimental to my health and I have suffered a great deal because of it. However, I do not WANT to be on medications and I do not want to rely on doctors that took immensely longer to figure out what I had than it took me. (Seriously, I told my doctor what I had and he dismissed it. My other doctor diagnosed me after reading 1 test result!)
After a lot of thought and research, I found that changing our diet to be organic, raw and whole foods was actually doable within a reasonable budget. I will have to join several co-ops within my local area (I'm actually very excited to get involved with other people who are as passionate about good eating as I am). I will also have to obtain several different types of kitchen tools/ equipment that I don't own. But when you get down to it, I CAN DO THIS!
(BTW, our whole house is starting an 8 week sugar detox next week. Check back for updates on how we cope with our new found fountain of health!)
I'm viewing these circumstances as God pushing me closer to the simple homestead lifestyle that I've longed for. What a blessing it is to have your desires confirmed by God's direction and divine intervention in your life!
The first step for us was to purchase a freezer. With Ali being allergic to soy, we no longer have the option to "go get something quick" if I'm busy or sick. My husband doesn't cook, so the burden falls on me to always do it. I don't mind, but I have to plan for the inevitable sick day!
So I search Craigslist like a mad woman, day after day. I had hoped to only spend $50, but I began to lose hope. Then, last Sunday, I saw an ad for a deep freezer for $50! I told my husband and text the number and planned to go pick up the freezer the following evening. Well, as my days have been lately, my plan got ambushed by last minute work schedule changes and I was without a truck, a lifting helper, and childcare. A dear friend lent me her husband, his truck and by the grace of God my hubby got home in time to watch our daughter. We drove clear across town, purchased a $500 freezer for $50 and praised the Lord for His blessing.
Now all I have to do is fill it up! That's what this post is all about!
I spent the past several days sprouting some pintos and cooking them up :-) If I keep them in the fridge, they'll spoil before we use them up so I devised a plan! I put my beans in a nifty silicone mini loaf pan.
Then I put them in the freezer over night and removed them. You see, one mini loaf pan is the same amount that I typically use to make refried beans for burritos! How perfect is that!
Then I just popped them out and put them into a labeled freezer bag!
How do you prepare for the inevitable sick or busy days?
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Gratitude & Some Pie!
Gratitude: a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation, as for gifts or favors
It's very easy, as a stay at home mom, to feel so unappreciated that I forget to show appreciation. It's easy to side step the fact that as much as I want to receive it, I need to be giving it!
Obviously, I thank God constantly for allowing me to stay home, for providing for our needs, for my husband having a job, for the friends He has placed in our life, for my beautiful daughter, for the future He has for us, and for becoming a man and becoming my Savior!
What I tend to forget is to show gratitude toward my husband! While I do express it verbally and I try to be consistent in encouraging my husband, I don't SHOW it very often.
A little background is that we all have different love languages and different dialects within our language. I have 2 main languages and a minor language. My 2 main love languages are Gifts and Words of Affirmation (hence my "telling" my husband how grateful I am) and my minor language is physical touch.
My husband on the other hand only has 1 love language and doesn't understand love any other way! His is Acts of Service. I do not speak love in that language AT ALL!!! Expressing love to my husband in HIS love language is something that I have to conscientiously do. That is why I try to keep my house spotless and home made food available. I try not to complain when he refuses to put his clothes in the hamper, because in actuality it gives me yet another way to love him.
That being said, I was on Pinterest today looking for a pin that I wanted to reference. Obviously, you can't go on Pinterest and not look at all the pretty new pins, so a browsing I went. (Don't worry, I did get to reference the pin I went on there for. I didn't digress too long!) As I browsed I saw a chocolate pie with a coconut crust. That's what I said, COCONUT!!!
This one little pin inspired me to use some of the not so healthy stuff still in my kitchen to make something special for my hubby. You see, my husband is working from 7am-4:30pm at one job followed by 5pm-12am at his second job. He is doing that for the next 3 days!
So now down to the reason you're reading all of my commentary, The Pie!
I looked at how to make this pie and it was VERY simple, but I of course had to make it my own, so this is the way I made it.
Coconut Turtle Pie
Ingredients:
4 Tbl unsalted butter (softened)
11 oz Sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 c Caramel ice cream topping (You can use as much as you want, I just didn't have much)
1/2 c Peanuts (salted or not)
1 c Heavy cream
8 oz Semisweet chocolate
To make the crust:
Preheat oven to 350. Put the butter and 1/3 of the coconut into your food processor and run it until it becomes a ball (1-2 min). Then place in a bowl and mix the rest of the coconut into the mixture with your fingers. Put the coconut into a 9" pie plate and press into the center and up the sides, leaving the coconut at the top of the sides fluffy. Place your pie plate on a baking sheet and cover the edge of the crust with a foil ring. Bake until the center begins to brown (about 15 min). Then remove the foil ring and bake until the edges are browned (about 4 min). Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the chocolate filling.
To make the chocolate filling:
Heat the cream on the stove until it almost boils. Then pour it into a heat proof bowl and stir in the chocolate. Stir it until the chocolate is completely melted and incorporated.
To assemble the pie:
First, pour the caramel topping onto the crust followed by the peanuts.
Lastly, pour the chocolate filling on top of the peanuts. The peanuts will float, but I pressed mine down so that they would at least have a chocolate coating.
All you have to do now is place you pie in the refrigerator for about an hour to cool and set. It will keep its freshness for about 1 day.
If you're making this as a special treat for someone you love, you can leave a little note for them like the one I'm leaving my hubby on the garage door :-)
What kind of things do you do to express gratitude to the ones you love?
Friday, August 3, 2012
Home-Made Snacks
It's been crazy lately. I guess that means it hasn't been so simple! Haha
It really hasn't, I'm guilty! It's been eating out and buying way more at the store than I usually would. Shame on me!
Actually, I've been feeling rather icky lately. That coupled with the massively over stuffed schedule had led to a backslide in our home. I think this week is the first week in a few months that my house has stayed fairly clean!
Over the past few weeks I've taken several steps toward simplicity; I just haven't had time to update you!
For today, I'm going to share just one of the big changes being made.
A couple weeks ago, my beautiful little princess turned 2! That meant we had to take her for her 2 yr check up. I decided that I was tired of my girl being on Singulair (for crazy allergies) and that I wanted her tested to see what on earth she is reacting too! Well, long story short she is allergic to cats and dogs, but not their dander. She is also mildly allergic to soy.
After talking to the doctor and then realizing how ridiculous her comments on the topic were, I decided that I needed to cut the soy out of my daughter's daily diet. Why cause her body to be constantly fighting something that it thinks is poison? Why weaken her immune system that way? Why limit her body's ability to heal that way? Why ignore her need to make my life easier?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to freak out if someone gives her something with soy in it and I'm not going to forbid her from having store bought cake mix occasionally. I just don't want to allow her body to be always fighting because it's easy to ignore or her reaction isn't overly noticeable to me.
My journey into this challenge began with a trip through my pantry. Almost all of my daughter's diet has some kind of soy in it. I guess I've allowed too much convenience food into my house! Actually, it's cheap and that's why we have it, but that will have to change.
It continued when I went to Wal-Mart (my closest grocery store) to find a few soy free items including peanut butter, bread, buns, and crackers. The only one of those I could find was soy free peanut butter. Ugh!
Then I move on to trying to figure out what to give my daughter to snack on until I can make my way to a health food store (which I'm not overly hopeful about). For this week, we've stuck with fruits and veggies. She likes them, but they can get boring after a while.
I resorted to making them a little more interesting! I made kale chips and beet chips!
Now, I know that there are a lot of recipes for these online so I'm just going to give you the gist of how I made mine.
Kale Chips:
1/2 bunch of kale
1 Tbl coconut oil
1/2 tsp iodized sea salt (purchased at Wal-Mart, believe it or not)
Wash, dry and tear the kale into pieces, but not too small because they do shrink quite a bit. Toss the kale in a bowl with the coconut oil and salt. Once the kale is evenly coated spread them onto a baking sheet and baked at 325 for about 20 minutes. If you have smaller pieces, you may want to remove them from the oven sooner so they don't burn. Place the sheet onto a cooling rack and once the chips are cooled you can eat away!
These were actually very tasty and my daughter loved them! My husband ate them, but he said he prefers potato chips :-D
Beet Chips:
2 small beets
1 Tbl coconut oil
1/2 tsp iodized sea salt
Peel and slice the beets very thin. I used a mandolin and set it for 1/32 thickness. Toss the beets in a bowl with the coconut oil and salt. Put them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake at 325 for 20-30 min, then flip the beets and bake another 20 min or so. You'll know they are done when they are a lighter color. I had to take a few off at a time because they weren't all done at the same time.
These were delightful. My husband liked them, but I don't think he'll continue to eat them since he insists that he doesn't like beets. My daughter can't stop eating them!
That's all for today! What types of allergies do you have to eat around?
It really hasn't, I'm guilty! It's been eating out and buying way more at the store than I usually would. Shame on me!
Actually, I've been feeling rather icky lately. That coupled with the massively over stuffed schedule had led to a backslide in our home. I think this week is the first week in a few months that my house has stayed fairly clean!
Over the past few weeks I've taken several steps toward simplicity; I just haven't had time to update you!
For today, I'm going to share just one of the big changes being made.
A couple weeks ago, my beautiful little princess turned 2! That meant we had to take her for her 2 yr check up. I decided that I was tired of my girl being on Singulair (for crazy allergies) and that I wanted her tested to see what on earth she is reacting too! Well, long story short she is allergic to cats and dogs, but not their dander. She is also mildly allergic to soy.
After talking to the doctor and then realizing how ridiculous her comments on the topic were, I decided that I needed to cut the soy out of my daughter's daily diet. Why cause her body to be constantly fighting something that it thinks is poison? Why weaken her immune system that way? Why limit her body's ability to heal that way? Why ignore her need to make my life easier?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to freak out if someone gives her something with soy in it and I'm not going to forbid her from having store bought cake mix occasionally. I just don't want to allow her body to be always fighting because it's easy to ignore or her reaction isn't overly noticeable to me.
My journey into this challenge began with a trip through my pantry. Almost all of my daughter's diet has some kind of soy in it. I guess I've allowed too much convenience food into my house! Actually, it's cheap and that's why we have it, but that will have to change.
It continued when I went to Wal-Mart (my closest grocery store) to find a few soy free items including peanut butter, bread, buns, and crackers. The only one of those I could find was soy free peanut butter. Ugh!
Then I move on to trying to figure out what to give my daughter to snack on until I can make my way to a health food store (which I'm not overly hopeful about). For this week, we've stuck with fruits and veggies. She likes them, but they can get boring after a while.
I resorted to making them a little more interesting! I made kale chips and beet chips!
Now, I know that there are a lot of recipes for these online so I'm just going to give you the gist of how I made mine.
Kale Chips:
1/2 bunch of kale
1 Tbl coconut oil
1/2 tsp iodized sea salt (purchased at Wal-Mart, believe it or not)
Wash, dry and tear the kale into pieces, but not too small because they do shrink quite a bit. Toss the kale in a bowl with the coconut oil and salt. Once the kale is evenly coated spread them onto a baking sheet and baked at 325 for about 20 minutes. If you have smaller pieces, you may want to remove them from the oven sooner so they don't burn. Place the sheet onto a cooling rack and once the chips are cooled you can eat away!
These were actually very tasty and my daughter loved them! My husband ate them, but he said he prefers potato chips :-D
Beet Chips:
2 small beets
1 Tbl coconut oil
1/2 tsp iodized sea salt
Peel and slice the beets very thin. I used a mandolin and set it for 1/32 thickness. Toss the beets in a bowl with the coconut oil and salt. Put them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake at 325 for 20-30 min, then flip the beets and bake another 20 min or so. You'll know they are done when they are a lighter color. I had to take a few off at a time because they weren't all done at the same time.
These were delightful. My husband liked them, but I don't think he'll continue to eat them since he insists that he doesn't like beets. My daughter can't stop eating them!
That's all for today! What types of allergies do you have to eat around?
Friday, June 15, 2012
Anything but Simple
I have to say that some things in my life are impossible to make simple. Our current dilemma is that my husband doesn't make enough money to pay the bills. Prices keep going up, but his income stays the same. He recently went out and got a part-time second job to help make ends meet, but coincidentally, his other job started cutting his hours (even more than they already had) at about the same time! So we ended up just evening out. I guess that's better than nothing.
For the past year and a half, we've been on food stamps and my daughter has had medicaid. I cannot wait until the day I can rid myself of welfare! It is the most annoying system I've ever dealt with. I have to fill out paperwork, dig up check stubs, bills, and identification cards 3 times a year. I know that doesn't seem like much, but the unbelievable line of questions followed by a decision that never gives us enough is pretty frustrating.
Unfortunately, my husband was laid off from his full-time job earlier this week. That means that I once again have to fill out paperwork, dig up stubs, bills, etc and sit through questions. It also means that I have to sit on hold for ridiculous amounts of time to find out about programs, more applications and the worst part of everything, is the wait.
I gotta say, those who spend their lives on welfare have got WAY more patience than I, or maybe it because I refuse to lie on my applications that I get the short end of the stick. Either way, the only way that I can make this process simple is to just do what I have to do and trust God to sort everything out. Pray for us!
For the past year and a half, we've been on food stamps and my daughter has had medicaid. I cannot wait until the day I can rid myself of welfare! It is the most annoying system I've ever dealt with. I have to fill out paperwork, dig up check stubs, bills, and identification cards 3 times a year. I know that doesn't seem like much, but the unbelievable line of questions followed by a decision that never gives us enough is pretty frustrating.
Unfortunately, my husband was laid off from his full-time job earlier this week. That means that I once again have to fill out paperwork, dig up stubs, bills, etc and sit through questions. It also means that I have to sit on hold for ridiculous amounts of time to find out about programs, more applications and the worst part of everything, is the wait.
I gotta say, those who spend their lives on welfare have got WAY more patience than I, or maybe it because I refuse to lie on my applications that I get the short end of the stick. Either way, the only way that I can make this process simple is to just do what I have to do and trust God to sort everything out. Pray for us!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Granola Bites
Anyone who knows even a little bit about me knows that I adore sweets. I try very hard to limit the amount of sweets in our house because I could easily eat junk all day long and not care. Without explaining why, lets just say that I do NOT like giving my daughter sweets. Because of that, I avoid them as long as I have self-control. There is about 1 or 2 weeks every month that I can't help but to stuff my face.
I'm sure that everyone in the world is now aware that a low GI diet is the best way to stay healthy for any and everyone. That and exercise are the 2 things that I try my best to keep consistent in my home.
Needless to say, it is hard to find low GI sweets and especially that taste good and are affordable! Well, I have great news! I have concocted a tasty little treat :-) I call them granola bites!
Before we get started, let me clarify, I do not know what the GI of these are, what the serving size should be, or even if they actually are better for you than peanut butter cookies, BUT they are made of better stuff than Crisco, flour, and sugar!
Granola Bites
1/4 c Peanut Butter (I used creamy, but chunky might be interesting)
1/4 c Blackberry Honey (I think I'll sub Agave next time, I'm not fond of honey)
1 Heaping Tbl Oat Bran (Not needed, but it adds fiber which lowers the GI)
3/4 c Blueberry Granola with Flax (This was just the kind I bought)
Non-stick spray
1 Foil-lined baking sheet
About the ingredients:
I used creamy peanut butter, but chunky would be interesting. There is plenty of texture without it though. I'm not fond of the flavor of honey in general, so I think I'll use agave next time in place of the honey. You can use any honey, I just happened to buy a small amount of this blackberry honey to try it out. Oat bran ups the fiber content, which in turn lowers the GI of whatever you're adding it to. You do not have to add it. You could also sub it with wheat germ or flax meal to have the same effect. Now I'm going to tell you a story: We have a new container store in town called Winco. It isn't my favorite store because it's crazy busy, it isn't the cheapest when you price match like I do, and I haven't been there enough to know where everything is. It is also at least 25 min from my house. BUT I do absolutely LOVE their selection of granolas, flours, candies (of course!) and I love that I can buy as little as I want. I can buy a cup of granola and try it out before I buy $6 worth! Anyways, all of this to tell you that I bought Blueberry granola with flax while I was browsing. I only chose it because it was the only option with flax in it and I love the health benefits of flax! So... you can use any granola!
Steps to make it!
Heads up! I only made a small amount because I was trying it out, but you can easily double or triple this to make a larger batch. Since I have eaten half of my trial batch while typing this, I'll definitely need to make bigger batches.
Preheat your over to 200 degrees F
1) Put the peanut butter and honey in a microwave safe bowl
2)Nuke it at regular power for 15-20 seconds. Your honey should start boiling.
3) Mix it until the peanut butter is completely melted and the mixture is uniform.
4)Add the oat bran and granola. Mix until everything is well coated. If it seems too runny, just add some more granola.
5) Your mixture should seem sticky and a little dry. Mine looked like it wouldn't stay together if I picked it up with my fingers.
6) Now just scoop little drops onto your foil lined baking sheet. They aren't going to grow, so they can be close together.
Here's a picture of mine:
7) Bake in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes. You aren't really baking them, you're trying to dry them out a bit. That will help them stick together and not be so messy.
8) Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes on the sheet. They need to cool completely before moving them or they will fall apart.
9) Now you can enjoy them! And boy are they tasty!
These might be a great replacement for your child's lunchtime treat. Pack a baggie with a few of these instead of a pudding or cookies. You can always make this even healthier by changing the peanut butter to an almond or sunflower seed butter, switch to agave or no sweetener, and choose a granola without extra sugar and that's high in fiber.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
I'm sure that everyone in the world is now aware that a low GI diet is the best way to stay healthy for any and everyone. That and exercise are the 2 things that I try my best to keep consistent in my home.
Needless to say, it is hard to find low GI sweets and especially that taste good and are affordable! Well, I have great news! I have concocted a tasty little treat :-) I call them granola bites!
Before we get started, let me clarify, I do not know what the GI of these are, what the serving size should be, or even if they actually are better for you than peanut butter cookies, BUT they are made of better stuff than Crisco, flour, and sugar!
Granola Bites
1/4 c Peanut Butter (I used creamy, but chunky might be interesting)
1/4 c Blackberry Honey (I think I'll sub Agave next time, I'm not fond of honey)
1 Heaping Tbl Oat Bran (Not needed, but it adds fiber which lowers the GI)
3/4 c Blueberry Granola with Flax (This was just the kind I bought)
Non-stick spray
1 Foil-lined baking sheet
About the ingredients:
I used creamy peanut butter, but chunky would be interesting. There is plenty of texture without it though. I'm not fond of the flavor of honey in general, so I think I'll use agave next time in place of the honey. You can use any honey, I just happened to buy a small amount of this blackberry honey to try it out. Oat bran ups the fiber content, which in turn lowers the GI of whatever you're adding it to. You do not have to add it. You could also sub it with wheat germ or flax meal to have the same effect. Now I'm going to tell you a story: We have a new container store in town called Winco. It isn't my favorite store because it's crazy busy, it isn't the cheapest when you price match like I do, and I haven't been there enough to know where everything is. It is also at least 25 min from my house. BUT I do absolutely LOVE their selection of granolas, flours, candies (of course!) and I love that I can buy as little as I want. I can buy a cup of granola and try it out before I buy $6 worth! Anyways, all of this to tell you that I bought Blueberry granola with flax while I was browsing. I only chose it because it was the only option with flax in it and I love the health benefits of flax! So... you can use any granola!
Steps to make it!
Heads up! I only made a small amount because I was trying it out, but you can easily double or triple this to make a larger batch. Since I have eaten half of my trial batch while typing this, I'll definitely need to make bigger batches.
Preheat your over to 200 degrees F
1) Put the peanut butter and honey in a microwave safe bowl
2)Nuke it at regular power for 15-20 seconds. Your honey should start boiling.
3) Mix it until the peanut butter is completely melted and the mixture is uniform.
4)Add the oat bran and granola. Mix until everything is well coated. If it seems too runny, just add some more granola.
5) Your mixture should seem sticky and a little dry. Mine looked like it wouldn't stay together if I picked it up with my fingers.
6) Now just scoop little drops onto your foil lined baking sheet. They aren't going to grow, so they can be close together.
Here's a picture of mine:
7) Bake in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes. You aren't really baking them, you're trying to dry them out a bit. That will help them stick together and not be so messy.
8) Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes on the sheet. They need to cool completely before moving them or they will fall apart.
9) Now you can enjoy them! And boy are they tasty!
These might be a great replacement for your child's lunchtime treat. Pack a baggie with a few of these instead of a pudding or cookies. You can always make this even healthier by changing the peanut butter to an almond or sunflower seed butter, switch to agave or no sweetener, and choose a granola without extra sugar and that's high in fiber.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
Energy Costs
Wow! It's April already!?!? So sorry for the delay between posts. It get's kind of crazy with a toddler and we like to try to keep things simple :-D
Anyhoo, I've got 2 posts that I'm doing today to make up for my absence, but the second one won't be until later.
This post is all about how we've cut back or energy bills! Here, in Las Vegas, power rates can get pretty ridiculous, especially being home all day long. They charge more during the daytime hours so we have a little less of an advantage staying in. Fortunately, it's still cool outside so there is no need for the AC to be on. We do, however, use the heater. We did the following things to cut our power usage and saw a difference on both our gas and electric bills. Both of them were significantly lower than the previous month as well as compared to the same time last year.
1) We cut our TV usage to 3 hours per day. This was hardest on my husband, but he was kind enough to oblige me.
2) We (meaning I) cut our computer usage down to 4 hours, 3 days a week. This is the main reason I haven't kept up on posting.
3) We turned the thermostat down to 70° during the day and then opened all the curtains, allowing the sun to heat our house. It was still cold in the bedrooms, but we spend most of our day in the main parts of the house where it was as high as 85° just from the sun! I still haven't figured out how to make the opposite happen this summer when it's 115° outside.
4) This seems to be the most obvious to me, but I don't think my husband realized how big of a deal it was. Keeping the lights off! He always forgets that the lights are on in the morning. But I am also a big culprit at night because I hate sitting in the dark (it makes me sleepy). I have started just keeping the 1 or 2 biggest lights on and all the little ones off at night.
Well, there you have it! This is how we eliminated a great deal of energy costs and most importantly, it didn't affect my oven usage!
Do you have any energy saving tips? Please share them!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Homemade Fabric Softener?
Hear me out before you start thinking that I'm crazy! I already make my own laundry detergent and it works great. I wasn't using softener because my husband doesn't like the smell and I don't like the cost, but I was having a terrible static problem! You know how the winter time is with all of those pesky sweaters and blankets.
Well my cousin found me a solution! She shared a link to this fabric softener recipe! I made it and it WORKS! Seriously, I haven't had any static problems since I started using it. It's very simple, I just pour it into a Downy ball and toss it in the washer. I did pre-measure 1/4 cup of water into the Downy ball and mark the fill line because you do need to use more than the Downy ball's line says. It's so easy that my husband can do it too!
On top of all of that, you can use it as emergency carpet cleaner! No joke! My daughter got sick and left a beautiful blackberry stain all over my beige carpet. YIKES! I didn't have any carpet cleaner made so I grabbed my fabric softener and blotted it right up! I do have to vacuum the extra baking soda out of the carpet though.
There you have it! Homemade fabric softener that doubles as emergency carpet cleaner!
Well my cousin found me a solution! She shared a link to this fabric softener recipe! I made it and it WORKS! Seriously, I haven't had any static problems since I started using it. It's very simple, I just pour it into a Downy ball and toss it in the washer. I did pre-measure 1/4 cup of water into the Downy ball and mark the fill line because you do need to use more than the Downy ball's line says. It's so easy that my husband can do it too!
On top of all of that, you can use it as emergency carpet cleaner! No joke! My daughter got sick and left a beautiful blackberry stain all over my beige carpet. YIKES! I didn't have any carpet cleaner made so I grabbed my fabric softener and blotted it right up! I do have to vacuum the extra baking soda out of the carpet though.
There you have it! Homemade fabric softener that doubles as emergency carpet cleaner!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Handmade Beeswax Lotion
As I was growing up we used hand lotion, but when the winter months came and my hands started cracking I always fell back on Bag Balm. If you've never used it, it comes in a square green tin with a cow on it because it was originally for cow utters in the winter. Anymore, I have to go ask a pharmacist for it because for some reason they keep it behind the counter instead of on the shelf with the other balms. Maybe because it works better like everything else behind that counter. Anyways, my mom would give us vitamin E cream and she would squirt out capsules of vitamin E into our hands. She tried a ton of different things for us because we all had eczema.
Now, as a parent, I am struggling with not only MY eczema, but my daughter's as well. My poor little princess has got elephant elbows, dry cheeks, speckled chest and legs and worst of all, a dry itchy hiney! She is now potty trained so there is no diaper to keep her from sticking her hands down the back of her trousers and scratch away. No joke, this kid has massive scratch marks on her bottom! Now, while I'm aware the cow's milk can make eczema worse, I have not noticed any difference in either of our eczema with or without milk so I guess it's all because of this ridiculously hard water here in Las Vegas. I can accept that. I once lived in Ohio and didn't have ANY problems with eczema there so perhaps I should just leave this dry dry desert. Ok, so I won't go to extremes, but I did need to find a solution.
Bag Balm is greasy and not pleasant for anything other than sock covered hands at night. Vitamin E cream isn't working. Lotion isn't working and I'm just annoyed! That is until my cousin's mom sent me a link to a recipe for eczema friendly moisturizer. Let me clarify that my cousin is actually married to my cousin so her mom is not my aunt although I may just start calling her Aunt Janne because I love her so much! Anyways, the recipe she sent me was basically olive oil, raw honey and beeswax. I added some avocado oil and jojoba oil too. It IS very moisturizing, but it's very thick, sticky and difficult to spread around. I only put it on my daughter after baths and I put it on her toosh before bed. This recipe cost me $20 to make and it has lasted, but I needed something that would be easier to use and easier on my budget.
So my search began for a lotion recipe that would be better suited for us. There are a lot of things that are good for eczema, but many of them are pricey. I wanted simple, easy and as cheap as possible! I zeroed in on a recipe that was made of olive oil, coconut oil, and beeswax from A Sonoma Garden. I made MY version a little different though. I used jojoba and avocado oils since I had them on hand from my last eczema experiment. They are both very good for eczema. I figured that since olive oil doesn't clog pores, I could use this lotion on my face so I opted to add grape seed oil. Grape seed oil is supposed to be very good for your skin and is good for oily or combination complexions. I didn't add coconut oil because, well I didn't have time to track it down and I didn't have the extra cash to spend. All in all I spent $15 on ingredients that I didn't already have, but with this exact recipe each batch (which is small) would cost approximately $4.24. It would be cheaper if I bought my ingredients online or in larger quantities.
Well, here it is:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup cold pressed olive oil
1 oz grape seed oil
1 teaspoon jojoba oil
1 teaspoon avocado oil
1 oz beeswax (I bought 1 oz bars so I just cut the bar into pieces for easier melting. Pellets would be easier)
Supplies:
1- 8 oz mason jar (should have a lid for storage)
1- pot
1- jar lifter (helpful, but not needed. Photographed above, if you don't know what it is)
And something to stir with, I used a couple of wooden skewers so I could just throw them away.
This is going to be the easiest project to clean up ever. Prepare to have your world rocked! Put all of the ingredients into the mason jar.
My little helper
Put the jar into the pot and fill the pot with water until it's about 3/4 of the way up the jar. Do not get water in the jar! Then bring the water to a very slow boil. Be careful not to let the boil get crazy or you'll get water in your oils.
Once the beeswax is all melted you can use your jar lifter to take the jar out of the pot, stir it up, and let it cool to room temperature.
I put mine in the fridge to speed up the process since I had an 18 month old sitting at my feet crying. You want to stir your oils about every 15 min or so. If you're using the fridge I would say every 5 min or so.
If you don't mix, the beeswax will separate and harden. Rather than lotion you'll have a mess. If that happens, just reheat it in the pot again and start your cooling process over! When it's all said and done, you'll have a very nice cream. If you want to make a lotion to use in a pump container, just add extra oils or less beeswax.
The lotion was still a bit warm when I took this picture so it looks kind of greasy. Once it's cooled completely, it is very creamy!
So that's my venture for today. I think I may make some with just olive oil and beeswax for my mother in law who has been struggling with some skin problems recently. It should turn out about the same. I think if you wanted to add some essential oil or fragrance oil to give it a scent it would be fine.
What sorts of things does your family use for skin problems?
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Starting Something Big
I am a wife and a mother. The further along I go in my life, the more I realize how bad everything is for myself and my family. My family suffers from a number of ailments and the more I research, the more I want to write off every product known to man.
While I grew up with a mother that was insistent about the health benefits of vitamins and other dietary supplements, she was not as "crunchy" as you'd think. She has over the years become more keen on organic and all natural, but still not to the extent that I want to be. That has made for me doing a ton of research myself! My husband, on the other hand, grew up on canned and prepared foods, cheap hygiene products and just making do with what they had. Just making do, is how we are currently living. Like many people these days, we live on very little, but I will NOT let that stop me from taking steps to live simpler.
At this point in our lives we can't afford really any foods that are labeled as 'healthier', but I choose to see that as an advantage. I can't be lazy and just take the box's word. I have to make things from scratch and put the work into it, but I always know what I'm putting into or onto my body.
I have already taken a few steps to make life simpler, but it was only to make life cheaper. I make my own household cleaner, and laundry detergent. I usually make things like beans from scratch. I bake bread and rolls as often as I can. I even make my own pizza sauce for my pizza!
However, I want to become freed from the avalanche of products and the chemicals in them. I want to use products that help my family rather than make our issues worse. AND I don't want the price tag that usually comes with it! I am making a decision here and now to take steps to start making everything I can. The less I spend at the store, the better. This is my journey to simplicity.
While I grew up with a mother that was insistent about the health benefits of vitamins and other dietary supplements, she was not as "crunchy" as you'd think. She has over the years become more keen on organic and all natural, but still not to the extent that I want to be. That has made for me doing a ton of research myself! My husband, on the other hand, grew up on canned and prepared foods, cheap hygiene products and just making do with what they had. Just making do, is how we are currently living. Like many people these days, we live on very little, but I will NOT let that stop me from taking steps to live simpler.
At this point in our lives we can't afford really any foods that are labeled as 'healthier', but I choose to see that as an advantage. I can't be lazy and just take the box's word. I have to make things from scratch and put the work into it, but I always know what I'm putting into or onto my body.
I have already taken a few steps to make life simpler, but it was only to make life cheaper. I make my own household cleaner, and laundry detergent. I usually make things like beans from scratch. I bake bread and rolls as often as I can. I even make my own pizza sauce for my pizza!
However, I want to become freed from the avalanche of products and the chemicals in them. I want to use products that help my family rather than make our issues worse. AND I don't want the price tag that usually comes with it! I am making a decision here and now to take steps to start making everything I can. The less I spend at the store, the better. This is my journey to simplicity.
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