Dairy and wheat free for March

My family has agreed to go dairy and wheat free for the month of March. The bread will be much harder for the kids to give u p than the dairy. We are looking at it as a detox as well as hoping to help with focusing problems (ADHD) I made a trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's looking for gluten free goodies to help the kiddos with the missing snacks. My teenager is a little worried about missing his bread for his PB and J's but is committed to do it. We have looked for a good tasting bread before and did not have much luck. We will be visiting a gluten free bakery this weekend so we are hopeful. I will be posting recipes and menus throughout the month. Wish us luck!

My visit with a Naturopathic Physician

Tuesday I had my first visit with Lori. She has been practicing for several years and although NP's are not licensed in the state I live in, I was able to find her through my son's pediatrician. We talked for 90 minutes. It was very discouraging to see so many issues on paper but we are tackling them in order of important. First up anemia. Lori is focusing on what is causing the lack of iron storage in my body. I bought several supplements and will begin my new regimen this weekend. One of the supplement is Juice PLUS+. The capsules are the equivalent of juicing 17 fruits and veggies and a few grains. My son and I will both be taking it.
I will post my results over the next from months.

My spring rolls and a traveling salad bar

This month I am trying to eat cleaner and in order for that to happen daily, I have to prep my food. I have been wanting to make this traveling salad bar for a while now. I stole the salad bar idea from my friend Susan. Her tote was more efficient than mine but I am still working to improve it.

This tote helps with one of my favorite things to eat, spring rolls.

I made a peanut sauce to dip my rolls in.

I didn't write down or measure the ingredients for the sauce but this is what is in it

peanut butter or almond butter (I have made it both ways)

agave

fresh ginger

Tamari or soy sauce or nama shoyu

water

a drizzle of sesame oil

I put the ingredients into the bullet and blended away.

You could also use it as a dressing on a big salad as well.

Enjoy

Happy New Year! and full disclosure

I hope this year brings you health and happiness!
After re-reading this blog, I realized that I haven't ever talked about anything else but food and mostly raw food. I thought that I should disclose that I am not a pure raw foodist or even a vegetarian. Although I was trying to include lots of raw food into my life, I have never been a raw foodist. So with this being the beginning of the new year and people making resolutions (which I do not do) I thought full disclosure was in order.
Also I would like to talk about other interesting things in my life such as family life, kids, unschooling, adoption, faith and my obsessions- I mean hobbies, cracking restaurant recipes, scrapbooking, arts/crafts, photography, thrifting, square foot gardening and my deep desire to be organized but always fail to get there. I know that there will be an occasional rant on here as well.
So I will hopefully be posting more often.
Here's to 2011!

A yummy new salad

I tried a new salad last night at our "fake" Whole Foods. It is a grocery store trying to be Whole Foods in the more upscale side of town.
It had the following in it:
Romaine lettuce
Napa cabbage
Fresh mint and cilantro
Rice noodle or sticks
Edamame
Shredded carrots
Red peppers
Mung bean sprouts
Curry cashews
The dressing was called Asian Slaw dressing, it was super hot and orange. I might have to do some research for the recipe.

One of my favorite things to do is to try and recreate a recipe at home. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I will let you know if this one is a keeper.

Why I hate the word diet.. warning a rant coming on

There seems to be a lot of diet books surfacing this time of year. I guess it is because people make New Year's resolutions about weight loss. I know when I worked at the YMCA years ago, we were bombarded with new members in Jan and they were thinning out by March. I know I have myself made that resolution only to abandoned it by February. SO I understand the want to be thin.


But I really feel the word diet keeps people fat, unhealthy and where they are at. Usually with an unhealthy weight, fear of the scale and an unhealthy relationship with food.

This unhealthy relationship with food really hit me recently. I thought it was just a few of us with that issue. (I had a breakthrough with this last year). But after watching a evening of the programs on the FN, I am more aware that it may be more than just a few of us. It is probably more like our entire country has some emotional issues with food. OK maybe 5% do not.

The most popular shows are competitions. I mean really, do I want someone sweating into and rushing to finish my dish to eat? There are chefs racing to make dishes with a key ingredient, cupcakes, sweets and time challenges. Then later in the evening 2 shows were hosted by 2 guys of size one looking for the best bar foods ( where he taste it on camera and tells us how wonderful it is and how he can still taste the spices in it as it was double deep fried) and the other outrageous foods like a 110# hamburger. Really dude?


That was followed by people competing to eat the outrageous food fast or within a time frame to receive it free. Large portions, fried foods and hottest foods.
Now don't misunderstand me, I am by no means a health nut. I am trying to limit processed foods and make healthier choices. I still eat things that are not the best for my body. But I might be looking to change things up even more seriously in the new year. But trust me, I won't call it a diet!

Kale Chips -To bake or dehydrate?

I already know the answer to this question but since I am a last minute Lucy I baked the kale chips to take to a Thanksgiving gathering. I used the same recipe I have used in the past but instead of putting them in the Excalibur for 4-6 hours, I baked them for 45 minutes in the oven.

Here's some of the differences between the two:

Baked:

Done quickly, during the baking the kale did give off an odor that was not too pleasing, very fragile-broke easily and the biggest discovery - they gave me heartburn!

Dehydrated:

drying time long, firmer chips, pleasant odor while drying, couldn't stop eating them.

So I think you can see where I stand. Next time I will plan ahead and dehydrate!

Here's a batch I have made in the past. They really rarely make it into the jar. :)