Mmm, Fall Inspirations....

So far, fall has brought a few recipe inspirations to mind that I want to share with you!

First on my list...

Pumpkin Spice Sourdough French Toast with Wheat Germ & Flaxseed
Duuuuude, this stuff is so good!

Start with your usual egg & milk mixture for the french toast. Use real sourdough bread, the kind that's thick & spongy that you can get in the bakery section at the grocery store. Add 1/2 teaspoon or so of vanilla extract to the egg & milk mixture, as well as a couple sprinkles of cinnamon. Let the sourdough bread soak in the mixture on each side for about a minute or so per side. This is the secret. ;) Next, place the soaked bread on your hot skillet (or even better, your hot griddle:), sprinkle each slice with pumpkin pie spice, wheat germ, and flax seeds. I go kind of light with the pumpkin pie spice and heavier with the wheat germ & flax. The clove-y taste in the pumpkin pie spice is a little overpowering to me, so I tend to take it easy in that department, but you can go all out if you wanted!! The next secret... cook the french toast slowly on the griddle, so set your heat lower than you normally do for french toast. You want the thick slices that you thoroughly soaked with the egg mixture to cook through. Since the wet side was up when you first placed the french toast on the griddle the pumpkin spices, wheat germ, and flax stuck to that side better than it will when you flip it. I usually just fancy-up the one side of the toast. When your toasts are done finish them off with some butter and warmed pure maple syrup and you. will. be. in. heaven! Wish I had a picture to share with you... maybe next time! Enjoy these!!



I love using flaxseed because it seems to be the up and coming wonder food in keeping our bodies overall healthy and decreasing our risk from developing sooo many diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, cancers (especially breast, prostate, and colon cancer), and stroke. Flax contains omega-3 fatty acids (good stuff!), lignans (which have plant estrogen and antioxidant properties), and fiber (we all know fiber's good for ya!). Flaxseed has been shown to decrease plaque buildup in your arteries by 75%!! It also lowers your total cholesterol, including lowering your LDL cholesterol (the bad type) and raises your HDL cholesterol (the good type of cholesterol). Flax also decreases the severity of hot flashes in post menopausal women. ;) It is also supposed to be good for diabetics in reducing their HgA1C. Cool! So many good things packed into this tiny little seed! On a side note, you can buy golden or brown whole flax seed and use it just as it is, or grind it in a coffee grinder (which is supposedly the form in which our bodies absorb most of the goodness from the seed). Throw it in everything! Even if your husband is an anti-healthfood-nut like mine, he'll never even know its in there. ;o) Oh, and on another side note, supposedly, just as with soy products, you don't want to supplement too much with flaxseed during pregnancy or while breastfeeding. The lignans in flaxseed contain phytoestrogen, mostly a female hormone, so you don't want to imbalance your hormones while you're prego. ;)

Wheat germ on the other hand, is packed with vitamins & minerals, like folic acid, which women of childbearing age should consume lots of! It also contains a pretty hefty amount of fiber and a decent amount of protein, too. This is an all-around winner in my book! Put it in smoothies, yogurt, breads, muffins, cakes, meatloaf...pretty much anything! I like to sprinkle a couple tablespoons in my oatmeal (as well as flaxseed) with some almonds & berries or raisins. Just adds some extra goodness... ;)

Hope you learned a little somethin'! I know I was pleasantly surprised to read all the beneficial things about these two super foods!

Ask and You Shall Receive ...

A slow, slow evening at work the other night gave some co-workers of mine and me a chance to sit around and talk about one of my all-time favorite topics....one that makes my neck get red & splotchy from my excitment...organic food. I love talking food with people...organic produce, recipes, homemade food, budgeting for organic food, growing a garden of food--any & all things food!! I get especially pumped when others get as excited as I do about cleaning out the cupboards and refrigerator and converting to an all-natural lifestyle. Stinkin' love it! It's even better when others understand the rationale for needing organic and natural food in your life. But that's an entire post in itself...and trust me, I will go there soon. Right after I finish the book Food, Inc. Actually, let me rephrase that...I don't believe that we need to eat everything organic...just food without the added hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, preservatives, and chemicals. And you better be able to pronounce every ingredient in that bottle or box of 'food'. There's plenty of food out there that doesn't contain these things and they're not necessarily 'organic'.  To my excitement, a few folks are asking me for recipes and ideas for healthy snacks for their families, and I've got quite a few to share! I thought I'd post the recipes on here for whomever wants them! And because I think food education is necessary these days, I'll try to occassionally post some food facts. Everybody will learn a valuable thing or two about the food in our lives by reading this blog. ;-)


Enjoy the recipes--let me know how they turn out or if you find others! You know I'm crazy about new recipes--especially for convenience foods that I can make at home!


Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread
The best part of this bread is the way it toasts. Wow! The cinnamon sugar crust on the outside gets all sweet & warm...slap some high-quality butter on a slice of this toast and you'll melt along with it.


Homemade Pizza Dough...the best ever.
I've tried a quite a few homemade pizza doughs in my day...this one tops them all. Not. even. kidding. Stromboli...calzone...pepperoni rolls...endless possibilities.
The Most Amazing Hamburger Buns
Who woulda thought? Homemade hamburger buns? Whip this dough together, let it rise once, and then wrap it up and stick it in the freezer for burger night. This brioche is nice and fluffy and slightly sweet. But not too sweet--I have a diabetic husband! Annie also has a honey wheat bun recipe that is currently sitting in my freezer...waiting for burger night. ;)

Homemade Granola Bars
Yield: About 10 bars

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup salted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cup dried fruit, or a mix of dried fruit (I used chopped cranberries and the few leftover raisins from cinnamon raisin walnut bread :)

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine oatmeal, almonds, sunflower seeds, wheat germ in a bowl and spread on sheet pan. Bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Lightly toasted is good. Remove from oven and decrease temperature to 300 degrees. Pour oatmeal mixture into a large bowl. Combine honey, brown sugar, and vanilla in small bowl and pour over warm oatmeal mixture. Sprinkle with salt and add dried fruit, stirring to evenly coat all ingredients with the honey mixture. Line sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly grease paper. Pour granola bar mixture onto sheet pan and distribute evenly. Press the mixture into the pan...firmly...quite a few times...you want these bars to stick together! Using plastic wrap to press on the mixture worked best for me. Place bars into oven (remember 300 degrees!) and bake for 25 minutes. Let bars cool for 2 hours before cutting. I used a heavy duty serrated knife to cut these. Turned out delicious! Sweet, salty, and slightly crunchy.







I know what you're thinking..."Yea, sounds good Liz...but not practical...I don't have time to make all this stuff!" Two questions I hear all the time are, "How do you do it?" and "Why do you do it?" Here's my best answer for "How?": Take one day every couple weeks and have a marathon of baking & making. You can freeze all this dough so you can use it whenever you're ready for it! You'll have the freshest, best-tasting, homemade goodies, and you'll have total control over the ingredients that you're putting into your little-ones bellies...and your own!

And the "Why?": Since I got serious about this natural lifestyle revamp...so, about 2 years ago now...my eyes have been opened to the real hidden world of food. I was a bit naive before I got into "fooding" and thought that, of course, the food on the store shelves is safe and "healthy" for consumers. Of course it is, right? Um, no. After much research into the organic food vs conventional food battle, I have learned that you really can't trust that the FDA is allowing only the safest food  onto the market. I'm not a political person...but when it comes to the food made available to us in supermarkets, it really is all politics...not safety...or nutrition. It comes down to money...power...and mass productions. Really...in all seriousness...watch the documentary Food, Inc and then tell me that you're okay with where our nation's food crisis stands. The politics behind the most basic substance of our existence are out-of-this-world-ridiculous. The obesity rate and climb in childhood neurological disorders in this country should tell us all something. Ooooh, but I'll save all this talk for another post! :) I'll just say that what we don't know about our food does hurt us! Whether we are willing to acknowlege it or not! Anyway, another answer to "Why?" is that making your own simple convenience foods will save you tons of money! I have cut back our grocery bill by a lot...and I'm almost a little embarrased to say by how much...I spend about 40% less nowadays (that's ballpark--I should figure it out for real)!! Gah!!! Think about it...a good, healthy loaf of bread at the grocery store will cost you $2.49-$4.99 (just what I've seen). Making it at home...with all natural or organic ingredients...all of which you can pronounce...will cost pennies. Sure getting started with the ingredients costs more...but you can make like 10 loaves (or something crazy like that) from those ingredients. Now, it's all about time management & organization...and really, time is not the real issue...we make time for the things that are important to us. It's just about figuring out if a natural lifestyle is important to you!

Vanilla Mousse Cheesecake...Made Organic!!

Ok...first of all...for all the organic haters (ah-hem...my husband ;)...substituting with organic products does not = tasteless. I repeat...organic does not equal tasteless! Too many people think that if you're buying organic products then they probably taste like cardboard--which is simply untrue! First off...a fat is a fat is a fat! It still gives your mid-section some jiggle if you eat too much of it, and it still comes from the same part of a plant or animal that organic fat comes from. Whether it's an 'organic' fat or not, it is still a fat. Same goes for carbohydrates...sugar is sugar (only better tasting when it's organic!). You will find that there are no hydrogenated oils/fats in organic foods, though, because these fats are totally different...not natural (more on this later). What I'm saying is, just because something is labeled 'organic' doesn't mean that the fats and carbohydrates have been eliminated and it has no flavor. Quite the contrary, my friends. Portion control is still necessary with organic foods though, don't think that because it says 'organic' that you can eat as much as you want of the product because it's 'healthy'.

So, I made this cheesecake the other night...using all organic or all natural products (yep, even the 'cool whip' was organic!) and started a discussion with my husband about why I feel so strongly about feeding my family the most natural and organic foods possible. He was like, "you're making cheesecake...with organic ingredients...aren't you totally contradicting your reasoning for using organic ingredients by putting them in a cheesecake? It's like an oxymoron. 'Organic' Cheesecake." Oooooooh, he must be under the impression that I use organic to cut down on my calorie intake or something...ooooh, honey, have I got some 'splaining to do for you! Although, at one time, I was sure that he was clear on my reasoning for removing most over-processed, conventional foods from our diet...but apparently not. As he picked up the tub of  TruWhip (aka, 'cool whip'), he read "no hydrogenated oils" across the top. "See, I mean, what does all this mean anyway...'no hydrogenated oils' (and bless his heart for trying so hard to pronounce the word hydrogenated), that means nothing to me." I gasped, "What!? Means nothing to you!? Oh my...." Okay, time to teach my diabetic husband a thing or two about nutrition (by the way, nutrition classes should be required for all diabetics. It's nearly impossible to change your carb-loving eating habits if you don't understand why you have to change them...but I digress :) So, I take this golden opportunity to explain how partially hydrogenated oils are equal to trans fats...these are man-engineered poisons, they do not exist in nature...and they are nasty, disgusting, processed fats that stick to the walls of your arteries like wax and cause build-up, which over a period of time leads to high blood pressure, clogged arteries, heart disease, strokes, which ultimately could lead to medical interventions like heart stent placement, coronary bypass surgery, being placed on more medications, and so on and so forth. And then he asked the question that made my heart flutter and my eyes twinkle-- "Oh....well....if this stuff is so bad for you, then why isn't it illegal to put this stuff in food?" TAA-DAAA! Bingo, my man!!!! This just reinforced to me why not everyone feels the same way I do about natural & organic...because they just don't understand it yet. So, why IS it legal to drowned our daily nourishment in disgusting poisons that are killing us!?!? Because it's cheap...because someone discovered how to do it and thought he was a genius...and because our society has developed an addiction to this type of taste. So, I'm here on my soapbox, urging everyone to pay close attention to the hydrogenated fats that you're including in your diet. You really will feel aaaamazing when you eliminate these toxins from your life! If you're craving some fat in your diet, at least aim for the natural kind!


Since we're on the topic of fats, I'll pass along this natural fat recipe for some cheesecake I made the other night. By no means are these fats 'good for you', so remember moderation. This cheesecake is so amazing...and yes...absolutely 100% filled with fat!! I am such a sucker for cheesecake!! BUT, I guarantee there are NO trans fats in my cheesecake!

Give this one a try--

40 Vanilla Wafers (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 Tbsp butter, melted
4 pkg (8 oz ea) organic cream cheese, softened, divided
1 cup sugar, divided
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp vanilla, divided
3 eggs
1 tub TruWhip (organic cool whip), thawed

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix wafer crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 8 or 9 inch springform pan.
Beat 3 pkg cream cheese, 3/4 cups sugar, and 1 Tbsp vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.
Bake 50 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool completely in pan.
Beat remaining cream cheese, sugar and vailla with mixer in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in TruWhip; spread over sheesecake. Refrigerate 4 hours. Remove rim of pan before serving cheesecake. Serve with fresh berries or alone--either way it's delicious!!



I took the exerpt below from a website I was browsing that I can't remember the name of, but I believe it's reliable information on hydrogenated oils/fats. I know many people who don't care about the chemicals they put into their bodies, with the mentality of "Hey, I feel just fine eating the foods I eat." Just think of how much better you could feel if you didn't ingest these toxins! We all complain about being tired all the time...or can't sleep well at night....or just don't have any energy...or our memory is terrible...the list goes on and on. Our bodies are in a constant state of inflammation. I am determined it's diet related. Enjoy the read!

Why not consume partially hydrogenated fats or oils? Because by the definition of "poison," partially hydrogenated fats and oils are poisons. Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines "poison" as "any substance which, when relatively small amounts are ingested ... has chemical action that may cause damage to structure or disturbance of function, producing symptomatology, illness, or death." (1) Partially hydrogenated oils do not exist in nature. Partially hydrogenated fats and oils are processed versions of naturally occurring fats and oils. In nature, most dietary fats and oils exist in a structural form which is called the "cis" form. When these natural cis form fats are processed by bubbling hydrogen gas through them at high temperatures, they become partially hydrogenated which changes their structure to the "trans" form. The natural cis fat has a bend and the processed trans fat is a straight molecule. See figure 1. This difference in cis and trans shapes is of major significance. When eaten, fats and oils are incorporated into cell membranes altering the composition of these delicate structures. When they interact with normal fat metabolism, they disturb function in a most deleterious manner. Hence, these substances meet the definition of a poison." Trans fats interfere with important, normal functions by inhibiting enzymes which are necessary for the body's normal metabolism of fats and they keep doing it for a long time.

When you eat normal cis fats, the body metabolizes half of them in 18 days. When you eat trans fats the body requires 51 days to metabolize half of them. This means that half of the trans fats you eat today will still be inhibiting essential enzyme systems in your body 51 days from now.

Homemade Deliciousness :)

Ava's Favorite of the Week: Green Peas!

Here is the "recipe" from my homemade baby food book .... for those who are interested!

Prep: For fresh peas--wash and shell peas. Discard pods. For frozen peas--no prep necessary.
Cook: Place peas (2 to 3 10 ounce packages, or 1 & 3/4 fresh) and 2 Tbl of water into microwave safe dish. Cover with saran wrap. Cook 6-8 minutes. **I only used a 1 lb bag of peas so only microwaved about 5 minutes.** Let stand 5 minutes. Peas are done when they can be easily pierced with a fork.
Puree: Place peas and cooking juices in blender (or food processor) and puree. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water as needed to develop a smooth texture.
Pour: Spoon into Fresh Baby trays. **I use plain old ice cube trays. I also use some of those little cups with lids--Gerber Graduates or something similar.**
Freeze: 8-10 hours or overnight. Remove from trays, place in storage containers or freezer bags, and return immediately to freezer. **Makes perfect individual serving portions--at least for now. Ava's tummy is still tiny:) **

Something neat...
This book gives you ideas on veggie combos that peas would be good to serve with and certain herbs and spices that would be good to mix in as well, once she is a bit older--this book suggests around 8-10 months, but I like the idea of keeping it simple.

Frozen baby food will stay good in the freezer for months, but for the sake of freshness the earlier you use it the better!


Homemade peas compared to store bought peas... mmm mmmm which would you prefer!:)


I don't think you really realize it until the two are next to each other. The homemade peas are definitely more nutrient packed!


Green beans. I will add more water next time ... these are a little thick.


Butternut squash purees beautifully!


I couldn't help but taste this stuff while I was making it. :) The squash was definitely my favorite!

And the consensus is .......



Lip-smackin' good!! :)