Confession time....

Let's not even get into how horribly I ate over the holiday season or the fact that I've added some weight since I stopped nursing.  This is not the confession I need to make.

I've been buying breakfast sausage with some nasty preservatives, you know the ones BHA and BHT.  YUCK!  I didn't even realize what I was buying had it in it because I hadn't read the label! 

Our family loves sausage, both kids eat sausage better than any meats so this weekend I'm going to buy some ground turkey and attempt to make my own :).  Will update with how it goes and pictures once I've completed it.

No more BHA or BHT or whatever else is in that sausage here!!

To be continued....

Milling Wheat (Is it worth the investment?)...

It doesn't take a scientist to know that the more nutritious foods we put into our bodies, the healthier we will be and in my experience, the better we will feel.

I had never considered the fact that I could mill my own wheat at home until about a year ago when my friend introduced me to counter-top millers.  I have to say it has completely changed my families life.  Thanks, Lynsie! 

If you are like I was and clueless about wheat, it's worth a science lesson into the structure of a wheat berry.  I'm sure many of you have heard people talk about eating wheat germ and adding it to foods, etc.  The wheat germ is the most nurtitious part of the wheat but unfortunately it is removed during the processing of flour that we buy from the store mostly because it doesn't have a long life and would make the flour go rancid very quickly.

Here is a great link with lots of helpful information regarding wheat and this company also sells miller http://info.breadbeckers.com/articles/.  This site explains the numerous benefits to eating fresh flour.  There are over 20 added vitamins and minerals your body will receive through milling fresh wheat!!

I myself chose to go with the Kitchen Miller from Blendtec and have been very please with the ease of use and cleaning etc. 

I prefer to use white wheat berries and I use them for everything from desserts to pizza dough to breakfast items.  I have pizza dough in my bread machine now :).

I will say too, I have felt a difference in my energy level and just how I feel overall by eating more whole foods and using fresh flour.

I would say this is 100% worth the initial cost of the mill.

Thanks again for listening.

Waste not (and an apple muffin recipe I LOVE)....

I don't know about in your home, but in mine sometimes eating healthy feels expensive.  I mean how much is a box of mac and cheese?  Tempting but no thank you.  Who knows what that cheese powder really is anyway? 

I think the greatest thing we can do to curve the cost of eating healthy is to manage our waste.  I'm really trying to make sure that I use everything I buy.  Sometimes it means getting creative but many times there's some way to practically use what you have.

Our family LOVES apples and buying a large bag of them usually isn't a problem. We generally use them before they turn soft but we went away unexpectedly this weekend and when I came home I had 5 apples that I really didn't want to snack on (mushy apple, no thanks!). 

So apples muffins it is (what a wonderful recipe for fall).  My kitchen smells wonderful at the moment by the way.

The recipe I have adapted from other recipes is as follows:

1 1/2 C  Flour (I use freshly milled white wheat)
1/2 C honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 C coconut oil (melted in the microwave for easy mixing)
1 egg
1/3 C milk of your choice (I used coconut this morning but have used others)
1 C apples chopped small

Combine ingredients and bake at 400 for 10 mins if using mini muffin pan or 15 for regular size.  These muffins come out very moist and delicious.  I think the key to a great muffin is not to overbake!

Note:  I've also used the same recipe with blueberries in the summer time and it comes out just as tasty :).

Enjoy and remember to try to use all you buy!

These also freeze great.

Thanks for listening :),

Sarah

Why eating whole is so important to me....

I grew up in the south where food is really essential to fellowship and family.  A "true" breakfast consisted of eggs, sausages, bacon, biscuits and GRAVY.  I enjoyed weekend mornings when everyone was up and things were slow and we would all sit down to such a breakfast.  I never really considered then if there was more to food than just enjoyment.

Fast forward 10 years and now I have a family of my own and am very concerned and convicted to feed my family a breakfast that is more well rounded and filled with the nutrients that our bodies crave in order to function to their fullest.  I'm not saying there is anything necessarily wrong with waking up every now and then and having the breakfast I listed above, however, are we truly considering the design of our bodies and respecting God's masterpiece by filling them with foods that are filled with the vitamins and minerals we need to be our healthiest?

For me this journey to health and whole foods began over three years ago, when I was pregnant with my first baby and was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes as well as hypertension.  These labels in themselves were enough to scare me.  I was directed by my doctor to see a nutritionist to help me learn about how to keep my blood sugar in check.  This turned out to be a true blessing.

Following these visits, I started cooking lighter and eating more well rounded.  I continued this after my sons delivery and ended up losing an additional 30 lbs of my pre-pregnancy weight!  This was a real wake up call to how much weight I had added over just a few years.

So that's where it all began and recently I have been convicted in my spirit that there is way more to nutrition and how God designed our bodies to function than following a diet to maintain blood sugar.  I am now following a mainly Paleo diet with the addition of peanuts and wheat that I mill myself.

I believe as a society, Americans have become held hostage to fast foods and convenient foods.  I 100% believe that God has designed our bodies beautifully and that if we respected them more by filling them with healthy foods, we would see that we are healthier and I believe this journey is bringing me even closer to the Lord than ever. 

I'm not saying that if you don't have a healthy diet you aren't close to the Lord but have you considered eating in a way that you fill your body with the vitamins and minerals God naturally has provided us with.  He made us to need certain types of foods to be healthy.  Who wants to join this journey with me :)?

My plan for this blog is to share recipes I've made and to really just put my thoughts regarding food out there.  It's not always easy to eat healthy and I've been in situations where I really don't have much of a choice but my goal is that my family and I would generally eat for our health. 

(Now if I could only get into the working out!)

Thanks for listening :).


Sarah